Journey Complete!
Finisher #605 to complete the list
1089
Albums Rated
3.06
Average Rating
100%
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Favorite Decade
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Top Origin
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Rater Style ?
65
5-Star Albums
20
1-Star Albums
Breakdown
By Genre
By Decade
By Origin
Albums
You Love More Than Most
| Album | You | Global | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Music Has The Right To Children
Boards of Canada
|
5 | 2.91 | +2.09 |
|
Walking Wounded
Everything But The Girl
|
5 | 2.97 | +2.03 |
|
Ambient 1/Music For Airports
Brian Eno
|
5 | 3.07 | +1.93 |
|
Oxygène
Jean-Michel Jarre
|
5 | 3.07 | +1.93 |
|
Seventh Tree
Goldfrapp
|
5 | 3.08 | +1.92 |
|
Qui sème le vent récolte le tempo
MC Solaar
|
5 | 3.1 | +1.9 |
|
Vespertine
Björk
|
5 | 3.16 | +1.84 |
|
Miriam Makeba
Miriam Makeba
|
5 | 3.19 | +1.81 |
|
Melody A.M.
Röyksopp
|
5 | 3.21 | +1.79 |
|
Selected Ambient Works 85-92
Aphex Twin
|
5 | 3.22 | +1.78 |
You Love Less Than Most
| Album | You | Global | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Hunky Dory
David Bowie
|
1 | 4 | -3 |
|
Bringing It All Back Home
Bob Dylan
|
1 | 3.64 | -2.64 |
|
Rust Never Sleeps
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
|
1 | 3.53 | -2.53 |
|
Blonde On Blonde
Bob Dylan
|
1 | 3.5 | -2.5 |
|
If I Should Fall From Grace With God
The Pogues
|
1 | 3.33 | -2.33 |
|
Abattoir Blues / The Lyre of Orpheus
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
|
1 | 3.32 | -2.32 |
|
The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars
David Bowie
|
2 | 4.26 | -2.26 |
|
Tonight's The Night
Neil Young
|
1 | 3.24 | -2.24 |
|
Little Earthquakes
Tori Amos
|
1 | 3.23 | -2.23 |
|
Time Out Of Mind
Bob Dylan
|
1 | 3.22 | -2.22 |
Artists
Favorites
| Artist | Albums | Average |
|---|---|---|
| Björk | 4 | 4.5 |
| Stevie Wonder | 4 | 4.5 |
| Aretha Franklin | 2 | 5 |
| Led Zeppelin | 5 | 4.2 |
| Black Sabbath | 3 | 4.33 |
| Bob Marley & The Wailers | 3 | 4.33 |
| The Cure | 3 | 4.33 |
| Nick Drake | 3 | 4.33 |
| The White Stripes | 3 | 4.33 |
| Johnny Cash | 3 | 4.33 |
| Kraftwerk | 3 | 4.33 |
Least Favorites
| Artist | Albums | Average |
|---|---|---|
| Bob Dylan | 7 | 1.57 |
| Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds | 5 | 1.6 |
| Elvis Costello & The Attractions | 4 | 1.5 |
| David Bowie | 9 | 1.89 |
| Neil Young & Crazy Horse | 3 | 1.33 |
| Pere Ubu | 2 | 1 |
| Neil Young | 4 | 1.75 |
| Grateful Dead | 2 | 1.5 |
| Tom Waits | 5 | 2.2 |
| The Byrds | 5 | 2.2 |
| Sonic Youth | 5 | 2.2 |
| Leonard Cohen | 5 | 2.2 |
| Roxy Music | 3 | 2 |
| Van Morrison | 3 | 2 |
5-Star Albums (65)
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Popular Reviews
Bee Gees
2/5
What a let down. I think albums like this are more of a surprise to see on the list than some of the 1 star trash. At least you have a reaction to those. This is just... Nothing
19 likes
The Adverts
2/5
Another Groundhog day of English punk.
8 likes
Stan Getz
5/5
For me, music like this offers a time capsule/teleportation to an idyllic space of music that's easy going and relaxed but has enough harmonic and melodic complexity to keep it interesting and mysterious. It's a bit of a gateway drug to Stan Getz, Astrud Gilberto and Antonio Carlos Jobim - one I gladly fall into every time this sort of music comes around.
If I could change one thing, I'd compress the tenor sax down - 's a bit loud.
5 likes
Beatles
2/5
The Beatles have some great tracks. None of them are here. This is like a half decent pub band who manage to butcher a cover or two.
I will say though, Ringo sounds good here.
4 likes
1-Star Albums (20)
All Ratings
Simon & Garfunkel
3/5
Interesting use of recorded sound, not really one I plan to revisit, but I'm sure I'll never escape Mrs Robinson.
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
1/5
The man can't sing, but some of the guitar licks are ok.
Black Sabbath
3/5
Overall good, not sure Ozzy can hear the rest of the band and I'll never enjoy Changes.
Gary Numan
2/5
Some good tracks, endearing use of technology but too stale and similar for it's playlength
Bob Marley & The Wailers
4/5
Really enjoyed the organ chords and groove on the tracks. The second half of the album is great fun, but the first half isn't bad either.
Edit: This is the one rating that haunts me, I don't think I'm ready to give this a 5, but I like it a lot more than that initial write up. We'll see...
The Temptations
4/5
Papa Was A Rollin' Stone a bit of a meme for me, but still good.
Enjoyed the vocal harmonies on I Ain't Got Notin'
N.W.A.
4/5
Amazing use of samples and musical flare to create soething unique for the backdrop of a political movement through lyrics.
That said, the later Ice Cube tracks feel kinda out of place.
Emmylou Harris
4/5
A pleasent listen, I enjoyed the track with the breakbeat on but nothing too special to keep me coming back. One to remember when you want a chill afternoon.
Norah Jones
5/5
Can't believe Norah was 22 at the relase of this album. It's an indisputable classic and the work of a talented musician.
Bobby Womack
3/5
Some tracks really landed, others went on too long and didn't offer much. Not surprsing given the breadth of his career.
The Chemical Brothers
3/5
First half was good, got very repetivie and messy at the end.
Sly & The Family Stone
4/5
Without the historical context of this album I don't think I can fully appreciate its lyrical content and so am left to judge it on it's musical content which is good and notable for the pioneering sound of the early seventies. I'm not someone who buys physical music but if I was I think this would be one to add to a collection as the digital format doesn't seem to do it justice.
The Band
2/5
Dull
Nico
3/5
A nice sound but for me another album that highlights the problem with a lot of the albums on this list.
Artists seem to pick one sound and then write as many tracks as they can to completely exhaust its possibilities. As a musician myself I know I'm likely guilty of the same thing, when you're so close to these things it's hard not to hear the subtle differences as a world of change. There's also something to be said for how listening to lots of styles as you do going through the list will make you numb to these differences, but in this case I really felt like I was listening to the same 2 or 3 tracks on loop.
Pere Ubu
1/5
Think there's been a mistake?
Peter Frampton
3/5
Not sure about the inclusion of a Live album to the list but moments of this were alright.
Led Zeppelin
5/5
Although I'm not a huge fan of tracks light Misty Mountain Hop you can't deny an album with Black Dog, Rock and Roll, Stairway to Heaven AND When the Levee Breaks 5 stars.
On this re-listen, I really appreciated Page's production, especially the reversed guitar at the end.
The Jesus And Mary Chain
2/5
An additional star for a few tracks that were alright, otherwise I found this to be pretty unlistenable.
Beastie Boys
3/5
Start of a new sound? Perhaps, but I struggle to listen to much of the Beastie Boys because the singer sounds too much like Glibert Gottfried.
Still, some great sampling work (which then got sampled).
Eagles
3/5
It's like the same inoffensive song for 37 minutes straight.
Japan
2/5
Something went very wrong with the concept of singing in the 70s.
I did actually quite like some of the first few tracks.
Small Faces
4/5
Mad as a fly sharing a sandwich. Fun though.
James Taylor
3/5
Didn't overstay it's welcome. I liked most of it well enough but the big band tracks didn't land for me.
Don McLean
3/5
Vincent is a great track but the rest of the album doesn't do much for me
Turbonegro
3/5
Feel like this sits in a nice little niche before pop punk made this sound very cynical, but it didn't need to be an hour long.
The Cure
3/5
Lyrics sort of pass me by and so this really just sounded like "The Cure have a bad day and are really quite upset about it".
Erykah Badu
5/5
Love the groove and low key sound of this album, I even still love it despite listening to it when I had a car accident.
Megadeth
4/5
Not really something I would seek out but damn if I didn't have fun listening.
Bob Dylan
1/5
Bob Dylan belongs in Room 101.
The Velvet Underground
3/5
Not bad but not for me
Tom Waits
2/5
I get that this is notable for being a big shift from the artist's previous work but it didn't make for a good listening experience and I don't think it has a place on the list.
Miles Davis
5/5
I lived and breathed this album for a few weeks while I read Ashley Kahn's book on this album. I recommend it if you've enjoyed listening to it, its a great exploration of the album - before, its conception, and after. In case anyone reads this review and nothing else about the album I'll share Bill Evans' (pianist) line notes for it:
"There is a Japanese visual art in which the artist is forced to be spontaneous. He must paint on a thin stretched parchment with a special brush and black water paint in such a way that an unnatural or interrupted stroke will destroy the line or break through the parchment. Erasures or changes are impossible. These artists must practice a particular discipline, that of allowing the idea to express itself in communication with their hands in such a direct way that deliberation cannot interfere.
The resulting pictures lack the complex composition and textures of ordinary painting, but it is said that those who see well find something captured that escapes explanation.
This conviction that direct deed is the most meaningful reflections, I believe, has prompted the evolution of the extremely severe and unique disciplines of the jazz or improvising musician."
Burning Spear
3/5
The start and end of this album are strong but it gets a bit weak in the middle.
The War On Drugs
4/5
Well mixed and good use of effects, this does feel like an evolution of some the influences listed on the Wikipedia page.
Ramblin' Jack Elliott
2/5
He sure was ramblin'
Judas Priest
3/5
Massively let down by the vocals in places.
Taylor Swift
3/5
I'm not someone who pays attention to lyrics, which I think works in this album's favour. The few times I tuned in it seemed to be fairly derivative vapid nonsense. It does sound pleasant though, so I guess it's a 3 stars. At times I even thought it might be a 4, but I think the vocals are a bit weak in places.
Depeche Mode
2/5
35 years later, it sounds like Sonic music with middle class mid life crisis vocals
Buddy Holly & The Crickets
4/5
Can't really fault this for being what it is, just not something that I personally covet.
Massive Attack
5/5
I'm aware that I probably wouldn't have given this album 5 stars if I wasn't already familiar with it. I can remember things like the original vocals taking me a while to get into, but it is an album that has a lot of depth you uncover as you listen to more and more.
Nick Drake
4/5
Pleasant sound, the vocals went a bit too far for me in a couple of the tracks and I didn't really like the big shift half way through for one track. Keen to hear the others on this list.
Megadeth
3/5
Having been served Rust In Peace first this feels like the unrefined first crack at it.
Yes
4/5
Memes aside, this album explores instrumentation and time signatures in an effective way, while much of it doesn't really draw me in for a second listen, I can appreciate that this is a competent and comprehensive offering.
Little Richard
3/5
It's all the same song, but it is Little Richard.
Happy Mondays
2/5
Nothing drew me in here. Sorry Bez.
Moby Grape
3/5
Pretty pleasant nothing special
Taylor Swift
2/5
I think my issue with Taylor Swift is she feels very distant from the rest of the music itself. It feels like a lot of care went into the production of this music but it lacks real emotion from the delivery.
Adele
5/5
A green eggs and ham for me. I've of course heard a lot of this album before but really enjoyed it start to finish. The cover of Lovesong is great
John Lee Hooker
3/5
Toe tappin' blues
Joni Mitchell
2/5
I was just very bored by this. The story teling aspect was too weak to be the centre piece of the album.
MGMT
3/5
There's some great tracks on this album that have become worn out in pop culture in Britain. There are also some tracks which really didn't hit home for me.
Heaven 17
3/5
I enjoyed this album despite it being pretty sloppy and sounding quite rushed in places. Despite the critics write up, it certainly isn't picking up where Man Machine left off.
Richard Hawley
2/5
Started off well enough but goes on far longer than it needed to.
TV On The Radio
2/5
I don't get this one at all, does very little for me.
The White Stripes
4/5
Can't help but enjoy The White Stripes
The Charlatans
4/5
It's like Oasis but I like it
The Gun Club
2/5
Starts off alright but by the end it's very tedious. 2 and a half stars.
Echo And The Bunnymen
3/5
Not really my thing, and the list is weighed down with albums like this, but at least this one has a theme it manages to stick to without becoming too repetitive.
Q-Tip
4/5
Very close to giving this a five, great grooves, great production and a good list of colabs. Glad this one got to see the light of day.
Travis
3/5
It sounds nice but it does go on a bit and I'm just not that sad.
Roxy Music
2/5
Awful vocals but some of the music in the background is ok
Ella Fitzgerald
4/5
Ella has an amazing voice, the writing of the Gershiwns I'd fantastic, and the band is great. But 3 hours is a long time, by the end I felt like a recording engineer on his 5th pack of the day aching to get the session over with, with no care for how the rakes were.
Fantastic music, but the wrong way to listen in the modern world.
Slipknot
3/5
I've always liked Psychosocial but don't really get the rest of the album
Silver Jews
2/5
Sad boring American music, sounding very dated twenty years later.
Johnny Cash
4/5
Great atmosphere, the music would be less without the crowd and the crowd would be less without the music.
I took a star off as I don't think its something I'd regularly listen to.
Steely Dan
2/5
King Of The World has some of the most infuriating keyboard solos I've ever heard.
More like a musical than jazz rock at times.
Koffi Olomide
2/5
It's alright but really nothing special, not sure why its here ove rmany many other things.
Radiohead
4/5
As I get older, my relationship with Radiohead complicates. For the longest time I dismissed them as too sad, but as my appreciation for music and music theory develops its hard to ignore their commitment to write music thats developing ideas and genres.
So, 4 stars - Nude and Weird Fishes are great, I don't quite get the rest yet but it seems to me that some day I might.
Marvin Gaye
4/5
One for me, and one for my homies
Santana
5/5
Never in a bad mood listening to this. The first half in particular feels like a celebration of life. Put it on and try not dance.
Os Mutantes
3/5
Moments of this work for me but the majority doesn't, I think its quite heavily let down by the production.
Aphex Twin
5/5
Bits of the album probably bring it down to more of a 4.5/5 but the DNA of this album has had a massive impact on my tastes, and my life really (I work with synths all day). Always good to revisit.
Belle & Sebastian
3/5
Pleasant enough but let down by crap singing
Fats Domino
3/5
Not really an album? But some good stuff
Steely Dan
3/5
Bits of this I enjoyed but bits of it I really didn't
50 Cent
4/5
When I first looked at the production credits for this album I thought it'd be a bit of mess, but actually the production helps provide variety to the named artists limited range. I also got some good laughs out of this.
Pentangle
3/5
I nearly fell asleep, not entirely in a bad way
Marilyn Manson
1/5
Bin this nonce.
Earth, Wind & Fire
3/5
Shining star is a great track, and the album has some other great moments alongside it. Ultimately though this is a soundtrack album and makes for a bit of a disjointed listening experience.
Randy Newman
3/5
Exactly what I expected.
Malcolm McLaren
2/5
At times interesting, at other times messy, and felt more like a compilation.
Doves
3/5
Nearly a 4 for me I think because you can feel the concept is well delivered but it is just a bit too boring
Parliament
5/5
It's George Clinton introducing Maceo Parker and Fred Wesley, and it oozes cool.
On this album you'll learn that we want the funk, it's gotta be that p funk and if you give the people what they want when they want they'll want it all the time.
Clinton is such a cornerstone of this music scene this has got 5 stars for that alone.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
2/5
I didn't find my experience listening to this to be very musical
The Young Gods
2/5
Celui merte
Or something, I'm not fluent in French and apparently neither are these guys.
Janis Joplin
3/5
Hit me like a rock opera, but I don't think it's stuck for me.
T. Rex
4/5
Really fun listen, as glam rock should be. I look forward to the next one of these.
PJ Harvey
3/5
The dynamics were all over the place and the track with strings made me grit my teeth but it is still better than some of the 2s I've given out.
Raekwon
3/5
A lot to try and take in in my first listen to this. I recognise quite a few bits that have been sampled in here which is cool. Some beats had me grooving but the "dramatic scenes" between tracks went over my head.
Sister Sledge
5/5
Came very close to giving this a 4 for a couple of tracks near the end but upon listening again it's gotta be a 5.
This is proper "everything's gone to shit I can't get any work and I don't want to" 70s dystopia disco right here. The escape from reality.
Bernard Edwards and Nile Rodgers is a killer combo, but it's worth remembering that at this point in their career they were making a name for themselves, they're not playing it safe so much as developing a brand.
/rant
fIREHOSE
3/5
Pleasantly surprised how modern this sounds
The Triffids
2/5
Boring shite for the most part but there is a track that's quote fun at the end. Though if I listened to that one in isolation it might further prove the boredom I was inflicted with at that point.
John Martyn
2/5
Bits of this are quite nice, good for a bit of sampling, but sometimes the vocals go full Tom Waits and I suffered.
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
1/5
Like listening to a weird fever dream, it's once again been demonstrated to me why some people make music like this today.
Buzzcocks
3/5
Starts awful but then some palatable punk emerges.
Orbital
3/5
It's a 2 star album by Halcyon On and On gets it an extra star.
Eric Clapton
3/5
S'alright. Just alright.
Miles Davis
4/5
Palatable, cool, smooth, but nothing hooks or wows you. Kinda unfair to put a compilation up against full albums, but pioneering none the less.
Radiohead
3/5
Has a lot of the stuff I don't like radio for but one or two good tracks.
Franz Ferdinand
3/5
Some brilliant tracks on here but it does get quite stale. I once saw them play live but it was at an NME event so they didn't play long. It was like a firecracker of energy and I think that's how this band are best enjoyed.
Beatles
3/5
It's alright, a bit dull, but so is this review, so who am I to judge.
Justice
4/5
I remember not really liking Justice when this album first got traction, I seem to remember being disappointed that they were this heavy abrasive sound when I was hoping for another offcut disco duo like Daft Punk. I think the album Woman really turned me on to Justice, and revisiting this now there are some great tracks on here and I can hear how the production of this still stands abreast of the rush of noisy music that was to swamp the pop scene a few years after this album.
Would be a 4.5 if it didn't have The Party on it.
Donovan
3/5
Overall it's pretty dull and not that nice to listen to, however it has two good tracks on it and Bob Dylan has a petty jealousy of Donovan, so we can give it 3 stars for that.
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
2/5
Not as bad as the other I've had so far, but still crap
Ravi Shankar
4/5
A very interesting experience, one which I may come to appreciate more with a relisten. The only thing that really stops this being a 5 for me is that I don't think I could put it in and really enjoy it, I guess you need a "without lessons" disc for that.
D'Angelo
3/5
Some great tracks here but as an album it doesn't wow, and it is awkward listening to this knowing Voodoo is so much better.
Fiona Apple
3/5
Some of this was alright, some of it was a bit weird.
Arter it finished playing, Spotify played me Faye Webster which I'd also never heard of, but quite liked.
So, based on that, have 3 stars Ms Apple.
Sigur Rós
4/5
Some of this really sucks you in and washes over you, I'm surprised at how much I like this given how put off I am by some of their newer stuff.
Morrissey
3/5
I thought this was just alright.
A lot of people here like to insult Morrissey in these reviews. After listening to this it seems to me the biggest insult you can give him is just to say that he's mediocre and left no impression on you. I get the impression he'd hate that.
The Jam
3/5
It was alright. That's Entertainment sounds like a demo version on here? Maybe the whole thing is due a remaster.
Led Zeppelin
4/5
Immigrant Song and Since I've Been Loving You are long time favourites. Tangerine is great too. Gets a little samey to be a 5.
Fiona Apple
4/5
Way better than the Bolt Cutters that I got last week. Wish I got this first.
Elastica
3/5
A lot of this feels like familiar ground for much of what came out in the 90s/00s. This doesn't feel hugely original, but its not bad either.
Cheap Trick
2/5
Badly recorded and mixed, and the song writing is pretty dull too. Sounds like a lot of the screaming girls has been deliberately added on in post.
The Byrds
2/5
I need a Sarsaparilla to get through this
TLC
4/5
Kinda more like 3.5 maybe but then the hits are very good and theres a few other wow moments so here it is 4.
