What a great album! This is the first time that I've heard of this band and I'm absolutely devastated it took me this long. Not only the music and vocal are great, but also the album makes references to some of my favourite books! I love the atmosphere of the record, putting some postmodernistic twist in their sound, appropriate to the books quoted on the tracks. I'm only after the first listening, so my emotions are really fresh, but for sure my next weeks will be spent trying to listen Klaxons to the ground. Great start of the week!

Wow! First album in here, that I didn't know at all, and then got transfixed by! I am (almost) speechless. This album is labelled as baroque/art pop. Well, if this genre is supposed to sound like this, then sign me in! Songs on this album have two layers. The first one, is a usually slow and rather melancholic, but beautiful melody, played on piano with plenty of string instruments. The second one is an incredibly rare and forceful voive of singer, Anhoni. And the song that shows that combinations better than anything else, is 'Hope there's someone'. If the only goal of listening to 1001 albums would be to hear this song for the first time, it is well worth it. Whole album is a very beautiful journey, that has been plaing in the background for the last day, and will be played for a long time since. Bravo!

I never understood why Nirvana became so famous in the first place. It is a really good example of grunge, with a timeless hit 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' and a well known leader of the group Kurt Cobain. But Nirvana wasn't even the best on their own yard - in my opininon Alice in Chains had better and deeper albums, Soundgarden had a very special sound, and even Pearl Jam had a stunning debut album. Yet, Nirvana was the one etched in people's memories. The album itself starts with all bangers - 'Smells..', 'Lithium', 'In Bloom', 'Come as you are', which all in all, are really good pieces. But the drop off after those songs is amazing. Very anonymous songs, more than half of the album being a filler. It is a good album, that for some reason rose to the cult status, but for me that wasn't supported by ability or craftsmanship, but by non-music related stuff. So I am going to rate this album just as form any other band.

First album in here that I just didn't enjoy. Nina Simone has a great voice and plenty of songs that are known all around the World. I approached this album (for the first time ever), hoping that I could like it. It is now a big part of the history of musi, after all. First song, I Love your Lovin' Ways, was very promising. The groove was there, I could easily blend into the atmosphere and enjoy it. Next song, the famous Four Women, was a bit of a turn in the mood, that actually stayed that way until the end of an album. Light, jazzy bit, deeply in the background and Nina Simone pushing all emotions out. I do think this album might be enjoyable in a different moment in life, or with a different mood when listening. But at the time, I could not take any pleasure from the compositions. Especially the titular song, Wild is the Wind was a very hard one to even sit through. On teh first listen I had to stop halfway, and start again after some time. Strong voice of Nina plus a simple, jazzy structure didn't make my day better, in fact I was constantly throwing glances at the length of songs, to see how much is there until the end. I love some songs made by Nina, but unfortunately, this album has basically zero of those.

Album of my childhood. The beat to 19-2000 will never cease to bring up nice memories of summer, and especially FIFA games. Singing (and rapping) parts of Clint Eastwood is an essential part of every get-together with my friends. Sound of Re-hash, when starting the vinyl puts me into a great humour straight away. This is one of those rare fully positive albums (melody, not necessarily the lyrics), that I really love. Definitely 5/5, only Demon Days would be rated higher in my humble opinion.

Speakerboxxx 5/5, surprisingly good album, I'm not a fun of this style of rap, but it was a real pleasure to listen to Big Boi. Nothing outstanding, just a very solid album from top to bottom. On the other hand, I was expecting a lot from Love Below. Hey Ya and Roses are great songs, that are still etched in people's mind 22 years later. Unfortunately, the rest of the album is, in my opinion, very average. I had to skip few songs, as they were a bit monotonous. There is a chance, that you have to be in a very good mood to enjoy it properly, but from my neutral perspective it was just a chore to go through the whole album. Two timeless songs and a looong bunch of noise. 3/5 Altogether, I would gladly enjoy another Speakerboxxx journey in the future, and for sure I was play on repeat two hits from Love Below, but the album as a whole is not even close entering my pantheon of best in history.

Very hit or miss album. I could listen to the Take Five any time of the day, everyday. The main beat, or sequence is instantly recognizable, because it was probably covered or used a thousand times since release. Same thing applies to Blue Rondo - a great and catchy song, very easy to listen to. I had great enjoyment from listening to these two songs. On the other hand, we have the rest of the album. I'm not an expert on jazz, nor I'm not a big fan of the genre. But I feel that sometimes songs are really hard to follow, not because they are very complicated, but because 'the experiment' the band has taken didn't work, and we are left with a Dr. Frankenstein's Monster. It is an achievment, but you won't take pleasure from looking at (or listening to it, in fact) him. Not my cup of tea.

First album in here that I just didn't enjoy. Nina Simone has a great voice and plenty of songs that are known all around the World. I approached this album (for the first time ever), hoping that I could like it. It is now a big part of the history of musi, after all. First song, I Love your Lovin' Ways, was very promising. The groove was there, I could easily blend into the atmosphere and enjoy it. Next song, the famous Four Women, was a bit of a turn in the mood, that actually stayed that way until the end of an album. Light, jazzy bit, deeply in the background and Nina Simone pushing all emotions out. I do think this album might be enjoyable in a different moment in life, or with a different mood when listening. But at the time, I could not take any pleasure from the compositions. Especially the titular song, Wild is the Wind was a very hard one to even sit through. On teh first listen I had to stop halfway, and start again after some time. Strong voice of Nina plus a simple, jazzy structure didn't make my day better, in fact I was constantly throwing glances at the length of songs, to see how much is there until the end. I love some songs made by Nina, but unfortunately, this album has basically zero of those.

In this little challenge I have decided to rate the albums by how much I enjoyed listening to it, with less consideration of the historical context. And I think that Superfly by Curtis Mayfield is one of those occasions, where that additional context might have been crucial in understanding the album. The album is a soundtrack to the movie Super Fly, neo-crime piece in the genre of blaxploitation. The songs are incredibly groovy and inspiring combination of funk and jazz (with a strong emphasis on funk). Really consistent album altogether, with similar musical themes and couple of instrumental pieces, necessary for a soundtrack. I believe the album starts very strong with song Little Child Runnin' Wild. This song is the epitome of the whole record - very thick and catchy beat, a bit desperate, but fitting vocal of Curtis and nice jazzy accompaniment. Song is very easy to listen to, with your legs moving to the beat subconsciously. After the song, the quality of the album takes a small drop. Songs are still pleasant and catchy, but forgettable. I have listen to the album few times and to be perfectly honest, I don't remember anything special about rest of the record. It is a very unique stop in my musical journey, but not one that I will be coming back to often (if at all).

Listening to the most famous (and the only one that I know) album of the band Deep Purple, Machine Head, is like taking a time machine into a simpler times, where Highway Star was synonymous with total rebellion, unhinged freakiness and going overboard. But is it a pleasant trip? From the first notes of the Highway Star you can be sure what type of album this will be. Classic 70s rock, that slowly, over next decade, will turn into hard rock, and eventually into all kind of metal/rock genres. With that historical context, listening to Machine Head is like taking a dive into depth of wikipedia, to read some obscure facts about the reasons of a random 14th century battle in the fields of eastern Lombardy. And like that knowledge, it's nice to know about this album, but I probably won't listen to it again. Most of the songs are very similar, with an exception of Lazy and the afromentioned Highway Star. There is also another precedence with popularity of Smoke on the Water riff. If you never played that riff on guitar or bass, then you never had one in your hands. The song itself is beyond average, but not as good as two songs mentioned in previous paragraph. I will be able to hum to the rythm of Smoke in my sleep forever, but that doesn't change the overall reception of the album I had. I feel like this record is categorised in the shelf named 'history', not in somewhere, where all my favourite or even occasional music is stored. Interestin album, but I'm eager to move on.

Yet another, in my opinion, average rock album. After listening to it yesterday, I can't remember any song. 2,5/5, but being generous it will round up to 3

Very interesting album. It was my first experience with The Allman Brothers Band. I think that the lack of previous knowledge about this group bring the enjoyment down couple levels. This is the last Live album with the original lineup, also with a different arrangement to songs than on studio albums. I can understand the appeal to this record by fans of the band, but for neutral fans, like myself, this album was just a nice listen, but nothing more than that. Probably won't reach for this album anytime soon.

Surprisingly nice album! Some of the songs felt like fillers with no emotions, but all the rest, with Hey at the top were really good. The album was a sweet mix of pop and rock, with some heavy moments in between. Catchy tunes plus some interesting vocal options. I will definitely come back to this album once again, probably sooner than later.

Sounds of rammstein before rammstein, enjoyable, but don't have time for a better description

Album of my childhood. The beat to 19-2000 will never cease to bring up nice memories of summer, and especially FIFA games. Singing (and rapping) parts of Clint Eastwood is an essential part of every get-together with my friends. Sound of Re-hash, when starting the vinyl puts me into a great humour straight away. This is one of those rare fully positive albums (melody, not necessarily the lyrics), that I really love. Definitely 5/5, only Demon Days would be rated higher in my humble opinion.

Yet another album with a 50 year anniversary, this time a live concert recording from Japan by the band Deep Purple. The album has only 9 songs, but all of them have a different arrangement than on the studio recording. The big change - a lot of solos, improvisation and just general craziness. The first two songs were very promising Highway Star and Child in Time had the right amount of all the ingredients: faster songs, guitar solos, vocal improv, just a great show. As for the rest of the album, the quality, in my opinion, went a bit down. The same recipe as for the first two songs stopped working. It became bothersome and boring. I had a really hard time getting through last three songs. It might be amazing, when heard live, especially 50 years ago, but as a listener from a different generation, in my bed and with headphones on, that album doesn't have anything special for me anymore.

Paper planes! First time listening to this album. Mia is of Sri Lankan descent and after growing up in UK she decided to sing and rap about socially and politically delicate subjects. Paper Planes is one of those songs. Unfortunately, I never cared about the lyrics to it before, but with that knowledge, it gives an another meaning (on top of very catchy tune). The rest of the album follows suit, with a small exception, that you can't find anything catchy, just your average fillers with an interesting agenda. A little bit dissapointed.

Different album than the rest. Mix of genres, soft voice by Shuggie, catchy beats and riffs. Just not for me.

Another one for the memories! I was always more of a Meteora fan, but Hybrid Theory has a really big place in my heart. Song 'In The End' is extremely catchy, and I know the lyrics still after twenty-ish years. Album starts on a high note with 'Papercut' and it actually just gets better. All around, it's a very even record. With this debut album, Linkin Park position themselves on the Mount Olymp of the Nu Metal wave, and for some (like me), on the very top of it.

One of the hardest albums for me to listen thoroughly. It felt like a one, long song, with an unchanged drum pattern and sleepy riffs in the background (except for few solos, which were very good, but not enough to wake you up from the coma). I'm trying to remember anything about vocal, and honestly, I can't. That means is as forgettable, as it can be. Not the record for me.

It was my first time listening to the full album of REM. I've been fan to some of their music, like 'Nightswimming', and 'Everybody Hurts'. In the end, the way I liked those songs is the same as I liked this album - pleasent to listen to, but definitely without fanfare. In general, album didn't have anything outstanding, something I could get a grip of, to start a journey together. Two best songs were exactly in the same style as whole album, on the melancholic side, slow with a characteristic vocal of Michael Stipe. And as usually I am a fan of this arrangements, this album was just average.

Another 90s rock/pop band that I didn't know, but this time I really liked the album. Garbage sounded similar to Smashing Pumpkins, or for some reason Moloko, but maybe because the song were fresh for me, I had a nice time listening to it. Some songs, like 'milk' have potential of being repayable for quite a while. In general, very positive album.

Not my style, rather monotonous vocal, simple melodies and lyric heavy. Despite all of that, I really enjoyed this album and it was a pleasure to listen to. It was one of the most cheerful records so far on this list (if not the only one) and somehow it got stuck in my memory despite being completely different from what I usually listen to. Never heard of Belle & Sebastian before, now it is the first band on this list that I will consider buying a cd/vinyl.

Worst album I have heard on this list so far. Definitely not my style, I couldn't get into any song, although I can sense the appeal other people may have to this album.

Very hard album to rate. In general, folk and bard-like songs are definitely far from being my favourite genres of music. On the other hand, the influence and impact Bob Dylan had on culture and music is really out of the scale. In cases like this I have to refer to my rule - rating albums as I like them 'right now', without historical context. So if I will look at this album as a fan in 2022 with no prior knowledge of Bob Dylan, I have to say that the album is not that interesting. Musical layer is very basic - simple guitar chords and harmonica, plus Dylan's voice, which I wouldn't call a one to forget. What keeps me into listening, is the lyrics and those songs, that really hypnotise you and push you to feel something (mostly through lyrics). Blowin' in the Wind is a great song, which I will listen to again and again. Hard rain is one of those songs as well. But in general, there is too many forgettable songs on this record. As a person listening to the album 60 years later, I have to say it is an average album.

One of the classic rock bands, that I really like. I used to listen to Moving Pictures a lot back in high school. This was a very important part on my 'discover the music' journey. And although 'Working Man' is my favourite Rush song, this album still delivers a lot of positive emotions. The trio from Canada strike a nice balance between number of catchy riffs, monumental guitar solos and great drum work. At the beginning I couldn't buy Geddy's Lee vocal, but it grews on you with time. "Tom Sawyer' is that quintessential Rush song, that has everything to offer. I was ready to give this album five stars, but after another listening session, I realized that there is not much interesting songs after the great instrumental 'YYZ'. None of the songs on side b got stuck in my memory and the drop off in quality is visible. But it is still a very stron four.

Wow! First album in here, that I didn't know at all, and then got transfixed by! I am (almost) speechless. This album is labelled as baroque/art pop. Well, if this genre is supposed to sound like this, then sign me in! Songs on this album have two layers. The first one, is a usually slow and rather melancholic, but beautiful melody, played on piano with plenty of string instruments. The second one is an incredibly rare and forceful voive of singer, Anhoni. And the song that shows that combinations better than anything else, is 'Hope there's someone'. If the only goal of listening to 1001 albums would be to hear this song for the first time, it is well worth it. Whole album is a very beautiful journey, that has been plaing in the background for the last day, and will be played for a long time since. Bravo!

Same story as with ZZ Top - monotonous, repetitive and irritating. The only reason it's not one star is that Ace of Spades is a great song (and then you have 9 more songs that barely sound different). Once again, not my style.

I was really surprised by this band. Before my first approach to this album, I was expecting a doom and gloom punk, like a more melancholic Sex Pistols (maybe because of Sid Vicious connection)? But apparently those guys know how to play! Interesting and not at all punk-like guitars, plus very nice bass and drum layer. Some of the songs had a very good foundation to be hits, even now. Unfortunately, here comes the caveat - I just couldn't stand listening to Siouxsie vocal.. It was okay for one or two songs, but on a whole album, especially with vocals being so exposed on the tape, it's just unbearable. I might give this album a second chance sometimes, or even check different records from this band, but for now my only choice is to give it an average rating.

Another album that means much more in historical context, than it is an actual good album. It is a country band, that mixes different genres with it, most notably rock, psychedelic rock and gospel. You can hear this album being molded in the same pot as some of The Beatles, early Pink Floyd or The Beach Boys. You could exchange couple songs between those bands and no one would be surprised. The only problem, in my opinion, is that as a whole, The Gilded Palace Of Sin didn't withstand the test of time. Not only I couldn't recognise any of those songs, but also nothing really was good enough even to recommend. Tracks that were pure country were simply not good enough. Those mixed with rock were better, but still at best could fit to the B side of bands mentioned before, so usually first to forget. As I mentioned once, I will try not to rate albums on the base of historical context, but only on the base of how much I liked it right now. And with this little detail I can't give more than two stars.

Such a fun album! As almost always, it was my first experience with this band, but man, what a pleasure. Such a nice ride, I felt like on european trip through safari. Another mixed genres album, that actually struck a gold. I think this is a type of album that is very consistent throughout the whole length of it. Starts with 'Born Under Punches', with a very distinctive African-sounding beat, that never leaves and actually sounds even better on few of the instrumental tracks. Couple of slower songs fitted in between also doesn't distract you from the roller coaster ride that is this album. The only problem is that the album is too consistent for its own sake. There is no stand out song, that I could remember. The most known one is 'Once in a Lifetime', but it wasn't anything special in my opinion. So in future, I will listen to the whole album, and not just few chosen songs.

Hard album to classify, or to rate. In general, I'm not a biggest fan of rap or hip hop. But once in a while there is a rapper or a group, that I really enjoy listening to. Arrested Development might be one of that group, especially if you will look at the lyrical layer of some of the songs. First of all, the beats in the whole album are really great. Very catchy, actually in some ways being similar to the previous album from Talking Heads on this list - mix of African sounds with more modern remixes. It gets slower towards the end of the album, more melancholic, but still doesn't go outside of the album's concept. Second part is the lyrics, which this record is all about. I would divide this album in two parts: - one part is all about sensitive topics, equality, racism, religion. This part actually has all the best songs, like 'People Everyday, 'Fishin 4 Religion' and 'Give a man a fish'. For this part I could easily give it a full five stars. - but on the other hand we have a second part of the album with more universal and contemporary topics, shown in songs like 'Natural and 'Dawn of the Dreads'. It was actually a real struggle to get to the end of the album. Really diverse album, a lot of interesting topics, but in the end I need to give a rating for it all together. I think 3,5 would be fair, but there is no chance for that, so I'll give it a three.

Another band and an album that I wouldn't have hear about if not for this list. And that would be such a great shame! Very entertaining type of music, very fast-paced irish type music, with a lot of 'countryside' instruments and sounds on the foreground. The album starts with the most interesting song, 'The Celtic Soul Brothers'. If you have ever imagined (as I did) what would be played on the lower deck of Titanic for the common folk to dance till they can dance no more, that would be it. I was taken aback by the vocals of Kevin Rowland at first, I felt like his 'throaty' voice did not fit at all, but it quickly grew on meand by the end of the album I was completely sold. After first song the album heads the same direction - full steam ahaed to the Irish party! Few songs that are very entertaining, followed by couple slower songs, which maybe necessary, were really not to my liking. The band was at its best in a fast-flowing rhytm, where your legs dance before you can even think of it. The best example - 'Come on Eileen'. I could recognise the song in the first few seconds, but I have never known, that Dexys Midnight Runners were the first authors of it. Although not as fast-paced as rest of the album, the song is incredibly catchy, and very easy to follow along by singing and dancing. Entertaining album - I'm very happy that I found it today.

Well, that was definitely the worst album I have heard here so far. I honestly struggle to understand what is so appealing on this record, that it ended up on a list of greatest albums of all time. You can tell that Rufus has great 'opera' voice and unique style of singing, but it's far from being groundbreaking or entirely original. I had a really hard time trying to finish the album. Last song was somehow a breath of fresh air, 'Old Whore's Diet'. It included Anhoni from Anthony and the Johnsons, that I highly rated a week ago. Unfortunately, it was not enough to save this record. I was very hesitant to give one star to any of those bands, but I think in my opinion, Rufus really earned that. There shouldn't be a place for this album on the list.

Fun album - but up to a point. Space rock at its best, allegedly, is very entertaining in small doses. Listening to a song or two was a great experience, sound of guitars really could take light years away from Earth. But the whole album was almost 2 hours, and trying to listen to those 'sounds of future' quickly became unbearable. I won't recommend this album to anyone, but I would gladly put a random song from this album on a party, as a 'something different and weird'. But that has to be reflected in the rating as well.

I didn't know I would be a fan of The Rolling Stones! Obviously I knew a lot of their songs, but I always thought of this band as a generic 60s/70s rock band. And I was wrong. Sticky Fingers is a joyous album, mixing some classic blues melodies, a little bit of rock and everything rolled in a juicy Mick Jaggers vocals. The album is a real even mix of blues and rock, and the perfect example of it would be 'Can't you hear me knocking. The flow of the song and the feeling of an extremely well oiled blues improv make it my favourite on this album and probably favourite from the band. Only issues I have is that Jagger's vocal is tiring you in big doses and the 'only' rock songs are a bit underwhelming. But still, really solid album!

Yet another case of a band/album, that is on the list due to 'innovation', or a historical context. Big Star is apparently a big influence to a myriad of Alternative pop/rock bands of 90s, so as a precursor to a whole generation, it is celebrated now across the world (the world of critics, at least). My problem with this album is that whenever a record is on this list because of the musical context, it doesn't have any standalone power. It is a very bland album, just with a new concept, or a new way of post-production. This is the case with Third/Sister Lovers. After listening to whole album I am not able to pinpoint anything I liked. Or even anything that pick up my attention. I can agree that songs sounded very modern, not like made in 90s, but that doesn't change the fact that I wouldn't listen to it right now. I'll leave it to professional critics howmuch this band change the course of musical history, but for my amateur-self, it is a very boring album.

Jack White to the Rescue! I am a moderate White Stripes and Jack White's fan. I used to listen to the more famous songs and I was never interested in looking into their older stuff. But what a pleasure it was to listen to 'White Blood Cells'! It was like a more garage version of their pampered popular songs like 'Seven Nation Army' and 'The Hardest Button to Button', or 'Doorbell'. I feel like this album was meant to be a white canvas for Jack White's stream of consciousness. Many short songs, interlays, stories with couple notes here and there on the guitar, piano, or as sparse drum-work as possible. Somehow it all works and makes for a great album. Is it White's confidence? Or maybe his reputability? Or maybe just his honesty, dipped with a massive amount of talent? Whatever it was, I will come back to this album again and again. It's hard to pick up any song from this album to outline it with more details. I think this is a case of a sort of concept album without a concept, and the songs should be reconised as one. And if that is the case, then it was a really good song with variety of styles, chaotic, sweet, slow, but with Jack's name all over it.

First time listening to the full album by Lenny Kravitz and my first thought is - Why haven't I done this sooner? It's a very well made album, entertaining from start to finish (although it falls off a little by the end). Mix of rock, at moments hard rock, with blues and soul, resulting in extremely fun record for a wide variety of fans. Lenny was the solo artist on this album - vocals and lyrics, guitars, bass, drums and other instruments were composed and played by him. And you can tell how talented he is. It wasn't over the top at any point, which happens to some other overcomplicated recordings, but also it wasn't too simple, it hit the right mark. Guitar solos felt really at place and in the groove of the song or beat. Additional instruments like sax or trumpet added another layer to the mixture. And finally, it wouldn't be as attractive without great singing voice of Lenny. He could swing in-between slower, more emotional tracks and fast and heavy ones with ease, and you could tell he felt good and comfortable in any setting. I am very surprised with this album, but it easily jumps to the list of my favourites.

Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds is a band that everyone should have at least heard of, like in my example. I would often reach for any song from Murderballads period, or go for something funkier, like 'Dig, Lazarus, Dig!'. But I have never approached 'TThe Boatman's Call' before, and if I did, I quickly dismissed it as boring, because it is so much different from the other albums. This record is very austere. Up to two instruments at the same time and the neverending 'wailing' from Nick. This album feels like a private confession, unloading of his small secrets or just deeper feelings. Apparently he admitted, that one of the songs is about his ex, PJ Harvey. This only amplifies the general atmosphere of the album. I think that intimate aesthetics of it can only be fully appreciated in a specific mood of melancholy and posiibly sadness. As an average fan, looking for another crazy Nick Cave's album, I found a really interesting gem, that I would have to revisit once more in a better suited time.

If every R'n'B album would be like 'C'est Chic', then I would be the biggest fan ever of the genre. I am honestly in love with the bass line, the groovy rhythm and the wonderful vocals, rounding up the whole experience into an ultimate party. I think this is the first time I am essentially speechless, beacuse of how much this album surprised me. It's really hard to pinpoint any low moments on the album. There are two groups, that you can divide the songs into: - great songs - wonderful songs. The best way to describe how much I liked it - vinyl is on the way. Most deserved 5 stars yet.

Well, not much to say. Kind of country version of Bob Dylan, but not as poetic and maybe subjectively better singer. Songs about hard life in West USA, for sure he had to be some kind of country prototype. As I mentioned couple times already, neither folk, country or bards are my cup of tea, especially that in my opinion Jack Elliott doesn't stand out in any way.

As a complete amateur when it comes to soul or R&B, it's no surprise that I have never heard of Sam Cooke. Apparently during his short life he was good enough to be called King of Soul. I have done this 'research' before listening to this album. I've also read that this recorded concert is treated as one of the best in the history of music, and Sam Cooke himself was more raw and unleashed on it, then during his studio albums. So I approached it with some expectations and hope. It quickly turned out that even the greatest Soul albums are not for me. I could hardly concentrate on the songs, as it was definitely not appealing to me. Sam could sing, that is a given, his band had some talented musicians, but they were in a different Solar System then I usually operate in. I feel ashamed of giving this album such a bad note, but as point of this exercise, I have to rate it as I enjoyed, and unfortunately, I didn't enjoyed it at all. Maybe my musical taste will expand with time.

This is a case of an album, that has a very well-known song ('Sign Your Name'), but you had no idea who the vocalist or the band is. And I have to say, that's a real shame, because Terence Trent D'Arby, or Sananda Maitreya as he is known now, is a really talented and entertaining singer. The album started on a very high note with a great 'If You All Got To Heaven'. Funky and with some rock influence, masquerading as a soul song.The rest of the album is leaning more into a mix of funk and soul. And although it is not my favourite combination, I really enjoyed listening to the album. Very solid record, I'm happy that I found out about this album.

Usually I'm all in on melancholic music, but you have to be in a very specific mood, to thoroughly appreciate it. I wasn't in that mood during my first listening and as a result the whole album just slowly disappeared somewhere in the background, without me noticing anything special about it. Fortunately, by a coincidence, I gave it another chance, late at night, with a glass of wine for company - and the reception was so so much better. Richard creates an amazing atmosphere around his songs; you can feel as you moved in time 50 years and enjoy a full moon with a loved one on a bench in a park. It also helps, that Richard's voice is so soft and charming, that he slowly hypnotizing you into submisson to this album. As for my favourite song, I think I actually have to choose the first song on the album - titular 'Coles Corner'. The song is slightly different from the rest of the record - even more melancholic, perfect cooperation of violin and sadness in Hawley's voice, makes it the best song on this album. I was ready to quickly dismiss this album as just 'another boring work', but I am so lucky to give it a second chance. Really great album!

Style over substance. I was waiting over the whole album duration for something to happen... Anything. Instead, I was given the middle part of 'Echoes' by Pink Floyd, but without the essence or culmination in Gilmour and Wright's vocals. It feels like I'm massively missing a context to those songs, that would allow me to enjoy the melodies and noises without being too sceptical or unsure of what I'm listening to. This album is on the list probably because of its innovative approach and use of never before used equipment to generate music. But in my opinion, does it pass the test of time? No.

This is literally the first album that I have listened to in my life. I think I was 12 at the time and I wasn't into music at all, then my friend told me to check this out - and the rest is now history. It's been now almost 20 years since that moment, but my musical journey keeps coming back to this specific album. It obviously has so much of sentimental value, I won't be able to be objective when describing the album, but that's just another reason why this should be rated highly. As a self-proclaimed bass player, songs like Bombtrack, Wake up, or Freedom are so rewarding to play. Bass is actually so characteristic on this album and in many songs it is a focal point of the composition. Tim Commerford was my first kind of an 'idol', or a person I was trying to shape my style after. I am not a big enthusiast of guitar solos, but Tom Morello is definitely one of the exceptions. And even though my favourite solo is on a different album, the heart and soul of his style is felt on this self-titled album. But what I really respect Tom for is his riffs - when written down they are pretty simple and very easy to play, and yet they match perfectly in the songs and they are the main reason, why your head is banging to the rhythm all the time. And finally, Zach de la Rocha and his vocals and lyrics. Ratm is mostly known to the wider audience for their 'Anti-Machine' themes. Just listen to the names of the song: 'Take The Power Back', 'Township Rebellion', Settle For Nothing'. Once again I think that Zach and his lyrics got more sophisticated on later albums, but here, there is the titular rage and raw energy, which gave them the fame. Great album, easiest rating I will ever do on this site.

Another album that's okay, but is not special in any way. You can hear the album is heavily influences by the punk scene from Sex Pistols onwards, but the sound is more modernised, it falls at time into 'pop' shelf. In general, just a little bit before it's times. The aforementioned sound has vocals, that actually bring Sex Pistols back alive. In my opinion, same ton of voice, similar way of singing. Not really my cup of tea. Guitar work is more interesting, there is couple small gems on the album, brave solos, amusing riffs. Problem is that now, day after listening to the album, I'm not able to name any specific song. They meshed into one, rather average record and this is how I'm going to rate it.

If I would ever wonder which album (one of many, of course) Steven Wilson was influenced by, then here we are! I was actually a bit perplexed at the beginning, because I thought it's just some kind of early Porcupine Tree release and I just clicked the wrong link. Thinking of it, this album must have influenced quite a large number of progressive bands, as its sound is unique, quite original at the time, but also very entertaining even today. I think the best description of this album is the song Starship Trooper. It has everything - crazy solos, slowly paced instrumental parts, psychedelic verses and they all fill in nicely onto a pretty long 9 minutes song. Rest of the album is uniquely similar, a lot of crazy moments woven together with instrumental parts and vocals. Very good example of a historically important album, that didn't lose its value after all this time, and can be equally enjoyed today.

As a Massive Attack and Portishead fan, I once went on a quest of finding other bands playing with similar style, something to expand my thirst for trip hop songs. Logically, the path quickly has taken me to Tricky, one of co-founding members of Massive Attack. So in essence, this is the second attempt to listen to his discography. Maxinquaye has a specific tempo and an atmosphere to it. Songs sound very much alike first Massive Attack albums - one overpowering beat with plenty of variations, slightly melancholic, and a female vocal all over the beat. Recipe is 'easy', but works almost every time. Different addition on this album is a spoken word and rap from Tricky himself. The whole mix can be heard in its best on my favourite song of the album (unsurprisingly) 'Hell is round a corner'. Beat sounds like a child of Massive Attack and Portishead, Tricky is leading the way with soft rap, and Martina Topley-Bird adding yet another dimension with her singing and choruses. The only problem is that the level of that song can't be reached anymore throught the album. Other songs are catchy, and they have this specific style, but are rather forgettable. Very interesting album, but probably I won't try it for the third time.

