How could you not give Doolittle 5 stars. There isn't a single moment on this album which isn't at the very least wildly entertaining. Its absolutely packed full of songs which not only set the template for decades of alternative rock. The fact that Here Comes Your Man, Wave of Mutilation, Hey, Monkey Gone To Heaven and the absolute monster of a song Debaser all appear on the same album is absolutely remarkable. Additionally a lot of modern music from Nirvana all the way through Pavement to the Strokes would probably sound very different. Dolittle deserves 5 stars and more.

One of my favourite albums and an incredibly important album in the development of modern music. "Endtroducing....." was the first album comprised entirely of samples and set the template for much of the way we produce today as well as being a huge influence on my music in general. Highlight Track: Stem/Long Stem - this track has some great memorable vocal sample moments "Waiting to be heard on my traffic offenses"! And some gnarly processed distorted breakbeats in the first half.

Taylor Swift's foray into folk pays off big time. A great album and one of those fantastic examples of what happens when a top tier song writer gets bored and decides to do something different. Highly recommended.

There's few genres I really get nothing out of but this type of Latin jazz is one of them, does absolutely nothing for me. The band seems talented but it just doesn't vibe with me at all

I'm familiar with The Stranglers bigger singles and have long adored 'Golden Brown' from 1981's 'La Folie'. I think I probably have heard Rattus, but probably a long time ago. I did catch them live at a small festival in Guildford (Their home town) many years ago and remember them being brilliant. This brand of punk with keys and a bit of sax every now and then really appeals to me. One thing that caught me a bit off guard is that you can hear little bits of the emerging bass heavy, repetitive, droning post punk sound, particularly on the standout song, the opener 'Sometimes.' I also caught snatches of Blues, Rock and Roll and even a little Skiffle in there, but nothing sounds out of place. Brilliant album.

A historically noteworthy and highly listenable album. I really love the very simple and early production on this album, but you can tell they were trying some things. The instrumentation sounds great and Solomon's voice is like silk. If you wanted one criticism its that the songwriting is a bit samey after a while, but then again, its soul, that's not really the point. What a pleasure to listen to.

P-Funk isn't something I often think to listen to but whenever I do I am reminded how much fun it is. Spending a bit of time in the world of George Clinton is a listening experience that's not quite like anything else I can think of. That being said there's only so much of it I can listen to before I get a bit lost, The fact that Clinton and crew have distilled funk down to pure well... funkiness both works in its favour and to its detriment. Highly enjoyable.

Jane's addiction have always seemed a bit like they didn't really know what they wanted to do. There's great moments in there, quite a few of them but then it lurches off to something else without pausing to fully explore an idea. Some good songs making up an album which, for me, never manages to elevate itself above pretty good

There's not many bands that have produced multiple anthems that have stood the test of time and are still in the popular consciousness; this album produced not only Common People but also Disco 2000. Which is to say there is certainly no lack of songwriting or production on show. Bar Itallia has to be up there with the all time great album closers as well. Jarvis Cocker always brings a lot of personality to everything he does but I tend to find his melodies and lyrical content a bit samey, his enthusiasm more than makes up for it though. All in all a brilliant album but not one thats in my regular rotation 4/5

Having never heard this album before I was expecting something closer in tone to Murder Ballads and that's definitely not what this is, much brighter and more hopeful in tone than you'd expect. Cave is brilliant as are the rest of the band but I don't think they are at their best doing this kind of work.

Wow so this album is quite a journey. I'll admit during the opening strains of Sea Song I wasn't expecting to give this a very high rating but at some point it clicked what was going on. This strange proggy, folky beautiful mess of an album unfolds in front of you, constantly surprising but never sounding out of place in context of the rest of the record. Robert is a brilliant songwriter and incredibly cryptic lyricist and his delicate warbling, meandering delivery takes a while to get used to but seems to reflect exactly what he was trying to achieve. Not to mention he has recruited a hell of a team to play with him. This is the sound of a group of musicians who have got wild experimentation down to a fine art. I can see myself revisiting this many times in the future.