Manic Street Preachers
2/5
Noisy and boring, he just sings the melodies.
Radiohead
3/5
Maybe even a 4 one day.
I listened twice and didn't like much of it the first time, second was better.
I don't think much of this is as original as people would have you believe
Bonnie Raitt
3/5
Not really my thing but had some fun listening to this.
2Pac
3/5
Some cool beat making here, and good guest vocal spots. I like the sound of Tupac's rapping but I didn't really take in the lyrical content and I'm not sure I'd want to? Maybe this is a 4 but I'm unsure enough to leave it at 3.
Lauryn Hill
4/5
I was all set to give this 3 as I found it a bit dull, but I've woken up this morning and Doo Wop is in my head firmly and it's great and 4 stars.
The Kinks
2/5
One or two alright tracks does not make an album
Meat Loaf
3/5
I get why people like this but it doesn't do much for me.
Michael Jackson
4/5
Michael asside, Quincy Jones' work on this album is great. I've capped it at 4 because of how cheesy The Girl is Mine is.
It's weird listening to an album like this now, you're so familiar with each track it's hard to hear it as an album. I guess that's pop for you.
The Clash
2/5
Was let down by this, the title track and a couple of others were good. Otherwise this is bloated and boring.
Bee Gees
2/5
What a let down. I think albums like this are more of a surprise to see on the list than some of the 1 star trash. At least you have a reaction to those. This is just... Nothing
The 13th Floor Elevators
2/5
Sounds really bad, I don't know if the digital versions are the only thing that suffer from this, but it was basically unintelligible for the most part.
Nina Simone
5/5
I find it a bit mad that this is the only Nina album on here, especially compared to some of the over exposed artists on this list.
If you're struggling to get into this music, spend some time reading about Nina and her Civil Rights activism or watching interviews. All of that energy is channeled into the the lyrics as well as the vocal and piano performance.
Marvin Gaye
3/5
Some of it is quite good but it's overly long and there's 3 versions of the same song.
Talking Heads
4/5
Gets better as it goes on and by the end I was enjoying it.
Joni Mitchell
3/5
I like the band, I could take or leave Joni.
3/5
Cheesy 80s,but the good kind. It would maybe be a 4 if the whole album wasn't essentially just a buildup to one song.
Common
5/5
An era of hip hop I wish we could go back to.
Madonna
4/5
I actually don't mind Madonna jumping on this bandwagon, I think it's because its largely a bandwagon I like and she has made some effort to extend her vocal range to the genre. If you want to get all "how do you do fellow kids" wind forward a few more albums for the real pandering crap.
That said, this is overly long, even the hits feel bloated when listening in context of the album. If it was 20 minutes shorter there may even be a 5 in here.
Bad Company
3/5
It's slower and more boring than I remember any of it being. It's like Zeppelin zapped of groove and creativity. Rock on the its gentle plod to boring before punk came along.
The Yardbirds
2/5
More like Yawnbirds
Roxy Music
2/5
Does nothing for me
The Notorious B.I.G.
3/5
I like bits of this but the skits are too much
Derek & The Dominos
3/5
Not as bad as I thought but not something I'd really spend time with again, maybe the odd track or two.
Curtis Mayfield
4/5
A pleasant listen throughout, no standouts but doesn't get dull. Good job Curtis.
ABBA
3/5
Some of it's alright, most of it I've forgotten already.
Amy Winehouse
4/5
This album is great, very nearly a 5 for me and I can't quite put my finger on why not.
Dr. Octagon
2/5
Moments of being cool but generally just too weird, the less said the better.
Hüsker Dü
2/5
Overly long, moments of "Oh hey, yeah, it's like pop punk" weren't enough to sustain me.
The Go-Betweens
3/5
One or two decent tracks, I guess you can *puts on sunglasses* go between them. Yeahhhhhhhh
Elvis Presley
3/5
Another album before albums I think. Good tracks, but a muted, filtered capturing of this performer
The Boo Radleys
2/5
One or two alright moments, but a bit of a mess really. Way too long.
Can
2/5
I Can appreciate bits of what's hear, you Can certainly hear it's influence. But I'd be happy if I Can live the rest of my life without this album darkening my door again.
Daft Punk
5/5
This is probably a 4 star album in reality, I tried to come with various justifications for giving a 5,and the one I keep coming back to is essentially a protest vote that Discovery isn't on here. But this still a great album in its own right - Alive, High Fidelity, Fresh, I could go on.
System Of A Down
3/5
I find it hard to say much about music like this. I don't catch many of the lyrics, but I know there's substance there, and the music itself is technically impressive but needs a few listens to take it all in. So, as my first encounter with the album, 3stars middle of the road babyyy
Ice Cube
4/5
Love the sampling on this album, and the inclusion of the talk show to make a real cutting statement is great. There's also some tracks that are just good no matter the context.
I think it is just a touch too long and repetitve as you get through it though.
Songhoy Blues
3/5
Really liked it to start with but by the end the ideas had gone a bit stale.
Arctic Monkeys
5/5
Love the throwbacks you get doing this. I realise this will make me sound very young but this was a real coming of age for us at the time, it confronted reality in a way a lot of the pop we'd been growing up with didn't and the musicianship is great and gave us something to aspire too.
Simple Minds
3/5
Boring but not bad
Adam & The Ants
3/5
For a 1980 album this really sounds very 80s. The use of two drummers is great too. That said, it is a little chaotic to be palatable by today's standards.
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
3/5
I enjoyed the start of this, surprised how much I enjoyed a visit of Heads Will Roll, but I think it kinda veers off at the end for too long to score higher for me.
Gene Clark
3/5
Surprisingly good, felt like a complete journey. Too bad it went under the radar.
Fugees
3/5
Couple of standouts and a load of middle of the road stuff.
Ray Charles
4/5
Ray's got a great voice for getting your feet and heart moving, but this album doesn't quite wow throughout
Metallica
3/5
Enter Sandman is one of those songs you don't seek out but can't help but bop along to. Nothing Else Matters is a total slog for. And the rest? I guess Nothing Else Matters.
Sounds good for 91
Sisters Of Mercy
3/5
Well produced but very samey. I guess with this new wave stuff your either into the energy or you're not, I think most of us hearing it for the first time 49 years later are probably not.
Orbital
3/5
I've been quite disappointed with the Orbital albums here, I was ready to give this one a two, but those last few tracks really pick up. What was moments of good music to begin with matures into full great tracks. Stick with it.
John Coltrane
4/5
I think I like the story behind this album more than the listening experience. I've read Ashley Kahn's book on this and I am confronted with an album I want to like more than I do - and I know I only like it as much as I do because of all the context I have for it - good luck to those of you without it.
Herbie Hancock
5/5
15 minute track and it stays fresh?
*tasting sound*
That's a 10.
Fleet Foxes
3/5
Quite liked this to begun with but there's some real stinkers as you go on. Album art is great though
Ray Charles
4/5
I actually enjoyed one of the bonus tracks (You Are My Sunshine) more than most of the album. I really like what's been done here but due to my own cultural background I'm not really familiar enough with the material covered for it to properly wow me.
He is a genius though.
Kanye West
3/5
He's a better producer than lyricist.
Feel like I'm talking about a different guy to current Kanye
James Brown
5/5
I've doubted the inclusion of live albums here but this is great. It has so much energy from band and crowd - you can hear the crowd's desperate anticipation and the way James milks it just long enough.
It's also cool to hear something earlier from his career that I was less familiar with.
Stereolab
4/5
This is like a high 3/low 4. Pleasant listening but gets a bit stale and then it's almost like they know its got a bit stale and fails to really come up with something good but carries on anyway.
I also know that I have a bit of a soft spot for the soft French sound which isn't to everyone's taste.
If you're still reading and liked this, check out Saudade but Thievery Corporation
Supergrass
4/5
Yeah it's alllllllright
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
2/5
All style no substance, felt like I'd not even listened to this a few hours after having listened to this.
Spiritualized
2/5
After the first few tracks I was like "maybe I've missed something here" but as I do with all the albums I let it run its entirety, and by the end I was sure I hadn't. This is too chaotic for me, I appreciate the effort but not the result.
Butthole Surfers
3/5
Had some good laughs listening to this.
The music sucks but it's great.
Good job Butthole guys. Now get out of my sight.
Nine Inch Nails
3/5
Some of its cool, some of its angry, some it's sad. Mission accomplished?
Bad Brains
3/5
I can hear a lot of what people like about other more famous bands in this and I couldn't really tell you the difference between either one.
Sugar
2/5
Boring music poorly produced.
Jimi Hendrix
4/5
Smooth, cool, technically brilliant... and just a little too noisy for a 5.
Saint Etienne
4/5
Pretty good bit of early electronic I'd not encountered before, some tracks I'll revisit but some of the longer ones don't really hold up.
Paul Revere & The Raiders
3/5
Very forgettable but not bad.
Beck
3/5
It's got moments sounding Nick Drake like, moments of sound quite cool early 00s indie, but as a package its really tedious. Someone needed to make a few cuts in the editing suite.
Deep Purple
2/5
I liked the drum solo. Then it went on too long.
I liked smoke on the water. Then it went on too long.
And so on.
Caetano Veloso
3/5
Enjoyed listening but it isn't one of the greats or anything too special.
3/5
Liked this but it didn't click for me completely. All the elements are there but I wasn't bought into it as a whole.
Jethro Tull
2/5
I think my stamina for these things is starting wane 180 odd albums in, this was just boring. You'd feel ripped off if you spent good money on a CD and it contained a single musical idea.
Metallica
2/5
One is great but the production is pretty terrible and it doesn't feel as tight as the other stuff.
Kendrick Lamar
2/5
Production is good but I don't really get it and I'm not sure if that's on me or Kendrick
808 State
4/5
A low 4, but Pacific 202 is such a fun track. There are other moments of being good here, other times its quite dull, and some times where its kinda bad and good at the same time. Surprised how 90s this sounded for an 89 album, and thats usually a sign of someone pushing the envelope.
Neil Young
2/5
He can't sing. The most positive thing I can say is I'm glad to be on the back of another one of far too many of his albums om the list.
The Isley Brothers
5/5
The hits still sound great, and the other tracks are good too. They're one flashy high production cover from being revived into public consciousness.
Siouxsie And The Banshees
3/5
This has a lot of energy and you can always tell what they're going for. When it works its great, Robert Smith's guitar stuff is great here and the vocals can be good. But there's a lot that doesn't do it for me.
The Smiths
3/5
I don't hate this like some really do, but I don't love or really even like it either.
Pet Shop Boys
3/5
I criticise a lot of these albums based on the vocals. And this really has some shit vocals. But here's the thing that got it up to 3 for me. They knew! They knew well enough to get Dusty in for a track.
Waiting for a decent cover of It's a sin.
Radiohead
4/5
Well, no surprises here.
Through the list I've warmed to Radiohead, but I was pretty cold before. I get a lot of what people love about this, but I think I just like it. But then I'm too young to be jaded to really fall into this I think. Maybe one day I'll love it.
David Crosby
3/5
Better than Neil Young.
Aerosmith
4/5
A couple of dad rocky things, some glam rocky inspired things, and a couple of great tracks. As a playlist it feels a bit weak, but the parts are good.
Steely Dan
3/5
Still not liking Steely Dan but this was much more bare able than Countdown to Ecstasy.
The Flaming Lips
4/5
Enjoyed this, some of the vocals weren't to my taste, but I'm glad to have listened to it.
Beatles
2/5
The Beatles have some great tracks. None of them are here. This is like a half decent pub band who manage to butcher a cover or two.
I will say though, Ringo sounds good here.
David Bowie
2/5
The more people gush about Bowie the more I seem to dislike him. I will concede Jean Genie is alright.
ABBA
4/5
I've thought about what to score this quite a bit. I didn't really have to listen to it much (though of course I did a once through start to finish) because I've heard most of it countless times before through no deliberate action of my own. Ultimately, though I don't really enjoy it I've given this 4 stars for these reasons:
-It is very well produced
-The fact its not a greatest hits album but plays like one is testament to the consistency of its song writing
-They took all that crazy disco stuff coming out of America and made an album your mum can enjoy
So, 4 as I can't give 5 to something u personally don't enjoy, and its tempting to dock a further star for being the catalyst to us being subjected to Pierce Brosnan singing.
Joy Division
3/5
I think the production really let's this one down which is a real shame as most of the sharm of Joy Division comes from their ability to pull of their melancholic sound while still being a song you can dance to - it's like the musical version of the sad clown.
Oasis
3/5
Enjoyable enough until you realise its all the same song (with one or two exceptions) and gets very boring.
Hole
4/5
Good tracks, good sound. Don't let the context overshadow it.
Miriam Makeba
5/5
I admit I'm probably rushing to a 5 because something different, but I really enjoyed this start to finish. Sounds great all round.
Isaac Hayes
3/5
Wanted to like this more but its always a risk with these big tracks, I think you have to listen a few more times to really love it.
The Monks
2/5
Cool story, shite music
Siouxsie And The Banshees
4/5
You can hear a lot of the influence this album has had. I've had this one after the later album on this list, and it definitely feels more focused and driven.
The Kinks
2/5
Pretty sure the kinks just throw shit at the wall and see what sticks. Some of it does though.
Bob Dylan
1/5
I must be so jaded against Bob Dylan that I can't even tell you why I am, but the whole thing really baffles me. The music sounds awful and the lyrics are crap, no more need be said.
Talvin Singh
4/5
Headphones and breathtaking views required for this one, at lest the first 4 or 5 tracks. It sort of loses its way after that but isn't wholly unpleasant.
Nirvana
3/5
As someone who's not massively familiar with Nirvana's catalogue this is probably the worst album for to get first. I can tell the performance is good but didn't have the recognition to keep me engaged for an hour of it.
Queen
4/5
Didn't enjoy this as much as I thought I would, but I feel it deserves no less than a 4 for the way it's put together. Of course, it's only a three without I'm In Love With My Car ;)
Buena Vista Social Club
4/5
Enjoyable but I couldn't quite get to grips with it on a first listen, at times I felt board and other times I was really enjoying it.
Lou Reed
2/5
What a bore
The Verve
3/5
Bit of a snooze fest, if you've heard brit pop you've heard this.
Patti Smith
3/5
Meandering punky poetry rock
Paul Simon
4/5
Pleasant but I'm not a huge fan of these storytelling songs so a whole album won't get a 5 from me.
David Ackles
3/5
Bits I actually quite enjoyed, there's a good narrative in the music. Doesn't stop a lot of being tedious and boring though. I spun up and down the score slider for this one so I guess it averages to a 3.
Dusty Springfield
3/5
I like Dusty but this album didn't sound brilliant. Some good tracks but not in a good order/collection.
Rocket From The Crypt
2/5
Generic and dull. Production is pretty bad too.
Jacques Brel
2/5
C'est agréable mais le principal obstacle est que je ne comprenais pas ce qui était chanté.
The Verve
2/5
As others have said, hard to tell one song from the next. Lyrics feel overly edgy and the best bits are when he stops singing.
Coldplay
3/5
I'm not sure if this 4 or 3.say what you will but it is well produced. Clocks is a great track, but then I don't really like The Scientist, it just drips with this supermarket sadness that bounces of me. Similar story with the other tracks.
Fela Kuti
4/5
I enjoyed this way more than expected, always a good sign.
Grateful Dead
1/5
Self indulgent, definitely has the broken clock effect of being occasionally right.
Garbage
3/5
Smashing Pumpkins Lite
Ladysmith Black Mambazo
3/5
I was excited for this but it just kinda bounced off me.
Black Sabbath
5/5
Best thing to come from Brum (other than Brum).
Django Django
4/5
Something I'd not heard of before, I enjoyed the variety on the album and for the most part thought it sounded good.
Björk
5/5
It's mad to me how I've only really got into Bjork in the last couple of years. This album brilliantly embraces the DNA of electronic music and uses it to make an eclectic album of great song writing by a performer desperate to use their range and this is further demonstrated by the live version of the album.
I think this list has too much Bjork, but this album is really worth gushing over.
Linkin Park
3/5
I've always liked this album, not as much as Meteora but it's good some good tracks. However it does sound very over produced in today's ears.
Jeff Beck
2/5
Boring and uninspired.
The Stooges
3/5
The remaster can't disguise this had aged pretty badly but I can appreciate the energy.
Khaled
3/5
Cool but no Imagine covers please.
Beatles
4/5
Took us 3 tries but me and the generator found a Beatles album I like.
Eagles
3/5
Starts off really strong, Joe Walsh is a great addition to the Eagles to give them some balls. It doesn't keep up, and by the end you can barely hear the tracks over your own boredom.
Rush
3/5
First half is great, maybe a 5,music for music nerds with some amazing stuff from Neal Peart. Sadly by the end I'd had enough of the vocals and I think, for now, this is a 3 for me.
Creedence Clearwater Revival
3/5
Really generic but damned if I did find myself taping my toe to those blues riffs.
Sleater-Kinney
2/5
Siouxsie and the Banshees 20 years later but it's all the same song and American.
Talking Heads
4/5
First half is great, mad music you can't stay still to. It sort of loses its way a bit, but I think maybe it's a grower.
The Sonics
2/5
Yeeeeeooooww. Yeah no its a bit stale, covers of good songs still sound alright.
3/5
Someone needs to come along and turn 3 of the half baked tracks into one really good one. Not without its moments, but often left me feeling like it was unfinished or out of ideas. High 2 rounded up to a 3.
Queen
3/5
I like Brighton Rock, I like Killer Queen and Brian May goes to work on this album but overall I find myself liking Queen less than I'd like to.
Stan Getz
5/5
For me, music like this offers a time capsule/teleportation to an idyllic space of music that's easy going and relaxed but has enough harmonic and melodic complexity to keep it interesting and mysterious. It's a bit of a gateway drug to Stan Getz, Astrud Gilberto and Antonio Carlos Jobim - one I gladly fall into every time this sort of music comes around.
If I could change one thing, I'd compress the tenor sax down - 's a bit loud.
Tears For Fears
4/5
Pop music that stands the test of time, along with some decent album tracks.
Emmylou Harris
4/5
After this album I'm convinced Emmylou is on par with Dolly.
Now to paint my pickup truck white and driver on until I meet Jesus himself.
ZZ Top
3/5
3 great tracks and an album bloated with meh. It's a shame, you out this on and you think "yeah here we go a 5" but it'll wear you down and here we are at 3. Less is more folks.
Slayer
2/5
The musical equivelant of someone who doesn't know how to play Street Fighter mashing buttons - occasionally you'll see some cool stuff but its mostly just chaos.
Sepultura
2/5
Despite it being thrash metal I actually found this quite boring. Surely its loud and chaotic, but damn if isn't repetitive... and I like techno.
Stephen Stills
3/5
Fun for a bit but not for over an hour, give us a break Stephen.
Dire Straits
2/5
A waste of some great riffs, maybe a 3 star without the slur
Robert Wyatt
2/5
At first I was like "God, no" then "ah OK maybe" but by the end I'm ready to cast this back into obscurity as pretentious crap.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
1/5
Way too generic and dull to be this long and self indulgent. Musically some of it is OK but as a completed work this really made me suffer. Piss off, Nick.
Led Zeppelin
3/5
Some of my favourites on here but it is overly long and a bit mediocre at times. Feel kinda bad putting this at 3 but there's plenty of Led Zep on the list to go around.
Tom Tom Club
3/5
Cool to see what can be done without David Byrne
Bruce Springsteen
3/5
I guess you can't fault this for being exactly what you'd expect.
Beatles
3/5
Not the best not the worst, I like a few of the tracks and found others boring. The production is a bit strained in places too.
B.B. King
4/5
Pure blues fun start to finish.
Wilco
3/5
Interesting to listen to once but not much about it draws me to listen to it again.
Ozomatli
3/5
I'm not sure I was able to listen to all of this. I ended up listening to live versions of some of the tracks on YouTube. A shame because I quite enjoyed some of what I heard. I'd feel bad giving this a 2 and I'm sure I didn't experience a 3 so 4 it is.
Beatles
3/5
The production in the more ambitious tracks is really messy but I think the ideas still came through. It feels like this is The Beatles in their stride.
King Crimson
2/5
Too far out man
LL Cool J
3/5
Not sure what all the macho energy is about but there's some cool 90s beats on this, kinda surprised but it.
Paul McCartney
3/5
It's sloppy but its not bad. It does go through a bit of "here's 4 chords on repeat for two minutes, and here's another one" but it still averages out just as good as any of the one hit wonder albums which I think Macca is probably due.
