Journey Complete!
Finisher #424 to complete the list
View User Albums Summary1089
Albums Rated
3.15
Average Rating
100%
Complete
Favorite Album
Violator
Depeche Mode
Submitted Album
Thunder And Consolation
New Model Army
Rating Distribution
Rating Timeline
Taste Profile
2010
Favorite Decade
Punk
Favorite Genre
UK
Top Origin
Perfectionist
Rater Style ?
52
5-Star Albums
35
1-Star Albums
Breakdown
By Genre
Top Styles
By Decade
By Origin
Albums
You Love More Than Most
| Album | You | Global | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Devotional Songs
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
|
5 | 2.58 | +2.42 |
|
m b v
My Bloody Valentine
|
5 | 2.72 | +2.28 |
|
Phaedra
Tangerine Dream
|
5 | 2.74 | +2.26 |
|
Faust IV
Faust
|
5 | 2.77 | +2.23 |
|
LP1
FKA twigs
|
5 | 2.81 | +2.19 |
|
The Sounds Of India
Ravi Shankar
|
5 | 2.85 | +2.15 |
|
Kollaps
Einstürzende Neubauten
|
4 | 1.91 | +2.09 |
|
Nowhere
Ride
|
5 | 3.02 | +1.98 |
|
Halcyon Digest
Deerhunter
|
5 | 3.05 | +1.95 |
|
Real Life
Magazine
|
5 | 3.06 | +1.94 |
You Love Less Than Most
| Album | You | Global | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Tapestry
Carole King
|
1 | 3.91 | -2.91 |
|
Harvest
Neil Young
|
1 | 3.82 | -2.82 |
|
Bayou Country
Creedence Clearwater Revival
|
1 | 3.65 | -2.65 |
|
Hotel California
Eagles
|
1 | 3.6 | -2.6 |
|
The Marshall Mathers LP
Eminem
|
1 | 3.48 | -2.48 |
|
Aja
Steely Dan
|
1 | 3.47 | -2.47 |
|
Rumours
Fleetwood Mac
|
2 | 4.46 | -2.46 |
|
Hybrid Theory
Linkin Park
|
1 | 3.39 | -2.39 |
|
Come Away With Me
Norah Jones
|
1 | 3.38 | -2.38 |
|
Eagles
Eagles
|
1 | 3.3 | -2.3 |
Artists
Favorites
| Artist | Albums | Average |
|---|---|---|
| David Bowie | 9 | 4.33 |
| Nick Drake | 3 | 5 |
| Jimi Hendrix | 3 | 4.67 |
| Pixies | 3 | 4.67 |
| My Bloody Valentine | 3 | 4.67 |
| Stan Getz | 2 | 5 |
| Joy Division | 2 | 5 |
| The Rolling Stones | 6 | 4.17 |
| Johnny Cash | 3 | 4.33 |
| Public Enemy | 3 | 4.33 |
| The Cure | 3 | 4.33 |
| Leonard Cohen | 5 | 4 |
| Brian Eno | 5 | 4 |
| Led Zeppelin | 5 | 4 |
Least Favorites
| Artist | Albums | Average |
|---|---|---|
| Eagles | 2 | 1 |
| Eminem | 2 | 1 |
| Tom Waits | 5 | 1.8 |
| Steely Dan | 4 | 1.75 |
| Creedence Clearwater Revival | 3 | 1.67 |
| Aerosmith | 3 | 1.67 |
| Slipknot | 2 | 1.5 |
| CHIC | 2 | 1.5 |
| Todd Rundgren | 2 | 1.5 |
| Scott Walker | 2 | 1.5 |
| The Mothers Of Invention | 2 | 1.5 |
| Christina Aguilera | 2 | 1.5 |
| Neil Young | 4 | 2 |
| The Doors | 3 | 2 |
| Tim Buckley | 3 | 2 |
Controversial
| Artist | Ratings |
|---|---|
| Black Sabbath | 2, 4, 5 |
5-Star Albums (52)
View Album Wall
Popular Reviews
Einstürzende Neubauten · 16 likes
4/5
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.”
Stan Getz · 10 likes
5/5
It's unfortunate how many people just consider this "elevator music." There aren't too many better albums to put on while drinking coffee on a Sunday morning.
Simply Red · 10 likes
2/5
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.
Bruce Springsteen · 8 likes
3/5
It’s alright. Probably the most Springsteeny album to ever have Sprungsteen.
Suede · 8 likes
5/5
No weak or filler songs here. Really well structured and produced. Incorporates elements of psychedelia, glam, and rock but is still fresh and timeless.
1-Star Albums (35)
All Ratings
Oasis
2/5
It’s fine.
Ramones
3/5
Not bad, but nothing exciting or terribly interesting.
Thin Lizzy
3/5
It’s good enough, but not consistent.
The Youngbloods
3/5
Country-rock with some jazz flourishes, which are refreshing. Definitely a product of its time.
Queen
4/5
Solid album as always from Queen.
The National
4/5
Still a great, consistent album. Not sure it’s their “best” album, but definitely on the short list.
Talking Heads
3/5
A
Pere Ubu
3/5
Layered, but I think I prefer anything by Swell Maps.
The Offspring
3/5
Better than I expected, but not my thing.
Pentangle
3/5
Some standout tracks, but not enough of them.
Herbie Hancock
2/5
I like jazz, and I know this is a classic, but I just don’t dig it.
Stevie Wonder
3/5
Quite good.
Van Morrison
2/5
Really hit and miss.
Keith Jarrett
3/5
Alright for a piano album.
Metallica
3/5
First half is solid, especially since the remaster. The second half gets to be pretty boring.
Black Sabbath
2/5
Has its moments, but Zeppelin did most of this better.
Leonard Cohen
4/5
Seems vastly ahead of its time
Elton John
2/5
A couple of standout tracks, but overall pretty uninteresting.
Creedence Clearwater Revival
1/5
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.
The Smashing Pumpkins
4/5
One of the best albums to come out in the post-Nevermind era.
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
4/5
Delightfully noisy.
Billy Bragg
3/5
Nothing typical of either artist, but nothing particularly memorable, either.
Sex Pistols
4/5
The Smiths
4/5
A really solid album. Several really great tracks, and also Vicar in a Tutu.
k.d. lang
4/5
Well balanced production. A little bit of something for everybody.
Jeru The Damaja
4/5
Quite good, but more than a little misogynistic.
Willie Colón & Rubén Blades
4/5
Pretty excellent.
Charles Mingus
4/5
As always with Mingus, interesting from beginning to end.
Pink Floyd
2/5
“All in all” a bit overwrought and undeserving of its great album status. Not even one of Pink Floyd’s best.
Björk
3/5
Very creative and quite interesting.
R.E.M.
4/5
Could be convincingly from any decade since the 1960s.
The Pretty Things
2/5
It’s like a satire of psychedelia.
The Who
3/5
Certainly not bad, but other than a few high points, not remarkable.
Van Halen
2/5
As technically proficient as the instrumental portion is, it isn’t terribly interesting. The vocals ruin it anyway.
Isaac Hayes
4/5
Iconic.
Beastie Boys
4/5
Even the deep cuts are solid.
Suede
5/5
No weak or filler songs here. Really well structured and produced. Incorporates elements of psychedelia, glam, and rock but is still fresh and timeless.
Red Hot Chili Peppers
3/5
Some of RHCP’s better work, but its appeal is still limited.
Janet Jackson
1/5
So, so boring.
The Cardigans
3/5
A pleasant enough blend of 60s pop, bossa nova, and Black Sabbath. Definitely wears its influences on its sleeve.
Yes
3/5
A couple of interesting tracks interspersed with rather boring guitar noodling.
Sonic Youth
4/5
Solid. One of their better albums.
Sheryl Crow
2/5
There are a number of albums that are both very relaxed and enjoyable; this is not one them.
OutKast
4/5
Deservedly a classic. Delivers both quantity and quality.
Germs
4/5
Over forty years old and still sounds fresh.
Incubus
2/5
A pretty standard paint-by-numbers, nü-metal adjacent, late 90s album.
Buena Vista Social Club
4/5
Really infectious.
Willie Nelson
3/5
Really well done old-school country album.
FKA twigs
5/5
Layered, spacious, and slightly dissonant. One of the best albums of the ‘10s.
The Kinks
3/5
At least as good as some of the more well known albums of the time; and it doesn’t seem as self-important.
The Band
2/5
An unintentional caricature of c. 1968 music. No thanks.
Röyksopp
3/5
Interesting as a chill-out record, but nothing special as a trip hop record.
The Temptations
3/5
Nice production. Drums are bit too low in the mix.
Elvis Costello
3/5
Both nostalgic and ahead of its time.
Pink Floyd
3/5
Welcome to the Machine and Wish You Were Here are great tracks, but the rest is only alright.
Radiohead
4/5
Pretty good overall. It does have its moments that drag.
The United States Of America
4/5
Surprisingly good.
Steely Dan
1/5
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.
DJ Shadow
4/5
Amazing what can be created from other material.
Common
3/5
Decent as background music, but nothing outstanding.
Stephen Stills
3/5
A good bit better than expected, though it definitely leans more towards quantity than quality.
Kate Bush
4/5
Altogether pretty good, even beyond the big hits. The production is spot on.
3/5
Typically solid Kinks album. A bit of a step up from “Village Green,” honestly…
David Crosby
3/5
Falls somewhere between Juno Hendrix’s rock edge, Pink Floyd’s atmospheric bluesiness, and CSNY’s harmonizing cheese. But not bad actually.
Prince
4/5
Really diverse and good. No weak songs.
Ice Cube
3/5
Pretty decent, but a bit “one-note.”
Nitin Sawhney
2/5
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.
Saint Etienne
3/5
Chill, retro synthpop.
The Mars Volta
3/5
Very fast and very technical, but not very interesting.
The Hives
4/5
Really well-written and produced rock and roll songs.
Rufus Wainwright
3/5
Feels a bit overwrought, but not bad. More interesting than the last several FJM albums.
Isaac Hayes
4/5
Long form, layered and impeccably produced.
The Disposable Heroes Of Hiphoprisy
3/5
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.
50 Cent
2/5
I kinda wanted to like this, but it’s just so boring.
Tears For Fears
3/5
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.
Eagles
1/5
I wish I could give it less than one star.
Einstürzende Neubauten
4/5
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.”
Megadeth
2/5
The instrumentation is exceptional, but the vocals really don’t fit. Also, Dave Mustaine is a disappointing human being.
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
4/5
Quite a few excellent songs on here. No self-indulgent noodling or overproduction.
The Flaming Lips
4/5
A legitimate classic.
Elvis Presley
3/5
You can definitely hear the seeds of a dozen other albums in this one.
Beastie Boys
2/5
The hits are good, but the rest is very repetitive filler.
Frank Sinatra
3/5
Not a terrible album; in fact each song is pretty good. When you put all 16(!) of them together, though, it’s pretty monotonous.
Rod Stewart
2/5
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).
John Coltrane
4/5
What a great album. Not for people who just want their jazz in the background, though.
Green Day
3/5
Good enough for those who like their pop punky or their punk poppy.
Count Basie & His Orchestra
4/5
Quite good.
Sonic Youth
4/5
Really quite good. No filler; even the lesser-known tracks are solid. And the production is perfect.
fIREHOSE
2/5
Everything besides “The Softest Hammer” is really dull.
Norah Jones
1/5
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.
Flamin' Groovies
2/5
Sometimes you can judge a book by its cover.
Don McLean
2/5
The instrumentation and production are fine, but it’s all just terribly sappy.
Depeche Mode
4/5
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.
Frank Ocean
4/5
Succeeds at being both chilled out and, at times, heartbreaking. Nothing bad to say about it.
2/5
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.
Pearl Jam
3/5
I still think this is their best album.
Pink Floyd
3/5
Your quintessential psychedelic rock album. Not the heavily produced, high concept Pink Floyd that was to come. Still a good listen.
The Doors
2/5
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.
Missy Elliott
3/5
The lyrics are excellent and heartfelt, while the vocals are diverse and perfect, but it feels like the production is just missing something.
Talking Heads
3/5
Some really good tracks, and some others that are less impressive, but not bad. Brings in a range of styles and approaches.
Coldplay
2/5
Not bad, but not memorable. Like early Radiohead, without the hooks.
The Police
3/5
It’s pretty good, if you can get past Sting’s voice.
Stereolab
4/5
Really quality blend of genres and moods. Every track stand on its own quite well.
Bad Company
2/5
Very dull, vanilla rock. It’s almost as if someone made a checklist of rock tropes and these guys just went by that.
Eminem
1/5
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.
AC/DC
2/5
Dull, monotonous, cookie cutter rock.
The Strokes
3/5
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.
Beth Orton
1/5
Slightly more interesting than that Norah Jones album, but still unlistenable. More music to be piped into mall bathrooms.
Run-D.M.C.
3/5
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.
Boards of Canada
4/5
A bit trip-hop, a bit lofi, and more than a little (dark)ambient. An audio Rorschach test.
Joni Mitchell
3/5
Better than expected considering the company she kept. Had to track it down on YouTube since she, understandably, pulled her albums from Spotify.
Miles Davis
3/5
Not my favorite of Davis’ work for sure, but better than a lot of what was coming out at the time.
The Who
3/5
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.
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
3/5
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.
Johnny Cash
5/5
Still such a great listen.
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
3/5
Enjoyable, and interesting enough, but not particularly impactful.
Deep Purple
4/5
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.
Roxy Music
3/5
A bit all over the place, but well put together. Must’ve been refreshing to hear when it came out.
Badly Drawn Boy
4/5
A good range of moods and styles, yet still feels cohesive. Fans of Neutral Milk Hotel should enjoy this.
The Roots
4/5
Really quite good.
Neil Young
1/5
This album is why many people think they don’t like Neil Young. Dull at the its best, and grating at its worst.
Culture Club
2/5
You wouldn’t think an album with such a dayglo cover would be so dull. Reminds me of Wham! which is not a compliment.
Miles Davis
4/5
Probably not Davis’ best work, but still very good.
Laura Nyro
2/5
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.
Tricky
4/5
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.
Steve Winwood
1/5
It was worse than I expected, and my expectations were quite low. Even the best songs on the album are bad.
Public Enemy
4/5
One of the best albums in hip-hop, but maybe not PE’s best.
Arcade Fire
3/5
Some really good tracks, but also quite a bit of “filler.”
Cocteau Twins
4/5
Definitely a step up from most of the circa 1970 stuff on the list, but by no means is it Cocteau Twins’ best stuff.
Lightning Bolt
2/5
There are some great, interesting noise albums. This one is ok.
Prince
3/5
A really good pop album from a time when there weren’t a lot of good pop albums
Nirvana
4/5
A good, but not great album with some standout tracks. More important for its effect on rock music than for its content.
Lloyd Cole And The Commotions
4/5
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.
Orbital
3/5
Pretty decent, but some of these tracks go on much longer than they should.
Jane's Addiction
3/5
Probably the best Jane’s Addiction album, but certainly not great. The first half is pretty solid, though.
Stevie Wonder
3/5
Quite the collection of classics and otherwise good songs. The album is, overall, quite a bit too long, though.
The Zombies
2/5
A pretty decent, but not extraordinary, psych-rock-pop album from an era absolutely saturated with such works. Capable but formulaic.
David Bowie
5/5
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.
Adele
3/5
Some solid songs from a very talented vocalist, but by minute 30 I was ready for it to be over.
John Lennon
2/5
Alternates between boring and annoying.
Jazmine Sullivan
3/5
Not bad, but certainly nothing exceptional.
Siouxsie And The Banshees
5/5
Just about the perfect post-punk album. Should also appeal to fans of punk, new wave, and of course goth rock.
New York Dolls
4/5
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.
Nirvana
4/5
The Nirvana songs are good of course, but the really excellent tracks are the covers.
Dusty Springfield
2/5
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.
George Michael
3/5
Better than I remembered. You wouldn’t know that he had some real songwriting talent based on just his radio play.
Basement Jaxx
2/5
It’s… not bad. Unfortunately not interesting or compelling at all.
The Undertones
4/5
Just plain, good rock songs. No posturing or fretboard wanking. Songs never overstay their welcome.
Parliament
4/5
A classic. Nice to hear the source material for so much of what came later.
Alice In Chains
3/5
The big radio hits (Them Bones, Angry Chair, Would) are excellent, but so much of the rest is quite forgettable.
Siouxsie And The Banshees
4/5
A very good debut album. While not Siouxsie’s best, it still belongs in the top tier of the Post-punk canon.
Black Flag
4/5
What would hardcore be without this album? Would hardcore even be a thing?
Alice Cooper
2/5
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.
Bob Marley & The Wailers
3/5
Pretty good mood music, but difficult to really get into. It’s influence, however, is obviously legendary.
Richard Thompson
3/5
Better than expected given the time period; there are even a few good songs here.
De La Soul
3/5
An enjoyable album, but probably not one I could put in heavy rotation.
Violent Femmes
2/5
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.
2/5
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.
Terence Trent D'Arby
2/5
The best I can say is I don’t hate it. But how this could be worthy of anyone’s bucket list escapes me.
Thundercat
2/5
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.
Waylon Jennings
4/5
Pretty damn good. These must’ve been real bangers performed live.
Dr. Dre
4/5
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.
R.E.M.
4/5
Is this peak REM? It just might be.
Garbage
4/5
Still a great pop album. Dii oh rant sound dated almost 30 years later.
4/5
Really consistent and good album, even beyond the radio hits. Creative and experimental without losing structure, and very well produced.
Liz Phair
3/5
The songs are put together well-enough, and lyrics are quite good. It is a bit too monochromatic, though.
Belle & Sebastian
4/5
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.
Tina Turner
2/5
Very much the sound of the 80s, but just not that interesting.
Leonard Cohen
4/5
There is a lot to this album; too much to be fully appreciated from one or two listens. Really subtle.
Moby
4/5
It’s good and comforting in the way mashed potatoes and gravy are good and comforting. Mashed potatoes is a side dish, of course.
The Charlatans
3/5
It’s alright; if Oasis was slightly more interesting and less whiney they’d probably sound a bit like this.
The Sugarcubes
2/5
Different, but in a more annoying than interesting way.
David Bowie
3/5
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.
Simon & Garfunkel
3/5
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.
Def Leppard
2/5
Generic hard rock at peak mediocrity. Only one decent song (Rock of Ages) and it’s only alright.
The Magnetic Fields
3/5
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.
Paul Weller
1/5
This might be the first one I couldn’t get all the way through. Beyond dull.
Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five
4/5
Classic in the way the Pantheon is: foundational to just about everything that came after.
Muddy Waters
4/5
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.
Eels
3/5
It is fairly good; better than I anticipated. But, still fairly vanilla.
2/5
Not terrible considering what it is, but still mostly pretentious, self indulgent wanking.
Suzanne Vega
3/5
Not bad at all, but not exactly memorable.
King Crimson
2/5
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.
Paul Simon
2/5
Not awful but… yawn
Dwight Yoakam
3/5
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.
Slipknot
1/5
I really like good metal, but not too many people have ever accused slipknot of being good. A very repetitive, boring album.
Otis Redding
5/5
Not a style I usually enjoy, but this is so well done, it’s irresistible.
Blur
3/5
Somewhere between Oasis and Wire. Not bad.
Marvin Gaye
3/5
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.
The Cars
3/5
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.
Portishead
4/5
The classic trip-hop album. Headphones are a must for this one.
Adam & The Ants
4/5
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.
Rod Stewart
2/5
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.
Tom Waits
1/5
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.
The Black Crowes
2/5
Me: Mom, can we have Let it Bleed?
Mom: We have Let it Bleed at home.