I knew the name Teenage Fanclub but can't say I'd ever really given them a proper chance before and I was very impressed. A little bit indie, a hint of grunge, a little britpop its equal parts Dinosaur Jr, Pavement and Oasis. Not dissimilar to Ash who were coming from Ireland around the same time. A perfect example of that wonderfully carefree 90's indie sound but with enough interest and edge to keep it engaging.

How could you not give Doolittle 5 stars. There isn't a single moment on this album which isn't at the very least wildly entertaining. Its absolutely packed full of songs which not only set the template for decades of alternative rock. The fact that Here Comes Your Man, Wave of Mutilation, Hey, Monkey Gone To Heaven and the absolute monster of a song Debaser all appear on the same album is absolutely remarkable. Additionally a lot of modern music from Nirvana all the way through Pavement to the Strokes would probably sound very different. Dolittle deserves 5 stars and more.

This album was obviously put together with a huge amount of care and skill. Unfortunately this brand of 80's pop really doesn't speak to me on any level. Also it doesn't help that I've got a seething hatred of the awful wedding disco earworm that is Come On Eileen. Not for me unfortunately

I love Brian Eno and this is a brilliant record. Its bold and so packed with interesting ideas it can barely contain them all. You could accuse it of maybe jumping around a bit too much but I think that's part of what give it its charm. This is Brian Eno taking his influences and inventing modern ambient music before your very ears. My two standout tracks are The Big ship, an incredible though provoking swell of sawtooth synths and galloping drums. The Big Ship also contains some guitar work which is shockingly prescient of what would become post rock decades later. Second is Becalmed which would have sounded equally at home on his later Ambient works or indeed an underworld album from the 90's. Not my ultimate favourite Eno work but to say that on about an album which is this incredibly shows you how brilliant Eno's career is.

I've never been particularly taken in by Clapton's works and I wasn't on this album either. I find the songwriting a little bit middle of the road. The guitar work and tones are great though, as you'd expect from Clapton. Not for me but I can see why someone might really like this album, I didn't have an unpleasant time listening to it. But I cant see a situation where I'll ever think "I could really go for an Eric Clapton album right now"

One of the defining albums of the 200's indie movement. Franz Ferdinand immediately set themselves apart with razor sharp out fits, razor sharp cheekbones and razor sharp disco beats which immediately set them apart from the hundreds of "landfill indie" bands around at the time. The standout is of course take me out which is so much fun it has the power to stop you in your tracks to make you listen. But the rest of the album is packed with great tunes, dark of the matinee and auf achse are some favourites.

A bit motown, a bit funky, a great typical example of the sound of the era. I actually preferred the more standard Temptations stuff on the back half of the album from the slightly more funky and progressive stuff. I found the quality of the recording and mix varied wildly throughout the record, the highs particularly at points seem to get quite grating. A pleasant listen but not remarkable enough for me to put it up with the great motown albums

You tend to forget just how many hits Dusty made completely her own. The pure quality of that voice which has been rarely matched just transformed any song into something special. The vocal performances throughout are impeccable, (obviously) and the production on the instrumentation is timeless and supports dusty without overpowering her at any time. There's also the fact that it's just really really good. The song selection and track list is just really well put together and the whole album front to back is really entertaining.

Really not my thing. There's some good moments and I did like H2O Gate Blues. The delivery is passionate and the piano is great. Just not for me.

I have incredible respect for prince as an artist but I find this a bit too 80's pop for my tastes. Of course there are a few bangers, namely the title track. And I absolutely love the arrangements on the whole album, its dense and interesting and the range of instrumentation and samples are great. Similarly the production could be from 2022, not 1982 and you wouldn't bat an eye. I'm just not the biggest fan of how the whole package ends up coming together.

I find this album listenable but completely unremarkable. A standout single probably would have elevate this to a 3 but to me it sounds like a recording session with 2 people (Dion and Spector) who had slightly different ideas about what they wanted to do and it just didn't quite get there.

I wasn't taken in immediately by this one but as it got into the back half of the record I started really feeling it. The guitar work is incredible and the horns just wash over you, so smooth. Another one with absolutely timeless production as well, wouldn't bat an eye if this was from the 90's. I'm a big fan of Japanese City Pop and this was exactly the kind of thing they were influenced by so in a way I'm kind of approaching this from an odd direction. But I absolutely loved it.

