245
Albums Rated
4.32
Average Rating
22%
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844 albums remaining
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1960s
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157
5-Star Albums
13
1-Star Albums
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You Love More Than Most
Albums you rated higher than global average
| Album | You | Global | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pictures At An Exhibition | 5 | 2.65 | +2.35 |
| Orbital 2 | 5 | 2.69 | +2.31 |
| New Boots And Panties | 5 | 2.7 | +2.3 |
| Tarkus | 5 | 2.78 | +2.22 |
| Nick Of Time | 5 | 2.83 | +2.17 |
| Kings Of The Wild Frontier | 5 | 2.83 | +2.17 |
| Red Dirt Girl | 5 | 2.86 | +2.14 |
| Damaged | 5 | 2.87 | +2.13 |
| Rattlesnakes | 5 | 2.9 | +2.1 |
| New Gold Dream (81/82/83/84) | 5 | 2.95 | +2.05 |
You Love Less Than Most
Albums you rated lower than global average
| Album | You | Global | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abbey Road | 1 | 4.46 | -3.46 |
| Californication | 1 | 3.71 | -2.71 |
| Nilsson Schmilsson | 1 | 3.43 | -2.43 |
| Urban Hymns | 1 | 3.35 | -2.35 |
| Faith | 1 | 3.27 | -2.27 |
| Sweet Baby James | 1 | 3.24 | -2.24 |
| Cypress Hill | 1 | 3.15 | -2.15 |
| Chemtrails Over The Country Club | 1 | 3.05 | -2.05 |
| Exile In Guyville | 1 | 3.02 | -2.02 |
| Gentlemen | 1 | 2.9 | -1.9 |
Artist Analysis
Favorite Artists
Artists with 2+ albums
| Artist | Albums | Average |
|---|---|---|
| Led Zeppelin | 4 | 5 |
| Pink Floyd | 4 | 5 |
| Bruce Springsteen | 4 | 4.75 |
| U2 | 3 | 5 |
| The Doors | 3 | 4.67 |
| David Bowie | 3 | 4.67 |
| Simon & Garfunkel | 3 | 4.67 |
| Yes | 3 | 4.67 |
| Madonna | 3 | 4.67 |
| Jane's Addiction | 2 | 5 |
| Kraftwerk | 2 | 5 |
| Elvis Costello & The Attractions | 2 | 5 |
| Emerson, Lake & Palmer | 2 | 5 |
| Green Day | 2 | 5 |
| Talking Heads | 2 | 5 |
| The Clash | 2 | 5 |
| The Velvet Underground | 2 | 5 |
| Adele | 2 | 5 |
| The White Stripes | 2 | 5 |
| Neil Young & Crazy Horse | 2 | 5 |
| Rush | 2 | 5 |
| Nirvana | 2 | 5 |
| ZZ Top | 2 | 5 |
| The Pogues | 2 | 5 |
| Bob Marley & The Wailers | 2 | 5 |
| Beatles | 5 | 4.2 |
| R.E.M. | 4 | 4.25 |
| Radiohead | 3 | 4.33 |
Least Favorite Artists
Artists with 2+ albums
| Artist | Albums | Average |
|---|---|---|
| Morrissey | 2 | 1.5 |
Controversial Artists
Artists you rate inconsistently
| Artist | Albums | Variance |
|---|---|---|
| Red Hot Chili Peppers | 2 | 2 |
| Beatles | 5 | 1.6 |
| Michael Jackson | 3 | 1.25 |
5-Star Albums (157)
View Album Wall
Popular Reviews
Suzanne Vega
5/5
I was walking through Greenwich Village in NYC in Spring of 1985. It was exceptionally warm, and people had their windows open. From an apartment a few stories up, I heard this warm and engaging song filtering through the noise of the street. It was Marlene on the Wall. My friend and I stood outside listening to the song, completely enthralled. We eventually moved on and, as we crossed the street, we saw a painting ont he side of an old movie theater of none other than Marlene Deitrich. Weird and cool at the same time.
Just like that experience, Suzanne Vega's epounymous debut was entralling throughout. Unlike any other music at the time (folk was pretty dead at that point), it was also a slice of New Yorl City in the mid-1980s - a little rough, sometimes sweet, but it draws you in nonetheless. I can tell you that my favorite songs are marlene on the Wall, Straight Lines, and Undertow, but you might get the wrong impression. The whole album is wonderful.
Her next album, Solitude Standing catapulted Vega to stardom two years later, but this album captures the soul of the mid-80s much better.
5 likes
Elton John
5/5
One of the most classic albums of the 1970s and Elton John at his finest. Jam packed with hit songs including the title track, Candle in the Wind, Benny and the Jets, and Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting. Stylistically, Elton John covers a lot of ground but the album itself feels unified, as if there was a plan. Finally, this is the classic lineup at it's height.
Caribou, which follows this album, seems like outtakes from it. Afterwards, Elton John began to steer into adult oriented music, leaving the hard rocking behind. If you only own one Elton John album, this is the one.
5 likes
New York Dolls
5/5
What can you say. It's iconic? Sure is. Utterly irreverent? That's obvious. It changed the music we know today? Wait really. Oh yeah. Without the New York Dolls, there is no punk and new wave. Without punk and new wave, we're still listening to arena rock and suffering through endless drum solos. This album changed everything.
5 likes
Adele
5/5
Ok, I wasn't a big fan of Adele... until I heard this album. Practically drenched in emotional quotient, 25 is sad, happy, and everything in between. Adele's voice is also incredible. The leadoff song, Hello, is a prime example of Adele at her best.
After 25 I went back and listened to the rest of her albums. While her style is not my daily drive, she executes jazz influenced pop better than anyone in the past 40 years.
3 likes
New Order
5/5
The best of the post Joy Division albums, Low Life is mid-80s college radio in encapsulated form. It's pop and dance music (just before that was no longer possible) and full of great songs. This is the album that made New Order MTV stars.
2 likes
1-Star Albums (13)
All Ratings
The Stranglers
5/5
A true classic. The deep baritone of singer Hugh Cornwall, alongside the Farfifa organ sells the album.
Led Zeppelin
5/5
No need to even listen to this album - I listened to it a hundred times before. If only for Kashmir, this would be a classic. Of course, there is much more than Kashmir on this classic rock album.
George Michael
1/5
Nope. Hated it then, hate it now.
The Smiths
4/5
The Human League
4/5
A true classic of 80s techno. Everyone knows "Don't You Want Me (Baby)?" but there are many other great 80s club hits on this album, starting with the lead off "The Things That Dreams Are Made Of".
The Byrds
5/5
Starts strong with You Wanna Be a Rock And Roll Star. Love Roger McGuinn's jangly guitar. My Back Pages is also a classic. What strikes me is how much albums like this set the stage for 80s jangle rock.
Pink Floyd
5/5
The penultimate Pink Floyd album. It's intense moments mix well with it's more pop songs to create a true concept album that works.
The Black Crowes
3/5
On the one hand, it's hard not to like this brand of retro (even for the time) blues rock. It's reminiscent of so much blues inspired, sloppy, classic rock such as early 70s Rolling Stones, Aerosmith, or The Faces.
On the other hand, I find the singer's voice irritating. It's vocal fry without the growl that makes that kind of singing interesting. After awhile, I just can't listen to it any more.
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
5/5
If the only two songs of worth were American Girl and Breakdown, the debut from Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers would have been a classic. There is, however, so much more here.
At the time this was released, Petty's brand of roots-oriented rock didn't really fit with most AOR or even Southern Rock stations. At least in the Metro NYC area, his music was heard on the emerging New Wave stations such as WNEW. As southern fried as he was, he appealed more to the punks and new wave crowd for his fresh sound.
The The
5/5
I'm still angry at the person who borrowed and never returned this album from me. I picked up a copy on CD later. This album was unlike any other record of the time. Where's as new music was getting light and frothy (Cindy Lauper, Nena) this was dark and mysterious. If anything it presaged later music from Depeche Mode, whose lighter weight Construction Time Again came out about the same time.
The Waterboys
5/5
This is an amazing album. It's blend of rock and roots, especially Celtic, was common at the time but also superior to other albums. Only the Pogues were really comparable but their Punk leaning made them very different. The songwriting is superb. I bought this in 1988 and still listen to it with regularity.