Let it Bleed at home:
Ananda Shankar
4/5
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.
Various Artists
4/5
A great album despite the unavoidable association with Phil Spector.
Stan Getz
5/5
Just excellent.
Sinead O'Connor
4/5
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.
Shack
3/5
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.
R.E.M.
3/5
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.
Cyndi Lauper
3/5
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.
Iron Maiden
4/5
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.
Tom Waits
2/5
A good bit more tolerable than Heartattack and Vine, but it still just sounds like someone doing a bit.
Burning Spear
3/5
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.
SAULT
3/5
Downtempo and chill. Decent overall, but it’s fades into the background a bit too easily.
The Flaming Lips
3/5
Maybe the quintessential Flaming Lips album, but I don’t think it is the best one. It is good, but not consistently so.
The Monks
3/5
Interesting as an influence for punk rock, but not a particularly good set of tracks.
The Who
2/5
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.
Blue Cheer
2/5
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.
Dinosaur Jr.
4/5
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.
Beatles
3/5
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.
Radiohead
4/5
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.
Iron Maiden
4/5
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.
Public Image Ltd.
4/5
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?
The Cure
4/5
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.
The Modern Lovers
3/5
It’s like if The Doors were less pretentious and more stoned.
Sonic Youth
3/5
Not a bad listen at all, but nothing memorable.
Belle & Sebastian
4/5
If Nick Drake wrote songs for Wes Anderson movies…
The Smiths
3/5
Seems to lack the energy of the earlier Smiths albums. Not bad, but quite forgettable.
Electric Light Orchestra
2/5
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.
Miles Davis
4/5
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.
Queens of the Stone Age
3/5
The first half is good, but the second half is pretty bland.
George Harrison
4/5
What a great album. If there was any doubt that the “quiet Beatle” was the best songwriter, listen to this record.
Mekons
4/5
Somewhere between The Fall and New Model Army. Eccentric in the best way.
The Rolling Stones
4/5
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.
Simply Red
2/5
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.
The Velvet Underground
5/5
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.
John Lee Hooker
2/5
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.
Jurassic 5
3/5
Not bad, but not good enough.
The Pogues
4/5
The Pogues are always a good time, but this isn’t them at their peak.
PJ Harvey
3/5
Not bad at all. “Dress” is actually quite the banger.
Jimi Hendrix
4/5
It's a good listen, but it just lacks that something that makes both Are You Experienced and Electric Ladyland exceptional.
Curtis Mayfield
4/5
THE sound of the 70s. Well done, but not entirely my thing.
Peter Frampton
2/5
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.
Afrika Bambaataa
3/5
Not bad at all, just heavily dated.
Metallica
4/5
Pretty much Metallica at their peak, though I slightly prefer RtL. Well produced without being “slick,” and mature without being self-indulgent.
LL Cool J
3/5
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.
Amy Winehouse
2/5
It definitely showcases her vocal talents, but the songs, and the album as a whole, aren’t terribly strong.
3/5
Another album that is more notable due to who made it rather than the album's own merits. It's fine.
CHIC
1/5
It’s bad y’all. Generic even by disco standards. Songs are highly repetitive and overlong. A well deserved entry on Mt. Ughmore.
Wild Beasts
2/5
If this isn't satire, it is painfully "arty" and pretentious. Like Yoko Ono levels of self-indulgence. The only reason why it is not 1 star is that the instrumentation is pretty good; too bad about the vocals.
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band
2/5
Yet another middling blues-rock album.
Queen
3/5
Queen was so good so much of the time, but I always found this album to be tiresome.
Christine and the Queens
3/5
It’s alright for what amounts to pretty generic pop.
Everything But The Girl
1/5
Whoever included this in the book clearly hates music. Think Sade, but really bad. I’m struggling to get through it. Send help. Possibly the worst thing I’ve heard on this list, and that is saying a lot.
Little Simz
3/5
Pretty well done, but just not my thing.
Run-D.M.C.
3/5
A fun listen, and something of an artifact from the origins of hip-hop. More than a little quaint now, though.
Pet Shop Boys
4/5
A pretty good album, but certainly not essential.
Khaled
2/5
Pretty generic and… elevatory…
3/5
Pretty solid Brit-pop with a healthy dose of glam mixed in. Not bad, not special either.
The War On Drugs
4/5
A solidly good rock album with no small amount of Springsteen influences clearly visible.
Kate Bush
3/5
Has some of the feel of mid-period Roxy Music but less cheesy and significantly more weird, and instead of Bryan Ferry on vocals it's... Kate Bush, I guess.
Fugees
3/5
Not bad at all, but it just can't live up to the decades of praise it has received.
Brian Wilson
3/5
The man is obviously talented and there are a couple of bangers in here, but overall it’s a bit of a mess.
Gil Scott-Heron
4/5
I was expecting much more spoken word pieces, and they are present, but was pleasantly surprised to find a lot more going on, as well.
The Specials
2/5
In the interest of full transparency, I really do not like ska. That said, this isn't ska at its worst, but it's still really annoying.
Justice
2/5
Not bad as background music, but if that's the best one can say does it really belong on this list?
Carole King
1/5
My mother loves this stuff, so I gave it a shot. Unfortunately, it is so, so dull.
The Fall
4/5
I really like The Fall, but this is pretty weak for them.
Radiohead
3/5
It's a pretty good album, but like so much of their stuff, it only occasionally rises above the level of background or mood music.
Madonna
3/5
As pop goes, this isn't bad. I'm not going to go out of my way to listen to it again, but I wouldn't be miserable if it was on in the background somewhere.
The Shamen
2/5
Not awful to have on in the background in a mall salon, but really not compelling at all.
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
5/5
Once you spend some time with it you see why it belongs on this list.
The Chemical Brothers
3/5
Would be ok to listen to on a road trip somewhere.
Neil Young
2/5
There are a couple of alright moments, but mostly pretty dull.
Drive Like Jehu
3/5
You’ll love it if you like mathy and technical rock, but it’s a pretty decent listen even if you don’t.
Muddy Waters
2/5
Not terrible, but it gets so repetitive that I tuned it out by the time the album was over.
The Go-Go's
3/5
It is certainly better than the hit singles would suggest, but it is still a bit monochromatic in that way 80s op albums often were.
Dion
2/5
Like John Denver meets Exile on Main Street, but with super cliched lyrics and Dan Fogelberg levels of cheese. The only thing saving it from being a one-star album is Spector’s production.
Funkadelic
3/5
At times brilliant and at times just weird as hell. The musicianship is fantastic, particularly that of Eddie Hazel.
Neu!
4/5
One of the best and most seminal krautrock albums. Motorik for days.
ABBA
2/5
Sounds like the soundtrack to a cheesy 80s musical film. Not great.
Crowded House
3/5
Well, it's alright, not going to seek out again, though. A bit like Elvis Costello meets The The.
Sade
2/5
Not awful, but really hard to get through. Jazzy but with no energy. Definitely sounds like the mid-80s; would fit right in on a Miami Vice soundtrack.
Tito Puente
5/5
Really enjoyable; infectious even.
Django Django
4/5
I was not familiar with this one going in, so I had no idea what to expect. It was surprisingly good. Experimental and folksy electronica with a beat. The only negative is that all the songs start to sound the same pretty quickly.
Bill Evans Trio
4/5
Pretty good and definitely sounds like the era. Should appeal to fans of Vince Guaraldi.
Daft Punk
3/5
A bit dry and repetitive. Alright as background music, but I found myself checking how much longer until it was over.
Incredible Bongo Band
3/5
It was pretty good at first, but the novelty wears off pretty quickly.
The Louvin Brothers
3/5
It's not bad, but every song has the same pace, rhythm, and style. The best parts are the brief instrumental solos.
Tracy Chapman
3/5
She's a talented songwriter and musician, and should appeal to fans of Tom Petty. However, as much as I appreciate the skill, that style is just not my thing.
The Killers
3/5
To me this is more nostalgia than quality. A decent enough pop album, but nothing extraordinary.
William Orbit
3/5
Not bad for midday background music in the neighborhood boho coffeehouse.
Pink Floyd
4/5
This album is good, but nowhere near as good as the hype and it’s iconic status would lead you to think. Probably not even in Pink Floyd’s top three.
Elliott Smith
5/5
I always feel like he was the heir to Nick Drake, and Smith’s work should appeal to most fans of Nick. Such a great album.
Echo And The Bunnymen
3/5
It’s a fine album on its own merits, but as it is so frequently labeled “post-punk,” it is difficult to avoid comparisons to superior outfits such as Magazine, Wire, or Gang of Four. This album comes across as vapid and forgettable compared to anything by those bands.
As a pop album, though? It’s alright.
Frank Sinatra
3/5
I really like classic Bossa Nova, but Sinatra's overly slick voice isn't doing it any favors here. It might make sense on paper, but there is some disconnect between the vocals and instrumentation that really throws the vibe off for me.
Paul Simon
3/5
It's a pretty solid album until the zydeco tracks. And there's not all that much zydeco... but that's still too damn much zydeco.
Beatles
4/5
Probably the Beatles at their best, and it is a good album.
Kate Bush
4/5
Delightfully strange, and really pushing the boundaries of what could be called pop. Its either decades ahead of its time, or acts like Richard Dawson and Joanna Newsom are behind.
Dr. John
3/5
This is pretty forgettable. As in, I just now finished it and can’t think of anything noteworthy. I guess if you need something playing in the background at your kitschy Gulf coast saloon, you may have a use for it.
Leonard Cohen
4/5
It’s good, but it seems the music is primarily just an accompaniment for Cohen’s poetry.
Adele
2/5
Besides “Someone Like You” this album is pretty bland. Her vocal ability is impressive, but there’s not much else going on.
Billy Bragg
4/5
I really like Billy Bragg. Pleasant vocals paired with rankle-rousing lyrics and acoustic and/or clean electric guitars. Minimalist in the best way.
A Tribe Called Quest
4/5
It’s fascinating hearing what they could do with vaguely familiar beats. A great album even for casual hip-hop listeners.
Motörhead
4/5
My one regret, ok one of many, is that I never got to see Motörhead live. At least this album lets me get some idea what it was like.
Nick Drake
5/5
This isn’t his best album, in my opinion, but even Nick Drake’s second-best is far better than most.
A Tribe Called Quest
3/5
It's alright, but nowhere near is enjoyable as "People's Instinctive Travels..." This one feels a bit more generic.
Coldplay
2/5
Meh. If Radiohead had a whiny, unimpressive little brother, he would make this album.
Bert Jansch
3/5
An overall pleasant, but not particularly engaging, listening experience. It is interesting to hear how the 60s folk revival was getting along in the UK.
Jethro Tull
3/5
I think most listeners will be familiar with the mem-worthy Locomotive Breath, which is rightfully a classic and the highlight of the album. As a whole, the album is the midpoint between Fairport Convention and early Black Sabbath.
Creedence Clearwater Revival
2/5
Well, the instrumental portions of Ramble Tamble are great, so I was cautiously optimistic going in to the rest of the album. Unfortunately, everything after that first track is just the usual CCR swamp-rat wannabe nonsense.
Napalm Death
2/5
I don’t care much for grindcore, but occasionally ND’s anarcho- and crust-punk influences come to the surface in a brief moment of accessibility.
Morrissey
4/5
Not exactly aggressive, but bold and a bit pompous in the best rockstar tradition. The instrumentation is skillful, the lyrics are snide and writerly, and the production is very good. However, too many of the songs sound too much alike. I’d definitely buy this album, but I can’t say it’s essential.
3/5
It is pretty good at times, a bit mathy and proggy, but alright. It feels like the band was mostly interested in making something EPIC and IMPORTANT, and sometimes it does, but just as frequently it seems grandiose.
The Stooges
4/5
Overall, the tracks on here are hit-or-miss, but the hits are absolute bangers.
Rahul Dev Burman
4/5
A pretty interesting mix of 60s pop, 70s soundtrack, and Indian classical. A fun listen.
The Prodigy
2/5
Not terrible, but there's not enough that's interesting here to recommend it. Forgettable.
Nirvana
4/5
This album will always live in the shadow of Nevermind, but it deserves to be judged on its own merits. It is a good bit more abrasive than its predecessor, which to me signifies that the band were unwilling to compromise in the face of enormous media and public attention. It is as much an “authentic” album as Bleach is.
Anthrax
4/5
This is a really solid thrash album and possibly the last good American thrash album of the 80s.
The Fall
3/5
I really like The Fall, but this is nowhere near their angular, snarky best. This album just hints at the greatness of something like Hex Enduction Hour, which was to come in a few years.
The Cure
4/5
Moody, tense, and sparse, Seventeen Seconds was the beginning of The Cure's "gothic trilogy," which also included Faith and Pornography. While those are also good albums, Seventeen Seconds is probably the most accessible of the three as it retains a bit of The Cure's early prog-rock experimentation which was mostly absent in the other two.
David Bowie
4/5
It is a good album, but it doesn’t rise to the level of excellence one expects from Bowie. There are some bangers here, but not enough.
Motörhead
4/5
So, this a great album. Driving beats, thunderous bass, and riffs for days. If you like metal, punk, or space rock, chances are you already know this album.
The lyrics though… are unfortunate. For instance, in the opening lines of the song Jailbait (you read that right) Lemmy, who was 35 when this album came out, sings “teenage baby, you’re a sweet young thing, still tied to mommy’s apron strings, I don’t even dare to ask your age, it’s enough to know you’re here backstage…”
So an otherwise great album, with inescapably bad lyrics.
Stevie Wonder
3/5
There is a lot of love for this album, and it is a well-written, and rather experimental, album. With that said, I just could not get into it like I have with other SW releases.
Van Morrison
4/5
Both the lyrics and the music are well written and performed quite well. However, Van Morrison has one of those voices that absolutely overpowers everything else. I wish this album was mixed with his vocals lower in the mix so that some of the instrumentation, which is really interesting, could shine through.
Pulp
4/5
It's a really good album with some excellent tracks (Common People, I Spy, Underwear). The production is mostly strong, but errs on the side of too much at times. As much as it is lumped in with the Britpop that was so dominant at the time, this album feels more like T. Rex or 70s era Bowie to me. Close to 5 stars, but there are too many "fillers" in here to detract from the more stellar tracks.
Todd Rundgren
1/5
So many great albums came out in the 1970s... but this is not one of those. In fact, if you were to take all that was bad about 70s rock - the cheesy soft ballads, the "blue-eyed" soul, the unnecessary saxophones - and distill it into one album, it would be this album. This album smells like stale tobacco and cracked jukebox buttons.
Astor Piazzolla
2/5
I had high hopes for this one, but it's... mediocre at best. It sounds more like the soundtrack to a Wallace & Gromit short than an album by a storied composer.
The Isley Brothers
3/5
They are quite good at crafting this blend of rock and soul, but it’s just not my thing.
X-Ray Spex
3/5
Strong tunes supported by Poly’s fantastic voice. But, who thought this needed saxophone?
Ice T
2/5
Not bad at all, but really generic.
The La's
3/5
Mostly decent, though I understand why the band were unhappy with the production. This album contains both echoes of the Rolling Stones and strong hints of the Britpop explosion that was yet to come. It is listenable, but nothing special. That this was a major influence to the Gallaghers makes a lot of sense, and goes a long way to explain Oasis' mediocrity.
Radiohead
4/5
It's a good album; several really strong tracks, though it can feel a little monochromatic at times.
Cat Stevens
3/5
It's decent, especially compared to a lot of the other circa 1970 nonsense that's on this list.
ZZ Top
2/5
It’s tolerable and very Miami Vice adjacent, but not very good. This may be treason against my home state of Texas, but when I’m looking for 70s/80s drug-fueled, debauched, power trios, I’d prefer Motörhead every single time.
Kraftwerk
4/5
A good album, but it is more influential than it is excellent. Synthy, and at times even industrial, but with one foot still in Kraftwerk’s kosmische roots.
Sonic Youth
4/5
While this is a decent enough album with some really good songs, some of the other tracks just drag.
Bob Dylan
2/5
As usual with Dylan, the song-writing is excellent, but the performance is so riddled with affectation and obnoxious harmonica that the songs fall far short of what they could be. This is why covers of Dylan songs are usually much better than Dylan's recordings.
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
4/5
Some really strong tracks here; Big Boys, Green Shirt, and Chemistry Class being the standouts. But, there are too many that just fade into the background to give this album more than 4 stars.
Sleater-Kinney
3/5
The songs are well-crafted, they are skilled musicians, and I like the lyrics. I just found it difficult to listen to more than a couple of these tracks at a time.
Scott Walker
2/5
Remember that guy in your English class who was “really into philosophy?” If that guy recorded a very self-indulgent album, it’d probably sound a lot like this. The lyrics often rise to Jim Morrison levels of cheese, even retelling the plot to Bergman’s The Seventh Seal at one point.
Bauhaus
4/5
If you can get past the Goth preconceptions, this a really strong Post-punk album.
Johnny Cash
4/5
Not only a good album on its own merits, but THE primary source of Outlaw Country.
3/5
I wanted to like this one, but it’s a bit hit or miss, with too many misses.
David Gray
2/5
I was originally going to say that it is merely tolerable, but I’m afraid even that might be too generous. Even songs with some potential get scuttled by annoying indulgences: see Sail Away’s coda which is a whistling solo (yep). Certainly better than Nora Jones or Steely Dan, but that’s not praise.
The Temptations
4/5
A very solid album. Papa was a Rollin’ Stone is the obvious standout, but there’s nothing weak here.
Mariah Carey
1/5
I went into this thinking it would be bad, but decided to approach it with an open mind, and… it’s terrible. At its best it’s boring, but more often the vocals are either mumbled or shrieked and the lyrics are riddled with cliches. The music itself is generic enough to be in the background of a YouTube commercial. Nope.
Milton Nascimento
3/5
It has its moments, and might be a better album if some of the fat was trimmed. Overall, just too much that is not impressive.
Kraftwerk
4/5
Like most other Kraftwerk albums, this is a set of good, competently structured songs, but most of them file more like sketches than complete works.
GZA
3/5
It's a good enough album, but aside from a couple of tracks, I doubt I'll ever listen to it again.
Pixies
5/5
A rightful classic. Even the lesser tracks are solid.
4/5
A very good classic country album. And what a voice!
Johnny Cash
4/5
I like this one a bit better than At Folsom Prison, which is also good.
The White Stripes
3/5
Musically it's pretty good, if a bit monochromatic. Jack White's vocals, however, get old really quickly.
Ryan Adams
2/5
Pretty dull and over-long.
Mudhoney
4/5
A solid record. One of the more approachable albums of the early grunge era.
The Stooges
4/5
When they are on they are really on, but some of these tracks were certainly not on.
Antony and the Johnsons
3/5
Anohni is a talented vocalist and composer, but you can’t help but get through this album with the impression that they have exactly one gear: melodramatic chamber pop.
Mike Oldfield
2/5
Background music with occasional death metal vocals I guess. Ok.
The Band
2/5
Oh look, another circa 1970 Americana/roots-rock album. Is that all it takes to be included in the book? Because this is as dull as the band’s name.
Kanye West
3/5
The production, as always with Kanye, is excellent. Everything else though really gets bogged down in self-indulgence.
Joni Mitchell
2/5
It's like a well-executed, yet unflavored custard. Pleasant enough but there's no point in eating it.
Jah Wobble's Invaders Of The Heart
3/5
Significantly better than I though it would be. However, I can't say it rises to much more than background, or mood music.
Jack White
3/5
Most of these tracks are pretty good. Others are self-indulgent and more than a little boring.
Erykah Badu
3/5
Overall a decent album... just really not my thing.