Well, it will be pretty hard for me to describe this album. Mainly because this is my least favourite type of one of my least favourite genres. Is this album on the list because of something revolutionary that 50 Cent or his producers have done? Or is it just a peak example of the specific Gangsta Rap subgenre? Or maybe it was just very successful in terms of sales, so it had to be included here? In any case, it probably wouldn't get my vote. Whole album consists of catchy beats, mainly known for songs that made it high on pop lists, like 'In Da Club', or 'PIMP'. 50 Cent style of rapping is rather bland and his lyrics are one-dimensional. Plenty of collaborators on the album, most notably Eminem, but they don't change anything for better or worse. I believe that fans of this style of music will find plenty of enjoyment, but I reckon that neutral fans of music would rather just walk by it, like I did after first listening to this album.

Talking Heads album 40 years later, but less entertaining and not as original anymore? Yes, it is. I was wondering which albums from recent years would be chosen for this list. How good an album has to be, to put it on a list of Greatest of All Time just couple years after releasing? Well, the apparent answer is simple - not really good. I don't see any unique qualities in this album, nor anything transcendental, that leaves you with your mouth wide open. It's just another record with Talking Heads like beats, using a lot of electronic sounds and adding some indie rock in the mix. I don't won't to sound too negative for no reason, but the only single from the album, 'tonite', was actually the most boring song on american dream. Snappy, lively beat on drums and bass, some samples on top of it and a monotonous vocal, altogether very slowly cranking the atmosphere up and never releasing, just resetting. It's not a recipe for my liking, but in my opinion the execution is also lacking. Not the best choice on this list to represent the latest decade in music.

Sigur Ros is a perfect example of a band, that should be included on this list. They have such an unique sound and style, every album is completely different, yet there is no mistake, it always sounds like Sigur Ros. Also, one of few bands, that basically teleports you to the country of origin, in this case Iceland, of course, thanks to the fenomenal atmosphere of music. Sigur Ros is also high on my list of bands, that I would like to see live, but only in the middle of nowhere on a random Icelandic hill (like in Olsen Olsen video). Agaetis Byrjun most likely is on this list, because it's the first album, where Sigur Ros found their style and almost made it perfect. In my opinion, their bigger achievments are ( ) and Takk... Nevertheless, every song is interchangeable between those records and sometimes you could treat it as one. The best songs on the album are, unsurprisingly, self-titled and Sven-g-englar. Beautiful compositions, that just require you to close your eyes and drift away to that icelandic hill. One of the better contemporary bands in recent history.

I never understood why Nirvana became so famous in the first place. It is a really good example of grunge, with a timeless hit 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' and a well known leader of the group Kurt Cobain. But Nirvana wasn't even the best on their own yard - in my opininon Alice in Chains had better and deeper albums, Soundgarden had a very special sound, and even Pearl Jam had a stunning debut album. Yet, Nirvana was the one etched in people's memories. The album itself starts with all bangers - 'Smells..', 'Lithium', 'In Bloom', 'Come as you are', which all in all, are really good pieces. But the drop off after those songs is amazing. Very anonymous songs, more than half of the album being a filler. It is a good album, that for some reason rose to the cult status, but for me that wasn't supported by ability or craftsmanship, but by non-music related stuff. So I am going to rate this album just as form any other band.

My first impression of this band was to automatically categorise it as 'Another Punk Band', and then just move one. But after listening to this album a little bit more, I realised that it is original in its sound. Punk Rock, but with a twist. The twist in this case is the horror-themed motives and parts added to the songs. Guitars especially making wooing sounds, creating a nice, Halloween like atmosphere. For a while, it made the album really original and pleasurable to listen. Unfortunately, vocal on this album had to be produced in the Factory of Generic Punk Rock Vocalists. It did bring the whole experience down a level or two. I will give this band another shot in the future, but probably try to cancel out the singer, to properly enjoy it.

Third Deep Purple album out of around 50, gives around 6% on my list so far! And similarly, as on other albums, I think that this band is enjoyable and interesting, but a little bit outdated. I am honestly surprised, that Deep Purple is regarded so high in terms of cultural impact. There is a chance that I am missing the context again, that in late sixties this type of music was non-existent and they revolutionized the pop/rock genre forever. But if you look, for example, at Led Zeppelin, making music during the same time, there is no comparison between the bands in my opinion. Also, nowadays DP is fairly forgotten, and I really think this is not a coincidence. Deep Purple In Rock is a good album, that has couple strong moments, especially on Side A with songs Speed King and Child in Time. Interesting guitar and organ solos, long compositions and fairly entertaining rhytm section makes those songs tantalizing and hypnotizing.However I would argue that those are just moment on this album, whereas Side B is extremely bland and forgettable. This record is a really nice piece to listen to during a long, winter night, with a fireplace close-by and a drink in hand. But personally, I am pretty sure this won't happen anytime soon, so the way I enjoyed this album surely has to be reflected by the rating.

I might be petty, but Tom ain't it. A very soft southern rock from 70s with a distinctive vocal from Tom Petty. Unfortunately it's not my cup of tea. At the beginning I could hear some resemblance to Lynyrd Skynyrd, probably through that southern connection, but those two bands couldn't be any more different. I feel like the songs on Tom Petty's album are made straight for the charts - they don't take any risk, they are short and to the point, and also are one-dimensional. Is this album on the list, because it was one of the first southern rock examples in history? Because otherwise, it shouldn't have been included, as it has nothing outstanding, interesting or groundbreaking.

New wave/pop album with only one exceptional song, tragically standing out in comparison to the rest of the album. XTC isn't a well known band, it doesn't have any strong position in any genre, and hasn't done anything revolutionary for music progression. In my opinion, the whole album actually feels like a filler for the single Dear God, which is a really good song, probably causing controversy even nowadays. Very smart lyrics and accompanying beats and melodies work amazing on this song, it's something I'm going to revisit every once in a while. Meanwhile, the rest of the album is totally anonymous. Nothing stands out, nothing caught my attention. There has to be something that I am missing, because there is no chance that Skylarking is on this list only for the song Dear God. Well, maybe time will tell, but at the moment the rating won't be too high.

Another great album from my youth. Eminem was the first person, or rapper, that has introduced hip hop in my circle. His influence is undeniable, especially in a non-english speaking country, because he provided an idea that you can listen to rap in different language and stl immensely enjoy it. You can take any album from 90s or 2000s and it will open a box with great memories. As for Marshall Mathers LP, it is an album wealthy with hits and great songs. 'The Real Slim Shady', 'Marshall Mathers', 'Kim', and of course my favourite song, that I can still listen to on a weekly basis - Stan. The way Eminem is telling a story on this album, oscillating between a jokingly lyrics and funny, catchy beat, to an intense, almost horror like rapping style with a beat keeping you on your toes. Extremely well done songs. What brings the album down by a little is the coup songs that were probably made just for shocking purposes, like the 'Drug Ballad'. Nowadays, the line of shock was pushed so far, that this album feels almost family friendly. Other drawback is those couple songs featuring other rappers. I feel like Eminem, at least back in 2000s, had such an unique style, that bringing different artist on this album was a way to show how much better Eminem is at the moment. But overall, great album, I will listen to it again and again in future.

English band playing Irish punk rock with a heavy folk influence. This album is a decent example of the genre, that since has evolved and produced much better bands and records, with a notably example of Dropkick Murphys. The Pogues provided a breath of fresh air during 80s, but since then, their album can be played in a small Irish pub in the middle of nowhere, by a live tribute band, with only drunk people paying any attention to the music. After two times that I've heard this album, I still can't distinguish any specific song. Cohesiveness of the record makes it harder to enjoy the music. Songs are meshed together into one long 50 minutes composition, with no distinctive features. While it can be still enjoyable, I believe it is highly outdated and should be celebrated as a monument of past and not a beacon of irish punk greatness.

Entertaining album from the past. Paul Simon has a really beautiful voice, which could work in any musical genre. Probably that's pretty blasphemic, but if Bob Dylan had a voice of Paul Simon, but would keep his great writing and a bard persona, then we would be talking about him as a Michael Jordan of popular music. Instead, we have Paul singing folky pop/soft rock songs, which are really nice to listen to, but ultimately a little dissapointing. As for the songs, this album can be divided in two parts - singles in one group and everything else in the other. There is a massive drop-off in quality between the three singles and other songs on the album. For example, 'Mother and Child Reunion' is a great song, with an upbeat tempo, charming chorus and, of course, gorgeous voice of Paul. Similarly, along the same lines, 'Me and Julio down by the Schoolyard' works great as a single on this album. The last one is called 'Duncan'. The style in this song is changed to a slower and more melancholic, although in my opinion Simon's vocal doesn't fit well , or at least is not at its best in this circumstances. But still - great song. Altogether, the rating for this album would be very high, if you only count those three songs, but we have to consider the whole record, which is filled with 'ready to be skipped' songs. But I will gladly check the full discography of Mr. Simon.

Another modern band that I haven't heard about yet. It seems that it falls under the very unprecise category of indie rock, which if you're brave enough, you can classify there the vast majority of current bands. I think The National stands out, compared to other bands from the genre, through abilities and craftsmanship of Matt Beringer. He has a specific style of singing, with a long sequences of deep voice talking, and usually short melodic blurts. The music itself doesn't seem too original, although I would like to point out the keyboard/piano work, which actually elevates the songs to a deeper level. Beautiful melodies create a melancholic mist over the album, but the drums, and ocassionally bass, keeps you on your toes, with an upbeat tempo and a sense of urgency. Guitars seem to be written on this album as a fillers and additional help in elevating the atmosphere and send the message of the particular song. I think that the biggest stand out on the album is 'Terrible Love'. It is the best example of everything I have written in previous paragraph and of how well it works altogher as a song. Moving on, the level of the album stays even, in general 'High Violet' doesn't have any fillers or weaker points. Songs like 'Buzzsaw Ohio', 'England', 'Vanderlyle Crybaby Geeks' have something unique, but at the same time fit into the mould of the album. I really like the atmosphere of the album, although it can be a little monotonne over the length of whole record. Nevertheless, I will gladly come back to this album in the future and check other positions in the 'The National' discography.

A bit of a folk/country rock mix by Gene Clark, one of the founders of The Byrds. The album has a very interesting story of early rejection and a comeback just before the death of Gene. So going from a literal trash (in the eyes of critics), to the status of cult album that it received in 90s and apparently still has nowadays, as seen by the presence on this list. In my opinion "No other" doesn't deserve either of those 'accolades'. It's a solid album, strongly holding the spirit of early 70s with a slightly psychedelic infused country/folk record. It doesn't have any standout moments, the atmosphere and level is equal from first song to last. "Life's Greatest Fool" is a perfect example - very anjoyable song, flowing with its own tempo, very southern like vocal from Gene and exciting choruses make it a perfect song to listen to in a diner somewhere on a road in middle Texas. Maybe if I will travel to US again, I will put this album on and just enjoy the road. But until then, I don't think I'll come back to this record often.

Second album on this list by Bob Dylan is his fifth studio recording in his career. This is a step back from the do-it-all bard persona as we've heard on the first album. On "Highway 61 Revisited", Bob Dylan is accompanied by a full band, and how well that works can be seen on the first song, possibly one of his most famous, "Like a Rolling Stone". The song itself is indeed great, finally Dylan's lyrical work is almost matched on the musical level (or in this case outmatched). The rest of the album doesn't climb up to the Mount Olymp of greatness, but is nevertheless very solid and strangely more atmospheric, talking by a harder subjects, which the music outlines. "Ballad of the Thin Man" and self titled song are among others very popular works. Especially the first one and "Desolation Row" seem to be on par with the general style of Bob as a generational ballads about hard topics. In my opinion this is a great improvement over the first album and it should be reflected in the rating as well.

This is my first experience with band Can, apparently a prominent example of the quirky Krautrock genre. Never giving it much thought, I identify this genre with band Kraftwerk, probably just making the connection by similar names and German-based roots? I never paid any attention to this band either, so Tago Mago was my first try, approaching it with a clean sheet. And what a journey that was! Combining Krautrock with more traditional psychedelic rock made wonders on the opening track "Paperhouse". This song's energy came straight from the core - drum work. I imagine, that you could rotate everyone else from the band with a different, random musicians, and the song would still be as attractive and incredibly atmospheric. Energy of the beat, together with climactic bridges, was amplified by a funky and at times aggressive bass line and erratic, but original keyboard. Guitar and vocals by Mr. Suzuki lifted the song into another dimension, although from a distance, guitarist, singer and the rest of the band seem to be at a completely different wavelength. And yet, it works very well! First part of the album is consistent with this song, the tempo is high, flow is amazing, but by the records midpoint, we are slowly descending into madness, which in this case means total abstract and avant-garde regions of music. The momentum of the album so far gives you enough energy and necessary context to enjoy the second half. But for a neutral fan, that wants to 'check out this groovy band from 70s' by listening to, for example, "Peking O" then he is well on the way to dissapointment. It makes me think of myself, how many times did I choose a wrong track to listen to the band for the first time? Easy to make that mistake with a band like Can. In summary, if this album would be a real psychedelic trip, then after first euphoric experience, we would get real close to overdose by the end. But the trip is well worth it.

Bitches Brew is an experimental, groundbreaking and very brave album, created by a genius-at-work Miles Davis and his ensemble of top-notch jazz musician of his time. The work is a fusion od modal, experimental and definitely avant-garde jazz, with some early rock and funk influence. Miles' experience is certainly expressed loud and clear on this album - he is not afraid, he knows what he wants from himself and other members, and is working hard to deliver an almost 120 minutes long masterpiece of jazz. On paper it's a recipe for a top album of all time. So what's my opinion? I... don't like it. I really tried, but I don't like it. It's very hard to find a key to understand this album. Obviously compositions here have their own rules and motives, but I can't identify them, or I can, but they are not appealing to me. I am a fan of avant-garde music, I love the chaotic neatness of Fantomas, erratic Igorrr, calmness of Sunn O))). But those band operate in context of completely different genre, that I know and understand so much better than jazz. Probably I am too oblivious to even the simplest examples of the genre, that's why it's harder to find the context. I doubt it, but maybe in the future I will spend much more time exploring nuances and rules of jazz, so that breaking the form and moulding it afresh will be fully appreciated by me. But at the moment, the album is totally incomprehensible for me and both times that I listened to it, I felt like I was being experimentally tortured by music. Maybe next time!

Short, but concise album by Steely Dan, a jazz/rock ensemble with a core of two musicians: Walter Becker and Donald Fagen. The record itself is a very broad mix of of many jazz and rock subgenres, giving it a rather unique sound. The album is a quintessential leisure music - what I mean by that, it's a perfect music to relax and enjoy during a quiet evening, with a lamp of wine. The songs are really well written and produced, it feels like every track has its purpose, every instrument and every note is meticulously pre-planned and arranged. Steely Dan knew what they want and they achieved that in 100%. Songs are, from a more distant perspective, very similar to each other, it's easy to miss a transition from on to another, which feels like it's a one continous 40-minutes track, stretching for whole album. As a fan of different type of music, I had a rather hard time enjoying it after first few minutes - I felt like it's very repeatitive and unoriginal. In a context, album like that released in 70s must have been a great occurrence - not only it's something new, but also played and produced to perfection. But right now, it just gets lost in the sea of plenty of similar, or quirkier bands.

Well, naming-wise it was an excellent choice for today, perfect example of situational humour. I would rather have it totally randomised, but I really won't complain. So, all in all, that would be it in the positive section of this album. The Smiths is a soft rock/indie band, with a very apathetic instrumental section and a monotonous voice of Morrissey. When I was listening to the album, I felt like no one wanted to participate in this experience - not me and definitely not the band members. It was a real struggle to survive those 35 minutes. It felt like being trapped on that water planet in Interstellar - 10 minutes of listening to the album is few days of time in real world. Time that will never be returned to me, lost "like the tears in the rain". The Queen is Dead has some redeeming qualities, despite all of its faults. For example, lyrics to the songs are pretty clever, even funny at times, they just have to be read by someone that can portray at least one more emotion than total boredom. I didn't want to be too harsh to this album, but it has to join my, so far short, list of records that I will never reach out to again. English punk and post-punk scene is a big disappointment for me.

I have never heard a full Elton John's album and only now I can tell that it was a great mistake. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road is a charming piece, consisting of compositions from a wide variety of genres, like rock, pop, rock'n'roll, country and many, many more subgenres of above. In general, Elton's voice, his pugnacity, showmanship and uniqueness, make it a genre of its own. I understand that this album has received plenty of awards and is internationally recognised, but I am honestly surprised that songs from this record aren't more popular on radio air, or in popculture, and instead we are being tortured with 20 different remixes of "Cold Heart" and "I'm Still Standing". Unless I have been mistaken, the album is still extremely popular, and I've been living under a rock for all those years. The album starts very strong, with my favourite composition "Funeral For a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding". Beautiful song with a great instrumental part, evoking many emotions, but still very entertaining and catchy. It has some resembling to progressive songs of the time, not only by structure, but also by length. The bar has been set up very high with this one, and truth to be told, it was very hard to match the energy and the complicated and complex part like this. After this song album slows down a bit and gives a lot more room for Elton John's voice to be at front. And even though it's the most sensible decision, I am a little bit disappointed the record didn't move in the direction of "Funeral For a Friend". Second part of the album explores multiple genres, we have a few ballads, couple rock'n'roll tunes, a country song, but everything is intertwined by a great voice and talent of Elton. I am very surprised at the quality of this album (positively, of course) and I am sure I will come back to this album times and times again.

A surprise to find a Brasilian collective in a sea of English and American bands and singers. Clube Da Esquina is a group of musicians, headlined by Milton Nascimento and Lõ Borges, playing heavily brasilian folk-influenced music, with an occasional rock additions. Apparently, during the creation of the album, musicians were trying to mold their music the same way The Beatles were doing few years back, and it can be heard from time to time on some of the songs. It's one of the most influential albums in Brasil history, but is that important for the rest of the world? First of all, I'm not a fan of folk music from Portugal or Brasil. The main issue I have is the style of singing, frequented by both Borges and Nascimento - long howls, slowly digesting every note and every part, with a maudlin guitars, bringing the mood straight to the gutter. The fact that songs are written in Portuguese makes it even worse, as its hard to rely on lyrics to feel the same as the band. Many songs are not really different from more contemporary artists (kudos for starting a trend), and they don't stand out as especially great or unforgettable. But then, on songs like "Dos Cruces", or "Um Girassol da cor de seu cabello" we have those straight-out-of-progressive rock-parts, or even psychedelic, which transform the song into something much more interesting and complete. Unfortunately, those moments are rare on the album and because of that are muddled in-between folk parts into a occasional gimmicks. It was a nice album, but from my current position, I couldn't enjoy it - barrier of language and time was just too much.

A very interesting album recorded by Brian Eno, British multi instrumentalist, and and judging by "Here Come the Warm Jets", an experimentalist in music. The album could be described as a simple rock/pop mix, but thanks to the various electronic sounds, unique guitar distortion and of course not-so-straightforward vocal by Brian, it creates an another layer on which you can enjoy this album. One thing, that can be written about this album - it won't make you bored at any point, surprises lie everywhere. "...Warm Jets" start rather slow and don't show the full potential of the album with first couple of uninteresting songs. But from "Baby's on Fire", we dwell deep into the elaborated mind of Brian Eno and his experimental noises and sounds, that surprisingly always seem to fall into a right place and time, something unusual for slightly avant-garde music. The record is at its best from "Blank Frank" onwards. Four closing songs are really unique, different but very entertaining. I am pleasantly surprised by the quality of this album, and for sure I will come back to this album again and again.

Dinosaur Jr. is a band that supposedly inspired and influenced plenty of 90s groups and genres, including grunge and Nirvana, shoegaze and My Bloody Valentine, or just alt rock with Smashing Pumpkins and Radiohead as the most known ones. Dinosaur albums, including "Bug", are regarded as well before its time and revolutionary to the genres mentioned above. But how does it sound now, after around 40 years? Does the music defend itself on its own? The answer is no. The album itself was very uneventful. You could hear the specific droning sound in guitars and vocal, but the songs just slowly blend into one long noisy background sound. I feel like this might be a prime example of band doing something innovative just for the sake of it, without any flesh or substance behind. Just when I thought the whole album will be just yesterday's fever dream, last song came in with a breath of fresh air. "Don't" has an aggressive vocal, more prominent guitars and it instantly wakes you up from the self-induced coma we suffered from the rest of the album. In fact, that last song actually brings down the rest of the record, because it shows how good the album could sound. With all those predicaments taken into account, I can definitely say the album didn't stand test of time well.

James Brown Live at the Apollo is probably his higest point in his career. The singer is very confident in his ability on this live record and rightfully so - he has a great voice and has enough charisma to fill an entire concert hall. This is a very entertaining album, perfect for a saturday night frenzy, something to help you give it all on the dancefloor. James Brown being called grandfather of soul is a statement very close to the truth. The songs flow from one to another as in a concept album. No breaks between them (which probably is a point in this version) make it feel like you are on an ocean, and the tides just keep crashing onto you, with just couple of seconds in-between to catch breath. If the point of this game would be to rate an album in context of the specific genre it is recorded in, then it has to be rated as high as possible. But I think the main idea is to rate it as you like it personally, right now, without any context. And in this case I enjoyed it, but it's not something I will come back to anytime in the near future.

An album full of folk song covers (mainly by Bob Dylan) played and recorded in an early The Beatles style by American The Byrds. Pop/rock with some folk influences, making it sound like a aforementioned Beatles, but with late Lennon's lyrics. The question that this record being on the list brings - is it good enough, or innovative enough to be here? The music sounds very outdated right now, and to make it worse, it wasn't original at the time as well. It's just the americanised version of british folk pop/rock bands. And the slightly unusual part of the album is that the lyrics are taken from Dylan's discography, which makes for a unique combination. But by saying that, it's not enough to make it special or good. It shouldn't be on the list at all, in my opinion of course.

Here's a really nice album by a band I have never heard before. Pavement is an Indie Rock group from California, created in late 80s. They rose to fame as a completely underground band, refusing to give live shows at the beginning, which created a sort of legendary status. This, together with a rather experimental approach to the compositions on the album, was what most likely put it on the list of greatest albums ever. Is it enough? We have seen records here, that didn't even have half of those accolades, yet it is still surprising to see more 'just good' albums. Crooked Rain Crooked Rain has 12 songs, and most of them have a certain gimmick, or a style, by which they are composed. Each song starts as a typical pop/rock tune, that you could hear in a radio everyday, but by the midpoint of it, it turns into a very alternative, interesting and original sequence. As an example, first song of the album "Silence Kid", starts as a sort of soft rock with a cowbell, and then breaks the mold and decomposes itself, together with a vocalist, who clearly doesn't care about clean singing. Yet the song has its charm and stays with you for a while, similarly as the rest of the album. It is a very pleasant surprise and a big candidate for an album I will come back to again.

George Jones is hailed by many as "The Greatest Voice in Country Music History". His performance on this album, "The Grand Tour" might as well confirm that. It's an example of, what I would call as "Strict Country". What I mean by that is a record or a song that doesn't try to escape the mould of Country music, but essentially repeats all the quirks and clichés of the genre. My understanding of country and its intricacies is not at a high level, so it's hard for me to properly rate this album. All I can say, is if I objectively liked "The Grand Tour" or not. Unfortunately, similarly to folk/blues songs, I am not a fan of this genre and in fact of this album. I don't find any pleasure in listening to Jones' stories, and the instrumental layer is rather boring and uneventful. Maybe one day I will find a country album that will open the doors to the genre for me, but at the moment it's not something I enjoy or I like listening to.

Second album from The Byrds in three days, but they are so wildly different from each other, it might have been centuries between those two. "Sweetheart of the Rodeo" takes turn, as you might have guessed by the title, into the uncharted territory of country music. It's also very helpful that yesterday's album was by George Jones, one of the staples in country music history. This gives me some room for comparison between those two albums. The Byrds leaned heavily into country style, leaving no room for soft, or psychedelic rock they were exemplifying before. Also, contrary to Jones music, they started playing a sort of group/band country, with plenty of instruments, with lyrics being just somewhere in the background. As a result, this album is not as good as previous one, and the change made the band 'just another one out there'.

Björk is the finest example of an artist with a such specific and distinctive voice and style, that she can't be mistaken for anyone else. It's really a double-edged sword, being this unique. You can be instantly recognised and you are only in a league of your own, but you are also in a certain artistic mould, that you can't escape. It must be especially hard for Björk, because her style is mostly experimental, so the more "weird and quirky" the song is, the more it fits into the mould. Similarly, we approach the same conclusion on "Vespertine". Björk's singing is as unusual as ever, voice modulation cut sharp as a razor, soft music, full of various string instruments adds a strong foundation, which actually amplifies the quirkiness of the vocalist. The dichotomy is clearly visible on the album as well. "Cocoon" is an example of, in my opinion, overcomplicated track with Björk being all over the place, cutting deep from all angles. But on the other end of spectrum we have just a little bit more conventional "Pagan Poetry", which is a beautiful composition, where the avant-garde elements are just the compliment, and not at the core. With such an ambivalent feelings, the rating has to reflect it as well, going for the 3 stars, just in the middle.

Reign In Blood, and Slayer as well, is a good example of my musical taste drastically changing over the years. Once beloved band (fifteen years ago, but still), I could listen to certain songs on a loop, like "Reign In Blood" for example. Today, after listening to the album, I honestly couldn't tell when does one songs end and another one starts. It was all one very quick and constant mash-up of extremely oppressive drums (I still have a lot of respect to Dave Lombardo for Fantomas though), sometimes catchy, but generally fast-paced riffs and quick solos by King and rounded up by tagged-along bass and vocal of Araya, which in my opinion works only in small doses. Listening to his shouting for full half an hour is very exhausting, it is suited much more into one or two songs filled in-between your usual playlist. Something that can't be overlook - Slayer was very brutal and honest in their approach to music. There was no cutting corners, it was as rough and spiky, as the minds and idea of music of those four young boys. The bar for extreme music (but still being somehow in mainstream) was raised once again. The only song that I still like is obviously afrometioned "Reign in Blood". Very characteristic riff is probably recogised by people all over the World. It's also not as linear as other songs, with few pauses here and there, some small breakdowns and a very in-tone solo by King. A very good song in a somewhat monotonous album, when listen to nowadays.

I was never a big fan of Genesis, or any post-Genesis bands or projects, so Peter Gabriel was fairly anonymous for me before listening to his first solo album. My first impression was that the first two songs are fairly underwhelming. By a quick research I found that "Solsbury Hill" is a well-liked single from this album, but I really found it boring and uneventful. Nothing that would excite me, both in the Gabriel's singing and in the musical layer. When moving into the second part of the self titled record, I actually realised how good this is. "Humdrum" and "Slowburn" were a really fun songs, but the best comes at the end, with "Waiting for the Big One" and "Here Comes the Flood". Very nice and not obvious compositions, heavily influenced by progressive rock, with a lot of tempo changes. Interesting solos, piano at the last track and great singing made those two a great songs. I was curious of who was the main creator of the album. Gabriel was the writer of all of the songs, but the music was created by Robert Fripp and Tony Levin, both known from King Crimson, which explains quite a lot. It might be my subconscious, but last few songs on the album, and "Waiting for the Big One" especially, could be easily added to Crimson's discography and no one would notice that there is something wrong. To sum up, I am positively surprised with this album. As far as I know later records are a little bit more pop than alt/prog rock, but going on a trip into Genesis albums and early Phil Collins should be very pleasant. Possibly even on this list!

Among all the late 60s bands and singers I listened (or found my interest in) to Janis Joplin the least. I think that it stems from the fact that Janis is not as famous nowadays as, for example, Jimi Hendrix, Joe Cocker, or even Carlos Santana (looking at Woodstock '69 of course). Well, in few words that might be a mistake. I have listened to Pearl and although I didn't really like the style of the music, being too 'bluesy' and not interesting, I can't deny that Janis Joplin had a beautiful and mesmerizing voice. She could have sing "Baby Shark" and make it a powerful anthem of hippies - freedom and love. The album inspired me to look into her history more, and although it's not so inspiring (more like tragic), her live recordings are even better. This might be the only time, where I am going to rate the album solely on the basis of great vocal, with music being just a distant afterthough. I will definitely listen to this album and any other recordings of Joplin, looks like I was really missing a lot.

The newest album on the list so far seem to be an ensemble on artists and musicians from Great Britain. The collective creates music in various different styles, mainly electronic, funk, r'n'b, reagge and indie. This album, together with another untitled one from the group, was motivated by George Floyd's death, which is very visible in the lyrics. Many of the songs sound like anthems for a bigger movement, or are just a commentary of the sad reality that we are facing today. Although the issue is still far from resolved, the album probably would seem even more powerful to me, if I first hear it in 2020, not two years after. Untitled (Black Is) has an interesting composition - there are 20 songs, with many short bridge-songs in between, providing more commentaries or just changing the mood and feeling of the album. There is few songs, that are really good without the context of the record, like for example "monsters". Heavy hitting song, but with a nice vocal and great beat, really stays with you for a while. I feel like this type of an album couldn't be rated just from a musical or instrumental point of view. This is more of a performance, reaction to the situation in the world, which is closer to me than what, for example, Bob Dylan was singing 50 years ago. I will gladly come back to this album again, trying to understand the message and definitely I will listen to few more of the songs on my usual playlist.

Who doesn't know Leonard Cohen and hundreds of covers of his most famous song - Hallelujah. Beautiful, deep voice and such a melancholic and momentous melody. But I've never done any deeper dig into the discography of Cohen. For me he was an artist of two songs (Dance Till the End of Love being the other). This was my first opportunity to listen to his debut album "Songs Of Leonard Cohen". My first impression was that I couldn't even recognise his voice. At the time the album was released he was 33 years old, he got most famous at 50 and the difference in voice is very noticeable. In my opinion he sounds much more mature, with a more prominent hoarseness and in general his voice transmits more emotions. Leonard in his thirties sounds more like a Canadian version of Bob Dylan, but not as interesting. The musical layer is also very thin - usually there is only few notes of acoustic guitar for accompaniment. There are certain songs, with more instruments and small choirs, where Cohen sounds much better, and the listening is more pleasant. For example "Hey, That's No Way To Say Goodbye". Unfortunately, that is not enough to convince me of this album greatness. I prefer the older Cohen and probably won't come back to this album.