Morrissey
2/5
Morrissey takes whining to new heights. After leaving the Smiths, it was like the control rods cam out of the reactor and the proto-emo machine went into overdrive. This is the beginning of the whining, complaining, diva Morrissey we see today.
LL Cool J
4/5
This is what old school hip hop is all about. Solid music, great rapping, and not too much of that misogynist crap.
Dire Straits
5/5
An absolute classic and a debut album to boot. It introduces the Dire Straits signature sound of smooth jazz infused rock. It's just an amazing record.
Joy Division
5/5
The songs are amazing, the album cover iconic, and the band at it's height. What's not to love? This is Joy Division at it's best and the beginning of punk/new wave's transformation into what the 80s will be.
Bruce Springsteen
4/5
The Boss is back. Between 1992's Human Touch and Lucky Town, both uneven albums, Springsteen's only studio record was the folk album "The Ghost of Tom Joad." All the others else were live albums or compilations. For twenty years, there was no Boss album. Then The Rising was released. It was Springsteen back in his old form. The best songs include the title track, lead off track "Lonesome Day", and fun "Mary's Place".
While not as good as 2007's Magic and on par with 2012's Wrecking Ball, The Rising is a great late career album for Springsteen, bringing back that old Boss energy.
Paul McCartney and Wings
3/5
Band on the Run is a mixed bag. It's best songs are great and it's lesser songs, mediocre to outright bad. The title track and it's immediate followup, Jet, are amazing tracks - probably some of the best of McCartney's solo work or with Wings. Helen Wheels, Let Me Roll It, Nineteen Hundred and Eighty Five are good but a little pedestrian. Bluebird sounds like a Beatles reject from the White Album, and Mrs. Vanderbilt, Picasso's Last Words, and Mamunia are just stupid.
Overall, it's an album worth listening to on Spotify and I'm glad to have original vinyl. Would I suggest spending a lot of money on a CD or vinyl reissue? Nope.
Of course, McCartney/Wings albums are always uneven. Listen to the Wings at the Speed of Sound if you doubt that. If you are a fan, seek out a cheap copy of the original vinyl or just listen to it on the streaming service of your choice.
Jane's Addiction
5/5
Classic album from Jane's Addiction. Been Caught Stealing is the highlight but the entire album just drips with angst. The CD version I have has the white cover. Jane's Addiction label didn't allow them to release the cover they wanted.
Johnny Cash
5/5
It's a classic. Cash gets so much love and energy from the convicts of Folsom Prison that it propels him to o0ne of his best performances. It is the definitive Johnny Cash album, let alone live album.
Pink Floyd
5/5
Why even ask? Dark Side of the Moon is one of the most classic of classic albums. It's innovative use of tape loops and samples (typically only seen in experimental music at the time) set the pattern for music today.
It also rocks hard. Half the album is still in heavy rotation on most classic rock stations and college and high school students still buy it.
Dark Side of the Moon still holds the current record for most YEARS on the Billboard Top 100 Album list. It is literally the stoner soundtrack of the 70s and beyond.
The Who
5/5
The first rock opera, Tommy set the stage for mainstream rock (as opposed to more niche prog rock ) to get serious and expansive. The original is vastly superior to the movie soundtrack despite the latter's star cast.
Kraftwerk
5/5
Setting the stage for 80s techno and, eventually, EDM, The Man-Machine is a tour de force in electronic music. More pop and dance-oriented than many of their previous albums, they set the pattern for club music with drum machines, sequencers, and voice synthesizers.
Soundgarden
5/5
Classic grunge. This is one of the albums - along with Nirvana's Nevermind and Pearl Jam's Ten - that moved grunge from the Pacific Northwest into the mainstream. Singles such as Spoonman, Fell On Black Days, and Black Hole Sun propelled the album up the charts and are still mainstreams of Alt Rock Stations and classic rock stations alike.
Ian Dury
5/5
Weird? You bet. Excellent? Yep. Full of both wit and wisdom with old school punk attitude. Dripping with sarcasm and commentary, it deserved more attention in the U.S. at the time it was released than it got. Only "Sex and Drugs and Rock & Roll" got airplay in the U.S. on nascent punk radio channels such as WNED in NYC.
The Byrds
4/5
One of the more iconic Byrds albums, it includes some of there better known songs. It also leans heavily into covers including Hey Joe and the traditional folk song Wild Mountain Thyme. There renditions are good but with the Byrds, you want to see more original music.
Still, you can hear the beginnings of 80s jangle rock and present day indie folk in this album from the mid-60s. That's something worth celebrating.
Peter Gabriel
4/5
The first of three eponymous Peter Gabriel albums, this was his first after leaving Genesis. In many ways it's a transitional album, as Gabriel moved from the prog rock of his former band to what would become his 70s art rock style. Nothing exemplifies this more than the jaunty, prog song Solsbury Hill and the brooding Here Comes The Flood. Overall, though uneven, the album provides a great listening experience.
Elton John
5/5
One of the most classic albums of the 1970s and Elton John at his finest. Jam packed with hit songs including the title track, Candle in the Wind, Benny and the Jets, and Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting. Stylistically, Elton John covers a lot of ground but the album itself feels unified, as if there was a plan. Finally, this is the classic lineup at it's height.
Caribou, which follows this album, seems like outtakes from it. Afterwards, Elton John began to steer into adult oriented music, leaving the hard rocking behind. If you only own one Elton John album, this is the one.
Hole
4/5
More pop and, hence, more accessible than any of Hole's earlier work, Celebrity Skin is mainly an indictment of the music industry that chews up bands and spits them out. The anger is there but not the angst. This is a band that finally decided to turn that anger outward instead of inward. If you want to hear the Hole that everyone talked about, the Hole that was truly grunge, then this isn't it. Otherwise, it's a great late grunge/punk album.
Pretenders
5/5
One of THE classic of the new wave era, The Pretenders eponymous debut is nothing but spectacular. Songs like Brass in Pocket and Precious played well at college parties while the rest of the album is just one great song after another.
What makes this album so great is Crissie Hynde. Her deep alto perfectlt fits the band's big basket of punk attitude. Unlike other new wave/punk bands of the era, that attitude is tempered with an underlying sensuality that even Blondie (the original new wave sex kitten) couldn't muster.
This is a true gem. Listen to it on vinyl to get the same visceral feel that late 70s' punk rockers did.
New York Dolls
5/5
What can you say. It's iconic? Sure is. Utterly irreverent? That's obvious. It changed the music we know today? Wait really. Oh yeah. Without the New York Dolls, there is no punk and new wave. Without punk and new wave, we're still listening to arena rock and suffering through endless drum solos. This album changed everything.
Cypress Hill
1/5
Nope. The music of emotionally stunted frat boys who think they can rap. Nope nope nope.
Circle Jerks
4/5
What can I say. Either you like the Circle Jerks brand of aggressive and puerile punk rock or you don't. Even for some punks, there high school boy style lyrics are a bridge too far. Others enjoy the satire. Think of the songs on this album as self referential commentary on punk itself, not to mention American culture, and you will find it brilliant.
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
5/5
The best of Elvis Costello's albums, it is dripping with irony and social commentary. It's also just fun to listen to. By this point, Costello had figured out the formula and refined his songwriting and music. It's just a great listen. After this point, Costello starts to take himself too seriously. This is the high point of New Wave Costello before he becomes "I Don't Know What I'm Doing Anymore" Costello followed by "I'm a Serious Musician Who Like Torch Songs, Jazz, and Classical" Costello.
If you can only own one Elvis Costello album, this is the one, if only for Accidents Will Happen, Oliver's Army, and (What's So Funny About) Peace Love and Understanding.
Frank Sinatra
5/5
So smooth. Sinatra still sings in his original smooth style, prevalent during his big band era, rather than the later staccato (punchy) cadence he adopted as his voice waned. The choice of songs is marvelous too. Some are sad or full of longing; All give that sense of being alone late at night, walking the streets of NYC.
Aerosmith
4/5
This is an amazing bit of the 70s. The song "Toys in the Attic" alone makes it worthwhile. Really, Aerosmith v1 at its height
The Only Ones
3/5
This album includes their classic new wave song, Another Girl, Another Planet. Unfortunately, the songs alternate between frothy late 70s new waves and late 60s/early 70s underground psychedelia. Songs such as Breaking Down, are like Zombies outtakes. It produces this slow-fast-slow tempo to the album.