I used to like this one, but honestly only for the opening track. “Beautiful Day” is a banger, but pretty much everything after that is pretty lifeless.
Sam Cooke
4/5
Nonstop grooves on this one. Dude must have been one hell of a showman.
Ramblin' Jack Elliott
3/5
Serves as an interesting document of early American country/folk, but not particularly accessible.
SZA
4/5
Solid album. A chill mix of r&b, hip-hop, and synthpop. Just get Travis Scott out of there.
Frank Black
4/5
After the first couple of songs I was ready to write it off as “Pixies without the quiet bits,” but once you get deeper in it’s pretty clearly more. Hints of Talking Heads and T. Rex at times. Solid alt-rock/pop.
David Bowie
4/5
Bowie’s best work feels timeless. Young Americans, however, seems particularly rooted in the mid-70s and it doesn’t benefit from it.
The Doors
2/5
More pretentious yet middling blues-rock courtesy of Morrison & Co. I literally fell asleep while listening to it.
Mercury Rev
4/5
A really decent album. Lots of similarities to the Flaming Lips; the reason is explained in the wiki.
John Cale
3/5
Not bad at all. Like Nick Drake meets Roxy Music, but more forgettable than either.
Pixies
5/5
Man this is a good album. The classic quiet-loud dynamic and the vocal interplay are excellent. Neither of which would matter if the production and mixing weren’t so spot on.
Van Halen
2/5
Technically proficient, but boring as hell.
The Jam
4/5
A very pleasing fusion of pop and post-punk. Think a blend of The Clash and Elvis Costello with a healthy dose of Gang of Four mixed in.
Animal Collective
4/5
Shimnery, noisy, indie pop. Not a bad listen at all.
Eminem
1/5
Yeah, this album sucks. The beats are basic and his voice is whiny as hell. Then you get into the lyrics, and it’s much worse… such as, stories about date-raping 15 year old girls. No fucking thanks.
Kings of Leon
2/5
I’d heard these guys’ radio hits and liked them well enough, so I was kinda interested in hearing a whole KoL album. It’s not very good at all. It sounds like someone took the small town college frat/party band and put them in a studio and hoped the production would smooth out the rough edges.
Stevie Wonder
3/5
Wonder is an excellent musician and songwriter, and that shows here but not in enough of the songs. About half the album seems “phoned in,” almost like someone asked an AI to write a Stevie Wonder album.
Drive-By Truckers
3/5
Not bad, just basic southern/country-rock; it’s best moments are when it leans towards the rock side. A bit too, long.
Janelle Monáe
4/5
While it is a bit indulgent, it’s an overall good album with a little bit of something for everybody, from Bowie fans to Outkast fans.
Laibach
4/5
This is just about peak Laibach, which is pretty great. Does anyone do percussion better?
Rage Against The Machine
4/5
I never really got into RAtM back in the times, largely because the people I knew that liked them weren’t the kind of people I wanted to associate with: mostly racist wannabe tough guys who totally missed the point of what Rage was singing about.
All that aside, this a good album. Righteous lyrics over a banging rhythm section and Tom Morello’s impressive guitar work. Solid.
Fatboy Slim
3/5
There are some fairly strong tracks in here, and they’ll definitely be familiar to anyone who went to a club/movie/party/mall shoe store in the late 90s, but there’s way more middling filler tracks and most of those go on several minutes longer than they should.
Teenage Fanclub
3/5
It wasn’t bad, but it got a bit repetitive and faded into the background.
Paul McCartney and Wings
3/5
Not a bad pop-rock album. Some of the songs are a bit long.
Moby Grape
3/5
It’s pretty good; typical late 60s British Invasion with a bit too much wannabe Blues-man nonsense. The guitar solos and bass are the highlights.
Jimi Hendrix
5/5
Easy five stars. Something here for everybody, from psychedelic to British Invasion.
Red Snapper
3/5
Alright as background music. Akin to Portishead, Recoil, or the instrumental elements of 90s era Depeche Mode.
Everything But The Girl
3/5
I forgot how popular this trip-hop adjacent stuff was in the late 90s. It’s far better than that other Everything… album but nothing notable. Would be decent as ambience in a trendy coffee shop.
Michael Jackson
4/5
The hits(Thriller, Beat It, Billie Jean) are unsurprisingly great, but there’s just too much mediocre filler (Baby be Mine and everything after Billie Jean) to give this 5 stars.
Cypress Hill
3/5
Taken on their own, each track is pretty good. As a whole album, however, you get the feeling that your listening to the same two or three song over and over. It would have been better if they had trimmed the album by about 15 minutes as it is just too much of the same as it is.
Louis Prima
3/5
The talent is there for sure and I can see why it’s so well liked, but this just isn’t the style of jazz I like. Give me something instrumental by Mingus or Brubeck over this.
Hole
4/5
Yeah, this is a really good album. The guitar and Love’s vocals are powerful and raw as hell, but I hear as much of The Cure as I do of the Melvins or Dinosaur Jr. And Violet is just about a perfect punk-rock song.
Jimmy Smith
2/5
Based on the description, I thought I was going to like this album. And while the musicianship is impressive, I just don’t really dig the Hammond organ as a lead instrument. I felt like I was in that Wallace & Gromit episode with the penguin.
Dolly Parton
4/5
Good album all around. If modern country was anything like this it would have a much larger fan base.
The Adverts
4/5
Quite good. Significantly better than some more famous punk albums from that period.
Talking Heads
3/5
Pretty decent early new wave/art-punk album. Nothing too memorable besides Psycho Killer, though.
Baaba Maal
3/5
Mostly decent songs. Some are a bit repetitive or even annoying.
Hugh Masekela
3/5
A lot of talent on display here and should appeal to anyone who is into 70s jazz. But, most of the tracks go on a bit long without adding or building to anything.
Would be nice to have on in the background when you have your friends over for dinner.
Robbie Williams
2/5
A very “safe” (read: vanilla) blend of Britpop, Madchester, Elton John, and Williams’ own pop roots. Makes Oasis seem like Motörhead.
Michael Jackson
3/5
Like most of MJ’s work it is well executed. Unfortunately, in this case, it’s just well-executed disco.
808 State
2/5
Pretty dull. It’s best moments feel like remixes of Depeche Mode b-sides. The most that can be said for it is that it’s not intolerable.
Bruce Springsteen
4/5
A rightful classic. Springsteen is a hell of a songwriter. However, a lot of this just isn’t my thing.
The Verve
4/5
I hadn’t heard the bulk of this album so I didn’t expect much after Bitter Sweet Symphony. I was pleasantly surprised that much of the rest of the album is as good as the radio hit. Solidly a britpop album without being formulaic.
Ray Charles
3/5
Very well executed covers of c&w songs, most of which are better than the originals. Unfortunately, the album is just way too long to stay interesting.
Buck Owens
3/5
Not bad, but leans a bit more towards novelty than I like.
Sonic Youth
4/5
Some of my favorite stuff by Sonic Youth. Very post-punk adjacent; dissonant not unlike Swell Map’s “Jane from Occupied Europe,” but a bit less noisy.
Jeff Buckley
4/5
If Robert Plant and Elliott Smith started a band it might sound a lot like this. Fairly eclectic as it is at times folky while at others psychedelic or even grungy. There’s a bit of something for just about everyone.
Bob Dylan
3/5
I’ve always thought that Dylan is at his best when someone else is performing his work, and this album did nothing to change that impression. Well written songs filtered through Dylan’s grating vocals and layered with distracting and unnecessary harmonica.
The Vines
4/5
Given what I’ve heard about them and when this album came out, I was expecting just another Strokes/Hives/White Stripes adjacent product, but I was pleased to find something more original and well executed. It’s a bit of garage rock meets Nirvana, and it works.
Brian Eno
4/5
It’s a good album, absolutely dripping in Glam rock hallmarks And unsurprisingly we’ll executed.
AC/DC
2/5
Just about as boring as hard rock gets… and every song sounds about the same. Volume is no substitute for creativity or passion or whatever else they were lacking.
The Auteurs
4/5
Wasn’t familiar with this album or band going in, but it was a nice discovery. Reminds me quite a lot of mid- to late-90s Current 93 as the vocalist at times uses that eerie whispered quality and some of the Melodie’s bear similarities to that era of David Tibet’s output.
Baaba Maal
3/5
Like the last album of his I got, it’s not bad at all but it’s very repetitive. Fine as mood or background music, but it really didn’t hold my attention.
Depeche Mode
5/5
Absolutely timeless. Every song on this album is at least good, while most are excellent.
Jamiroquai
4/5
Really didn’t know what to expect, but it was pretty good. Obviously influenced by 70s jazz/funk/fusion but well executed and original.
The Doors
2/5
The music itself is pretty good, but Morrison’s droning and pretentious “poetry” forces the instrumentation to the background. They could’ve been great with a quality frontman.
KISS
2/5
I said in a review for an AC/DC album that they were about as dull as hard rock gets, but being reminded of KISS’ existence really puts that statement in perspective.
John Martyn
3/5
I like English folk and I like jazz, but I’m not loving this blend of the styles. Martyn’s vocals are another low point.
Super Furry Animals
3/5
Not bad, just pretty generic c. 2000 alt-rock.
CHVRCHES
5/5
An excellent album. It came out when so many bands were doing the retro-synth thing, and for most it was just an affectation. On this album CHVRCHES built songs that would stand out regardless of the instrumentation.
The Jam
4/5
Pretty decent pop-/post-punk. Very much what one expects from The Jam.
Dead Kennedys
4/5
A great punk album with some well played surf rock and rockabilly textures. And you can never get enough of Jello Biafra’s highly distinctive voice and snide lyrics.
Calexico
4/5
I really like this blend of jazz, western, mariachi, and folk rock. Would go perfectly with a sizzling plate of Tex-Mex.
Black Sabbath
4/5
I could take or leave Ozzy, but this is great album.
5/5
Pretty much every track is a banger. Is it my favorite Bowie album? Nope, but it is deservedly the entry point for Bowie fandom.
Chicago
2/5
Able playing unfortunately coupled with the most vanilla songwriting.
The Psychedelic Furs
4/5
Post-punk meets new wave and pop and Richard Butler’s very distinctive voice. An early ‘80s classic.
Björk
3/5
Interesting concept and the production is excellent, but it’s not really anything I want to come back to.
Manu Chao
2/5
A few tracks are alright, but most are either forgettable or actively annoying.
Fela Kuti
4/5
Pretty solid Afrobeat album, though the production seems a bit flat to me.
My Bloody Valentine
5/5
It’s like the Platonic ideal of an MBV album without being cartoonish or self-caricature.
Sparks
3/5
If you like a bit of Prog in your Glam, this might be the album for you. A bit like if Boston merged with Roxy Music and started recording songs for carnival funhouses. An interesting starting point, but unfortunately this album seems to have only one gear: frenetic.
The Cramps
2/5
It’s not terrible but the whole Psychobilly thing gets old pretty quickly.
The Cure
5/5
The Cure at their most misanthropic and self-loathing. Absolute darkness from beginning to end. In anyone else's hand this would come across as ham-handed or cartoonish, but after Seventeen Seconds and Faith, The Cure were adepts at this style.
While "Cold" may earn the title of most Gothic track ever, it's "Siamese Twins" which wallows in the most misery:
"Dancing in my pocket
Worms eat my skin
She glows and grows
With arms outstretched
Her legs around me…
In the morning I cried
Leave me to die
You won’t remember my voice
I walked away and grew old
You never talk
We never smile
I scream
You’re nothing
I don’t need you any more
You’re nothing"
Hard to believe this is the same band who would write "Just Like Heaven" a few years later.
Frank Zappa
2/5
Just Zappa and friends wanking on their instruments for what averages out to over 7 minutes per track. Thankfully, it’s mostly instrumental.
Korn
1/5
It’s hard to believe this album wasn’t written by 13 year old wannabe edgelords. Music is ok at best and the lyrics and vocal delivery are garbage.
The Velvet Underground
3/5
As with so much of VU/Lou Reed’s output it’s probably more influential than it is interesting or good. Not really something you want to settle down and just listen to.
Paul Revere & The Raiders
3/5
It’s mostly ok, but they’re not offering anything that the Stones or The Beach Boys didn’t do better.
Bob Marley & The Wailers
4/5
Pleasant enough mood music with topical lyrics. Relevant beyond its genre boundaries.
Beatles
3/5
The Harrison songs + Helter Skelter are very good, but the rest of the album is bland, vanilla filler. If it was trimmed down to about 7 or 8 songs it would be a decent album, but as it is it's far too bloated.
Astrud Gilberto
2/5
I really like much of her work, but between the child singing and the cheesy sounding organ this album is a pass for me.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
4/5
If the Nick Cave you know is the Nick of Murder Ballads or The Boatman’s Call, this album may be a shock. However, this album does track with his 2010s work. It’s brooding and absolutely laced with sorrow and dread. A solid album.
Suede
4/5
It’s like a post-punk David Bowie album, with the mood of a Nick Drake album. It’s good, but not as good as their self-titled album.
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
4/5
This brings back good memories of the before times. A solid indie-synth-pop album.
Bill Callahan
3/5
I went into this thinking I would like it, and the instrumentation and lyrics are great, but Callahan’s vocals really drag it down for me. His voice is very similar to Mark Kozelek’s, which is not something I enjoy. Maybe if the vocals weren’t so front and center in the mix this would work for me.
Spiritualized
4/5
I was expecting something totally different, and I was happy to be wrong. A bit of Britpop, a fair amount of Madchester, and healthy dashes of Krautock. Makes for a good roadtrip album.
Tom Waits
2/5
This isn't the worst Tom Waits album I’ve heard, but that is very faint praise. If the Muppets got really into Charles Bukowski and recorded an album, it would sound like this. Pretty tiresome. Even the album’s best song (16 Shells…) wears out its welcome well before it’s over. I don’t know who this is for, but it definitely isn’t me.
Television
3/5
This one always pops up on those lists of essential Post-punk albums, and I enjoy much of what is on those lists. This album, though, drags a bit. The instrumentation is good, if a bit repetitive, but many of these tracks go on far too long, and Verlaine’s vocals are pretty grating after a while.
Stylistically, it’s pretty closely related to the Talking Heads, with one foot in the glam scene and one in late 70s NYC punk, but the pace is much more languid than any of the above. Not bad, just not for me.
David Bowie
5/5
An easy 5 stars. One of Bowie’s best albums and a strong indication of the direction he was heading in the late 70s.
Turbonegro
4/5
I hadn’t thought about these guys in 20 years, and I suppose I never face them a chance back in the day. This is a really solid album, though. Punk rock with a fair amount of hard rock thrown in.
The Sensational Alex Harvey Band
2/5
The cabal who put this book together must think the pinnacle of music is “blues performed by sketchy white guys” because there is a lot of that nonsense on this list. At any given point this album is either dull or obnoxious. The best song on the album, Faith Healer, has been performed better by many others. Enough of this kind of garbage.
Iggy Pop
4/5
It's a really good, though not excellent, rock album. Bowie's presence is noticeable, but not as dominants as on The Idiot. Some really solid tracks, but there are a couple of fairly dull ones.
Hawkwind
3/5
I get that Hawkwind is a bit of a performance/jam oriented band, and the live recording captures some of that, but the production suffers as a result. These tracks are likely substantially stronger with better production and so the studio versions should be recommended before the live ones.
Arctic Monkeys
3/5
It's a pretty decent album, but I'm not sure why it's on this list. Artic Monkeys have better albums and there are better and more influential examples of the style.
Nina Simone
4/5
She’s very direct. Just about every emotion is expressed on this album from adoration to indignation. Not a fan of the blues but she even makes those tracks sound good.
The Blue Nile
3/5
Peter Gabriel meets “Let’s Dance” era Bowie with hints of Duran Duran. Not bad.
Alanis Morissette
2/5
It’s very 90s: Seattle-ish angst with a bit of a Britpop dressing. Her vocals get really tiring after a bit though.
The Verve
3/5
Pretty standard Britpop fare. Not bad, but nothing compelling.
Method Man
3/5
The highlights are pretty standard, and well executed, 90s rap fare. However, much of the album is experimental, dissonant, and often sparse creating an almost horror movie atmosphere. Not bad, but hard to get into.
Pantera
2/5
As a headbanger raised in East Texas, I’ve heard a lot of Pantera. The guitar and rhythm sections are pretty decent, but repetitive. Unfortunately, the lyrics are really dumb and Anselmo’s vocals are trash. Which makes sense as Anselmo is a garbage human being.
Metallica
3/5
I like early period Metallica quite a bit, and I also enjoy classical/symphonic music a lot. Together, though, it just doesn't work for me. It feels too sanitized or something.
Ali Farka Touré
4/5
It’s a pleasant enough album of West African music with a heavy dose of blues.
Jean-Michel Jarre
3/5
Very much a “variations on a theme” feel to this album. Some tracks sound like the soundtrack to a sci-fi B movie, and not in a bad way. Others sound like they could’ve been lifted from some motorik album by Neu! or Harmonia. And then there are the ones that could easily pass as new tracks by some synthwave outfit. Interesting enough, but I doubt I’ll come back to it.
Eagles
1/5
Not as bad as Hotel California, but it still sucks.
Stan Getz
5/5
It's unfortunate how many people just consider this "elevator music." There aren't too many better albums to put on while drinking coffee on a Sunday morning.
The Mothers Of Invention
2/5
I get what they were trying to do, but man is it annoying. No thanks.
Slipknot
2/5
Not as bad as I thought it'd be as I'm more familiar with their earlier stuff. A bit more melodic death and even some black metal elements to it. They are technically good musicians, but the songwriting is just... boring.
Gang Starr
4/5
It's a really solid album. You can hear the transition from 80s to 90s hip-hop styles.
Grizzly Bear
3/5
A pretty decent indie-pop album. Production and songwriting is good, but a lot of these songs don't feel like they really go anywhere. Shields is the superior Grizzly Bear album.
Radiohead
3/5
It’s Radiohead, so you kinda know what you’re gonna get. Not bad, but nothing really stands out.
Peter Gabriel
3/5
There are some pretty decent tracks on here, but most is progrock/art rock silliness.
Randy Newman
2/5
According to Wikipedia and whoever else this is a “roots rock” album. It’s not; it sounds like every other Randy Newman bit you’ve ever heard except this time he’s singing about hillbillies.
Ray Price
3/5
A good, classic country album, if that's your thing. Nothing really stands out.
Alice Cooper
3/5
I'm not terribly familiar with Alice Cooper's work, so what I was expecting was a lot of songs of the title track's ilk. Fortunately, much of the album is a good bit more subtle than that, ranging into glammy and proto-punk territory. Not bad.
The Stooges
4/5
Abrasively raw in the best way. There is zero polish on this record but it is dripping in a distilled rock-n-roll ethos.
The Divine Comedy
3/5
Not bad, but fades to the background pretty quickly.
Billie Holiday
4/5
By this point in her life, her voice had really begun to fade, though she hadn’t lost her soul. A lot about this album doesn’t suit her vocals, especially the orchestral swells and the soporific pace. It’s really a shame, as there was so much exciting work being done in jazz at this time that would have been a great fit for her.
Massive Attack
3/5
There’s some alright songs here, but nothing like the timeless tracks of Mezzanine.
Joy Division
5/5
Stripped down and noisy, but not raw. Largely built on the rhythm section with the guitar serving a largely textural role. And of course the whole thing revolves around Ian Curtis' distinctive voice. Probably more accessible than Unknown Pleasures for most listeners, but they didn't sacrifice anything for that.
Throwing Muses
4/5
This is much closer to the angular British post-punk of circa 1980 than the New England college rock of circa 1990. Surprisingly good.
