This is one of the greatest live albums ever made. What Cash did in this album to a higher degree than I have ever heard is that he spoke to the prisoners from *their* point of view as peers. Listen to the humor, the politeness, and the anti-authoritarian comments. And the crowd responds incredibly because it was so rare for anyone to treat them this way. I've listened to this album scores of times over my life. It is one of the greatest examples of artistic empathy I know. I love Johnny Cash and I definitely love this album. I bet a lot of those guys were seeing June Carter on the back of their eyelids as they fell asleep that night. Worth going to prison for to see this performance? Maybe.

Out of the slot, down and dirty with a little kink in the gravel vocals that pop way higher than the drum machine or the syncopation of the brassy guitar. I mean when this dropped in '84, I was 8. So some of this is seminal, emotional music that still hits me so deep. When I hear her voice, I am right back there on the edge of my seat watching Mad Max or waiting for Mom's aerobics class to end. These early tracks are etched deep into the silicon of my motherboard. Her cover of Al Green is one that put me of two minds. The drum machine is not enough for this song. The synth falters. But her voice. It does carry. The Beatles cover on Help is sort of awful. Ball of confusion earns its name and hmm there are a bunch of songs in the middle that aren't good at all. I feel that all the way through the most of the end. This is one I want to fall in love with again, but just can't.

I had this album as a little kid so it is heavily intertwined with my memories. Some of the saxophone is a little saccharin, but the keyboard and vocal sound characteristics seem timeless-- especially in light of the advent of new synthpop over the last decade especially. Hungry Like the Wolf and Save a Prayer were the ones that I remember most singing with friends on the bus or loving at the school dance. HLTW is still a windows-down, crank it up song while all the kids at the red light are desperately Shazamming it.

Everything about this. The slide guitar. The fantastic honky tonk riffs. This album is top notch. This one wants me to fire up the big rig and get those 18 wheels truckin down I-10 into the arms of a stranger. It's a lullaby for cheaters and broken hearts. Fabulous piece of Americana and it was lovely to hear for the first time.

I think of this as a central album of my growing up. It was an album I'd hear in the middle of the night and find my mom alone, maybe sipping some Grand Marnier in the Baroque barley twist chair, more often in the dark with a little fire going in the fireplace. It is a critical piece of American music, and I was filled with joy to see Joni take the stage again last month. It is somewhat difficult to talk about the songs individually. I've spent so many hours listening to this over the years. Blue is a particularly challenging song. More than anything, it encapsulates all the hardest parts of my childhood with solace and revery. Complicated. Rich. Shattered. I'm not so emotional these days as I once was, but poignant 'River' still does it. It has all the feels about the things I hoped for, still hope for, but also all the losses and the things I had to say goodbye to. I made my baby cry. We all want to skate or run or fly away from the challenges and the difficulties. When I hear it today, I hear its flaws, but also I think this album is valid. It is full of excellent points and sentimental but truthful lyrics. If you cannot respect Blue as an album, your heart is not open. Joni still has it. ❤️.

Hard to believe this is 2 decades old. Every song on this album is a masterwork and a breakthrough for rap that changed the game and level set the bar up into the sky. Triumphs. Ain't no love in the heart of the city is one of my favorites. All the references and shoutouts. Marvin Gaye, Jim Morrison, and many hauntingly beautiful samples I didn't know before I looked them up like Bobby Glenn's 'Sounds Like a Love Song'. The Blueprint is an album in my general rotation even today that I listen to when I'm feeling frustrated by everything and I want to rise above the chaos. Renegade is awesome. Eminem fits right in. Girls, girls, girls is the weak link in the album that I don't think will stand the test of time. Beasties did it on License to Ill and it doesn't hold up.

It's such a sweet album. I think only because of all the memories listening to it on vinyl as a kid, it gets a 4. All my single mother's occasional heartaches come back in waves listening to Reason to Believe.

The walking blues in Shine on You Crazy Diamond as you hit the cold mechanical noise of Welcome to the Machine is a high point for me. I find Welcome to the Machine to be one of the most alienating and terrifying songs of all times, but then you are in it after a few seconds and you know they've been waiting for you. Have a cigar takes you into the dilapidated excesses of capitalism and says oh these machinations are fine, you're one of us. Ugh, but do I wanna be!?? Then when you hit Wish You Were Here for real, all of it gets stripped bare and laid to the simple acoustic. It is not only the namesake of this seminal album, but also one of the more endearing songs that Pink Floyd put out. It's the one where you know you are quietly with the tribe. A little sadness. A little nostalgia. Your heroes for ghosts. Hot ashes for trees. Hot air for a cool breeze. It is a salve and also a mourning for what we've lost to the organized and dominating machinations of power that roll over us, the quotidian proles. Shine on. It is an excellent one.