I have never had such a mixed feelings after listening to a new album on this challenge. First of all, of course I have heard about Joy Division, but I've never heard even on their song in my entire life. "Closer" is my first experience, and straight out of gate I was disappointed. Wildly known as a post-punk genre, heavy on disco beats, synthesisers, instantly put me away. Songs were fitting into a wide set of 80s british punk rock music, which were gloomy by lyrics, but frustratingly upbeat by music. I was very close to not finishing this album at halfway, I was so sure I have heard everything that's interesting already. But then I was hit by an extremely positive surprise. Last three songs of the album: "24 hours", "The Eternal" and "Decades" shattered my previous idea of Closer. The trio of charts has changed the mood and musical climate quite suddenly and by quite a lot. Slower, positively repetitive melody, atmospheric tension of the song and sparsely used vocal of Ian Curtis worked perfectly on those songs. In general, I'm not a fan of his style of singing (although he had a great, deep voice). He was a little overexposed on previous records, but with short sentences, almost uttered as in conversation, he fitted perfectly into the shape of the song, adding another dimension to it. I can really see new favourite songs in style that I cherish. In the end I need to give two different notes: Side A - 2 stars, nothing exciting, constant struggle for listener. Side B - 5 stars, atmospheric post punk? Sign me in! Final note will be a generous 4 stars. One good song can easily outweigh two terrible ones.

I have never heard of Badly Drawn Boy. After listening to the album named "The Hour Of Bewilderbeast" I am not surprised. This is an incredibly average record, the songs on it are really okay, entertaining to a point, but certainly not anything that should be placed on the list of best albums. The songs seems to be a one man army, with everything being done by a one person. Usually it's an acoustic guitar with some accompaniment from different instruments and a pretty nice vocal. My only question is - how is it in any way new or exceptional? After listening to the album twice my answer is "no idea". And it probably will stay this way.

Surprisingly decent album! Cee-Lo with his style resembles a little combination of guys from Outkast - Andre3000 and Big Boi. It's an album combining southern rap, rnb and a specific type of 'soul', many times underlined by Cee Lo in his lyrics. The songs have really nice beat and flow, great use of different types of vocals by Green, nice choruses, in general really entertaining stuff! It's easy to follow through with the song and end up in kind of a trance. I didn't know that Cee Lo is also the singer in Gnarls Barkley project, but after listening to this album, all the points are connected. Very positive record, I will come back to it very soon.

Album so heavy in the lyrics and the message, that even the title barely fits on the website. Rap group from early nineties, that eerily are similar to Rage Against The Machine, even though the style is completely different. It is basically hip hop in its purest form - rapper with a cause, soft beat, interesting chorus, and once again, lyrics that could fill a small book. After some thought I think the genre most fitting for this album is 'spoken word'. And that is just too much for me. I'm here for music, the political message, however sophisticated comes later (not second for sure). They have my respect, but in this challenge I was looking for something else.

Today's treat was an indie rock band Deerhunter with their 2010 album Halcyon Digest. After some initial reading about the group and their music, I was very interested and was hoping for another record like I Am A Bird Now by Antony And The Johnson, something innovative, but entertaining and solid. Instead, the album sounded like it came straight out of the manufacturing belt in an Alt-J factory. Nothing on this cd screams (or even talks loud, going by this small metaphor), that any song is great or exceptional. In the ocean of new and old indie rock bands, Deerhunter is just another fish. There was one song, which I liked - Desire Lines. It had some nice moments, especially towards the end of the song, when the music was actually sounded like some dreamy sequences. Otherwise, I can't recall anything special that happened during those 45 minutes. I am disappointed by this album and I will gladly forget anything about this over the next few days.

I have to be honest here. After seeing another band from the 60s as my daily album, I labelled it as "old and boring" and listened to it in the background, while browsing internet. Additionally, before listening to it, I have seen couple comments, that the first song, "Victoria" is the best on the album. Unfotunately it was very average, with slightly irritating vocalist, so I completely gave up. Then I got to the song "Brainwashed", and as a title suggest, I was brainwashed into believing it's not a good album. From this song onwards I had a total 180 degrees turn - total rollercoaster of emotions, great gutiar and organs solo on "Australia", amazing song "Shangri-La" and a little step down, but still fascinating 5 songs to end the album. Excellent concept album in style of 60s rock, which isnt't my forte, but really captivated well enough, that I instantly re-listened the full record from the beginning. The songs were really fun, guitars were playing relatively modern riffs and solos, and the drum work was really on point - feeling the mood of the song and amplifing that at least two-fold. It's a very well-thought album, with some amazing moments and is very listenable in the future, in my opinion. The few negatives would be the specific vocal range by the Ray Davies and rather slow start to the album (music-wise). Still, a very pleasant surprise.

I think I have to finally accept that this list os full of bands and albums that I never heard of and probably never will again after this challenge is done. Especially that many of those positions are very average and ordinary. "Hey, remember that one irrelevant band from 70s, coming from that now non-existing village in England? They were producing music using only a synthesizer made from a half-chewed potato! It HAS to be on this list, it changed the food industry forever!" Well, maybe one thousand albums is too many for one list, if one has to reach so deep into the pocket to complete it. I'm sorry to The Boo Radleys for this small rant, they definitely don't deserve it. They released a pretty okay album "Giant Steps", filled in 90% with a very average britpop songs, rather boring and mundane to go through, and in 10% with some noise/orchestral shoegazing, which elevates this album to a different level, but at the same time angers you, because it's apparent that it could be so much better. Funnily enough, that 10% doesn't come as a full song or two, but generally it's appearing in most of the tracks, but during the last ~30 seconds of the song. Like the band decided "Okay, we are our usual, boring stuff, let's experiment a bit on the last part, but only for a bit, not to make it too interesting!". Very annoying. As one would think, only 30 seconds of good music per song is not enough for the good rating (unless you're into grindcore).

What a great voice! First time listening to Elvis Costello (although I've heard of him many times before) and I'm already hooked. This album might be an example of one where music is really just an uninteresting background. And well, they are really nailing the "uninteresting" bit. Blood and Chocolate is one of many albums recorded by Elvis Costello and The Attractions. They are playing mostly upbeat rock songs (rock'n'roll with some modern influences, in my opinion) with very uninspiring rhythm section and occasional great guitars and mini solos. Definitely this album was made to show the great vocal range by Elvis, and better music would just be in his way. There are few songs, that when listened to out of the context of this album can be a great joy, like "I Want You" and "Battered Old Bird", but this is not enough to change my opinion about this record. To sum this up, Elvis gets full five stars, The Attractions one, so we have an average of three. But despite this rating, I would be very curious to check another albums by Elvis. Maybe there is something more suited to my taste?

Surprisingly hard album to define. On the outside it looks like another psychedelic rock band from sixties, and it is absolutely correct, but the album itself is diverse enough to sligthly escape that label. You can have a trio of songs, one by one: first instrumental, guitar solo-frenzy, or as one would say, epic song, then a transition to a sort of country piece, and finally an almost pop song made for radio with a very toned down instruments and a classic verse-chorus system. In general, the longer the song is, the most likely that it's going to be a classic psychedelic experience. And truth to be told, those tracks are actually highlights of the album (together with couple of the transition pieces). "On Sir Francis Drake" and "Ride The Wind" are nothing new, but they are very nice pieces, which will be enjoyed by every fan of psychedelic culture from 60s and 70s. The rest of the album falls flat, it doesn't fit with other parts and when listened on its own, is pretty average, especially the tracks with a traditional design. I will give it a three stars as an appreciation of the better parts of album, but as a whole it's not on par with other positions from this list.

Interesting thing about popstars - I know all the hits, but I have never heard any of their full albums. The same rule applies to Madonna. Like a Prayer is definitely one of Madonna's best songs, but when I looked into the album, I didn't recognise any other track. What's even worse, I didn't like any of the other songs. They were average at best and probably were used as a platform to tell Madonna's story, which honestly I'm not really interested in. There is not much to say about the album, great titular song and the rest is basically a filler. Pretty dissapointing for for apparently "best album of her career".

Finally a really good album after a flood of average ones! I have first heard of Radiohead long time ago (and since then I believe that Creep, together with Oasis' Wonderwall is the most overplayed song in history), but it took me quite a long time to finally appreciate them. I think their album are really hit or miss - for example I'm a big fan of OK Computer, but couldn't listen to In Rainbows. And this is my first approach to The Bends - I knew only the song "Just", which is one of my favourites by Radiohead. The result of this encounter is mixed, but with much more positives. The album is much more rock orientated than their next releases - you can hear it straight away on the very wild opening track - Planet Telex. The main riff is very "Radioheady", very specific and hard to categorise, together with Yorke's vocal it creates an ultimate mix, which pans over most of their career. The album then sort of oscillates between slower and more alternative ballads, and more energetic rock pieces. While I didn't really feel as inspired by the calmer parts, it did repay solidly during the atmospheric small breakdowns at the peak of anticipation. Good example of the whole album is condensed nicely isn aforementioned song "Just". Slow verses and a soft build-up, sharply cut just before culmination. Really rewarding type of music to listen to (in my opinion, of course). Still, I'm a little hesitant in giving this album five stars - few songs and couple more moments, however good, shouldn't be enough to award it the best score.

How come I didn't even know about this album before? I've heard of Serge Gainsbourg, but never in context of music. And now I know what a mistake that was. Histoire De Melody Nelson is a really well crafted album (although very short, just 27 minutes), that combines four main pillars, that could stand on their own anywhere else: - a funky bass line, that welcomes us to the album and doesn't leave us until the last notes - guitar with incredibly psychedelic solos, you could easily mistake it for a Pink Floyd part - orchestral elements added by Jean-Claude Vannier, adding another dimension to the album - and finally the vocal of Gainsbourg, soft and very deep voice, mostly just talking, is like a perfect topping for this musical cake. The whole album feels like a jam session of four musicians playing different genres of music, but somehow not only it works well, but is absolutely amazing. One of the easiest 5 stars on this list, especially among the albums I have never heard of.

Over two hours of music! It should count for two albums, and I wouldn't mind, if both of them were on this list. I'm very surprised by The Smashing Pumpkins, I always thought its a soft rock band, but they had some power, energy and rage to it! I really liked the album, I will definitely listen tocthis again, unfortunately I don't have more time to write more than that. Easy 5.

It's almost 10% of the challenge and this is just the first The Beatles album. When I started listening to records from this list, I somehow thought The Beatles will be on every other day. I don't think that I am a fan of this band - I do reckon that they are a bit overrated. Certainly a product of their era, that felt new and original many years later, but contrary to some opinions, it's not a universal music. At this point they should be treated as a real trailblazers and innovators, that changed the musical landscape and defined the "superstar" status. We should learn about the band in history books, but I doubt anyone should listen to actual songs or albums - at this point it's just an interesting triva. Well, maybe that's taking it a little too far, but the overall sentiment is there. Meanwhile, the first album by The Beatles on this list is "Revolver". It's a collection of short songs totalling to around 35 minutes, written by all four members of the band. All the tracks are really different from one another. We can hear few songs, that could easily be associated with the early "boysband" days of the group, generic songs with a happy riffs and a unassuming drums, with soft voice of George, Paul and John. At the same time, we have few other songs, which cut deeper than that, like for example "Taxman" written by Harrison - a real psychedelic piece, with a very interesting guitar solo, adding a value to the level of the album. We also have the ever famous "Yellow Submarine", which actually is a really bright spot on "Revolver", and well-known "Eleanor Rigby", which is not as interesting, or original as I imagined. Another interesting song is "Tomorrow Never Knows", a composition written by Lennon, which is also heavily influenced by psychedelic rock genre. Overall, this might be a first time where I feel like I'm "supposed" to give a good rating to the album, just because it is very well known and universally liked. I would rate it at 3,5 stars, but to give it a little more benefit (as a historical context), it will be a round four. Let's see how other Beatles albums compare to this one.

Another band, that I have never heard of! And it's a shame, because the self titled album was a very cohere and entertaining piece, with few underrated (apparently) gems in there. When I was listening to the first couple song on this album, all I could think of was The Doors. The style of music, slow melodies with a keyboard sounds a'la Manzarek and vocalist, not even close as charismatic as Morrison, but singing in a similar style, almost like reciting a poem in a deep, slightly drunk voice. Over the course of the album the style has changed into something more bespoke and original, but the slight influence of The Doors could be felt until the last song. The little gems I mentioned were as follows: "I'm straight" and "Hospital". The first one was a very outward, happy-like song, with a nice chorus and easy to follow throughout. The other one was a very calm ballad, a little out of style towards the rest of the album, but making it a real highlight. Rest of the songs felt a little monotonous and boring, especially toward the end of the record. I will be happy to come back to it from time to time, but only in small doses.

So now it's time for the less known album of one of the most overplayed bands in history (in commercial radio and whenever someone has a guitar in hostel). There is a lot of controversies around the group, especially Gallagher brothers, but I think the quality of music talked louder than other non-artistic excesses they provided to tabloids. The only one I was interested in was their rivalry with Blur, which died pretty early on. Definitely Maybe is a proper example of the brit pop/rock genre that started afresh in 90s, but the album was still leaning into a little bit heavier tunes, taking some pages from grunge and even late punk. The record has fewer of the big hits Oasis produced on later albums, which makes this one really consistent and very equal all around. The songs flow from one to another In a cohesive way, making it easy to listen to, but also making it a little too predictable and overall uneventful. It is very easy to listen to the whole album on autopilot, just forgetting something is on in the background. The two supposedly highlights of the record, "Supersonic" and "Cigarettes & Alcohol" don't have that magic yet, as they would achieve with Wonderwall, for example. Overall its a very nice album, just lacking any spark, but clearly showing that the band is capable of much more in the future.

First impression - British Alanis Morissette. The style of music and voice of Beth Orton really sounded similar to the Canadian star. Actually, as an average listener, I think that Alanis is a slightly better singer and writer than Beth. Central Reservation started really nice with song "Stolen Car", which could be easily a hit if released nowadays. But in general, the album lack of hits or more drawing songs hurts it in comparison to other similar artists, like Alanis for example. Titular "Central Reservation" didn't help it either, even though there was three different remixes on the album. The record itself was very pleasant to listen to, but it fell into background pretty quickly. According to some talking heads, Beth Orton created a certain subgenre, called folktronica, which is pretty self-explanatory. Unfortunately, I was not able to hear anything special or unique on this album. It sounded just like one of many, with a beautiful singing voice by Beth, but that is not enough to warrant a good rating on its own.

First time listening to the full album made by Bruce Springsteen - somehow I expected a record full of hits and entertaining music like the titular "Born in the U.S.A.". Instead, I was greeted by one of the most famous songs ever and eleven others, completely anonymous tracks. The rest of the album was surprisingly average, which was even more noticeable in contrast to the great opener. One exception might be another single - "Dancing in the Dark", which has a little bit more recognisable riff and chorus, but somehow this song just disappears in the sea of mediocrity. Perhaps I am too harsh in my evaluation of the album, which has seen so much success over the years, but strong lyrics and one "anthem" for a generation of americans in 80s is not enough for me to declare it a masterpiece. Essentially, it is not my style and I am a little disappointed in the quality of this album.

What did I learn today - bebop jazz (or any of its subgenres) is not as repulsive as avant-garde jazz, at least for my small mind, but is still very hard to listen to. I am sure that Thelonious Monk is a great pianist and song writer, but we have to operate at a completely different wavelength (as are every band members). Brilliant Corners may as well be renamed to Thousand Sharp And Edgy Corners, because that is how I felt trying to comprehend this album. Maybe one day I'll try again, but for sure this is not the one.

I am really surprised by how many punk, or post-punk albums are on this list. Were those bands pushing some kind of boundaries? Yes sir. Do those boundaries seem silly from our perspective now? Yes sir. Of course fight against an establishment is very noble and righteous, it is expressed differently nowadays. Punk and post-punk is not extreme anymore, doesn't seem vulgar or uncivil - I feel like it belongs in a Museum of Old Music, possibly located in London, like all the museums, and all those british bands should be hanged on the wall (symbolically, not literally) named "BRITISH PUNK 70s-90s", people would look at it, be amazed or not and then just move on. It's, in my opinion, a relict of not so old times, where music still had some power over the current affairs. Listening to "Pink Flag" was a chore. The songs were very diverse and different from one to another, you can tell the band was experimenting quite a lot on this album. But ultimately, it was like using the most expensive and rare spices on a raw egg. No matter how much of those spices or condiments you use, at the end of the day you are sill eating a raw egg. It's still just a simple punk album.

Album no.100 on the list! I somehow made it to 10%. Just couple years more and we're done with it. This is a second R.E.M. album on this list, and this time we have one of the earlier records - "Document" from 1987. It's already fifth album in their discography, which is very surprising to me, I always thought of R.E.M. as a more recent band. But nevertheless, when comparing this album with previously rated "Automatic For The People", I definitely prefer the older tracks. Their style is very unique and has put a mark on every record they produced, but "Document" has, in my opinion, better mix of melancholic melody, exalted lyrics and, at times, happy and uplifting vocals. The best example is "This is the End of the World (as we know it)". Great song, which works well on many layers - as a political statement, as an entertaining single and as a bit more sophisticated instrumental theme. Other great song from the album is "The One I Love", which is another successful single and is very pleasant to listen to. In general, R.E.M. music is not the most complicated or hard to execute, but when they hit it right, it's a really cohesive and fun music, and they definitely found the right tone for this album.

What an album! This has to be one of the biggest positive surprises of this list so far. Absolutely original and entertaining record by band Minutemen. Although they are categorised as a punk or post-punk band, I don't really agree with it. This has to be an avant-garde album first and foremost, creating a genre of its own, with funky, jazzy bass line, extremely weird guitar sound and slightly hardcore vocal at times. They somehow managed to squeeze 45 songs in 73 minutes, giving an average of less than 2 minutes per song. And they are all very different, yet somehow still feel aligned one after another. After listening to the album I dived into the usual Wikipedia rabbit hole, reading about the band, their style, about tragic death of D. Boon. I have never heard of this band, yet they remind me so much of more hard-core (or rock) version of Primus. Everything is weird and unusual, yet so entertaining and fascinating. Great album, I will listen to the full discography now, looks like I found another favourite band!

Somewhat similar album to yesterday's Minutemen record - very original, experimental, but at the same time it doesn't lose any of the value by trying to be over the top. Entertaining release by Patti Smith, who is a very unconventional singer in my opinion and for sure someone that can be very divisive in how she's perceived by others. For me it was 50/50. In some songs, like in opening "Gloria", her voice sounded amazing together with funky/rock work from her band, fast-flowing, very upbeat. But at times, in longer tracks, her voice sounded too mundane and was even irritating, like in the 9 minute composition "Birdland". Instrumental-wise, the album is rather simple, but it works really well with "more complicated" style of Patti. It's a really nice album and I can understand that it was some sort of an innovation, or a setting stone for a new generation of music.

This is the first time I have heard any Bobby Womack song, or even heard about him, as a matter of fact. What surprises me, is that usually albums on this list are debut albums, or records released rather early in the career, with the rule of thumb - after initial success, the band starts to "sell out" a bit. It's not innovative anymore, group is riding the wave of the past. In case of "The Poet", which is thirteen album in Bobby's career, this rule is definitely broken. Our today's album is a rather simple and ordinary soul and r'n'b release. Some of the songs are catchy, but they don't hook you for long, falling quickly into the background. The only hit from "The Poet" is a song named "If You Think You're Lonely Now". Apparently this track was the main reason which decided about placing this album on the list. However, in my opinion, the song is completely uncharacteristic, doesn't stand out in the genre, or even on this record. It is just an average release, doesn't matter from which angle I will look at it. Not the greatest listening experience.

A pretty interesting Senegalese album, which sounded like a nice mix between local folk music and some interesting electric guitar solos, taken straight out of 70s jam session. All the songs feel very spiritual and personal, even though they are singing in their local dialect of tribe transcendental over all the current borders. Although the idea of this album seems very interesting and inspiring, listening to this record is not the easiest task. It's more like a fascinating artifact you see in a museum from an ancient civilization. Nice to look at for a bit, gives you an idea of the culture of that period, and then you quickly move on. It's not an album you would listen more than once.

A very joyful album by Simon and Garfunkel (also very short). Simple melodies, accompanied by soft voices of two singers, falling into abundance of sweetness at times. There was couple of very interesting songs, especially quite surprising "Silent Night" song, normal Christmas Carol, with radio news broadcast in the background (moving into foreground as the song progresses). News are pretty depressing, but very telling of current times. Very interesting idea. Other parts of album include the more famous "Scarborough fair", or "Homeward Bound", which are really nice folk pieces, just a bit too soft in my opinion, as if written for people with anger issues. But otherwise, very interesting album, and a good listening session.

Ultimate sounds of the 80s! From now on, whenever I'll be watching any movie, that takes place in those times, I'll be subconsciously waiting for this album to be in the background. The record was surprisingly entertaining, every songs stands on its own, fitting in the album, but also being unique. Each song has that weird quality of tracks from 70s and 80s, where they perfectly fit for a long car ride, suitably during the night. Electronic sounds, usually a little overwhelming, were really on point on this album, especially on tracks like "M.E." and "Conversations". I really liked this record, even though its not my favourite type of music. Synth pop at it finest!

A proper mix of genres on one album! Usually all different types of music are quite cohesively mashed together on one track, taking only some distinctive parts from the genre, making the song more unique and often times just simply better. Meanwhile Buffalo Springfield, apparently first band of Neil Young, basically recorded 10 songs, each in a completely different style. We have a blues song, country, rock'n'roll, psychedelic rock, funk and many other subgenres. The result of this colloid is really hard to describe. If I try to be straight to the point - all rock songs sound great and fresh, but we could cut the country and blues songs out. Best songs, coincidentally, are the ones sung by Neil Young, like "Mr. Soul" and "Broken Arrow". Other good bit was funky "Hang Upside Down" by Stills. And even though rest of the tracks are underwhelming, the good songs are well worth listening to the whole album. I think I will be happy to explore other records by Buffalo Springfield, to see how many hidden gems are there waiting for me.

I don't know how to put it, but in simple terms: Massive Attack gets it. Even Protection, one of their lesser known albums (at least compared to other parts in discography) is full of that specific, slightly melancholic atmosphere. Every song takes you to a different place, like by pressing play, you are teleported to a land of chill and rhythm. The melodies and beats are always fascinating to get lost in it, and every track could have easily be 5 minutes longer with the main beat going over and over again. The selftitled, opening song is the greatest example. Its already almost 8 minutes long, but it's never boring, it just drills its attention deeper and deeper into your mind. It's just a great album and my only wish is that their other record will be on this list as well.

Two great albums in a row! Every song is entertaining in its own way, those can be funky, uplifting, melancholic or just simply instrumental, they all have that energy, that is so compelling and contagious. Two singles, "Golden Age" and "Dancing Choose" don't really stand out, because the whole record is very even - and at a high level. The real highlight of the album is the song "TMZ". It hits all the right tones, both lyrics-wise and instrumental. Guitar work is really extraordinary on this album, maybe not overly complicated, but it fits the overall style perfectly. It's a great album, and I'm eager to listen to the whole discography of TV On Yhe Radio in the near future.

A more recent album by Bob Dylan, which can be easily noticed thanks to coarser and in fact older voice of Bob. The style of songs is still the same, prominent Dylan's vocal, if you like it or not, some soft electric guitars, drums, piano and occasional harmonica.the problem is that this time there is no hits or "hymns of the generation". Instead we have just an average album by a great singer/songwriter. Pretty disappointing.

A simple folk/country album by John Prime, who is supposedly one of the most respected musicians in this genre. Lyrics to his songs had a little funny or more sarcastic twist to it, which made it more pleasant to listen to, but ultimately, the music itself is not really defending the quality of the album. Rather an average record in my opinion.

A very pleasant album to listen to, although that probably wasn't the intention (not fully, at least). It reminded me a little the Deltron 3030 album - both taking place in a future (or use future as a driving mechanism) to rap about current issues. I think this is a really good idea, it gives you a different perspective on the matter of things. It is such a Terra Incognita in music as of yet. Mike Ladd had a small contribution to the subgenre with his album Welcome to the Afterfuture. It's a hip hop album with quite few instrumental bits, like prominently "The Moon's Contractor". It's a very atmospheric track, nicely fitting into the whole theme of the album, but also defending itself on its own. The real highlight of the album is the closing track, a sort of an anthem, that is still very much important and valid - "Feb. 4 '99 (For All Those Killed by Cops)". It's a really great song, with interesting, important and quite moving lyrics. Unfortunately, rest of the album is not on par with the best tracks and I had mixed feelings about it. I definitely like the beats much more than the rapping style in general. I didn't like any of the guest appearances, and those songs bring the overall experience down in my opinion. Good idea, but mixed result.

Wow, so somehow after all the years of listening to the various covers of the song "Wild World", I finally found out who has written the original version. And surprisingly enough, even though this track is really great and deeply rooted in culture now, it's not the best song on the album. The whole Side A of the longplay "Tea for the Tillerman" is really amazing. "Where Do the Children Play" and "Hard Headed Woman" is a really strong start of the album, even though the songs are rather lighthearted and Cat Stevens' voice is very soft and gentle. All the tracks are rather simple, with a straightforward melody and not much of other, over complicated instruments. Listening to this record is like finally connecting dots, that you didn't even know were unconnected. Many of those songs were used for soundtracks of the movies, series or commercials, so now I can definitely say - I know where it started. Listening to the album was a very pleasant journey - not extraordinary, but it's definitely a big stepping stone in the music history.

As I proved couple times on this list already, I'm not a big fan of krautrock, or the German alternative scene from 70s and 80s. It usually feels like experimental use of synthesisers without much content behind it, all form or structure without plot. It feels different on this album, NEU! '75. I have a feeling this record is a missing link between traditional rock and electronic music and krautrock itself. Although there is still plenty of room for experimental passages of ambient electronics, especially on Side A of the album, the other side has thematically ventured into a completely new territory - krautrock with a big ROCK part. I was very positively surprised by the song "Hero", opening the second part of NEU!'75. The use of double drums playing the same beat, plus a slightly aggressive vocal by Klaus Dinger, together with his electric guitar and electronic sounds in the background, give a totally unique, but authentic feel. The track somehow takes the punk, or even hard rock into the future (at the time). I have read that this song has inspired many bands and singers to experiment with their sound more, and I am not surprised, this really feels like a small stepping stone in those genres. Overall, the album is very interesting, although the difference between both sides seem a little bit off - in the end its just two completely different half-albums, with not much in common. But the innovative approach of the second part deserves a higher grade and more recognition than it has now.

I've never read so many praises by music critics about a seemingly ordinary indie/folk album. It's the first time I've heard of band Fleet Foxes, and after digging deeper into their discography and reviews, I feel a massive dissonance between what's has been written and what I think about this album. The self-titled album is a very soft and gentle folk pop, which sounds like a lullaby version of Mumford and Sons, if only all band members knew how to sing. The songs are very atmospheric and give you a vibe of a perfect listening session in late autumn, with a hot cocoa, under the blanket, with a cliche rain/snow outside. The album at times feels more manufactured than natural, like prepared by some perfect music AI, which programmed all the voices in spotlessly clean harmony, with no unnecessary sound or a note, from start to finish. The song, like for example their single "White Winter Hymnal" are really nice to listen to, but somehow it feels, just simply, like a product. And hey, it was good, but I'm not buying it.

It's a very interesting coincidence, that this album came out on the list just after another debut album of Fleet Foxes. I can see many parallels between those two records, and it actually gives me intriguing perspective in regards to how to rate "Parachutes". The difference from one to the other is not big enough to constitute a better rating, just because Coldplay is a more well-known band and I knew and like couple of their singles before. I always thought of Coldplay as a music equivalent of Paulo Coelho books. On one hand it's because of the similarities in the names of their most known work - "Scientist" and "Alchemist", but also because they pretend to be much more 'intellectual' and introspective than they actually are. While I know this might be a gross exaggeration on the Coldplay part, there might be a piece of truth in it. "Parachutes" is an okayish rock/pop album, with very simple, but catchy melodies, and good, but at times unbearable, Chris Martin's vocal. The songs, when listening to them separately, sound perfect for a chilled radio session in your garden, but as a whole, the album becomes incredibly corny and the songs seem identical, like the band is unable to change the gear (highest gear when going only 20mph). I like the songs and I'm going to appreciate them whenever I hear them on the radio, but I will probably never listen to the whole album again.

Wow, it looks like I found another candidate for the surprise of the year (for myself only, of course)! The Afghan Whigs with an album "Gentlemen", described as the best breakup record ever written. I don't know about that, but you can feel the emotions filling the whole room from the moment the first song starts. The album oscillates between an indie rock, quirky melodies to hard rock, full-on grunge tracks. The combination, that falls somewhere in-between those genres perfectly encapsulates the anger and sadness, creating a very atmospheric setup for the whole album. I think that might be one of those records, that doesn't have any fillers - every song fits into the concept, but also stands on its own. One can easily say, that there is 11 singles, each deserving a spot on the list of "greatest songs you musty heard before you die". Vocal on this album doesn't sound very well, the voice of the main vocalist, Greg Dulli, breaks up pretty often, but probably that's on purpose - it also adds more melancholy and desperation for some of the tracks. What's interesting, my two favourite songs from the album are the two where Greg doesn't sing. First one, with similar style of singing, but from a woman, Marcy Mays, "My Curse". I think this song is the culmination of the album - great, hard rock ballad, do not listen when you are going through a breakup yourself, many tears may follow. The second favourite song is the last, instrumental "Brother Woodrow/Closing Prayer". It's just an excellent ending to the album filled with emotions, giving you slow and soft release, perfect song to loop forward to the beginning of the record. Easy 5 stars, I'm looking forward to the journey into Afghan Whigs' discography.