A Perfectly serviceable album but one I find pretty unremarkable when compared to Wellers work with The Jam. I had a perfectly pleasant time listening to it but I wouldn't really be able to tell you any of the standout songs.

A great album, lots of fun and attitude. Not the best AC/DC ever produced but a banger none the less

Scroll back through my reviews and you will see that I really try hard to say something positive about albums, even if they aren't for me. But this album actually made me angry listening to it. Country and pop are two genres where you have to be an exceptional talent to pull them off, and more often than not that is achieved by Adding some kind of twist, or flair or just by being an incredible songwriter. This has none of those redeeming qualities. 45 minutes of meaningless drivel. Low point: Oh, what a world, for a song that I guess is meant to be abut how good life can be why it uses the most plain, devoid of emotion vocoder loop that I've ever heard. Kacey, go listen to some Bon Iver and see how its done properly.

I absolutely adore this album, always have. Girl from mars to me is the standout track, this sweet little love song poking its head above this sea of chaotic alt rock. Kung Fu is also great, such an infectious and high energy song. But the whole album is just really solid slightly grungy, slightly garagey alt-rock. Brilliant live band as well, so many good times seeing these guys at festivals. Plus it starts with a tie fighter sound, how could you go wrong.

A really important band in the development of rock and roll and a really great album. Not particularly listenable in the modern era though. Love what they were doing but as with so many trailblazers, because everything they were doing has become so much a part of the rock lexicon it didn't thrill me from 55 years in the future.

How can you fail to be charmed by this album? Every inch of it oozes confidence; a bunch of guys doing something new but with total conviction that everything they are making is pure gold. And what do you know? They were right. "Scorpio" is still a thrilling listen and "Its a Shame" is still as poignant now as it was when it was written. A incredibly entertaining and well put together album.

If you were going to get someone to do an album of unfinished Woody Guthrie works, Billy Bragg would be pretty high up that list. Wilco probably wouldn't be. But what a delightfully odd and successful pairing (a quick search tells me that Bragg approached Wilco, I'd like to know a bit more about what led to that phone call). Really good album, the star of the show is of course Guthrie's lyrics, which are strong throughout. It didn't rock my world, but I had a pleasant 50 odd minutes while listening to this.

Didn't really strike a chord with me but I can see why it gets a lot of love

A roaring stomping Pouges record, what's not to love. MacGowen is at his slurriest and swaggeriest and the band are as frenetic and folky as ever. Plus its got Fairytale of New York, scientifically the most Christmassy thing in existence. A great record.

How does anyone follow up Rumors? I think most people would break under the pressure, fortunately Fleetwood Mac were already a pretty broken and fractured unit. And it really shows in their work, more through the music here than on Rumors, where the tension was all about the lyrics. Tusk is a sprawling record that makes huge tonal shifts as it jumps between songwriters. Personally I feel like some of Buckingham's songwriting strays a little to far into Mccartneyesque novelty on songs like "The Ledge" and "What Makes You Think You're the One", which I don't think suits the band all that much. It does give an interesting counterpoint though to some of the less over the top songs by Nicks and McVie. Stevie Nicks is on frighteningly good songwriting form on this record and her songs really stand out as some of the highlights to me, she makes side two very much all about her with "Storms" and "Sisters of the Moon" and Side 4's "Beautiful Child" has got to be one of the best things Fleetwood Mac ever recorded. Christine McVie's incredibly grounded and honest songs make side 3 all about her, much like Nicks did on side 2. "Brown Eyes" into "You'll never make me cry" is such a powerful combo, and then being lifted back up by Buckingham into "I know I'm not wrong" is an absolutely phenomenal musical moment. John McVie and Mick Fleetwood, the eponymous Fleetwood Mac are also spectacular, the bass work is so interesting throughout, and never stops or dips in quality. And works so well with Mick's drums in a way that can only come from many many years of being a rhythm section. I was going to give this a four but over the course of writing the review I think I have convinced myself to go to a 5. I'm also compelled to revisit some of my favorite bits. So a 5 it is, I still don't think its quite on the same quality as the much tighter "Rumors" but an amazing piece of work. It also gave me an opportunity to play one of my favourite games, "Which member of Fleetwood Mac wrote this song". Its not a particularly hard game, but entertaining none the less.