Ultimately, it sounds like two good albums, smashed together into one odd (and not in a good way) album. As singles, it's great. As an album, it's like sonic whiplash.
Eurythmics
5/5
One of the most classic synthpop albums of the 1980s, Sweet Dreams helped to create and establish the genre. Unlike some of their contemporaries, Annie Lenox's R&B vocals shine, refusing to get lost in the techno beat. A great listen even 40 years later and jam packed full of dance tunes, this album is part of the origin story of modern club and dance music. Without Sweat Dreams, as well as late era Donna Summers and New Order's Blue Monday, we wouldn't have modern EDM.
Radiohead
5/5
Kid A was a worthy followup to OK Computer. The latter album represented a serious departure from previous Radiohead. It's a sonic landscape.
Michael Jackson
5/5
Probably one of the most hit filled albums ever, Thriller is jam packed with top 40 and top 100 hits. Production is exquisite and the songs iconic. Even people who didn't like Michael Jackson's previous albums or style, liked this album. It made him the King of Pop. It is the album that drove wider acceptance of black artists on MTV and among white audiences.
About the only complaint is that packaging is bland. The cover image looks backwards toward the late 70s and not to the future of music that this album helped create.
Led Zeppelin
5/5
Not just a classic Led Zeppelin album Zeppelin IV is one of the most iconic classic albums of all time. It's jam packed with great songs, not the least of which is "Stairway to Heaven". Their blues chops are truly on display on "When the Levee Breaks" and they go flat out prog rock on "The Battle of Evermore". "Black Dog" and "Rock and Roll" are hard rockers and "Going to California" is quiet and sweet. This is the full package.
Some people might eschew this album because "Stairway" has been violently overplayed. It's still a great song from one of the best rock albums of all time. Don't let overindulgence keep you from a near perfect rock album experience.
The Specials
5/5
THE classic album of Two Tone Ska. This is the album that kicked off the entire 80s Ska revival. In the U.S. reggae went mainstream first but led to interest in earlier Jamaican music. When this crossed the pond, all the Punks and New Wave types added Two Tone Ska to our repertoire.
Do the Dog alone makes this album worthwhile, but the whole album is great.
Iron Maiden
5/5
If you were around in 1982 and old enough to know what music you were hearing (in other words, an old person), it was impossible to ignore Run To The Hills. This album, along with Judas Priest's 1980 album British Steel, took heavy metal into the mainstream, much to the delight of college and high school chuckleheads.
The Number of the Beast is emblematic of the shift in heavy metal from amped up arena rock to what would become Hair Bands. Loud, rude, and full of imagery that your mother would hate. A true classic.
Carole King
4/5
Whether you were a college or high school student in the 1970s, Tapestry was everywhere. Full of incredibly well crafted pop, it's songs were inescapable on the radio at that time. Even though it was seen as "chick" music, guys had this album too, if for no other reason than their girlfriends liked it.
Probably the best singer-songwriter album of the era (James Taylor sucked in comparison), King avoids the narcissism and melodrama of sop many of her contemporaries.
While she remained a brilliant songwriter, King never reached the heights, in both quality and popularity, of this album. How could she when it's damn near perfect.
Tracy Chapman
5/5
Part of the new folk revival of the mid-80s (along with Suzanne Vega, Billy Bragg, and a bunch of lesser known bands like the Chesterfield Kings), Chapman was on of the few artists to attain real stardom. That's not surprising given the quality of the songs and tunes on this, her debut album.
Best known for Fast Car and Talkin' About a Revolution, the album is full of songs that are tough, sweet, sad, and insightful, often at the same time. Pretty much every indie folk artist today owes their career to this album which made folk mainstream again.
Orbital
5/5
A classic of Electronica, Orbital 2 contains some of their best work including HALCYON+ON+ON. Besides the obligatory beats and samples (the first song samples Worf from Star Trek TNG, current at the time), Orbital 2 includes the type of driving rhythms more associated with EDM. A pioneer in 90s electronic music, Orbital helped create the template for modern Electronica in large part with this album.
The Smashing Pumpkins
5/5
While all the Alt-Rock fanboys gushed over Gish, Siamese Dream was the album that made Smashing Pumpkins superstars. Cherub Rock alone is still played on alternative stations and even Classic Rock stations. Today still shows up on playlists more than 30 years later.
Overall, it's a blast of noise on top of singable tunes and loud punk-metal. A true classic fo the era.
Emerson, Lake & Palmer
5/5
A true prog rock classic. Though not as well-known as Brain Salad Surgery, Tarkus is one of the best albums of the prog rock era. It has everything the prog rocker wants - sweeping and grand, album-half compositions (Tarkus), long-form storytelling, incredible synthesizer work, and serious musicianship. Even the smaller pieces such as Bitches Crystal, The Only Way (Hymn), Infinite Place (Conclusion), and A Time and a Place, suggest a story arc rather than just a bunch of songs. The album even holds together better than Brain Salad Surgery which starts with a bunch of smaller pieces that do not relate to each other or Karn Evil 9.
The only songs that don't match the rest of the album are Jeremy Bender, story about a western outlaw driven by a barroom piano, and Are You Ready, Eddy? The latter especially seems out of place, given its prosaic theme of 50s rock and roll. It's not a bad song; It just doesn't belong on this album.
Tarkus is a masterpiece of prog rock and one of the highlights of the ELP catalog. While Brain Salad Surgery is the natural starting point for the ELP newcomer, this should be the next waypoint on the ELP journey.
Coldplay
4/5
This is Coldplay before they started acting like ridiculous rock stars. The songs are tight and refreshing. The syncopation of Clocks is a standout and brought a wider audience to the band. Afterwards, Coldplay became self-absorbed, experimental (not in a good way) and phone-it-home dull.
Green Day
5/5
Having established themselves within the genre of chucklehead power punk, American Idiot was a complete surprise from Green Day. It has intelligent social commentary, much of which is sadly still true, coupled with a more sophisticated power pop (not punk). Easily the best album from Green Day and a classic of the early 2000s.
Elvis Presley
4/5
The first album from the King of Rock and Roll. It's mostly covers of other rock and roll or rhythm and blues songs (Blue Suede Shoes, Tutti Frutti); Elvis' greatest singles are not to be found here. It's iconic, it's fun, it's historic. It captures Elvis in his youth. It just doesn't have any of the truly Elvis songs you are probably looking for.
Fleetwood Mac
3/5
Coming on the heels of Fleetwood Mac and Rumors, one would have hoped that Fleetwood Mac would put out another masterpiece. Perhaps that was too much to ask. Whether it was because of the fractures in the band that had created the incredible Rumors had abated and there was a loss of creative tension, or they simply didn't care, Tusk was not the follow up we would have hoped for.
Angel and Sara are quintessential Stevie Nicks songs but come across as outtakes from Rumors. Her solo album Bella Donna, released two years later, showed more growth musically. The song Tusk is so silly, especially the marching band accompaniment, that it borders on inaccessible. Everything else is dull and uninspired.
Tusk is also a 2 LP record. This is an example of where more is less. It's bloated with mostly second rate (by Fleetwood Mac standards) songs.
I can still remember the collective yawn that accompanied this release. 1979 was the year punk and new wave broke out, disco was everywhere, and rap and hip hop emerging. Fleetwood Mac's response was to phone it in.
Talking Heads
5/5
The debut album from the Talking Heads, is a true classic of the NYC OG new wave error. This is stripped down, artsy, new wave at its best. It's weird and quirky at times, but that's what Talking Heads in 1977 were all about. By the time the 80s rolled around, the Heads had adopted world music pretenses and, while producing classics of the MTV era, were a very different kind of band.
This is the Talking Heads at their most raw and most pure.
The Undertones
4/5
The Undertones were one of those underappreciated British (Northern Irish actually) bands from the UK New Wave scene of the 1970s. They created excellent power pop. Their most famous song, Teenage Kicks, is on this album.