Stevie Wonder
4/5
Stevie is a musical genius, but his batting average isn't what you might expect. There's some real self indulgent wobbles on here. But then... Superstition is one of the greatest songs of all times, just casually tucked 6 tracks into the album.
The Shamen
4/5
Some cool electronica on this but it does get a bit samey and is overly long. I'll admit I am partly giving this a 4 to balance out a harsh average for this one.
Lenny Kravitz
3/5
Some of the tracks land well here, it's made up of the same bluesy/jazz chord stuff thats having a big comeback at the moment. Unfortunately, this well and truly overstays it's welcome and you're left with a lot of "filler" tracks that don't contribute much.
The Clash
3/5
Preferred this to London Calling as it's shorter, more focused and more what I'd expect of Punk music.
Suede
2/5
Another album another Englishmen who can't sing.
Peter Gabriel
3/5
Thought I'd have some kind of reaction to this but overall just thought it was a bit noting, some of it I didn't like, some of it I didn't mind.
Van Halen
4/5
Good times were had, ear bleeding riffs were played.
Green Day
4/5
I feel kinda uneasy about enjoying this, for me the whole "pop punk" thing feels really hypocritical and vapid. At the same time though, I'd much rather put this on than some of the old punk classics on the list.
Manic Street Preachers
2/5
Boring
Astor Piazzolla
4/5
This one gets an extra star for getting the algorithim to show me some more cool Argentinian music.
The Cars
3/5
This one flicks quite happily around the average mark on the dial.
Tom Waits
2/5
Moments of this actually work but as a complete package it really frags, and I'm left wondering which bits are supposed to be tongue and cheek and which might be serious.
Tim Buckley
3/5
Pretty middle of the road, Tim.
Sonic Youth
3/5
Some of this was decent, good grooves and band sounds tight, but a lot of it is just chaotic noise and I guess that's the point but it didn't work for me.
Massive Attack
4/5
I am a big fan of Blue Lines and Mezzanine but weirdly hadn't listened to this album. The tracks with Tracy Thorn are great. Overall this feels like Blue Lines pt2,its not as exciting and the live track at the end is totally out of place but overall still good.
Mott The Hoople
2/5
Violence is the only way you'll see sense? Why do you keep saying it like that?
Peter Tosh
3/5
Feels like an odd choice as this doesn't wow at all but hey its not bad either.
Funkadelic
4/5
Full on George Clinton, but Mothership remains the best one on here for me.
Jeff Buckley
3/5
Jeff can sing which puts him ahead a lot of the stuff you hear on this list, but the song writing is pretty tired for the most part.
Robbie Williams
2/5
Sorry Robbie, but listening to this album in this context really highlights how two dimensional cut and paste pop it is.
Sonic Youth
2/5
I couldn't tell you which of the two Sonic Youth albums I've had was better I could only tell you that I didn't need two.
Jurassic 5
4/5
Some really cool ideas here, but for my first listen I felt like they got pretty tired and couldn't justify the run time. I'll be coming back to this to pick my favourites out.
Tom Waits
2/5
Weird moments where it kinda breaches something cool but doesn't stay there long enough to make this worth listening to.
4/5
Musically good, but hard to separate from who's playing it.
The Jam
4/5
Enjoyed checking this out but I'm blown away by anything in particular.
Little Simz
4/5
Something about Little Simz style works for me while a lot of this stuff doesn't. Inflo's production is great too.
Johnny Cash
5/5
I think this landed better than Folsom for me, musically it felt tighter but also Johnny is more charming. Folsom is perhaps more of a novelty but I enjoyed this more.
Venom
2/5
When listened to on low volume, its like metal elevator music.
George Harrison
3/5
Fun time hanging out with the hippies. He got a bad deal on the My Sweet Lord case.
Kings of Leon
2/5
Raw and untamed but in the bad way.
The Roots
4/5
I thi k I'm probably one of those normies that needs a "Best of The Roots" collection. I enjoy their sound but find each track either really hits or does nothing for me. Overall liked it enough for a 4.
The Temptations
4/5
This is indeed The Temptations. Starts strong, just about stops before too long.
Rahul Dev Burman
3/5
Enjoyed having something different
Dennis Wilson
3/5
This is more of a diary entry than a review. I've noticed that the more you get of similar stuff, the harder it is to remark on it after just one listen, which is typically what I manage in a day as an average. So, I can tell you this sounded alright, any extra value (positive or negative) that might be gained from an understanding of the lyrics is beyond me at this point.
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
1/5
Like hearing foxes scream in the street.
Paul Simon
3/5
It's good it's just not me.
Can
3/5
As prog rock goes this is pretty good, and not too long!
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
2/5
I've got no energy left for Elvis (after only 3 of his albums on here), but this was one of the better ones.
Coldplay
4/5
Some of the soppy stuff is a bit strong, but overall its far more listenable than a lot of the shite on this list.
People like Coldplay and voted for the Nazis, you can't trust people Jeremy.
k.d. lang
2/5
Had to keep this one down low, I don't think it was bad per se just couldn't connect with it.
OutKast
3/5
I didn't like this as much as I thought I would. Some great tracks throughout but I'm not a fan of skits and am too far removed from the context.
Les Rythmes Digitales
3/5
Overall pretty dissapointing, but one or two good tracks. If you like those go and listen to the soundtrack to the Playstation 1 game Speed Freaks.
Pixies
3/5
Felt pretty neutral about this one, which means I liked it more than Sonic Youth.
XTC
2/5
Really stale with a couple of good moments
Antony and the Johnsons
2/5
As you begin to notice how lovely and moving the piano is you can't help but notice it has no effect on you simply because some guy had to do a falsetto for the entire run of the album.
Peter Gabriel
3/5
Songs you wouldn't mind hearing while you get your hair cut.
The Modern Lovers
3/5
Basically Roadrunner is the only good track, but he's having fun, and that makes it far more redeemable in my eyes then a lot of the self indulgent stuff you'll hear on this list.
Ray Price
3/5
Could all just be the same song but its not unpleasant.
Run-D.M.C.
3/5
Kindafeel oblidged to give it a 3 despite it being quite a chore, but you really can hear the development of ideas that went on to build the genre.
Joan Armatrading
3/5
I think Glyn is a bit off the mark with his praise for this one. It's fine, but it really is just fine.
The Psychedelic Furs
3/5
The sounds of the 70s dying out into the 80s. Despite all the mediocre British music from this period I've been subjected to on this list thus far this one stood out just enough to get a 3.
Animal Collective
3/5
Was tempted to give this a 4, its my first time listening to this and I think it could either be one that grows on you or irritates you on repeat listens. Some cool ideas but not an instant "wow".
Billy Joel
3/5
Enjoyed more than I expected, as is well reflected by the reviews already here. I don't think I'd go back to it though.
Cyndi Lauper
2/5
I wanted to like this more than I did. "She's like a cool Madonna" they said. If that's true, I guess I'm just not cool. I find the hits to be overly cheesy and the other stuff too grating.
Jerry Lee Lewis
3/5
Don't touch it. Don't sing about touching it. Don't think about touching it. Don't sing about thinking about touching it.
Or something.
I thought albums had to be a minimum of 25 minutes?
Anita Baker
3/5
Good singer but boring songs that don't really work for her style.
AC/DC
4/5
Title track and Touch Too Much are standouts, the rest is just consistent head bopping toe tapping rock n roll.
Crowded House
3/5
Gets worse as it goes on but definitely better than some of the crap I've given two stars. Everywhere you go.
Nirvana
4/5
Probably a 5 if you were the right age at the right time. For me I like a lot of it but there's bits I don't and am overall not drawn to angst as a mainstay for my music listening.
David Bowie
2/5
It'd be good if it wasn't like listening to your uncle get up to sing his favourite Motown songs at Karaoke.
The Smashing Pumpkins
3/5
To my ears, this is the correct way to sing badly. I think I'd be scoring this album lower if I'd already had Siamese Dream which is really the only Smashing Pumpkins album I come back to. This one has some good tracks, but its way too long and samey accross the span of it to leave a lasting impact.
Shack
2/5
"Hey 1999, remember that album NME listed as number 2 on their album of the year? Don't you just think you HAVE to hear that before die"
"I mean, not really. Nothing better 25 years later? Is NME still a thing?"
Guided By Voices
3/5
This was an odd collection of not quite songs but I'm glad I got to see this project once.
Ramones
3/5
All the tracks sound the same but it's still worth a listen. Despite being the first track, you'll have Blitzkrieg Pop in your head afterwards.
Cee Lo Green
3/5
Started off thinking this was a 4 for me, I can excuse having a big ego in hip hop music but if you take it seriously enough to put out 16 tracks that all cover the same ground and lack the quality control to size it down then it's clearly got out of hand.
Haircut 100
3/5
Better than most new wave for me but sadly they ran out of ideas, every track is the same leaving you feeling pretty stir crazy by the end. Still, got my head bobbing.
The Allman Brothers Band
2/5
It was fun at first. Then there was the rest of time.
Cypress Hill
3/5
Production is good but the hooks are not. Why is Black Sunday not on the list? I was expecting to listen to this and be blown away as this has been picked over that, but no, Black Sunday still takes it.
Madness
2/5
I get why they're a singles band now.
Quicksilver Messenger Service
3/5
It's by no means the worst one of these I've heard. Feels like actual chaotic prog rock rather than forced. But I won't be coming back.
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
2/5
This wasn't actually that bad but I still think Neil Young sucks.
A Tribe Called Quest
5/5
I had the Run DMC album on here the other day, it's crazy how far Tribe took the hip hop sound on their FIRST album only a few years later. Iconic.
Tito Puente
5/5
Good fun! Always great to get a break from the usual here and for it be good. Also, a good example of how tracks can sound similar across an album but not exhaustive.
The Who
3/5
One or two good tracks, the covers sound alright but not as good as their originals. 4 more The Who albums to go...
Blur
3/5
Bit of a Blur to be honest.
I like how you can hear Damon gearing up for the Gorillaz stuff in this one.
Traffic
2/5
Pretty meh, I have no further thoughts.
Carpenters
3/5
Enjoyed Karen's voice overall. Some good versions of some tracks, but overall very syrupy. I hadn't realised her story was so tragic.
Metallica
4/5
The drum mixing kinda sucks but it's made up for by the guitar. A good time.
The Who
3/5
Keith Moon sounds great, but as an album this isn't enticing.
American Music Club
3/5
Didn't hate this but it didn't much for me either. A very neutral 3.
Jimmy Smith
4/5
He's pretty good I just don't know if I'm ready to commit to Incredible.
Nas
4/5
I'm a big fan of It Ain't Hard To Tell and one or two others here. Overall I'm not in love with this enough to give it a 5, something about Nas' flow I find a bit hit or miss but I think it'll just take time to land for me. In that sense I do actually find it hard to tell.
Bonnie "Prince" Billy
2/5
Not so much an album as it is a collection of voice notes from someone who sounds really sad set to music.
David Holmes
3/5
I've had a couple of tracks from this saved in my library for years. Sadly, I didn't save any more after listening to all of this. It's not bad but if you look at David's career after this it feels like they've grown a lot since this.
Red Hot Chili Peppers
4/5
Didn't realise this album was so old! There's some great tracks that still sound very current in here. Overall Chilli Peppers are a bit of a guilty pleasure for, I enjoy it enough to listen but can't help but notice how pop and sage some of it is played.
The Dave Brubeck Quartet
5/5
Absolutely timeless. One of those albums that makes you question all the other 5 stars you've given.
Deerhunter
3/5
Well produced if a little bit of a downer in places. Made me nostalgic for the early 10s.
Bob Dylan
1/5
It's such a shame Bob Dylan can't sing. Allegedly, his lyrics are quite good. I can't make out a word he's "singing".
Sonic Youth
2/5
Third Sonic Youth album I've been given, some of this was, I dunno, Ok? But at this point I've steadily grown to dislike them more and more. See you on the next two!
Led Zeppelin
4/5
Simply Red
3/5
I like holding back the years but otherwise this reeks of talented musicians put to the back to satiate the need to make a "star".
Frank Sinatra
5/5
I think this might be a 4 in terms of songwriting (they do all sound very similar), but you can't deny the feeling the performances elicit. The dynamic range and swing of the band is just perfect, and what needs to be said about the vocal?
I got this very near christmas which really bought the whole thing together too.
Björk
4/5
For me, Bjork is like an acquired taste, and its impressive how she manages to maintain that album to album; I find myself having to reset my expectations and appraise each album on its own merit. I enjoyed this about as much as most 3s but I gotta give it a 4 for the amount of balls it has.
Sinead O'Connor
4/5
There's much more to this album than one overplayed hit single, which is certainly more than can be said of a lot of these albums. Though I wasn't always into what was happening, there was clear vision and good execution across the album.
Various Artists
3/5
How do you judge this kinda music? You'll hear it every year whether you want to or not.
PJ Harvey
3/5
I don't really get it but I don't think its bad. Better than the first one.
Afrika Bambaataa
2/5
Like a visit to a museum to look at an important but ugly statue.
Jah Wobble's Invaders Of The Heart
2/5
Pretty painful for the most part with one or two decent moments.
Public Enemy
3/5
Eh I didn't really click with this one. Felt pretty abrasive and too samey.
Merle Haggard
3/5
As advertised, nothing more. Yeehaw.
Sade
5/5
Sade and her band have a sound that I find both exciting and comforting. Great use of chords and melody throughout. Worth watching some of the old love sets of you like this.
Cat Stevens
3/5
I like Father and Son. The rest of the album just sorta makes you think "I guess every artist has to make an album".
Grateful Dead
2/5
Not as bad as the live album but I'm still Grateful it's over.
Everything But The Girl
3/5
Nice long visit to the hairdresser. I like Tracy Thorn's voice but it does wear a bit thin when there's so little diversity here.
Nick Drake
5/5
For the most part, very calm and pretty. I think I actually prefer the sound of just Nick and his guitar to the other albums that include the string sections. Both are nice, sure, but I feel like this is closer to the artist's vision when writing the song.
Gotta mention there's one or two (short) tracks that strike me as a bit odd, but I'll give it a pass as the rest of the album is a treat.
The Offspring
3/5
To start with enjoyable but a lack of ideas makes this wearisome to the point I won't come back.
Femi Kuti
4/5
Great rhythmic work and use of call and response. Risked dragging on a bit with some samey tracks, but I imagine as you get to know it that isn't the case.
Ride
3/5
I found this to be a bit of a slog overall, its just so mediocre. In about the final third I did think it started to come together a bit more, so if you're reading this review while listening and are struggling - hang in there, kitty.
The Smiths
3/5
Some decent guitar on this. Reminds me that I really like The Cure.
Electric Light Orchestra
3/5
An hour and then some of tracks that are hard to distinguish from each other. Then comes Mr Blue Sky and you think the whole album has basically been stripping that track back for parts and trying to run with it, The success rate is pretty low.
Iggy Pop
3/5
Pretty boring for the most part.
Neil Young
2/5
Either I'm being beaten into submission or this is just one of the betterNeil youngs albums of the many ones on this cursed list. But it's still Neil Young, knock a star off for the overspill of crap I've had to listen to.
Queens of the Stone Age
3/5
Put me to sleep to be honest. Quite dissapointed as some of the tracks of Songs for the Deaf are good.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
1/5
Nobody wants to hear how miserable you are Nick, piss off. Hovered around a 2,but Green Eyes tanked it.
The Stooges
2/5
Don't have much to say about this. I listened to it, it was a bit naff, and I've already forgotten it.
Bruce Springsteen
3/5
Maybe its ok? I just don't get it, one or two tracks hold the best ideas of the album and that's about all I can discern.
Brian Eno
2/5
Didn't get much from this other than finding it mildly irritating. I prefer the ambient Eno.
Circle Jerks
2/5
Mercilfully short.
Blue Cheer
2/5
Production is pretty bad, but the song writing is... ok. Makes you appreicate what having a producer like Glyn Johns can do for a band.
Fatboy Slim
5/5
Definitely got Nostalgia Goggles for this one, but I think the production is great, really good use of samples and seamless movement between material within the tracks.
I get the complaints about repetition, but it clearly wasn't enough of an issue to stop these tracks enduring throughout my upbringing.
Elvis Costello
2/5
"You don't have to listen to me, that's the promise of free will" - you might be on to something there, Elvis.
Wilco
2/5
Very dull.
Jimi Hendrix
4/5
Kinda feel bad not giving this a 5 with tracks like Red House and Fox(e)y Lady but my listening experience got so confused by the different editions I'm not really sure what album I'd be giving a 5 to.
The Divine Comedy
3/5
Sounds OK but disappointed it's not really in the style I know them for. The lyrics are kinda silly but the music doesn't put you in the mood to laugh.
Dusty Springfield
4/5
Son of a Preacher Man is such a well engineered track, that same level of quality isn't reached by any one other track here, but the overall quality is good.
Peter Gabriel
3/5
Didn't really enjoy much of this but I appreciated that it was creative and was always trying new things.
Kate Bush
4/5
Had to go through this twice, I thought it was interesting but couldn't quite pin if I liked it or not. I could tell the voice was familiar and I could certainly see what people meant when they compared it to Bjork, FKA Twigs and the like.
Anyway, on the second listen, it dawned on me that there's a certain quality in her voice that's a bit Cilla Black.... so does all this start with Cilla Black? I need a lie down.
Overall pretty cool, if I was born in the 80s or even earlier in the 90s I'd probably be gushing all over this, but as it is today, I admire it from afar.
The Beach Boys
4/5
Pioneering but not necessarily a brilliant listen now. There's some great ideas ready to come out here but I think the record is held back by still needing to be a Beach Boys record. Things like the fade out endings happen too often to be attributed to lazy writing and feel more like they've been forced upon ideas that strayed too far from the brief while the raucous horn sounds and shouts needed someone to tone it down a bit.
Still, some brilliant tracks here push this above any of the 3s I've given.
Missy Elliott
4/5
This is a 1001 Albums Generator Exclusive...
Good beats, skit parts are better than the other ones I've heard through this list, and sparks some nostalgia
Marvin Gaye
5/5
Not much more you can say about this album that hasn't been said, it's iconic.
The Rolling Stones
3/5
Gimme Shelter is great, and then its just British Honky Tonk music you'd only listen to on the basis its by The Rolling Stones
Steve Winwood
4/5
Cheesy 80s stuff but not in the bad way.
Primal Scream
3/5
Cool sounds and concepts but lacking song writing to make it stick.
Pixies
3/5
Memories of Skate 3 soundtrack
Tim Buckley
3/5
Some of its quite good, some of its a real chore to listen to. Some decent songwriting, some aging recording and production. has to be a 3.
Faith No More
2/5
Like a naff Metallica/Limp Bizkit merge. I think the cover of War Pigs really set me off into giving this a 2.
Deep Purple
3/5
Some great instrumental sections here, but some overly long solos and irritating vocals bring it down as a whole. Can hear this had a lot of influence afterwards.
The Go-Go's
3/5
Fine for a bit but wears pretty thin even in a run time just over half an hour long. Needs more ideas.
John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers
2/5
Kinda ok to start with but ultimately boring and self indulgent
Simon & Garfunkel
3/5
Pleasant and nostalgic, but a little dull overall.
The Jesus And Mary Chain
3/5
Fine enough for those who like it, repetitive but bearable for those who don't.
Rage Against The Machine
5/5
Where metal heads and hip hop heads can get together.
Always good to have a reminder of this album, and kinda sad to be reminded of how relevant it continues to be.
Queen Latifah
2/5
Quantity over quality.
New Order
3/5
Drum machines are cool, most of this album is alright as you can hear they're using drum machines. But then you get a bit worn out from hearing all the drum machine.
Radiohead
2/5
Pyramid Song and Knives Out are alright but overall the vocals got the better of me in this one.
David Bowie
1/5
I can't stand Bowie, and reading all the gushing just makes me dislike him more.
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
3/5
Unremarkable.
Bill Evans Trio
5/5
Sometimes I think with the way Bill plays it doesn't really matter which piece he's playing, he's still going to transport you to his world of calm but complex harmony and melody.
If you're new to Bill Evans and liked this I recommend Waltz For Debby, Skating In Central Park, Peace Piece and the Cannonball Adderley track Toy which features Bill.
Eminem
3/5
Ehhh I'm a bit torn. Some of this is shocking in an intentional way, but I think the bits of that which don't land are at best grating at worst a parody of themselves that some people end up taking seriously.
It also has some of the big hits with serious staying power with great production, but also some very boring and reptetive material.