When you're great, everyone wants to dim your shine. Sure, they can call it Dad rock or whatever. They can say it's derivative. They're all wrong. The haters. I've seen Under the Pressure played live. And it has evolved from this early album. It is much glossier now than this bare bones version. "I'm in my finest hour. Can I be more than just a fool?" Yeah man. You are alright. The Haunting Idle is a truly epic intro and then, it leaves you there idling like a chef who uses the precisely correct amount of salt and leaves you hungry. And then Burning comes in like Rod Stewart in Young Turks and I am second guessing my defense of their originality, but then it meanders elsewhere.. Technically some of the most persuasive guitar sounds and crisp drum work from a currently working band. War on Drugs will be a band our children will know and respect. They will listen to it to try to understand who we were. This album is a great example of why I love music.

From the minute it drops. You know. This album is going to rick and it just changed everything about music. I'm right back there with my first girlfriend in her mom's basement. Her black hair, smelling like apricots. We had such high hopes for Cobain right out of the box and somehow we wound up with Hole as the consolation. That baseline on Teen Spirit. If that doesn't make your sap rise, are you really born in the 1970's? Hello hello hello. Come as you are is the ultimate. You wanna drive. You wanna do stuff. Still a jam and hits hard today. I've been really careful not to listen to this album for years so that when I do, I can jump in a time machine and it isn't worn out. This is music at the core of our generation. Love it!!

All I Want to Be and Wind of Change were the low water mark for me on this album. Baby I Love Your Way is sounding schmaltzy now though it was definitely the stuff of slow dances in middle school. I Wanna Go to the Sun is pretty miserable. Money, Shine On is the same. The Only song that stands for me is Do you feel, and honestly I feel it's gimmicky.

There are so many little short songs! Loved the intro to "Roller Coasters", the psychedelic surf rock vibes really lead you down the spiral alongside the other deeply laid background effects. Singer taking a background to this and the ephemeral tempo shifts are very very enticing. That said, this music that my parents would have dug, for me had its moment and while historically important isn't compelling.

Mr. Soul is a killer intro. I love NY and this song never disappoints. Hippy hippy shake guitar solos just shredding. Expecting to Fly is so evocative and makes me think about the inevitable loss of love. Songs like Hung Upside Down don't hold up too well and seem pretty threadbare. By the time you get to Sad Memory, ugh, it's like everyone left the party except me, this guitar, and this bottle of booze and a little smoke rising from a nub of incense. Overall, this is a familiar album that has not endured the years as well as other Neil Young efforts have. Broken Arrow is possibly an exception where his voice is straight and true and rises high. I love that one.

The headline in the LA Times says all I can say about Clapton (including 'Layla And Other Assorted Love Songs' at this waning stage of his career.. "Vaccinated but anti-vaccine, Eric Clapton tests positive for COVID-19". Perhaps a 'Lost Sailor', his contributions are fading into the mists of time on this 42 year old album. Some of the backup vocals do stand the test of time. Thanks for the add to the group. -neurorocker

The last time I heard this album deeply was in 1996 when I was dating a girl from Tulsa whose daddy was a CEO at a big pharma company and now just as then, the music and the girl left a lot to be desired. A studio band a girl that were a veneer of what you hoped. Vapid. Light on content. Superficial.

Not an album I've ever heard before. In the past I've felt about Joy Division the way many people feel about Morrissey (I like most of Morrissey). I always hoped that Joy Division would contextualize for me and have their moment knowing how influential they are. While I'm not a huge fan of the sound of Curtis' vocals (like a less talented Ian Asbury), I discovered some bass-lines and guitar I enjoyed more than on prior forays into the Joy Division catalog. Occasionally, the guitar was as good as some of the best Cure songs (Twenty Four Hours).

When I think back to Judas Priest, I feel like everyone called it heavy metal, and maybe it is, but it just seems like a hardworking rock band to me now. The album and the band were much better than I remembered. The relentless pounding rhythms in Steeler were excellent. There were a few popular tunes like Breakin the Law that I remembered with some fondness. These were counterbalanced by the dreck of United and Red, White & Blue which were both difficult to chew through. Not sure I would be up for a deeper dive of JP, but it was interesting to hear some of the sounds countering my internal narrative about this band.