The Clash
5/5
One of the true classics of late stage OG punk rock. London Calling by The Clash sits on the border of 70s punk rock and 80s new music. It's political but not without whimsey. It's hard core with tuneful pop songs. London Calling is full of Clash standards and is their best album. A two record set, it is best heard on the original vinyl (not a remastered reissue) so that you can hear its original intent. The last song on the album, Train in Vain, was not in the original song listing, instead being a sort of Easter Egg. Just when you thing the album is done, there is this awesome extra song to close out the album.
Talking Heads
5/5
A radical departure from the original art house style new wave of the Talking Heads. Remain in Light generated one of their early mainstream hits and MTV staples Once in a Lifetime. The use of Roots, African, and Latin rhythms had been used sparingly (hinted at really) on Fear of Music in 1979, especially on Life During Wartime. That album, for the most part, just carried through their classic era styles. Remain in Light was a dramatic departure and not all Talking Heads fans were thrilled at the time.
Remain in Light is, all in all, a transitional album. Their new direction wasn't fully realized until Speaking in Tongues in 1983, which propelled them into mainstream stardom.
4/5
In the U.S., ABC was basically a one-hit MTV wonder (ok two hits-The Look of Love and Poison Arrow were both hits) in 1982. They were a constant in the clubs at the time. That's not to say that that is all there is to this album. Overall, it's a fine example of early 80s techno influenced new romantics movement music. They were classy, fun, and great to dance to. If you own only one ABC album, this is the obvious choice. After this, they mostly faded away in the U.S.
Billy Bragg
4/5
Christine and the Queens
4/5
Chris is the first predominantly English language album by Christine and the Queens. It is an advance over the debut but does not represent the fully realized vision of the band. The last two plus the first are connected as a triptych and this is not. It's a great album in of itself but an outlier in the Christine and the Queens canon.
Van Morrison
4/5
John Lennon
2/5
This will probably generate some hate but here goes: Imagine is just not that great an album. It's full of drippy odes to Yoko Ono (Jealous Guy) and hippy dippy pseudo-philosophical claptrap like Imagine. Meanwhile his bandmate George Harrison had just recently released the brilliant "All Things Must Pass" and Paul Mc Cartney pushed out the weird and quirky Ram. This album is just dull in comparison. It's a Beatle trying to be James Taylor.
Imagine is one of the high points of Lennon's post-Beatles career, which doesn't say much for his post-Beatles career.
The Doors
4/5
Red Hot Chili Peppers
5/5
The funk-alternative fusion of Blood Sugar Sex Magik was unprecedented at the time. A true alternative classic, all of the songs are great, with only the degree of greatness to be debated. The funky Suck My Kiss? The proto-rapcore of Give It Away? The melancholy but sweet ballad, Under the Bridge? The frightening abuse described in the sweeping strains of Breaking the Girl? Everything else? I can't decide. Despite the differences between songs, the album hangs together as a whole, a testament to the production of Rick Rubin. So many bands followed the Peppers after this album, but none equaled the album or band.
Dolly Parton
5/5
One of the best country/Americana albums of the 1980s, and perhaps ever, Trio combines the power of Linda Ronstadt, EmmyLou Harris, and Dolly Parton in their prime. Parton especially had had a string of crossover pop hits at this time, making this something of a back-to-basics album for her. Their combined talents always complement and never compete.
The song selection is spectacular. It's easier to point out the very few lesser songs (To Know Him is to Love Him? Really?) than suggest the gems. It's so full of gems that it sparkles like a tiara. Parton's contributions are especially wonderful though, especially Wildflowers and Rosewood Casket which feature Dolly's exquisite dulcimer playing.
There was a follow up (Trio II) that, while good, doesn't rise to the lofty heights of this album. This is a rare oppurtunity to see three amazing songwriters and performers at their best, made better by their collaboration.
Beastie Boys
3/5
Ill Communication was something of a comeback album for the Beasties. After a string of hit records which produced iconic singles, 1994's Ill Communication only generated one single of worth, Sabotage. It's a good album but not up to the standards of Paul's Boutique or Licensed to Ill. By 94, The Beasties seem to have run out of steam and were behind the curve musically. Their brand of hip hop, especially with its humorous b-boy overtones. was passe in the age of West Coast Gangsta rap. It would come back, albeit in a modified form, as rapcore at the end of the 90s but by then The Beastie Boys were more like the old men of OG white rap.
This is the last gasp of the golden age of The Beasties.
The Strokes
5/5
In the early 2000s, alternative (basically anything but pop) was languishing. Grunge had run its course, rapcore was making us ill, and EDM was something for the clubs but not the radio.
Then, along comes the Strokes. Raw like punk but with songs like OG pop, they were a breath of fresh air and kicked off the retro revival movement of the 2000s. Soon after bands like the White Stripes, Kaiser Chiefs, and Hives were reminding us of what rock music was supposed to be,
Besides being influential, it's also just packed with great songs. Last Night, the best known song on the album, is the story many of us have lived. "Is This It" is raw, unadulterated, and vital.
Steely Dan
2/5
I don't understand the obsession critics and reviewers (and perhaps self styled aficionados) have with Steely Dan. They have a modicum of hits, but much of what they produce is too precious and esoteric for much of the audience. I suspect they are acceptable to people who style themselves "serious" music lovers just because they have some jazz overtones.
This album is a great example of why Steely Dan is overrated. My Old School was a minor hit (emphasis on minor), but most of it is just unmelodic. As art rock, it's fine, but art rock is even a smaller niche than prog rock.
If you love Steely Dan, then you do you. You'll love this album. If you are everyone else, move on to something less pretentious.
Led Zeppelin
5/5
One of the best debut albums ever in the history of rock music, Led Zepplin introduced the world to the harder blues rock of the band with the same name. The album is a sonic blast right from the start but is never a one trick pony. Hard as hell songs such as Communication Breakdown co-exist with psychedelic blues like Dazed and Confused. At least four songs are staples of classic rock to this day.
An amazing debut but only the start.
New Order
5/5
The best of the post Joy Division albums, Low Life is mid-80s college radio in encapsulated form. It's pop and dance music (just before that was no longer possible) and full of great songs. This is the album that made New Order MTV stars.
The Killers
4/5
A classic of the rock revival of the 2000, Hot Fuss is unpretentious rock music that would for into nearly any era.
George Harrison
5/5
One of the greatest albums of the early 70s, All Things Must Pass is three records of the kind of music the Beatles couldn't even imagine making. It's pop, but it's also psychedelic. It is rooted in the British Invasion, but also Indian Mysticism. It's one flaw is that it is a record too long. The Apple Jam side has a lot of, well, jams that may not appeal to everyone. That said, the first two sides are absolutely brilliant. The next two sides, which include alternates of some of the side 1/2 songs, is merely great, and sides 5/6 are not for everyone's tastes but, if they are, also great, in large part because they presage the jam band era by 20 years.
King Crimson
4/5
It's easy to see Lark's Tongue in Aspic, as well as Red and Starless and Bible Black, as a transitional album. It straddles the prog rock King Crimson period and the later experiments of the reformer King Crimson starting int he 1980s with Discipline. There are still long jazz influenced jams such as the title track, alongside shorter, more mundane rock pieces such as Easy Money. This is the same path that Yes was traveling, albeit with more success.
One feature of this period was that it had already become Robert Fripp's band. The lineup is all-star (Bill Bruford and John Wetton especially) but the vision and the direction, all Fripp. Just to show how incestuous prog rock was, by 1978, Wetton and Bruford, along with Allan Holdsworth and Eddie Jobson, had formed U.K.
The Velvet Underground
5/5
A true classic. This album helped set the stage for punk rock in the 70s. Many of what people think of as classic Velvet Underground songs are on here including Venus in Furs, I'm Waiting for the Man, Femme Fatal, All Tomorrow's Parties, and the penultimate Velvet underground song, Heroin. If you can own only one Velvet Underground album, this is the one.
Meat Loaf
5/5
I mean, it's a classic. Funny thing was, I disliked this album when it came out in 1977 for two reasons. One, it was incredibly overplayed, especially Paradise by the Dashboard Light. Two, I didn't appreciate the songcraft involved. When I went to college a few years later, I started to appreciate what a pop masterpiece Jim Steinman wrote and how incredible Meatloaf's singing was. Needless to say, every song on this album is great, with more than half being true classics of the Classic Rock era and style. Sweeping, grandiose, and theatrical, this album lends itself to a theater as much as an arena. Go and listen to this album and appreciate the writing, the vocals, and the theater.