This has to be the most popular and recent album on this list so far. I think in terms of the most known pop singers from 2010s, only Taylor Swift is more popular than Adele. Surprisingly, the album chosen in here is "25". If I had to guess, the record with more singles and hits is "21", at least it stands out much more. In case of the former, the only hit that I know of is "Hello", which actually is a pretty good song. It was a summer tune, but definitely it has quality and the lyrics are slightly more meaningful than of your usual hot tracks list. The album starts pretty strong with songs like "Send My Love" and "I Miss You", but soon after that the quality of the album drops, and we are greeted by fillers, or just a bunch of uninteresting songs. I'm not a big fan of anything there, let it be for music or lyrics. It's clear that Adele has a powerful voice, but it's not enough for me to be kept interested in the album. Not a record I would choose from the popular music in 2010s.

On the menu today - generic western influenced country music. I didn't want to be harsh to this album, as this is a very specific subgenre of music, but not even one song was convincing, or in any way interesting and addictive. It's just a simple country melody, with an incredibly campy lyrics about wild, wild west. In general, I'm fan of western movies, and I absolutely love some of the OST's, mainly Ennio Morricone, but usually those are instrumental. I don't think any type of music would be interesting with this type of corny lyrics. Still, the album has now more than 60 years, so maybe at the time it was revolutionary? Who knows, right now those songs, unfortunately, can live only as memes, or relicts of the past.

It might be very disrespectful, even though Depeche Mode is a great and legendary band, but they are in my opinion a one-album band. They have a long and eventful discography, but never before or after they hit it so right as in "Violator". It is extremly reductionistic on my part, but as an average fan of the genres - which in this case range from electronic rock/pop, to even resemblances of gothic rock, only this album sticks out and I'm happy to revisit anytime. The main part of every Depeche Mode's song, or album is Dave Gahan's vocal. His deep voice and certain way he is singing, almost talking, through a song is a big highlight and the most recognizable feature of the band. His persona creates a terrific atmosphere on the album, easily turning every riff or melody into a bit darker and ambient versions of themselves. In term of instrumental side, the riffs are very simple, but catchy, which very often is the case. Seven or eight notes, rather slower tempo, electronic background and that's it, we have a recipe for success, like the best (or second best) single from "Violator" - "Personal Jesus". Even though two most known songs really pushed their way to the top of pop-culture at some point, the rest of the album isn't that far behind. "Sweetest Perfection", "Waiting for the Night" and "World In My Eyes" are really good songs, staying in the general atmospheric surrounding of the album. A session with Violator is a really well spent time and it's important to know it, because there is plenty of covers there, so the connection will be much easier.

This list is filled with "first times" for me, and that is no different with David Bowie - it is a first time, when I listen to his full album. And it was such a special introduction into his music and history. "Low" is an album, that is very hard to describe - it hinges on every possible type of mood, from cheerful and optimistic, to melancholic and thrilling. Also, as a big surprise for me, the album is full of instrumental tracks, which set the tone for the next part of the record, but each time they are just wonderful on their own, like beautiful composition "Warszawa", creepy "Subterraneans", or just energetic and simple intro, "Speed of Life". In general, there are just few songs, where David Bowie show us his vocal range, and even in those tracks he is sometimes overshadowed by a great guitar solo, like in "Be My Wife", or "Always Crashing In the Same Car". But that is not a problem - it can't be one, when the instrumental layer is so incredibly atmospheric and amazing. A big influence on the sound of the album had to be applied by Brian Eno - as a main collaborator and producer of the record. His ability to experiment was very obvious on the "Here Come the Warm Jets" album, which I rated previously on this list. This collaboration between Eno resulted in a trilogy, with "Low" being just a first step into it. But after listening to that record, I have no choice other than put the other parts "Heroes" and "Lodger" on my daily list "things to listen to" and see how great it is. Perfect introduction into Bowie's career.

Bongos! As the name suggests, it's an Incredible Bong Band, with an album full of kind of cinematic music, like taken from 70s action movies. Bongos are really prominent throughout the album, but surprisingly not always at the forefront - sometimes, like in the song "Apache", they just set up the mood and work as a simple drum beat, whereas the orchestral instruments take all the cake, creating a really fun and catchy song, definitely a highlight of the album. Bongo Rock is an instrumental record, which also work well, leaving a lot of space for the incredible bongos to put influence on the songs. Simply - it's a very fun album, good for a quirky change of mood during a party, to uplift and wake up everyone. Is it good enough for the list of "must listen to" albums, though? I guess 1000 albums is a lot, so they have to fill it with something, unfortunately The Beatles didn't record 1000 LPs, otherwise it would be easy job.

Legendary group, legendary song ...and that's it. "Chan Chan" might be one of the most recognisable songs ever, it's really amazing, doesn't matter if you're fan of Cuban music, or Latin rhythms. Great guitars - the main melody is perfectly melancholic and together with bongos and drums in the background instantly teleports you to the hot streets of Havana (even though I've never been there). Small solo at the end of the song was also incredibly fitting and atmospheric. But what makes this song whole, are the vocals from the group. Not very intricate, but they convey a lot of emotions with rather few words. Perfect composition. Unfortunately, that's where the positives of the album end, and it's so early on the record. All the other songs are forgettable and not really special in any way. I know that they probably helped expand the Cuban rhythms and culture to the wide world, but it doesn't work for me. The great atmosphere created on Chan Chan is gone, all we have then is just a mix of random tracks, like in a compilation. It's hard to give a proper rating for such a sinusoidal output, so I will probably go with a safe 3.

The cursed trio of genres, so far - country, of course, avant-garde jazz and reggae. I am 'a little' biased against this types of albums even before I start listen to them, but I'm trying my best to give it a fair chance. Unfortunately, it's no different with Bob Marley's music. I know his lyrics are as important as Dylan's at times, but even songs like "One Love" have a generic reggae beat, which I have hard time to listen to. I won't give it 1 star, because it's still a big part of the history, but two is a max. No time for a better review.

Psychedelic rock, full steam ahead. If someone would ask you what "psychedelic" means in music, just show them this album - it's not the greatest, but definitely one of first of this kind and pulling all the string of the genre. You can hear it straight away in the opening song "Strange Brew". The guitar work on this track is just amazing, who needs drugs, when you can listen to it on the loop? But that's not everything, although drums help accenting the psychedelic parts, bass melody is extremely groovy and keeps you interested in the song. I would 100% call it a highlight of the track, and maybe the whole album? Unfortunately, I'm not a big fan of the vocal on this single and record in general. High voice of Clapton doesn't song really exciting, and although it fits the theme of the light and fun melody, it's not something I would like to listen to more often. "Sunshine of your Love" keeps a very high level of quality on the album, being a very excellent song, with even more recognisable melody on guitars and bass. Claptons voice is much better here, high class. But moving on, the quality drops, and especially side b of the record is hard to listen. There was nothing special in there that I could point at, it's rather disappointing after such a good intro to the album.

Scratch everything that I have written about Disraeil Gear being a perfect example of album in psychedelic rock genre. This is The Ultimate experience of late sixties music, for better or worse, condensed to one, as non-linear as possible album. It's a wild ride with The United States of America, which actually reflect the state and history of the nation as well. No guitars on the record, but plenty of other instruments, you can safely pick one and it's probably used on one of the tracks. It is a very experimental concept, avant-garde at moments, with plenty of surprises and unorthodox approach to music. I definitely recommend listening to this album, even though it's too self-conscious, crossing the line of being intelligible far too often. But again, what a fun ride it is!

Hard nut to crack, this one, or whatever the expression is. On one hand it was a simple, a little monotonous at times rock music, but on the other hand you could say straight away, that this album is so much different than usual 70s and 80s music from UK, and even today some of the songs are very entertaining. The duo of tracks to start the album were really excellent - "Precious" and "Phone Call". I think what I really appreciated the most in those songs is the bass track, together with drums, giving an amazing base layer for the rest of the band. I am not a big fun of punk music, but this mix of punk rock is really unique and fun to listen to. Chrissie's vocal is rather hit or miss. I think, contrary to what's more popular, that the slower songs don't sound that well and Pretenders, as much as the vocalist, is much better at higher tempo music. Nevertheless, listening to this album was a very fun experience, worth having four out of five rating.

That's an interesting and quite original album on this list. The Blue Nile made an unusual choice of creating a record almost fully with synthesizers, but still keeping the tone of the early 80s post-punk and alternative group. Instrumentally, every two songs are really different from each other - the band uses a lot of gimmicks and methods to bend the sounds in new way to their will. There is a big "but" however, in this case it's about the vocalist, whose voice and style of singing is so phlegmatic, I just couldn't do it longer than a song at a time. It really brings the whole experience down to the level, where I am not even interested in giving it another chance. I'll give it a 3/5, but only because I actually like the instrumental parts.

Not my favourite piece of music. Few songs that stand out, I really liked the flow of "Kick It" and pretty funny "Bonita Applebum", but otherwise the whole album went on without catching my attention. I think it might be partially down to the fact that in 90s this album was first ever using this style of hip hop, whereas now it's much more common and that's why it feels like nothing special. I don't want to rate it according to rap history, because I know nothing about that, so I'll just rate how I feel now, without context, about this album. And unfortunately, it's not a really positive feeling.

This is the case of an album, that gets better after every listening. It's a very charming record, that has many surprises hidden in very irreverent and full of humour tracks. The album is defined by the last, self-titled song, Queen of Denmark. An epic melody, in the essence of folk, with its quirky lyrics, perfectly symbolises how good and different the record is. John Grant has a great voice, but his true ability is to write and transform the lyrics into amazing pieces, but keeping it down to earth at the same time. I will need many more listening sessions with this album to truly rate it, but until then I'm happy to give it a highest possible note.

Outdated album, in my opinion. Couple of interesting country/southern style rock, but otherwise nothing special. Really forgettable experience.

Well, I quickly discovered that there is a limit to how much of Paul Simon I can bear, solo or with Garfunkel, no difference. This is now third album with him on this list, after his self-titled debut and "The Spices" album with Art. And I know this is entirely unfair, but I feel like every song is exactly the same - quirky melody, interesting and evocative lyrics, and soft voice by Simon, with his talking/singing style, very similar on each track on this album. Even his greatest hit, "You Can Call Me Al" seems like came out of the same mould, just coincidentally they added here a very catchy melody and chorus, which made the song stand out. This is sixth album in Paul Simon's career, but I don't really see too much progress between this and his debut, which in turn makes me very hesitant to listen to the four records in-between. To sum it up, in vacuum this album is pretty good, entertaining and thoughtful. But looking at it from my perspective, with what I've heard so far, it is just another identical piece of puzzle in collection.

Another very positive surprise on the list. I have listened to the album twice already and it looks like I'm going to spend next weeks discovering Emerson, Lake and Palmer playlist. In few words, I would call Tarkus a much more progressive "Echoes" by Pink Floyd, with a very climactic vocal by Lake, on par with Gilmour, with prominent Hammond organs by Emerson and excellent drumming virtuoso - how come I didn't hear too much about Palmer before? I can blame only my ignorance. Side A of the album is filled with an epic 20-minutes song "Tarkus". Unlike the aforementioned "Echoes", the composition is less linear - it looks like ELP were experimenting with different styles and moods on this song, jumping from a very progressive and chaotic "Eruption", to much more chilled and atmospheric "Stones Of Years", for example. The song keeps you interested for the whole duration of the track and the multiple changes of tempo allow you to rediscover it once again. Surprisingly, I like the B side even better. Six short songs, by comparison, with instrumental "Infinite Space" and entertaining "A Time And Place" make it a great successor to the artful Tarkus. I really liked the album, even though it might be a little too "proggy" at times for my liking. But because it was my first experience with ELP, I will give it a round five bags of popcorn.

I think, with exception of Adele, that this is the first fairly recent band I know and like. The Black Keys apparently broke through to the mainstream with "Brothers", but the first album that I heard to was "El Camino" with a great single "Lonely Boy". I was very curious if "Brothers" is as good, or maybe even better. First couple songs were pointing to the latter - "Everlasting Light", "Next Girl" and especially "Tighten Up". Catchy melody, very low maintenance, just a simple riff, actually good drumming and great vocal by Dan Auerbach. Those tracks sound like something you could make up with you friends in 24 hours, but somehow it makes much more sense and brings a great atmosphere, feeling like you're listening to an alternative rock band in some obscure pub in the middle of nowhere, great stuff. Unfortunately, listening to the whole album wasn't such a nice experience. I felt like The Black Keys had written three or four riffs and the just split and cut them into 15 songs. Fifteen chicken dishes in different style, even if you try it will become pretty stale after a while. In general, it's great when you want to listen to song or two, but binging whole album? Probably not such a good idea.

Nice! That's the most original album on the list so far, together with Miles Davis "Bitches Brew". Completely chaotic record, or at least posing as one. As with every avant-garde album, it's extremely hard to get into it, although in this case it's experimental rock, so it's a little bit easier to understand where is it coming from. Just listen to all the popular releases from sixties, then write down all the sounds, notes and melodies that you haven't heard, compile it into an album and et voila! We have a "Trout Mask Replica". Worth noting, that half the album is filled with Captain Beefhearts blues-like stories, basically a spoken-word at times. I have listened to the album twice since yesterday, but I would have to listen to it twenty more times before I could get anything meaningful from it. Well, I probably will try, over the course of years, but as of today, the album was a hot piece of garbage.

A very surprising album by The Zombies! First few minutes in, you could tell that they were way ahead of their times. A pretty simple and entertaining rock melodies, a la early The Beatles, but the vocals were really amazing! At some point on the album you could tell if those guys are a recent band or are actually from sixties. The harmonies bu band members were perfect, "This will be Our Year" was just an example of great song created with simple measures. How come they aren't much more popular? They are on this list, but I would suspect at least a little bit more popculture references. Nevertheless, it was so nice to discover this band, I am sure I will come back to it many times In future.

Debut album by one of the legends of punk rock. And well, as legendary as they are, this record didn't hooked me in even for a little bit. On the first go with it my mind went on autopilot and I had to go back to some of the songs, which by the way, are all very similar to each other. It's not my favourite genre of music and this album definitely didn't do anything to change it. From positives, I really liked the vocal, most of the times Mick James sounded genuinely angry and filled with rage, perfectly fitting their music at the time. Also, I was surprised with few quick, but nicely fitting guitar solos, giving the album a little bit more depth. Otherwise, I found the music a bit generic. Today there is hundreds of bands like The Clash, but I do understand at the time they were very unique and groundbreaking. Unfortunately, in my opinion they do not pass the test of time.

How come this album (and band to be fair) is not much more popular, is beyond my imagination. I am currently on my third loop of this record, it is absolutely amazing. Truth to be told, I don't really see the "space rock" angle on this album, I can see some psychedelic elements, but in general I would create a label "spiritualized rock". Excellent mix of atmospheric, chilled tunes like "Cool Waves", slowly transforming into a full orchestral, all-out jam in "Cop Shoot Cop". Great riffs, really amazing small solos, everything fits perfectly on the album. It feels like the band had an idea of how the record will look like before they even stepped into the studio. They take their time, play out the tunes as long as they want, to drive to the culmination point, which is a full release of emotions and feelings. I absolutely love this album, and it moves to my "favourite tracks" list straight away.

Only now, thanks to this challenge, I'm learning how ignorant I am to some bands or genres. In general I tend to be a little dismissive towards the older music, but this time it is different. It is the first time I'm listening to "Fragile" ever, however I could very quickly recognise the main motive from opening song "Roundabout". After few minutes it clicked - I know it from the "To Be Continued" memes. And my ignorance hurts as ever, because this is much more than a nice jingle, it is also a great song, progressive rock with countless great riffs and complicated melodies, but still coherent and enjoyable. Jon Anderson provided great vocals on the whole album, fitting great into the slightly psychedelic structure of the songs. Unfortunately, only "Roundabout" and "Heart of the Sunrise" were great - the rest of the songs were basically fillers, trying to hit at least 40 minutes to fill the LP. But well, you can't deny the greatness, even if it's surrounded by blandness. It was definitely the best Yes album I have heard so far. And it definitely has a place on this list.

As I previously pointed out, punk is not a genre I particularly enjoy. Especially if it is presented in its purest form - simple, fast riff, monotonous bass track and vocals, usually full of rage, or just with some wit in it. Ramones fall into that category and unfortunately, they are so dull and one-dimensional, I have hard time writing anything positive about the album. This is one of those rare occasions, where I couldn't even finish the record. All the songs became just one, continuous pulp with no special features to distinguish them from another. I've read, that Ramones inspired many new bands to follow their practices, which resulted in grunge, for example. Well, even if that's true, this band is already outdated in my eyes. Nowadays, every little town or village has a local punk band, that is more raw and just simply better. Hopefully that was the only album by Ramones on this list.

For so many years have I heard about this band and the "deadheads". I have met few of them, but I never felt like this would be a band I would like. Until today, when I listened to "American Beauty" for the first time, and boy, I proved myself right. This is definitely a band I don't enjoy, even though on the album Grateful Dead has mixed plenty of styles, some that I enjoy and then some I approach less enthusiastically. Well, the overall result wasn't that inspiring. The record was perfect for the time it was recorded in, which is late 60, early 70s. Hippie culture, love, not war, this album encapsulated this sub-culture. Unfortunately, it is not as interesting nowadays, and the folk/country vibe, with occasional psychedelic and rock intrusions are pretty outdated. Not even one song stayed in my mind afterwards, but at least I was able to listen to the whole album, unlike the Ramones. Not my favourite band and probably this will be the last album of this band I will listen.

Aggressively average punk rock band. It is entertaining, much more pleasant than Ramones or any other punk, or post-punk I have recently listened to, but truth to be told, it's still surprisingly uneventful. The riffs are quite catchy, bass line and drums are pretty good and consistent (too much consistent). The vocals were toned down, compared to the rest of the music. I remember harmonica in one song, unfortunately I don't remember which one, they all sounded too similar. But still, it's nice to find out about a band from Australia!

An interesting album that isn't very special, unless you read a little about the context of the record, certain songs from it and K.D. Lang history. It's a shame that there's still such a persecution and pointless hatred. The context helped with song like "Miss Chatelaine", but unfortunately it didn't change my overall reception of the album. It's a rather usual type of a folk music with po twists that I would to compare to Alanis Morissette, trying to stay in Canada for once. Favourite song - "Season For Hollow Soul", with the orchestral elements and atmospheric composition. The rest of the albumis rather forgettable, but still, I can understand why it is rated high enough to be on the list of 1000 best albums ever.

Great album! I spent a lot of time listening to and playing all the riffs on "Knights of Cydonia". It is such a great song and a perfect encapsulation of the whole album. Leading bass guitar, very upbeat drums, plenty of electronics, weird solos on guitar and a constant (and sometimes a bit annoying) vocal by Matt Bellamy. Every song on this album sticks to that concept, whether slower or faster, more melancholic or less, they have a recipe that works. It is not my favourite album by Muse, I find "Origin of Symmetry" a bit better and more diverse than Black Holes and Revelations, but still, it is a great album and I 100% recommend it to everyone.

An average hard rock/metal album, with a sort of Judas Priest-like vocal, some interesting and hard to execute guitar solos and very unsophisticated drums, that can make you nauseous after 40 minutes of this album. In general, nothing special or extraordinary, probably one of the first albums of this type, but with almost no listening values nowadays.

I was quick to dismiss this album as "just another punk, or post-punk british band", which is true, but up to a point. Killing Joke is in my opinion much more climatic and more music-orientated than their contemporaries from the time. A lot of the album is instrumental and those parts are definitely the best assets, showing real talent from the musicians, but also creating a great atmosphere on the album. Perhaps what actually attracted me to this record is the slightly heavier approach to the genre and bleaker sound, which somehow still feels fresh today. So far I gave it only a quick glance, but for sure I am saving this album for future reference and to come back and listen to it without rush.

Ooof, that was one, hard battle, to get through this album. It took less than 30 seconds into any of the songs, and my mind was drifting away. Not even a one beat or mix hooked me in, nothing seemed enjoyable or interesting. They style of rapping also wasn't my favourite, it was in fact a bit boring, I really couldn't focus on the lyrics that much. I have read about this album as being one of the best in Wu-Tang Clan's members solo career, and also very influential to new generation of hip-hop. Unfortunately, I couldn't see anything of value when listening to this record and all can I do is question the placement of it on this list.

Second album by David Bowie on this list and also second of the, so-called "Berlin Trilogy", after "Low". And while I think that "Low" was one of the best records I have listened to, out of almost 150 albums, "Heroes" was quite underwhelming and didn't offer the same mix of emotions. The concept of the record is similar - few positive and high energy songs, followed by more atmospheric and electronic-filled tracks. But last time we had many hits, songs that are great on their own, plus sounded great in the context of album. Here I can point out only the self-titled track "Heroes", which is a great single and somehow continues the road of the album trilogy. This time the instrumental songs didn't hook me in, they felt like a slog, even though there were nice moments with small guitar solos and melodies. Bowie's vocal is great as always, so no complaints there. Some people treat it as the best album in Bowie's career, for me it's a step back after wonderful "Low".

Well, this is a second time I have to write a review for this album, so in short - it's great. So many hits and singles, and in the context of the record they sound even better than on the radio. It's a really wild ride, and for sure a pleasurable one.

Another Nirvana album after "Nevermind", which wasn't my favourite already. It's the first time I'm listening to "In Utero" and I still dont understand the phenomenon of this band. There is so many other grunge bands, that had a better career, higher highs and not so low lows. Nevertheless, Nirvana has some good songs, like "Heart-shaped Box" or "Rape Me", but as a whole record, it's rather anonymous and boring. What I like about Alice in Chains, or Pearl Jam, or even Soundgarden is that they put some real emotions into their songs, whereas I don't really feel it with Nirvana. Album to forget.

Actually a quite good punk rock album, especially comparing to all the other similar bands that I have seen on the list so far. The lyrics are funny, but surprisingly on point, even 40 years after release. The music is much more diverse than a simple punk 3 chords - we have here few interesting riffs, more energy, and more thoughtful experience. All in all, it's not an album that I would listen to more often, but because it's so much better than other punk rock bands on this list, I'm happy to give it 4 stars.

It's actually a nice album! I know Lorde only from the extremely annoying song "Royals", which was definitely overplayed on the radio soon after it was initially released. My hatred for this song was sufficient for me to never try any other track from her album. Apparently only until today. I still dont know any other song from her previous album, but if it's as good as this one, then I should quickly make up for that mistake. "Melodrama" opens up with a really catchy song "Green Light", one of the singles from this record. This track also sets up the mood of the album (if you couldn't make it up from the title of the album), and this rather sad and melancholic theme is creating a nice atmosphere. It's not overwhelming at any point, it gives you a perfect look into the state of mind and emotions of author. I really like songs like "Louvre" and both parts of "Sober" really well done stuff. I guess there's two questions - is it good enough for this list? And regardless, why isn't this album more popular? Small contradictions, but still, I had a nice time with this album.

This is a weird one. If you would ask me few days ago if I'm Basement Jaxx fan, I would reply "Of course!". But after listening with special care to "Remedy", I am not so sure anymore. All the songs that I like, especially "Where's your Head at?", are from different albums, and this one actually doesn't have that much hits or outstanding tracks. The best song in my opinion is not really well known "Don't Give Up", which isn't that obvious electronic-disco track we identify with Basement Jaxx. Singles aren't really attractive and lack the "headbanging" element to it. But maybe that's just my twisted vision of those type of bands. I think I will break my own rules and give a rating to the band, not to the album (as I don't think any other record will be on this list). 3 stars for "Remedy", 5 for Basement Jaxx, so 4 in total today.

Very fun album! From what I (briefly) read about it and about Drive-By Truckers, it is a tribute to Lynyrd Skynyrd, and a really good one at that. There are plenty of songs that could have been composed by Lynyrd, the atmosphere, crazy guitar solos and southern-style vocal is really well fitting into composition. Tracks like "Greenville to Baton Rouge" or "Birmingham" are quite on par with monumental songs like "Freebird" (well, maybe a little scaled down though). My only issue is that some of the slower song are getting too much into the country genre, completely losing the southern rock style, which made me really dislike the second part of first half of the album. But otherwise, it was really like a southern rock opera! Movie-like album, great work.

Somehow, I have never heard even a one song from this album! My musical knowledge is not as good as I imagined... "Frank" is much more melancholic and slower than "Back to Black", with fewer hits, but otherwise a very high level album. The opening "Stronger Than Me" is by far my favourite song, high tempo, very entertaining, more fitting to later part of Amy's career. All the other songs are much slower, bossa nova style, which isn't my favourite type of music. Amy's vocal is amazing as always, never heard someone with similar voice. I would give it a higher rating, but honestly a lot of the songs were very forgettable. I prefer Back to Black.

There's not much to say - this is the best album on this list, no competition at all. It's actually ridiculous how good it is, amazingly groovy record. I love "Walk On By" and "By the Time I Got To Phoenix". I'm heading to a music store right now to buy a vinyl of this album, from now on you can call me Isaac Hayes' fan #1. Perfect Sunday morning with "Hot Buttered Soul".

It was a very unusual album. Whole record in the form of a soundtrack for a non-existent movie. Songs include plenty of unconventional pieces, like a spoken word, noir tracks with dialog from some kind of movie, funky style car chase songs or even something that would fall into a category of Bond-song. It is certainly and interesting concept, where by listening to the tracks, you can imagine a type of movie it represents or describe. Also, the songs themselves are of very high quality, a lot of very atmospheric pieces, transporting you to a dark, winter alley, with couple strange looking thugs, in full coats and a hat, of course. I know I can't change the rating later, but I think I will give it a 4 stars now, but it would probably change to 5 after few more listening sessions.

There is not much to elaborate. Frank Sinatra was a great singer, one of its kind, who inspired many other singers and songwriters over the years. Unfortunately, there is one problem - I just can't listen to more than one of his songs without getting nauseous. I can appreciate this music in theory, and I'm glad I listened and got familiarised with it, but I won't ever listen to this again. I'm not a fan of Frank Sinatra, just a little outdated music in my opinion.

"Very" is a very Pet Shop Boys album. To be precise, every song they have ever released sounds so much Pet Shop Boy-ish, that there is no way you can make a mistake.my usual experience with this album: Song 1 - Woah, great song! They have done it again! Song 2 to the end - Hey, wait a minute now, isn't that the same song all over again? Obviously I'm exaggerating, but the sentiment stays is there. I think that the main issue why they sound so repetitive is in vocal - Neil Tennant's vocal range is basically a one note all over. It sounds great on singles, but whole album is just too much to bare. "Very" average album.

It's not the easiest album to rate for me. As a general principle, I'm not the fan of the soft rock ballad-like songs, it's like listening to IKEA of music - everything is looking nice and simple, but also incredibly boring and bland. But Fleetwood Mac has to be an exception here. Their "Rumours" is an album filled with all-time hits and few of the most recognisable melodies and tunes ever. Especially nowadays, with the tiktoks or Instagram, those melodies are ingrained into minds of everyone. There is no denying, that the guitar melodies, together with different types of soft sounded vocals in this case is a recipe for success. "Dreams", "Second Hand News", "Go Your Own Way" and "Don't Stop" are basically the gold standard of singles and hits for many years to come (and have been for the last 50 years). Even though, I think my favourite song was "Gold Dust Woman". Amazing outro, small guitar solos, and absolutely beautiful vocal. Well, after consideration, maybe it's not that hard to rate this album.

Very interesting story about the singer Nick Drake. He started his career when he was 19, released "Five Leaves Left" at 21, ended his career after two more albums at 24 and died at 26 (either suicide or an accident with antidepressants). Unrecognised when alive, his music found appreciation only 20 years later in 90s, when it was described as pinnacle of English melancholy. It's a really fascinating read, and the atmosphere of the album definitely helps asking the "What if" questions. As for the music itself, I have to agree that Nick's voice is beautiful and the melodies in songs really melancholic and moody, but it definitely feels so monotonous. There is no varieties between songs, like Drake went all-in on his possible depression, and recorded one, continuous song lamenting or contemplating his surroundings and his mood. I'll be happy to try this album again, maybe in a more suitable circumstances. In the winter evening, under a blanket and a glass of wine. But for now, I don't rate this album highly.

I have few thoughts about this album. First of all, how out of place "Every Breath You Take" sounds on this album. The whole record is so lively and upbeat, with characteristic Sting's vocal and funky/rock guitars, and bringing fresh approach to popular music. And then we have their most popular (also terribly overplayed in the radio) song, which sounds like it was on this album by an accident. Second of all, is Sting a great singer? Of course! But, like it's a case for few more singers, listening to a whole album with his voice in a row is a certain type of torture. He changes the way he sings for "Every breath you Take", but all the rest is exactly the same, doesn't matter how much the melody changes. Pretty hard stuff. Overall, it's a nice album, I like both parts of synchronicity, but I won't be going back to this record often.

It's the second album by Pet Shop Boys in the span of less than a week! And honestly, it's more of the same. There was, apparently, a change of styles between "Very" and "Behaviour", but I feel like there is one, big issue that overshadows the instrumental parts of those albums - and it is Neil Tennant's vocal. As I already explained on the review for "Very", Pet Shop Boys has a really intriguing and interesting music, but listening to the whole album in one sitting is excruciatingly painful. And now I know why. Neil's singing, or rather his style and voice, is very specific. It works perfectly on some of the most known singles, like "Always On My Mind". Their hits, as standalone songs, are really great and timeless. But listening to 15 songs, some without those catchy beats and melodies, but always with the same constant and monotonous voice by Neil is just too much. "Behaviour" is just another example of this. To make things worse, I don't really think there is any outstanding single on this album at all. Every song just mashed into a big pile of puree, and trying to distinguish every little potato is almost impossible. I decided to rate both albums as one, even though it's not possible on this list. I gave 3 stars for "Very", so I think it will be fair to give 2 for "Behaviour". In this case we will have a nice 2,5 stars average, which should perfectly show how I feel about those albums.

There is not much to elaborate in regards to this album. "Red Dirt Girl" is nineteenth(?!) Record in Emmylou Harris' career. It's a folk/country music, which unfortunately combines two genres I'm not particularly fond of. It feels like a deeply American album, so my connection to it isn't really there. The self-titled track is supposedly the most popular song by Harris, but I really couldn't understand why. It's a rather typical song slightly in style of Dolly Parton, who I think is much superior singer in Country style. I like the song "The Pearl", it had some rock elements into it, so it stand out amongst the others, but that's all that I could enjoy. Discover, Listen, Forget.