John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers
2/5
It's like if Ned Flanders tried to play the blues. Not awful but very weak.
Buzzcocks
4/5
Really good classic punk rock in the style of, but superior to, Never Mind the Bollocks...
Fleetwood Mac
2/5
It has a couple of moments (Never Going Back Again, The Chain) but it’s mostly pretty dull soft rock nonsense.
Sugar
3/5
Being a Bob Mould project I went in thinking I would like it. Unfortunately it did not deliver. It’s not bad at all, and there are a couple of strong tracks, it’s just very inconsistent overall. However, if you’re ever asked to compile a soundtrack for a movie set in the 90s, and you just need something with “that sound,” here you go.
Joanna Newsom
4/5
I’m not even sure how to describe this, but I like it. Quite unlike just about anything else, but “freak folk” seems as good a description as any.
Jeff Beck
2/5
The guitar and rhythm sections are pretty great, but it all gets buried under the vocals. This is effectively a Rod Stewart album.
Hookworms
3/5
A good enough blend of electronic, psychedelic, and indie rock. Good, but not sure how it merits being on the list.
Skepta
2/5
After the first track I thought I’d like it, but it wore out its welcome really quickly. Weak, overly repetitive lyrics, forced rhymes, and some of the tracks are so similar I thought they were just continuations of the previous song. The only reason this isn’t lower is because the production is so good.
The Smiths
3/5
Probably the most Smiths sounding The Smiths album recorded, but not their best. The Headmaster Ritual and That Joke isn’t Funny Anymore” are strong tracks, but the rest feel like outtakes.
Pere Ubu
3/5
Whenever I see an album tagged as "art rock" or "art punk" I reflexively lower my expectations a bit. As expected, this one shows promise at times, but more often is off-putting, I suspect simply for the sake of being inaccessible. It's a bit like early B52s or Talking Heads, but more abrasive.
The Saints
4/5
It's a really solid early punk record with with overt nods to glam and pop. This one was a pleasant discovery for me.
Bee Gees
2/5
Cheesy, over-wrought, soft pop-rock in the vein of the Beatles at their least edgy. Even the Gibb's disco crap was better than this. The worst aspect of the whole thing is that you can detect, at times, real song-writing ability, but it's never developed. "Somebody Stop the Music" indeed.
Lorde
4/5
Deep, bassy, dark synthpop. This is a really solid album.
Beastie Boys
3/5
It's pretty good, but I don't get why this is considered peak Beastie Boys.
Carpenters
1/5
It’s like a caricature of trite, early 70s soft rock. I can’t find any redeeming qualities.
Fun Lovin' Criminals
3/5
It's not bad, but it is altogether forgettable.
White Denim
3/5
A fairly eclectic blend of Grizzly Bear, My Morning Jacket, and Zeppelin's jammier moments. Pretty good at times, but there is a fair amount of "filler."
G. Love & Special Sauce
2/5
Downtempo Red Hot Chili Peppers. No thanks.
Aretha Franklin
4/5
This album is not my thing, but it sure as hell is essential listening.
Underworld
3/5
Video game soundtrack music from one of those channels on GTA 1. It’s fine.
Kraftwerk
4/5
Both highly influential and quite good listening. These guys were doing quite a bit with, by today's standards, limited technology.
The Teardrop Explodes
4/5
Pretty solid, poppy post-punk. Reminds me a lot of The Chameleons.
The Avalanches
2/5
I’m really getting tired of these “sampledelia” albums, but it wouldn’t be fair to rate this one too harshly simply because it appeared on the list after several others of the type. So, in the interest of objectivity: it’s not terrible, but it wore out its welcome pretty quickly, which is unfortunate as it’s an hour long…
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
4/5
Probably a lot of people’s introduction to Nick Cave and co. Still a lot of that 80s post punk edge. Good stuff.
Pet Shop Boys
2/5
I grew up when the Pet Shop Boys were on the radio pretty regularly. I’m glad I heard that stuff (Actually, Behavior) before this as I’d have the impression that they are not a good band. It pains me to say it about any of their work, but this is kinda crap.
Joni Mitchell
3/5
This was better than expected; not my thing at all but pretty well done. A lot of it sounds like someone distilled the essence of 1970s America into music.
The Young Gods
3/5
I like industrial music a good bit, but this has very little that I like about industrial music. Not bad, just not my thing at all.
The Black Keys
4/5
I had only heard the radio singles before this, so I didn't expect much. However, the album is significantly better than those couple of tracks I had heard. Not bad at all.
Marilyn Manson
2/5
It was crap then and it’s still crap. He’s at his best when he’s ripping off NIN, which doesn’t happen as often as you’d think. At one point I thought the album had ended and started over, but it’s just that most of the songs sound the same and there was still over 20 minutes left! No thanks.
Bobby Womack
2/5
Very, very generic.
Wu-Tang Clan
4/5
I dig it.
Talvin Singh
3/5
I like a lot of Asian Underground music such as Niyaz and Cheb I Sabba. This one, though, is a bit too atmospheric. Seems suitable as background music at trendy spa.
Frankie Goes To Hollywood
2/5
An album so weak the band members themselves weren’t happy with it, yet someone thought “no, everyone must hear this.” Well, whoever you are, you’re very wrong. No one benefits from hearing this.
The Kinks
3/5
Not my thing at all, but it's pretty decent for what it is.
Jane Weaver
5/5
One of those albums you really need to hear through a good pair of headphones. Her vocals have a crystalline quality and give the impression of someone singing in a cathedral. This is over music that tends to float between the motorik realms of Cluster or Garmonia and the more pop oriented Curve and Stereolab. A very happy discovery.
Cornershop
3/5
It's a decent blend of very 90s Britpop, Boho Indie, and hints of the Asian Underground movement that was just over the horizon. With all that said, it is not the most engaging of listens.
The Chemical Brothers
3/5
It’s not bad.
Living Colour
2/5
On the couple of occasions when they’re rocking, they’re really on it. But the rest of the time? It’s just not good at all. I wanted to like it, but no dice.
Kacey Musgraves
3/5
Surprisingly good mixture of country and pop with elements of soft rock, occasionally hurt by overwrought production.
Elliott Smith
4/5
Quite good, if not as good as Figure 8, but definitely more typical of his sound.
Solomon Burke
3/5
It's significantly better than a lot of the copycats you see on this list. His talent is obvious, but it is still not really my thing.
Booker T. & The MG's
3/5
Some of it, such as the title track, I really like, and none of it is objectively bad... but I think I just really don't like the Hammond Organ as a lead instrument.
Merle Haggard
4/5
Albums like this make you realize how good country can be when the artist is talented and actually gives a shit about the music.
Green Day
4/5
So many bangers on this album, but still a bit too much that is middling. If it was trimmed down a bit it would be 5 stars.
The Police
3/5
I'm not sure I've ever had so much trouble having an opinion about anything. The musicianship is competent and the music isn't bad necessarily, but it just doesn't elicit any feeling in me whatsoever, which I guess is a complaint? Is art bad if it makes you feel like an emotionless robot?
Paul Simon
3/5
It’s very much what you’d expect from Paul Simon in the 80s. If you like his stuff you’ll probably really enjoy this; otherwise it’s just ok.
David Ackles
2/5
It’s like showtunes without a show. No freaking thanks.
Shuggie Otis
4/5
Not my thing, but it's objectively good.
Prefab Sprout
2/5
DO NOT JUDGE THIS ALBUM BY ITS COVER... it's nowhere near as cool as the cover or album title would have you believe.
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
4/5
Never enjoyed Tom’s later period stuff, but this is pretty good. Like an American Elvis Costello with hints of Fleetwood Mac (but way better than FM).
Earth, Wind & Fire
3/5
There’s a lot that’s good here, but there’s also lot that just seems a little out of place, like an unnecessarily ornate frame for an understated watercolor painting.
Beyoncé
3/5
Lyrically it is pretty strong, but musically it it isn’t anything special. Of course, this is well outside of my wheelhouse so take my perspective with a heap of salt.
Eric Clapton
1/5
Dear god this is bad. Most of the songs are covers of better musicians’ works, but Clayton’s original pieces are even worse. Dull beyond measure.
Big Black
4/5
How much of the Wax Trax/Chicago scene was trying to replicate this sound? Pretty much all of it. Certainly not meant for broad appeal but checks a lot of boxes for me.
Hot Chip
3/5
It has a few strongish synthpop moments, but a lot is just your basic disco/edm.
Pavement
4/5
Like the Pixies without the quiet parts and with the dissonance turned up to 10. If you walked into any record store in a college town in the mid 90s you’d likely hear this playing.
Pixies
4/5
A bit of a departure from Surfer Rosa and Doolittle, but it's still decidedly a Pixies album. Solid, but not up to the excellent standard of its predecessors.
Talking Heads
3/5
It’s certainly ahead of its time, has that post-punk quirk, and the songwriting is pretty good. I probably won’t listen to it again, though.
The Thrills
2/5
It’s an off-putting blend of the Doobie Brothers, Arcade Fire, and “Exile…” era Rolling Stones. The result is a languid indie-folk/country pop record. Really not into it at all.
The Velvet Underground
4/5
As usual, VU delivers a solid album that is streets ahead.
Cream
4/5
Never thought I’d say this about something Clapton was involved in, but it’s not bad. The strengths are primarily with Baker’s drumming and Bruce’s vocals, though.
The Beach Boys
4/5
Never been much of a fan of the Beach Boys surfin'/hot-roddin' stuff, but this is not the bubblegum sound of their earlier years. There is some of that, but there is more substance in the music, arrangements, and production that add up to a really solid album. Can't get enough of that "wall of sound."
Buffalo Springfield
4/5
Better than I expected. Given the roster I was expecting a lot of CSNY adjacent stuff, and that is present, but the album is a good bit more eclectic.
Beck
3/5
It's pretty standard Beck; most of the songs sound the same. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but it isn't notable, either.
Sister Sledge
2/5
It's just your basic, cheesy disco stuff. No thanks.
The Dandy Warhols
4/5
I liked this one a good bit, but I can’t see why it’s so essential that it belongs on this list.
Led Zeppelin
4/5
Led Zeppelin seem to have been one of the few rock bands of the era that built off the Blues without stooping to affectation. Some of their best tracks are on here, but there are still too many yawn-inducers.
Beatles
4/5
One of their better albums, with hints of their earlier pop phase but leaning more heavily toward their psych-rock sound.
Mudhoney
3/5
A lot of this is solid, mid-period grunge, which is great for getting a feel for what the pre-Nevermind sound was like. Dissonant yet accessible. They really lost me with that harmonica nonsense though.
The Boo Radleys
3/5
My Bloody Valentine meets Head on the Door era Cure and take-your-pick of mid 90s alt-pop bands. Not bad, but not particularly memorable.
Sepultura
3/5
It's alright, though very much a product of the mid-90s. There are a few solid tracks, but the album would need to be seriously trimmed down to be great.
The Rolling Stones
5/5
While there are a couple of tracks that don't carry their own weight (looking at you Midnight Rambler), the strength of the album as a whole is undeniable. It deserves 5 stars for Gimme Shelter alone.
Arrested Development
3/5
The production and the mixing are skillfully done, if a bit dated. Very positive lyrics. I’ve got nothing bad to say about it, but it’s just not my thing at all.
David Bowie
5/5
Probably not the most iconic or the subtlest of Bowie albums, but it’s still excellent. The Lou Reed/Velvet Underground influences are apparent, marking a shift in style from Bowie’s previous work.
XTC
4/5
There are quite a few good songs, and enough variation that you don’t feel like you’re listening to the same few ideas over and over again.
The Divine Comedy
2/5
Somewhere, a community theater is missing it's acTOR. Pretentious, self-indulgent nonsense. If this guy could get over himself he could probably write a few decent songs.
Nick Drake
5/5
My least favorite Nick Drake album - a bit too easy listening at times - but it's still an easy 5 stars.
Lauryn Hill
4/5
Not really my thing, but way better than expected.
The Crusaders
2/5
Elevator music with hints of disco. Hard pass.
Deep Purple
3/5
Not a big fan of live albums, but this one is alright. Definitely planting the seeds for Iron Maiden and Judas Priest.
Arcade Fire
4/5
This is peak Arcade Fire and a huge influence on a lot of the paint-by-numbers indie bands that came after. It is a good album on its own merits.
Sigur Rós
3/5
They’re talented enough, and the music is “pretty,” but just kind of boring.
Goldie
2/5
It’s fine I guess? Very repetitive and most of the songs sound like all the other songs. I lost track.
Dire Straits
3/5
This is one of those 80s rock albums like Born in the USA or Sports that was extremely popular without sitting comfortably in any of the more popular rock genres of the time. It is pretty decent, but it sounds so, so dated now.
The Lemonheads
4/5
It’s a very likable album; accessible and a bit catchy with bits of dissonance here and there in that old college rock way. Enjoyable, but I’m not sure why it’s on the list.
The Sonics
4/5
Pretty decent early garage rock. Sits somewhere between Jerry Lee Lewis and the Stooges.
Richard Hawley
3/5
It’s alright. A more polished, and more boring version of Johnny Cash’s American records. Nothing memorable.
LTJ Bukem
2/5
I’m not even convinced this is multiple different songs, much less a compilation of multiple artists. It all sounds exactly the same, and it never ends…
Bruce Springsteen
3/5
Pretty good, but man, what a downer.
Public Enemy
5/5
One of the top hip-hop albums of all time, carried by the strengths of Chuck D’s lyrics and Terminator X’s beats.
10cc
2/5
Sounds like a blend of 70s soft-rock and progrock; neither are styles I enjoy.
Love
3/5
It’s pretty generic psychedelic rock. Nothing memorable.
Kings of Leon
3/5
Much better than the other KoL album on the list, but still not all that good. I doubt I’ll ever listen to it again on purpose.
Peter Gabriel
4/5
One thing I’ve always respected about Peter Gabriel has been his willingness to experiment and his seeming lack of concern about doing what will sell. The results aren’t always accessible, but they’re at least always interesting. This album is a perfect example of that approach.
Holger Czukay
4/5
I quite like Can, but I wasn’t sure what to expect from a Czukay solo album. I ended up liking it quite a bit. It’s a bit kosmische, a bit spacey, and even a bit post-punk. Not bad at all.
Bob Dylan
2/5
Getting a Bob Dylan album in this list is like being told you have to sit next to your aunt’s tiresome second husband at thanksgiving. You go into it hoping it won’t be like last year and everyone says he’s a good guy, but he monopolizes the conversation and you’re bored to tears while all the good times are happening elsewhere.
Outside of “Like a Rolling Stone” it’s more typical, self-indulgent Dylan with unnecessary harmonica solos.
Queen Latifah
3/5
Old-school hip-hop. Pretty decent at times, but fairly annoying at others.
Can
4/5
Seminal Krautrock, but it's not the motorik of Neu!, or Harmonia, but more like the free-form jams of fellow German outfit Amon Duul II. Good stuff if a bit too experimental for casual listening.
The Rolling Stones
3/5
Look, I love the Stones, but this just isn’t anything special. There are a couple of pretty good songs, notably the ones they wrote, but the rest are just inferior covers of other artists’ works.
Bob Dylan
2/5
This is slightly better than any of the other dozen or so Dylan albums on this list as it seems a bit less self-indulgent, but his voice is still pretty off-putting and there is still too much harmonica.
D'Angelo
4/5
I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I liked it. Soul with a nice bit of jazz. Not a style I’m very familiar with but I think it does merit a place on this list.
Hole
4/5
Say what you want about Courtney Love, but this album is a banger.
The Bees
2/5
It’s fine I guess. Fairly dull indie psychedelia.
Bruce Springsteen
3/5
It’s alright. Probably the most Springsteeny album to ever have Sprungsteen.
Lynyrd Skynyrd
2/5
Outside the hits, it's a pretty underwhelming collection of 70s country-rock.
Marvin Gaye
3/5
One of those classic albums that's a classic for a reason. Not my style, but it is very culturally relevant.
2Pac
4/5
I can’t pretend to be especially cultured in hip-hop, but damn this is impressive.
Björk
2/5
I'm not going to be able to enjoy this album until MDMA becomes a lot more accessible.
The Beau Brummels
3/5
Somewhere between Pentangle, Procol Harum, and the Velvet Underground, with vocals that are a bit reminiscent of Dylan. Not bad actually.
Rod Stewart’s vocals are like condom: it doesn’t matter how good the music is, that voice is going to come between you and whatever you’re supposed to experience from the rest of the band.
Judas Priest
3/5
There are obviously some metal (NWOBHM) classics such as “Metal Gods” and “Breaking the Law” on here, but so much of the rest of the album is just middling butt-rock. If you’re only going to have one Priest album in the book, that album should be Painkiller.
Bob Marley & The Wailers
4/5
Even though it’s not a style I get into, I enjoyed it.
Fela Kuti
3/5
There are two main tracks on this album, "Zombie" and Mr. Follow Follow;" both are pretty good but they are far too long at over 12 minutes a piece. It's hard not to lose interest in them after 7 minutes or so.
Christina Aguilera
1/5
So, it’s just very “basic” pop songs dressed up with vintage samples and jazz/blues/r&b/vaudeville/kitchen sink flourishes. It is boring and repetitive, and what good will I had was gone 45 minutes in… and there was another 30 minutes remaining. Nope.
Gram Parsons
2/5
Not objectively bad, but I just couldn’t get into it at all.
The Prodigy
2/5
It’s alright. The songs themselves aren’t bad, but to me they all sound the same. Background music at best.
Portishead
5/5
Maybe the apex of trip-hop. Solid songwriting and exquisite production from beginning to end. The weakest songs on here are still really good.
James Brown
2/5
James Brown's importance to soul, Rock and Roll, R&B, and even modern pop are undeniable. However, this album isn't the best to illustrate his significance as, with most live albums, the production is not great.
The Style Council
2/5
There’s a good bit of almost everything on this album: chamber pop, soul, hard bop, a rather uninspired rap, and what can only be described as “80s montage music.” With one major exception (Dropping Bombs on the Whitehouse), it’s a bland, self-serious album. You get the impression that these guys would rather be gazing wistfully out of rain soaked coffeehouse windows in Soho.
Neneh Cherry
2/5
For an album with such a thirsty cover, it’s a remarkably unsexy album. More late 80s radio friendly dance pop, and it sounds very dated. I can’t think of a better example of the New Jack Swing style and, for me at least, that’s not a great thing.
Blood, Sweat & Tears
2/5
This came out in the late 60s, but you could be forgiven for assuming it was from the mid-70s. It’s a mix of roots rock and jazz that doesn’t really gel, with a vocalist that sounds like James Brown and John Fogerty had a love child. An unfortunate amount of soft rock feels.
Ray Charles
4/5
A pretty damn good early pop record. Not my style of music at all, but I still found it a good, enjoyable listen. Much better than the hyper-polished Vegas crooner stuff.
Julian Cope
4/5
I’d heard the name Julian Cope many times, but really didn’t know what to expect going into it. Not bad at all. A bit of psychedelia, but a good bit more post-punk and Berlin-era Bowie, with a strong Velvet Underground feel coursing through the whole thing. Pretty solid.
Songhoy Blues
4/5
Really infectious rhythms and solid production.
Fairport Convention
3/5
Not my favorite Fairport album, but they were moving in the right direction.
Lupe Fiasco
4/5
It’s really quite good. Hard to believe this is a debut album as it’s so fully realized. Sits somewhere between Kanye and Childish Gambino.
Dexys Midnight Runners
3/5
It's not bad, just a... lot. Quirky like the love interest in an indie rom-com; I can see why some people like them, but they're not for me.
Minor Threat
4/5
Not my favorite form of punk rock, but its influence is undeniable. Short and sweet.