Michael Jackson
4/5
A popular (at the time) album, Off the Wall only pales in comparison to its follow-up, Thriller. You can hear hints of what the King of Pop would become but the album still stands on its own. Rock With You and Don't Stop Till You get enough were major dance hits, albeit in discos and not rock or punk clubs.
This is a step toward Thriller, for sure, but an important album in its own right.
The Band
5/5
The second album by The Band still stands out as one of their most cohesive. Unlike, Music from the Big Pink, they also wrote all the songs on this album, making it more like a true debut. Drawing influences predominantly from country music, but also Cajun and even jazz, The Band becomes completely themselves here. This album also generated two of their most enduring hits, The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down, and Up on Cripple Creek.
This is one of those albums I wish I had on vinyl.
The Jesus And Mary Chain
3/5
I have an unusual relationship with Psychocandy. On the one hand, it's a seminal breakthrough album for The Jesus and Mary Chain. It introduced to a wider mainstream audience shoegazer and, especially, the unique JMC sound of pop songs drenched in feedback and noise.
On the other hand, compared to their previous singles, it's timid. It is more pop than noise. Compared to singles such as Boyfriend's Dead, which features the wailing lyric of "Dead! He's dead!" under intense droning noise, anything on Psychocandy feels tame.
Of course, they started to drop the noise in favor of the pop sounds afterwards so, this is still better than their later albums. For me, it represents the beginning but not the final act in the dumbing down of JMC.
4/5
I have to admit that when this album came out in 1995, I didn't like it much. The hits Wonderwall and Don't Look Back in Anger were relentlessly played on alternative music radio, to the point that I was sick of them pretty quick. Brit pop in general, and Oasis specifically sounded whiny and irritating, like a younger sibling causing a fuss in a store. This was the band that the cool kids just wanted to get away from.
Time, however, has been kind to (What's the Story) Morning Glory?. It stands up well as examples of great songwriting. Craftsmanship even. Without the constant deluge of the hit songs, the album's production shines, and it is easier to see it as a whole. It is a fine album, full of great pop hooks and singalong songs. (What's the Story) Morning Glory? is also iconically "90s".
Echo And The Bunnymen
4/5
Even though they had been kicking around in the UK for a while, this album is what introduced most of us in the U.S. to Echo and the Bunnymen. Rescue and Do It Clean were heard on New Wave/New Music stations but especially college stations. While not as popular as Porcupine or Ocean Rain, it was a solid debut, and much better than the follow up Heaven's Up Here.
Michael Jackson
2/5
Nope. This is the point where Michael Jackson starts to believe his own "King of Pop" hype. Bad is self-indulgent and, compared to Thriller, dull. Even the title song, the only enduring hit from this album, sounds like a Thriller outtake.
In all fairness, trying to craft a follow up to an album such as Thriller is very hard, but Bad falls amazingly short. This is a parody of a Michael Jackson album that is not nearly as good as the real parody by Weird Al. Jackson is playing to MTV - all style but little substance. The only worse Michael Jackson albums are all the ones that followed. Bad is just bad.
Adele
5/5
Ok, I wasn't a big fan of Adele... until I heard this album. Practically drenched in emotional quotient, 25 is sad, happy, and everything in between. Adele's voice is also incredible. The leadoff song, Hello, is a prime example of Adele at her best.
After 25 I went back and listened to the rest of her albums. While her style is not my daily drive, she executes jazz influenced pop better than anyone in the past 40 years.
King Crimson
5/5
One of the most iconic albums of the prog rock album, King Crimson's Court of the Crimson King is dramatic, expansive, packed with amazing songwriting, and a showcase for incredible musicianship.
Do not be fooled by the radio cuts of 21st Century Schizoid Man. This is an album that has to be listened to deeply and in its entirety. One cannot just play a few cuts hoping to get a feel for it.
This is also the most iconic lineup, short lived as it was. Greg Lake was only half there on the follow up, providing most of the vocals for In the Wake of Poseidon but not touring in support of it. On Court of the Crimson King, the combination of Lake, Robert Fripp, Ian McDonald, and lyricist Peter Sinfield made for inventive and creative music rarely seen outside of art music.
Lana Del Rey
1/5
As a fan of Lana Del reys earlier work, I found Chemtrails Over The Country Club disappointing. There’s very little new here and what is new isn’t good. Probably the best song on the album — and it is a very good song- “Let Me Love You Like A Woman” is standard Del Rey fare. Released as a single at the end of 2020, it the kind of song that could have been on any of her albums. If the songs were all like “Let Me Love You Live a Woman”, good Lana Del Rey songs, the album would be worthwhile if not exciting. Unfortunately, there are some downright terrible songs on the album mixed in with a lot of forgettable tunes. One of the worst is "White Dress", which is just a hot mess of a song. There's so much to dislike, I could go on, but I will spare you all the irritation. I listened to this album so that you don't have to.
The Cars
5/5
I first heard the single Just What I Needed about six months before the album was released. I was vacationing on Cape Cod and was able to get a Boston radio station that was playing this in heavy rotation. I remember thinking "This is a great song. Who is this band?"
The rest of the album generates that same response. Every song is great to awesome. Half the album were top 100 hits (maybe more), some ended up in important movie moments (who can forget Moving in Stereo during the masturbation scene of Fast Times at Ridgemont High) and provided the musical backdrop to the late 70s.
As debut albums go, this one is a superstar.
The White Stripes
5/5
When the first White Stripes album was released, it was like nothing else on the radio or in music stores (which is how we got our music then). The minimalist rock harkened to an earlier of understated underground and punk yet felt fresh and not the least retro. Still, there were no breakout songs for the mainstream to hang on to. The same was true for the followup De Stijl.
This changed with White Blood Cells. Not only had The White Stripes refined their sound, and made it bigger and bolder, they had a hit single in Fell in Love with a Girl to drive it into the mainstream. The next album was even bigger, but White Blood Cells transformed the band from an interesting cult band to a sensation.
5/5
Not just one of the best David Bowie albums, Ziggy Stardust is one of the best albums ever created by anyone. Theatrical yet packed with great pop songs, especially the title track, it straddles the line between concept album and mainstream record with finesse. It encapsulates Bowie's early period perfectly. There's gold in the next batch of albums but none are as cohesive or just plain wonderful as Ziggy Stardust.
Arcade Fire
4/5
The debut album by Arcade Fire was an indie sensation of the 2000s. It set forth the sound that would be perfected later in Neon Bible - quirky, dramatic, and theatrical. It was reminiscent of the early Genesis album Trespass, when they too were on the cusp of their best work. You could see what they would become once they refined their sound.
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
5/5
I've heard a lot of criticism of this album throughout the years, especially the crowd noise. The crowd noise, however, is an integral part of what makes this a great album. You can hear the energy that the crowd infuses in Neil Young and Crazy Horse.
Most live albums are just concert versions of Greatest Hits albums. Not this one. Instead, many of the songs on this album were new and recorded live. Others are clearly studio recordings. Mixed together, it works wonderfully.
Half the album is acoustic and the other half heavy and electric. This is the only album that truly presents all sides of Neil Young - the heavy rocker and the folkie troubadour.
Finally, many of the songs are positively iconic, especially My My Hey Hey (Out of the Blue) and its harder edged flipside Hey Hey My My (Into the Black). While some songs have not aged well (especially the tongue-in-cheek but now cringey Welfare Mothers), it's hard not to love Powerfinger, Thrasher, and Sail Away.
Steve Winwood
3/5
I usually find Steve Winwood albums somewhat uneven. Often there are some great, even iconic, songs mixed in with lesser material. Arc of a Diver is no different. That said, this was the album that breathed new life into his career, giving Winwood a major boost going into the 80s. While You See a Chance was a significant hit on both AM and FM radio at the time. I often heard it playing somewhere in my dorm during my early college years. The title track is another great song and major hit.
More important, this set up a whole string of hit albums and songs including the song Valerie in 1982, his best album of the era, Back in the Highlife Again (1986), and the song and album Roll with It (1988). After that, he ran out of steam and became more of a cult figure with little mainstream impact.
Maybe it was luck, or maybe it was the sound, but Arc of the Diver and Winwood's subsequent hits became staples of MTV during its heyday. So, even though Arc of a Diver is not spectacular, it had major impact on Winwood's career and the sound of the 80s
R.E.M.