The Byrds
2/5
I think the Vera Lynn cover tanked this one for me.
The Doors
3/5
Didn't do much for me, blues is blues
Manu Chao
3/5
Enjoyed something different but none of the tracks really stuck with me for a first listen.
Missy Elliott
4/5
Missy has good flow but both of her albums on this list, which I've had served to me in quick succession, leave me a bit cold. I saved a few tracks, but as albums they don't really seem to land as something more than the sum of its parts. That said, I liked the production on this and I think both albums are 3.5s for me so I'm rounding this up to 4.
The Thrills
3/5
Of all the things on George Bush's iPod, I am informed this is one of them.
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
1/5
Somebody stop this God music.
Jazmine Sullivan
4/5
I didn't mind this. Always cool to see Anderson Paak popping up.
I think it's itornic that on a list full of wanknalbums from the 70s people here are moaning about the relevancy of the lyrical content. It all very current to me.
The Smiths
4/5
Liked this so much more than Meat Is Murder. The whole thing is a little up its own arse to really love, but if you put it in and forget whose singing, you find yourself enjoying parts of it.
Jane's Addiction
3/5
The artwork put me off initially but this was decent enough to get through with no real complaints but nothing that I'd come back for either.
Mylo
4/5
There's some absolute gems on here - Sunworshipper and Zenophile in particular - but there's also some really repetitve fluff.
Incredible Bongo Band
4/5
4 stars for the Apache break alone. Very cool but not really connecting with it to give 5.
Pink Floyd
2/5
Like being at a party where you can't stop someone from going on and on and on but you know everyone is bored to tears.
M.I.A.
2/5
Is your dad a dealer? Because you're dope to me.
I think I went a on a full circle of love and hate for this one.
Duke Ellington
3/5
I love what Sir Duke represents in music but I don't think this is what we here are calling an album.
Dinosaur Jr.
2/5
The second to last track nearly tanked it to a 1.
Joanna Newsom
4/5
I didn't think I knew Joanna, but she's sampled by The Roots, and that's been stuck in my head ever since I realised that yesterday.
Overall, I think this is probably one you need to listen to a few times to digest, but I can tell its competent and well put together from the first listen.
George Michael
2/5
Pretty dull for the most part.
Minutemen
2/5
Enjoyable to begin with, and hey it's the Jackass theme, but really could have done with dumping at least 15 tracks.
The Byrds
2/5
2 stars just because I've run out of ability to think about The Byrds at this point.
Bob Dylan
2/5
Think the harmonica is broken. Blowin' In The Wind is alright.
Ice T
2/5
Gutted not to be on the list of Certified Players.
Joni Mitchell
4/5
Kinda wish I'd had this as my first Joni album, the others had jaded me a bit before going in. This one is much more pleasant, but I'm still not huge on the whole "let's literally tell a story in a song" idea - it just makes it hard to imagine relistening to it.
Buffalo Springfield
2/5
It's alright but it is still Neil Young.
Elbow
3/5
A few tracks I know sandwiched by quite dull mopey music.
John Lennon
3/5
A couple of good songs, you can tell Lennon knows how to write a song, but man if it isn't boring to the point that you just feel he's arrogant. Almost like he's missing a song writing partner or something.
Dwight Yoakam
2/5
I don't often notice lyrics but man the lyrics are weird in this.
William Orbit
4/5
Very nearly a 5 for me. Maybe it will be soon, but after two listens the second half really does lose me a bit. I'd actually listened to William Orbit nearly ten years ago, saved a bunch of tracks to Spotify and then forgot all about it, really enjoyed coming back to it.
Beck
4/5
Coherent sound throughout, songwriting is a but repetitive, slightly preferred it to the other Beck album I've had
Elliott Smith
4/5
I think I'd heard the name Elliott Smith before, didn't really take the time to learn more about him but I thought this was decent and would probably be more into it if I regularly listened to this sort of music.
Big Star
3/5
Calling youself Big Star and being bang on average is pretty tragic.
Stan Getz
4/5
This is nice but if you already had Getz and Gilberto it's hard to say this is as good and give it a 5.
Hanoi Rocks
2/5
Uninspired, dull, and quite naff.
Robert Wyatt
2/5
Robert Wyatt again? Yeah the last one was weird and rubbish seems like this one is too.. Few tracks I. Hmm some of this sounds alright? Oh. No it's just quieter, and by contrast less annoying.
The Youngbloods
3/5
Yeah I mean it's alright, decent enough. I wouldn't rush it to someone's deathbed, though.
Chicago
3/5
Yeah Free Form Guitar is unforgivable.
David Bowie
2/5
I'm just too predisposed to disliking Bowie to hear this without bias, but even then I still think it was pretty bad.
The Rolling Stones
3/5
Just some blues covers. Not particularly notable.
Jefferson Airplane
3/5
Somebody to Love and White Rabbit are cool. You need drugs for the rest I guess.
Yes
2/5
This album will give you The Clap.
Eels
3/5
Not for me I would say. Clearly doing its thing, just bored me to tears.
Paul Weller
3/5
I thought I was in a rough ride here, but this is pretty fine throughout. I didn't pay attention to the lyrics, and was a bit bored by the end.
The Specials
4/5
Just good fun, if you live in Britain you get exposed to this from an early age. After listening I went on a Ska and Reggae binge, good job it was a sunny day.
Holger Czukay
4/5
There's one or two tracks that I thought were quite nice, and as its a 4 track album I guess its a 4. Some of it is nearly 2 star level stuff though.
The Cure
5/5
I didn't think I was going to be up for Lovesong so soon after Pictures of You, but testament to the flow of this album it does actually flow nicely.
I've been bought up listening to The Cure, I think people distance themselves from it as being Goth music, but for me its that's just the aesthetic the band has to help set the scene for the emotional pallet the music is offering. If you're open to it, it's a nice place to visit and get all melancholic and this album as a package is their best offering for that.
Abdullah Ibrahim
3/5
I enjoyed this way less than I thought I would, usually a fan of Abdullah but this mostly bored me/weirded me out.
R.E.M.
2/5
About passable but kind of annoying if too loud.
Beck
4/5
Not sure we need so many Beck albums but I have actually warmed to them throughout the process. I may even go check out his other stuff. Isn't that why we're all here anyway?
Motörhead
4/5
It's good but it is all very samey. Also I don't want to give Jailbait a 5. The less said about that the better.
Pink Floyd
4/5
Some undeniably well written stuff but also moments of what sounded like someone wobbling keys aimlessly on their cool new synthesiser thinking they're the second coming of christ.
Hookworms
4/5
I enjoyed the flow from one track to the next. Sure, the albums inclusion is a little weird, but the fact I came away wanting to listen to some of this again isn't just the result of some lame marketing stunt, there's plenty of musicians I've become more opposed to as a result of this experience.
Bruce Springsteen
3/5
Going to be wrting this a few more times, Bruce Springsteen - some people like, me not so much.
Kraftwerk
4/5
Kinda want to give 5 stars but I'd basically be giving it to the majority of the first track. By Morning Stroll I've got to admit that one (very long) great track doesn't make the whole album a 5.
The Birthday Party
1/5
Another entry to the shameful "I turned it down so low that I was technically still listening but could barely still hear it" club. Sneaky way to get more Nick Cave in.
Pavement
2/5
And so passes another completely forgot table album, thanks list, I'm sure I'd have be no worse off hearing that for the rest of my life.
Leonard Cohen
2/5
A bit of a snooze, slightly preferable to Dylan.
Michael Jackson
5/5
Feels like Michael is just along for the ride as Quincy works some magic, it's 1979 so I'm guessing he's just got out of the discos as that movement winds down and has left obsessed with that Nile Rodgers sound.
Elvis Presley
4/5
I knew he wasn't dead.
Nanci Griffith
3/5
Pleasant enough but nothing special, another album where I didn't even notice it end.
2/5
The only memorable thing is that both a man and a woman sing on this.
Klaxons
4/5
ITSNOTOVERNOTOVERNOTOVERNOTOVER YEEET
Rufus Wainwright
2/5
Like Thom Yorke without any of the interesting musical stuff alongside.
Living Colour
3/5
Cult of Personality is a great track. The players in the band are all good in their own right. But overall I didn't hear much worth coming back for.
Big Star
2/5
Very different to the other album from Big Star I've had, and much worse.
4/5
Its kind of a 3 and a half for me but I'm feeling generous. There's some good songs here and I like the concept, even if I'm not in love with the execution.
Supertramp
3/5
Overall this felt competent and had its own thing going on but none of it really landed with me. The dynamics were all over the place which makes for a tough first listen.
Steve Earle
3/5
Sure is Country like.
John Cale
3/5
Not a lot going on here musically, kinda feels like this would be better developed if made today. Overall it was decent enough.
The Beta Band
3/5
Some kind of interesting moments, and the story about them trying to mix it themselves is funny, but as stated in other reviews this album is in good company of being very mediocre.
Cocteau Twins
3/5
She has a good voice and there are a few we'll written tracks but by and large this is mediocre.
Badly Drawn Boy
3/5
I liked it more than Robert Wyatt but that's not to say I liked it all that much.
Orange Juice
4/5
A generous 4, but this was quite fun, even if its clearly just boring from a load of other popular things from the time.
Michael Jackson
3/5
I thought this would be Bad but it wasn't as Bad as I thought. One or two tracks on here are cool, never heard the Stevie feature before. But Man In The Mirror is pretty painful for me.
Ministry
2/5
Yeah, that should confuse the algorithims for a bit.
Grant Lee Buffalo
2/5
America Snoring because this is boring.
Fleetwood Mac
5/5
Just a nice time listening to this one. I put this on in the office as I often do with each day's album and for once I didn't feel the need to desperately ride the volume control to avoid the glares.
Dagmar Krause
3/5
This was certainly an experience. Not something I'll revisit but I certainly had it.
Slade
3/5
Nobby shouts for half an hour. I enjoyed bits of it but was ready for it to end.
The Auteurs
2/5
Boring and totally unremarkable.
Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark
2/5
Very pompous, actually felt quite ill after this. Note from my dad "Loved seeing them get canned off at Talking Heads in 1979."
The Chemical Brothers
4/5
For me this is where their sound starts to come together. This album captures what's about to happen with the Matrix movies, phones and the increase in pace for digital art. But I haven't looked into that, so I'm quite likely wrong.
King Crimson
2/5
Just feels really self indulgent for the most part, especially removed from its original context.
Pretenders
3/5
I appreciated this but wasn't really into it. Interesting if tragic story about the bad members dying too.
Teenage Fanclub
3/5
Par for the 1001 course
Brian Eno
4/5
At first I thought I was in for some old school Eno which I didn't enjoy last time it came up, but this feels like the turning point for Ambient Eno which is my favourite type of Eno
Beach House
4/5
New to me, I expect it feels a bit more comfortable after a few runs but I enjoyed the playful use of melodies in the song writing and thought the sound was pleasant overall.
George Jones
3/5
This was country music.
Ice Cube
2/5
We only needed Predator on the list, it's kinda mad how far Ice Cube progresses from this to that in two years.
Pere Ubu
1/5
Still reeling from Dub Housing, the volume remained very low.
Fairport Convention
3/5
3.5 I think. On the one hand, some of the musicianship here is great and impressive, but then it succumb to some of the 60s hippy music stereotypes and wonders top far into the garden for me.
Red Hot Chili Peppers
4/5
Hard to review this like the other albums as I'm already so familiar with it, mostly through hearing other people play it.
I can feel the teenage angst of not wanting to like this as I wanted to be out there finding interesting music that not everyone liked, but there is some great pop music on here. Then you listen a bit closer, its like they're trying to say something but the message is lost in also desperately wanting to make commercially successful music.
It has all this energy saying "This is Californication, commercialism is rampant and has a knock on effect that has a huge cost to society" but also "catchy choruses are great, be sure to come back for the deluxe edition".
And then, like a shifting tide, it becomes like an album full of b sides.
Scissor Sisters
4/5
My main issue with this was that it was a bit one note. Apart from the times it gets a bit Elton John. But it's a fun note, doing this list you learn to appreciate a good pop hit, and there are a few here.
Fairport Convention
3/5
Two Fairport Convention albums in the space of a week. If ever I was going to convert to a folk fan, this was it. I liked it enough but it does start to bounce off you after a while and feel quite samey.
I appreciate what's year but am sure someone has a better take on this by now.
Todd Rundgren
2/5
This has a lot of "wrapped up in my own world" energy. I don't really hear any cohesive vision just someone madly hopping around between ideas they've soaked up from elsewhere. I can also hear the influence this has had on a lot of other stuff I don't like.
JAY Z
2/5
Quite grating, featuring very little of what you might call songs and full to the brim of beats that go stale while a man goes on and on about nothing.
Randy Newman
2/5
If you've heard one Randy Newman you've heard them all.
For 3 minutes straight he told me he was back on his feet again. Not sure if that meant he'd been falling down for 3 minutes too, but I am comforted by his resillience.
Gang Of Four
3/5
It's decent but I am very weary of this sound being nearly halfway through this list.
Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five
3/5
Grandmaster Flash is a weird inclusion here as he's definitely not an album artist. This feels like a "very infulencial, one very important track, so on it goes" pick.
Portishead
4/5
I'm a big Portishead fan and I did like this album, but it came up on a Saturday, the sun was shining and I was due to play a gig that evening. With all of that considered it did make me realise that this one is a "if the winds blowing that way" album where as Dummy is always able to take me where it is.
The Kinks
3/5
Don't think this album needs to be here. Waterloo Sunset is a nice track but for the rest of the album I found myself impressed at The Kinks ability to know one song from another as they're all so similar.
3/5
I had vague memories of having another XTC album and not being quite sure what to make of it. This about hit the same spot. Some interesting moments but its clear that those aren't the main direction for the album and they'd rather have some naff vocals over the whole thing instead. Critic is in my dictionary by the way.
OutKast
3/5
Two hours fifteen is a big commitment, and I don't think I was really rewarded for it. A few fun tracks on either half, some interesting cameos, all of which would have happily spanned 40 minutes. It's wild that this album has some of the most successful hits of the decade sandwiched in this chaotic oddessey of sound.
Kraftwerk
5/5
Expertly crafted both in terms of music and sound, and as has been pointed out countless times a real trailblazer for much of the music we have today. I'll be cranking the resonance and tweaking the cut off to make some layered melodies after revisiting this.
Of course it's much more than the sum of its parts to those of us who love it, and the aesthetic of the artwork (not the one used on this site) and the inserts in the original vinyl elevate that further.
Isaac Hayes
3/5
I had fun listening for the most part, but there's surely no other reason this album is on the list than it's title track.
Who makes selections that no one can explain?
DIMERY!
Christina Aguilera
4/5
I'm not sure this really would be a 4 but it definitely is more exciting than some of the dreary crap I've put a 3 on. It did make me appreciate how much better produced pop music was at the time.
Christina can sing and her vocals are only improved by production, and the song writing comes through without being drowned in production. I would guess many people's knee jerk reaction against a record like this is that you can hear the forming of the pop template that would come to plague music for... Well I think it's still going at the time of writing.
With all that said, it is overly long for a pop album, a trend I've noticed in similar albums from this era.
Rod Stewart
2/5
Ew it's Rod Stewart. I'm still getting over the fact it's Rod Stewart I could barely recognise I was listening to an album. There's a line in there about the north wind causing the age on his face to show and boy oh boy he's not kidding.
Go play with your trains, Rod.
The Mothers Of Invention
3/5
I was about to give this a 2 as it really was a painful slog, that last track has been added to the collective toll this project has had on my sanity. But then I spotted it was made in 1966 and that does put the whole thing in a different light - especially that weird lyric about wanting to be "not white".
Thanks for the pioneering but I'll never ever listen to this again, bye.
Gang Starr
4/5
I like Guru's flow and the production on this album is good, but overall it feels like people taking their first steps and by the time you get to Jazzmatazz we're at full speed.
A lot of the tracks loop too much without going anywhere, and the run time of the album feels too ambitious.
The Beach Boys
3/5
Kinda bounced off me to be honest. Reading reviews I get that it resonates with some people, and it's a clear departure from their norm, but after just one listen I didn't really get what it was all about.
Skepta
3/5
Tried to go in with an open mind on this one and not just roll my eyes through it, and I did actually enjoy bits of it, but I couldn't keep my sockets still when it came to tracks like "Numbers" with Pharrell.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
2/5
I'm not sure which I hate more, Nick's awful vocals or how he butchers the art form of song writing to try and tell a story but forgot to include any kind of musical competency.
But there is Kylie.
Throwing Muses
3/5
I'm running out of things to say about mediocre punk music
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
4/5
Good job this came up on a nice sunny day, its perfect for a long afternoon, but it really will be a long afternoon.
Rush
3/5
It's interesting to read about the albums reception at release, I'm aware of Rush but hadn't heard of this, and I think I'll be remembering this as just "the other Rush album on the list".
I can hear the band is solid, I'm not a fan of the vocals, but the main barrier for me is the song writing, perhaps that becomes clearer with repeat listens.
The Residents
1/5
This album has balls. I know because it showed me it's balls and I didn't want to see them.
Napalm Death
2/5
Can't really tell one song from the next. I don't know what we're yelling about.
Foo Fighters
4/5
I enjoyed this album a bit growing up, but there's just no way I'd pick this over Colour and the Shape. The production is undercooked, the vocals aren't great (granted, they're still moments on CatS where they are patchy but they're better produced).
I'm not a huge Foos fan but I don't buy into the idea that they're this generic commercial product of music, I think they just found a sound that lands in enough areas to be commercially succesful.
Red Snapper
3/5
Perhaps I'm being over critical but I think some mixing decisions let this down, it feels quite abrasive after a while.
Green Day
4/5
Way more stadium rock than I remember, and a lot of the tracks work much better within the full context of the album.
Bob Marley & The Wailers
4/5
Finding it tough to compare this to Exodus. Giving Exodus a four has been one of my great consternations of this experience. I like this album but it's in more of a "marvel at the musicianship" kind of way.
The playing and grooves are very solid, but the song writing is maybe just less catchy and harder to latch on to at first. Even after another listen I'm going in with a 4.
3/5
Technically very competent but no real emotions evoked. As a result it was hard to stay focused on the long haul experience each song offered.
Tortoise
2/5
Vaguely pleasant sound but then not so much other times.
I don't really get the idea of post rock even if I like some of the results. Did rock end? Where's it gone?
Adele
3/5
Disappointing, quite boring and repetitive despite some incredible performances.
Duran Duran
4/5
Some great tracks on here, its a shame the production isn't consistent throughout, they really pulled out all the stops for the big hits and it sounds great.
Bert Jansch
4/5
Pleasant and endearing sound to it, there are a few issues with the production and peformance that mostly add to the character of the album. It feels like a precursor to something like Nick Drake.
Van Morrison
2/5
Somebody get their Dad off the stage please.
Stereo MC's
4/5
I'd completely forgotten about these guys. Found I had a few of their tracks saved on Spotify, and found some more to like on this album. It's just a bit short on ideas across its run time and track to make it a 5, but I'm amazed this as far back as '92!
Machito
4/5
Clearly not the format we know as albums today, but the musicianship is impressive and consistent.
The Band
2/5
I found this pretty dull and repetitive and was quite surprised to see how well its received here.
Super Furry Animals
3/5
Basically just bounced off me, very generic sounding. The track with the most plays is clearly the one thats had a load of production effort put in and the rest feels very filler.
2/5
Getting in a bit of a stink with these albums lately, and I think I know why. It's like cognitive easing (oooh I've been reading Daniel Kahneman, look at me) to prejudge the stuff you've been exposed to a lot on this list so its harder to really focus and judge each thing by itself.
I've never liked David Bowie, which is a problem for a lot of people and thus only intensified my dislike of him. Thefore I don't really have new critical insights to share other than this is David Bowie and I still don't like it.
Drive-By Truckers
2/5
A bit of a slog to say the least, and really not even very operatic.
The White Stripes
4/5
I forgot how different this album is to the other ones that came out before it. If this one had come out in the 60s or 70s it'd have blown minds.
As it is, there's a few really strong tracks, some that take a bit of getting used to and some that just don't quite hit the mark which is probably why I'd forgotten about this album since owning it years ago.
Shout out to Meg White's drumming that, I think, is the key ingredient in making The White Stripes sound like The White Stripes and not the Raconteurs or other Jack White projects.
Stevie Wonder
5/5
Probably my favourite Stevie album but it's close. The use of the layering of the chords and the fact that he plays all the parts himself is amazing, such a great a head for harmony.
