Very 80s (has an INXS feel) with awesome bass and synth driving the rhythm
Very hit and miss. Christine’s & Stevie’s songs are solid to great (an album of just them would be 4-5 stars), but Lindsey’s songs are not good. They feel like incomplete snippets of things that he wanted to yell in Stevie’s face, and whatever he was going for with his guitar tone doesn’t work for me. Even Tusk is fun and sounds epic but lyrically is overly simplistic and not particularly interesting.
The hits are great, filler is forgettable
Loved this. Hints of Dylan, Jeff Buckley, smashing pumpkins. Good melodic rock
Couple good songs but overall not all that interested…very 80s sound
A bunch of bangers but too many meh songs to be 4 stars
Playing was great so I wanted to like more. Songs just felt like (good!) incomplete snippets so I didn’t know when one ended and the next started…a bit too incomplete feeling.
Liked the 2 songs I already knew (angel from Montgomery, paradise) and other lyrics were clever but just musically not interesting enough for me
Really strong start but fell off a bit
She is clearly very talented and has some great lines, I just didn’t like the songs
Great grooves / vibe / mood
Fine…nothing exciting or overly interesting, but good background music
Super fun genre hopping quirkiness…
A couple good grooves but too much of real club music for me. Not offensive but not really interesting.
Wasn’t what I expected from what I know of the pixies. Really good melodic rock, some great hooks
Not really just electronica, but has some aspects. Solid beats and jam band feel almost. Good energy / working music
Catchy, and some good songs but just too heavy for me
Avant- gard noise…art not not music
Very cinematic sounding (from 70s / 80s movies). Not as weird as I expected from the description.
Too weird to listen to often but had enough interesting parts
Really good grooves / energy. Not something I would seek out, but enjoyable to listen to. Good background for working.
I guess this “matters” because of who it is and the context…very forgettable other than maybe “Here I Go” and Octopus”
This is clearly a master at work with some incredible songs…but I just didn’t connect on an emotional level/ visceral level with most songs in the same way I do things I love.
Weird, but exciting. I just listened to a movie.
Bizarre, mesmerizing, enthralling
I was kind of dreading this because I remembered not enjoying (1 star rating) her other album (Rid of Me) when listening to it, but I actually really enjoyed this. To the extent that I also re-listened to Rid of Me to see if I had changed or PJ had. Little bit of both - Still didn’t love Rid of Me but I definitely didn’t hate it (would be between 2-3 stars), this one is a high 3 or 4 for me.
Nice surprise - not really in my genre but a very pleasant listen. Will listen again when I need something with some energy in the background.
All I can really say is that this was better than the Limp Bizkit and Kid Rock albums on the list so far, so I didn’t totally hate it…a few interesting riffs but overall very meh. Thought the singles I already knew were among the worse songs on the album.
Not my favorite genre but this was pleasant enough. I appreciated the restraint and subtlety of the bass and drums / that it wasn’t just thumping…
Musically pretty good and interesting, but vocals and lyrics were a weak link. If the those were even ok this could have been 4 stars…
Musically I guess this could be 2 stars - not interesting but not offensive. But he hates women so much it bumps it down to 1 star
A couple of good grooves but mostly annoying snippets. Somewhere between 2-3 stars but the bad outweighed the good so going with 2.
First half of the album is amazing, second half is very generic. Still think the first half can carry this to 4 stars though.
Bro-tastic 70s (hints if 80s) old time rock and roll. Ok, but nothing special…
There’s a song with farts!
This was fine - some good songs but felt very of its time. I hear Beatles, doors, Dylan in here but not as timeless.
This was interesting- a mix of very theatrical songs and really nice “romantic” ballads. The theatrical ones were fine songs but didn’t work all that well for me in this context, they seemed to belong on Broadway or in a soundtrack. The ballads really solid, particularly likes Love’s Enough. More of these could have brought this to 4 stars.
This is a remarkable album. I feel like for most of the albums in this that I like, I have at least heard of the artist but I was completely unfamiliar with Laura Nyro.
For the first few tracks the sudden tempo changes were a bit jarring but as I got more used to it the songs and instrumentation are fantastic. Listed to it twice straight through and excited to explore some of her other albums. I'd put this a shade below 4.5 stars so rounding to 4, but very strong.