Bee Gees
2/5
Some of the music is alright when they're not trying to be the Beatles, but dear god are the vocals annoying. The Gibbs' voices is like a mosquito in my ear. And it goes on for over an hour.
Joni Mitchell
2/5
It’s very “writerly” and more than a little self-indulgent. Jazzy and poppy in the most boring way possible.
B.B. King
3/5
I appreciate the talent involved, but man does this get boring fast. Not my style at all.
Pavement
4/5
The album that is being played in hundreds of college town record shops at this very moment, and deservedly so. Dissonant and irreverent like The Fall, but not so sparse. Loads of overdriven melody and fuzzy textures. This is what the 90s sounds like in my memories.
Ella Fitzgerald
3/5
She had a fantastic voice, but this is far too polished for my tastes. It sounds more like the soundtrack to a Disney film then a showcase for a generational vocal talent.
Jungle Brothers
3/5
Pretty good 80s hip-hop. Crazy to think how this stuff made the WASPs in my small hometown clutch their pearls like Martha Wayne.
Soul II Soul
1/5
The music fairly dull though tolerable at times, but most of vocals... are really bad. Like they wouldn't get through auditions for a middle school talent show bad.
Morrissey
4/5
Peak Morrissey. The album starts off aggressive and dark, but slows and mellows down a bit to become more depressive and... dark.
The Birthday Party
3/5
As much as I like Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, I was seriously dreading this album based on my experience with their debut album and, frankly, the cover art (I mean, look at it). And, it’s noisy as hell… but, it’s noisy in the good way, like Big Black or the Pixies. Not as good as those, but significantly better than expectations.
Wilco
5/5
As much Wilco as I’ve heard, I’ve never really sat and listened to YHF. Now I have, and it actually lives up to the hype. Not exactly my thing, but there’s something here for everyone and it’s objectively excellent.
Klaxons
3/5
It’s pretty basic indie rock. Not bad but entirely forgettable.
Beatles
4/5
It is definitely an early Beatles album, but it’s influences are obvious: 1950s rock, rhythm and blues, and moments of western and surf. Sometimes you can even catch hints of the Beatles to come. Overall, a fairly interesting album with a couple of standout tracks, but it does start to wear thin towards the end.
System Of A Down
2/5
I thought I was going to like this based on the SoaD songs I’ve heard, but I found it mostly dull and, at times, annoying.
Rocket From The Crypt
3/5
Pretty decent garage-punk with Costello influences.
Heaven 17
3/5
Me: Mom, can we have Kraftwerk?
Mom: We have Kraftwerk at home.
Kraftwerk at home:
Michael Kiwanuka
4/5
I’d never heard of this artist and really had no idea what to expect. It’s a pretty good indie rock/folk/pop album.
The Stranglers
4/5
Another one I had never heard of, but I’m glad I’ve heard it. It’s a cornucopia of punk-adjacent jams. You get your sparse art-punk, reminiscent of Suicide, your loud garage-punk, some abrasive punk along the lines of CRASS, and even some post-punk that can only be the inspiration for The Fall. Good stuff.
David Bowie
5/5
The most Berlin of the Bowie's Berlin albums. This is not the Bowie of Hunky Dory, Ziggy Stardust, or Let's Dance. It's experimental and much of it is unstructured. The Bowie album for Neu! fans.
Sly & The Family Stone
2/5
A bit boring if I'm being honest.
Yes
3/5
It's a typical but not bad prog-rock album. A couple of interesting flourishes here and there, but not particularly memorable.
Fever Ray
4/5
Atmospheric, moody, and delightfully strange. Dark, downtempo synthpop. I dig it.
Iggy Pop
4/5
It's moody and a bit unsettling. One hell of a debut album.
Marvin Gaye
4/5
It’s pretty damn good.
4/5
Just banger after banger. Then some unfortunate harmonica. Then more bangers. Overall quite good.
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
3/5
It's alright. If you've heard any other Costello album, and if you've been doing this list you almost certainly have, then you've basically heard this album.
If you cut all the Costello and Dylan from this list it would be half as long.
Beatles
4/5
Look, it's a good enough album objectively. But at this point, pop culture has been so saturated with these songs that it's impossible to not be a bit jaded about them.
Cheap Trick
4/5
I like Cheap Trick, and I think this is well done for a live album. Nevertheless, I’d rather listen to the studio recordings any day.
Traffic
2/5
I'm just not a fan of this country-rock stuff, so it's hard to be objective. To me it just sounds like every other American jam band of the period. Yawn.
Fiona Apple
2/5
This is… alright. Really not my thing at all and frankly it’s a bit boring.
Rufus Wainwright
3/5
His voice is pleasant enough, but if you told me this was just an unauthorized compilation of Radiohead outtakes I’d believe you.
3/5
It’s not bad at all, but for an album that took so long and caused so much drama it sure isn’t remarkable.
The Jesus And Mary Chain
4/5
The thing about Jesus and Mary Chain is you kinda always know what you're going to get. This might be another one that is more notable due to its (sizable) influence rather than its inherent quality. A very enjoyable listen but nothing that is going to challenge you.
Happy Mondays
4/5
I went into this with zero expectations. Into the first couple of songs I wasn't digging it, but after a while it strangely started to grow one me. It has a bit of "The Top" era The Cure in it along with some of The Fall's snark. Infectious in an indescribable way.
Roni Size
2/5
Was this even multiple songs? Because I could swear it's just one long, boring, song. I didn't even realize when the album started over.
Bebel Gilberto
3/5
I like Bossa Nova and most anything that comes out of the Gilbertoverse, but this was a bit too slick and polished. Also, some of the songs were pretty annoying.
Deep Purple
3/5
I like Deep Purple well enough, and "Child in Time" is a banger, but a lot of this starts to drag. Three Deep Purple albums on the list may be a bit much when that leaves no room for appearances by some other great metal acts.
Weather Report
2/5
You know the canned music your local TV station uses for their dated midmorning news and affairs show? This is that.
Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark
3/5
Not bad if you like REALLY melodramatic synth-pop. Otherwise? Pretty dull.
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band
2/5
Ok, I tried, and I tried again. Then I saw that it was produced by Frank Zappa, and yeah, that tracks.
I just can't get through this. Diamanda Galas albums are more accessible than this album. I'm not saying it has no value, but who the hell is this even for?
The White Stripes
3/5
Many of these songs have real potential to be quite good, but most never go anywhere. A lot go on far too long or get annoying after a few measures.
k.d. lang
2/5
An adequate country-pop album, but nothing special.
TV On The Radio
4/5
It's a pretty solid synth-pop album; I like it. And it seems to offer more on each subsequent listen.
Jane's Addiction
4/5
If you spent any time around a college campus in the 90s, then you've probably heard this album. I liked it this time around more than I remembered. It was probably just a bit overplayed in my youth.
Finley Quaye
3/5
Not bad, but it’s a melange of styles (dub, blues, soul, et al) that I don’t really get into.
The White Stripes
3/5
Pretty decent garage rock album, but nothing I’m going to return to.
Brian Eno
4/5
Unique and well executed. The first half is art rock in the style of Talking Heads, which I read was an homage. The second half is much more atmospheric, reminiscent of some of Bowie’s Berlin work.
Madness
3/5
It's actually alright, but it may have benefited from my very low expectations of what a "ska" album could be.
Steely Dan
2/5
Marginally better than Aja, but that is a seriously low bar. Only saved from 1 star by "King of the World" being pretty decent.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
3/5
I like Nick Cave quite a bit; enough to play one of his songs at my wedding. But, I think Murder Ballads gets way more cred than it deserves.
CHIC
2/5
It’s another disco album, with all that implies. I guess if you like disco you’ll really like this album. Not for me, but a bit better than Risqué.
Joe Ely
4/5
A well executed country rock album. This is the sound that a lot of current country musicians are trying and failing to emulate.
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
4/5
The music is good, the production is warm, and the instrumentation is excellent… but it’s over 2 hours long! By the time you reach the last quarter it has totally worn out its welcome.
Venom
4/5
Fuck yeah! The album that spawned so many -metal bands. Fundamental listening for fans of death metal, thrash, NWOBHM, crust-punk, and obviously black metal. It does suffer a bit from muddy production unfortunately.
Genesis
2/5
Not awful, but like so much of this era’s prog rock bands, they seemed like they’re trying to show off their writing and/or playing chops at the expense of making something good to listen to. Pretty boring by the third song.
Leftfield
3/5
Of all the many, many 90s dance/electronica albums on the list, this one seems to be the most interesting. Each track is actually distinct from the others and none are terribly repetitive. Toni Halliday’s and John Lydon’s guest vocals are stand-outs.
Roxy Music
4/5
A pretty mixed bag: 3 or 4 really good tracks, while the rest is rather middling and more than a bit self-indulgent in the way one expects from Bryan Ferry.
Wire
5/5
One of the best albums of the post-punk era. Structured, but noisy and angular in the best way.
Bruce Springsteen
3/5
It’s pretty standard Springsteen fare; alright but not notable.
Ash
3/5
Pretty decent 90s era alt/Brit/indie-rock with strong pop inclinations.
Giant Sand
2/5
This is a decent enough noisy alt-rock album, but there is nothing that draws me in or makes me want to return to any of it.
Jefferson Airplane
4/5
A couple of bangers on here, but the rest is pretty solid too. Also nice to hear an album from he era that isn’t another cookie cutter blues-rock product.
Tim Buckley
2/5
Before I listened to this album I thought I liked Tim Buckley. Alas, after 45 minutes that seemed like hours of music that must’ve been inspired by, and recorded while, laying in bed, I realized that not all of Buckley’s output reaches the quality of “Song to the Siren” or that of his own son.
Aretha Franklin
4/5
While I'm not expert in this style of music, I can see why she was held in such high regard. Talent for days.
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
4/5
I like this rock-n-roll Neil way more than country/roots-rock (CSNY) Neil.
Dr. Octagon
2/5
It seems like they had a lot of fun writing and recording this, but I didn’t have much fun listening to it, despite trying to.
Nine Inch Nails
3/5
I really like NIN and have since Pretty Hate Machine came out. Unfortunately, this is such a product of its time - with all its angst and desire to shock - that I never really got into it like I have with other NIN releases. It’s a good enough album, but it pales in comparison to the band’s whole discography.
John Prine
3/5
It’s like Bob Dylan with better vocals and no distracting harmonica.
Miles Davis
5/5
One of the best jazz albums out from a year of jazz classics. In the top tier of albums on this list.
The Streets
3/5
I’m a bit ambivalent about this one. It’s a great, and at times wrenching, story. Unfortunately, the delivery is pretty flat and gets tiresome quickly. I think if you approach it more as a spoken-word rather than a rap album it works better.
The Only Ones
4/5
I wasn’t familiar with this band before, so this was a fairly pleasant discovery. They seem to get characterized as power-pop but to me they feel a good bit closer to the snark and edge of a Wire or a Magazine.
Q-Tip
3/5
I liked it alright, but I can't say I'll ever return to it. "Move" is quite good though.
Le Tigre
4/5
Delightfully angular and loud in the best traditions of the art-punk movement. If you told me this album was from 1978 I’d believe you.
Youssou N'Dour
3/5
Not bad if you like this era of West African music.
Kanye West
4/5
Early Kanye is so much better than the later “head up his own arse” Kanye.
Meat Loaf
2/5
I get that the melodrama is kind of the point, but that doesn't make this any good to listen to. I'll always prefer to remember him as Robert Paulson, anyway.
The xx
4/5
I never really gave this album much time as I didn’t really care for the singles, but the album tracks are really quite good. Very downtempo and atmospheric.
Caetano Veloso
3/5
This is one I was sure I was going to like going in as it checked a couple of boxes for me. Unfortunately, it's more than a bit underwhelming.
Linkin Park
1/5
Bland, over-polished rock-rap with generic angsty lyrics that I can only assume were written by a 14 year-old in the back of his English notebook after missing the point of Fight Club. At one point he actually screams “shut up!” over and over like a child in a fight with their big brother.
The Zutons
2/5
It’s not often that an album makes no impression on me at all, but that was the case here. Nothing memorable, and nothing to report.
Michael Jackson
3/5
Michael Jackson was a very talented songwriter who could write music that appealed to all types of music fans, but Thriller this ain’t. While there are some strong tracks, particularly on the second half, much of it is forgettable pop filler.
2/5
Well, that’s done And now I know what being on cocaine sounds like.
American Music Club
3/5
It's pretty good, Americana-infused alt rock. Both atmospheric and melodic and well executed, but it doesn't really go anywhere or do anything memorable.
Dennis Wilson
3/5
Very much a 1970s soft-rock album, but with chops. A bit atmospheric yet structured, and with really good production. Well executed, but not my thing.
Willie Nelson
3/5
This one is a mixed bag. There are some quality western (read: not C&W) tunes as well as some surprisingly well done covers of pop classics, but much of it comes across as Willie singing over bad karaoke tracks.
Gorillaz
3/5
It's well written and the production is solid but, for me at least, it just isn't that interesting.
Funkadelic
4/5
Funk really isn’t my thing, but I can see why people enjoy it. This is a pretty approachable example of the style, with tracks that should also appeal to soul and rock fans.
Paul McCartney
2/5
It’s not bad, but let’s be honest: if this wasn’t the product of an ex-Beatle no one would have cared.
Led Zeppelin
4/5
Several tiers above what most of the blues-adjacent rock bands were producing during this time. However, I do not get the obsession with "Stairway..." as it isn't even the second-best song on IV, much less the best Zeppelin song.
UB40
3/5
It's not bad at all for a reggae meets British new wave record.
Elastica
4/5
While this is about 15 years too late to be post-punk and 5 years too early for the post-punk revival, it’s a better fit with either of those than it is with the Britpop genre it is so frequently pigeonholed as. Pretty solid, and I’ll take it over Oasis anytime.
The Stone Roses
4/5
Surprisingly catchy psychedelic indie rock. Sounds years ahead of its time.
Franz Ferdinand
3/5
This is a good enough, Modest Mouse-adjacent, album. Not sure what it does to belong in the book though.
The Byrds
3/5
Wasn’t sure what I was going to get, partially due to me always confusing The Byrds with The Yardbirds. Anyways, it’s a pretty decent and surprisingly atmospheric rock album for the time.
Grateful Dead
3/5
It’s alright if you like sings for hippies to sing around the campfire, which I suppose has its appeal.
Solange
4/5
I'm not generally a fan of this type of R&B/Pop, but this is just really well written and produced. A shame that she's not a bigger deal than she is.
R.E.M.
4/5
Maybe not the most well-known REM album, but to me their quintessential album. Bridges their earlier college-rock sound with their 90s folk-rock sound.
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
2/5
Here’s the thing: all four of these guys are accomplished musicians and songwriters. But maybe, the four of them together is a bit much and the end result suffers for it. This album is everything I dislike about 70s music: cheesy vocal harmonies, easy listening tunes, and country western affectations. It is only saved from one star by a couple of moments in “Almost Cut My Hair” and “Country Girl.”
The Associates
3/5
At last we have an answer to the question: "What if Bowie, but on Syd Barrett amounts of acid?"
Not a bad listen, exactly, but a bit challenging.
Steve Earle
3/5
A bit hit or miss for me. The misses are mostly just in a style I don’t enjoy, but the hits are solid examples of 80s country rock.
Fleetwood Mac
3/5
Another entry from one of the 20th century’s most overrated bands. Better than Rumours by some margin, but still fairly middling.
Megadeth
3/5
Once again, excellent riffs and lead guitar, but Mustaine's vocals are shit. Marginally better than Rust in Peace, but frustrating that there is a slot for this album, but not Painkiller, Ride the Lightning, or anything by Sleep.
Sebadoh
4/5
This is everything I like about 90s indie rock: dissonant, lo-fi, and tinged with punk energy.
Killing Joke
4/5
Not even my favorite of Killing Joke's self-titled albums, but still great in all its moody glory.
Big Star
4/5
This album starts with a glammy pop track, but becomes increasingly moody and more reminiscent of late 60s English psychedelia. It grew on me with repeated listening.
The Go-Betweens
3/5
Pretty decent 80s jangly alt-rock in the vein of The Church. Nothing memorable, however.
Creedence Clearwater Revival
2/5
Thankfully the last, and most tolerable, of the CCR albums on this list. There are even a couple of decent tracks ("Bad Moon..." and "Sinister Purpose").
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
2/5
Way better than his stuff with CSNY, but still a bit too much falsetto and easy listening. “Cinnamon Girl” and “Cowgirl in the Sand” are strong though.
Doves
4/5
This falls neatly in line with much of the music I like: moody indie-rock with a post-punk edge. It appeals to me personally, but I can’t say it belongs on this list.
Jimi Hendrix
5/5
Such a fantastic album; possibly the best on the list. Like a comforting blanket of fuzz and feedback.
Aerosmith
1/5
Talented musicians and Steven Tyler making the dullest butt-rock imaginable. The best song on the album sounds like their A&R man demanded a Zeppelin Lite tune for radio. And the lyrics probably dropped my IQ by a whole standard deviation, which I unfortunately no longer understand.
M.I.A.
4/5
Hip-hop and dance music with both dense production and a DIY feel. This album is like a Bosch painting: while the vocals may catch your attention in the foreground, there are a million other things going on in the background. It makes for a fun and interesting listen.
Machito
4/5
Jazz with loads of Caribbean and Latin percussion. A very enjoyable, and energetic listen.
Nas
3/5
I like it well enough, but there's nothing here that stands out to me.
Girls Against Boys
4/5
I’m not sure how this flew under my radar for over 30 years. It is squarely within my wheelhouse and teenage me would’ve eaten this shut up, yet I never heard of it. It sounds a bit like if Hüsker Dü hired the drummer from Ministry and then made an album with Steve Albini. If I wasn’t clear, I dig it.
Jerry Lee Lewis
2/5
It’s alright, but would probably be better if a) it was not a live album and b) if it wasn’t made by a scumbag.
Leonard Cohen
4/5
Leonard Cohen was a great songwriter, and that shows on a number of these tracks; "First We Take Manhattan" is fantastic. Unfortunately, the production is a bit much at times and gets in the way of the writing. In addition, "Jazz Police" is just crap.
The Monkees
2/5
It's better than their stuff for TV, but it's still wholly forgettable.
Duke Ellington
4/5
If you stick to the tracks from the original release you’ll be good, as they are class. But much of the CD release is just Ellington talking and a few solos, which wear thin after a while.
T. Rex
4/5
I wasn't surprised to hear a glammy pop-rock album, but I was surprised that it was pretty freaking good.
Alexander 'Skip' Spence
4/5
I suspect this album isn’t well received on here, but I think it’s pretty solid. I’ve been listening to it off and in for a few years and it is quite difficult to nail down, but makes me think “what if Tim Buckley dropped tons of acid with Syd Barrett?”
Stephen Stills
2/5
Pretty much a “who’s who” of circa 1970 musicians, including Jimi Hendrix. Overall, though, fairly meh.
The Rolling Stones
4/5
I really like the Rolling Stones, and I know to many of their fans this is their masterpiece, but to me there’s just too much blues-rock for my taste. There are several good songs so, overall it’s still a good album, but too many skippable tracks to warrant 5 stars.
Supergrass
3/5
It’s kind of a power-pop-punk amalgam. It’s not bad, but I doubt I’ll ever make the choice to listen to it again.
3/5
A good bit better than Definitely Maybe but still pretty vanilla.
Justin Timberlake
2/5
13 sophomoric songs in which Justin tries to convince girls to have sex with him. And they all sound like bad MJ outtakes.
Traffic
2/5
How novel: a circa 1970 album by a British band performing blues-/country-rock…
Randy Newman
2/5
I’m not sure who this is for, but it ain’t me.