Death In Vegas
4/5
Probably a 3.5, I was quite suprised to find a couple of tracks I liked the sound of here even though the general style isn't something I'm that into. Nice to get something I'm unfamiliar with that I'd like to dig into deeper.
The Killers
3/5
Just sounds very commercially crafted for me, the vocals are about twice as loud as they need to be.
Grizzly Bear
3/5
It's nice, but this ain't the list for this kinda mediocrity.
The Byrds
2/5
Not sure why someone is just strangling a guitar over half of these songs?
Def Leppard
2/5
Lots of energy for something quite so dull and repetitive.
Gil Scott-Heron
4/5
Enjoyable but spent most of the time wondering why it wasn't Pieces of Man, I think there's some history to dig into here.
Talking Heads
3/5
You can hear Eno's influence all over this one, which works sometimes and doesn't at others. Drugs is a particularly bad way to end the album.
N.E.R.D
3/5
This Pharrell guy seems to have a few ideas, I hope the music business works out for him.
Gram Parsons
3/5
The music was dull but the story was interesting. Can I forgive him for being in the Byrds? I would say.... no.
Run-D.M.C.
4/5
So much better than the other album on here, the production has come to life - resulting in Walk This Way being a masterclass in remixing for the time. The vocals are pretty tame but it's still early days, and I find their comparative innocence quite endearing.
Shivkumar Sharma
3/5
I think I could have enjoyed this more in the right context. If you're not able to switch off and let it take over then it's going to bounce off your pretty hard. It's not you, it's me.
The Rolling Stones
4/5
The best Rolling Bones I've had come up so far. It's more than just medicore blues covers and doesn't go off the rails too much.
Willie Nelson
3/5
All I could think of was that little shop song from Castle Crashers.
Sparks
4/5
Creative and fun, it gets a little stale but is certainly better than some of the threes I've handed out. A lot of the 70s is starting to blur together for me, but I think I'll remember this one for its proto-glam stuff.
The Strokes
4/5
Although I really like a couple of the tracks on this album it does float around the edge of 4/5 for me. I'm still not sure which it is, and that's enough to keep it at 4.
The sound of the album is great, I admire the effects used to stylise the vocals and the guitar work is deceptively simple. But the only tracks I really see myself coming back to are the bigger hits.
David Bowie
2/5
The most tolerable of Bowie's I've had so far, it's basically just a bad David Byrne impression.
Simon & Garfunkel
4/5
Pleasant melodies. Baby Driver. This album has both.
Lorde
4/5
Feel like I'm falling into the trap of "it's new so I rate it higher", but its an easy trap to fall into when the production values on these newer albums is so much better, obviously because they've been able to stand on the shoulders of what has come before.
And I think that most of all is what is to be celebrated here, that a young artist is able to capture and communicate their experience so effectively because of the build up to this point in both music production and music distribution.
I don't know if I'd come back to this that much, there is still the issue of taste, which is often what keeps 4s at the bay of 5s.
Hugh Masekela
3/5
Good moments but overly long and some really drawn out tracks.
MC Solaar
5/5
I'd heard the track with Guru but this artist wasn't really on my radar before. They are now! This was nice to listen to, some of the tracks were a bit much but overall this has some impressive production for '91 and while I don't know what he's rapping about I think the vocals are consistently strong.
Mariah Carey
3/5
Much compression, repetitive song writing and overly long. What a way to waste a talent.
Dolly Parton
4/5
The best country album I've heard on here. it's so sickeningly sweet at times, particularly in the vocal delivery, but gosh darnit doesn't it sound right. Also some great work from the instrumentalists here. I wasn't that into a couple of the tracks at the end, it felt like it ran out of ideas to deliver a solid close the album.
The Undertones
3/5
This was fine, and definitely has that Undertones sound that still stands out, but I'm wondering if I'll prefer the first album.
Digital Underground
3/5
Very generic and samey. 2.5 rounded up.
Röyksopp
5/5
If this was my first time hearing this, I expect I'd be giving it a 4. However, I'm already very familiar with quite a few of the tracks on this album which speaks to both the reach they've had in the UK mainstream over the years and how much it aligns with my taste. There's an atmopshere evoked in their music, especially on this album, that is very comforting and welcoming once you're familiar with it.
3/5
Kinda thought it might creep into guilty pleasure at first, but once you're through the first few tracks it is just all the medicority you might expect from U2.
White Denim
4/5
Kinda flew by, but it was impressively diverse and well produced!
John Prine
2/5
How many of these "one man and his thoughts" country albums have I got left? They're all so samey.
Bee Gees
2/5
Better than Trafalgar but still a bore.
Aerosmith
3/5
It's fun but very one note. Free pickled eggs!
Brian Eno
3/5
At times, its like the progenitor for all that lovely indie game music that's come since. At other times its this weird cacophonic chaos. I'm still waiting to get Ambient Music For Airports to dish out a high score for Eno.
2/5
What a mess. Including a remix of an album track as part of the album? Talk about low on ideas.
Tracy Chapman
4/5
Beautiful performance throughout, I think I need to become more familiar with tracks that aren't Fast Car to properly judge this one.
The White Stripes
5/5
This album was a big taste maker for me when I was younger, and it's easy to hear why now. While it's made up of a lot of pop DNA there's enough different and daring decisions here that made it stand out to me when I was younger and show how to make the most of very little.
The Flying Burrito Brothers
3/5
Pleasant enough but now that I'm half way through this list I've heard a lot of this sort of thing.
The Divine Comedy
2/5
I don't really get it, is it a parody? If so, why is it so unbearably boring?
But it does have the Father Ted theme.
Muddy Waters
3/5
I'm not sure I'll ever really get into the blues, this was well played and sounded good but even after only half an hour I was bored of it.
The Sensational Alex Harvey Band
2/5
I listened to this while watching Skateboarding at the Olympics, and that was as close to liking it as I was going to get.
Super Furry Animals
3/5
Interesting but hard to sink your teeth into. Kept thinking I was listening to Damon Albarn.
Lana Del Rey
3/5
Very one note but no more so than half the other albums on here. At points I thought it was going to change gear with some of the collab but Lana is just doing the same old thing.
Pet Shop Boys
4/5
Is there an instrumental version of this? I'd actually be raving about it if it wasn't for the naff vocals.
Elis Regina
4/5
I was excited by how eclectic and diverse this was and then found out it's a compilation album. But still, a new artist for me to check out!
Dr. Dre
3/5
Weirdly enough, I got this and then watched Snoop and Dre perform one of these tracks in the closing ceremony of the Olympics. Testimony to the staying power of this music I guess? Which is weird considering how weirdly dated a lot of the content is. There are some great bits of production here and I laughed at the skits but it's definitely bloated and quite crass.
The Only Ones
3/5
I recognised that one track. The vocals kinda suck but I admire this for constantly trying to break out of just one sound.
The Black Keys
3/5
I quite liked it for a bit but it was overly long without delivering new ideas. I've always wondered why I'm not more of a Black Keys fan and after listening to an album I now know why - its all so samey.
Minor Threat
2/5
Feel woozy. Not in a good way. Threat level understated.
3/5
It's all the same. Darlin'
Stevie Wonder
5/5
I'm usually quick to mark albums down for being too long, in this case you have to allow for the length because you'd be hard pressed to cut anything from this.
Prince
4/5
The first half is great, it kinda spills into just horny drum machine love making after a while but it's Prince so he pulls it off (!).
Aerosmith
3/5
Who knew Aerosmith approached heavy metal in their catalogue. None of it really hooked me but I did drive a little faster while listening.
X-Ray Spex
4/5
I was bought up listening to this band. Some people thing little girls should be seen and not heard. Not after this album.
The Flaming Lips
2/5
1001 tone deaf vocal tracks continues.
Soundgarden
3/5
One or two great tracks where it all comes together buried in over an hour where it seems pretty tired.
Lupe Fiasco
4/5
A lot of familiar names on an album I'd not heard of. Nice to hear some hip hop without too much ego and having a bit of fun. I think some people would be surprised to hear some of the tricks we're still push as new nearly 20 years later.
Cornershop
3/5
Apart from a few tracks like Brimful of Asha (and even that's a stretch) this seems to lack any of its own identity. A high 2, rounded to a 3
Goldie
4/5
Thought I'd be raving about this, it's got some of my favourite tracks on it. But the more I listened and thought about it, this isn't really an album.
The stories behind much of its inception are the stories of someone starting their career and giving birth to a new genre of music. That's exciting, and there's some great music to show for it, but this album just circles around the same ideas over an over again. Timeless is clearly an EP in one track and has been padded out with more additional material, but because it was all quite new nobody knew where to cut it off and be done. That's my impression anyway, loosely based on some accounts from interviews I've heard over the years.
Alice In Chains
3/5
Started off decent but became a slow, dull, angsty dirge by the end.
Bebel Gilberto
4/5
Worth hunting out the tracks that aren't available on the streaming platforms. I think the need to do that has kinda shifted me more towards four from five.
Overall I really like this style of music, but I would have believed this was a compilation album, each track is in its own right, but other than "No Return" they didn't really have a trajectory across the album.
Still, big fan of the music and I'll be checking out more Bebel, I think she's still playing live!
The Dandy Warhols
4/5
Was expecting Bohemian Like You but was still entertained, they do have something unique to offer in the wash of British bands on this list.
Julian Cope
3/5
I was bought up listening to Julian Cope so this isn't a big shift for me, but this is the most Jim Morrison I've heard him sound. Overall the album feels like it wants another mix/master.
AC/DC
5/5
It does one thing but it does it so well and doesn't overstay it's welcome. Headbanging occurred.
Barry Adamson
3/5
A strange and unique experience that ultimately leaves me with the conclusion that this kind of album is impossible to measure against most of the other albums on this list.
Astrud Gilberto
4/5
Pleasant listen, she has a great voice and the recordings have that nostalgic quality, but there's nothing memorable here. Rounded up from a high 3.
Depeche Mode
4/5
Good riffs, weird lyrics.
The Smashing Pumpkins
4/5
This album starts really strong but by the end I'm a bit worn out and wishing it would end. There are attempts at breaking out of the mould created in the first half, but they don't achieve much and feel unnecessary.
Incubus
3/5
Didn't expect this to sound so cheesy. A few albums in this style from this period reek of this kind of sound getting commercial.
And you must listen before you die!
LTJ Bukem
3/5
This is the kinda thing I often put on when I'm working, I like this kind of stuff but this is a compilation album. How do you compare it against some of the greatest albums of all time?
Elton John
2/5
Other than a couple of standout tracks I can't really understand why this is on here.
The Rolling Stones
3/5
I've run out of comments to make about The Rolling Stones' albums. They're pretty unremarkable.
Marty Robbins
4/5
Memes aside, this is great fun. It does its thing and it does it well. I kinda thought the track about him getting shot would have made a better ending track.
Weird how you can sing along to bits of it without having heard them before.
DJ Shadow
5/5
Very influencial album on both me and a lot of the music I've come to like. The John Carpenter samples, the comedy routine samples and just all of stem/long stem have a real haunting mystic that first captured my attention years ago and continues to on repeat listens.
De La Soul
4/5
Some of my favourite songs are on this album. I think I'd be more familiar with it if it hadn't dissapeared from streaming for so long. I still find skits annoying, though.
Einstürzende Neubauten
2/5
I'm not going to give it a 1 because it made me less upset than Nick Cave or Elvis Costello. I am glad it wasn't the full hour shown on Spotify though.
Killing Joke
3/5
Kinda maybe has something going for it, but it is very repetitive. You could half the track length and take the best bits out to make something stronger.
Rounded up from a 2.
Black Flag
3/5
anotherrubbishpunkalbumanotherrubbishpunkalbumanotherOH It's that track from Futurama!anotherrubbishpunkalbum
Amy Winehouse
5/5
It's like listening to my driving playlist. Ronson set down the sound of the next decade, arguably two, and the performance on the vocals is iconic in the true sense of the word.
Boston
4/5
Surprisingly fun throughout, and I was also surprised this their debut album. Although, I still don't really know much else about the outside of More than a Feeling. There goes Mairanne.
Fugazi
2/5
The third boring punk album I've had this week.
Janelle Monáe
4/5
An all to rare occasion where the list has delivered a new artist I hadn't heard of that I'll be checking out more.
I admired the commitment to the concept of this album and it was clearly executed but it was a lot to take in on the first listen, I could have happily cut a track or two , hence the four instead of five.
Baaba Maal
3/5
This has got one and done written all over it.
The Associates
2/5
Kinda like a bad Bowie tribute for the most part.
Michael Kiwanuka
5/5
I knew a couple of these tracks already but they work much better as part of a whole album. A well deserved Mercury Prize winner.
Lloyd Cole And The Commotions
2/5
Man this era was saturated. The best thing I can say about this album is that it made me appreciate the ability we now have to listen to whatever music we like (so I don't have to hear this again).
Ms. Dynamite
4/5
A fun and eclectic mix of music, better than a lot of stuff but this is a generous 4. Nothing here drew me in to think it was a level of craft and artistry that would place it on a list like this.
Wild Beasts
3/5
The list demonstrating here that it's favourite genre of "naff vocals" has continued throughout the decades.
The Beau Brummels
2/5
Very nothingy, struggling to even remember listening to this.
Iron Maiden
3/5
I don't really get it. Is it very serious? I liked Megadeath, that was fun. Metal is weird.
Anthrax
3/5
Thrash metal kind of all sounds the same to me, and I hate it when people say that about the music I like so I really do wish I could say more.
Def Leppard
2/5
My hair grew 3 inches listening to this.
Radiohead
4/5
Having this as the last of the Radioheads for me I think cements my opinion they got more to my taste over time. This is a little angsty and raw for my taste, but I do like a couple of the tracks; particularly Just.
Germs
2/5
Aren't we here to hear some amazing music? I've had my fair share of "punk that's pretty awful to listen to but if you read the Wikipedia page maybe you'll go "ah, right"."
Echo And The Bunnymen
2/5
Starts off ok but I was more than over it by the end.
Soul II Soul
3/5
The tracks I already knew were as good as I remember, but everything else is pretty underwhelming.
I encourage readers of this review to check out re:jazz's cover of Keep on Moving.
John Lennon
3/5
Still creeped out by the idea of John turning Yoko on after the last track.
Britney Spears
3/5
Still kinda shock to see this in the generator. We're doing songs about emails now?
The Prodigy
4/5
Some all time favourites on this album. I feel bad giving it a four, but having listened to it in the office it nearly works but not entirely accross the runtime. I know that its great in the club, or in the car, but compared to some other 5s I've given that just always work I felt that particularly the last two tracks of the Narcotic Suite put this out of this group.
Dexys Midnight Runners
2/5
Not even had the other DMR albums on here but I know this is over doing it.
Pixies
3/5
I can just about hear the difference this has to a lot of the more inane punk on this list, but it still feels very much a stepping stone to some of the music that came after and for me isn't that interesting or enjoyable in its own right.
The Monkees
3/5
Ew, you like the Monkees.
Iron Butterfly
3/5
Simpsons quote.
2/5
Dreadfully dull, can't sing, zero personality, and yet, I still prefer myself to Bob Dylan.
David Gray
3/5
There are some good tracks here, the whole thing is well made, it was nearly a 4, but it definitely overstayed its welcome with some real stinkers at the end. What a bring down.
The Pogues
3/5
It's kinda better than a lot of the threes I've given in that musically more is going on but I can't give Shane McGowan more than 3.
Muddy Waters
3/5
I was loving it to begin with but it really wore me out long before the end.
Joe Ely
3/5
Enjoyable in the way of "haha listen to how country this guy is".
Van Morrison
2/5
Vastly preferable to the live album on here, mainly for the reduced length,but also a lot less of a big headed aura. Unfortunately, the damage is done, I don't like Van Morrison.
New Order
3/5
Great guitar sounds and when some of the beats are left to play out I genuinely felt I was listening to the progression of musical ideas. That said, on a first listen, not much has left a lasting impression.
Ute Lemper
2/5
It's like a collection of my super villains torturing me for 50 minutes straight.
Booker T. & The MG's
4/5
A totally iconic opening track followed by a slick collection of covers. I get the feeling this kind of album couldn't have happened even five years later, and while there is room for improvement I'm grateful we got the version of it we did.
The The
2/5
Started as it meant to go on, which was such a shame.
Prince
4/5
Credit to Prince for doing the big "movie and a soundtrack album" move and getting the soundtrack bit to be so coherent and enjoyable by itself.
Dinosaur Jr.
2/5
I really shouldn't be surprised there's more than one of these on here. What a dreadful list.
Mekons
2/5
OK to start with but it just kinda annoyed me by the end and lost a star
Joy Division
4/5
Listening to this list has helped me appreciate the post punk movement, but I wouldn't go so far as to say I love it.
The Police
4/5
Torn between a 3 and a 4 here, I wasn't massively wowed by anything but the general overall quality is better than many of the 3s I've handed out.
Neneh Cherry
3/5
It's pretty fun, but most of it just sounds like its coming out of a low spec digital radio in a hairdresser's.
The Cardigans
4/5
Kinda surprised this us here instead of Gran Turismo, and I kinda feel I'm rating the band rather than the album. It's good, by today's ear they don't sound much like a band because everything is so tight and well produced, I think the music scene is poorer for the absence of groups like this.
The Electric Prunes
2/5
That got really weird out of nowhere.
Arcade Fire
3/5
Bits of it were quite good but then there's tracks that make you think those were purely lucky.
The Blue Nile
2/5
Starting to feel sorry for Dimery if this is genuinely the best he could think of.
Bon Jovi
3/5
I wanted to hate this more but it genuinely was more enjoyable than other stuff I've rated lower here.
Sheryl Crow
3/5
A collection of "sing the song title" songs of middling to pleasant quality.
Gene Clark
2/5
Kinda chill but really boring
Frankie Goes To Hollywood
4/5
Some amazing stuff on here, but it's basically just the "Trevor Horn pushes forward the idea of the producer being the artist" album. They got carried away with the singles and felt obliged to make more tracks so that the commercial release of the album would feel like a better value prospect, but I think history has proven this idea wrong. A more impactful shorter runtime with less covers would have cemented the album in peoples minds, rather than just a few great singles.
Kate Bush
3/5
Pretty wild for a first listen but not in the same way other stuff has made me baulk at here. I can only give this a three now but can believe people find more to it as they get to know it better.
Kanye West
4/5
Power is a great track, and its a showcase of the great production shown elsewhere on the album really shining. That said, the whole album is bloated, has some distasteful pieces and is a problematic listen only 14 years later (I could have written the same thing 5 years ago).
The The
4/5
Surprised at how I found myself enjoying this despite it being very cheesy. Much better than the other The The album I've had.
Ananda Shankar
3/5
I had fun but the 13 minute track was a real stretch of patience.
The Pogues
1/5
One star simply for making me listen to Christmas music in the first week of November.
Lightning Bolt
2/5
10/15 minutes of this was kinda intereesting. Noisy but had some good tones, I'd have been interested walking passed it in the street.
45 minutes of it didn't offer much as an album.
Kanye West
2/5
Yeeeeeeeeeeah, no thanks.
Daft Punk is my favourite artist, don't ask me about this.
Fleetwood Mac
3/5
As follow up acts go, this really came under the bar.
The Mothers Of Invention
2/5
I'm sure I already had this. Is there really two of these on here?
The La's
3/5
I enjoyed being recommended this but I doubt there's much I'd come back for. Felt like I was watching a sofa advert at one point...
Kacey Musgraves
3/5
I've listened to quite a bit of country through this list now and it helped me appreciate how strange this modern country craze is. It's like the same old music but they just throw in what's new and popular and you get a cacophony of both.
Sometimes that works, but a lot of the time it sounds pretty soulless despite the
heartfelt performance.
The Prodigy
4/5
A smattering of absolutely classic iconic singles, but there a couple of tracks that bring the whole thing down a bit for me. Growing up, we were introduced to The Prodigy through the "Their Law" signles collection, and I can kind of see why. While the collection misses a few of my favourite tracks, it runs better as a block of music than the original albums themselves. That's ok, they were breaking new ground and becoming iconic, but it does put this at a 4 rather than a 5 for me.
Tori Amos
1/5
Actually valued listening to this in a way because I'm now more sure of where the line is on vocals I think are pushing the boundaries in a good way and those that have no sense of them whatsoever.
3/5
Way better than the other PJ Harvey one I had. Production has gone a long way to fleshing out the artist's sound.
Happy Mondays
3/5
Not bad, doesn't twist your melon too much.