I didn't need to listen to this album because every note is ingrained in my mind and have seen most of the songs on it dozens of times as a huge Springsteen fan. That said, it was great to just sit down in front of my record player and listen to it through which I don't do that often. This one is notable for Springsteen for being one of his few (only?) albums where the songs don't sound meaningfully better live...not that they are worse live, but the work in the studio here paid off to create a huge wonderful sound.
Most of the songs are fine, not a particular fan of his voice. And Come On Eileen is a banger.
1st half could have been almost 4 stars but lyrically not quite there. Very strong enjoyable 3
Very enjoyable / listenable
Really enjoyable listen - as another review mentioned, what could be background music really grabs your attention and interest. This list has definitely opened my eyes to jazz to a greater degree than I was aware of it before, excited to dig into more of his music.
Low 3 - not much of interest, very dated sounding, but not offensive to listen to.
Some bangers but overall just too dark and angry for me
Great stones sound but a lot of the songs were just good not great. Maybe I’ll get it through more listens but I’m confused why this album is considered one of the best ever.
Rounding up a little bit, but a surprising 5 for me. I knew the singles and they’re bangers, but the other tracks are also very strong and evocative.
This is not my preferred genre so anything above 3 stars was going to be a challenge. Most of the album was fine background music but not particularly interesting and could have been 3 stars because they were inoffensive. but 2-3 tracks were just weird repetitive words that were too long and very annoying so that brings it down 1.
I had heard of Roxy Music but don’t think I had heard of them or could even place their era or genre. This was great - love the energy of the first track (The Thrill of It All) and it went back to that level quite frequently. Even the things that were a bit more out there were well done and exciting. Very solid, will seek out more of their work. While Roxy Music is obviously geographically distinct I see a lot in common with the CBGB bands that I’ve to some extent discovered that I love through this (Television and Talking Heads in particular)…I had been generally familiar with the era and the names of the bands but had equated the style more with the Ramones (also great but not as interesting to me), which has been a major benefit of exploring this list.
Low key & enjoyable, but enough going on that it grabbed my interest and didn't fade into the background for me.
I wanted to like this more, but the vocals were a bit too rough for me. Some great songs, but a few too many clunkers to get to the next level. Just shy of 3.5 stars so rounding down.
Not what I expected from a Queen album and and first listen I got distracted and didn’t live it, but second listen through this hooked me - super fun
Well that was some weird shit. I don’t think I particularly liked it, but I’m also not sure I really disliked it. At least it was generally interesting, but not something I think I need to hear again.
This is too heavy for my taste, but despite that was musically pretty interesting. It got lucky in that it’s good music to work out to and that happened to be when I was listening to some of it…that almost pulled it up to a 3 but I dislike the screaming vocals enough that it couldn’t quite get there. A strong 2?
Amazing debut, 4 all time classic songs out of 8, and the others were solid also!
Can’t believe this was 50 years old - sounds like it could have come out yesterday. And definitely see where the Black Keys got their sound from. None of the songs individually grabbed me but this is a great sound and I expect the songs will grow on me. Excited that there’s another T. Rex album on the list to discover also.
This is an album that I bought at some point around when it came out that faded and I had forgotten about and not thought about in at least a decade if not more. For whatever reason it just didn't stick with me. I think I appreciated it a bit more listening to it again now, but my impression didn't really change - it's just "fine" - a couple of songs or parts of songs that are fun in the moment but are then somewhat forgettable, too many long largely unchanging instrumental parts (that were nice enough to listen to but not enough to sustain longer term interest), and most of the songs sound a bit too much the same. Enjoyable to listen to but not something that will keep me coming back...
I was generally familiar with Marilyn Manson before this, between Warner's awfulness as a person, controversies around the band, and growing up in the late 90s so I'd definitely heard Beautiful People and their cover of Sweet Dreams, but this wasn't my type of music growing up so had never really listened to them and was kind of dreading listening to it. I didn't like the lyrical content (way too dark for me) and or the vocal style (although I could tolerate it better than some of the more screamed metal vocals like Sepultura), and I couldn't get through everything and skipped around a bit, but musically this was actually pretty solid and interesting and something I could really enjoy with different vocals and themes. I'm wavering between 2 & 3 stars here but will lean 3 because I'm in a good mood today.
I guess this is (mostly) listenable but nothing special and not sure why it's on this list other than the writer liked it. The tracks with Elisabeth Cole were the best part to me, but overall too repetitive.