This is a very different Wilco than most people know from Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. More Alt-Country than Alt-Rock. If I'm honest I'd never really heard this early Wilco before and suddenly their inclusion on Mermaid Avenue makes a lot more sense, something I've always been confused by. A lot of these songs are really great. You can hear Tweedy starting to head a little towards his later sound. The influence of bands like Pavement are all over this and tells a rather intriguing story of an alt-country musician starting to reinvent his sound into something a bit more enigmatic. I particularly like when the dissonant and noisy bit surface for a minute and you think "Yep, this is Wilco". The main problem is sweet christ on a bike it's a slog. Not because it significantly drops in quality, but because its an hour and 20 long. I'm a firm believer that if you don't have a particular reason to write a double album, don't do it! This could have been two releases and it would have been great! But you run out of so much energy after the 15th alt-country song that its really not doing its self any favours. Why did no one sit him down and go "Jeff... its an hour and seventeen minutes, tone it back a bit mate." The main feeling that I'm left with after listening to Being There is, why didn't I just go listen to Yankee Hotel Foxtrot? Because of the list obviously, but I don't think I'll ever consciously put this on again over YHF.

45 Minutes of absoloute chaos, I absolutely loved it. I have crossed paths with TJSBE (as I assume fans call them) many times over the years (notably of course from Baby Driver) but never sat down to listen to them, despite knowing it would be my kind of thing. But that's what projects like this are all about right, to help you get round to all these artists and I'm so glad I did with this one. There's a lot of good riffery and songcraft in here, its just hidden behind the noise on purpose and strung together in a way which is a hell of a brave move to make and one I respect immensely. The songs are short and never outstay their welcome and the amount of influences on show are staggering. This is great stuff. 4/5

I don't really get Bruce Springsteen. Not that I don't like the music, I do, its pretty good but I don't understand why he has this cult like fervor surrounding him. This is an album of above average pop rock (with the standout being the title track) but Springsteen fans seem to think he is the second coming. Which really confuses me. I don't have a huge amount to say about the music apart from it was good but I couldn't really pick out any standout moments. A Very solid 3/5 for me, liked it but probably not going to put it on again any time soon

An interesting album. I've always been quite impressed by this brand of avant garde pop, its always so dense and intricately put together it boggles my mind how much skill and care these artists have. And this is no exception, Jane Weaver has had a varied career and by this point has obviously learned exactly how to achieve the sounds she wants. Always changing and holding your attention, Modern Kosmology didn't seem to have a standout track for me but in the best way possible, because the quality is so high throughout. This is one ill come back to definitely.

Some bands take years and several albums to find their voice, Oasis come out of the gate, glass the waiter, steal someone's pint and leave. Its got to be up there in the best debuts. Oasis get a bad rep for being overly simplistic rock and roll for football hooligans. And I get that viewpoint, I do, but those people should lighten up, its great songwriting done well and with attitude and the wall of guitars sound is timeless. I absolutely adore the opening bars of "Live Forever", its a classic musical moment and for that reason id probably point to it as my standout song. I'm only not giving this 5 stars by its unfortunate virtue of not being "(What's the story) Morning Glory?". Its not Definitely Maybe's fault of course but sometimes you get overshadowed by your more successful sibling.

This was a fantastic album. I was a bit worried in the opening 2 or 3 songs that it was going to be a bit too ambitious for its own good and outstay its welcome. But as soon as the album hits its stride with "The art of peer pressure" (My personal favourite) it doesn't let up. Enough has been said about how good Lamar is as a wordsmith and rapper that at this point its almost become a cliché. But its only talked about so much because its true, he seamlessly shifts between styles and tones with such mastery its very impressive. But to me the true genius is how he puts an album together and who he surrounds himself with to do it. A great example of the fantastic sound design on show is on the titular "m.A.A.d city" which starts with quite an aggressive gangsta style beat and gradually morphs into something that would be quite at home on DJ shadow's "Endtroducing" but does it so totally seamlessly and without sounding out of place. I could keep writing for ages about this and while it doesn't fit into my usual criteria for a 5 (being usually reserved for my all time favourites) I've decided to promote it for being so engaging it makes me excited to do the review.