The Kinks
4/5
If you close your eyes and imagine the quintessential late Brit Invasion/early psychedelic rock you’ll imagine this. And it’s pretty solid, quaint production and all.
4/5
I was familiar with PJ Harvey and liked what I’d heard well enough, but this was new to me. It’s a very good album that deserves the hype it gets.
Buddy Holly & The Crickets
3/5
This is exactly what you’re thinking when you think of Buddy Holly: more or less wholesome rock(-abilly) in small, catchy doses. Makes you wonder what could’ve been.
Faust
5/5
One of the quintessential Krautrock albums, and not a bad introduction to the genre for the uninitiated. It sits somewhere between the structured arrangements of someone like Cluster and the more jam oriented Amon Düül. Rightfully a classic.
Echo And The Bunnymen
4/5
Goth-adjacent jangly pop, and it is quite good. I knew quite a few people in college in the 90s who swore this was a masterpiece. I’m not going that far, but it’s pretty solid.
Manic Street Preachers
3/5
It’s not bad at all, but it’s just a bit… meh. Baroque Pop instrumentation with hard rock style vocals on top. Ok.
The Byrds
4/5
Of all the releases in the Crosbyverse, this may be my favorite: a solidly psychedelic rock album.
Gang Of Four
5/5
One of the quintessential post-punk albums, and a great work all around. Several bangers and no filler. Swinging bass, angular guitars, and socially conscious lyrics. No complaints.
Ministry
3/5
As much as I like Ministry, I’ve just never gotten the love for this album. There are a couple of pretty solid tracks (especially Scarecrow), but there’s a lot of filler. And “Jesus Built My Hotrod” is just annoying.
The Mind is a Terrible Thing to Taste is similar in style and significantly better.
Lucinda Williams
3/5
It’s a pretty decent country-rock album, but not my thing.
Brian Eno
4/5
One of those albums that is more influential than it is enjoyable, which is not to say it’s a poor album at all.
Put another way: “Look closely at the most embarrassing details and amplify them”
Public Image Ltd.
4/5
I like PiL, and I like the genre overall, but I’m not sure why this would be an essential Post-punk album. It’s pretty good, but Entertainment!, Real Life, or Jane from Occupied Europe are all better and more interesting.
Amy Winehouse
3/5
Look, she’s really good at what she does, as are all the other musicians involved, but it’s not really original or innovative is it?
Simple Minds
3/5
A pretty solid New Romantic album that should appeal to fans of Duran Duran, OMD, et al.
The Flying Burrito Brothers
3/5
It’s fairly well executed psychedelic country-rock. Really not my thing, though.
Ravi Shankar
5/5
This stuff hits every bit of my soul just right.
Destiny's Child
2/5
This is just some pretty basic, and dated, dance pop. I guess it’s significant as part of Beyoncé’s origin story, but it’s pretty dull when taken on its own.
N.E.R.D
3/5
I’m not generally a fan of Pharrell Williams on his own; in fact, he can be a bit annoying. This album is better than expected, but I’m not sure why it needs to be on the list.
Sufjan Stevens
2/5
Jesus Christ. It’s writerly, high concept, really self-indulgent, and so long I started to resent it and turned it off.
The Who
3/5
Another one that could really use some trimming. Interesting concept, but I don’t need over an hour of it. To be fair, though, I’d probably be more generous if I didn’t get it right after that insufferable Sufjan Stevens album.
The Beach Boys
3/5
After getting two hour+ albums in a row, this one is mercifully short, not that it’s bad. In fact the first track, “Do You Wanna Dance?,” is quite good. The rest is pretty standard Beach Boys fare, but the Wilsons’ British and R&B influences are more apparent here than on previous albums.
Big Brother & The Holding Company
2/5
Besides “Oh, Sweet Mary” this is just a platform to deliver Janis Joplin’s voice straight to your skull, which wears thin pretty quickly. Production and arrangement are irrelevant as nothing else is getting through.
Derek & The Dominos
2/5
A couple of genuine rock-and-roll tracks interspersed throughout a bunch typical Clapton hyperformulaic blues-rock tracks. Another 1 hour+ of absolute banality suitable only for boomers to play in their man caves while drinking light beer and being mad about taxes.
JAY Z
4/5
Jay is pretty unlikeable character, but dude can rap. And the production is excellent.
Lambchop
3/5
This… isn’t bad as a whole. But the dude’s weird, strained falsettos and other vocal indulgences make it hard to listen to at times.
Throbbing Gristle
3/5
If your idea of what industrial music sounds like is, understandably, songs like “Join in the Chant,” “Headhunter,” and “Closer,” you may be surprised that this is a formative industrial album. What may be more surprising is that this also had a major influence on the World Serpent/neofolk sound of the 80s.
While it’s not exactly accessible, it deserves some credit for its impact, but loses some for that creepy ass cover.
John Martyn
2/5
Martyn is one of those musicians I should like as I enjoy Nick Drake and a lot of other British folk of the era, but he just never does it for me. I think it’s the weird 70s soft rock feel and the proto-yacht rock cheese he mixes in. Not for me at all.
ZZ Top
2/5
While it has some personal interest to me as I’ve spent time in several of the places the Hombres mention on this album, it’s still just another middling blues-rock album by white boomers.
Jorge Ben Jor
3/5
Kind of a nice album to have on in the background while you work on a project. Makes me think of the music Kramer played in his apartment.
Orange Juice
2/5
Imagine every 80s new wave/art rock trope in one album: melodramatic vocals, funky bass lines, off-putting saxophone solos, and the occasional world beat indulgence. The result is… interesting but not particularly enjoyable.
1/5
Imagine some decent local musicians put an ad in the classifieds: “Hardcore/Metal band in need of vocalist/lyricist. Influences include Ministry, Anthrax, NIN, Alice In Chains. Open tryouts Saturday on the back deck of Jim’s Bar.”
After a number of promising candidates, the band inexplicably hires the local angry 14 year old who’s vocals were a poor imitation of Zack de la Rocha and his best lyrics were about how hard life is since his stepdad won’t let him smoke weed in the house.
The Young Rascals
3/5
Not bad, but fairly unremarkable soul-inflected rock.
Big Star
4/5
What they do here is a fairly simple rock and roll, but they do it pretty damn well.
Red Hot Chili Peppers
3/5
The rhythm section is pretty damn good, but besides that, and the nostalgia element, there’s not much here to enjoy.
Country Joe & The Fish
3/5
I can see why it is significant, as it was one of the early psychedelic rock albums which gives it an outsized influence on later albums. It’s a bit odd as a listening experience though; the sings come across less as complete works and more as sketches or vignettes. Not bad overall, but it’s difficult to get into.
Ute Lemper
2/5
Who is this even for?
There’s just enough talent to keep it from being a 1, but just barely.
Dolly Parton
3/5
I expected more from this given the talent involved, but nothing really stuck with me. Not bad at all, just nothing special.
King Crimson
3/5
It’s pretty decent, but a bit all over the place.
Circle Jerks
3/5
Short, fast, and snarky hardcore tracks, several of which are quite good.
Grateful Dead
2/5
Really, really boring. The most interesting track on the album is the 7+ minutes of feedback titled… “Feedback.” At least I know what to put on the next time I run out of melatonin.
Little Richard
3/5
It’s obviously seminal in the development of rock-and-roll, and was no doubt groundbreaking at the time, but each song is just more of the same.
Tortoise
3/5
Pretty decent instrumental post-rock. Nothing particularly memorable.
T. Rex
4/5
One of glammiest of glam albums, without the cheese of later artists such as Roxy Music. Pretty solid.
The Sabres Of Paradise
3/5
Not bad if you want something in the background or if you’re pretending to be in one of those late-90s thrillers where everything looks grainy and yellowish green.
Ms. Dynamite
3/5
Pretty decent, positive, hip-hop and R&B.
Robert Wyatt
4/5
A bit eccentric, but it grew on me. A mix of psychedelic rock, freak-folk, and a hint of jazz.
Gary Numan
4/5
If you’re familiar with “Cars,” then that should give you a good idea of this album’s sound. Heavily, though not exclusively, electronic and arty, but not overbearing. Pretty solid.
The Undertones
4/5
It’s pretty damn good. A bit like if the Dead Kennedys made pop punk.
The Damned
4/5
This is probably The Damned at their peak, before they really doubled down on the camp. A really good (post-)punk album, with a range of styles and tempos.
Mott The Hoople
3/5
The first half comes across as just Temu David Bowie, but the second half is a bit more original, though fans of Dylan may not think so.
Orbital
3/5
Not bad as background music, but not interesting enough to be more than that.
Scott Walker
1/5
I went into it thinking “no way it’s as bad as Scott 4,” which is technically correct… it’s even worse. It’s like show tunes without the show. Cheesy, self-indulgent nonsense.
Tori Amos
4/5
Hadn’t listened to this album in years. It holds up quite well.
Dire Straits
2/5
This album answers the question “what if Lou Reed started a somewhat dull blues-rock group that was the house band at one of those ice houses that all the local dads with Harleys go to?” Nothing special.
LCD Soundsystem
4/5
LCD Soundsystem is one of those names I’ve seen floating around for a couple decades, but I’ve never really spent any time with their music. This album is quite good, but it really benefits from listening through headphones.
Lots of driving beats, synth pop textures, and not a small amount of Talking Heads influence.
Simon & Garfunkel
3/5
It’s pretty alright at times, but can also be sappy, overwrought, and bombastic at times, too.
Emmylou Harris
4/5
A bit more atmospheric than what i was expecting from Emmylou, but quite good.
Iron Butterfly
3/5
I always figured this was more of a hard rock album than it is because of the title track. Overall, it’s a decent enough late 60s psychedelic rock album. The best part, though, is still the eponymous track’s drum solo.
Dexys Midnight Runners
3/5
Adequate, and a bit pretentious, punk-pop. The singer’s pouty vocal style gets pretty tiresome.
Peter Gabriel
4/5
The album with all the hits that come to mind when one thinks of Peter Gabriel. Adds up to a pretty solid release.
The Everly Brothers
2/5
It’s not bad, but it doesn’t seem like anything special, either.
Hüsker Dü
3/5
I like Hüsker Dü, but I felt this album was missing a bit of something. Not bad at all, I just couldn’t get into it.
Barry Adamson
2/5
I really didn’t need to hear another of these “show tunes without the show” cabaret-adjacent albums and I’m starting to resent whoever thinks I do.
Minutemen
4/5
There are some really good songs on here, but the album as a whole would benefit from some trimming.
Manic Street Preachers
3/5
It’s a pretty decent 90s alt-rock album, but it is mostly significant for the personal tragedy surrounding it.
Fiona Apple
4/5
This is really not my type of music, but she does it well enough that I don’t mind. She’s a little bit jazzy and a bit bluesy, but it never seems like an affectation.
The Notorious B.I.G.
2/5
Do you want to hear a guy rave about his prowess with a gun, how big his penis is, and how much money he has? Do you hate women? Would you like to hear the audio of him receiving oral sex? Then this is the album for you.
For everyone else? Maybe 3 stars for music and production and one star for lyrical content. We’ll call it a 2.
Crosby, Stills & Nash
3/5
It’s better than some of their later work, but I’m just not a fan of the falsetto harmonies.
Pulp
4/5
A pretty solid glammy Britpop record.
Pretenders
4/5
An impressively well developed sound for a debut album. Pop rock with more than a sprinkling of post-punk.
Sarah Vaughan
3/5
She’s definitely talented, but the production isn’t great and her performance is inconsistent. Maybe I just don’t enjoy live albums much.
Elvis Presley
4/5
I’ve never gotten into Elvis, but this is a really good album.
MC Solaar
3/5
A pretty decent listen, even if you don't understand the lyrics.
Joan Baez
4/5
The music is excellent, but I’m not a fan of her voice.
Aimee Mann
3/5
It’s well produced with really interesting arrangements. And that cover screams 90s more than a FriendsxSeinfeld crossover event. But it’s just really not my thing.
Bad Brains
4/5
This is a much more hard rock/thrash album than their excellent debut, to the point that it almost sounds like a different band. It is still a pretty good album, though.
Aerosmith
2/5
If rock-and-roll is ice cream, then this is nonfat, sugar free froyo. As bland and as unremarkable as it gets.
My Bloody Valentine
4/5
The songwriting is not as deft here as it would be on Loveless, but you can still hear the direction they were trying to go.
Christina Aguilera
2/5
This album is difficult to review as it inspires neither amusement nor displeasure. It is rather boring and overly long. Out of 77 minutes there might be 5 minutes worth your time (“I’m OK”).
The Beach Boys
4/5
It’s a pretty decent baroque pop album. There’s little of the iconic Beach Boys sound of the early-mid 60s, but that’s not a bad thing.
Queen
4/5
This a pretty damn good prog/hard rock album. Significantly ahead of its time.
Tom Waits
2/5
Over the multiple revisions and editions of this book, its authors have seen fit to eliminate albums by Adele, Arcade Fire, Bowie, Johnny Cash, Kendrick, Radiohead, The War on Drugs, the White Stripes, and many, many more less notable albums. But for reasons I will never grasp, they've never excised a single Tom fucking Waits album.
This is one part comedy routine and one part Hollywood circle jerk with a contrived “live audience;” a Disneyland gin joint.
Led Zeppelin
4/5
I had forgotten how strong an album this is. There's a little something for everyone. My only complaint is that "Immigrant Song" isn't long enough.
Elis Regina
1/5
I’ve liked a lot, probably most, of the Brazilian entries on this list. This one, though… starts off with some promise, but quickly deteriorates into Easy Listening garbage. Background music for a geriatric singles cruise.
The Fall
4/5
Not my favorite album by The Fall, but it’s still quite good.
Kendrick Lamar
5/5
Fucking epic.
The Waterboys
4/5
If The Dubliners made music with Bruce Springsteen it might sound a bit like this. There is a comforting familiarity about it.
Ladysmith Black Mambazo
3/5
Pretty good, but it runs a little long at points.
Aerosmith
2/5
When the decidedly mediocre “Janie’s Got a Gun” is the best track, you know you are dealing with new levels of banality.
Travis
3/5
Not bad, but really comes across as store-brand Radiohead.
Supertramp
3/5
70s progrock that sounds… very much like the 70s. Lacks the timeless quality of a Dark Side of the Moon. The title track is pretty solid, but the rest is very forgettable.
Dexys Midnight Runners
2/5
The original iteration of Dexy's released three albums and, inexplicably, they are all on this list. This is easily the least impressive of the three.
Gillian Welch
4/5
A fairly minimalist folk album. If Low was an acoustic band I suspect they’d sound like this. Lots of Americana feel and at times almost a cappella.
Air
4/5
A film score that doesn't need the film as much as the film needs the score. Stands alone quite well. Atmospheric and moody.
Kendrick Lamar
4/5
Some stellar tracks on here, but a lot of filler as well.
Marianne Faithfull
2/5
It’s interesting, but that’s the best I can say for it.
Sepultura
4/5
One of the better metal albums on this list. Some of these tracks sound like they were lifted off Ministry’s The Mind is a Terrible Thing to Taste. Pretty solid.
Tom Tom Club
3/5
It's that one band that made that one song you thought was somebody else's.
David Holmes
3/5
The editors of this book really want you to like 90s electronica, but this album just sounds like the rest of them… at least to me. Not bad, but really not interesting.
The Dictators
4/5
It’s a pretty solid early punk(-ish) album. Fun and snarky.
N.W.A.
4/5
Better than I remember, especially the title track. The misogyny really takes some of the shine off, though.
Brian Eno
4/5
I like it more than I thought I would. At times ambient, at times almost industrial. Pretty solid.
Santana
3/5
Not bad at all. This is what I imagine Southern California sounds like.
Air
3/5
Fine as "mood music" or something, but not remarkable in any way.
Tim Buckley
2/5
If I've learned anything from this project, it's that I really don't like Time Buckley as much as I thought I would.
Foo Fighters
3/5
It’s not bad at all, but always a bit too safe. A bit of the Nirvana “DNA” is noticeable in tracks like “Alone + Easy Target” if that’s what you’re hoping for, but overall it’s just pumpkin spice for white guys.
The Human League
3/5
It’s not bad, but pretty inconsistent in quality. If they were looking for an early example of synthpop, there are several better albums.
Emerson, Lake & Palmer
2/5
Uh... I guess some people get into this? But for the rest of us? It's technically proficient musicians noodling around on their instruments. Boring.
Snoop Dogg
3/5
I know that this a significant bit of hip-hop history, but it’s dated as hell and not just because they keep talking about their plans for 1994. The misogyny is really over the top.
U2
4/5
Pretty much peak U2. All of the talent and creativity without the excessive polish and commercial fluff.
Gene Clark
2/5
I guess it's fine, but it's just another white boomer playing blues-/roots-rock. Easily forgettable.
Cee Lo Green
2/5
It's fine I guess? He's a much better soul singer than he is a rapper, a craft at which he is wholly unconvincing. I just can't see how this is a must listen.
Björk
4/5
I haven’t loved the other Björk. Albums on this list, but I’ve always admired her creativity and willingness to defy convention. This album retains those qualities but is significantly more emotive and, at least to me, more accessible.
Tangerine Dream
5/5
An ambient electronic album, with a fair amount of structure. A very pleasant listen.
The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
2/5
I get the feeling they were trying to come across as a 90s punkabilly version of Swans or Sonic Youth, but I’m just not convinced. It comes across less as earnest experimentation and more as affectation.
As an aside, I also think they may have the worst band name in the whole list.
Emerson, Lake & Palmer
2/5
Well that was… dull. I know this style of rock has its fans, and I appreciate the musicians' skill, but I just can't find anything to enjoy in it.
Genesis
3/5
As progrock albums go, this one is mostly tolerable but, like so many others, is overlong.
The Rolling Stones
5/5
Several stand-outs here, but even the rest are quite good.
Raekwon
2/5
Of the various Wu-Tang adjacent albums on this list, this seems to be the most uninteresting. The misogyny and homophobia are additional turn-offs.
David Bowie
3/5
It’s interesting in its approach to art rock, but that’s just not enough. As much as it pains me to say this about any Bowie work, it just doesn’t measure up.
The The
3/5
Very arty new wave/pop album. Not bad, but not something I really want to sit down and listen to.
The Coral
3/5
The music and songwriting is competent, but the whole thing just feels like a novelty album that you'd play at a Halloween party.
Black Sabbath
5/5
I like this significantly more than I thought I would. Peak Sabbath.
Todd Rundgren
2/5
It’s better than Something/Anything?, but that’s a really low bar.
It does have some interesting moments, especially “International Feel” which sounds like it would fit right in on a Tame Impala album. But after that, the album generally trends downward with increasingly cacophonous vignettes followed by cheesy 70s soft rock/pop.
I read that this album was produced after (during?) Rundgren’s experimentation with psychedelics, but it just seems like he wasn’t on the good stuff.
U2
4/5
It’s U2 at the peak of their powers doing what they do well: making inoffensive pop-rock. Not bad at all, just not great.
The Byrds
3/5
It's adequately done, but all the songs sound the same and I'm not a fan of the style.
The xx
4/5
I didn’t love at first, but on my second listen I heard it through headphones and really enjoyed it. Maybe even better than their self-titled album.
Happy Mondays
3/5
It’s definitely of a time and place, but outside that particular setting it just doesn’t have much appeal other than some nostalgia.
Mylo
2/5
I’ll admit I’m a bit ignorant when it comes to this style of music, but how can this be an essential album in any way? Especially given the many other electronica albums on the list from this same era.