Pros: music with a cause, important message, interesting lyrics. Cons: none of the beats were forgettable, rapping style by the group very anonymous, overall rap from early 90s that didn't get old with grace at all. I recognised couple songs from this album, but I believe the modern covers are much more listenable than the original songs. Public Enemy had an important message, and they were trying to make a difference, but music-wise, it really doesn't make any impact nowadays.

I didn't expect a band like Aerosmith, which is known for "Dream On" and Armageddon songs to have such a diverse and mature album, especially this early in their career. If I would listen to this album without knowing what it is, I would guess The Rolling Stones. The record has inspired many band and artists, like Kurt Cobain or Slash. What is the reception right now? In my opinion - rather unspectacular. The songs on the album are very much infused in 70s hard rock style. Plenty of blues/rock riffs, some really great guitar solos and surprisingly good vocal by Steven Tyler (whom I remember only as an old man). I'm not a big fan of this album, or of this band at all. It was fun to listen to this piece of history, but to be frank, its place is in the books on the shelf now. That's all.

An artist with 100% of his records on the list of 1000 greatest albums ever! What a feat. Unfortunately, Mylo has released only one record, but still, great try! And actually, it's really good album. It's an electronic release, and I'm no expert on that, but compared to Basement Jaxx I've listened to couple weeks ago, it's more of a dance-orientated piece. I would say it's not any specific genre, just some good dance music. My favourite song would be "Paris Four Hundred".

Pretty good album! I have to admit, I've never heard anything like this before. Actually, it sounds more like a soft edition of progressive rock, like Porcupine Tree, but of course without as much virtuosity on guitars. Also, the vocal seems to be similar to Steven Wilson's or even Geddy Lee's from Rush. The vocalist is the best feature of the album, in my opinion. His singing, seemingly out of tune, and like he wouldn't even want to sing, adds a nice layer to the dreamy sequences of instruments. My favourite song is definitely "A Spoonful Weighs A Ton". Quite a lot of fillers on the album, but the overall reception was very positive. Might consider buying a vinyl!

Great album! Wasn't a fan of Arcade Fire before, but I like this kind of indie rock. None of the songs is a clear radio hit, but the whole record maintains a pretty high quality from the start to finish. I'll soon listen to this album again, but it looks like a sure thing to buy a vinyl.

I was sceptical at the beginning, mostly because the band is very popular, and I have never heard a song from them, which probably means bad news. But after listening I can safely say, this is a really nice album! Don't have much time for more, the big question is 4 or 5 stars. It's 4,5 in my current opinion, after brief first listening. So maybe 4 stars right now, and then we will think again.

I'm going to spoil Christmas spirit for a bit. I'm not a fan of Christmas Carol's, especially those americanised versions. It's really nice to listen to once per lifetime, but those songs are being spoon-fed into you for few months every year. It is extremely hard to try being objective about this album. Music, or the vocals, are in 60s funky, rock style, which probably was pretty original at the time, but I'm afraid, quite unlistenable for me now. Merry Christmas!

As I mentioned with Bob Marley's album, I'm not a fan of reggae. In case of Burning Spear I have to admit that it's much better instrumentally than Bob's songs. The flow and gentle riffs are actually pretty entertaining, and are taking you straight to the dance floor. It's also very lyrics-heavy. Very difficult stuff about slavery and oppression. In general, I do like it a bit more than I would think of, but still, it's not my favourite style, tanking the overall note.

Very average album with outstanding "Sultans of Swing". Other songs weren't remarkable or interesting at all. 10 songs on the record feel like trying ten times to roll 12 on 2k6, hitting it once and getting low results every other time. Pretty dissapointed, although once again, Sultans is one of the best song ever, the album not so much.

Amazing album that gets better every time you listen to it. I have heard about the band long time before, but I really paid attention to them after watching the movie "Love And Mercy", that shows the making of this album and visualise life of Brian Wilson. Immediately after the movie I have bought the vinyl version of the record, and I have to admit - I'm not a big fan of music from 60s or 70s, but "Pet Sounds" is not only amazing, but it holds up really well. Almost every song on the album is a hit and should be much more prominent in radio. Also, I have to agree, it is one of the best albums of all time.

Music and jams from the whole, wide World, mixed together with some electronic music and hip hop. Quite a positive and original album, with one great hit "Double Dutch". I will be definitely coming back to this song again and again. Otherwise, fun tracks, but nothing memorable, although I'll try again listening to the album in the future.

Really great album! I felt like this was just another record made by David Bowie and lo and behold, it is produced by him. Even Iggy's vocal sounds like a slightly more used and tired Bowie. So this is already a very big positive. On the other side we have great instrumental music. It's not a classic rock, trying to fit many riffs into a short song. It's more bluesy, melodies are stretched over minutes of the songs, and they create amazing atmosphere, quite on par with best Bowie's albums. I have never heard any of the song on this record, but that's not really a surprise. Tracks aren't necessarily radio friendly and neither of them is a hit per se. But altogether, when listened in the most cliche way possible, with wine, on a sofa, under a blanket, it's incredibly great piece of music. Another favourite to add to collection.

Simply great album. Sounds a little bit like Oasis, but there is a lot of freshness in their music. Vocal is exciting and doesn't bring nauseating thoughts, like Gallagher brothers (whoever is the singing one). The opening songs are straight up hits, like "In It For The Money", "Richard III", and "Tonight". Really entertaining british rock, looking forward to buying a vinyl record of this album!

It was a nice shoegaze album with some really nice moments, bur also with couple annoying parts, that had brought the whole experience down. The guitars wall of sound was setting up the atmosphere really well, I think it was a great foundation for a breathtaking piece of music (when comparing it to a band like Deafheaven). Unfortunately, band decided to add a very calm vocal, which wasn't perfect, but also wasn't a real, glaring hole on the album. What was breaking the immersion you felt, created by other instruments, was drumming line. The rhythmic and rather rock'n'roll style of drums was like from a completely different story than the rest of band. I even think that some of the songs were unlistenable because of it. A very big mixed bag. I was thinking it's 2,5 stars, which I usually round up, but in this case I will rather go with a lower end.

California Dreamin! This is an all-time hit, that will be celebrated for the years to come. Amazing song, followed by a very solid list of great songs in a very specific (at the time) genre of folk rock with a tsunami of harmonies. I think this is one of those albums that has so much fame, it's hard to overcome it and rate properly. Nevertheless, the soft and gentle voices of the quartet, together with unassuming music created really magical album.

EPIC HARDCORE STUFF MAGIC PEOPLE MAGIC PEOPLE VOODOO PEOPLE VOODOO PEOPLE LIAM HAWLETT MAXIM REALITY THIS IS IT MOVE IT BOUNCE IT POW POW LET'S GO TRANCE RAVE TECHNO BEAT FEEL IT EVERYBODY BREAK THE FLOOR

I was ready to dismiss this album as boring after listening to the biggest hit, which is a self-titled track "Sunshine Superman". I have to be honest, I'm not sure what's the appeal of this track, it was rather unattractive and simply boring. Fortunately, I gave it another go and listened to whole record carefully, and I'll admit, the rest of the album is much better! "Season of the Witch" is simply amazing. Combination of the blues and rock, with soft voices by Donovan, I fell in love instantly. Other songs weren't as catchy as this one, but still very entertaining and in line of the general feeling of the album. Very positive surprise!

Supposedly an album (and a band) that was an inspiration for many "rebellious" bands, like Nirvana or White Stripes. "Here are the Sonics" is a mostly cover album, including remakes of famous rock'n'roll songs, but recorded in a really raw and rough way. Term "garage rock" is very fitting here. Probably the sound was the main attribute, that made them famous. Nowadays, a lot of big bands try to replicate this garage sound, with a better or worse outcome. This way of recording is now equivalent with punk/metal attitude, so the influence went pretty deep. As for the songs themselves, they are entertaining, and a bit more "rock" versions of rock'n'roll. The vocal was also a very positive surprise, it really fitted in the album. In general, a pretty good album.

Second album by T.Rex on this list and once again I'm not sure what is so special about this band. Both albums are quite average with couple songs being entertaining and the rest went totally unnoticed. "Metal Guru" was quite a nice rock song with funny lyrics and catchy riffs. Unfortunately, soon after this song my mind started wandering anywhere else, just to dissociate from this record. Honestly, I felt like it was a waste of time, especially that the full album was very long. I was never a fan of Jurrasic Park.

This is the second album by Leonard Cohen on this list and coincidentally it is also his second album in discography. After quite exciting "Songs of Leonard Cohen" I am greeted by "Songs From a Room", a weaker and less attractive record, without any outstanding, or even above average songs. Leonard Cohen recorded another ten folk songs, showing off his singing skills, which are surprisingly average or just uninteresting early in his musical career. If you compare those first two albums with his later work, from 80s onward, it's like a completely different person, style and feeling. I have trouble pointing out any song on this record to discuss or give example of his style. Slow, melancholic melody and Leonards voice on top of it. Real disappointment.

Another album by ZZ Top and another reason why I'm not a fan of this band. Extremely monotonous and irritating drum line makes it almost unbearable to listen for longer than couple minutes. Vocal is rather unassuming and generic, I have heard voice like that in every other rock bands. The big highlight of the band are the guitars. Riffs are okay, but every time the band comes up with an unusual melody, or with another solo, you can tell its something special and unique. I didn't really like "La Grange", the biggest hit from this album. My favourite song was "Jesus Just Left Chicago". Drummer actually tried to do something different on this song and that was enough to change the whole perception of this record. Unfortunately, too little, too late. I'm not a fan and probably I won't ever be one.

A really nice and exciting combination of funk and rock! The album sounds very fresh, despite being almost 50 years old. The funky flow of the tracks, together with rock-sounding guitar riffs and solos is providing plenty of fun. But what separates this record from any others is just one song - Maggot Brain. It is one of my favourite songs of all time. The version on this album is a little bit different than original, which I find supreme. Still, the atmosphere of the song, slow tempo, extraordinary solos and melodies, every version of this song will be on top of everyone's lists (in my opinion). Actually, in comparison to this track, I don't find the rest of the album that attractive, but the bar is set very high on this one. Maybe that's a bit unfair, but for me it's going to be Funkadelic=Maggot Brain forever.

Another exciting and wonderful surprise in a shape of a band, The Divine Comedy, thatcI have never heard of! From the first song onwards, this album was full of baroque splendor and glamour, orchestral motives and actually great singing by the main guy in the band, Neil Hannon. I never knew this, but he was a composer that recorded music for IT Crowd and Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy. This album let me appreciate him even more. Basically every song on the record is a hit, or at least a single worthy track. I am certainly adding almost whole album to my everyday playlist. Great job Neil, easily 5 stars.

One of the best hip hop albums on this list so far. I liked the beats and flow on most of the songs and also couple tracks are really popular, even though I didn't know they were recorded by The Roots. First of all, we have "The Seed (2.0)", great beat, very fitting style of rapping, easy to follow, maybe best hip hop track on this list? Then we have other good to great songs, like "Sacrifice" or "Rock You". What's also a great feature of the album is the way the filler song sound. For example "!!!!!" Is actually a pretty metal bit, but it's still fitting the overall atmosphere of the record. Really nice album, will have a look again at it in the future!

I think Queen should be in the contention for the most overplayed bands in history of human music (and probably non-human as well). It's very hard to rate their records. Luckily, Queen II is a less known album, so it should be a little easier. But, by saying that, I think this record is very generic and none of the songs catches your attention. It sounds more like a tribute band, than a real one. Of course it's unfair, it's just a second album by Queen, so they didn't find their final style yet. Also, at the time this album had to be more impactful than nowadays. Entertaining stuff, but nothing exceptional.

Interesting case with Red Hot Chili Peppers. If I could pick up my favourite songs by this band and condense them into a one, short album, that might be one of the best things I have in my collection. But unfortunately, in here I am about to rate just the song on Blood Sugar Sex Magic. And the jury is out with a verdict - slightly above average. When they get a hit, it's a really top notch song, breathtaking track. But on this album it's just 4 out of 17, and this is exemplifying the whole discography of the band. Very original bass lines, extremely interesting and atmospheric guitar riffs and solos, but only when the whole song lines up perfectly, and unique vocal by Anthony make it a great mix, but happening only 25% of time. Still, very worthwhile to listen to!

I'm not a fan of Eric Clapton, and I guess by extension of his other projects, like Derek and The Domino's. After listening to this album nothing has changed in my mind. One obviously great song, as albums title suggest, and then more than one hour of fun solos, exciting riffs and bluesy vocals, but nothing that sticks to you even 5 minutes after listening. Absolute average with a one diamond.

Disappointing and honestly totally average album, which went on for much too long. I think the same, old style of Bowie's songs was there, but they lacked some spark, of that substance to it. Also, Bowie's voice was unfortunately not up to task, or more like wasn't in the same shape as in the highest point of his career. Which isn't a problem, age works it's thing, but it's definitely something different than we used to listen to years ago. There is a chance, that this album will grow on me with time, but at the moment, there is nothing in it that I particularly enjoyed.

I have always rated Radiohead quite highly, but it was never a band I would call my favourite, it was usually an afterthought on any list I made with band I like. Probably one of the reason for that was a fact, that I have never listened to a full album in one sitting. It was always just few songs from this era, few of the other, then top hits and that's all. Today I have listened to the whole OK Computer in one go, and I have to admit, that's the way to do it. Songs are creating a specific atmosphere and context for other songs, and with that in mind, it is much more pleasurable experience. Every track has something special in it, the style is very unique, especially for 90s, but it holds on, even as the 30th anniversary of the release is coming along. Also, I noticed how similar Thom Yorke's vocal is on this album to whatever Matt Bellamy represents across his career with Muse. I had to check the timelines, but maybe it's possible, that he was inspired by this album? Whatever the answer is, I'm happy to be able to listen to both those bands. And for now, I'm even more happy to give this album a pretty strong five stars.

Absolutely average album by all possible standards. Punk? Average. Innovative? Not so much. Did I like it? Not really, although it wasn't that bad. In my opinion a good punk album should bring a a very fast-paced tempo, funny and real lyrics and a inspired vocal. The Adverts sounded like an advert for a punk band, something we would listen to in radio or tv, and that's not the way, for sure. No need to explain it further - this time a little below average 2 stars.

Here we go, another album by Yes on the list! Hurray! If only I could move back in 50 years I would be the happiest person on Earth. Well, I'm not a fan of this band or what they represent. This album reminded me a little bit of Rush (maybe because of vocalist?), but the overall effect is very underwhelming. I much more prefer King Crimson, or even Emerson, Lake and Palmer when we are talking about progressive rock from this period in time. In Case of "Close to the Edge" I don't feel anything special, no unique atmosphere is generated, three long songs that are quickly gone, like tears in the rain, to quote our favourite android. I wasn't hooked by any riff or guitar solo, I don't even remember drums or bass guitar, and I definitely didn't like the vocal. I suspect that whoever made this list certainly overvalues 70s prog rock. But to be fair, 1000 albums is a lot, so they have to fill the list somehow.

It's an okay album, simple as that. Nice self-titled opening song, some nice blues guitars and riffs, enjoyable melodies and I think okay voc by Neil at best. There were few moments on the album, where I had to die inside a little when his voice broke down on a higher notes. To sum up, I didn't find anything special on this album, but it wasn't really a chore to listen to it. Just not my style.

I learn something new almost every day - I really didn't know that "Higher Ground" was recorded by Stevie Wonder (in fact I didn't even know what is the proper name of this song). Innervisions is as very funky album, which, from what I read, is known for being a golden standard of R&B. In that regard I am only partially keen on this type of genre. I love the funkier and full of groove songs like "Higher Ground", or "Living for the City", but the slower ballads, or love songs aren't my kind of jam. One thing for sure, Wonder's voice is absolutely amazing, regardless of the tempo or type of the songs. The only issue is that slower tracks don't have that magic aura in it for me. I think this album falls somewhere between 3 and 4 stars, but out of respect to Stevie and everything he has done, I will give it a four stars. It's a really good record to listen to once in a while, to slow down and enjoy the moment for a bit.

Wow, it's been a long time since I have heard a more reprehensible voice. This was my equivalent of sharp nails against the chalkboard sound. Every note that came out of the main vocalist was slowly burning down my neurons, until there was nothing left. Fittingly, at the end of the album, I started to like a song, "Friday Night Fever", possibly because my senses were already gone at the time. I'm not a fan of country and country indie rock , or whatever that was, didn't really fall far from the tree. I am actually quite impressed I sit through the whole record. Okay, no reason to bash this anymore than necessary, from the positive note, I have found even worse albums on this list, and some songs were actually listenable. It's something between one and two stars, but I really don't think it is worthy one, so... here you go!

This sounds exactly like most of the music I listen to everyday. My Bloody Valentine started, and pretty much mastered, the art of shoegazing. I would even argue, that after initial critic of the vocalist, I started to appreciate the full sound of this album, Kevin Shields included. There is a really high chance that many of the metal genres, that followed My Bloody Valentines route, wouldn't exist, or would take much longer to crystallise. Wall of sound is one of my favourite elements in music, when done properly, of course, and I can only be forever thankful to the band to introducing us to this fenomenal style. Excellent stuff.

And here we have another anonymous post-punk from the land of post-punk bands and music. Echo and the Bunnymen is an okay group - they aren't original or special, just rather solid in what they are doing. Some melodies on song like "Ocean Rain" or "Silver" are genuinely good and melancholic. Vocal is also better, a little less whiny than in other bands. But as a summary, there is nothing special in this album. Putting it on a list like that might be a really big stretch. It kind of waters down the whole experience. Well, nice album, but not something I would include on a list of best anything. 1001 most solid albums of all time.

A pretty disappointing album. After such a great one-two punch combo to start off the record, the quality went straight to the gutter. Really excellent psychedelic rock tracks - "Lost Woman" and "Over Under Sideways Down". If that would be a short EP, we are looking at an instant classic and easily a top rating possible. Phenomenal guitar rhythms and solos, such a great psychedelic atmosphere, it's just that good! Really nice vocals as well, but that goes across the whole album. The problem is, after those two songs the style changed a bit - no more psychedelic rock, instead we have rather straightforward blues, unfortunately with no appealing qualities. It's hard to call it anything else than a disappointment. Pretty sure it means that the album deserves only 3/5.

Looks like I've been listening to Kate Bush on the radio for years, but never actually knew those are her songs. Especially recently, with the success of Stranger Things, Hound of Love has been featured pretty often in popculture. I haven't seen the series, and I'm actually not a big fan of the song "Running Up The Hill", but the rest of the album is very intriguing! I have to admit, every song here is a hit or miss - Kate likes to experiment a lot with her music and it really shows. What's interesting, even though many of the beats or melodies sound so much like any generic 80s song, every track still feels original and different to what we can listen to nowadays. Songs like "Hounds of Love", "Hello Earth" or "Jig of Life" sound like nothing else before. Even though some of the tracks are rather mediocre, the overall reception of the album is really good. Call me a fan of Kate from now on.

That's a really funny album! The melodies, riffs and tempo, and especially lyrics, are aligning very well into a pretty special and entertaining mix. "The Wall Street Shuffle" is not only funny, for example, but also very catchy, the band members are really talented, even though it's overshadowed by the context of the songs. In the end, it's a nice album to listen to, have a laugh and probably forget about it, if not forever, than for a very long time.

Ugh, we have a small dilemma in here. Dolly Parton is truly a wonderful human being. She is one of the few celebrities, that actually has some kind of code of honour, but also is using her influence to make a lot of good things. Her approach to the Rock'n'Roll Hall of Fame is also very admirable. Unfortunately, if we have to talk about her music, it's not as positive as her private life. Dolly Parton has an amazing voice, but the type of country music she is playing and recording is certainly not for everyone, and especially not for people from different parts of the World than USA. I really dislike country in general, and the more "pure" it is, the worse my reception of it. And Dolly recorded a quintessential country album in the form of "Coat of Many Colors". There was only one song that slightly broke the scheme of out of the mill country music, and it was the track with a little more rock influence in it, I don't recall which one it was, but probably "Traveling Man". I think in general I would give a lowest note possible for the album, but it would be an evil act against Dolly, so just this time, a 2 star rating for non-musical influence.

It's not as good as Pet Sounds, but still very interesting and with equally great style and atmosphere. Lyrics on this album are completely different as well, very pro-ecological, trying to show us some issues going on with the oceans on our planet. Instrumental-wise the record is really good, every song is actually worth listening, although it doesn't have any standout tracks. Another positive surprise on the list!

This is an album that probably will be retconned from the list on one of the next editions. British hip hop record, with no original style or beats, and pretty interesting way of rapping by Little Simz, but in general GREY Area doesn't bring anything new or exceptional to the table. Few songs like Sunset Sorbet, or Venom were pretty good, mostly on the lyrical side, with some nice changes to the tempo as well. Interesting, but in my opinion it doesn't belong to the list of greatest albums in anything (maybe other than contemporary hip hop).

Good, but not a great album. I found that this band was more of a vocalists meeting, than famous instrumentalists. Plenty of beautiful vocal arrangements, especially in the first part of the record, but it doesn't bring anything new or special to the musical books. One song was definitely from a different mould than the rest. "Almost Lost My Hair", fully written and performed by David Crosby, is a really good piece of music. Slightly progressive and psychedelic in nature, it has a really good and interesting guitar riffs and solos. The issue is, after seeing how good this track is, it's definitely a shame that the rest of the album is underwhelming. This record is a great piece of trivia, something you would listen to out of curiosity, but not for pleasure.

So this is a first time I have listened (or heard about) James Taylor, and I have to admit, there is a small chance there will be a second time. James has a beautiful voice, which he uses accompanied by a soft guitar melodies - not quite country, not quite pop, just whatever lays down on the bottom of his heart. And truth to be told, our hearts don't have too much in common. I understand why someone might like it, and why this album is on the list, but I think others would also agree that this music is not for everyone.

Honestly, I didn't know what to expect. Of course I've heard of Sonic Youth before, I've listened to couple of their songs and just like that decided it's not for me, case closed. And this is one of those rare instances, where I'm grateful to this list, because otherwise I wouldn't give them another chance. Daydream Nation is an amazing album. It has some bad post-punk influences, but I think in general they have a unique sound, which I really like. Variety in vocals across the band is pretty nice, but the best feature of the album are the elongated and stretched passages, melodies and riffs, creating this perfect atmosphere. Songs like "Trilogy", "Cross the Breeze" or "The Sprawl" have some amazing motifs, almost magical. Also, the nonchalant way of playing (as It seems, at least) is really catchy and feels fresh even 35 years later. It sounds like a recent record with a small homage to 80s rock. Great stuff, going straight to my daily listening list.

Hmmm... So what did I listened to actually? Few songs vaguely resembling unspecified subgenre of rock, but most of the time being so unlistenable, I didn't recognised that another song came on. I've heard few elements of psychedelic rock, with very gentle guitar sounds in the background, but mostly it was something experimental, which in my opinion didn't work at all. I have hard time to find anything positive to say about this album. Clear candidate for the worst rating on this list.

This album was all over the place. At the beginning I was infatuated with the opening song - "Glad". Very unusual structure of the song, I honestly had no idea what will be next, another bridge, another solo, melodic riff with vocal? Lovely feeling of being surprised every 30 seconds of the track, and to add to that, every new motif of the song was absolutely amazing. Unfortunately, this unorthodox way of approach to the record turned into a choir for a listener soon after the first track. I almost felt like it became a predictable unpredictableness. My mind started to wander and it was much harder to focus on the album. It's like "John Barleycorn Must Die" is a one-trick pony, but you can choose any song from it as an example for that one-trick. Anything more and it becomes a burden. Really good note for original sound, but not so much for the structure of the album.

Not my type of music. I was never a fan of his/their songs, I find them boring and rather repetitive. Mick Hucknall has a very nice voice, but the music and the track in general are just bland. Every song on the "Picture Book" album sounded like a generic summer hit you would listen to on MTV and forget about it as soon as September comes. There was some nice use of saxophone or other brass instruments, few nice melodies, but most of the time I was just waiting for it to end, so that I can go back to listen...anything else actually. Simply Red was simply too red for me, whatever that means.

I think this album is a real piece of history, both in the positive and negative sense. It's incredible that Ravi was kind enough to introduce each song with a lengthy explanation of structure and sounds of Indian music. I think the biggest positive of this album is the idea of bringing two cultures closer together. By introducing Western society to Eastern classical music, we come to a better understanding of our beginnings. And while I can say that I feel and understand "The Sounds Of India", I'm not a fan of it. Sitar and its tone and melodies, plus mine musical upbringing taste are really in a big conflict while listening to the album. I felt more like I'm listening to a negative of western music (the "normal" one). Great piece of music and history, but not really for me, or hopefully not yet for me.

Second album by Steely Dan on this list, this time their debut record "Can't buy a Thrill". After a rather negative review (by me, in general very positive reception by critics) of album "Aja", there is only a little more to look forward to with CBAT. It's a slightly different style between those two records. CBAT is much closer to classic rock, with endless guitar and piano solos. And I have to admit, anytime a new solo came up, the quality of the song was rising exponentially. Very entertaining pieces, great virtuosity by all band members. But otherwise the songs were just bland. I was not the fan of the vocal (again). The melodies weren't interesting or especially inspiring, and the length of the album transformed my listening session into a snoozfest. I'm not looking forward to another album by Steely Dan, hopefully those doors are now closed. I was ready to give a bad rating, but although I didn't like the music in general, the abilities of the band should be rewarded.

Finally, a Miles Davis album that is much more accessible than "Bitches Brew", although that is not a particularly a high bar to cross. "Birth of the Cool" reminded me of all the 80s and 90s sitcoms, with jazz intros or jingles in-between the scenes. Something that is not too distracting, but entertaining, classy and with some (a little) spice to it. It's probably blasphemous for real jazz fans, but I felt like sitting in a hotel lounge when listening to this album - relaxing, easy to follow, smooth. And that is what I think - it was a pretty nice listening session, track after track were flowing, nothing really caught my attention, for the better or worse. Perfect record for a chilled dinner with partner or friends.

Fun album! Very quirky, unconventional and original sounds, but at the same time entertaining and making it irresistible to move your feet to the beat. Whole album is on the same level, it doesn't peak up, but definitely it doesn't let you down at any point, just constant high energy stuff. The crazy thing is that this album is from 1972. It definitely sounds more like a band from late 80s, early 90s. If I were to change anything, I would maybe look into the vocalist, who at times felt like from a different story than the rest of the band. But overall, very solid record!

It's extraordinary how forgettable this albums was. I find it very difficult to point out anything worth mentioning that I heard today. I'm not really sure what was so good, different about this album, that it was included on the list. It's just another folk record with barely any other instruments than the acoustic guitar. Not my style, and even then, it's not something I would recommend to a typical folk or 80s music fan.

Okay, I'm going to say it - this is the best album I have heard so far on this list and it's going to be near damn impossible to find something better that will also surprise me at the same time. I think I was born too late to fully appreciate younger version of Stevie Wonder, but I take full responsibility of that now and I'm happy to make amends. "Songs in the Key of Life" is simply amazing. No need to write down the songs that Ixreally liked, because I would have to copy the full track list. I will just mention the biggest surprises, which are "Pastime Paradise" and "As". First of all, I had no idea Coolio didn't come up with his own beat, but it kind of make sense - Stevie is just too good. Also, the lyrics are much more hitting, although the cover wasn't that bad. As for "As", the song is just so beautiful. The choir, the voice modulation by Stevie and more importantly amazing guitars and bass line make it my instant favourite song from 70s. Moments like this is why I'm doing the challenge.

One great song, couple interesting, irish-style songs and not much else. I think that might be a reason why I know Sinead O'Connor more from non-artistic movements than music. It's not my style, even though Sinead proves times and times again, that she has beautiful voice and has an idea for herself. Unfortunately, other than "Nothing Compares 2U" (which was originally written by Prince, didn't know that) and Irish folk song "I am stretched on your Grave" I haven't found anything that would bring me back to this album.

My soul was definitely mined out of any pleasures during this sweet listening session with a band of great name The The. Some positives - a relative short album, only 41 minutes, suffering end pretty soon. Also, the song to end the record, I believe "Giants" had a really nice outcome, very surprising. On the other hand, what was that? And why is it on this list? Post-punk mixed with some synth disco and a terrible vocal, on top of(or actually somewhere under the layers of of sounds and instruments) a terrible mix. I'm trying to think of a reason why it would not deserve a 1 out of 5, but I can't think of anything. The The Worst Worst

So far the Beatles make up only 2% of the albums I have reviewed on this site, so much lower number than anticipated. Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band is one of the few albums that I have already heard start to finish on my own (which is something, I guess?). There is no denying - this record probably revolutionised popular music and started countless experimentation, that resulted in new music genres of all kind. Sound as of late 60s is definitely unique. As it stands right now, I think the reception of the album is still good, but not as amazing as you would think. It starts with a great trio of songs, Self-titled, "With a Little Help of my Friends" and "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds". All three are now in popculture, many covers were made (some even better than original), and they still sound fresh and quite epic. After those songs, I couldn't find anything that would be as interesting, it all felt like a filler to this great opening. Small exception maybe to "A Day in the Life", which nicely mixes McCartney and Lennon style. Other than that, slightly disappointing for the "Greatest Band in History".

OK, I'll admit - I was ready to disregard this album just on the fact that it is a Bollywood movie soundtrack. I don't like those movies, and I don't like (in general) music from India, so I guess a simple calculation, right? And even though its not perfect or a great album, it's surprisingly good! As a European, to get music from different culture, I have to experience it in doses. And this soundtrack is perfect for that. Music from classic 70s/80s style action movies, but withca twist of Indian vocalists or their specific instrumentation, making this a very unique experience. I honestly believe that this record made me more open to music from India than anything I've heard before. Dirty Harry from Bombai? I think next step is to actually watch the movie :) Why not!

I'll treat this album as the older brother of "Pet Sounds". And it makes sense, as "The Beach Boys Today!" Is a much rougher and less experimental version of the latter album. Every song is just very good, but safe in a way of composing and writing. We can see potential of Brian Wilson in here, but the full release of his abilities are visible on "Pet Sounds". As a result, we have pretty vibes and relaxing tunes, but no special spark. Just a strong and solid album.