I have a slight annoyance with wings in that it seems like McCartney looked at the back half of Abbey road, which was famously a medley and went "Yeah lets do that, but all the time". The title track has so many good moments and really great pieces, but then lurches away from them before you get a chance to really get into it. I find the rest of it a bit disjointed as well. And the bits that aren't are a bit... "Maxwell's silver hammer" for their own good. Although Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five is an exception to everything I have just said, its an incredible song and exactly what I want wings to sound like all the time, they just can't quite keep that level of intensity going it seems. That being said its got that signature McCartney charm and the bas is as good as you'd expect from the man himself. The whole album is also very fun and entertaining which is probably exactly what he was trying to do over the last years of the Beatles, inject a bit of fun back into proceedings to bring them back together, something he carried on into Wings. Ultimately the fact that I've spent two paragraphs banging on about the Beatles probably sums it up really. A Really great solid album but wings never set my world on fire and really serve as a monument, as did all of the fab four's work in the 70's, to what came before.

ZZ Top are a fine band, don't get me wrong. But I never quite got on with them as much as I feel like I want to. I feel like being in my 30's and from South West England I'm from the wrong time or place, or more likely both, to really appreciate what they do. That being said I really enjoyed this album, more than I thought I would if I'm honest and of course it has the absolute banger "La Grange" on it which massively goes in its favour. Although the version I heard is a 2006 remaster, the production and recording style of this album is very much of its time, the guitar and fuzz just sounds so 70's in that instantly identifiable way which if I'm honest isn't my favourite recording style, I prefer a more generic timeless production. The song writing is great and catchy but again very old school at this point. Not bad but not something I'll likely put on again any time soon. 3/5

Let me say before I start that this was the hardest album to rate that I've listened to yet. I swung throughout the course of it from 1 to 4 and ultimately can absolutely see why people rate it highly. John Cale's work with the velvet underground needs no introduction but this was my very first exposure to his solo work. A casual browse throws up words like avant-garde and experimental. Brilliant I thought a challenging listen in the vein of Robert Wyatt or a proto ambient work in the vein of what Eno was doing at the time awaits me. I don't think that's what this album is. I cant really tell what this album is. Is it a collection of 70's folk ballad nonsense? Is it a very accessible baroque pop album? Is it sublimely stripped down progressive rock? I genuinely can't tell. And therein lies the issue I want it to be more progressive, I want it to commit to being a weird album. However it just manages to dodge the question of if its a work of a mad genius or a singer songwriter going through the motions. Sometimes that enigmatic quality is to be celebrated, most of the time really but with this one it just left me feeling really frustrated. On the good points the title track is a great song and "Hanky Panky Nohow" has somehow wormed its way into the same part of my brain that's usually reserved for things much closer to outsider art. In fact, skipping back through the album, the song writing in general is quite strong. I just wish I could work out what he was trying to say with this album. I'm giving it a 2 but also following it on Spotify to give it more listens, I think that says it all really.

Not so much a release as a cultural touchstone in the way that only certain brands of indie bands seem to be able to achieve. The Suburbs does something that I think its quite remarkable, its a long album but it never really strays from sounding on brand. I'm not going to analyse what makes an Arcade Fire song sound like an Arcade Fire song, but they are an instantly recognisable band and every song on The Suburbs is of a very consistent tone and quality. Personally I love The Suburbs, the song writing as I have already mentioned is great, the vocals are never not totally on point, its got so many hits on it that most bands would take 3 albums to build up that many singles. But more than anything its interesting. There's always stuff going on to hold your attention and has been very finely crafted as such, its as much an achievement as a good record. If I had one complaint its probably that its bookended with the best song on the record which is maybe on purpose, start and end with your best melody but I feel like it could have been a really good mid album high point to keep the momentum up. 4/5

Sugary and Twee in a way that only a combination of Christmas songs and the early 60's can deliver. I've never been one for Christmas songs, and that's not something that listening to this collection of (admittedly iconic) songs is going to change unfortunately. I know a lot of people love this kind of thing but I just cant buy into it, its just far too cutesy and sentimental for me. There is however some great vocals and musicianship on show here. And it is a curiosity because of the Wall of Sound production style being applied to these songs. Definitely a little bit interesting, just really really not for me.