I remember when this band was pretty hot and I couldn't find the glory in it then. I gave it a shot again this morning and I'm still a no. This polyphonic sound wall is not for me.

Best part is the guitar homage to Eye of the Tiger on Bootylicious. Other than that just wracked my brain to determine which auto-tuned keyboard song hurt my ears most. Brown Eyes was the one I finally landed on. That song seems like the soundtrack I would need if I took up full time inspiration porn on my Pinterest board. Happy Face was a very close second. I struggled to dislike one more than the other. The spoken word xian gospel lyrics were just salt in the wound.

They tried to warn us. I remember the exact moment when I first heard this album. I was on a bus bouncing through the back roads of the South San Juan Mountains of Colorado. This was the last album I heard before 24 days of hardcore alpine mountaineering with a crew of five dudes, ice axes, lines, and brand new boots. Hundreds of miles and weeks later and the lyrics were still bouncing around in my brain as they had all along the trail. The album stands. It was way ahead of its time. Probably is still ahead of its time and inaccessible to a lot of Americans who will never understand. Game-changer.

The first notes are so melancholy and moving. A worthy start for one of the most talented American performers, taken from us way too soon and so tragically (https://www.theguardian.com/music/2004/mar/19/popandrock.elliottsmith). I'm trying to remember which ex-girlfriend it was that introduced me to Elliott Smith. Might have been Sasha or maybe Erica. Probably it was Jen. But it was a long time ago, and the love affair with this music went on far longer than the relationship with her ever did (somebody that I used to know). Individually through the magic of Napster, I have quite a few of the individual tracks if Figure 8 in my collection, but there are unheard tracks here. Junk Bond. This is new to me and it swings. Guitars like church gongs in the first stanza. Easy Way Out = 💔. Damn. It's very hard not to like an Elliot Smith album. I've never heard anyone say oh I hate Elliot Smith. I think that's because you have to love music to even get introduced to Elliot Smith. And since anyone who really loves music loves Elliot Smith, no one really dislikes his music. A very quiet massive figure and this album is beautiful. Top notch. Bye.

This is a solid Depeche Mode album. Not something I would listen to frequently, but it definitely has its time and place.

This has to be the best band with the worst vocals I can think of in this genre.

This is an album that has expired. I get that this is the basis of rock and roll, but it's just all bleached bones to me now to hear. My Dad would be tapping his foot!

The opening is regal with the strings and acoustic. A lush, calm, and exquisite entrance. Second track definitely feels like Drake songs I know, sets a quickened pace and we are off. I love the sax in Chimes of a City Clock, a track I've loved a long time. It is a very mature sound far from the reckless abandon of 80's sax. Perfectly understated and not saccharin. I'm sure I am not alone in thinking that 'Fly' is superb. I feel the early notes of 'Poor Boy' are the weakest section of the album, the melody getting lost a bit with over-complex transitions. The angelic background singing pulls it all back together, however, and then this triumph rises to a completely harmonized sonic tunnel that gives way to a just slightly dirtier sax outburst and I'm all in! Northern Sky is excellent and an all time favorite. The album ends on a low note for me as it barely averts drifting into 70's schmaltz.

It's one of these major albums that changed music. Clapton is a person who I have so many personal disagreements with that I find him a bit hard to stomach and I think his dangerous opinions will ultimately dilute his popularity as a musician.

This was a pretty solid Morrissey album. I have a limited subset of his songs in my general rotation and none of these are them. Mostly rock and with predictable rhythms, but with that trademark voice that I like and the rambling and the weird noise that I also like. Overall, just a solid album. My favorite part was the piano nod at the very end to Sing me to Sleep, a great song and worthy of the musical hat tip.

Love all the old classics, didn't hear a lot that I hadn't listened to extensively here in the past. There was the one exception though, loved 'Oddfellows Local 151' which is a song that if not new to me I've not often heard!! Great track. Solid album, great band. I recall partying in Athens and hearing the locals down there rave about what great guys they are. Always amplifies a band in my opinion if they're good people.

In 1998, I was graduating from college. I was 21 and the world was full of promise. This album was barely a blip on my radar at the time and failed to rise above the many other outstanding albums that were coming out. I was deep into downloading and accumulated much of the incredible library I now enjoy. Still not doing it for me.

Just a solid rock album through and through for every song. Thoroughly enjoyed this Friday "full send" album that gets the work done!