One week, two Beatles albums. After listening to Abbey Road for the third time I made up my mind - this is my favourite Beatles record and also one of the more pleasant albums to listen to, that are older than 50 years. It also has a song that I most enjoyed, written by Lennon "I Want You (she's so heavy)". It's basically like watching (or listening) to a documentary about the early beginnings of progressive rock. Also, I was very positively surprised by some vocal techniques presented by everyone, but especially Paul. Ah, and important to point out, my second favourite song by The Beatles is from this album as well - "Something" written by Harrison. Really great and slightly melancholic piece. Remarkable album.

What an album! I think this is a perfect record for someone that is starting their jazz or funk journey and don't want to be overwhelmed straight away. Everything just flows so nicely, beats are so catchy and exciting, and the multiple solos, or improvisation never takes you out of the groove, but even add an another dimension to the music. It is especially visible on the opening track, "Chameleon". The beat just goes on and on, but it never tires you, or make you exhausted, because the additional instruments always add something new and exciting to it. I'm not an expert in jazz, but in my opinion this album was much more funk focused, than jazz. Maybe that's why it started a new subgenre like jazz-funk, or funk fusion, like we can read on wikipedia. Anyway, great stuff, very nice album to listen to for a more classy party. Definitely goes on my party list.

It's a very average album and not especially interesting band at that. I've heard the name "Mudhoney" on few occasions, but I never actually get around to listen to any of their songs. And apparently, in this case I was lucky. They presented a medley of rock and soft grunge on this album, that wasn't particularly engaging. One song, however, did stand out - "Broken Hands" is a very nice track from the album. Pretty long, compared to the rest of the record, and actually creating some palpable atmosphere. The song will stay on my playlisr for a while, but the rest of the album - back to obscurity.

Absolutely unremarkable. I'm not really a fan of Eric Clapton, but even though, I couldn't hear much of his influence on this album. It was just out-of-the-mill, honest to god, born of the dirt blues and rock record. Bit interesting at times, but mostly just average and boring. Not even one song would inspire me to write a little bit more about it. I guess I checked out another box, let's move on.

Absolutely and amazingly average album. Apparently, I'm not a fan of Chrap Trick, so their live recording from Japan doesn't really impress me that much. The vocalist was honestly unbearable to listen to, almost singlehandedly he made this album unlistenable. Fortunately, even though most of the riffs and motifs were lacking in anything interesting, some of the moment in the concert full of guitar solos, fast bass line and atmospheric drums were really cool. You could feel like you're one of the fans at Budokan for a moment, somewhere around the middle of the set. But anytime else, really underwhelming. Moving on.

Well, I wasn't a big fan of Iggy Pop before, and I actually dislike The Stooges even more. They have a pretty interesting style of going at one riff for the whole duration of the song, slowly descending into madness of Iggy's vocal. The problem is, it's not really entertaining to listen. The songs aren't crazy enough, the riffs aren't too original, or exciting and I just simply don't like the vocalist. The recipe kind of worked for a while in "1970", but in that case throw something at the wall 8 times, maybe it will stick. Good news - it's a short album.

I honestly don't understand why there is so many random British post punk albums from unknown bands on this list. I get that the original punk movement was revolutionary, so I understand placement of records from that era in here. And then maybe one or two representatives of post punk genre and we're clear! But no, we have to include every single band in the history from UK that played in 80s. I have nothing against The Fall, (other than a fact I absolutely hated this album), but it just doesn't make sense to include it on the list of greatest albums of all time.

TRANS EUROPE EXPRESS, TRANS EUROPE EXPRESS, TRANS EUROPE EXPRESS, TRANS EUROPE EXPRESS, TRANS EUROPE EXPRESS, TRANS EUROPE EXPRESS, TRANS EUROPE EXPRESS, TRANS EUROPE EXPRESS, TRANS EUROPE EXPRESS, TRANS EUROPE EXPRESS, TRANS EUROPE EXPRESS, TRANS EUROPE EXPRESS, TRANS EUROPE EXPRESS, TRANS EUROPE EXPRESS.

Second album by Public Enemy on this list, and for the second time I think there has been a generational gap. Lyrics are as relevant as ever, which shows not much positive change has happened since late 80s in (american) society. If you would release the lyrics to the whole album as a poesy tome, then we have a bestseller on our hands (with exaggeration of course). When it comes to music, beats, tempo, flow or whatever else, unfortunately it doesn't hold that well. I had a real problem to keep my focus on the song, on the lyrics or anything else. Every time it felt dragged, unnecessary, and just simply tiring. I'm not saying that it is worse than modern hip-hop, which is not true, by the way, but from my perspective the music just has nothing in common with the message, and that makes it really hard to swallow in one sitting. I really tried, gave few chances to couple of the songs, but I just couldn't do it. I'm sorry, but Public Enemy is just not a group for me.

Ultimate 80s radio meets...even more ultimate 80s? This album provides everything good that eighties has to offer, which is not much. Synth beats, very soft rock, annoyingly soft and tender vocal, and nothing that stands out. The first song had some potential, "Faron Young", with a more lively disco beat, that was very entertaining and bringing some energy to the table. There is one "but", a big one at that - "Steve McQueen" peaked at that song, and the further you crawled along, the more miserable you got. I definitely think that 80s music is (especially this from UK) is over-represented on this list. Maybe you should pick up few album, to show what a waste of time that was and then just move on? Well, on to the next one, can't wait to see which British post-punk album it will be...

Before listening to this album I have read plenty of comments and articles about it. Everyone was giving it a high praise, some were calling ot the greatest live rock album of all time. The hype was really intense. But what I have taken from "Frampton Comes Alive" is that the guy, or the band members can play their instruments really well, with plenty of great-for-concerts solos, but the vocal didn't actually inspire anyone, and was lacking some serious substance. Not saying that it sounded bad, but certainly it was nothing more than your average rock frontman. Nice album, great solos, but overall average experience.

CCR for the win? Almost. Very good album, interesting songs, love the vocal, some incredible solos, CCR at their best. What I don't like about this album is a little bit too much of the country influence, making couple songs just a bunch of running clichés. Otherwise, just waiting for their even better records!

Another easy call - this album deserves a 5bagger just for the best cover in history of music, 100%, no challenge. All Along the Watchtower has to be one of my favourite songs ever, that I've heard for the first time in my early teens, and I like it even more now. Just a combination of amazing guitar solos, that gnarly vocal by Jimi and a dirty recording makes for a perfect recipe. Absolutely flawless, in my opinion. But the rest of the album holds on strong as well. Both Voodoo Child and Chile, Crosstown Traffic, or 1983, they are all amazing, way ahead of its times, and still sounding both fresh and legendary. I'm rather a fan of contemporary music, but Jimi Hendrix is an exception. There is just too much talent in one person, absolutely unbelievable. I'm waiting for his other albums on this list now!

Wow! I'm happy that The Chemical Brothers are included on the list, but also I'm very surprised at the album choice. Dig You Own Hole is a good record, but far from the best in the band's discography. I think Surrender is the peak of their career, which they briefly visited before, or revisited after. Nevertheless, the DYOH itself is a really enjoyable album with many hits, that are still sounding fresh and crisp, ready to move up a modern crowd in a club. The opening track, "Block Rockin' Beats" is a real high energy banger, that sets the tone of the LP. Energy is maintained throughout, with couple less interesting tracks in the middle of the album, but still ending strong with a really nice "Where Do I Begin" (with Beth Orton's vocal) and "The Private Psychedelic Reef". Very good album, happy to revisit it on my The Chemical Brothers binge.

Okay, I really tried, but this is not my type of music at all. This album is full of political and social commentary, but I couldn't concentrate on the lyrics at all. This record has one song, that somehow strayed away from the overall style of the album and fell much closer to a type of music I like. "The Blacker the Berry" is a great song, and the more straightforward style of beat and rap made it much more digestible for me. But otherwise, I couldn't find anything worth praising. Probably a great album, but maybe it went far above my head.

Incredibly average album. Nothing that was exceptionally good or bad, just eleven songs that were moderately fun. Only unusual thing about this band is that it is a full-female group, which doesn't happen very often. The album is a somewhat mix of punk, rock and pop, where the average parts of each genre were thrown into the pot and an average soup (Beauty and the Beat) emerged. On to the next one.

Actually a nice album with a very atmospheric music. I didn't really know nothing about a band named The Band, but apparently to the historical lore it is a group supporting and accompanying Bob Dylan. And although Bobby is not my favourite artist in the world, The Band, and "Music From The Big Pink" especially is a different and a very good album. Mix of the blues, rock and jazz in every song of this record was almost perfect. The opening track was a good example of that, the best of all worlds. Side B got much slower and blander, but it was still a good effort. Positive surprise.

It's another country album, much better than contemporary country, but still, nothing really exceptional. I don't have time to write much more about it, sorry.

Classic blues for the rescue! Great music.

A pretty average funk album, wasn't bad by any measure, but also didn't impress me in any way. Not my kind of style.

Absolutely great opening and self titled opening song, for the remembrance of Buddy Holly and friends. One of the greatest ever in the folk genre. The rest of the album is rather average, it reminds me of some of the songs by Paul Simon, but nothing actually stands out enough to describe it in more details. Interesting piece of history, hood to know the album, but nothing exceptional.

Quite recent r&b album, released 6 years ago. What's the point of putting it on the list of greatest albums of all time? Not a style I like, vocal by Kelela is not my favourite as well. I think its a well made record, very solid concept visible throughout the tracks, but the atmosphere on it wasn't something I enjoy. Well, good effort, but lack of reception on my part.

What an album! I have listened to many of the older stuff by PJ Harvey, but I have never looked at the newer record, like "Let England Shake". And as it happens quite frequently, it was a great mistake. This album is definitely as close to my liking as possible, with melancholic, original sound, reminding me of less black metal-ish Chelsea Wolfe, or A. A. Williams. I love the atmosphere of the whole package, unusual vocal by PJ and catchy and rather sad melodies, riffs and beats. Also, the lyrics are deeply emotional and actually quite relevant. I was also surprised to hear that this album was recorded by Mick Harvey (apparently a coincidence), long standing contributor to Nick Cave and Bad Seeds. And well, it makes sense - if you will compare some of the albums by PJ Harvey and older (or even more recent) records by Nick Cave - they all have that melancholic vibe and style, which attracts me to their music. It is a great album and straight away I will look for a vinyl LP for my collection.

Nothing's Shocking is Nothing Spectacular. It's just an average alternative rock album, crudely recorded, although very original as for their times. Bass line and guitar solos were definitely the stars of this album, consistently providing a great foundation for songs across the record. Unfortunately, I didn't find any other positives, and quickly got bored of the album. Vocal was very irritating, so it's no surprise that the only instrumental song was my favourite here. I've heard of Jane's Addiction for a long time, but I had a feeling they play music that is not in my style. Today I realised that it's true. It wasn't bad, but I can't give anything more than 3 stars.

Okay, this is the third album by The Byrds on this list, and I can now say with full confidence, that I'm not a fan of the band. The music is very basic and sounds generic, which probably makes sense, because it's an 55 year old album. I don't see any magic in here, or any transcendental parts, it's just a simple country/psychedelic record that is very outdated. The only reason its on this list is possible of historical impact, which is not enough for me to give it a high rating. Just another average album in here.

What a surprise! I knew Kanye West more as a celebrity with extremely terrible opinions and world views, than a musician, producer or a rapper. But oh boy, he made a really great album almost 13 years ago now! First of all, I love the marriage between Kanyes style and prog rock riffs turned into samples. It creates a fabulous atmosphere without any additional input, just such a great foundation for songs. And then you have so many collaborations from many famous rappers and singers, but every time it actually adds something special to the track. The four opening songs are instant classics, at least in some genres, amazing beats, vocals, feeling. Unfortunately, the level drops quite a bit after "All of the Lights". I didn't like that the style became much subdued and the energy of the first art of an album was gone. None of the tracks from the second half were interesting or had any repeatability value, in my opinion. But just the four tracks to start off the album were enough to place "My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy" on this list. Overall, I really enjoyed this position, looks like at some point Kanye was actually a talented man!

I didn't expect an Algerian disco on this list! I think it is fair to include it in here, especially with how popular Khaled is among the french/arabic speaking population (which in itself is pretty huge). Unfortunately, as a person from a different culture (especially in a musical way) I had a hard time enjoying this album. I'm not a fan of nineties disco or pop, and mixing it with a style so foreign for me just makes it too much of a leap in one go. I truly believe Khaled is a great singer and writer, but I think he would understand that's his music was not targeted at an audience like me.

Second album by Sonic Youth on the list, and also chronologically sixth one in their career. After making a great impression on me with their breakthrough LP "Daydream Nation", "Goo" left me with plenty of mixed feelings and reactions. On one hand I feel like it was a great build-up of previous success, with more of the same uniqueness of guitar sounds and layers. Long outros, slow riffs, very mature and probably deliberate patience made it a great successor and another must-hear position in discography. On the other hand, this album had many more songs with appalling vocal, especially by Kim. Her voice just didn't really work for me on this record and took me out of the song on few instances. Also, some of the songs were just bland. I felt like "Kool Kids", for example, was just a product placement of some sort, not fitting into the style of Goo at all. In summary, I feel like it's a good album, and knowledge of Daydream Nation gives a much needed context, but it's a small step down in terms of quality. Maybe this time there was no argument of "fresh sound", as that's the second album by SY that I've heard? Very possible.

A really fun album! 45 minutes of great beats, groovy instruments and in a later part a mix of modern drums with more of the same African sound. It's a nice and unique break in the sea of more standard western-like rock music. I don't think it will be my alltime favourite, or if this even has any repeatability value for me, but for this one listening session it made a good impression. It actually might be one of the best live albums there is!

I'm not a fan of soul, I wouldn't choose any album from this genre for my everyday listening playlist, but after hearing Solomon Burke for the first time today I might change that. "Rock 'N Soul" is an incredibly climactic and atmospheric album, moving you straight to a jazz club in the middle of nowhere in Tennessee. First five songs to start the record were simply amazing and sounded very fresh - I would not guess, that this LP has almost 60 years. Beautiful and deep voice by Solomon was perfectly mixed with a female choir, and on the top of that a great upbeat music created an almost perfect recipe for success. In the second part the album slowed down a bit, but still maintained a high level throughout. great record, that widened my horizon just a little bit more.

Okay, so probably I understand why this album has a place on a list - heavy metal sound in sixties, even before Black Sabbath, or any other prototype of metal genre. So kudos to Blue Cheer, their experiment might or might not influenced quite a big chunk of music in the years to come. On the other hand, "Vincebus Eruptum" is totally not listenable by any means. The vocal is atrocious, the guitar have that shredding, deeply distorted sound, but together with the rest of the instruments it feels like a randomised game of "you go, I go". I survived first two songs, which were covers, so it had some kind of structure, but as soon as we moved into uncharted territory of Blue Cheer's imaginations I had to throw in the towel and surrender. In my opinion it was one of the worst albums I have heard on this list.

Well, there is not much to say about this album. 60 years old country record isn't really something that would make my heart skip a beat. Boring and generic when listened form modern perspective. The aura of catchy melody and funny lyrics survived for 1 minute of the first song and then was forever gone. I don't have a heart to give it one star, probably because I'm very against country, so to make it fair, two stars.

My second attempt at Elvis Costello and The Band and I'm now 100% sure I won't need another try, I have made up my mind about them. Alternative music with a rock'n'roll feeling about it, usually upbeat and taking you straight to a dance floor. The lyrics don't match up with instruments, being about political and humanitarian themes. But it all doesn't matter in the end, because one thing I can't stand on this album (and any other album by them) is Elvis Costello's vocal. He has such a weird voice that it always make me too conscious and I can't focus on the song at all. He has original style for sure, but unfortunately, I'm not able to appreciate it. 3 stars for good effort, that much I can admit.

I didn't expect a blues album from Mali on this list! And especially I didn't expect to like it as much as I did. Although I couldn't understand anything they said or sang, I absolutely loved the atmosphere and beats of this album. By reading a little about the context of "Music in Exile", one could actually feel some connection to the boys from Mali. It's a tragic thing, to be forced to flee from your own home, so kudos to them to stick to their guns and record an amazing album, which probably kept up the spirit of many people alike to Songhoy Blues.

This album I very special and magical - basically every song is in a different style or genre, from baroque pop, through hip hop, to post punk. Incredible versatility by The Style Council. All the tracks had another thing in common - I didn't like any of the songs. The album felt pretentious and forced, all form no content. It was a really hard time, trying to get through the record, but fortunately it's short, so I could save my mental health state in good condition.

I've never heard of Marianne before, and I have a pretty good idea why is that so. Her music is very boring and uninteresting, and her voice is absolutely dreadful. I had a hard time trying to sit and listen through one of her songs. I'm afraid this might be one of the worst albums I have listened to on this list. Quite frankly, waste of time.

I think it was once and for all established, earlier on this list, that I'm not enjoying punk music and even the shortest songs unbelievably drag for me into oblivion. Today I had yet another chance to change my mind. This album was acclaimed by many as the greatest punk rock album in history. It's certainly one of the better known records from this genre. And what did I find? Surprise! I still don't like it. There is no reason for me to pour my grievances with punk music over and over on this website. Let's just say that I slightly enjoyed the song "Anarchy in the UK" and absolutely suffered during every other track. I don't feel that it would be fair to give it a 1/5, as compared to other punk albums on this list it's not the worst, but 2/5 is absolutely as high as I can go.

It might be a bit of cliche, but "Hurt", together with "All Along the Watchtower" by Jimi Hendrix are the best covers in the history of contemporary music. I don't even like Nine Inch Nails, but what Johnny Cash has done with this song is unbelievable. All the pure emotions just flowing out of the song, melancholy and sadness, just a tad of optimism at the end, and all of that sprinkled with a frail voice of Johnny makes it one of my favourite song of all time. Most of the album is being kept in the same style, with few old-style country songs here and there. His rendition of "Personal Jesus" is also very good. Old Johnny has an ability to add another layer of emotions to any song, even if that's a straightforward pop song. In summary - great covers, okay country original songs. A very solid 4.

What a great album! This is the first time that I've heard of this band and I'm absolutely devastated it took me this long. Not only the music and vocal are great, but also the album makes references to some of my favourite books! I love the atmosphere of the record, putting some postmodernistic twist in their sound, appropriate to the books quoted on the tracks. I'm only after the first listening, so my emotions are really fresh, but for sure my next weeks will be spent trying to listen Klaxons to the ground. Great start of the week!

Somehow I couldn't completely lose myself in the style and and atmosphere of Erykah Badu's album. While listening, I felt a little distanced, deep in my thoughts, instead of just simply enjoying a really nice soul piece of music. How much is it my own fault and how much it is an incompatibility between my music taste and Erykah's flow? Looking back at other albums on the list, I seem to like soul features and genre in general, but in this case I found it more "acceptable" than anything else. I enjoyed the longer tracks, like "Orange Moon" and "Green Eyes", with their more relaxed structure and more atmospheric elements. As for the rest of the album, more than once I had to listen to a song twice in a row, because I couldn't remember anything about it afterwards. I think all of those signs tell me, that I'm just simply not a fan of Erykah, even though I can objectively say "Mama's Gun" is an album fully deserving to be on this list.

I'm just a casual hip hop listener, but so far Kendrick Lamar hasn't been high on my list, and probably it will stay like this forever. I understand why he is so highly regarded by American popculture, but unfortunately it has no appeal for me at all. I'm not particularly fond of his style, I find his flow hard to follow, which makes it hard to focus on the lyrics as well, which are most likely not really aimed at an audience like myself anyway. Still, I think this album is better than the previous one I've listened to from this list - To Pimp a Butterfly. Slightly better rating, but not much improvement.

Second The Stooges album on this list, but it feels like I've listened to the same record twice. Not much change in style, still "Raw Power" garage rock from seventies, which just seem to be grossly outdated at this point. At now I also know what to expect from Iggy Pop, so no reason to double down on my antipathy for his singing. Probably a great album in its time, full of energy and raw emotions, but 50 years have passed, and with it out idea of how to show those emotions in a more modern way.

This list probably includes the whole discography of The Beatles, and I think that's definitely too much Beatles songs in one go. I can listen to couple songs in sequence, but everything more than that and I just have to tap out. And this album especially is so monotone, couple interesting songs to start with, and then just heaps of soulless "love songs" from 60 years ago. The band made a real breakthrough in music history, but this album is just a pretty old, outdated piece.

Salsa is not my jam, but I can understand why this album is the best selling record in the history of salsa and latino music. The opening song, "Plastico" sets up the mood, puts the pedal to the metal and keeps it there for 40 minutes. It's very unlikely that I will listen to this album again anytime soon just for pleasure, but whenever I will end up on a salsa course, or on a party with latino themes, then this will be the first record to put on. It's a very fun album, and a very positive surprise!

First couple songs on this album were really selling the mood of a night drive through a large metropolis, which Sao Paulo is, supposedly. Melancholic, electronic downtempo beat mixed with a rather classic latino theme and portugese vocals were overwhelmingly atmospheric, and sounded very fresh, even though it's been 24 years since "Sao Paulo Confessions" debuted on the lists. I have never heard of Suba before, but his background is really interesting, a Serbian producer/composer, mostly in electronic genres, falls in love in Sao Paulo and Brazilian culture, which is encapsulated on this very unique record. I was ready to be infatuated by it, but after first great impression the mood grew tiring and repetitive, the spark was gone, only redundant noise, which I couldn't connect with. It's certainly a record that deserves to be on every list for its uniqueness and sincerity, but unfortunately I couldn't feel the album in the end. But it certainly deserves another chance in the future.

It's a little surprising to see an album like this on the list. Is that because people wanted some representation from the southern hemisphere? The Triggids seem to be a pretty okay band, much better than the whole post punk movement in UK in 80s, in my opinion, at least. Songs are entertaining, but rather in a "blast from a past" way. It's always nice to learn about a new band, but I'm honestly puzzled how did it end up on this list.

Definitely my least favourite album by Pink Floyd. I think it's fair to call myself a PF fan, but "The Wall" is the only exception (plus maybe that newest record, which is very lukewarm). The album is very inflated, pompous and incredibly self-conscious to the point it feels very ingenious. Another big issue I have with this album is that I really don't like Roger Waters' vocal, or essentially his style of composing. I think he shouldn't ever start singing, especially if he has Gilmour and Wright doing such a great job already. Usually I try to separate the art from the artist, but it doesn't help that Waters is such a bellend in his private life. Some saving grace - bit of a cliche now, but I really like "Comfortably Numb", plus some of the bridging sounds and tracks are really interesting (although, maybe on purpose, taken from "Echoes"?). So a summary - this album is a condensed version of everything I don't like about Pink Floyd, fortunately the rest of their discography is much, much better.

Let's be honest - that was one of the worst albums on this list so far, and I'm pretty sure this is not just my opinion. After doing some research, New York Dolls seem to be the best when performing live on stage. And hopefully that's true, because the quality of recording and total lack of energy or any special features is astounding. If someone will feel an urge to torture me in the future, just tie me to a chair, put this album on, and maybe for further punishment put it at 0.75x.

Unfortunately, this album goes on the pile of "What am I doing on this list" records. I was struggling to find anything original or honest about this position. But here I am, with empty hands, after listening to this two times in a row, because maybe I missed something important? Maybe there was a moment, on one of the tracks, that would unlock the whole experience for me? Or maybe a thorough background check of the band and the album will make it clearer? Nope, nothing works. It's just another indie rock band with indie rock album and indie rock tracks, just with a small twist - it's not good.

Interesting and actually quite pleasurable jazz album with a whole ensemble orchestra from 50s. Catchy tunes, very positive tones, overall a nice experience. Nothing that really caught my attention, but a perfect record to listencto in the background on a lazy Saturday evening. I will try to remember the name, but probably won't come back to it very often.

Fleetwood Mac as always with some quality songs and overall very good album. The titular song was straight away one of my favourite, original composition, I have never heard anything like this before. Definitely an album that I would like to come back to in the future.

Very average album, nothing interesting that I, or my family have found, for the fact. Just few rock songs that were pretty good and that's it, just total mediocre album. Nothing that stands out either way.

Fun and nice slow tempo rock album! It took couple tries to get into the specific atmosphere of the record, but I think it is well worth it. I have a feeling that this album might become one of my favourites from this list, but for now it's only slowly growing on me. I'll give it a little bit more time to digest.

If you would add the song "My Generation" to this album, you could treat it as a "Best Of" record. All of their hits and my favourite songs are here. There is nothing better in more classic rock than the intro to "We won't Get Fooled Again". Amazing album, it has few doozies in the middle of the record, but in general just the few hits put it on top of 70s rock albums. It has to be 5 out of 5.

This is not my favourite album by The Doors, but definitely it is a greatly atmospheric record, being as close to blues as it is to rock. Jim Morrison's vocal abilities are absolutely amazing, totally one of a kind. I also love Ray Manzarek's keyboard/piano style. On this album it was only partially exposed, but still, "Riders of the Storm" wouldn't be that great without him. Overall just a very solid album.

As I proved multiple times previously, I'm not a fan of Bob Dylan's music. He is a great lyricist, and he has a unique, groundbreaking style, but I just don't enjoy listening tocany of his albums. Blonde on Blonde is not an exception to this rule. I'm not a fan of this type of blues, and definitely I'm not a fan of Dylan's style of singing. That's it.

It is now settled - I am a fan of Isaac Hayes. His voice and musical style is just so unique, and somehow it is perfectly matched for my taste. In general I'm not the biggest fan of movie soundtracks, with many themes and instrumental pieces that will make more sense once you watch the actual movie, but every one of those songs has that special energy from Isaac. Looks like my vinyl collection will grew after today!

A very interesting, but puzzling choice to include this album on the list of greatest albums. As a kid, being interested in metal music, Metallica was very influential in developing my musical taste. I understand it is now a bit of cliche to say that Metallica ended at "Black Album", but this is my opinion as well (at least the band changed their musical style, and at the same time I grew up and my taste changed as well). And here we have a live album with majority of songs from the second era, pretty entertaining, but completely uninspiring and very one-dimensional. To make things worse, I absolutely don't understand what the addition of symphonic orchestra brings to the table. It is at best distracting, it doesn't create any atmosphere. The whole symphonic section sounds like a mash-up of two different bands played at the same time, hoping for a better result. The only time it works, is at the beginning of the album - Ennio Morricone's cover sounds brilliantly, which tells you a lot. Only cover that was supposed to be played with orchestra sounds good. On the very top of issues - I really think that Metallica doesn't sound good live. They simply just don't sound good (I've been to their concert couple times, nice experience, but nothing special). The summary - Metallica is a legendary band, that simply deserves to have multiple albums on this list. S&M shouldn't be one of them. Okay album, but rather a thorn in their crown.

After listening to the first, titular song on this album, I was ready to abandon the ship and give it a lowest possible rating. I'm not a fan of reggae and the beat, and especially the lyrics, made me regret the choice of playing this song. But I decided to give it a chance and even though it wasn't exceptional, it had few gems that I really enjoyed. "No Sympathy" and "Why Must I Cry" were couple of very good songs, with great bass track, sublime melodies played on guitars and actually nicely fitting vocal. In general, this album was very extreme - I couldn't stand some of the track, while at the same time you could find some of the best reggae has to offer. Although my final rating will be average, surprisingly I did enjoy listening to this album.

Kind of experimental indie rock, but the "experimental" part was on the far end of the spectrum. Some songs were straight up unlistenable, with so many tempo changes, erratic vocals, seemingly having nothing to do with the melody and general lack of flow made it a challenge to stick with the album. It had few high moments as well, where the music suddenly clicks and is very enjoyable, unfortunately I doesn't happen too often. Very interesting and original concept, but maybe a bit too complicated for me. Nice attempt, though!

King of Rock'n'Roll is here! And even though I'm not too interested in his music or his story, I must admit, he had so much charisma and energy, it's contagious. I didn't like his ballads or slower songs, but when he hit it into the higher gear, it was amazing. Also, it sounds surprisingly fresh, maybe because no one could really replicate this style since then? Whatever it is, Elvis Presley is here to stay.

Good news! I've just listened to a country album and it wasn't totally terrible! Bad news, it wasn't that good either. I just don't feel this kind of music - it's nauseating at times, which only makes me feel more antagonising toward the album. I found few songs that were quite good, for example "I lost it", or "Can't let go". Lucinda seems to be very talented and really good at what she does, just it's unlucky that it's so far out of my comfort zone, I can't enjoy it at all. But I tried! Good effort, not my jam.

I have never heard of this band before, but not only was that a mistake, it was a generational failure on my part! Maybe this album sounds so great, because I have listened to it for the first time, so I was was fresh and I didn't know what to expect. But then, I have listened to "Dig Me Out" for the second and third time, and I have to say - it's even better than I thought. One of the songs, "Jenny", instantly went of my 'favourites' list. The punk rock music Sleater-Kinney present here is not exceptional in any sort of a way, it's just solid, very interesting clean melodies, a "dirty" guitar sound and a very solid drums. But what puts the songs together is the vocal - it's simply amazing. You can feel the anger, some sadness, but also real feeling of freedom. It reminds me of Alanis Morissette song "You Oughta Know" - very similar style, full of energy, anger and disappointment. Honestly, even though it doesn't sound great, with a powerful style like that, you can sing about flowers - I would hate them with a passion. Great album!

Finally something original and unusual. Very specific sound, like a compilation of electronic music from 80s, a bit of shoegazing, quite a lot of punk rock. At moments it sounds like an early attempt at industrial music, for some reason it reminded me early White Zombie, even though they provably have nothing to do with each other. "Jordan, Minnesota" and "Kerosene" are certified bangers, the question is, how come I've never heard of this band before? It goes on my "to listen" list straight away. Only issue - maybe it's too experimental at times, only for purists of new and chaotic music.

A nice rock album, that's perfect to listen to in the background, of course if someone is a rock fan. I'm still not a fan of Neil Young's vocal, it just doesn't resonate with me. "Ragged Glory" has no bad song, but instead is filled with a bit better than average songs, that let you move your leg to the beat constantly, but without much thought or deeper interpretation. Interesting position on the list, but I will probably forget about this album in few days.