The Greschwin's music is incredibly iconic to a whole generation of people but unfortunately 1920's and 30's music like this hasn't aged particularly well. Everything from the sentiment to the references to the music itself just screams old fashioned and outdated. Which is a shame because there is obviously a lot of skill that went into writing these songs and Ella Fitzgerald does a find job performing these. But I just cant get into them. I'm chalking this one down as a "not for me".

Being only passingly familiar with Tori Amos, I didn't expect this album to have quite such an interesting and literate pop sound, its more closely aligned with Kate Bush and Bjork than Katie B. Hawkins (not that there's anything wrong with Ms Hawkins, she's written some bangers.) It was a pleasant surprise. Some of the sounds on the album err a bit to close to Casio keyboard territory for comfort. Admittedly it was the early 90's but the DX-7 had been in production for almost a decade, its not like they didn't know what good synth sounds were. It becomes a lot more palatable if you chalk it up to a low fi artistic choice on the part of Amos rather than a symptom of the cynicism and "progress over quality" attitude they had in the 90's but I suspect that wasn't the case. Either way that's just the Synth Nerd in me talking, it doesn't actually affect the songs which are strange, beautiful and charming. The album is a touch on the longer side but doesn't outstay its welcome. Very good 4/5

From what little I know of Elvis this definitely isn't him at his most bombastic or provocative leaving me without much to say about it. Its serviceable early rock and roll at its highs, bizarre downtempo country and western during its lower moments, and the cover of fever is not only weird that he hasn't attempted to put any kind of personality into it at all but also why would you put it second in a track list? Its hardly a big into to an album. Sorry Elvis, its a 2 on this one

The beginning of the end for the Beatles. I always feel a little bittersweet listening to the white album because (more than even Let it Be) I feel like I can hear the pain of these four friends discovering that they are all different people than they once were and just can't work together anymore. But what a strange unique and wonderful album that they managed to produce. Lennon's songs tend to stand out as the high points, Happiness is a warm gun, Glass onion and The continuing Story of Bungalow Bill all show a sublime mastery of melody, dynamics and Lennon's signature bizarre lyrics. Subsequently there is a tendency to write off McCartney's "granny music shit" (John's words, not mine) but personally I wouldn't want to live in a world deprived of the unashamed fun of Rocky Racoon or Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da or indeed the wonderful creation that is Blackbird. My favourite part of the album comes right at the end with Revolution 9, an experimental piece that is so large in its scope and ambition that even at 8:22 (the longest Beatles track) it feels like they could barely fit in all the ideas they wanted. Its tempting to put this down as yet another influence of Yoko's influence on John but when you dig a bit deeper there appears to have been far more involvement from Ringo and George than you'd first think, but we will never know the full story behind exactly how it came to be, which gives the piece a wonderful mysterious quality. An of course how do you finish an album after 8:22 of pure experimental weirdness? With the pure corniness of "Goodnight", in a way I see them as companion pieces, Revolution 9 being pure tension and stress and Goodnight putting a very soft and surprisingly emotional full stop on the album. I always think Ringo's voice was incredibly under utilised and he is on great form here and his whisper of "Goodnight everybody" at the end of this remarkable album always makes me feel a bit emotional. Simply one of the greatest albums ever made and I don't think I could ever fully understand someone who couldn't find at least something to like in it.