The Byrds
2/5
I'm close to 900 albums in and, at this point, sometimes I'll come across an album I've already reviewed but I can't recall anything about it. Clearly it wasn't awful, because that would be memorable, but it must also not be particularly good, interesting, or creative either.
I can say with some confidence this will be one of those forgettable albums.
Suicide
4/5
I’m not really sure why, but I like it and not because it’s “massively influential” etc. I just dig it, though I expect it’s not for everyone. Delightfully minimalist.
The Icarus Line
4/5
Never heard of this band before, for some reason, so no expectations going in. I ended up liking it quite a bit.
It's a bit like Jesus and Mary Chain meets Big Black with a little Pavement thrown in. Solid.
George Jones
3/5
If you like classic country with more than a little pop (he’d be angry if he read that), you’ll probably really like this. And he’s got a great voice for it, though I am a bit partial to the East Texas accent.
It’s done well, but it’s not really my thing.
John Lennon
3/5
I like the creativity and the edge that Lennon’s work in the Beatles often lacked. You can certainly tell the dude was working through some stuff.
Super Furry Animals
4/5
An amalgamation of 60s and 70s rock-and-roll and pop styles that works pretty well. Enjoyable but not exactly essential given all the similar releases from the time.
Serge Gainsbourg
2/5
A “pseudo-autobiographical” account of the 40-something Gainsbourg’s fling with a 14 year old virgin and his subsequent obsession with her. Yuck.
The music and production are great but I really need someone to Eternal Sunshine all knowledge of Serge Gainsbourg from my mind.
The Clash
4/5
Never mind the Sex Pistols, if you could pick only one album to be your introduction to punk rock it has to be this one.
Koffi Olomide
3/5
Pleasant enough, but didn’t leave much of an impression on me.
Morrissey
4/5
It’s too bad that Steven Morrissey is such a garbage human, because this is a really good album. Moody and atmospheric but still checks all the usual Morrissey boxes.
New Order
3/5
As good as the music is, I've just never been able to get past Sumner's vocals.
The comparisons to Joy Division are unfair but inevitable, and they don't do this album any favors.
Def Leppard
2/5
12 year old me loved this, and it does have its moments. But the production is a bit too much and the lyrics are almost dumb enough to be on an Aerosmith album. The whole second half is just filler.
Ali Farka Touré
3/5
A pretty chill hour of West African tunes with blues flourishes.
Devendra Banhart
4/5
It took a bit for me to get into this one. His vocals and seemingly stream-of-consciousness lyrics are a bit off-putting at first. But the musicianship is accomplished and the album does a good job of building tension and by the end of it.
Feels like it would make a great soundtrack for a folk horror flick like The Wicker Man.
The Gun Club
2/5
The first track is pretty good, but the rest… does not impress. It’s not terrible, but it’s just 40 minutes of middling punkabilly with some dude yelling into a microphone.
The Rolling Stones
4/5
It’s a Stones album, so it’s pretty good, but it’s no Beggars Banquet.
The Clash
4/5
I like the Clash, and this is a good album, but I've just never been able to get into it.
Japan
3/5
If you had told me this was a previously unreleased Duran Duran album, I would’ve believed it. That’s not a knock against Japan, as I’m sure Le Bon & Co borrowed heavily from them, but it does speak to the claustrophobic nature of early New Wave music.
Sly & The Family Stone
4/5
Probably the best funk album on this list. A rightful classic.
Elvis Costello
3/5
There are a lot of Elvis Costello albums on this list, and several probably belong here. This one, though, I just can’t make a case for. It’s inconsistent, uninteresting, and not particularly well executed.
Prince
5/5
As 80s pop albums go, this is about as good as it gets.
Ghostface Killah
4/5
So smooth.
Scissor Sisters
3/5
It’s pretty much wall-to-wall 70s tropes (funk, disco beats, falsetto), including the worst Pink Floyd cover I’ve heard.
Was going to be a 2* but the album made a positive turn with the excellent synthpop track “It Can’t Come Quickly Enough” and the following “Return to Oz.” Unfortunately, the trend dies with “Get It Get It.”
Aphex Twin
2/5
Sure would be a shame if we missed any of these 90s electronica albums, I guess.
Bonnie "Prince" Billy
3/5
When you really want to sit down and have an existential crisis, here's the accompaniment.
Butthole Surfers
2/5
There are a couple of good moments here, notably “Human Cannonball,” but the rest is so experimental there’s nothing there to really listen to.
Elton John
4/5
This is definitely not my preferred type of rock, but it’s well written, produced and performed. It’s also a bit overlong.
New Order
3/5
It’s very nostalgic, but not particularly enjoyable outside of that. The songwriting is adequate.
Fats Domino
3/5
Unlike a lot of other early rock and roll albums, this is subdued enough to be pleasant while still catchy. The jazz and blues DNA is very apparent.
Silver Jews
2/5
The best parts are when the guy isn’t singing, but even those are only ok.
Al Green
3/5
It's good, but not great. It's a little too polished.
Elvis Presley
4/5
Catchy as hell. Hard to believe how different this is from the rock albums that were coming out ten years later.
2/5
I’ve listened to this album several times over the years, and I’ve never been able to get into it. Frankly, it’s just a mess. It seems like there’s promise at times, but it’s all buried under shitty production, the noise in the venue, and some really sloppy playing.
Digital Underground
2/5
There’s enough good ideas here to produce a 4 track EP, but that’s about it. Most of these songs are at least twice as long as they should be and they get boring pretty quickly.
Metallica
4/5
The strength of this album lies in a few tracks like "Enter Sandman," the Morriconesque "Unforgiven," and the excellent "Wherever I May Roam."
Much of the rest is fairly forgettable ("My Friend of Misery") or worse, cringeworthy ("Nothing Else Matters").
Overall, it makes for a good, but not excellent, album.
Neil Young
2/5
Imagine a supergroup with members of the Grateful Dead, The Rolling Stones, and Bob Dylan, but the vocalist is your friend’s drunk dad doing a bad Neil Young impression. That would be like this, only this is worse.
Les Rythmes Digitales
2/5
Did someone include this album as a prank? It’s utterly forgettable.
Quicksilver Messenger Service
3/5
As late 60s live albums go, it’s not bad. A bit jammy and jazzy, so not bad as background music, but it’s far too repetitive.
Gotan Project
3/5
It is yet another electronica album, but the tango flourishes make it a bit more interesting than some of the others.
The Dave Brubeck Quartet
5/5
Absolutely timeless. The way they could build tension and release it was almost cinematic. An easy five stars.
Dagmar Krause
2/5
This was a real chore to get through, and not just because I had to find a playlist on YouTube and sit through a bunch of ads for insurance. I bet that guy in The Divine Comedy loves this shit, though, if that tells you anything.
Slayer
3/5
The riffs get 5 stars.
The solos get 3 stars.
The vocals get 1 star.
Tim Buckley
2/5
Tim Buckley wrote some good songs, but there aren't any on here.
Janis Joplin
3/5
I think this may be one of those that you needed to be around at the time to appreciate, because I just don't see the big deal.
Dinosaur Jr.
4/5
I expect that this isn’t to everyone’s liking, but I really enjoy that late 80s lofi/college rock sound. Along with Pixies, Sonic Youth, and Meat Puppets, Dinosaur Jr were one of the biggest influences on the 90s alt rock explosion. It’s worth your time to give it multiple listens, especially through a decent pair of headphones.
Steely Dan
2/5
When I was a kid I thought I hated 70s music. Once I got older and discovered albums like “Heroes,” Physical Graffiti, Pink Moon, and Chairs Missing, I couldn’t understand why I ever thought I disliked 70s music.
Then I hear this soft rock nonsense and I’m like, oh yeah, a LOT of 70s music was crap. It’s not as bad as Aja, but that’s about as low as the bar can be.
The B-52's
4/5
Having mostly heard the radio singles (“Rock Lobster,” et al), I wasn’t expecting much. But I liked it a good bit better than I thought I would. They do carry that kitschy energy throughout, but the songs are well written and very different from anything else that was popular at the time. Definitely more than just a novelty band.
Dirty Projectors
2/5
What in the art school hell is this? There’s a couple of decent moments when they become a pretty adequate chamber pop band, but other than that… no thanks.
Lou Reed
4/5
When you think of Lou Reed as a Glam rock musician, this is largely where that reputation comes from. The usual themes of drug use and sexual deviance are there, but now with Bowie and Mick Ronson in control of the overall atmosphere.
Fishbone
3/5
These guys are clearly good at what they do, but I'm just not into it.
The 13th Floor Elevators
4/5
If the Beach Boys did a LOT more acid… but I kinda dig it.
Primal Scream
3/5
It’s alright I guess; kind of a post-Madchester meets sampledelia thing. Sounds like the soundtrack to some late 90s British gangster film that would be shot entirely through a yellow filter. Would improve with some trimming as some of these songs go on far too long.
Donald Fagen
2/5
Boring, cheesy, yacht rock. This album is only 38 minutes long, but it makes that time feel like 5 hours. The fact that people will give this 4 or 5 stars but then dump on Kollaps is proof there is no justice in this universe.
The Slits
4/5
Not my favorite in the post-punk canon, but a classic for a reason. For being so young they sure could put together a song. A great listen, especially if you like ska/reggae inflected rock.
Abdullah Ibrahim
3/5
Not bad, but definitely just feels like the interstitial music from The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson.
Simon & Garfunkel
3/5
The first half is largely unremarkable; a few good ideas but largely just filler. The second half is pretty good, but at times sounds uncomfortably like the Beatles.
Rush
3/5
Everyone knows that these guys are precise and technically masterful musicians, but I'm not sure the music itself benefits much from that. Much of the time I feel like I'm listening to store brand Zeppelin.
Primal Scream
2/5
There are a couple of songs that come across as middling Rolling Stones outtakes, and the rest sounds like the music the farmer from Shaun the Sheep would listen to.
Stereo MC's
2/5
I’m over 900 albums in, and this is easily one of the most forgettable albums I’ve encountered on this list, so far.
The Residents
1/5
Well, it’s not forgettable, but of course neither is salmonella.
Slade
4/5
I’d never heard of these guys before and honestly didn’t expect much based on the cover (not fair I know). I was happy to be surprised by this one; it is quite good. Distilled hard rock without the blues posing or guitar wanking.
Ian Dury
2/5
I neither benefited from hearing this nor suffered from it. It is the aural equivalent of puffed rice.
Dusty Springfield
2/5
About as interesting as watching a drag race between a Toyota Camry and Ford Focus. I just wish it was as short.
Arcade Fire
3/5
I’ve spent a lot of time around The Woodlands, the suburb wherein the Butlers grew up, so I can relate to many of the themes on this album. Like many suburbs, The Woodlands is an artificial, manufactured settlement masquerading as some idyllic American hometown.
As much as I appreciate the concept of this album and the talent of its musicians, I just can’t get into it. None of the songs really stand out and the album as a whole feels like one long, rather beige musical piece.
Small Faces
4/5
This is not my favorite era of rock, but I really liked it. The band and their music is quite charismatic.
a-ha
3/5
There are a couple of standout tracks (the radio hits), but much of it is forgettable.
Meat Puppets
4/5
It may seem a bit obscure, but these guys were enormously influential to the bands that made it big in the radio a decade later.
Bob Dylan
4/5
It is moody and atmospheric in a manner I don’t associate with Dylan, but it is welcome. It’s also a bit of a downer.
Fortunately it lacks the unnecessary harmonica and the affectation of his more “classic” albums. Overall, this has been the best of the Dylan albums on this list so far.
Fairport Convention
4/5
I know a lot of people don’t like this style, but I really dig that English folk-rock stuff. Now I need an open fire and mug of dark ale.
Miriam Makeba
3/5
A lot of this is pretty good, and it must’ve been something of a revelation to many in the Western world at the time. Unfortunately, a fair amount is pretty weak.
The Libertines
3/5
Have you ever run with someone who’s convinced that their buddy’s band is the next big thing, and then you go and listen to them and you’re like “I guess their pretty good compared to the other local bar bands, but not enough to make it big, you know?”
That’s this album, but for some reason they actually did make it big.
Supergrass
3/5
Pretty decent 90s pop-rock, but not particularly notable.
3/5
I think musical experimentation like this is important, but that doesn’t make it essential listening.
Musically, it reminds me of some of the mid-80s No Wave stuff like Swans.
Bon Jovi
2/5
I’m not a fan of this genre at all, but “Wanted Dead or Alive” is objectively a banger. Too bad the rest of the album is mostly generic butt-rock.
ABBA
2/5
I tried, but I just can’t enjoy this at all. It’s just not good.
Joan Armatrading
3/5
I liked this a good bit more than I thought I would. She’s a bit more creative than a lot of the other singer-songwriters of the era.
The Smashing Pumpkins
3/5
Another one that would benefit from some serious trimming. There are several really strong tracks on here, but if the other twenty or so were removed, this would be a very good record.
Brian Eno
4/5
It is what it says on the label: ambient music. Super chill and slow paced. If you like ambient music you should really enjoy this.
The Jesus And Mary Chain
4/5
Noisy pop rock: a fairly simple formula that became massively influential to alt-rockers everywhere. And it's a good time.
Common
3/5
Given the era and what I know about Common, I expected to like this, but I just couldn't. It's a bit of a mess at times.
Britney Spears
1/5
Awful. This is the result of marketing, not talent.
Nightmares On Wax
3/5
Not bad, but just not bad.
Boston
3/5
“More than a Feeling” is an absolute banger, but the rest just feels like your basic classic rock radio fodder.
Fatboy Slim
3/5
Some tracks are pretty decent and get you nodding your head and tapping your foot, but much of it is more typical 90s electronica.
Taylor Swift
4/5
Not my favorite type of music, but I liked it a good bit more than I thought I would.
George Michael
3/5
I'm old enough to remember how this album dominated the airways back in the mid-80s, so I can't say it doesn't belong on this list. The production is pretty solid but I don't think he's doing anything here that Prince wasn't doing better.
Goldfrapp
4/5
I was somewhat familiar with Goldfrapp’s earlier, more pop-oriented work, so this was a bit of a surprise. Many of these are essentially folk songs with synth pop or krautrock flourishes. And her vocals are perfect for this. A solid record.
Hanoi Rocks
3/5
This is a bit of a weird one and I'm not sure if I like it or not. You get the feeling that this is what meth sounds like, though.
Ozomatli
3/5
The band is very competent, and there is no lack of energy or creativity going into the songs, but they just don’t leave much of an impression on me.
Blondie
4/5
A rather eclectic set of songs, with styles ranging from pop rock, punk, new wave, and disco. The writing and production are solid, and the playing is tight, but ultimately the whole thing is orbiting around the force of Debbie Harry’s personality.
Lou Reed
3/5
Is the music good? Pretty decent, yeah.
How about the production? Really solid.
Vocals? Not particularly.
Am I ever going to listen to this monochromatic, depressing shit again? Absolutely not.
Goldfrapp
4/5
The first half comes across as a delightful retro-futurist triphop fantasy. I really dig it. Unfortunately, the second half doesn’t maintain that level of interest. Still a pretty solid album, though.
Marty Robbins
3/5
Pretty decent album, but Marty Robbins was MAGA before MAGA was a thing, so fuck him.
Nico
2/5
Despite this being a style of music I often like, this album is boring as hell and Nico can’t sing.
The Good, The Bad & The Queen
4/5
The first half is really good, but the second half is not quite so strong. Wikipedia calls this art rock, and that might be the best descriptor since nothing else really fits. The production is pretty great and most of the songwriting is, as well.
Skunk Anansie
3/5
These guys are excellent musicians, but they can’t seem to write songs that go anywhere. Sadly forgettable.
The Mamas & The Papas
4/5
I won’t spend much time describing this as it’s unlikely anyone with ears hasn’t heard most of these songs: it’s fairly standard 1960s American pop. Fortunately, it’s done really well.
Steely Dan
2/5
Pop music for people who want to flirt with rock, or rock music for people scared of rock. Technically proficient, but no edge, no passion, and no interest.
Eurythmics
4/5
Anyone who hasn't at least heard the title track has been living under a rock for the last 40 years... and given the current state of affairs I might want to get some real estate under that same rock.
Anyway, it's a good synthpop record that manages to sound varied. They were not afraid to push the boundaries of the style.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
3/5
I like Nick Cave and I appreciate the holy roller energy he brings to his rock and roll. He shows multiple gears throughout this double album, but it does get a bit tiresome after 80+ minutes, so it would benefit from some trimming. This is solid, but Let Love In deserves a spot on the list before this one.
Grant Lee Buffalo
4/5
Most of these songs are really good. They are moody and atmospheric with just the right amount of 90s edge. I even considered giving it 5 stars, but the album suffers from a couple of tracks that seem engineered to get radio play and that are far too repetitive ("Jupiter and Teardrop" and "Stars n'Stripes").
Soft Cell
3/5
You get the impression that these guys would have been a (middling) punk rock outfit if they had picked up guitars instead of synths. Much of this is sparse, and rather dissonant, electronic art rock, but there are a handful of tracks that are almost good: the ubiquitous “Tainted Love” as well as “Bedsitter,” “Secret Life,” and “Say Hello, Wave Goodbye.”
Love
3/5
There are some interesting flourishes from time to time (Latin music, etc), but this is ultimately just competent musicians executing some fairly vanilla hippie rock with a bush league vocalist singing batshit lyrics.
Haircut 100
2/5
Before this project, I thought I liked “new wave” music. Apparently, I don’t.
Spiritualized
4/5
This one is good. It falls squarely between Hawkwind and Ride with hints of Britpop. Good stuff.
Echo And The Bunnymen
4/5
A pretty interesting bit of psychedelic pop. Less polished and melodramatic than it’s more popular successor, Ocean Rain, but more firmly rooted in the new wave/art pop sounds of the era.
Madonna
2/5
A couple of tracks have some interesting window-dressing, but this is wholly forgettable.
Coldcut
2/5
A dance album made up of an uninteresting blend of sounds that seemingly were assembled at random.
PJ Harvey
4/5
Weird, often dissonant, folk, all centered on the nebulous idea of "England" and its troubled history of war. Almost 5 stars for me, but there are a couple of tracks that clang for me.
Mike Ladd
3/5
Hip hop in only the loosest sense. Much of it is soundscapes built of screwed and layered samples over fairly downtempo beats. And he assembled it all quite well.
Can
4/5
Long form, hypnotic, spaced out Krautrock. Considered by many to be a classic, but I slightly prefer Tago Mago.
Harry Nilsson
3/5
Dude's got a great voice but the arrangements are a bit... quaint. His own songs are far better than the covers; "Jump into the Fire" is a serious banger and sounds about 10 years ahead of its time. The covers, though, are trite and forgettable.
Peter Tosh
3/5
Pretty much what you would expect from one of the Wailers. Largely downtempo with a massive drum sound; the other instruments suffer a bit from the muddy production.
Syd Barrett
4/5
It is, unsurprisingly, quite weird. I personally like it, but I can't make a case that it is something you must hear before you die.
Cowboy Junkies
3/5
It’s not bad, but they seem more interested in creating a mood than in creating songs. Very reverby, and quite slow, I’d be surprised if they never contributed to a David Lynch soundtrack.
Sisters Of Mercy
3/5
I picked this up on CD about 30 years ago and, other than "Lucretia My Reflection," didn't get more than a couple of listens in over that time. Outside of that one song, it's all a bit overwrought, overlong, and melodramatic.
Blur
4/5
It’s likely everyone knows “Song 2” which is Blur’s flagship song in the states. Outside that, the tracks tend to reflect the band’s influences like post-punk, krautrock, and what I assume is a direct homage to Bowie (“Strange News from Anothet Star”).