Interesting choice for a more recent addition to this list. For sure, Lana Del Rey occupies a a certain niche in popular music on the very end melancholic spectrum in the business. Her songs evocate some great memories from the past, or just general summertime sadness. It's in the same mold on this new album, "Chemtrails Over The Country Club". Every song is very sentimental and keeps you daydreaming. The opening song is especially good, "White Dress" really puts the sadness to the maximum level, really great listen. The problem is, Lana presses the pedal to the metal, and never releases it. Her vocal becomes very tiring and after three or four songs in a row you actually can't hear anything, it's just a constant wall of wailing. This album really needs a slight change of pace, or maybe an instrumental song to give you a break. It's just unlistenable in this form. I still like Lana's songs, but I am sure I will be able to listen to only one song in her repertoire, and then few days of break.

We have here an interesting album by The Rolling Stones that includes their best song ever, "Sympathy for the Devil" of course, and another anonymous 9 songs, which are pretty nice for a bluesy/rock background, but nothing else. "Beggars Banquet" is seen as one of the best rock albums of all time, and possibly the best record by The Rolling Stones. I definitely think that this is a massive exaggeration. It's an average plus album - it has great guitar solos written by Keith Richards, some exquisite bass and drum line, but other than the first song, nothing is catchy or too interesting. I gave it a good listen, but I wouldn't speak highly of this album afterwards.

What a surprise! Album by ABBA that I didn't know about at all. I would assume one of their albums from seventies will be on this list, as those were filled with hits. On the other hand we have "The Visitors", last album from the golden era, with fewer all-time hits, but with more experiments, like in the opening track's intro, sounding like an antithesis of ABBA. One song reminded me of a childhood, not even a full song, just the beat in the intro in "Head Over Heels". A lot of personal melancholy in this moment, spoiled by the fact that this song is absolutely unlistenable. In general, there is not much going on this album. Classic eighties disco, but not really convincing in any way. Unfortunately, a waste of time.

Not much to say about this one. Sounded similarly to The Beatles songs from this era (late sixties), with some interesting, psychedelic tracks, like "The Wolf of Velvet Fortune", but otherwise very average and forgettable. Fortunately it is a very short album, with length of under 30 minutes, the songs just pass by without much pain or trouble, bam bam and it's gone. I will forget about this record in less than couple of days.

This album is actually much better than Ravi Shankar's album (for my westernised taste). The record starts with few covers of sixties rock songs, with a strong Indian influence, which makes it much more interesting and exotic. But what really makes this great is the second part of the album with original songs. There is a slight reverse in the trend, now we listen to Indian music with strong Western rock influence. I actually really liked every song on side B of this record. Amazing quality, the songs are very mature, Ananda is not in rush to show off his skills, instead he slowly develops the sound and atmosphere, creating a terrific tracks. It's going to be hard to rate this album, as we have two completely different styles clashing. Side A gets a 3+, but side B is an easy 5. I think it's fair to appreciate good parts more than bashing on average moments, so 5 it is!

Themes of depression, sadness, loss and melancholy? Sounds like a perfect music for me! Oh, well, not too much music in there, mostly it's just Frank Sinatra singing, in his rather (subjectively) monotonne voice. The songs just waddle through in the background, anonymous, fitting into the idea of loss, because I have lost the attention after first notes of the opening songs. Great singer of his time, maybe a first one with an idea of concept album, but as much as I want to, I can't enjoy this music at all. It's a music that belongs to the museum. Very interesting, but not relevant anymore.

Quite pleasant album, very easy to listen to. I liked Morrison's vocal, and even though it wasn't anything special, it was a nice background music. Interesting experience, but most likely I won't come back to Van Morrison anytime soon.

Another album by Joni Mitchell and surprisingly the same reception on my end - Joni is a great singer and writer, but the style in which she creates music is not my favourite. It's hard for me to enjoy those small, cheerful melodies, which in result makes it harder to focus on the storytelling part of music. But still, I'm sure there is going to be more albums by Mitchell on this list in the future.

Okay, it's a big no-no from me. Irritating voice, very boring music, all the songs blend in with each other, making it a one big pile of boring mash-up. Only interesting song is a cover, "Mrs. Robinson", which actually is not that much different from the rest of the album, but at least it wakes you up from the coma sustained before. Let's just forget about this album and move on.

So far the best punk album on the list, in my opinion. First of all, repetitiveness of the beat wasn't that off-putting. In fact, the music, mainly drum and bass line, was amplifying absolutely great vocal work. If we take a look at 70s and 80 punk and post punk albums, that have appeared on this list so far, then it is easily the best singer out there. Exceptional stuff, no filler songs, everything is at least above average. Additionally, there is no way I won't mention "Golden Brown", even if that song wasn't included in this album. One of the greatest melodies ever, it is going to influence the score regardless of the rules. I think in normal circumstances this album would receive a 4 stars from me, but to highlight how much better it is than other punk records, I will give it a full 5 stars. Great album!

One of the most overplayed songs in the British radio! It's still a great track, but listening to it at least twice a day is unbearable. But it's a nice experience to witness the full album that the song is coming from. The everlasting tune I'm talking about is of course "Our House". In smaller doses, a great track for every type of mood. Some of the album fits the same mould. Two songs to start "The Rise & Fall" are pretty comparable, with a high energy, ska-like funk and good vocal. Afterwards, we are greeted by 10 songs that are trying too much. Very polyrythmic beats, broken in few places to make it more interesting, probably, but making it really hard to listen. There is no more flow, and even the vocal stagnates, like the whole band just stopped caring all of a sudden. In general, it's a very average album with few great exceptions, and it helped me make a decision, that Madness is probably not a band I would like to listen to in the future.

Another epic and long concept album made by a rock band, after "The Wall" by Pink Floyd (although timewise it was the other way around). We have an interesting story on this album, but music was all over the place. I liked few of the opening tracks, very lively and essentially "The Who". But this recipe got very tiring and I had to sit through another hour of those songs. It's a cool concept, but I have to use an emergency exit.

Unusual album. It started as psychedelic rock with some pretty awesome passages here and there, very interesting stuff, so atmospheric, no need for drugs to trip. Then a bit of interludes, and we're off to Elvis Presley impersonation? I was actually thinking that somehow the album finished and something else started. Very surprising, took me off-guard for sure. And finally another slightly psychedelic song with a long noise outro, which was not as fascination as the song in the beginning. Overall impressive record, a bit all over the place and pretty long, I think it would work much better, if they would split it into two albums. But not a bad start for my first listening to Grateful Dead.

This album brings so many memories and emotions. In early 2000 you could hear Manu Chao and his "Bongo Bong" everywhere. Such a great song, extremely likeable beat and a very specific singing makes it an all-time hit. However this was my first time listening to the full album - "Clandestino". And although Bongo Bong is the biggest hit on the record, the rest of the tracks are also really good! A good mix of slower and more uptempo songs, mix of languages, generally positive atmosphere maintained across full 40 something minutes. I will gladly come back to this album every year or so, for another trip down the memory lane.

Psychedelic rock from Brazil! That's a really surprising position on this list. One could notice so many influences on this album (or maybe European and American bands were influenced by Os Mutantes). Few of the songs, especially those with piano solos reminded me of The Doors, for example. In general, the album was very experimental, with many weird noises and sounds, crazy vocals and unusual guitar notes. It didn't help that songs were in portuguese and I couldn't understand a word. And the uniqueness was a little bit too much for me.

Quite interesting rap album from early nineties. Full of funky beats and flow, with, at times, really funny lyrics and verses. Rather positive album, it was flowing nicely both in the background and when focusing on the songs. Easy listen, but definitely won't be coming back to this position.

There is something about the classic, high energy rock'n'roll live albums from the heights of the genre craziness. I have never listened to Jerry Lee Lewis, but there is a lot of similarities in his voice and style with the one and only Elvis Presley. And I thoroughly enjoyed this album. It's extremely hard not to get drowned in this type of music. The only issue is that for me, five songs in a row in this style and I'm fed up. It's not made to be listened one after another on a random afternoon. It has to be all out, full energetic night, otherwise there is no reason to listen to it. But I'm glad I did, although once again, I don't think I would be coming to this album, or genre too often.

What can I say about this album.. It's Tom Waits at his best, which is in fact his whole career. Very specific voice and style, but on the top of it an intoxicating blues and jazz beats in the background, making it a really unique experience. Some of the songs are really downtempo to the max, like "Ruby's Arms", but other than that all the tracks are actually great. Listening session for heartbroken.

O Mamma! I was always a fan of Nick Cave, but I never bothered to listen to his full discography, which I'm starting to feel like a massive, massive mistake. Abattoir Blues / The Lyre of Orpheus is an amazing double album. First song, "Get Ready For Love" caught my attention, but third one, "Hiding All Away" cemented its position as one of the best albums I have discovered on this website. This album has a certain great quality - it sounds like a band you have always known, but at the same time it feels extremely fresh, because for some reason I didn't listen to it before. Also, big thanks to The Bad Seeds, with Warren Ellis at the top. The more I listen to his music, the more I fall in love with it. And the quality of music on this double album is really amazing,every song feels like an adventure into unknown. But there is one thing that is unparalleled - Nick Cave's lyrics. "The Lyre of Orpheus" is now one of my favourite songs, his ability to create a story and make it almost immersive is extraordinary. I think I'm not allowed to make any more mistakes, one quiet evening I will listen to the whole discography of Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds. No more excuses, I need to witness more greatness!

I can't decide what to do with this album. On one hand, some of the songs are honestly amazing, instant partystarters, great guitar solos by Frusciante, amazing bass lines and style by Flea, and sometimes good vocal by Kiedis (I'm not really a fan of his singing voice, but one have to say, he fits into this band perfectly). And just like that, some songs from this album are all time great, instantly recognised by everyone, for all the right reasons. And finally, on the other hand, the album was so successful, that those songs are incredibly overplayed literally everywhere, that when I listened to the album, I found myself slowly drifting away, paying no attention to it. And furthermore, side b of the album is, at best, average. There is not even a one song that caught my attention. I think my rating in this case should reflect both my first and last impression, although the first contact with Californication was so extraordinary, I would feel bad giving it anything else than 5 stars.

It's my first ever contact with Billy Joel and his music and I can admit it's a very positive surprise for me. His first song on this album, "Movin' Out" made a really big impression on me and it was even better from then onward. I like the style of the album, bit funky at times, with very catchy melodies and really amazing voice by Billy Joel. I am honestly surprised that this record isn't well known (at least in my circles). Another amazing position on the list, that introduced me to some great music!

We have similar situation to RHCP's "Californication" from couple days ago. An album which has few songs that are so great, they've been overplayed into oblivion, and many more tracks that are average at best. I think that the difference between previously mentioned record and "Play" by Moby is that the hits are not as universally loved, or are slowly fading into obscurity, whereas RHCP is still going strong. Maybe that has something to do with Moby's alleged behavior in his personal life? Who's to tell. The fact is that four songs from "Play" are easily on my party playlists: "Natural Blues", "Honey", "Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad" and "Porcelain". This quartet alone deserves highest praises. Unfortunately, the rest of the album is a snoozefest. Few slower songs, couple of bits with mediocre beat, just a whole half of a record full of fillers. I really think in this case 4 is a generous rating.

Well... I have listened to the first song on this album "Theme" and I was instantly intrigued. Very unusual composition, long riffs and passages, very interesting melodies. Somehow a bit weird vocal work, but this song was really this good to overlook it. And then I listened to the rest of the album and I'm very disappointed. The vocalist is just unbearable, I'm feeling nauseous just from listening to his amazing vocal range of squealing pig, and the repetitive riffs quickly became terribly frustrating. I will give a undeserved 2 out of 5 rating for an interesting first song, but the rest of the album is definitely one of the worst I have heard on this list so far.

Interesting album by Joan Armatrading, whose name I have heard for the first time today. When I started listening to this album, all I could think of is the similarity in her voice with Joni Mitchell, but with more rock instrumental parts. Music is very well written, it easily should be much more popular then it is right now (I am assuming it's not that popular, if I have never heard of her). The album had all kind of moods, every song was very mature and enjoyable for listener. "Love and Affection" was a really good example of that, very nice deep voice chorus. It's not really my style, but a good album nonetheless.

It's going to be a quick one in here - the topics that Common brings up on this album are very important and the way he sets up his lyrics is extraordinary. I have just one issue with his music - it's that I don't like it. The beats and flow is boring and I can't keep up with the verses. I'm just a casual hip-hop listener, but I need a little bit more "wow" ingredient to keep me entertained. So I'm really sorry, but I can't give a high rating for this album.

I'm going to cut to the chase - I feel like U2 is a tad overrated, and after listening to this album I am happy to hold this position. It's not a bad record, some song are hits for a reason, but I feel like the fame was not generated by music, but mostly through their humanitarian work. Bono is probably more famous than U2, so I wouldn't be that surprised if this was true. Musically, The Joshua Tree is a soft rock, but when you try to dissect it, there is nothing of essence left. Just your average album from Ireland.

I am a big fan of early Gorillaz albums, and all throughout this self-titled record by Blur I couldn't hear anything else other than demo recordings from the cartoon-band (plus Song No.2, which is a great addition on its own, from the early days of Fifa, up to gym session yesterday it keeps me company for the better or worse). I have to say, I just really like Damon Albarn's vocal, he is one of those pop/rock singers that I can just listen to anytime, even if the instrumental parts are total garbage - and in case of Blur, they are on the other end of spectrum. I love songs like "Beetlebum" and "Essex Dogs". Both aren't alike, but both have that quality of slow introduction, leading into a bigger or smaller eruption of noise. Great guitar work as always, thanks to the mighty Graham Coxon. Probably this is my favourite Blur album, but still it's not as good as Demon Days. In general, I would give it a weak 5 stars.

I have heard so much about Wu-Tang Clan, that it became an incredible sensation from 90s that is beloved by everyone. This is actually the first time I've listened to their album, or any song, in fact. I was trying so hard to be enamored as everyone else, but it just didn't clicked. Nice beats, nice lyrics, nice flow, but nothing that would make me say 'wow'. I really tried, and I will probably try again, just because it's a groundbreaking album, but as for now, average experience, average rating.

Band of my youth, I've been to quite a few concert of Metallica in my life, awesome experience. I'm not a fan anymore, but I still appreciate some of the older albums, like Ride The Lightning, or ...And Justice For All. It's a bit more complicated story with Black Album though. As a young metalhead I was full of clichés, so automatically I assumed Black Album was the worst record by Metallica up to date. It was more in soft metal genre then their usual thrash, and suddenly they became more popular, which is unacceptable for a fake metal purist. This approach changed with time - I still don't think of it as the greatest album, but I almost equally like every song on it. Only exception would be Enter Sandman, because I find the main riff very frustrating for some reason. Nevertheless, very good album, which opened the metal genre to the wider audience.

Second album by Cocteau Twins, it's quite interesting sound, gothic mixed with 80s pop and with a tiny bit of shoegaze for some additional taste. I kind of liked it, but I would rather move on to another album now.

I just love this sound, those vibes, funky bass line, psychedelic guitar solos, everything is almost perfect. Summer Breeze is definitely the best song on the album, encapsulating the raw talent and abilities of the Isley Brothers. It's the first time I was listening to this band, but for sure it won't be the last time.

Interesting album with one very good, extremely psychedelic (in a good way) song, "Roller Coaster". Magical song, feeling of being in a trance, almost a perfect song. Rest of the album is not really impactful in any way, just a compilation of songs in similar style with an average outcome. Entertaining album to listen to, but to be discarded soon after.

Rock impressions of country music. I am not particularly fond of this type of music, it wasn't in any way interesting, but for sure it was a bit frustrating. I think the title of third song on this album encapsulates my feeling towards this band and "Lost In The Dream" record.

For some reason my review for this album was deleted and I have to write it again. It's a terrible task to do it again, so I will summarize - I like the iteration of the band with Young, it was okay, but I don't really find this version amusing in any way. Very average album altogether. That's it.

One of the albums I have on vinyl. I was never a particular fan of Coldplay, finding them too "mainstream" and annoying at times. For some reason I always made a connection between Coldplay and Paulo Coelho - maybe because their most famous work has familiar titles - Alchemist and Scientist. And also because their work is so much form over function. Very convoluted, full of overthrown metaphors and overused phrases. But at least in case of Coldplay you are able to look at it from a distance and enjoy it, unlike with the book. Fun album, just don't try to dive too deep.

What an album! Very original, erratic, breaking all rules, not compromising even for a second, pushing boundaries and so on and so on... Two guys with bass and drums and a lot of distortion are creating some anti-pop music. Something that is so unlistenable, that actually becomes interesting, and also something that is so interesting, it becomes unlistenable. It's hard to categorize this album, I like the label "nintendocore", it doesn't really reflect their music, but gets much closer than anything else. I had moments when I really liked this album and I thought this is the next big thing, but also I had moments when I was crying internally, with my ears bleeding profusely. Never had I such an ambivalent feeling toward a record on this list. I think the fairest rating would be 3/5, but that somehow is insulting for this band - it should be either 5, or 1. At least I think that is the goal of Lightning Bolt - to antagonize everyone, that some people will like them just because of the idea. I admire it, but I won't make this turnaround - I will just say - next.

It's a nice album Eric Clapton, congratulations. Nice songs, great riffs, amazing guitar solos, groovy jams,excellent vocals. It somehow felt a little bit too manufactured, but I might be projecting too much. Just a very solid album, much better than the one with "Layla" in it, recorded with Derek and the Dominoes. Good effort, but even though I had nice time listening to it, I won't be coming back to this record anytime soon.

Not my favourite album by Taylor Swift. I definitely prefer the one recorded with Bon Iver, whose influence is very noticeable on "folklore". On the other hand we have "1989", an album made out of overplayed singles and just uninteresting and forgettable songs. If I would have to make an honest summary of the album, I would say - it's overproduced cotton candy, whatever that actually means, because I'm just throwing some words at the keyboard. 5 words, I did not like it. I will happily move on to the next album.

Interesting album, it reminded me a little of Rufus Wainwright style, but contrary to his music, I actually liked Paris 1919. I think John Cale's vocal is much more approachable, and his music is just average, without much of that baroque style. Some songs on this album were really good, mainly the opening and self-titled songs. On the other end of spectrum we have few tracks that absolutely were hard to listen to. In summary, average album with few great moments.

Fenomenal concert recording. I am pretty much speechless, whatever happened to Keith Jarrett on that faithful day in Cologne was amazing. Looks like from now on I will be on a hunt for a vinyl version of this concert.

Album by Bjork in the pretty specific style of Bjork. It might be a hit or miss at times, but oh boy, it was a massive miss on the occasion of Vulnicura. Maybe my musical taste is down in the gutter, but I just couldn't listen to it at all. I'm sorry Bjork, you are a better actor than musician.

This is actually a right amount of weirdness for a normal rock for me! Very interesting instrumentation, some great bass lines and crazy melodies, with a lot of instrumental parts. It's actually for the better, because in general I wasn't a big fan of the vocal, maybe that's why it was so sporadic on the album. Very fun record, happy to look into their discography now!

Very interesting story about life and career of Elis Regina, about whom I have never heard before. The problem is that her music is not really up my alley, and I had immensely hard time trying to sit through not even the whole album, but even any song from it. Great voice, very confident style, but I will be staying away from this music in foreseeable future.

That's a surprisingly interesting country album, words I would never thought of saying in this specific order! It's still the same, americana country style that I really don't like, but comparing "Honky Tonk Heroes" to other albums from this list is like a choice between laying in the mud for a day, or laying in the mud for a day, while also being on fire. I really enjoyed the opening, self-titled track, with some nice rock'n'roll style mixed into it. Then we had few ballads - and oh boy, I hate country ballads. But afterwards we got few interesting songs and in general it was a slightly positive experience?I won't give a high rating for this album, but even going average means quite a lot in my book when it comes to country music. Good job Waylon Jennings, I might listen to your songs again!

"Shout", "Everybody Wants To Rule The World" and "Head Over Heels" were written and performed by one band? Amazing! And they were from one album? Mamma mia, that's honestly great! I will be honest, I knew those songs for years, but I have never heard of the band that made them, Tears For Fears. It's a classic style of pop from 80s, it reminds me of Depeche Mode, with some similarities in style and vocal, but they have their own sound, which puts them ahead in the line from the other anonymous and straight out of factory 80s bands. Songs like "The Working Hours" and "Listen" are really original songs, with very interesting parts, that sounds fresh even 40 years later. I have immensely enjoyed listening to this album, I am very surprised so many hits came out from this band, and even though couple songs in the middle of the record were average at best, it deserves all the praises and recognition. Great album, I will listen to it again and again in the future.

The quality of the record is simply amazing, the sound is so clear compared to some albums and bands from 80s and even from more recent times. Bass guitar line at times is just phenomenal - some songs just beg you to go on a dance floor and move. Vocal is kind of underwhelming, but it's nothing serious. Other than quality, I don't see anything special in this album. It's okay when it's just playing in the background, but I wouldn't want to listen to it consciously for whole 40 minutes. Just another average album.

Black Sabbath has that quality to their songs and albums, that is so hard to find in other bands from 70s and 80s trying to move into direction of heavier music. Honestly, I was only a casual fan of Black Sabbath, and I definitely didn't know any song from Vol. 4 album, but just first riff from the opening song was enough to tell me what a great music it is. Ozzies voice is at its best, drums and bass are doing their job, but Tonny Iommi is just magnificent. His solos, riffs, melodies, everything is top notch. I do prefer modern music, but 'll use another cliché- they don't make music like that anymore. Simply amazing job. As for the overall impression, I was enjoying this album on Side A, and slightly grew tired of it on Side B. Still, it's an exceptional work.

I feel like this band, and this album, is in similar style to recent Sleater-Kinney record that I have stumbled upon on this list. Not only because of the mostly female lineup and lyrics theme, but also because of slightly experimental/screamo style both of those bands present. In case of Le Tigre, there is much more emphasis on "experimental" part - many songs are very original in their structure, with few hits and a lot of misses, in my opinion. Couple of more conventional tracks are really good, like the opening "Deceptacon". Overall, interesting position on the list, but ultimately I wasn't completely sold on it - but I will be happy to give it another go in the future.

I'm not really a fan of Acca Dacca, even though few of their songs are actually iconic, like the self-titled Back In Black, a track that is prevalent in gyms all around the World, together with "You Shook Me All Night Long". Is it entertaining? Sure, pretty nice song with a very catchy riff and quite fun vocal. But whole album, or listening to any song for more than two times in a row is part of guantanamo torture. Great job boys down under, your songs are everywhere and I just have enough of it.

Yeah, well I have heard of Incubus before, but I couldn't name or remember any of their song. And after listening to Make Yourself I know why it might be - all of their tracks are bland and uninteresting. I was slightly hyped through first few songs, because there were nice elements, mixing a bit of electronic music, rock, metal and rap. But that was it, just a mix of those genres, but the sum of all parts was definitely underwhelming. I still can't name or remember any of Incubus songs, so this is not a good sign. It's not bad either, but just painfully average.

I have quite a lot to say about this album, especially as a young and easily impressionable person I was listening to thrash metal (as a way to be independent, "free-thinking" soul). As a Thrash fan, I was listening to bands like Metallica and Slayer, so the rules said I had to hate the other two Anthrax and Megadeth. Who came up with those rules, I have no idea, but my group of friends was really "true" in this sense. Finally, after some growing up I did, the song "Hangar 18" completely changed my opinion about Megadeth. One thing being constant, I still despised Mustaine's voice and vocal, but I finally could appreciate his song writing skills. Awesome solos, riffs and speed, this song is definitely up there on the 80s/90s thrash pantheon. The rest of the album is sometimes good, sometimes bad, so I wouldn't feel comfortable giving it a highest praise, but for this single song, and massive amount of nostalgia that goes with it, I will give it 4 stars. I can't listen to this genre anymore now, but few exceptions like this are always welcome.

In my opinion top three album by Pink Floyd, on par with Dark Side of the Moon and Meddle. Beautiful, long passages of instrumentation, great guitar work by Gilmour, amazing bass lines by Waters, even though I still dont like him, and top notch complimentary work by Mason and Wright. One of those albums that can't be overplayed, maybe except to another hiking trip, when someone takes the guitar out and plays Wish You Were Here for the hundredth time. But other than that, I love every second of it.

Second The Chemical Brothers album on this list and first chronologically in their discography. I have listened to "Exit Planet Dust" before, but for some reason it didn't left any impression in me. After more thorough listening session, I thought that I like this album more than "Dig Your Own Hole", but still my favourite is "Surrender". Most likely through sentimental values, because songs and beats from "Exit Planet Dust" are really on par with anything else they recorded. Long parts with repeating beats, slightly changing and building momentum sound amazing on this record. Every track really held on its own and could easily be a single. After short consideration I think I will give it a 5 star, but probably one of the weakest so far - I enjoyed this album, but I feel something is missing.

It's not going to be a long review - do I appreciate Bob Dylan's music? Yes, of course! Great songwriting, one of a kind. Do I like to listen to Bob Dylan's music? Nope, not at all. His style of singing, sparse instrumentation (in general) and his voice create just a perfect storm that I would not survive. Did this album change my opinion about Bob, one way or the other? No, it's just more of the same and only notable things is amazing rendition of "Like a Rolling Stone", which I will probably listen to more often. Other than that, forgettable experience, it changed nothing in my life.

The idea of this band is much better than the actual music of this band. Downtempo electronic beats and music with a very talented singer, collaborations with Massive Attack and other successful bands, hit single from nineties, that is still ingrained in my memories - it all points in the right direction. Unfortunately, after listening to "Walking Wounded" the hype was very slowly dissipating, leaving me really puzzled. I didn't like any of the songs, I didn't buy the atmosphere of the album, somehow nothing was working for me. It's not a bad record by any means, but I certainly didn't feel like it deserves to be on this list. At least I still have Massive Attack to listen to.

Great band, amazing album. I was a fan of few of the songs from "Since I Left You", they have a really catchy beat and melody, usually interesting vocal, but the best thing about it is the music video to the singles. It's just so captivating, weird, sad and funny, perfectly encapsulating what the song is about. I'm just a big fan of this album, I like how the track flows fluidly from one to another, with certain themes being explored again under a different light. Looking for a vinyl of this band straight away!

Today we have a random rap motives mixed with latin rhythms. It sounds extremely naughties - as early 2000s as possible. I have never heard of this band before, so as with anything that comes from this times, if you haven't listen to it then, there is no chance you will like it now. The songs are okay, they are pretty fun, it's definitely an interesting collaboration between genres, but it's too late for me to really enjoy it. The moment to listen to this album is long gone, even though it sounds like I am in my sixties, and hate new music. Still, I appreciate it, pretty innovative idea.

The most psychedelic album so far on this list, for better or worse. Erratic sounds, every instrument you could have think of was used, many types of vocal. It wasn't really something that I was enjoying, or I would be enjoying in the future. Let's just forget about this album and move on.

Well, I was not familiarized with Ella Fitzgerald's game, and now I'm facing consequences of it. The music is not really up my alley, but the way Ella is singing on this album is extraordinary. Powerful, yet very subtle at time. At some point you forget about instruments and just focus on her. The album is pretty long, especially if you will look at all the Gershwin songs, but I can promise you all, I will come back to this album again and again. Looks like even a vinyl might be a good idea, if there is any cheap ones available! Really great music.

Actually a pretty good folk album! I really liked Gillian vocal skills, soothing voice and an interesting range. Instrumentally, I'm not into folk that much, I think you really have to be in a mood to appreciate it, but somehow Gillian made it much easier to get into this album with her skills. Positive experience.

What I have learned from this list is that I mostly likely won't like any album that can be labelled as "americana". Of course, "Nick Of Time" is one of them. Boring and uninteresting record, I didn't like any moment of it. That doesn't mean it's terrible, but I definitely couldn't listen to it for longer than 30 minutes.

Not as entertaining as their next album, and there is no reason to look for any hit or single on this record. It might be because I have listened to those albums in this sequence, because I don't think Dexys Midnight Runners is a band you can listen too often. The novelty is gone, so is my excitement for this band.

It might be 4th or fifth Bob Dylan's album on the list, but definitely it's the first one that I actually liked from start to finish. I think that this style of music suits him much better than his early folk persona with guitar and harmonica. Maybe that's me, but I could finally focus on the lyrics, which are, as always, amazing. Maggie's Farm is one of my favourite song of his, mainly thanks to the great cover by RATM. Maybe it's a bit too much, but to make up for low rating on other albums I will go with full 5/5 in here.

Very enjoyable album. Honestly, I didn't know much about this band, other than the funny name. I thought they play some boring 70s rock, Procol Harum style for some reason. But whatever the genre was that (some psychedelic, progressive rock) it worked very, very well. I absolutely loved the outro song from this album, the self-titled "Crime Of the Century". I adore this type of songs, like I explained hundred times before. It was a very positive surprise, I have seen Supertramp vinyl records many times in shops, but now I can actually consider it as a really good buy.

We had some conscious hip-hop on this list, now it's time for a conscious r&b/pop. It's surprisingly solid - honestly, I was probably born too late to listen to this album by Janet Jackson, I always associated her with some cheap and boring straight-out-of-mill songs. But not only she can sing - she can write some inspiring verses as well. This type of music grinds my gears just a little bit, but I could still see how good and probably important this album was at the time. Kudos to you Janet, you have my respect, but your record is probably one and done for me.

This album is important to me only because of one song - "The Passenger". The main riff from this song is now of cultural significance, you just can't have any existential road movie without some version of this song in the soundtrack. Great track, forever in my heart. As for the rest of the album, you can hear influence (and his voice, pretty often really) from David Bowie. It feels more like one of his record than Iggy's. I wasn't 100% hooked though, I still don't like Iggy's vocal, even though on this record it was less aggressive than usual. Overall, I think one great song is not enough to give It the best rating, so this time just 4 out of 5.

Another enigma album on the list. It's the first time I have heard about Mj Cole or about any of his songs, and after listening to the whole record, I'm not really surprised. It is basically a simple house beat, with some other instruments added on top and an atmospheric vocal as a topping. Although this description applies to many bands, like Massive Attack at times, or anything based on samples, it just didn't work this time. I wasn't into that album, I didn't like any song, I didn't feel the atmosphere at all. Very below average experience and honestly, I'm wondering, what was so special about this album in the first place, to show up on a list like that. Probably 1000 albums is a bit too many, for such a short history of modern music.