Nice to hear a Def Leppard album. The only time I saw the band was in 2006 or so. I was in the front row and center with a buddy and ended up partying in the hotel room with one of the guys from the band in New Orleans. It was an epic and unforgettable night. I enjoyed this album quite a bit!

This is a fabulous album. The driving beats and the excellent guitar work perfectly tuned to the vocals all combine for an absolute smash. Something about this music makes me feel comfortable and at home in my skin. I'm so psyched to go see two nights of AF later this year!

It's a huge evolution that we see on this album against the Destiny's Child album heard recently. And, I appreciate the changes. It's clear that Beyonce grew as an artist between the two albums. That said, songs like 'Rocket' still sound like they are in church, and I really dislike that vocal style. Overall, not for me, but maybe the next one??

This is top shelf rock. Funny thing about this album by the greatest rock band of all time. The first track sucks. But after that... We are off and the redemption is immediate with The Rover. In My Time of Dying is a slow start and then leaps into the tight little guitar spins and quick tempo interchanges. Drums are slammin. Eventually we wend our way to Kashmir which could very well be my favorite song by my favorite band. It's an anthem and I love the Tolkien imagery as well as the strings. Legendary stuff of rock. Disc 2 is off with a bang as In the Light hits us with the heavy guitars and the total optimism halfway through. This song brings hope. Bron Yr Ar takes me back to my early teenage years, eyes full of hope and trepidation. And we swing into the hazy lazy Down By the Riverside. Ten Years Gone reminds me of my dead best friend (we used to listen to Zeppelin all the time for years before he was swept away). The backs of so many cars. So many basements. Campfires. All the excellent nights. "Rivers always reach the sea".

I'm so glad to see this album! This is one of the best Neil Young albums and almost no one knows it well. The best part of this album for me is that I discovered it myself later in life (in my 40's), so it isn't intertwined with complex teenage memories. I know every inch of it and love it so much. That Wurlitzer on See the Sky About to Rain combined with the slide is just... too perfect. The banjo on For the Turnstyles is just classic and portends banjo on later songs like Old King. Good thing I have this album in my collection since Neil Young is *still* way to good for Spotify!!!

This is such a funky and fun Talking Heads album. Classic Byrne bouncing around, seemingly having fun, but technically sound!

Sebadoh is kind of like Pavement. I know they are out there, I know people love to listen to it, but mostly it doesn't do it for me. I always feel like I must be missing something, and indeed sometimes a band will suddenly contextualize for me, so I'll just say, I'm not quite ready for Sebadoh if this album is representative.

I just didn't like this one at all... :(

CCR managed to always give the Southern fried rock served up without the racism. This album is a solid one packed full of the hits that defined the band and got radio play for decades. Liked it, even if the sound is becoming a bit tired and dated. Lots to be nostalgic for and a good tight album with many important songs.

Our Lips are Sealed was one we had on 45 with We Got the Beat! I distinctly remember the family dancing to it. So, it was very nice to revisit this album that came out when I was 6! It is even better than I remember it. The sound has actually not only held up, but sounds incredible keeping pace with some of the hottest music. It's still edgy, tight licks, and hot chicks. The guitar on Lust to Love is especially kick@$$.

This was much better than I was expecting! I really enjoyed all of it! Lots of cowbell.

I have actually listened to a couple CB albums in the past. I liked that opening track which was a classic. Despite the funky name, this band is pretty conventional with a whiff of the 60's psychedelic style into Zig Zag Wanderer. That whiff turns into a full odor by the time you get to Dropout Boogie. I'm Glad makes a complete shift to RNB and that's kind of weird. By electricity, we are back to the gimmicky psychedelic soul replete with therimin. Is that what I'm hearing?? Anyhow, the last ten songs seem to blur together into an ooze and others overheard this and said, that must be the worst music I've ever heard!

Maybe it was growing up to him on the warm sound of spinning vinyls. Maybe it was people spontaneously singing the lyrics around me. I'll always have a home for the too often reviled Dylan. This album is a masterwork. A lullaby by its end and so many of the greatest hits are on it. Dylan is indeed a prince and an American icon. That said, I finally went to see him at Jazzfest one year. The swamp was so hot that I ended up 10,000 miles away from the jumbotron smashed between de-shirted frat bros, and it made me reconsider. All of those images were in my head as I enjoyed some of the lesser known tracks. Stellar artist and a great example.