Spacemen 3
2/5
Formles and meandering but not in the way hood ambient music does it
T. Rex
4/5
Despite being the second album, I think this is the birth of an icon here. The move to electric sounds carries the songwriting and sound forward in a transformative way.
The inclusion of additional singles on later versions of the album is telling, I think this one could probably have done with a bit more time in the oven to get the pacing right across the album but I'm sure they felt they had to get this out as soon as possible.
Love
4/5
I listened to this while going through a stomach bug/fever episode and I think that did it a lot of favours.
Todd Rundgren
2/5
Don't really have more to say about Todd than I did before, even after a double album. It's kinda not bad but its not good and doesn't connect in any meaningful way.
The National
2/5
Dreadfully dreary.
Brian Eno
5/5
This album has served as a little place of calm reflection and headspace, and I think much of the music I both listen to and make today can be routed back to Ambient 1/Music For Airports.
Aretha Franklin
5/5
I put this in moments before getting on absolutely packed train. I was having a bad time, but then I just focused a bit more on the music and how much Aretha's performing prowess comes through. Even stood in that carriage sandwiched between people dressed in our winter coats like some kind of human sardine, I was still made to feel like a natural woman.
(nb I am a man)
Deep Purple
4/5
A fun listen if nothing else, I felt that some of the tracks had several ideas veering off in different directions but that's what happens in the early days of a genre I suppose.
Snoop Dogg
4/5
Bow wow yippe yo yippie - no, you talk about women like that Snoop - yay
Throbbing Gristle
3/5
Knowing it was the lowest rated album made me wince, and the first few tracks are rough going, but there's actually some interesting bits in here and if you're up for up for a challenge its not too bad.
Public Enemy
3/5
Too long to be an albumof all the same kinda thing on repeat, but I always seem to take it easy on early hip hop.
Sabu
3/5
This is the kind of album I'd wanted to experience from the list, but I don't need to hear it again. Cool piece of Blue Note history.
The Who
3/5
Very middle of the road, these early The Who albums did not need including.
Frank Zappa
2/5
Sounds like a guitarist who won't shut up while we all wait to start rehersal
Nightmares On Wax
4/5
Ehh I've kinda always struggled with Nightmares On Wax. Bits of I like, bits of it I find really dull, so over an hour of it left me jumping between 3 and a 4.
Mike Oldfield
3/5
Definitely over rated. It's the kind of thing people make all the time but thanks to a strong opening this has entered the halls of fame?
The Mamas & The Papas
3/5
The use of stereo is interesting but at risk of overdoing it in this. There's a couple of memorable tracks but nothing totally novel you'd be richer for hearing.
Aretha Franklin
5/5
Kinda feel weird dishing out two 5s for Aretha's albums in close succession mostly because "she just sounds good", but... she does really just sound so good that you're not focusing much on the songwriting, arrangement and production, though those elements certainly aren't weak here.
Big Brother & The Holding Company
4/5
Initially judged this book by it's crude cover but really this is just about listening to Janis Joplin tear down the house.
Björk
4/5
As I've moved toward the end of my twenties I've got more and more of Bjõrk's music. It's great, feels like appreciating fine wine. This one might take a little longer for me to really get but I'm glad I gave it a couple of spins. Stonemilker has always been a favourite.
Queen
3/5
It sounded good but I wasn't drawn in to listen again which I think is about par for the course three star material.
Suede
2/5
Not really sure what he was on about, but consider me out of the loop
Pink Floyd
4/5
Kinda hard to come up with an original thought about this having heard so much about it for so long. Overall, I liked this more than the other Pink Floyd stuff, and would maybe ranking this higher had I jumped on the bandwagon and become very familiar with it.
The Coral
4/5
Floating between a 3 and a 4. Its rough around the edges, but its like an updated version of The Kinks or something which this list loves, so I'm moving it to a 4 with a "this is how it sits in context" mindset.
Count Basie & His Orchestra
3/5
I like some of these tracks and know them well, and you can see some effort has been made to sell it as cohesive album, but for me this is still stuck with the 50s problem of no flow or rhythm to the tracks assembled.
Jimi Hendrix
4/5
Moments of utter brilliance, but suprisingly long and winding. Without the 10+ minute tracks it'd be a totally different album.
Arcade Fire
3/5
Slightly prefered this to the other Arcade Fire album on here, but I really have no strong feeling about these. They're very dull. Not what I imagined a fire at an arcade to be like at all.
The Cramps
2/5
It's like Elvis got really smashed and they couldn't get him off the stage.
Madonna
3/5
Some really interesting production here but the album I remembered this being is better than the album it is, it's completely lost it's way by the end.
Arcade Fire
3/5
This list bought to you by Arcade Fire, for some undiscernible reason.
Serge Gainsbourg
2/5
Kinda sounds interesting but I won't be listening to this again. Je n'ai pas compris ce qu'il a dit et je me suis inquiété de ce qu'il pouvait vouloir dire.
Boards of Canada
5/5
Once you put your headphones on you can get carried away into this. I've found BoC to be very inspirational and influential.
Liz Phair
3/5
I think the biggest problem this one has is just becoming steadily unremarkable as the years moved on.
R.E.M.
2/5
That's me listening to the album, losing my interest.
George Michael
2/5
One of the dualities of this list is that you get to love artists you didn't think you'd like, but then get disappointed by artists you'd be meaning to check out for years. George Michael's back catalog appears to be full of uninspiring samey music as side from the hits. That's not Sony's fault.
Blur
3/5
I had fun with the first half, and then middling to low success with the second. I wonder how different albums like this would be without the concept of the singles.
R.E.M.
3/5
I've had two R.E.M. albums in the space of a week, it all sounds the same really. This one was shorter and felt more refined, so it can have an extra star.
Tricky
3/5
I thought this might be the moment I got into Tricky. I liked a couple tracks before, but it never really clicked... and, well, it still didn't. It just doesn't have the same atmosphere that my favourite artists of this genre do. There's something too sly about that doesn't hit the same dark warmth of something like Portishead or DJ Shadow.
Paul Simon
3/5
It's alright for a bit, but tracks like Cars are Cars just feel like filler on a short album.
M.I.A.
3/5
I almost really like some of M.I.A.'s stuff, but it just doesn't quite cross the line between exciting and annoying.
Meat Puppets
2/5
Another dreadful waste of space on the list, with an extra star earned for a nice instrumental moment or two.
Morrissey
3/5
I think there's too much of a disconnect with the music and the lyrics, at least on a first listen. It's not unbearable compared to a lot of the self indulgent shite on here.
The Good, The Bad & The Queen
4/5
Good sound and good performances but not feeling grabbed by the song writing on a first listen. Glad to learn of this though, seems like a cool project.
The Stooges
2/5
Like a "Worst Of" album by The Rolling Stones.
GZA
3/5
I get this might offer more on relistens, parts of it I enjoyed - mostly the beats and the flow of the lyrics, but each track became boring after a while. It seems most of the solo Wu Tang projects suffer from an overly ambitious run time.
3/5
This might have been a four but I've heard way too much Kinks by now, it all sounds the same. People in the reviews compare the song writing to Lenon/McCartney a lot, but at least the production and sound of the Beatles material grew and changed to give the albums unique indentity. The Kinks sound never seems to mature, by which I mean it remains uninteresting to me.
Happy new year by the way.
Kate Bush
3/5
I'm not sure what she's singing about but I'm sure it's all chuffing lovely. I was a bit distracted by "This Woman's Work" as it sounded ready to jump into N Trance at any second.
3/5
Turns out Blue are not an album band, but at least Chemical World and one or two other tracks are alright.
Alice Cooper
4/5
I've been missold Alice Cooper by mainstream media. The guy has diversity and a level of craft equalling his peers at the time.
Lou Reed
2/5
I could really only think of bad things to say about Lou Reed's music so I'll just say nothing.
Tom Waits
3/5
I think (I hope) this is my last of the Tom Waits albums on the list. I'll admit I found this one the most bearable. I think it's because there's a track where he doesn't sing and that I've nailed the stupid impression I do of him when he does.
10cc
3/5
I nrecognised that one song J Dilla sampled, otherwise this was pretty tedious to middling.
Led Zeppelin
5/5
Some of my all time favourites are on here, the production is great. Moby Dick was one of the big inspirations for me to get into music early at a young age. All this to say, I am very nostalgia blind for it, but I do think the production and song writing is excellent.
Van Morrison
2/5
Very dull and not very good, also, I'm sure you hear some of these songs on the live album included on this list? What's with the repeated material? And if I'm wrong, that just shows how uninteresting this music is.
The Cult
4/5
I was introduced to The Cult growing up, I think its the closest my family comes to hair metal, and its great fun but the cover of Born to Be Wild is enough to lose anyone a star.
Pantera
3/5
Doesn't really seem to ebb or flow, very constant and wore me out.
Nirvana
4/5
One of those albums where I seem to have heard most of the tracks without ever having tried to seek them out.
Trying to critically listen to a song like Smells Like Teen Spirit is just laughable when it's bled into every corner of culture at this point, but that opening run of tracks is very strong.
This is the most like the Foo Fighters they sound to me (is it sacrilege to make that comparison?), and while I'm on the risky statements I'll double down and say Something In The Way sounds like the B side of Heart Shaped Box.
Maxwell
3/5
A little surprised I already have this whole album saved in my Spotify account. I thi k it's from when I first signed on and treated like building a collection of CDs or something.
Having listened to it, I can see I probably just enjoyed the sound of it but didn't really listen to it as an album, because wow, it drags. It never sounds bad, but it just drags on and on and on and on.
Fishbone
2/5
Felt more like a cover band or AI generated list of tracks rather than the sound of an artist putting together an album.
Lucinda Williams
3/5
Well it sure does sound country darlin'
Pearl Jam
4/5
Even Flow was a throwback to Guitar Hero 3 and I rode that high for at least the duration of the album.
Iron Maiden
3/5
Fun but really only for the novelty of "hey look at me I'm listening to this crazy and pretty terrible Iron Maiden album!"
Screaming Trees
3/5
The name and art put me off but actually it wasn't all that bad.
Talking Heads
4/5
Probably my favourite of the Talking Head albums, simply because it's the most consistent. It's an easier listen if you know more about David Byrne being a bit of an oddball and being able to forgive him finding his feet by throwing out in all directions.
The Police
4/5
Some great singles and performances, but there's a lot of halfway house tracks that just facilitate a cool riff to be turned into a full track without anything more to them.
Dire Straits
2/5
Painfully generic, riffs are ok, but the vocals are dreadful.
The Streets
3/5
I don't really enjoy most of this but one thing I will say is Mike is good at getting you to comprehend and understand his lyrics while keeping them interesting. The singles sound like someone with a more musical ear came in to sort it out.
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band
2/5
Well I guess I knowwhere Tom Waits got the idea to sing like that from.
Lots of stuff said about this but at over an hour and twenty minutes long, if it really has got this hidden depth you can glean from it after multiple listens that's simply asking too much of the modern man's time.
Sufjan Stevens
2/5
At times nice but overall I found this too vastly boring to take any serious interest in and revisit. Bits of reminded me of times I've been making music and thought I was king of the world, only to return to it with fresh ears and realise the music wasn't very interesting, just the making it was.
Al Green
4/5
Thanks to the reviews on this site for accompanying one of my favourite soul singers with a totally depressing Wikipedia read.
The Specials
4/5
When I saw this come up I was surprised that there was another Specials album here. After listening, this is the better one, just remove the other one from the list I reckon.
2/5
They were having a good time, I could barely make sense of it.
Beatles
3/5
Long, like a "worst of the back catalouge" collection.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
2/5
I just don't see what anyone likes about this atonal rambling excuse for songwriting.
Fever Ray
3/5
I'm still reeling from the display picture on Deezer. Yeah, its like Bjork, but its also got some bits that aren't and I think those actually worked better (depsite being a fan of Bjork). I might like some of it more after a revisit.
a-ha
3/5
Do you start with the best song to hook people in, or put it in the middle so they don't turn off after song two? The debate rages on.
80s String sounds haven't aged great in some contexts, they sound pretty menacing here.
Ryan Adams
2/5
Lost a star for just being way too long without doing anything new or interesting from the start.
Gorillaz
5/5
I had some of this on cassette when I grew up, it's close to being some of the first music I owned. I can remember seeing the music video for 19-2000 and being completely entranced around the age of five. So it's fair to say I'm well and truly nostalgia giggled, but I've always come back to listen to this.
For me, Demon Days is the real five, but it's not on the list. That said, you can hear the building blocks here, or maybe more accurate to look at it like a tree sprouting the different branches that would go on to be realised in Demon Days.
I love the mythology around the band, but as I've grown older I've also come to appreciate how much you can hear Damon Albarn completely embracing a new emerging genre after spending so many years enjoying mainstream success in another. It doesn't sound like someone getting in a band wagon, it sounds like someone enjoying a well earned try at something new.
Anyway I'm rambling, I liked the album. The remixes are great fun too.
Creedence Clearwater Revival
3/5
Another album from the early 70s or late 60s with a cover to really rewrite the books of history? Oh, no, it didn't.
Eurythmics
2/5
Another one of these classic albums that is actually just a classic song. You could say one or two nice things about the other tracks, especially accounting for the fact they're doing something new at the time, but it's all done way better on Sweet Dreams.
2/5
Somebody tell Ornette her record collection is broken.
This is the kind of music I fear people hear in their heads when I say I like Jazz.
Emerson, Lake & Palmer
2/5
I was expecting something quite different and instead I got all sorts of prog rock mediocrity and a ballad.
Suicide
2/5
Kinda better than expected from just the name and title but overall not very engaging and I found it quite soulless. I guess they already died inside or something *forced laughter*
Devendra Banhart
3/5
Had some promising moments but overall I felt it just wasn't something I had any personal draw too.
Cream
3/5
The album that bought you "Sunshine of your Love" and not much else
Dead Kennedys
2/5
Stop, he's already Kennedy
Fred Neil
3/5
Pretty middle of the road but I do like Everybody's Talkin'
Bob Dylan
2/5
Not the worst of Dylan for me, but I still can't stand it.
Sonic Youth
2/5
I see Sonic Youth I set volume low. Overexposed on the list.
Kings of Leon
3/5
One or two of these tracks sound great, but they also sound like a producer just wanted to get some songs out and this was the band available at the time, the rest is pretty mediocre.
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
4/5
I'm not really sure I actually listened to the correct thing here, conflicting information on various sites left me in doubt, but I listened to an hour or so of this guys songs and by the end I was loving it. Not sure I'd come back but it was fun while it lasted.
Prefab Sprout
3/5
Kinda surprised by this, it was almost recognisablw but not really.
Flamin' Groovies
2/5
If I worked for a publication and they asked me to compile a list like this and I came back with so many albums full of covers I'd expect to be fired on the spot.
SAULT
4/5
One of my favourite groups at the moment, but this album feels like a more sparse collection before they really hit the ground a few years later. I can't tell if I'd be giving it 5 if I was hearing it in 2020 or if I just need to spend more time with it now.
Ian Dury
4/5
This is one of my Dad's favourite artists, we've been to see the Blockheads live a number of times. I think the irony has largely been missed by reviews on this site. For me, although some of my favourites are here, this is perhaps not the best introduction to the group. The recordings of the tracks here aren't even the best versions I've heard. Chaz Jankel is an excellent song writer and Dury is a fantastic lyricist if you can permeate the irony.
Ian Dury is an important character in the development of the music scene in the late seventies and is worth looking into. He was also in the Judge Dredd film with Stalone, so he's judgement wasn't always sound.
Jane's Addiction
3/5
I didn't really get this one, what's special about it?
The Pretty Things
3/5
Definitely of its time, but I'm surprised I haven't heard more people talk about this. Personally I found it interesting but I'm not sure I'll listen to it again.
The Doors
3/5
A load of honky tonk blues, I spent most of it wishing I was listening to Riders on the Storm
Donald Fagen
3/5
I'm sure I've had my haircut to this album. Dad insists he'd gladly have his throat cut to it.
The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
2/5
Now he got two stars.
Wu-Tang Clan
4/5
Great production and sound, I can bop my head but I can't sing along. The skits are a little long, but its about the right runtime.
Miles Davis
2/5
I like Miles but this was difficult to bare. The sort of thing we've collectively got over since.
Blood, Sweat & Tears
3/5
All I could think about is how someone I work with is the spitting image of one of the band members, but also how I didn't need the 11 minutes blues track.
Hot Chip
3/5
They nearly made synth pop enjoyable, if only they could ditch the vocals.
The Fall
2/5
It's like groundhog day but I'm asked every day if I like Punk from the 70s. The answer is still no.
Stephen Stills
3/5
This guy should sing for Neil Young more.
Youssou N'Dour
4/5
Enjoyable time listening, reminded me of other things that I think have refined the style of music since but I was glad to be introduced to this.
Gotan Project
4/5
I expect I could have really got into this album when I was at university. I already have a few of their tracks in my Deezer account. Having listened to this album I think I'll give it another few goes to see if it clicks.
The Beta Band
4/5
I enjoyed bits of this but I do feel like this another band with solid musicianship trapped in the apparent need to have mediocre vocals smashing through everything. This about the time when some instrumental works became commercially successful so I'd have been keen for them to try that on for a track or two. My last rating was a "4 nearly a 5", this is definitely a "4 nearly a 3".
What's this about not wanting to be on your own with a book?!
The Black Crowes
3/5
Not what I was expecting after judging this book by its cover. Felt very long for its runtime.
Barry Adamson
3/5
Enjoyed the first few tracks, then it got weird, then it made me listen to Nick Cave.
Cocteau Twins
3/5
I've got to the point where I kind of admire if not really enjoy the Cocteau Twins. I can see they're doing something interesting and different within their space, but I'm not drawn to listen to more of it.
The xx
3/5
I liked the atmosphere created at the start, but it doesn't really go anywhere with it and I was surprised by the end. I felt like it was a lot of promise unrealised.
Doves
4/5
Started off like a Radiohead album but kinda ended up like Coldplay. Rounding this up to a 4 as the other Doves album had me feeling this same kinda half an half enthusiasm/disinterest.
Neil Young
1/5
Tonight was shite.
The Adverts
2/5
Another Groundhog day of English punk.
Goldfrapp
5/5
I think this is a high 4 rounded up to a 5, very little rounding needed, but just listen to how much more is going on with the production, performance and songwriting compared to all the 3 star English punk on here. I can completely sympathise with people who complain English music is over represented on the list, but to me Goldfrapp more than earns at least one slot on here.
Incidentally, this was taken off later revisions of the list but personally it does more for me than Felt Montain... and where's Black Cherry at?
Suzanne Vega
3/5
Inoffensive background Americana. Good thing she had a few hits after this to sustain a career.
Christina Aguilera
3/5
Pretty surprised Christina has two albums on this list, neither really seems to do anything unique to the other based on my one listen to each.
The Who
4/5
I agree with what's been said elsewhere on reviews - some stand out tracks to start and finish with some fairly middle of the road offerings between.
Hawkwind
1/5
...and to think I was looking forward to some "Hurry On Sundown" kinda Hawkwind...
Supergrass
3/5
One Supergrass album for Alright, sure, fine, there are worse choices here. But two? Why?
Culture Club
3/5
I've got sympathy for you if you had to listen to this in the 80s, the 80s.
Roxy Music
2/5
I've run out of things to say about Roxy Music, I'm glad Brian Eno moved on.
Moby
4/5
I was kinda dreading this coming up. It has some tracks I really liked growing up, and were early taste makers. But since then, I've found learning about Moby a little difficult, he seems at best strange bodering on creepy.
So, it was somewhat of a relief to listen to this again now and find that, while it does have some standout tracks, I don't like this as much as something like Fat Boy Slim or Mr Scruff. It's like the American imitiation that's not as fun or interesting.
The Dictators
2/5
Kinda fun but very forgettable, another questionable edition to the list.
Leftfield
4/5
I've been aware of this for ages but never really given it a full run through. It's alright, bits of tracks are cool but there's no big draw for me.
Sepultura
3/5
It's funny how the lack of variety in dynamics and musical structure seems to be a shared problem between electronic and metal albums. Not all of them, just a lot of the mid tier ones.
Anyway, the end track was an experience, fair play for something different even if I never want to hear it again.
The Undertones
3/5
Pretty middle of the road music that, by today's standards, feels like its suffering to real lack of imagination and technical prowess. As someone who's gone through over 800 albums on this list I am now confident that this is just the way punk be.
The Slits
2/5
"wow, look at them!"
"yeah, but, listen to them..."
