I love the mood this album sets, like an indie mariachi road trip.

I get why it’s long and dissonant and difficult, and I liked some parts of it, but overall this is a no for me.

I’m a total sucker for Jack Antonoff production.

‘Psycho Killer’ is outstanding but there’s not that much else here.

I like the atmospheric sound and the consistent mood throughout.

Good selection of well-crafted pop songs, although I wish it had more songs like Moving in Stereo.

Technically great but it doesn’t captivate me.

Solid, but I don’t understand how this album made the list over Norman Fucking Rockwell. Her range is wider than this.

Great from start to finish.

Starts out as a Loveless redux, but four tracks in it moves into different territory. Still noise but lighter, brighter, more energetic. Less smoke, more clouds.

Anyway, here’s Wonderwall.

Not the grooviest attempt at groove metal, but what really puts me off here is the vocals and the inane, clichéd lyrics. Disappointing.

The harmonies are a bit too sweet for my taste and the songwriting on the second half a bit safe, but the first half are all absolute bangers.

Unapologetically prog. I like a lot of the transitions here, it goes all over the place but never feels off.

Solid blues rock record.

Weird and interesting, but I think hearing it once is enough for me.

About 20 minutes of filler keeps this from getting all five stars.

One of the best jazz albums of all time

Hated this when I first heard it 18-ish years ago. It’s still a difficult album to get through, but I appreciate what it’s trying to do a bit more now.

Good, clean fun.

Rowdy lad music at its finest. Incredible energy and attitude throughout.

I don’t think I’ll remember a single sound from this album a week from now.

If smoke were sound, it would be this. Music to get lost in.

Very much a product of its time, but a damn good one.

Daft Punk at their clubbiest. Kinda hard to rate, because it’s a good collection of tracks that work miracles when they’re properly mixed in a dj set, but as an album this lacks the flow and cohesiveness of some of Daft Punk’s later, more disco-oriented albums.

Decent album, it doesn’t offend but it doesn’t excite either.

Nice little ironic baroque pop album.

Psychedelic, bluesy, proto-hard rock. Not counting the obvious joke Mother’s Lament there are three songs that are kinda meh and the other seven are perfect.

This is fun. And “Fuck Giuliani” is truly a timeless message.

First half is funky, second half is more generically Motown, but both halves are solid throughout.

Second half sounds unfocused and unfinished, and the opening suite is not strong enough to pull this into 4+-star territory. Cool armadillo tank tho.

Groovy, bleak, industrial punk.

Perfect soul/pop/hip-hop blend. It’s a shame she never made another solo album.

Maybe a bit too poppy, maybe a bit too long, but it’s all quite clever.

Basic, bland 70’s rock.

Unexpectedly varied. I like the bravado in the lyrics, the dark electro-trap beats, and the restrained vocals compared to her hits from the mid-2000’s.

Loveless at 60% intensity. As a debut this is interesting but their second album does the same thing better.

Couple of good songs, liked the psychedelica, but there were too many moments where it lost my attention.

This guy knows how to write a song.

I like the fuzzy, sleazy sound, but the cabaret-esque poppy stuff doesn’t do it for me.

Came in expecting to hate the jazz club gimmick but I quite liked this.

Beautiful melancholy songs.

I kinda tended to forget I was listening to it.

Legendary.

Disco to dance-punk to electroclash. 4.5 but rounded up because I’ll never not be in the mood for this.

Both sides are bookended by strong songs and Masters of War is an anthem, but the talking blues stuff in between isn’t terribly exciting.

This has never been my favourite Pink Floyd album because it’s so intensely over-the-top dark and nihilistic, but it’s damn good at setting a mood and even the “bad” songs work towards that goal. Five stars with the sidenote that there are five-star albums I like better (and other five-star albums that I like worse).

Sleazy, soulless and boring. I feel like this made the list purely on the merits of the two singles (title track and Crazy Love), and there are better UK garage albums *and* better garage/house crossover hit single albums that could have made the list instead.

I don’t know a lot about salsa music but this makes me want to explore more of it.

Sublime adult contemporary pop that transcends the country-pop label. Hazy days of summer kinda mood.

A lot heavier than expected for a grunge album. It has some sludge/stoner metal grooves which I liked.

Good speedy aggressive thrash, a ton of cool riffs, and I can hear why a metalhead would love this, but generally the sonic assault is a bit much for me.

Upbeat version of Lou Reed’s Transformer.

“New York City Song” is decent 70’s singer-songwriter fare, and the rare moments when Dion’s Wanderer-era ‘pretend bravado’ shines through are good. Most of the album, though, is just melodrama dialed up to eleven, one squeezebox away from being Schlager. At least it’s short.

Cool use of phasing. Both halves being two mini-albums probably works even better on vinyl.

Straightforward no-frills rap. Ice Cube’s anger is still relevant 30 years after it was recorded. I like the collection of samples, helps to deliver the message.

I would have liked this better if the falsetto vocalist didn’t take himself this seriously.

Great vocals, solid songwriting, and a cool brooding, unheimish mood.

Lyrical masterclass.

Nice ambient techno. Has a bit of a lull halfway through but it picks up steam again toward the end. I probably won’t do the entire album from A to Z again, but I can definitely see myself putting on the final five or so tracks and letting the algorithm take it from there.

I like the lush, full sound compared to your average 60’s folk rock.

Great voice, good production, sure, but the selection of cover songs is a little lackluster.

This does very little of the things I don’t like about Dylan and a lot of the things I do like.

Sounds great, especially for a live album, but it does all sound the same.

Melancholy synthpop meets exuberant old-school rave.

Quite a statement. It’s a bit too much for me, but I am impressed by the musical and conceptual range here.

The high energy is too exhausting for a 75 minute record. I prefer ATLiens and Aquemini.

Decent psychedelic folk. I like the mariachi influences.

Frantic and challenging. I like the use of loops and echoes, the funky electric guitar and bass in addition to traditional jazz instruments, and the sheer overwhelming amount of ideas here, but it’s not a record I’d want to hear regularly.

Has a couple of interesting moments, but mostly this is just indie rock playlist filler. Good, not great.

How many hit songs can you fit on one record?

Cheesy 80’s hotel lounge muzak.

Vocals can be a bit grating at times, but the instrumentals are top-notch and it has a good energy throughout.

Perfect concept album. The storytelling here is just so good.

Pretty wild indeed, and hearing this in 1956 (or seeing them live!) must have been quite the experience. I’m not usually a big fan of swing but this was a pleasant surprise.

Quite possibly my favourite album of all time. Laid-back, melodic, and filled to the brim with clever references.

I like ‘Pale Blue Eyes’ and ‘The Murder Mystery’ (but what the hell is it doing on this album?) but the rest of the album is a chore.

I love the mood this album sets, like an indie mariachi road trip.

A jumbled mess of styles and influences, but somehow it kinda works? I love the Punjabi cover of Norwegian Wood.

Very 90s Britpop, but it doesn’t quite resonate here and now.

Live version of The Calvary Cross is actually quite good, but doesn’t make up for the 45 minutes of drudgery I had to endure before it.

Starts as a solid hard rock riff fest but the second half is pure art.

Musically great but the overindulgent wailing wears me out. This would have been perfect if Buckley had just toned it down a bit.

Decent but utterly forgettable 80s pop.