Don't tell anyone about this album which is by far and away one of the greatest kept secrets in music. I have listened to it hundreds of times and it just never lets me down. It was like revisiting an old friend with whom you never quarrel. The transition to Calvary Cross has to be one of the greatest in modern music history. Try not to cry when the existential wall hits you and you now know there is 'Nothing at the End of the Rainbow'. I always want to know more. Who were the Thompsons? Why were they so good? How come they never got famous? But I decided a long time ago intentionally NOT to open any of those boxes and potentially spoil the music. So dense and each song standing so alone that every song is like an album. If I was trapped on a desert island and could only have five albums, this would probably be one of them.

This is an album that should mean so much to me as a red-blooded American, but doesn't There is a track or two that is excellent.. Okay, Born to Run is excellent. The rest is just okay. If there isn't a freight train runnin through the middle of my bed, it just isn't Bruce enough for me. Just okay.

When I was a kid, this was a 5. I knew every word and we often sang songs from it on our many drives between Washington DC and home shuttling between parents. I think now it has faded for me, possibly fueled by angst and resentment. lol. #overshare.

Mid-college album for me in Northern Arizona enjoying the Southwest and definitely finding all the clubs between Houston and Phoenix. This album was highly relevant for a couple of months in '96 starting in Texas for me and then carrying on for a few years. And a lot of events occurred with its birth that were terribly exciting. It calls up girls in leather catsuits and limos and other things that won't now be transcribed in detail from the thankfully analogue experiences of then to the digital AI superstructure of now. Needless to say, a wonderful pacifying album for some extremely interesting times. I know every song of this like the curves of Schnebly Hill Road or the vintage 70's couches of East Flagstaff or the Kingfisher's bar in Tucson. Mmm. This was a ground-breaking album that erupted and shattered the late grunge era of that year with a fresh sound. And this sound has basically persisted for decades in some genres though never as good as the first time. There is no bad song on this album. Wrong is my favorite with wherever you go I will follow you, but also Mirrorball is a hot track. Bringing back almost a bit too many memories!!

I did not find this particularly to my taste and I really love 80's music and had high hopes.

There were like 800 songs on this album! It was a fun punkstravaganza. Several quiet or thoughtful tracks alongside the more traditional fodder.

I love Kind of Blue. Though I've slogged through this album any of a number of times (and even studied it in college), it just has not contextualized for me yet. Really respect Miles Davis, but this one is very difficult.

It was a groovy journey with a few tracks that rose above. Bit too much flute for my taste!

I've always struggled with Bad Brains even though people I deeply respect love this group. So, I always try to dip in and try them periodically. So glad I did. This was way better than previous engagements. She's Calling you was the highlight. Lots of very tight timing changes.

Tonight the Bottle Let me Down is surely the best track here and portends the better music that Haggard made later in his career. Just kidding, that's not on this album. Haggard, usually a country star favorite of mine from the early outlaw subgenre is music I usually love, but this album was just too early in his development to give me much to get excited about.

A very solid Brit punk album from a band I did not know. Overall, it is a classic. I still have my top favorite punk albums and this won't be in it, but I can see why this band is considered highly innovative. The driving drums combined with the various singing styles were the highlight for me.

Is it RNB? Am I on a spacecraft? Is this an opera or is the orchestra tuning up their instruments? Somewhere in between?? Although I really dislike RNB, I found myself somehow entranced by this album which passes somewhere from this halls into another intergalactic dimension and it held my interest. I feel like I could give this one a few more listens as it was pretty fascinating.

It's a stunning and beautiful album. Many of the songs I know very well, but others are new to me. If Tom Waits is new to you, I am so sorry you didn't grow up with it on the record player as I was so lucky to do then and now too. His voice and his sound are embedded into the soul fabric of my music heart. I love to hear it. If you've never seen it, please watch this Tom Waits video as it will make you laugh and just shows his range, his depth, and his humor! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9NWUqR5w_A

Kind of a fun trashy punk 'n' hair band. I can see why this album has some swag and I really enjoyed it for the most part. Some of the lyrics are a bit top heavy on sniffing glue, but otherwise, I surprised myself by enjoying and humming a long to it more than I expected! The clean interludes on 'Vietnamese Baby' were technically great. 'Subway Train' was catchy.

Of the many things I love about Little Richard, these songs aren't any of them. I think this is certainly where I must have first encountered this interesting and electrifying persona, but probably not the one I remember most. If you aren't watching him do his thing in a video, the music just cannot fully convey his entirety.

This is that edgy over-produced sound that just has bro time in the Jeep Wrangler off-roading reverberating out of every melody. Not as good as 311 or Daft Punk, but just sort of nipping at their heels.