Giant Sand
3/5
This is kinda what I imagine people mean when they say "whisper sweet nothings in my ear". Not pleasantries, just barely audible statements of no consequence. This time, set to music.
Kinda wanted to hear Beautiful Day at the end just to feel like it had got back on track, and I'm kinda sick of that song anyway.
Echo And The Bunnymen
3/5
As picks for this list go, this one is OK, but I think it means the other Echo album can leave the list.
Guns N' Roses
4/5
Mixed feelings of having seen my friends and myself to some degree shaped by this music, as it has become some of the most iconic music in the world, and recognising how brash and vapid it sounds to widened ears. Slash is good though.
Joni Mitchell
4/5
I've had 3 Joni bums and this was by far and my favourite of them
The cover of Twisted at the end of was great.
Public Enemy
2/5
It's the standard for the hip hop albums on this list - way too long for no good reason. -1 star for the Anthrax collab.
Pulp
2/5
This is a snore.
David Bowie
2/5
I actually kinda liked the bits where it got all spacey, but then he started singing again and I'm just too predisposed to hate that at this point.
The Stone Roses
4/5
A good overall sound, not huge on the vocals but they're mixed in a way that I can cope with it. I even took a look at their second album, which had a great guitar sound but the song writing wasn't as strong.
The Beach Boys
3/5
A brief sojourn with the sound of the Beach Boys but not really the substance of the Beach Boys.
The Hives
3/5
Compilation album? Again? Bad list, bad.
Cowboy Junkies
4/5
The Blue Moon cover was nice, and generally this was fine to just hang around in the background for a bit. A high 3 rounded up.
Dr. John
3/5
This really flicked around on the meter of weird and interesting to weird and unpleasant, but at a shorter runtime that was ok.
The Replacements
2/5
Imagine a world where the list wasn't bloated with punk music like this.
Mercury Rev
3/5
Kinda interesting but ultimately let down by really pants vocals. I would guess a youth obsessed with Punk has ruined Dimery's ability to spot when a vocal holds music back.
The Who
2/5
I spent half of it waiting for one track and it only lasted 3 minutes. This whole Rock Opera thing is a waste fo time.
Alexander 'Skip' Spence
2/5
Having heard Moby Grape from the list, I can honestly say this feels like a dissproportionate reaction.
The Soft Boys
3/5
I listened to the 10 tracks listed as the original album and kinda enjoyed it. I nearly punched in a 4 here but such is the divide between my 3s and 4s I don't think this quite earned its place there, but I at least came away from this one with some understanding as to how it earned a spot on the list.
Slint
3/5
Mostly bounced right off me
Drive Like Jehu
2/5
Currently in an avalanche of these low to mid tier punk and punk adjacent albums, send help.
Fela Kuti
3/5
I dunno, I like Fela Kuti, and I don't know if I just played it on the wrong speakers, but this didn't grab me in the way the other stuff did. I liked the grooves, but I found the format a little bit fatiuing.
I went and listened to some Fema Kuti afterwards instead.
Destiny's Child
3/5
3 big singles, I still don't like Survivor, and then meandering attempts to recreate that success.
Nitin Sawhney
4/5
I judged the album by it's cover and was mistaken. This was quite diverse throughout, some of it I really liked. In fact I had some other music by this artist in my library and had forgotten all about it.
But the later half of the album was a bit much for me.
Sam Cooke
4/5
Nearly manages to bottle the magic, the only thing I could say really let it down for me would be the recording quality, but I bet the engineer did all they could to cope with the screaming audience. Live albums seem to be better when they're older, I wonder if the same is true of live shoes in general.
Kraftwerk
4/5
Some of my favourite Kraftwerk tracks along some I wouldn't seek put, but the second half of the album reminds me of why I really like Kraftwerk - their ability to take you to a distance place while still being unmistakabley human.
The Magnetic Fields
2/5
I've been dreading this one for a while. It's kind of an insane commitment we've made here to listen to an album every single day, so the prospect of effectively listening to 3 was sorta like the full chamber in Russian Roulette (I've already done the Ella Fitzgerald one).
So sure enough, there I am at half 11 at night squeezing out the last of these crappy tracks after a full Easter Sunday. I nearly had some admiration when I read the Wikipedia page and it seemed like there was some intended irony, but the artist has another really long album like this too.
In summary, your scientists were so obsessed with whether they coil, they didn't stop to think if they should.
My Bloody Valentine
4/5
Another situation where I judged an album too quickly based on the cover and band name and was actually pleasantly surprised.
Aimee Mann
2/5
A very 'whatever' experience.
Sex Pistols
4/5
A classic with a bit of an indentity.. problem? Smoke and mirrors? The tracks sound great, and the characters of the group elevated passed the manufactured image, so I guess it doesn't matter?
Overall, after venturing through (I'm hoping) a majority of the punk music on this list, I was glad to be reminded I can enjoy Punk.. even if it maybe isn't strictly, technically, actually Punk.
The Icarus Line
2/5
Most remarkable thing about this is that someone remembered the album in order to put it on the list.
Kendrick Lamar
3/5
I just can't get into the angry poetry stuff. Anderson Paak does it better.
Janet Jackson
4/5
I had fun, thanks Janet. Not sure I'll come back to much of this, but it was fun.
Keith Jarrett
5/5
Really enjoyed learning more about this after I listened to it, I think if I knew before hand it was improvising I would have been listening out for it, but it stood as a work of art in it's own right.
The Pharcyde
3/5
Moments of the Pharcyde I like, but overall very samey accross the board and yet another Hip Hop album falling prey to doing too little with too much runtime.
Soft Cell
3/5
I enjoyed this enough, mostly reading about it and appreciating how the sound was affected by the state of the technology at the time and it's early adoption (at least within budget limitations).
Arrested Development
3/5
I liked the beats, it was finally a hip hop album that didn't run itself into the ground with the same idea played over and over for 50 minutes, but the vocal delivery felt vey dated.
Brian Eno
3/5
Knowing a little about this album already, i kinda know I'd get more out of it if I read some more about it, thought more about it and engaged with it more. However, in the spirit of the list I just have to takeit on the time I spent with it on the day and honestly it didn't wow or bore me much either way.
Neu!
4/5
Not what I expected when I read Krautrock. The progression of the composition was nicely done, not surprising of Kraftwerk alumni.
k.d. lang
2/5
Il having listened to both K D Lang albums here I find myself with nothing more to say.
Frank Sinatra
4/5
Very good at creating an atmosphere and mood, and I did like the cover of "I Get Along Without You...", but I'd be hard pressed to name a track that serves as the moment I loved this album.
Jack White
3/5
I like the sound of Jack White's solo stuff but the song writing is always a bit short. The newer albums have one or two keepers, but otherwise it feels very meandering.
2/5
I like it when they do more interesting musical stuff with less singing, like Knights of Cydonia, but otherwise Muse just gives me flashbacks to my youth spent being an outcast for not really liking them.
Bruce Springsteen
2/5
Bossin around with basically just one song in different versions. Where one stops, I am told, the next began.
Lambchop
2/5
Got to the last track, thought that was the album finished, kinda reminded me of Julian Cope.
The Velvet Underground
2/5
I don't get why there's such a buzz for this group.
Mudhoney
2/5
The most over represented genre on the list, surely?
3/5
I feared the worst when I saw the association with Neil Young on the wiki page, but this was alright. I enjoyed recognising the sample Aim used on Cold Water Music.
Jamiroquai
3/5
Surprisingly boring debut outing from Jarmioquai. The musicianship is impressive from a technical level, and I was happy to listen to it in its entierity, but could only keep thinking of how they'd been able to refine and improve the format going forward.
The Saints
3/5
I was tempted to give this a four to compensate for how weary I've become of Punk music on this list. I can tell this is one of the better ones, my toe was tapping, the songs didn't quite all sound the same and the band sounds tight. But all the same, in the grand scheme of what's available this isn't that noteworthy.
Jungle Brothers
4/5
Keep on dancing. KEEP ON DANCING. Keep on dancing. KEEP ON DANCING.
KISS
3/5
The charm on this one wore out fast. KISS are a singles band, but they have great album artwork.
LCD Soundsystem
3/5
I wasn't crazy about it, but I didn't really get the hate here either. If you want to be upset about long meandering songs there are far worse albums on the list.
Emerson, Lake & Palmer
3/5
Enjoyed it more than I thought. Various moments of toe tapping. But I still left with the impression that I like the ELP sound, but not the songs or vocals.
Talk Talk
3/5
I thought I was going to get more out of this one to begin with, by the end I just found it quite dull. Of the New Wave albums I've heard this one seemed to have a decent amount of promise, even without a big single I recognise.
David Bowie
2/5
I like it when Bowie does the soundscapey stuff at the end of the albums, it means you don't have to hear him sing for a bit. It was basically Brian Eno's musc credited to Bowie.
Kid Rock
2/5
An extra star for the joy I had reading the YouTube comments on each track as I played it through in an incognito window.
Tom Waits
2/5
I believe this the last of my Tom Waits albums to get through, by now I can sort of appreciate some of the material evokes a certain charm, but any chance I had to coming round to the idea of Tom Waits has been skuppered by this strange and unpaletable fever dream album.
Brian Wilson
3/5
I was interested to listen to this having seen the film and being aware of the story, but the music really did nothing for me, especially when Good Vibrations came on and I realised that's what I'd rather have been listening to for the last 40 minutes.
The Style Council
2/5
Sorry Tracy, but being on an album where Paul Wller raps can only be a black mark on your record.
Country Joe & The Fish
3/5
Nearly interesting, but I was reminded of this project showing me that Ogden Nut Flake album which is from the same time and thinking that executed this kind of sound in a much more entertaining way.
Eminem
2/5
I'm glad that he went on to correct some of the mistakes he's making here. Once again this genre delivers an overly long, self indulgent collection of music that time is forgetting.
Thelonious Monk
4/5
Monk on form, I expect I'll only really appreciate this after coming back to it a few times.
I read something recently that mentioned that one of the difficulties with appreciating Jazz is that people don't come to it chronologically, and so its hard to recognise the influence this has had on music you've already heard.
Skunk Anansie
3/5
I thought I was going to enjoy this quite a bit, but some of tracks in the second half really lost me and kinda put me off revisiting the start. Still, it was cool to give it a try.
Johnny Cash
4/5
A bit of a downer at time, but some great covers, and thankfully I turned it down before Nick Cave appeared.
I was surprised that Hurt wasn't even my favourite of the bunch. Personal Jesus cover unexpected but fun.
Billy Bragg
2/5
Just seeing the name Billy Bragg is enough to put me off.
Ryan Adams
2/5
Some of this quite nice but good lord the harmonica. And by most accounts here he's a nob so I guess that's that.
Kings of Leon
3/5
Just fine. The most surprising thing was to have a third Kings Of Leon album.
Bill Callahan
2/5
Is this someone's uncle or something?
Goldfrapp
4/5
Its kinda mad to me that this is Goldfrapp's debut based on the rest of their career. This one's got all kinda of Jazz and downtempo stuff, and some off beat weirdness. Also Nick Batt from Sonic State played bass synth on it.
Ali Farka Touré
3/5
I found it interesting enough for one run through, but don't see myself taking to it. The whole time it reminded me of something else and I still don't know what it was. Probably a sample or something?
Calexico
3/5
I liked bits of this, and I admire when groups can take on different sounds, but as an album it was lacking the kind of consistency that would bring me back time and time again.
Milton Nascimento
4/5
I wasn't in a great headspcae when I listened to this one but it sounded interesting enough. 4 star for "I plan to revisit and get back into it at some point".
Dizzee Rascal
2/5
Even branching out into the UK grime scene, rap music continues to feature albums with limited imagination and overly long run times.
Public Image Ltd.
3/5
I kinda get the intention here but it's not surprising this couldn't find an audience in the US. The last track in particular could be a parody of something by Frank Zappa, and having heard a lot of the other noise post punk stuff here I'm not really surprised or impressed by any of this. Snobbery aside, I recognise this is not what anyone in the 70s would have said.
Television
3/5
Eh, I wonder what else is on.
I did actually like a section in this when the vocals stopped.
The Zombies
4/5
This was pretty fun, obviously I knew Time Of The Season, but I really enjoyed reading about the Fake Zombies.
The Disposable Heroes Of Hiphoprisy
3/5
Too boring to really pay attention to, too much going on to have it as nice background music.
Traffic
3/5
Kinda enjoyable but generally pretty middle of the road bluesy rock.
Richard Thompson
3/5
Once again, i would like this a lot more were it an instrumental album.
Billie Holiday
3/5
One of these artists you can adore but get very little out of their albums.
The Velvet Underground
3/5
I can kinda hear its influence but I just don't get it. Her vocals sound really out of place for one thing.
Sonic Youth
2/5
I don't get why you need so much Sonic Youth on this list. If I'd had this one before the others maybe I'd have rated it higher, but I've become jaded.
Genesis
3/5
Moments of instrumental prog rock fun, sandwiched by bad singing and worse songwriting.
Louis Prima
5/5
Likely an under researched claim, but for me, Just a Gigolo is one of the finest recordings pre 1960, its very impressive on a technical level and a great song to top it off.
It also helps that some of my favourite standards are on here, and performed with the flair that stays consistent accross the album.
Laibach
2/5
I found this pretty impenetrable, but it was at least novel.
John Martyn
3/5
This kinda passed me by without much fuss. It sounds a bit of a downer and there's scorching sun outside at the moment. It might be the kind of thing that would connect with me on a blue winter's afternoon when I'm twenty years older.
Sebadoh
2/5
I've heard too many of these now, I feel I am rating them lower as a result, but if I'm going down I'm taking you all with me.
Scott Walker
3/5
It's like he's stayed up passed his bed time, knocked back a few whiskeys, and got overly sentimental to me, a complete stranger. All I can do is maintain eye contact and wait for the runtime to be over.
Morrissey
3/5
I don't really enjoy Morrissey because it has this kind of effect that makes you lonely and depressed but I do appreciate it's ability to do that.
Also thought extra sounds added were interesting, even if the chainsaw gave me a start.
Leonard Cohen
2/5
I do not
Dexys Midnight Runners
3/5
It ain't so much New Wave, it ain't so much Ska, it ain't so much of much really.
Everything But The Girl
5/5
An easy five based on having enjoyed this album a lot over the years. Tracey's vocals paired with some production that would have sounded quite poppy at the time but has aged brilliantly.
Van Halen
4/5
Almost a guilty pleasure, you're either along for the ride or not, right? I... mostly was.
The Avalanches
5/5
Pretty much an instant five for me as I've loved this album for years. It was really interesting reading the Wikipedia page and learning that it was never intended to be a commercial product.
Having listened today I think it is much stronger in the first half and does start to dip a bit at the end, maybe a 9/10 but on this scale it's a 5.
Weather Report
4/5
The version of Birdland is great, and Jacob's bass is incredible, but it does feel quite safe.
Elton John
3/5
Kinda get it, kinda can't stand it.
Fun Lovin' Criminals
3/5
Huey Morgan... Scooby Snacks... Somewhere between a decent band sound and a mediocre hip hop sound. I don't have the enthusiasm to articulate these into a complete review.
Steely Dan
3/5
This is the most I've tolerated Steely Dan on the list so far, but even so it is, at best, just a bit dull. I did like recognising the De La Soul sample though.
CHIC
5/5
Slightly concerned I'm falling into the trap of "I know this, I like this, its a 5", but I'm once again finding Nile Rodgers providing an album with such strong singles they do prop up the whole album. I had fun start to finish, and I like French house so every 30 seconds is another sample recognised.
Christine and the Queens
3/5
Immediately went for the French version since I don't take in lyrics anyway, c'est super.
But, actually, it got very boring and a lot of the tracks toward the end felt like alt takes or bonus tracks.
The B-52's
4/5
Planet Claire is such a great opener to an album, and I love the general "do it because it's fun" vibe you get from this band, but I'd prefer to listen to a Greatest Hits collection.
Air
5/5
I put this on knowing I already love it, and I'm still surprised by how much I like it. One of those albums that influenced so much of the music I love now.
Ali Farka Touré
3/5
Not unpleasant, but like, before I die?
The Young Rascals
3/5
Kinda felt like listrening to a parody or "stock music" version of music from the 60s.
The Last Shadow Puppets
3/5
I like Alex Turner's voice but it does work better in some contexts than others. I don't think it was bad here but as there was a lot going on I found it harder to latch on to, I think I'll need more time with this one to really know what I think.
Bob Marley & The Wailers
5/5
Often, I'm asked what new artists I've found through doing this project. However, I think I've got fr more value from artists I've learned to appreciate more through doing it. Bob Marley is a perfect example of an artist that lots of people are very familiar with a small part of his body of work, but don't really know more of it. I've enjoyed getting to go through more of it and appreciate the craft in it, and in this album particular the sound engineering.
Beastie Boys
3/5
There's some cool stuff on here, some genre defining moves, and also a lot that should have stayed on the cutting room floor to leave a stronger overall impression.
Ghostface Killah
3/5
I think this is probably the only one of the Wu Tang side projects I can see earning a spot on the list, but even then it needs some fat trimming.
Charles Mingus
3/5
I like the Angry jazz man but this was hard to break into. I am glad to have myself pushed rather than another run of the mill punk album.
Girls Against Boys
2/5
A distinct lack of Girls. If there is a Venus Luxure No.2 you can count me out.
Method Man
3/5
If I'd got this early on in my list I would have probably been nicer to it, but it's really difficult to see how we need so many of these middle of the road hip hop albums (or indeed any genre's middle of the road offerings).
Terence Trent D'Arby
3/5
Felt like a very long visit to the hairdresser. It was a relief to recognise a couple of tracks at the end of this, but it still felt like "Disney does Prince".
Mike Ladd
2/5
One or two moments of this I really liked, but overall I just wanted to go put on MF Doom.
The Waterboys
2/5
Not sure if I disliked being bored by the long tracks or suffering the shorter tracks more.
Dion
2/5
More wish washy music from convicted murderer Phil Spector
Jorge Ben Jor
4/5
I put this on for a morning run and had a great time. Great version of Taj Mahal on this (maybe thats the original recording? The one on my playlists is a lot longer...)
Frank Black
2/5
I'll admit I went through a 'judged it by it's cover' thing here, and that's not to say I thought I'd hate it and I loved it, more that I thought it'd be worse than it was. The pleasure of that surprise had melted away by the end of the overly long run time.
Big Black
2/5
I don't get it, and I'm only slightly embarressed to admit it.
Basement Jaxx
2/5
A couple of singles tent poling a lot of crap.
Black Sabbath
5/5
I think we've all been given these today because of Ozzy passing, and it does somewhat skew my opinion of it, but this is really great. I had to do a double bill with Paraonoid afterwards. Hard to believe they came out mere months apart.
Mj Cole
2/5
Dreadfully dull for the most part, with one or two tracks that just deliver the idea that's thinly spread accross the rest of the tracks well enough.
Morrissey
2/5
I think (hope) this is the last Morrissey album I'll be given. I've run out of stuff to say. It's alright as long as you don't listen to the words he's saying.
The KLF
3/5
Kinda hard to get hold of, I ended up listening to a mixed version which I think makes the whole thing realise the ideas better. The K the L the F....
The Zutons
4/5
I'll accept the list is bloated with British bands. But this is one of my favourites. They have a sax player and it doesn't feel like a gimmick, and the vocals are good.
Solange
3/5
When people say things like "You could make a whole album like this", I don't think they quite literally expect you take one idea and stretch it so thin. I'd happily listen to first few tracks, but I was waiting for it to end about half way through.
The Bees
2/5
I couldn't say it better than all of these reviews already have. Enjoyable cover, thought it had some promise to start with but then amounted to being very dull.
Marianne Faithfull
3/5
Barely even felt like I listened to this it was so unremarkable.
Pink Floyd
2/5
More like the Gates of Yawn.
Penguin Cafe Orchestra
4/5
Pleasantly suprised. This is a new artist to me, and by the end of the day I had checked out a whole other album and was telling everyone about my new discovery. It's like slightly off-kilter night time radio 3.
The Byrds
3/5
Way too much of this on this list, I think this might be one of the better ones on here? But for me I really can't put much between them, they sell just sound the same.
Dexys Midnight Runners
3/5
Eh. If this was the only Dexys album here I might have been more enthused, but as it is this really feels like a lot shit thrown at the wall and one or two bits stuck.
Curtis Mayfield
4/5
I listened to this while traveling which I think is what you need for this. It's music to move to, to feel time passing, to be amongst something. A celebration of life.