While I love Lou Reed's attitude and vocals, something about how he brings the whole package together in his solo stuff never really does it for me and this is no exception. The songs are great and I really commend him for making it so heavy lyrically, its a pretty unrelenting album. But much like John Cale's solo work I kind of want him to commit to being a bit more experimental rather than packaging his music in a singer songwriter type fashion. I get the impression that I might be more into his later works which Wikipedia tells me he got more into ambient experimentation.

What an absolutely fascinating record and one that conjures up so many different influences and emotions. The record meanders along at its own pace, going wherever it wants and I really respect that. I feel bad that it had never even occurred to me that kind of blues fusion could exist but it doesn't just stop there its got heavy ska and reggae influences displayed and Arabic style scales are heavily used in parts. Much drone as well drone good, me likey. Very evocative, it takes me straight back to time spent in Uganda, sitting on a bus driving long hours through the colorful streets of Kampala. I adore this album and have saved it straight away for future listens. 5/5

This caught me completely off guard with how arty and packed with ideas, to the point that during one song my internet cut out and I assumed the sudden silence was an intentional choice. I caught snippets of Talking Heads, Madness and Squeeze in there, even a little bit of the spirit of Devo. That being said I don't think they execute their ideas as well as any of those bands. There's just too many of them and sometimes it can get a bit grating with how in your face it is. An entertaining listen and the right length not to outstay its welcome. But I would have liked it if they had sprinkled in one or two solid pop hits amongst the zaniness.

Ray price seems really talented and sincere and honest and the band are really solid and tight. I also really dig the intro, starting an album by directly addressing the listener is such a cool, meta idea. That being said its still ultra twee country and for me has to start at a 1 and earn a higher score. The reasons outlined above are enough to bump it up to a 2 (didn't completely hate it) but doesn't quite reach the lofty heights of 3 (really enjoyed it but didn't blow me away). Ray price really does almost carry it there on his charm alone but I don't think I can do it.

Ahh the Beatles middle years, in this case quite literally 1965, halfway through the bands time together. And Rubber Soul seems to be looking backwards and forwards at the same time Much of the pop sensibilities remain, the opener 'Drive My Car' is a proper Beatles pop banger. But then it dives into "Norwegian Wood" and shortly after "Nowhere Man" which are much more of a departure from what they had done before (but in the case of Nowhere Man still keeping a lot of great harmonies and la la's to keep it grounded) The fact that this came out only 2 years after Please Please me by the same group of songwriters is staggering. Its so easy to overlook just how quickly the Beatles were moving and reinventing no only themselves but pop music which I think is a key point that's not taken into account in modern Beatles parlance. I don't find myself appreciating these middle albums (By that I mean this and Revolver) quite as much as their earlier or later works and unfortunately Rubber Soul doesn't fit into my personal category of 5 being records that can have my personal stamp of approval as one of my favorites. Nor does it blow me away so much that I cant help but give it a near perfect score. Its got to be a 4 but that's doing it a disservice as well. I might have to track down Paul and Ringo and apologize.

This is a precursor to the 80's power ballady, hair metally music which I absolutely despise. Because of that I wasn't looking forward to this album at all. But it's handled with a sense of maturity and conviction which the likes of Leppard and Van Halen totally lack to my ears. There also a thread of 70's blues which runs throughout which I think was totally lost by artists that were influenced by this. Of course more than a feeling is the best song on the album, its the kind of tune that any band would find it difficult to top. But the rest of the album does a great job at keeping the energy going. I think Rock & Roll Band, which comes about half way through is another high point. A textbook 3

Not the most accessible or hit packed album, even by Radiohead standards, Hail to the Thief is Radiohead taking everything they had done up till that point and bringing it all together into one sound. There's so much going on throughout this album that it almost defies analysis. I think that's the reason it feels so overwhelming, its so dense and changes so quickly even within tracks that there's not much to latch on to. When it does stick its head above water around the time of 'There, There' and give the listener some time to breathe there's an immense sense of relief which gives the whole album this great sense of tension and release, which is kind of what the best music does, just this is on a longer timescale. Of course Radiohead are one of the most analyzed bands in history and I could keep coming up with stuff for ages but I suspect that none of my analysis on this album would have really been intended. From what I gather about the way it was put together it was intentionally done in a slapdash way. Get something down and move on quick. Even to the point where they forgot parts and who played them. Its an exciting and liberating way to make music and a testament to how well Radiohead work together and how good Nigel Godrich really is that they managed to produce material so impressive. Its not my go to Radiohead album but its still a great 4. Its not particularly enjoyable in places but I'm left with the impression that that's not really the point.