5/5
Coming on the heels of the album that made them mainstream levels of famous (Out of Time. 1991) R.E.M. would have been excused if the next album was a bit of a throwaway. This is especially true when you consider just how dull, repetitive, and oft times silly Out of Time was. While the MTV masses loved it, most long time R.E.M. fans gagged at the boring and repetitive Losing my Religion was and only saw a small bright light in the silliness of Shiny Happy People. In other words, we expected a disaster, but Automatic for the People (1992) delivered the opposite.
It is packed with thoughtful, tuneful, and downright beautiful songs. The rhythms of Drive, pathos of Try Not to Breathe, outright sadness of Everybody Hurts, nostalgia of Man on the Moon are just some of the highlights. The folk-country influences that always were part of R.E.M.'s music shine through even the remnants of jangle pop that still provide the lilt that keeps things from getting too heavy.
Alas, this was not a new direction and Monster (1994) returned to the R.E.M. of Green (1988) and Document (1987) which, while excellent, was dated by the time it was released. Automatic for the People, thus, was not a return to form or a continuation of the past. It was an epic side quest that would only be hinted at in latter albums, especially 1996's New Adventures in Hi-Fi. This was a unique album not only for R.E.M., but for the era.
Eels
5/5
The only mainstream album (which I agree is still debatable) by Eels, Beautiful Freak is a strange and gorgeous album. I can't really compare it to anything else; It's that unique.
The big hit was Novocain for the Soul. Its syncopated rhythms and stop-start breaks are truly interesting, but the song somehow stays accessible. It was a mainstay of 90s alternative radio when it was released.
The real highlight, though, is the title track, Beautiful Freak. It's a sad, sweet, tender letter to Mark E's sister who had committed suicide. This is not a song to make you happy or for dancing. Beautiful Freak, instead, forces you to contemplate the pain some people feel just by living. It is evocative and thought provoking.
Some albums are listened to in the background. Not this. To do this album justice requires your full attention.
Peter Gabriel
5/5
Not just the best Peter Gabriel album of all time, the album So is one of the best albums, period. It is packed with some of the best hit songs of the 1980s, most of which still get airplay or end up on playlists today. Sledgehammer, Red Rain, Don't Give Up (with Kate Bush), In Your Eyes, and Mercy Street are just some of the charting songs on So.
Many of these have ended up in soundtracks as well. One of the most famous uses of a pop song to move forward the plot in a movie was the boombox scene from Say Anything... which features In Your Eyes.
The songs from So are used in these highly charged scenes because they are so emotional and evocative. There's sadness, longing, anger, joy, every emotion is deftly covered on So. And yet, all the songs are infinitely singable. So is packed with ear worm quality hooks.
So, is the soundtrack of the 80s but also the soundtrack for so many peoples' lives. It is one of the most finely craft pop records of all time.
Living Colour
4/5
At the time Vivid came out, it was wholly unexpected. There were few, if any, Black people making rock music anymore. Most Black musicians were producing hip-hop, dance music (especially house and acid), and reggae or ska. Rock music? Nope. Rock that bordered on metal? Unheard of! Then, out of the blue, came Vernon Reid, a guitarist playing loud, boisterous, rock. No Black guitarist played like that since Hendrix.
Overall, Vivid is a few good songs plus a bunch of filler. The good stuff though is amazingly good, especially Cult of Personality and Glamour Boys. Throughout Vernon Reid's guitar playing is superb, elevating even the filler. After Vivid, In Living Color never reached the MTV level of fame. For that one moment though, America got to see what a Black rock band could do.
Beatles
5/5
The Beatles' history can be classified into three stages - The initial pop stage, the power pop stage, and the psychedelic pop stage. Revolver not only epitomizes the middle stage, but it is also one of the best representations of the entire power pop genre. It is packed with instant classics such as Taxman, Elenor Rigby, Here, There, and Everywhere, and She Said She Said. The latter presaged the White Album with its complex sitar string arrangements. In addition to all of that musical goodness, there is also the silly but fun Yellow Submarine (showing that the Beatles didn't always take themselves too seriously) and the archetypal power pop song And Your Bird Can Sing.
Revolver, along with Rubber Soul, became the template for later power pop bands such as Big Star, the Raspberries, The Cars, the Bangles, and The Romantics of the 1960s through the 1990s.
No matter what you think of the early "I live you yeah yeah yeah" era Beatles, or their final incarnation as a psychedelia band, Revolver is one of the greatest albums of all time.
X-Ray Spex
5/5
Oh Bondage. Up Yours!
I didn't come to this album until many years after its release. X-Ray Spex was never much of a thing here in the U.S. That's a pity. Poly Styrene (what a great punk name) and company pack a wallop into a mere 41 minutes of music. Full of political and social commentary, wailing saxophone, and Styrene's screaming vocals, Germfree Adolescents is an iconic British punk album. Granted, this is not for everyone. If you like sweet pop music or headbanger rock, you won't get this album. If you like old school punk - hell, if you like any punk - then this album will grab you.
David Bowie
4/5
Think of this as the proto-Ziggy Stardust album. It has some great hits (Changes, Life on Mars), but seems more like early Bowie than Starman Bowie. It's a great album though uneven.
Roni Size
2/5
I have tried my best to appreciate drum n' bass. Nope. This album is exactly why. It is minimalist to the point of dull with the occasional rap thrown on top. It's music for machines and maybe a sci-fi soundtrack. One might possibly use this as background music. Otherwise, it's sleep inducing, but not in a good way.
Television
5/5
Television was one of the bands that started the entire New Wave and Punk scene in NYC in the 1970s. Much of the music we listen to today has its roots in this band. For all of that influence, however, the original lineup had little recorded output. Television of the 70's had only two full length LPs, this album and Adventure in 1978.
That said, the songs are just great. Most of the songs are minimalist in their arrangements, and fit Tom Verlaine's plaintive voice. Venus, especially, is a standout New Wave tune, with a bit more guitar flourish than is typical of the era.
To get a grasp on why they are such an important band, you have to listen to Marquee Moon. Along with the early Ramones and Talking Heads they defined the 1970 NYC Punk and New Wave scene which, in turn, has shaped music today.
Elastica
5/5
Elastica is, for all intents and purposes, a one hit wonder. The only well known song they ever produced was Connection, off of this album. They didn't produce anything for another five years and then only three albums altogether.
That doesn't mean they weren't good. In fact, one listen to this album and you will realize they were great. Falling somewhere between 90s alternative and riot grrls aesthetics, their eponymous debut, is full of fire and energy. Connection is, of course, the highlight, but there is lots of great material here.
Elastica the album, only highlights how sad it is that Elastica the band never really thrived beyond it.
AC/DC
4/5
Every high school and college boy's heavy metal dream, Highway to Hell is a classic... if you like that sort of thing. It's puerile, aggressive, and misogynist (seriously, Love Hungry Man?). Despite that, Highway to Hell and, especially, the lead off song of the same name, is pure party music.
If you are uncomfortable with music that no longer would be considered politically correct, then why the hell are you listening to AC/DC at all? If you can see it for what it is - pure, loud, obnoxious party music - and not be bothered by it then you'll love this album.
Fiona Apple
2/5
I never understood what was so great about Fiona Apple. Her growling vocals just sounded off. Personally, I thought much of her output was just dullness masquerading as artfulness. This album in particular was hailed as a great music from a new artist, but I never understood why.
Adele
5/5
Adele is one of the few artists that can literally make me cry. 21 is still early in her career but between 19 and 21 (the albums and her age) she had matured and solidified her vocal style. She is emotive, evocative, and soulful. Honestly, she could sing a restaurant menu and it would hit me like a truck.
While she gets better over time (30 is an amazing album), 21 is still fantastic. High points include Rollin in the Deep and, especially, Someone Like You.
Adele is what you listen to when you want to feel all the feels and 21 is a great start.
The Rolling Stones
3/5
The album when the Rolling Stones went country. The breakout song here is Tumbling Dice. It's a good album but not typical of the Stones.