Rod Stewart
2/5
One of the most unlikeable characters in popular music.
Ash
3/5
I went away thinking this was released in 1977 and was thinking "wow, this is seriously ahead of its time". Now I'm forced to accept this is pretty passable even if it's just the same kind of sound all the alt rock had at the time.
Korn
2/5
This about matched my usual experience with Korn, at first I'm interested and wondering if it's for me after all, by the end I'm cringing and waiting for someone to explain to them how badly it's going.
Crosby, Stills & Nash
4/5
Shame they had to go and add Neil Young. I think my impression of this album is improved by the fact I'm in the US right now.
Love
2/5
A mediocre offering ruined by a terrible side B.
Tim Buckley
2/5
Ach, Tim mate, crack us a smile and play something a little more upbeat?
Syd Barrett
2/5
So now I know where Nigel Tufnel comes from.
David Bowie
2/5
This is the last of my Bowie albums for the list, and by this point it really did bounce off me other than when the signing was particularly bad. I was curious about what this would be like given its context, but I simply can't get past my overall dislike of Bowie's sound and style to take any of it. More fool me, I guess.
Frank Sinatra
3/5
Great version of Girl From Impanema, but as it goes on it does feel more like Sinatra showing off a different music style to his fan base. We're nearly 60 years removed from the context of this, so I can't really speculate as to whether this was needed or not.
The Teardrop Explodes
4/5
I can see why a lot of the reviews here complain of this being like the other tracks, but for me this is like Talking Heads meets something The Clash or The Jam. Julian's singing is competent and effectively used in each track to be part of the song writing other than a lot of the New Wave stuff where a bloke just moans over various incarnations of the same song.
Elvis Costello
2/5
I don't like being so reductive but... Sad boomer music.
Bauhaus
3/5
Maybe something here if you're in the mood for it.
The Doors
4/5
I think the ones I like are actually quite similar to the ones that don't do much for me, it's just that I've heard them enough to enjoy being familiar with them.
Air
3/5
All the soundtrack albums here, apart from maybe Shaft, feel like weird inclusions. They just don't run like albums. This one felt like it was added to have more Air, but we could have had Zero 7 instead.
Slipknot
2/5
All that work into the image feels totally shattered by the contents of this album.
My Bloody Valentine
2/5
This really wasn't anything.
Pulp
3/5
I'd gladly forgotten about Disco 2000. Dangerously close to Bowie for me.
Leonard Cohen
3/5
I'm not your Man, Guy.
The United States Of America
3/5
I thought this was interesting for a once through, but wouldn't come back for more. The 60s has been perhaps the most consistently interesting decade to explore through the list.
Soft Machine
3/5
Piss off, Wyatt.
This was like "one test of patience, one interesting reward", but stretched over 20 minute servings.
The Mars Volta
4/5
Pleasantly surprised by this one. It's not my usual kind of thing, but catch me in the right mood with one that's good enough and I'll like it. Pleased to find something new.
U2
3/5
It's weird how Bono can be so unlikable but also respectable at the same time. I think as time went on he was more relaxed but still had this air of trying to be cooler than he was.
I don't know what that really has to do with the music but that's all I remember about this the next day. Sunday Bloody Sunday was the only one here I was really familiar with before.
Finley Quaye
3/5
This was ok, I was suprised how much the reviews here grill it. Scottish Reggae wasn't on my bingo sheet, but it was just about fine for the time I had to listen to it.
Björk
5/5
If you think Björk is trying too hard to be weird you haven't heard some of the crap knock offs on this list.
She's been an artist I've found consistently rewarding for giving the time to understand and settle with. The emotion and craft in her earlier works is amazing. It's such a good demonstration of what I've moaned about in so many of my reviews here - I'm able to get all the emotional context without really taking in the lyrics.
The Human League
4/5
Dated but a valuable inclusion to the list. Don't You Want Me was a bit of a tease, but there wasn't anything that could follow it on this album.
Faust
3/5
Ehhhh bit all over the shop, is it an album or just "Here's some really long tracks and some other ideas".
Le Tigre
3/5
Quite fun but fell apart for me a bit by the end. That first track was great. It sounded like a real mix of stuff from multiple decades.
Elvis Presley
3/5
Elvis sad :(
If you look at the original track listing, this album as is is a bit humdrum. It's not bad, it's melancholic and reserved. It seems like they bumped up the tracks over time to make it more commercial, but for me this kinda represents what would really happen if you bought Elvis back "for one more album" - he's knackered and played out, let him rest.
The Louvin Brothers
3/5
Every song sounded the same but it was short lived.
LCD Soundsystem
3/5
This is the closest I've come to liking an LCD album. The composition of sounds is really nice, but it does get a bit stale, I can't quite get into the guys voice, and the quality is mostly at the start. I'll give those first few tracks another spin though, there's hope yet.
My Bloody Valentine
2/5
Three of these was simply too much.
Shuggie Otis
4/5
Enjoyed my time with Shuggie, my kind of sound and I'd heard some before. I could also understand if someone said this is boring though.
Iggy Pop
2/5
I'm a bit lost for words, so I suppose my review would be that expression he's making on the cover as I gesture at all the other albums I'd rather listen to should you suggest listening to this one.
Willie Nelson
4/5
Surprised by how well this worked. Reminded me of some awful covers I've heard but it teetered in the right side of a vulnerable vocal.
The Sugarcubes
3/5
Fun to listen to and experience once, but not really the material I would have picked for this list. It doesn't even have their best song on here.
Rufus Wainwright
2/5
I didn't Want One, and I don't Want Two. I was left again with the impresssion that this could have been quite good if it wasn't so bad. Like the vision is kinda there, but the execution sucks.
Common
4/5
This has some of my favourite songs, but by own criteria for these other albums, it is too long. I'm also not really sure about some of the lyrics which might be homophobic, or it's ironic? I'm not sure.
Portishead
5/5
There are particular tracks that I really love on this, but its a great example of how to do an album.The entire sound and presence of it takes me in, and I'm never bored.
Alanis Morissette
4/5
This was way more fun than I remembered. Proper sounds of the 90s time capsule, but still something in circulation now.
Prince
4/5
A high 3 rounded up to a 4 because I feel generous. It's got some good bits but is way too long and samey.
CHIC
4/5
If only it was a bit more risky. Good Times is, of course, iconic, and I love My Forbidden Lover. So much that I'm doubting the 4 I just clicked on before writing this, but I think there is something lacking here when compared with other albums in CHIC's catalogue. It gets a bit dry and relies too much on "people want to dance".
Pavement
3/5
I kinda get it, its like grunge, but I have no palette for it.
Jeru The Damaja
3/5
The beats were good, the lyrics weren't safe for the office and got played at a low volume.
The Rolling Stones
3/5
Yep, that's the Rolling Stones. Not really any different to the other albums on here.
Mudhoney
2/5
Not sure what the harmonica did to deserve that.
John Grant
3/5
I thought this was good but not for me? Kinda came and went, I recognised a lot of what it was doing but didn't feel strongly one way or the other. A bit derivative.
Otis Redding
5/5
Shh everyone. Otis is singing.
Billy Bragg
3/5
I kinda get it, I don't think it has legs for a whole album, especially not the extended run, but it's the kind of music you hear and think "yeah, this is one of the things music can do".
Deee-Lite
3/5
2 or three fun tracks make not a worthwhile addition to such a list.
PJ Harvey
2/5
I'm struggling to find anything to say, its just pretty nothingy even compared to the other PJ Harvey album on this list, why do we need more?
FKA twigs
3/5
Got a lot better when I put headphones on, but the songwriting feels quite weak. As an amateur (sometimes paid for) musician myself I can sympathise.
Neil Young
2/5
A couple of tracks on this are OK because he doesn't sing much.
Beth Orton
3/5
Finished listening only to realise I already had a track from this saved. Testament to how completely forgettable this was. It's quite nice, perfectly pleasant, but left no real lasting impression.
Willie Colón & Rubén Blades
4/5
I really admire salsa music, and have a little playlist for dancing, but 42 minutes of on one go without changing artist or style much feels like a lot. Maybe if I'd have danced through the whole thing it would be fine. An album for the right context for sure, which puts it at four for me.
Scritti Politti
3/5
Listened to this on my way to the hairdresser, I sat down in the chair and was surprised to see I already had a perm.
Carole King
4/5
Classic 70s sound, well writtena dn well performed. For me, I can't here "You've got a friend" without seeing that awful AA ad campaign, and I also think you can't really beat Aretha's "You Make Me Feel (Like a Natural Woman)".
Stevie Wonder
4/5
Solid bit of Stevie, I was pleased to have a 4th one. Why not the whole classic era?
Laura Nyro
3/5
Like Kate Bush but 20 years earlier in a meandering maze of soul, ballads and funk.
UB40
2/5
Checking out by this reviewer.
Hole
4/5
Good if not really for me, I kinda preferred the poppier sound of the other Hole album, much to my shame.
Elliott Smith
3/5
A tricky one to break into. I want to get it, but I have a lot of prenceptions based on what I know about it.
I was met with a sound that isn't really my sort of thing, and the feeling that although I could glean more from looking up the lyrics, I didn't really want to for fear of what I may find.
Madonna
3/5
The 'Like A Prayer' music video was on constantly when I was growing up, seemingly every music video channel had it queued up to play multiple times a day, and this was over ten years after the song's release. It was this almost gothic religious affair. It haunts me still.
Otherwise, this was a load of cheese and I worry what the neighbours think.
The Fall
2/5
Yeah, no, I don't really get it. I kinda thought maybe I did when it got quite frantic but then actually, no, I didn't.
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
3/5
Deja vu is right. Why are we hear again!?
Tangerine Dream
4/5
Not sure what it has to do with getting hitched to Theseus but it was quite nice.
Solomon Burke
4/5
Great sounding vocal, didn't stay too long but still felt it lacked any big wow moments and variety.
Rod Stewart. Pls. No. This might be alright really but if my ears could punch back they would.
Frank Ocean
4/5
I've been aware of this for so long but was waiting for it to come up here and listen. I think there's a lot to digest here, but I was immediately impressed with the detail of the craft. It may one day be a five, but I couldn't really say without giving the time to understand it better.
Funkadelic
3/5
Featuring such hits as "Ladies Night, but it's not Ladies Night".
I'm joking, but for a George Clinton record I thought I'd enjoy this more. Instead, it just felt pretty all over the place and never hit me with an "oh yeah!" moment.
The Cure
5/5
Ladies and gentleman, Simon Gallup. I've always loved A Forest, and listening to the whole album helped me hear how much the new bass sound contributes to the success of that track and the change in sound for The Cure going forward. A great album for an example of a light touch with clear impact.
Gillian Welch
3/5
Albums to fall asleep to but not necessairly in a bad way.
TV On The Radio
2/5
I've run out of things to say about albums like this. The vocals are dreadful, the rest is medicore, who hears this and think its MUST be included on a list like this?
Blondie
3/5
Kinda feel harsh giving this a 3, but as an album it just kinda wore me out. Nearly 6 minutes of Heart of Glass is a lot. I might have preferred one of the earlier albums.
The Sabres Of Paradise
3/5
This one left a bad taste. I feel like by 1994 this can't be a "it walked so we could run" situations? And, it really is walking.
Magazine
3/5
Completely bounced off me and sounded like so much else I've already heard here.
Thundercat
4/5
I've liked some of these tracks for a long time, and have seen Thundercat live. I don't remember actually working all the way through this start to finish before. There's some great tracks but I don't think it's more than a collection of good tracks. I could have played it on shuffle and got the same thing from it.
Scott Walker
2/5
What in the proto Nick Cave is this
Fatboy Slim
4/5
Better listening to just a few tracks, but I'm biased because I like Fat Boy Slim so here's 4 stars.
Motörhead
3/5
It did keep me awake but I still don't think the majority of live albums make sense if the artist has perfectly fine studio albums as an alternative.
Coldcut
3/5
I'm not sure this some of Coldcuts best stuff, but even if it was its too samey to run on for this long.
The Rolling Stones
3/5
Another standard effort from the Stones I think? There's been so many of these that I'm starting to think I'm missing something. Yes, this one sounded better than the others, but I'm sure I could find very similar sounding offerings with ease.
ZZ Top
4/5
Overall fantastic sound to this one. There's maybe a five star album accross the two ZZ Top albums on this list. Just makes you want to rock but not in the misogynistic or violent way.
G. Love & Special Sauce
3/5
Is this Tracy Jordan?
A Tribe Called Quest
4/5
This is good, but my lord does Midnight Marauders do it for me like the other ATCQs don't.
Paul McCartney and Wings
4/5
I've finally earned my Wings...
Yeah, pretty good. The album version of "Don't do acid, smoke some weed" or something.
2/5
I kinda liked the bit with the birds but the half an hour of moaning before put me off a bit.
Justin Timberlake
3/5
One of those albums where you just don't need to hear the whole album. The singles are still pretty baked into pop culture DNA 20 something years on, I think mostly because of very savvy production from Pharrell, and the tracks that aren't singles offer nothing else.
Beyoncé
2/5
Wow, I didn't expect to actively dislike this as much as I did.
Dolly Parton
4/5
Good sound, not too long, good performance. Nice one, Dolly!
SZA
3/5
I have an aversion to travis Scott, but I'm afraid if I say I don't like this it just means I'm getting older.
Joan Baez
2/5
I know its 1960, but m8, do you even compress?
Also, it's like the same 30 second loop again and again and again.
Baaba Maal
3/5
Pardon my ignorance, but this felt like world music for the sake of world music. There didn't seem to be a lot to find about this artist when I looked at their Wikipedia.
3/5
Eneergetic and a bit weird but, mostly, not in a way that connected with me.
The Lemonheads
2/5
Saturday morning cartoon music.
The Darkness
2/5
CRINGE.
Or is it just a bit of fun?
Nah, get to fuck. Sorry Dan, I just can't stand Justin.
Lynyrd Skynyrd
3/5
Pretty alright, bang average with some free bird. Short and sweet enough.
New York Dolls
3/5
This really sounds exactly like a third of the albums on this list and it's now beyond me to say anything else.
Thin Lizzy
3/5
Huey Lewis? Alright, cool.
Leonard Cohen
2/5
What a miserable guy.
The Libertines
3/5
There's a song that was used on Children of Men on this album. It's less than two minutes long. That was the highlight.
Harry Nilsson
3/5
Ken Leeeeeeeee
The cover seems to be trying hard to downplay a lot of what's here. The runtime was about right, but I way prefer Frank Schnieder's version of Coconut.
Nick Drake
4/5
Discovering Nick Drake has been one of my favourite parts of the whole project. Having listened, I do agree he's better with a sparser sound.
Tina Turner
3/5
She's great but I'm not here for an album of covers.
CHVRCHES
3/5
I was a bit hot and cold on this, at its best it was some well made pop music, at its worst it was some fairly generic sounding pop music.
Miles Davis
4/5
It's all about track 2 for me. Track 1 was hard to break into but I got the groove of the second piece.
And there it is, an album review discussing two songs that also discusses the entire album.
Leonard Cohen
2/5
I can't believe there are 3 of these "daddy didn't love me" albums. Is that what he's singing about? I don't know, I tried not to listen.
The Incredible String Band
2/5
I can't quite bring myself to piut 1 on this. It was really not a great listen, but it didn't have any kind of ego for me, it was just like a weird failed experiment, the sort of thing that wouldn't get any attention today but is obviously somewhat representative of what was happening with music and entertainment at the time.
Buck Owens
3/5
This sure is country. I found it hard to differentiate from other old country albums I've been given by the list.
Belle & Sebastian
3/5
I wish I got this group, but it sounds very middle of the road to me.
Metallica
4/5
Still not totally sure how I feel about this after 2 and a quater hours of it, i guess that means it probably isn interesting enough to be a four. I think it's one to watch rather than listen to.
I listened to it hwile playing games and thought I'd left the game music on.
The Fall
3/5
Kinda liked some of it but the 6 minute tracks were hard to chew through.
The Crusaders
4/5
Street Life with more key changes? Cool! Also I like My Lady, and not just the bit Tom Misch sampled. Overall though, this is just some recordings and not a "wow" album moment.
Bob Dylan
2/5
I am 17 minutes in. There is still over half an hour left. I fear I may not make it. Send my hatred to Robert Dimery.
Update: slowly, but surely, I made it.
Sarah Vaughan
4/5
Sarah Vaughan is great, but live albums from the 50s can be a bit ropey on our modern systems, and I feel like this is a "quiet weekend in" album that you need to get on the right day.
Beastie Boys
4/5
I like recognising the samples but not much of it is music I'd pop on again.
The xx
3/5
Decent but quite generic modern pop music with some good performances.
Jean-Michel Jarre
5/5
I listened to this while on the treadmill and it helped me pace better. Also, when the faux coastal thiung happened the treadmill visual was on a beach so that was cool too.
I've actually add Pt. 4 on my running playlist for a while, its a great trackm and I had to be careful not to feel like the album was a boring build up to it. Taken as a whole context I think this a great immersive sound experience, and the 70s quality of the synth programming adds a charm to it you couldn't get away with today.
Creedence Clearwater Revival
3/5
I think I liked this more than I can admit to myself I did, but there's better versions of some of these songs elsewhere and I think this band and type of music are over represented here so that's a 3.
Pet Shop Boys
3/5
My heart could only take so many key changes, and their increasing dissonance with Neil's voice.
Bruce Springsteen
3/5
Booooorn in Somerset, I was, BOOOOOORN IN SOMERSET.
As such, I don't really get this. It's not bad, I just don't get it.
Jane Weaver
3/5
I'm not really sure where I landed on this. I liked it at first, then it kinda lost me a bit. I'll need to come back and listen again to see which way I lean.
The Vines
3/5
I listened to this while reading a bit in A Tale Of Two Cities where the French reveloution really kicked off and it was all pretty exciting. The album is fairly generic though.
The Damned
3/5
I think this list has really sullied my perception of Punk. Listened in isolation this might be more pertinent, after what feels like hundreds of crap or mediocre punk albums it doesn't really stand out much. Obviously, there's some context to apply there to help explain that, but once you get far enough into this that starts to have less weight.
Dirty Projectors
2/5
Very up it's own arse, I think.
R.E.M.
3/5
Yeah it's alright but can we just cheer up, and sing a little better please?
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band
3/5
Better than the other Beefheart album as a "one listen and done" thing, but too much to take in all at once.
Public Image Ltd.
2/5
Dreadful, with good basslines. Fuck music, I guess?
The Afghan Whigs
3/5
Just fine really. The end track was kinda cool but sounded a bit rushed. Literally no reason to be on this list, that I can see.
The Stranglers
4/5
It's got me going.... up and down. Classic 77' sound.
U2
2/5
Definitely an unnecessary inclusion alongside the other U2 here.
Sly & The Family Stone
4/5
Sly was just so cool
Spiritualized
3/5
Quite enjoyed this but more in the sense it wasn't very abrasive to listen to for it's run time, just pleasant enough to see it through easily.
Waylon Jennings
3/5
Eh, it was ok. Afterwards I went to listen to Marty Robbins again. That guy is way cooler.
The Everly Brothers
2/5
The objectification of women put me in a bad mood to start with.
Wire
2/5
I'm so sick of punk music, I have only a few more albums left, I have only a few more albums left, I have only a few more albums left....
Primal Scream
3/5
Enjoyed recognising a couple of the tracks here and got a bit closer to understanding reverance for Andew Weatherall, but overall I would not stick this album on again.
Genesis
2/5
The listener goes for a long lie down
Alice Cooper
3/5
I like that Alice Cooper isn't afraid to get a poppy while still being a " hard rock" artist. For the most part, he pulls it off without getting to cheesy and shit, but I can understand why this alienates those who would consider themselves fans of the genre.
Roni Size
3/5
I like Drum and Bass, especially 90s Drum and Bass, so if you take 22 shots at that you're likely to land some hits with me, but this isn't really an album. It's just lots of shots at a sound that was finding its way.
Underworld
4/5
I'm floating between a 4 and 3 on this one. It's good, its not their best, it doesn't really have a strong feeling throughout, so I'll be honest and say the final decider is that I've got 2 albums left and have spied my stats don't completely represent what a synth head I am.
Violent Femmes
2/5
Blister In The Sun is kinda charming until you hear a whole album of it.
Kelela
4/5
Glad to finish this project in an artist I'd heard of and had been meaning to listen to more of.
At 53 minutes, there's definitely cause to drop a couple of the weaker tracks and leave a stronger impression, which seems to be the core of the album - less is more.