Theres a lot to love here, great vocals (Twig's falsetto is to die for), interesting instrumentation and the production and mixing does a lot of things right, there's an excellent sense of space and depth in the mixing which I really love. Its also taking a rich history of interesting pop and updating it for modern times in a way that's not as maximalist as hyperpop nor falls into the pitfall of being samey, the way a lot of heavily produced music can be. That being said its major downfall is really in your face the whole time and hard to ignore. Its so clean, where's the distortion? where's the tape loops? where's the hiss? where's the slightly dodgey inconsistencies in volume. A few imperfections and some more lo fi techniques would have made this record really shine in a big way. Its so clinical and it never stops battering you around the head with how digital it all is. A massive detriment and a missed opportunity on an otherwise fantastic album.

This just isn't a sound I'm into, that twee 60's/70's California singer songwriter sound is just anathema to me. Almost all of it comes across not only as boring but also shallow and this is no exception. I find almost nothing to get excited about. I also really don't like the drum sounds and heavy use of Rhodes piano throughout which just screams "This was made in 1970" in a way that plenty of other music from the era doesn't. Also every single person involved in that absolute travesty of a "Help" cover should have received a slap and a good long lecture on why they should never do anything so idiotic again. I was tempted to mark it up to a 2 because, as far as I am aware, The Carpenters are at least partially responsible for creating this sound and have seemed to elevate themselves a little bit higher in the popular consciousness than the hundreds of copies of them. But its just... so... awful... sickly, sweet, twee, I don't like the production, I really don't like their use of backing vocals which is so in your face its almost screaming "Look... Look, Look how good at singing we are, are you paying attention, are you?' Its so not my thing its not even funny

Traditionally I've always put this down as an album that I don't really "get", especially not to the extent that I feel like I should. I've engaged with it several times over the years and always come away a bit perplexed that it didn't blow me away as much as it seems to almost everyone else. This time was a little different, I've got much more into experimental music since I last listened to this album and I think that was the context I was missing. Tuning all your guitar strings to the same note and pushing all the faders up till everything is clipping and calling it a day is a very bold production decision and I totally respect it on so many levels. But because at the core these are good pop songs it leads to this weird fusion of "Is it experimental? is it not? what's going on?" that you tend to get from much of John Cale's output. Its on the edge constantly of turning into a mess, occasionally crossing that line but not quite enough to totally descent into farce. Definitely the star of this record is how its made not in the songs themselves, that's what I was missing before.

Rattlesnakes on the surface is a bit of an unremarkable album, I was initially confused (as are many reviewers) why this would make the list at all. Despite some great guitar tones and playing, notably on Forest Fire. the whole thing just passes by as a little bit anonymous. But as I often do I scanned back through some of the tracks afterwards and started noticing that parts of it sound remarkably like pavements 'Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain' which didn't come out for another 10 years. Parts of it also sound a bit more new wave or smiths brand goth pop. So it seems to occupy a space within the indie music cannon where its looking backwards and forwards, bridging the gap between older, more heavily textured precursors to modern indie and the brand of jangly cynicism we have had since the 90's. Unfortunately the interest only carries it so far and I still think its ultimately a pretty mediocre album. A solid 3, and I think a good candidate for dropping off the list in later revisions unfortunately.

Dusty is on as good form as ever on this album, one of those rare singers where there never seems to be any weak points in her performance. 5/5 for vocals. I don't know if its purely down to the lack of hits (with the exception of son of a preacher man of course) or something about the musical direction but something about it doesn't grab me as much as the spectacular "A girl called Dusty" I think it might be because this seems to have a bit more ambitious use of instrumentation which often stands out as a bit odd because its not always mixed subtlety. Still a great album and as with so many works its not its fault that it falls a bit short of a different work by the same artist but that's how it goes sometimes.