The Police
5/5
After Outlandos d'Amour, which included the breakout hit Roxanne, The Police, it was going to be hard for a follow-up album to gain respect. Reggatta de Blanc has always struggled for the respect it deserves. More polished than its predecessor, with significantly better production, Reggatta is packed with impressive songs including the amazing leadoff Message In a Bottle, It's Alright for You, the atmospheric Walking on the Moon and Bring on the Night, Bed's Too Big Without You, and the title track.
While the next album, Zenyatta Mondatta, is even better and was more popular, Reggatta de Blanc is an incredible display of song craft and musicianship, while capturing the New Wave zeitgeist of pivotal late 1970s.
Beatles
5/5
If you have to pick one Beatles album to listen to, it would be hard, but the While Album should be in the running. It has some of the best materials from the Beatles psychedelic period (Dear Prudence), still has elements of their Power Pop stage (O-la-di, Oh-la-da) while pointing to the late stage of the band as well as future solo work (While My Guitar Gentle Sleeps, Back in the USSR).
A double album like this usually has some filler, but that's kept to a minimum on the White Album. There are at least 9 songs on this album that are still in rotation on Classic Rock stations.
A true classic and great place to start if you are wondering why the Beatles were so great,
5/5
What can one say, it's Sgt Peppers. It's one of the most iconic albums ever, from the cover art to the massive hits. It was the album that brought psychedelia to the masses and a 180 degree change from the Beatles previous Power Pop. It spawned fashion and aesthetics movements, or at least popularized them, and was the basis for the look and feel of the movie The Yellow Submarine.
Simon & Garfunkel
5/5
The last of the great folk albums of the 1960s (yes, it's from 1970 but it's a holdover from the 60s) and likely the best Simon and Garfunkel album. The songs are some of their best including the title track, The Boxer, El Condor Pasa. As a child, my parents had this album, and my siblings and I loved Cecilia. There is even a movie named after The Only Living Boy in New York.
While most songs are duets, it's Art Garfunkel's voice that shines on the opening title track while Paul Simon is the only one who should ever sing The Boxer. Sadly, this was their last studio album together.
The Verve
1/5
God, I hate this album. The enormously overplayed opening track, Bittersweet Symphony alone makes me gag. It's saccharine sweet, over-the-top dramatic, and otherwise self-indulgent.
Just shite.
Portishead
5/5
Dummy. the debut album from Portishead, changed the trip-hop landscape. It was more atmospheric than many of trip-hop albums of the time, setting a stage for evolution of the genre. The lead off track, Mysterons, is a prime example. Sci-fi sounds, mingle with Beth Gibbons' torch song vocal delivery to create something as akin to ambient as it is to trip-hop. The rest of the album is just as inventive.
AC/DC
4/5
Ah, the soundtrack to every Friday afternoon drinking session in college during the 80s. Back in Black is a staple of classic rock, especially the title track and You Shook Me All Night Long, and perhaps Hells Bells.
It's loud, pugnacious, and childish, but in a good way. It's a good time record for times you want to be rowdy.
Radiohead
4/5
The Bends can be thought of as an interim or transitional album between the mainstream Alternative Rock of Pablo Honey and the more esoteric psychedelia of Ok Computer. The only radio hit from the album, Fake Plastic Trees, fit well with the mainstream of Alternative and could well have been an outtake from Pablo Honey. Other songs, including High and Dry, point to what Radiohead would become.
That said, it is more accessible than later albums to listeners who are not Radiohead fans, and yet, still will satisfy the hardcore fanbase.
U2
5/5
U2's War is a true classic. It catapulted U2 into major stardom.
Spawning a series of staples of the Golden Era of MTV, it is also their finest album. At the time, many of these songs were in regular rotation on new wave or new music radio, and commonly heard in clubs, especially the extended mix of Two Hearts Beat as One.
Even today, songs such as Sunday Bloody Sunday and New Year's Day are regulars on classic rock radio stations, playlists, and anything 80s. That belies the fact that every song on this album is fantastic. Production is near perfect.
But more than a hits-filled record, War speaks with the voice of youth in the 80s. It is unabashedly and aggressively political. Unfortunately, so much of the message is still necessary today. War may be one of the best rock albums ever recorded, and certainly one of the best albums of 80s.
Rod Stewart
4/5
The album that made Rod Stewart (as opposed to Rod Stewart with Faces) a household word and bona fide pop star. The folk influences are evident from the beginning, especially the best and most famous Rod Stewart song ever, Maggie May. While the folk is the sauce, the rock is the meat. Yes, there are quiet songs like Mandolin Wind, but much of it rocks out. The opening track, Every Picture Tells a Story, sets the tone with blues rock tempered with folk.
There is a lot of sweetness as well. This rendition of (Find a) Reason to Believe, is one of the best versions of this song by any artist.
Some people dislike Rod Stewart's voice. For them, this album won't make them love it. Thos who liked his more disco and pop song eras will find this jarring. Even they, though, have to love Maggie May. It's a true classic.
The Clash
5/5
A classic of British punk. Unlike American punk at the time, British Punk was more political and less infused with humor. This album, alongside the Sex Pistols' Never Mind the Bullocks, set the tone for much of what came out of the UK. These are songs dripping with social commentary, much of which was lost on a teenage American audience. What we American teens didn't get from the content, we certainly got in raw angst.
After a while, they softened their sound a bit. They were still angry but not quite so loud. By the time London's Calling was released, there were more pop hooks in The Clash's music. This album is the band at their most intimidating, honest, and potent.
Rush
5/5
The first Rush album to achieve widespread mainstream success, Moving Pictures is a gem of an album. It has some of Rush's best songs (Tom Sawyer, Limelight - their first mainstream hit - and YYZ to name a few) but its strength is in its cohesion. While not a concept album, Moving Pictures hangs together like one. Songs flow naturally from one song to another without hiccups.
Moving Pictures made Rush a household name. It may be the most "Rush" album Rush ever made.
Prefab Sprout
2/5
Sigh...
Prefab Sprout - and this album especially - are prime examples of how pop music came off the rails int he mid to late 1980s. Its songs are innocuous to the point of being unnecessary. The chirpy synths, the laid back (read dull) vocals, and overall simpleness are boring not sensitive.
They were the Kenny G of pop music, overly sanitized and stripped of anything remotely interesting. It is lounge music without the kitsch. This is the music you play after a romantic evening when you are not really in the mood and hope your partner falls asleep first.
Liz Phair
1/5
I honestly don't get why people like Liz Phair. She sings off key. Her voice is much worse than even the harshest, bad singing punk singers. At least with those singers, they can carry a tune.
Which leads me to the second point of this album - there is no tune to most of these songs. Often, it's just howling. It's like listening to little children make up songs, only with irritatingly repetitive guitars in the background. The good news is that she got better over time and Whip-Smart is a pretty good record. This, however, is supposed to be her great indie album. No. It's not.
Back in the 90s, she was hailed for her honesty. That translates to using the F word a lot and talking about sex. Sure, but does that make her music good? No, it doesn't. Instead, it's like listening to a low rent version of a off kilter Patti Smith album.
I'm five minutes into listening to it again (so that you don't have to) and I'm already annoyed at it. Just... no.
Siouxsie And The Banshees
5/5
Juju comes from that point in time when Goth was emerging into the mainstream punk/new wave scene. Which is admittedly weird when I write it.
A follow up to Siouxsie And The Banshees' Goth masterpiece, Kaleidoscope, Juju is intense from the opening song, Spellbound, which was a significant club hit in the U.S. The synths are dark, the rhythms jittery, and vocals unnerving. Perfect Goth.
Five years later, Siouxsie And The Banshees was about dance music with only a hint of Goth. This album, plus Kaleidoscope, Nocturne, and Hyaena, represent the height of the band's Goth period and first wave Goth in general.
Boston
5/5
Why even write a review. Boston's eponymous debut is a cultural icon. Practically all the songs were hits and are now staples of classic rock. Production was innovative and near perfect for the time. It fused elements of hard rock sounds and prog rock virtuosity into a new kind of music. The studio innovations including the way they did the overdubs, may be the norm today but were invented by the group's guitarist, Tom Scholz. The list goes on. Probably the greatest album of the 1970s and one of the greatest of all time.
The Beach Boys
3/5
Rock critics look on this as a masterpiece; One of the greatest albums of all time. See what I did there with the GOAT reference.