Overall, I like it quite a bit and a good bit more than their debut, but there is still too much filler to make it 5 stars.
Lenny Kravitz
2/5
I thought I would like this a bit, but… it’s aggressively boring. It’s as if someone made a paint-by-numbers Thomas Kinkade piece.
Radiohead
4/5
Some great songs on here, but still a bit too much filler.
Magazine
5/5
I have listened to this album a lot over the years, but every time I put it on I’m still blown away by its quality. Song after song is almost impeccable. Then you get to that aggressive bass line at the beginning of “The Light Pours Out of Me” which sets the tone for that whole track… perfection.
This not an album for people who like super technical time/key changes or showy playing, but if you like well crafted songs it doesn’t get much better.
Emmylou Harris
3/5
The album opens with "Bluebird Wine," which is spirited and infectious. Unfortunately, while the rest of the album is well written and performed, they never return to that level of energy. Emmylou's voice is really impressive and fits the music, but after a while the whole mood becomes soporific.
Donovan
3/5
I know people are just going to say that this is a Dylan ripoff, but I’d rather listen to this than Dylan honestly. While he’s not as good of a songwriter, he’s got a much better voice and there’s no overbearing harmonica. Plus, I’m a sucker for that British folk sound and that hippie psychedelia vibe. Unfortunately, he’s a bit inconsistent as when he’s on he’s really killing it, but when he’s off it’s very forgettable.
Penguin Cafe Orchestra
4/5
This album seems decades ahead of its time on certain tracks, then the next track will feel like something out of the 1950s. It's a bit arty and is largely instrumental, but overall it is quite good.
Taylor Swift
3/5
While her type of music isn’t my thing, I do think Taylor Swift is a talented musician and songwriter. This album, though, is just formulaic pop at its worst and when it’s at its best it just seems like outtakes from CHVRCHES’ The Bones of What You Believe.
TV On The Radio
4/5
This album still sounds so fresh. Vaguely psychedelic with no concern for stylistic limitations, it’s too melodic to be industrial but far too sparse to be shoegaze or synthpop. It really sounds like nothing else.
The Who
4/5
This is the best of their albums on the list (I believe there are 5). It's very typical of that mid-60s British Invasion sound, but with better musicianship than most of their peers. This is before they developed their self-indulgent proggy arena-rock style.
The Cult
4/5
I love The Cult, but if you're going to include only one of their albums, Electric is an odd choice. Either of the releases that bookend this one, Love or Sonic Temple, would be more appropriate. This one represents their transition from an English post-punk style to a more commercial hard rock style, but it doesn't do either very well.
Would be a 3 but for the strength of Love Removal Machine.
The Mothers Of Invention
1/5
A sage once said that necessity is “the mother of invention,” but there is nothing necessary about this shit.
People insist that Zappa was some sort of genius, but he seems incapable of putting together a tune that’s more than a couple bars long.
Another sage said “don’t mistake lack of talent for genius…” I suspect he was thinking of this album.
Ride
5/5
One of the classic shoegaze albums, but this one differs a bit from Slowdive or MBV in that it retains more of the basic rock song structure. I know I am biased as if I was being objective I'd probably give this a 4, but I'm giving it a 5 because it's awesome.
The Last Shadow Puppets
4/5
I didn't know anything about this project going in, but I was really pleasantly surprised. Well crafted chamber pop/rock.
Fugazi
4/5
A solid release. Slowed down hardcore with lots of warm tones.
Duran Duran
4/5
It’s that one Duran Duran album that has most of their hits and more or less defined one of the key sounds (and looks) of the 80s. It’s a pretty decent album, but it’s almost impossible to approach it with fresh ears.
Led Zeppelin
4/5
I know this some people's favorite Zeppelin album, but there's quite a bit of filler on here still ("Custard Pie," etc). However, there are some really fantastic songs on here; the album deserves 4 stars for "Kashmir" alone.
Fred Neil
3/5
The guy's got a good voice, but that's about the only thing interesting going on here.
The Pogues
5/5
One of my all time favorite albums. My only complaint is that I got it on March 4 instead of the 17th.
Robert Wyatt
3/5
A bit like a fever dream; it's odd and fragile enough that you're not even sure it's happening. Should appeal to fans of Syd Barrett, Richard Dawson, Joanne Newsom, and other psychedelic folkists.
Sabu
2/5
Look, the guy’s a helluva conga player, but I don’t need 40 minutes of his playing any more than I want to hear 40 minutes of plain guitar noodling from someone like Jeff Beck.
The Yardbirds
4/5
It’s pretty good and competently performed, but it feels more like a grab bag of random styles than the output of a single band.
The KLF
2/5
It’s hard to find the original release anywhere, but I found a user playlist on Spotify that pieces it together and I heard it enough times in the 90s to give it a fair review. Outside a couple of tracks (the singles) it’s just repetitive and dull electronica.
Bonnie Raitt
2/5
I feel like Bonnie is a talented musician and, from what I can tell, a good person, so I really wanted to like this. Unfortunately, it is dull at its best, and at its worst it’s like a distillation of all the worst 70s soft rock garbage.
Malcolm McLaren
2/5
So, the Sex Pistol's manager curated a bunch of samples from an East Coast hip-hop radio show and African music (without attribution), then put his own name on it...
The end product isn't bad to listen to, but why is this essential? Shouldn't the source material (Mahlathini and the Mahotella Queens) be on the list, instead?
Death In Vegas
3/5
More like a collection of song sketches or ideas than fully realized songs.
The Darkness
2/5
Competent, yet generic buttrock, only with an annoyingly over-the-top opera singer. It’s great you’ve got such a vocal range, but you probably shouldn’t build a whole band around it.
Kanye West
3/5
Moments of brilliance interspersed between self indulgent, bloated messes. It also has the cringiest title I’ve ever seen.
Tom Waits
2/5
This is my fifth, and final, Tom Waits album and the only one that contributed anything (one song) to my Spotify library. I’m sorry, I just don’t get it; album after album of the same schtick.
The best thing he ever did was play Doc Heller on Mystery Men.
Anita Baker
2/5
She’s got a great voice, but the arrangements are so bad. This makes that New Jack Swing stuff seem modern.
4/5
(Post-)punk with a more traditional rock song structure. It’s quite good and it’s influence is apparent in many more contemporary bands.
Soundgarden
4/5
Of all the various post-Nevermind releases coming out of the Seattle scene (think In Utero, Vitalogy, Dirt), this might be the best.
Public Enemy
4/5
Probably the weakest of PE's entries on this list, but it's still damn good (with the exception of "911 is a Joke," which just sucks).
LCD Soundsystem
4/5
Indie-dance-pop. It’s pretty good, but not anything special.
Kelela
4/5
A really good, yet sparse, pop offering. Similar vibes to FKA Twig's LP1, which shares some of the same production team.
Maxwell
2/5
It’s just a retro pastiche of soul, funk, and (apparently) porn music. I’m not sure why this should be on the list when you could just include more the superior source material.
2/5
If Trent Reznor was hired for production duties on a Stereolab album, it would be something like this, but that would be significantly more interesting than this is.
Mj Cole
1/5
Some very boring electronica tracks interspersed among some really terrible ones. Of all the electronica albums I’ve heard doing this project, and it’s been a lot, this might be the worst.
The Specials
2/5
It's fairly inoffensive as ska goes, but that just means it's boring.
The Incredible String Band
3/5
What if Bob Dylan was really into the RenFaire scene?
There are a couple of good tracks on here, such as “Three is a Green Crown,” but much of it is just self indulgent noodling.
Femi Kuti
4/5
It took me a couple listens to get into this one, but I ended up liking it a good bit. If you’re not hearing it through headphones or a good sound system it suffers. Eventually, though, the rhythms absolutely get into you.
Billy Joel
2/5
I've never been a fan of Billy Joel's, but I didn't expect to be as annoyed by this as I was.
Bob Dylan
3/5
It was alright for a bit, but Mr. Tambourine Man really drags it down.
Jacques Brel
3/5
It’s fine for background music in a French patisserie, but doesn’t do much more than that.
Ryan Adams
2/5
Unrepentant dirtbag makes 50 minutes feel like four hours while proving, once again, that harmonica sucks.
Doves
4/5
I’m not sure if it’s that there is something very fundamental in the songwriting, or that these tracks have pervaded the collective unconscious for a quarter of a century, but some these songs feel like they must’ve always existed.
M.I.A.
4/5
It is good, but I like Arular more.
Beck
3/5
It has some catchy moments, but not enough. It’s creative and somewhat interesting, but despite spending a good bit of time with it, it just doesn’t do much for me.
TLC
3/5
There are some good songs on here, but also far too much filler.
Slint
4/5
I really like this style of lo-fi alt rock. This one, though, can be a bit difficult to listen to over an extended period.
The Replacements
4/5
A really good post-punk album. It feels timeless.
The Triffids
3/5
If you like The Church, then man are you really gonna think this… is ok.
John Grant
3/5
So, while this album is fairly cohesive stylistically, it’s a bit all over the place in quality. At its best it definitely sounds very much like a Tim Smith era Midlake album, but at other times it’s like Randy Newman meets Air Supply, which really is not great.
The Electric Prunes
3/5
There are a couple of good songs on here, but far too much of it is filler written by hired guns.
The Afghan Whigs
4/5
They did an excellent job of putting the feelings of a break-up to music. It evokes those feelings both sonically and lyrically, which doesn’t make it easy to listen to.
My Bloody Valentine
5/5
Wall to wall sound, with shimmering melodies just beneath the surface. One of the best albums of the last 40 years.
Elbow
4/5
It is one of those sweeping, move soundtrack type albums. It is quite good, but it could use some trimming.
3/5
Interesting album. It is categorized as psychedelic rock, but it sounds more like T. Rex than Jefferson Airplane.
Nanci Griffith
4/5
If you like classic country with a touch of Old-time then you’ll really like this one. Some of the tracks seem decades ahead of their time, which is an odd thing to say about an Americana album.
The Beta Band
3/5
I was not familiar with this one, but it was pretty good. It's a pretty chill electronic record.
OutKast
4/5
There are some really great tracks on here, but at 73 minutes, there is also a lot of filler.
Frank Sinatra
3/5
It’s very much your typical Sinatra work that’s not In the Wee Small Hours.
Beck
4/5
A downbeat, atmospheric, and overall excellent album. Nothing like Beck’s more experimental 90s work. The only thing keeping it from 5 stars is that it gets a bit “samey” after a while.
Guns N' Roses
3/5
The big hits, “Welcome to the Jungle,” Sweet Child O’Mine,” and “Paradise City,” are pretty great but the rest is just your standard yawn-inducing buttrock.
Screaming Trees
4/5
I’m not sure how missed this one back in the day, but I wish I hadn’t. It actually lives up to the hype.
Morrissey
3/5
There are few albums that are so firmly a 3; “Irish Blood, English Heart” is excellent, but the rest is pretty forgettable. Also, the man is a prick.
Van Morrison
2/5
It's live, it's WAY too long, it's fairly dull, and a sizable chunk of the songs are covers. Pass.
Ice Cube
3/5
“Endangered Species” is pretty excellent, mostly because of Chuck D’s contributions. The rest is decent but forgettable.
Soft Machine
2/5
This is another overlong (75 mins!) live album, so who knows how good they were in the studio, but even Timothy Leary amounts of acid wouldn’t make this enjoyable.
Patti Smith
4/5
An excellent debut that often gets lumped in with (proto-)punk, but sounds closer to the producer's background in the Velvet Underground.
Faith No More
3/5
There are few good tracks on here, and “Epic” is, well epic, but the rest is rather middling and sounds very dated.
The Byrds
4/5
Jangly pop in the vain of early Beatles, but with some distinctly American elements, such as surf rock flourishes. It’s quite good, especially the first half, and at some points sounds about 20 years ahead of its time. This is also further proof that Bob Dylan songs are best performed by people who aren’t Bob Dylan.
The Soft Boys
4/5
I often see this album lumped in with post-punk classics such as Chairs Missing or Jane, from Occupied Europe, and while it does share some of that feel and sound, it has a much more varied sound than those. It might be more appropriately described as a pop-punk album with lots of jangle DNA as well. Really solid album.
Joy Division
5/5
Iconic cover design aside, the is such a phenomenal album. Track after track of sparse, moody post-punk bangers.
Thelonious Monk
4/5
A really enjoyable Hard Bop record that stands out in a field of standouts.
Pet Shop Boys
3/5
Another example of some tracks that might be on a list called "1001 Singles You Must Hear..." but the album as a whole cannot be considered essential as much of this is fairly mediocre.
Shivkumar Sharma
3/5
I usually enjoy Indian classical music, but this is Hindustani music for elevators.
Rush
4/5
Technically excellent, but not super interesting.
Neil Young
3/5
The dude is a great songwriter, but sometimes the cartoonish vocals make me feel like I’m listening to an SNL parody.
Nick Drake
5/5
Somehow full and lush even with minimal instrumentation. One of the top folk albums of all time.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
3/5
A pretty good, not great, album from a fairly disappointing human being.
Fleet Foxes
5/5
How many bands launch with such a fully realized sound? Baroque, pastoral folk songs that generally avoid the Americana tropes that became so common at this time.
Barry Adamson
3/5
So, this isn’t bad, and it’s a helluva lot better than Oedipus Schmoedipus. There’s often a blend of more traditional jazz instrumentation with industrial percussion, which makes for some interesting contrast. But, while it’s a passably entertaining listen, why would anyone need to hear this? What makes it essential?
The Allman Brothers Band
2/5
It’s well executed, but achieves Clapton levels of blandness. And because it’s a live album it gives you the feel of listening in on someone’s boomer dad jamming with his fellow retired accountants in the garage after they pushed the golf kit and Harley out. Yawn.
Missy Elliott
3/5
It’s not bad at all, and the first half is particularly good. But, it’s overlong and I’m not hearing much that would make it essential, though this is a bit out of my wheelhouse.
Leonard Cohen
4/5
There are several Cohen albums on this list, but I think this is the most typical of his style: evocative, largely spoken lyrics over sparse, acoustic instrumentation.
Deee-Lite
2/5
You know those albums that have a couple of good songs but the rest is just filler? This isn’t one of those… this one is all filler.
Gene Clark
4/5
Besides “Strength of Strings” I was unfamiliar with this album going in. What an underrated, yet influential classic. Really solid songwriting and performance.
Roxy Music
4/5
Quite a few classics on this one. The appropriate amount of Glam hedonism without the excessive polish you get on some Roxy Music/Bryan Ferry releases.
Os Mutantes
3/5
It’s not bad, but I doubt I’ll ever return to it. Lots of Scooby Doo energy though.
Curtis Mayfield
4/5
Funk is one of those genres that can be almost inaccessible, but this album is very good. It's influences (soul, jazz, R&B, rock) are obvious, but it is in no way merely derivative.
Wilco
4/5
Definitely sounds like a stop on the highway somewhere between Anodyne and Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. This might even be the quintessential Wilco album.
Lana Del Rey
4/5
I liked it a good bit more than I expected. Well crafted, atmospheric dream pop.
Spacemen 3
3/5
Some of these songs are barely songs at all; in fact, some feel like they would get blown apart by a stiff breeze. A lot of it feels like “Stereolab on acid” or “Jesus and Mary Chain on quaaludes.” Some songs are as dull as that suggests, but there are a couple, such as “I Believe It” and “Suicide” that are pretty damn solid and forward looking.
James Taylor
2/5
I really like a lot of the instrumentation, but his vocals are just like room temperature froyo. No thanks.
Talk Talk
4/5
Art-Pop/New Wave, but really well executed. If they would just cut out the harmonica and the children's choir, it might be a 5.
MGMT
4/5
It's impossible to come to this album with fresh ears. I really liked it when it came out, but through no fault of the band's, I think it wore out its welcome about 10 years ago.
Objectively, it's an eccentric, eclectic, arty synth driven pop album, and it is done quite well.
Deerhunter
5/5
This album comes up a lot in “Best of…” type lists, but that doesn’t always mean much. In this case, I was really impressed. Jangly, often Baroque and a bit shimmery pop.
Led Zeppelin
4/5
Outside Plant’s vocals there’s not much here that is distinctively Zeppelin. It’s still pretty good, but this seems closer to the Stones or Hendrix than the Led Zeppelin of “Kashmir,” “Immigrant Son, or “When the Levee Breaks.“
Dizzee Rascal
2/5
This guy is not without talent, but he only has one gear and that makes for an uninteresting album. Unfortunately, you can’t tell him any of that because he will apparently have a tantrum and physically attack you.
The The
3/5
I remember seeing these guys live back in the 90s; no matter what anyone else on stage was doing, all you heard was amplified harmonica.
This is better than that, but it’s not great or particularly notable. Whatever these guys are doing here, XTC were doing it better.
Bruce Springsteen
4/5
The songwriting is quite good, but in his attempts to create a hit album, Springsteen just created an overwrought, meandering, ostentatious bit of work. If these songs were recorded on just a 4-track recorder they’d probably be greatly improved. As it is, even at only 39 minutes, I was ready for it to be over halfway through.
The Beta Band
3/5
The style is somewhere between Stone Roses, Catherine Wheel, and Beck, but like a Lite version. Songs are well structured and have a strong rhythm, but it seems like they never really reach or strive to get out of their comfort zone. Not bad at all, but I can’t imagine returning to it.
Kings of Leon
3/5
Why are there so many Kings of Leon albums in this list? This is the best of the three and it’s only “ok.”
Madonna
2/5
A bit better than her other albums on the list, but it's still pretty boring.
Massive Attack
3/5
Another decent, though not great album. And another slot that would be better given to Mezzanine.
Scritti Politti
1/5
Track 1 - grown British men cosplaying as the Jackson 5 or something?
Track 2 - feels like a soundtrack to a shitty 80s action comedy
Track 3 - sounds like someone experimenting around with their new Casio keyboard, but somehow the best track so far…
Track 4 - utterly forgettable
Track 5 - more shitty soundtrack music, but this is for the montage
Track 6 - ok I’ve heard this one before, probably back in the 80s. I hated it then, too.
Track 7 - more weird Jacksonesque shit with cheesy synth and horn flourishes
Track 8 - not terrible, and at least now there’s a light at the end of the dayglo tunnel
Track 9 - a pretty bad song to end on, but fits the “end credits” vibe so I guess it makes sense.
Overall? Really bad. I can’t believe Gartside still performs under the Scritti Politi name. I’d be so embarrassed by this album I’d fake my own death, change my name, and move to the Faroe Islands or something.
Kid Rock
1/5
Pretty much as terrible as I remembered; just dumb songs from a spoiled kid who has made a career "slumming it" as a trailer park boy. Sonically, it's a hodgepodge of every popular 90s music trope, from LL Cool J to Alice in Chains, but not done with any conviction other than "look how much I don't give a shit."
The Pharcyde
3/5
It's not bad, but there's nothing here that catches my attention. Rather, it just fades to the background.
PJ Harvey
4/5
Loud, at times abrasive, but consistently good (post-)punk with obvious Steve Albini influences.
Beach House
4/5
Loud and trippy, but also a bit sparse. Definitely puts the "Dream" in Dream Pop.
Guided By Voices
3/5
There are a couple of really good tracks here, like "Game of Pricks" and "Motor Away," but most are just sketches or demos. As the album progresses it becomes increasingly distorted, and trebly, which is not an inherently bad thing. A fair amount of potential, but most of it is not worth returning to.
Cocteau Twins
5/5
I’ve been listening to this album pretty regularly for over thirty years now. There’s really nothing else like. It’s layered, reverby, dreamy, and of course the lyrics are incomprehensible. Is it my favorite album? No… you really have to be in the right headspace for it, but there is nothing else like it.