If every reggae album would sound like "Reggatta De Blanc", then I would be a much bigger fan of this genre. Second record by The Police on this list and coincidentally also second in their discography. I'm 100% sure that "Message in The Bottle" is the best song they have ever produced, including Sting's stuff later in his career. Whole album was flowing quite nicely, every song had something unique, but at the same time fitted into the concept. Just a very solid album in general.

Ugh, that was a struggle. My first contact with Todd Rundgren, hopefully the last one. I didn't like his vocal, and his music was, unfortunately, boring and outdated. Every song was basically a copy of each other bringing nothing interesting to the table. I couldn't make it through whole double album, so probably I missed a more interesting song, but at this point I will take my chances.

Okay, as we established many times before, I'm not a fan of Neil Young, and first couple songs from this album were just a confirmation of that - quite boring, slow and soulless, at least from my perspective. But then it hit me, two almost 10 minute long songs, "Down By The River" and "Cowgirl In The Sand". Amazing blues-like tracks, with a simple riff and countless melodies and guitar solos layered on in long expositions. I could listen to songs like that for days on end. Neil's vocal, or whoever was singing there, was basically spoiling the song in my opinion, instrumental version would be definitely enough. As for the rest of the album, nothing positive to say. Very difficult position to rate, we have songs from both ends of the spectrum in here. But let's try to look at the positive side as more important, I know those two songs will be implemented in my soundtrack, so final rate must be better than average.

Looks like we have Pixies here before Pixies. And as with that band, I really liked Black Francis' album. Very diverse, you can never know what is going to happen next in the song. Just a very solid record, I'm actually surprised I haven't heard about it more. Over 20 songs with many diamonds in there, I'm looking forward to listen to them more often.

Okay, it looks really simple - thanks to this list I was introduced to the magnificent person, Scott Walker. After listening, twice, to the album "Scott 2" I have fallen into the deep hole of googling everything related to Walker in his career. I am absolutely amazed by his uncompromising standards and most importantly his amazing voice. How can a person like this make a fabulous rendition of "Jackie" by Jacques Brel, to collaborate with drone metal kings Sun O))) years later? This is just simply an enormous achievement. Going back to "Scott 2" - I didn't like every song, some of it was a pretty boring "French Movies Song From 60s" stuff, but when he surprised you, there was no coming back. It's not the best album in the world, but it opened another door for me, and just because of that I will remember it for a very long time.

I'll be honest, "Sabotage" is one of my favourite song of all time. The amount of energy it brings is almost unparalleled. I always thought that I should be a big fan of the band, but somehow any other song I listened to sounds mediocre at best. And this is the case with "Paul's Boutique". A lot of great beats, but the rap style of Beastie Boys is so draining, I just end up hating this band after few songs. It's better for all parties to just move on and leave an average rating, before someone (me) will have a mental breakdown.

I have heard stories of Elliott Smith music for a long time now, but I never got into it properly until this album popped up on the list. There is few lists on the Internet with titles along the lines of "The most depressing albums/bands of all time". Elliott Smith was on every one of them. The thing is, as much his backstory and lyrics are gloomy and sad, his music is very much non-existent. It's basically a guy with a guitar reciting his poems, sometimes adding some instruments in the background. Few songs that have an actual band behind him are pretty good, giving more energy into his effort of externalising his painful experience. I liked this album in some way, and I will give it a good rating, but probably this was my last attempt at Smith's music. I'm just not depressed enough to listen to it for more than 10 minutes.

Yes, that might be the worst album on this list so far! Other bad albums were very experimental and went over my head a little, or were in a genre I don't enjoy at all, whereas "Bandwagonesque" doesn't take any chances, it's a safe, traditional soft rock and somehow it's the most boring record I have ever heard. It's so bland that I don't have anything else to add. It's just a no from me.

This album is pretty hard to rate, because I'm not a fan of Van Halen, or anything similar to glam rock, but I'm a big fan of Eddie Van Halen and his amazing virtuosity on guitar. And maybe unsurprisingly, I actually dislike every single from this album, as I think those didn't age well, being very dull and boring, but other songs on this album, with less prominent vocal work by Roth are actually pretty good. An example of that is an amazing "Girl Gone Bad". Basically, anytime Van Halen is not trying to put out a top 20 hit on MTV, the song is very good. With those ambivalent feelings about "1984" I causally give 3/5 as total. 1 for singles, 5 for Eddie Van Halen and his craftsmanship.

Not much to say - I don't like Frank Sinatra, I don't like his music and his singing voice. This album was a little bit better than expected thanks to Jobim, but all I wanted to do while listening to it is to move on. And that's what I'm doing right now.

Not much to say about this album, other than that was an unbelievably sad and beautiful peace of art. Nick Cave just gave the rest of his broken heart back on this record. Amazing stuff. It reminds me, although it's a different genre, of Mastodon's Crack The Skye. Similar emotions evoked from listening to those two albums. Ghosteen jumps on my playlist once in a month, to make myself feel all the sadness in the world.

Intriguing at times, experimental, but still cohesive, and in the end just average album by Blood, Sweat and Tears. Great compositions in intro and outro parts, few interesting piano solos, great bass line over the course of the album, a part here and there sounded like an awesome jam session. Otherwise, average vocal, and quite boring songs in-between. All in all, average experience.

Grandfathers of metal in full glory. It's not an album I would listen to, even occasionally, but I guess it has to be appreciated for taking a new direction in music, and all of that in 1970. Easily the place in history books is booked. Also, "Paranoid" main riff will be forever used by all 12 year old metalheads when they will first try the electric guitar (not that it's a bad thing).

Yet another album by ELP, this time we have their first live album. I was very surprised how similar it sounded to first King Crimson record. Of course it shouldn't be that crazy, knowing that Lake was the main singer on both albums, but even though so many passages from Picture At An Exhibition could have been added to In The Court Of The Crimson King and no one would bat an eye. Unfortunately, the rest of the album was to progressive for my liking. I'm definitely more of a fan of Tarkus, and now in retrospect I should have given a better note to that album. Here - just an average rating.

Oof, I have nothing against some heavy metal, but enough is enough. This album might take the prize for the most monotonous bass and drum line ever. It's just unbearable. I had a hard time trying to power through full song in one go. Even "Breaking The Law", track with a very nice riff, is so hard to be consumed, as it just slowly drills a hole in your brain, irreversibly destroying part of me. Big piece of metal history, but I'd rather forget about this part.

Started out very promising, but in the end it felt like just another post punk album, that I was trying to power through. Nothing special.

In general I would call myself a fan of Arcade Fire, but I'm not really an enthusiast of their whole discography. Neon Bible is one of those albums, that is on the lower end of the sinusoid. The record was just average, not one track caught my attention, it sounded like a blend of Coldplay and Mumford and Sons, but only average songs were fused together. A bit of a disappointment, but it is what it is.

That was not the worst album of the list. Here, that's all of the positive things I could write about it. Additionally, some more experimental and instrumental parts of album were pretty interesting, but usual post punk stuff is terrible. That's all.

Another album by Sonic Youth, another big surprise - how good is this band, man? And more importantly, how come I have never listened to any of their songs? I'm absolutely baffled. But there is something weird about it - since listening to their other album, "Daydream Nation", even though I really liked it, not even once I revisited it. I have a feeling its going to be the same story with "Sister". Both albums are really great, but ultimately I think it might be too far down the line for me to properly enjoy it. I'll give it 4 stars, but just to balance it out with previous album, so that both of them are 4,5 stars.

It's the final album by David Bowie, which might have made the critics more sentimental, so we have it here, on this list. Personally, I didn't like "Blackstar". I felt like Bowie lost his charm and was not as entertaining on this album as earlier in his career. The quirky melodies weren't really fitting with his voice, just a bit of a mismatch. Average album at best.

Well, it's not my sound, and I had a hard time trying to focus on the music, while listening to "Sea Change". My favourite part - when I just gave up half way and turned it off, it was like my will to live came back, very euphoric experience. Maybe that's why I will give a good 2 stars for this album, instead of a more deserving 1.

I'm a simple person - if I listen to an old David Bowie's album, it's great. If I'm listening to a more recent one, it's not that good. As you can see from this complicated chart, I really like the album. Great mix of funk, blues and whatever the Bowie style is. In my opinion "Fame" wasn't even the best song on the album, and that says quite a lot. Another great position on the list!

Old school hip hop, yet another album to the list of "Listened once, was okay, never again". It's actually a pretty long list now. And that's all I have to say about this album, let's just move quietly to another position.

The style of this album is absolutely unique and phenomenal. Melodies and beats blend together with at times funky style of rapping from all members of Fugees. Three hits from The Score are still very fresh, and if released today, could have easily climb to #1 on any list in the World. I didn't know how good this album was until today. Just an amazing work of art.

This distinctive voice of Jay Kay and Jamiroquai style is instantly recognizable and creates an amazing funky atmosphere. This is my first time listening to their debut album in full, but some of the songs will definitely end up on my "for party" list. At times it was slightly too repetitive, with songs blending with each other, but the general reception was very good. Excellent stuff.

Soundgarden is a band that I liked quite a lot in the past, but haven't listened to it since. And the ugly truth is that... I simply don't like it anymore. Black Hole Sun is still one of my favourite songs, but the rest of the album, or the rest of their discography is just simply tiring to listen. Chris Cornell's vocal is unique and very strong, but it gets so annoying after few songs. It's the same story with Audioslave, on the paper it looks like a great band, but I just can't listen to it at all. The music is also pretty tame and boring, unfortunately Soundgarden is rather low on my list of great grunge bands.

So you can take Alex Turner out of Arctic Monkeys, put him into another random band and the result will be... Arctic Monkeys. Honestly, I have no idea why he didn't just release this album under his name, there is nothing special added by other members, whoever they are. As for the music, some songs are pretty good, like the self-titled one, with a nice build-up and quirky instrumentation. As for the rest, the quirkiness goes full throttle and kills all the enjoyment for me, even though Turner's vocal is great as always. In the end, just an average album on this list.

Annoyingly average album. I read somewhere, that New Wave inspired many artists in years after releasing it, but how could they be inspired by something so normal, or maybe even bland? Not one song stood out, I didn't like the music, and I really didn't like the vocal. Let's just forget about that album and quickly move on.

First of all - terrible vocal, really off-putting. But otherwise, it's a nice combination of songs on this album. We're starting with a nice and short funky track, then we move into some psychedelic territories (best song in "Movies" by far). Later on we have more experimental electronic stuff, which is not my favourite, but thanks to solid start sounded quite nicely. Good album, a positive surprise.

Well, okay, The Gun Club hasn't done anything wrong (other than being on this list, while playing in a genre I really dislike), but this is just too much for me. I listened to fragments of few songs on this album, and I admit, it's far too much of that bland punk style. I don't have that much resolve in myself to force listen to this album. Just one too many, I guess.

I have never heard of Eels before, and after listening to "Beautiful Freak" I know why. It is just your average 90s soft rock album, with many boring songs, few slightly interesting and many, many average and unnoticeable tracks. 30 years later it sounds like a generic 90s album, created by ChatGPT, or by a parody group. I think, at least in my case, to like albums from 90s, you have to be at least a little bit sentimental about it, otherwise it will be a negative experience. "You should have been there and see it for yourself to understand". In this case I wasn't there, so no appreciation towards it on my behalf.

A really fun album! Somehow I missed everything about it for the last 20 years - how come I have never heard of it, is it not as catchy as Blur and Oasis? Well, probably it's not, not even close. Also, I'm not a fan of Man City, so how could I know about their great song "Words"? This album is genuinely great piece of interesting indie rock, with no extravagant motifs, but very entertaining from the top to the bottom. I was not bored during any of their songs, very solid record overall. I would like to come back to this album later, so to catch my attention I will give it a 5 stars, but to think of it, I would give it the highest note anyway. Doves will now regularly fly in my playlist.

Not really something I enjoyed, I couldn't even get through the whole album. The music itself isn't that bad, unremarkable at times, with some fancy, baroque-like melodies, but what brings it down is the vocal. Hard to get through the song, if vocalist is exposed like that, firmly standing in the first row. I will just calmly forget about this band.

Iconic album, almost full of great songs and few gems. Funnily enough, I actually like their newer stuff a lot as well, mainly Invaders Must Die album, but one has to admit, this record was a proper breakthrough and deserves to be on every list. One of the amazing electronic releases from nineties!

I never liked The Cure, even though I tried to like them for a long time. Plenty of my favourite bands cite them as one of their inspiration, but somehow I didn't know what is so appealing about them. One of the biggest problems I had with The Cure is the vocal. It reminds me so much of all the terrible post punk bands, that it felt like an allergic reaction. But my first approach to the album "Pornography" changed my view quite a bit. Mainly through the shoegazy background and general depressing sound, that didn't feel forced or overdone. And this time vocalist was fitting really well into the bigger picture. Every song was very solid, no fillers, and a great outro song. You can say I'm finally hooked. I'll give it 4 stars, but if their next album on this list is as good (and I don't doubt there will be couple more The Cure albums here), then it's an easy 5.

Southern grunge? Or just a normal southern rock with some metal elements? Whatever it is, it doesn't work. Songs are rather boring, I can't see anything appealing in it. Let's just move on.

Music-wise it's not really audible for me. I don't like this type of modern american rnb. Couldn't get through the full album. Lyrics are much more relevant and social conscious, apparently, but with this type of music I just couldn't focus at all. Big miss for me.

Some interesting guitar solos on this album, that's for sure, but otherwise very average record. To be honest, I didn't like anything else other than solos. Definitely a relic of olden times, that happens to be on this list, because 1000 albums is an enormous number, so some mediocre stuff has to make its way in as well. On to the next one.

Okay, there is quite a difference between this album and "Trout Mask Replica". Essentially, when Captain Beefheart is not trying to be the most unique person in the room (or the whole world), his music is really good. Perfect combination of blues, psych rock, traditional rock, with a big dose of weird Captains vocal. I'm still not used to it, but when the music is more comprehensive and not as exaggerated, it doesn't bother anyone that much. After the lowest note for TMR, it is time for some redemption. Now that I know more of their music and their history, aI can say that maybe it wasn't the most appropriate note. To balance it out, I'll give a good 4/5 for Safe As Milk, even though it really deserves a note like this without this background.

Great two opening tracks, so many memories, every club would play those songs over and over again. Very sentimental stuff. But then, listening to the rest of album, it's basically Beyonce version 1.0. If you remove the aforementioned two songs from this album, it sounds like a very early Beyonce record. To add to that, most of the beats and melodies don't hold up that well, it really sounds very generic. Mixed feelings about this one, great, sentimental tracks, plus a lot of disappointment. I'll give it a 3/5, but I feel like it might be a bit too high of a note.

I always thought of myself as an average Led Zeppelin fan, which means I love their well known part of discography and just disregard everything else. Today I had a quick date with that "everything else" part. Unfortunately, it didn't end on a positive note. Big highlight of the album is the song "Kashmir", which has one of my favourite guitar riffs of all time. What is really surprising, is that this song just sticks out both in quality and thematically from the album. All the other tracks are in different style, just like a random mashup of some (good) guitar solos and Plant's vocal, which is slowly grinding your gears on this album. I would never think that I will have such a bad time listening to Led Zeppelin record, but here we are.

Quite an average album from The White Stripes. Their crazy garage rock image was replaced by quirky garage drum and vocal, which was pretty fun, but not for the whole record. You can just listen to "Doorbell" 12 times or so, and I would have the same effect as listening to Get Behind Me Satan. I think I might mix a song or two into my daily listening list, but probably I won't come back to this album anytime soon.

"White Rabbit" is an amazing song. Powerful, beautifully performed by Grace, Woodstock was probably in ecstasy. Same thing for "Somebody to Love". Although more traditional composition, it's a legendary track, unsurprisingly again thanks to Grace. It feels like she can transform an average song into a masterpiece. And the problem is there - she is not that prominent on the rest of the album, and it's an absolute snoozefest. I couldn't get through other songs, it was just painfully average. Its a real shame, because those two songs are easily 6/5 on my list, but altogether I can't give anything more than 3. Sorry Grace!

Another average album by Todd Rundgren, but at least this time I was able to sit through most of it. Entertaining at times, some interesting guitar passages and solos, but it's too much for me.

Second album by Talking Heads on this list, after a very entertaining "Remain In Light". As a predecessor to that record, "Fear Of Music" put a lot of hopes in my heart. Opening song would push this hope even further, but the rest of the album turned out to be average and not noteworthy at all. Talking Heads style was very prominent, but ultimately it wasn't yet cohesive enough to create a great composition. Bit of a disappointment, its not the greatest album in their discography.

It is definitely the most 80s album on this list so far. Quintessential to the decade, it had everything - electronic beats, catchy rhythms, and simple lyrics. In my opinion, 90% of albums from 80s is absolutely unlistenable now. But those few exceptions include "She's So Unusual". If I were to dissect song from this album, they wouldn't be impressive at all, but somehow Cyndi wrote few hits, and they still hold quite well. I won't listen to this album again anytime soon, but I certainly appreciate a well done record from my least favourite decade.

Finally a hip hop album with a bit darker beat and atmosphere. I like this style of music and additionally Skepta's style and flow was pretty inclusive for fans of different genres. A real positive surprise, I would be happy to check the rest of his discography.

Some futuristic sounds by Prince, looking forward by 17 years and not being that much far from truth. The problem is that this future music is not really the best outcome, of all possible scenarios. Mixing r&b, rock, pop and some electronic sounds resulted in a very average album, which at the time, I believe had to be revolutionary. Prince was named Miles Davis of pop/rock, which might be true, because he mastered so many different genres, but this album on its own doesn't really appeal to me. I'll be happy to listen to other records by him, to see how much he changed his style later on.

Brian Eno did it again. A very specific and experimental album, which is as dividing as possible. This time I have to tap out - if I would want to listen to an absolute lunatic, that has problem hitting any tune in every song, with a bunch of random noise in the background, I would just record myself taking a shower. Couldn't finish, won't try again.

I didn't know that "What Love Got To Do" is from 1984, that's basically 40 years! Time flies by, I guess. Tina Turner and a long set of pop songs from 80s. Pretty pleasant listening session, boring at times and repetitive, but Tina's voice is a real sight to behold. Couple songs are nice to listen from time to time in a radio, but overall it's not an album I would like to listen again. Nice piece of history, nothing else.

Great band, great singer, great ballads, great contributions from PJ Harvey and Kylie Minogue, but not the greatest album. 10 ballads in a row is quite a struggle to get through, although every song is almost perfect. Light melody, some nice bass lines, bit of a toned drums and Nick Cave reciting or sometimes singing the lyrics. Only problem is, one song per day is enough. Definitely their other albums are more approachable.

Welsh band from around of era, but somehow I have never heard about them. I approached this album being very sceptical, as I always do, and truthfully I didn't find it original, creative or even fun at the beginning. I think the song "Receptacle for the Respectable" completely changed my perception of this album. They tried to fit every possible genre into a song, and somehow they created an absolute banger, which goes to the top of my favourite songs . Only then I noticed how original this album is, with songs all over the place musically, but with a cheeky lyrics on top of it. I had so much fun listening to the whole record, and I still have b-sides and remastered versions to listen to. Amazing stuff, looking forward to deeper dig into the discography in the near future!

Elegant and graceful album, just like Elton John and his music in general. Interesting thing is, that the music really is secondary every time Elton is singing, he is just that good. I have to watch Rocketman soon, so I will have a better knowledge of his history and background. But the album was a treat for sure!

Sugar on me has been planted. Unfortunately, the rest of the album is the slowest and the most boring car crash I have ever heard. Literally nothing happens during the songs. Apparently, the drummer recorded the album while having only one arm. It's very impressive, kudos to him, but why does it all sound like the whole band had a collective one arm to use instruments? Few nice moments, but otherwise a waste of time.

Nice album! Very original, groundbreaking, once in a lifetime achievement. Inspired countless different bands like X and Y. We are truly living in the Post - L'Eau Rouge era. Excellent stuff. The only issue? It's unlistenable and I hate it. Of course it's only a small problem in a sea of superlatives, but the hatred is of purest quality, so I'm sorry The Young Gods, it's a very considerable 1.

I was told that Fiona Apple is like PJ Harvey, just from the other end of the pond. After listening to her album, I can tell that's a big exaggeration. I didnt feel the same emotional package like PJ presents in her songs, instrumental parts are just there, Fiona's voice is soothing and rather...normal? Basically, I wasn't impressed, I didn't have fun, but it's definitely not the end of the world. Just not my thing.

Have I heard about Air? Probably couple times, but never about a band with this name. And that's a mistake, because "Moon Safari" is a really peaceful and very atmospheric electronic music, apparently opening the doors for downtime bands all around the world. The album is filled with many great moments and beats, it was a lot of fun from start to finish. It's not the greatest record of all time, but it hits all the right tones.

Not my type of music. I used to like "Son of the Preacher Man", but probably I remember this song from covers or different arrangements, because the version on the album was quite slow and raw, in my opinion. And so is the rest of the album, but without that catchy phrase. Altogether, just a below average record for today's standards.

PJ Harvey's album that sounds like PJ Harvey, absolutely surprising! It just wasn't exactly my favourite record of hers. Still really good though. I'll have to listen to it again, but for now Im happy with a rate of 4/5.

That's a pretty pleasant album and quite a surprise for me. By the cover I just immediately assumed its going to be a full on gangsta rap, but instead it was an interesting rnb slash rap that was quite good. Nice rapping style, just an above average album compared to other hip hop records on the list.

Another album with some amazing songs by David Bowie. I think it should always be an automatic 4/5, and if most of the songs are great, then an easy 5. This time the legendary "On Mars" put a shade on the rest of the album, so I didn't really enjoy other tracks the same way. I will give it another go in the future, but for now it's just 4 stars.

Positive surprise. Every song had a vibe similar to "Brown Eyed Girl", to the point that I thought it's just one long medley based on the melody from this track. And the melody is great, but it was pretty repetitive. But what was the best on this album was Van Morrison vocal. Just genuinely a treat to listen to. Pretty good album, but rather one and done on my list.

I don't usually listen to this type of music, but oh man, it is filled with bangers. Whole album can easily be broadcast 24/7 on any station, and probably no one would mind. Just an amazing pop record, with great vocal, nice instrumentation and really fitting orchestral music in the background. This album probably won't change my view of pop music, or 80s music, but I have just found a needle in a haystack of crap.

Calling this an average album would be a stretch. I didn't like the music, style or Aimee's vocal. Just a boring record, on to the next one.

Just another average album. I got very bored when listening to it, I didn't find anything exciting or inspiring in it. Its hard to comment on any songs, because I couldn't remember any, even though I just finished listening to the record.

I really like Radiohead, some of their songs have cult status on my playlist, whatever that actually means. But there is one problem with this album - it sounds like the most boring mashup of Thom Yorke's groaning and moaning, with occasional guitar riff in the background. It was honestly one of my biggest achievements, that I could survive that album in full. I'm still a fan, but I will avoid In Rainbows with a wide radius.

Okay album, but I didn't have time to make through it properly. I will listen again to it soon.

Well, really nice hotel lounge music, which is perfect if you don't like to sit in silence, but you don't want to listen to anything that requires attention. It feels like Maxwell had an idea for a great bass line, and then decided to build a whole album off of it. Honestly, all that I remember from this album is that bass line, otherwise everything is so forgettable and mediocre. Very surprising choice for a "greatest album of all time", even if that would mean a place closer to 1000. Very disappointing.

I'm on a streak of average albums on this list. This is another one, rather anonymous country rock band, that brings essentially nothing to the table. Its hard to point in any direction with praise, it's mostly just generic music probably created by Chat GPT, after feeding in the name of the band. Waste of time.

Somehow an idea of Cypress Hill was so much better "in my head" than in reality. I had the impression their discography is full of Rage Against The Machine type of work, but with heavier hip hop influence and a bit darker tonnes as well. Meanwhile, this album was just an average hip hoop album with a slight latino sounding drums as a beat. None of the songs had a nice flow, it was all very raw. Even "How I Could Just Kill a Man", a song that was perfectly covered by aforementioned RATM, in its original sound was incredibly clunky and just plain unattractive. I am very disappointed, I really thought it might be a great album.

Early album by The Rolling Stones. According to the lore, this is the record that showed the potential in their songwriting skills, finally coming up with their own style which we all know and love. But even though it's an important album for them historically, it's also an incredibly boring and definitely not noteworthy piece in their discography. Snoozefest to the top, very gentle melodies, vocal somewhere in the background, no power, no flair. This is definitely not a list of 1001 Most Important Albums in History, so what is it doing here?

Well, I didn't like Flying Burrito Brothers, so it's not a surprise I don't like Gram Parsons' album. It sounds like a classic country album, which means it is mediocre at best. Struggled to finish it, and I'm happy I stopped trying.

Amazing album, I think this is the ultimate surprise of this list. I have never heard of this band, or if any song made by them and still I am speechless after listening to it. "A Sailor's Life" is a great song, beautiful vocal (on the whole album), great melodies and guitar solos, but the best is the atmosphere of the record. Somehow it's very captivating from the start of the album and just keeps you in the clenched fist until the end. Looks like sometimes this list is worth all that wasted time.

OOOooooOOOO, Living on a Prayer! It's one of the most overplayed songs in the history of humankind, right after bones hitting the stones in a semi-rhytmic way. I probably even know the full lyrics, even though I never intended to. It's a hard listen nowadays, after being bombarded by it for years, same as the rest of the album that sounds like an elongation of said song, just not as catchy. I'll give it a good note, because the current, sarcastic me shouldn't come in front of the young, innocent person that has heard this song for the first time many years before. And the rest of the record is just there.

Once again an album with one great song and an overall average rest of the record. That one song is obviously D.A.N.C.E. such a great piece of electronic music, whatever the actual subgenre is. I think every party since 2007 includes some version of a remix of this song, and for a good reason. Other tracks maintain the tempo and energy of that song, but there is something lacking, you don't really feel the same atmosphere anymore, it's nothing as substantial as this. So once again, above average note, for an average album and a great song.

That's a really good pop album. I didn't realise how many summer hits were on this album. I don't really think it's one of the top albums in history, but maybe one of the best summer records with crazy hits post-2010. Nice voice though.

Second album by The The on this list, and as far as I can remember, Infected is infinitely better than the previous one, which name I don't want to remember anymore. Musically, it's a very average and uninteresting piece of post punk, but lyrically it was actually really good. Especially song Heartland, even though the instruments were snooze inducing, vocal was keeping it alive. All in all, much better, but nothing I would like to listen to in the future.

Average album, nothing interesting in particular, I tried to pay attention, but overall really underwhelming.

Good album, but other than Bittersweet Symphony there is nothing special on it. The record sounds extremely British and in the same mold as Oasis, Blur and all of the rest bands like that. Quite pleasant listening to this album, but it won't stay with me any longer than that.

Well, I'm not a fan of Acca Dacca, their beats are really annoying, as is their vocal. They struck gold with a highly regarded titular single, but otherwise it's just a slug tempo mix of the most boring drums.

Relatively pleasant album, mainly thanks to the soothing voice of Marvin Gaye. The small drawback is that I couldn't differentiate between the songs at all, because they all sounded the same to me. Easy an gentle melody, groovy bass line and Marvin. Hopefully his other albums are more interesting than this.

Average album by my uneducated hip hop standards. Beats and flow was unique, that's for sure, keeping you on your toes, but being at least semi interesting. Q-Tip's rapping style was very bland. It was hard for me to get into the flow, it was a little bit too gentle and, in the end, boring. The only saving grace is its originality. Nothing happend here folks, let's all disperse.

Well, as I already have mentioned when reviewing Joshua's Tree, I'm not a fan of U2 and I find them overrated. Achtung Baby is even worse. There is song One, which is quite okay, but the rest of the album is just incredibly boring. On the positive note, this record was perfect for an afternoon nap - with such an uneventful music I slept like a baby. I don't think 1/5 would be fair, but it has to be lower note than I gave to their first album, which was 3/5. So the final rating is pretty clear.

Everything that there was to say about Bjork and her projects has been said. Her style is very unique and addition of soft rock band doesn't change anything. 2023 - I survived another Bjork's album.

Amazing song, amazing solo, atmosphere through the roof. How come this album is not one of the most popular ever? I can listen to the titular song on the loop everyday. Rest of the album is pretty good, but this track just elevates the whole thing to the top of this list so far. Great stuff.

Scott Walker has a lovely voice and style. His songs are always pleasant to listen to, even though some of them are rather basic. But even then, I liked this album as a thing in the background, with Walkers very soothing vocal range. Really positive record.

First song was very promising - a nice and quite original mix of electronic music and latino rhytms. Melody was as catchy as the beat. But for the rest of the album, so another 50 minutes or so, I felt like I'm listening to the remix of that song in few different versions. It was repetitive and tiring, it just seemed like Gotan Project took a nice idea for a song and made a full record out of it. Overall, it wasn't too good, but wasn't that bad either, definitely I had worse experience with other albums like that.

Beautiful voice, average music, average experience. Bill Callahan seemed to mastered a certain subgenre of low-fi pop/ kind of country(?) music. And while some of the songs were interesting, with a simple set up going for few minutes, it was just too overwhelming for the duration of the whole album. It was nice to listen to "Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle", but more likely it will be my first and last encounter with Bill.

I think the name of this album works both for people that like it, and those that despise it. Unfortunately, I'm much closer to that latter group. It was just a bunch of noise that I couldn't fins a key into. It seemed very chaotic and random, just for the sake of chaos and randomness. I didn't have any fun listening to this album and honestly, I would just rather forget about it.

Elvis is Back! Unfortunately, I didn't ask for him. Its just a bunch of semi-interesting songs, nothing popular, just audibly sang by Elvis. I'm not his fan, although I enjoy his music, just not from this album.

Fun rhythms, cool atmosphere, groovy style, but otherwise underwhelming and outdated. I felt like I was listening to soundtrack from "Fresh Prince of Bel-Air", but with no emotional baggage towards the series. Lyrics weren't especially interesting and I was slowly losing interest in the song as it went on. Interesting piece of trivia, but not a band I will remember for their music.