It is a great album, full of lots of hit songs and pristine production. There's also a lot of songs on here that you never have heard of. Good songs that don't make the Greatest Hits albums or get much play on Classic Rock Radio and playlists.
The problem is, this album is so tied to Brian Wilson's quest for production perfection, that it's easy to forget that it's just another Beach Boys album, not much different than others. It's worth a listen to if only for Wouldn't It Be Nice and Sloop John B. The song namesake Pet Sounds, though, is kind of gimmicky.
Radiohead
4/5
This was the turning point for Radiohead, the boundary between being a reasonable but limited Alternative band and something unique and enduring. There are hints of what was to come on The Bends, but OK Computer embraces fully the dreamy, electropop that would become signature Radiohead.
This is the type of album you don't look to for "songs". Instead, it's about mood; It's about soundscapes. Of course, this is the point of polarization for Radiohead fans. You could like Fake Plastic Trees or Creep as just a song. You have to embrace Ok Computer as a concept. It was an either/or situation.
What they began with Ok Computer is what we now think of as Radiohead. Thank goodness.
2/5
I get why Dylan is considered a great songwriter. You can see it on this album from one of the most important phases of his career. Songs such as "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue", "Just Like a Woman", and "Like a Rolling Stone" are classics of folk and folk-rock. They are intense, insightful, and beautiful all at once.
What I don't get is why anyone wants to listen to Dylan sing these songs. On display here is his terrible vocal quality. He is offkey, nasal, monotone, and as grating as nails on a blackboard. Listening to Dylan, even at his height, is an exercise in self-loathing. Why would you torture yourself this way? He's just a terrible singer. Not "unique" or "special", just bad.
You can talk about his depth, pathos, whatever but you can't deny he's a lousy singer. He takes a perfectly great song and makes it sound like cats fighting.
I love Dylan's songs, but only when someone else sings them. This album showcases just how true that statement is.
5/5
Close to the Edge is a prog rock masterpiece. The open track, Close to the Edge in earlier days took up an entire album size and is a sprawling suite more akin to a symphony than a rock song. That's followed by another long form piece, And You and I. The latter is often excerpted for the radio or playlists and represents a mainstay of classic rock to this day. Siberian Khatru is a tour de force of amazing guitar playing. Despite all the long pieces and virtuosity, Close to the Edge is still an amazingly accessible piece of prog rock.
The deluxe edition doesn't extend the album in a meaningful way. The alternative version of And You and I is not that alternative, and the studio run through of Siberian Khatru is only of interest to musicians. Neither add much tot eh listening experience.
Beastie Boys
5/5
A masterpiece of rap and rap rock and the immediate precursor to rapcore, License to Ill contains some of the Beasties best work. Staples of fratboy and party music abound here including, No Sleep till Brooklyn, Brass Monkey, and the most famous of Beastie songs, Fight for Your Right. All were mainstays of MTV back when that mattered, especially the video for Fight for Your Right.
Let's be honest, the Beasties made rap and hip hop cool for white people. Was that good? Perhaps. It did open up the genre to a wider audience, paved the way for many of the white rappers today, and creating the mainstream popularity for many Black artists. Could it be seen as cultural appropriation? Maybe but at the time it wasn't.
No matter how you look at the Beasties, these rap rock songs are amazing and have helped popularize the rap genre to the point that it is still around and popular almost 40 years later. Without this album, rap may have devolved into a niche right now.
If you want a more authentic OG rap/hip hop experience, listen to Public Enemy. If you want fun, chucklehead, party music, Licensed to Ill is just about as good as it gets.
The Cure
5/5
The Cure have a varied career than one might think. Early on they sounded more post-punk (Jumping Someone Else's Train). Sometimes, they were downright New Wave (Friday I'm in Love, Just Like Heaven). They are, however, mostly thought of as a goth band. I would argue that they looked goth more than they sounded goth. At least until Disintegration. Dark and moody, Disintegration is the most goth Cure album and the best. The mood is set right from the opening with Plainsong, and then the sad Pictures of You. Though not a concept album, if play like one as mood rises and falls.
After more than a decade making music, to still put out a quality listening experience is tough. It's something few artists can accomplish. To put out your best work, is just this side of amazing. Disintegration is amazing.
Nirvana
5/5
Nirvana's last album is a love it or hate affair. Often harsh, at least compared to Nevermind. Kurt Cobain growls more than he howls which gives the album an uneasy feeling. Many of the songs seem designed to not only make a point, but to cause discomfort. Rape Me and Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge on Seattle (about the actor who was forcibly given a lobotomy) can be hard to listen to. The album's only radio friendly song (to the extent any Nirvana song can be called radio friendly) was Heart Shaped Box. There is no Smells Like Teen Spirit on In Utero. Even the album cover can be described as disturbing.
And yet... there is a lot to like. The pure expression of angst. The obvious pain that emanates from Cobain, with help from the rest of the band. These are not comfortable, but they make you feel. The silliness of some of the songs on Nevermind counterbalanced the anger. In Utero purposely doesn't do that. You are meant to feel the full weight of the anger and anguish of Cobain. This is not an album for lazy Sunday listening but listen to it you must. It is compelling.
Simon & Garfunkel
4/5
Bookends is a classic of folk and folk-rock but not the most classic Simon and Garfunkel album. It has great music - America, Mrs. Robinson (though that was previously on The Graduate soundtrack), and A Hazy Shade of Winter - but doesn't pack the punch of Sounds of Silence or Parsley Sage Rosemary and Thyme. It is also not as iconic as the follow up to Bookends, the quintessential and Simon and Garfunkel album, Bridge Over Troubled Waters.
In a word, it's a great album but not the greatest Simon and Garfunkel album.
Kraftwerk
5/5
Who might want to listen to this album? Stoners? Check. EDM fans interested in the roots of their music? Check. 80s techno lovers who want to know what influenced that genre? Check. Anyone who likes really interesting music. Absolutely.
Autobahn is, by even Kraftwerk standards, an early electronic music album. They took the academic-oriented electronic music of the late 1960s and early 1970s and melded it with ambient influences and pop music to create a true masterpiece. Later on, Kraftwerk added the disco beats that were becoming increasingly common in clubs of the mid 70s to create the signature Kraftwerk sound.
Even though this is a prequel to what would later be the trust of their music, it is still a phenomenal album. The driving beat of the title track alone makes this a special album.
Pink Floyd
5/5
Wish You Were Here, the follow up to Pink Floyd's earth-shattering Dark Side of the Moon, is often treated like a sophomore album. In some ways it is. Dark Side of the Moon represented a major break from Pink Floyd's psychedelia of the 1960s. It was, in the post Syd Barret relaunch of the band, something like a first album.
Unlike many sophmore albums, Wish You Were here was not a bunch of outtakes. Instead, it leaned heavily into the prog rock of Dark Side of the Moon. At the same time, it was not just a continuation of its predecessor. The tone is very different with a melancholy feel to the album driven by themes of lost youth, alienation, and disappointment. This is especially true with the epic Shine on You Crazy Diamond. Broken into two parts, it talks to the feeling of the loss of youth and yearning for previous times. The two halves of the piece are interrupted by three songs - Welcome to the Machine, Have a Cigar, and the amazing title track, Wish You Were Here. All three share the theme of youth being ruined and consumed by society and its expectations. That last of the triptych, it heartachingly sad both musically and lyrically.
History has declared Dark Side of the Moon Pink Floyd's greatest work. Perhaps, but if it's possible to have two greatest works, then Wish You Were Here is the other.
The Allman Brothers Band
5/5
I can't tell you all how many times I've listened to this album just to hear this rendition of Whipping Post. It's an amazing example of southern blues and is the best capture of the Allman's sound before they began to infuse more country and essentially became southern rock.
Some of the songs come right out of the classic blues songbook (Stormy Monday for example) but done in the quintessential Allmans fashion. You also see the Grateful Dead influence in the long jams of You Don't Love Me, In Memory of Elizabeth Reed, and the aforementioned Whipping Post.
Be aware, this is not background music. You will want to LISTEN to this fully.
Black Sabbath
5/5
One of the foundational albums of heavy metal, Paranoid is also a staple of classic rock. Combining dark imagery with heavy riffs, Paranoid sets the template for everything from hair metal to death metal. A true classic.
Syd Barrett
2/5
I think that critics like this album because they like and feel bad for Syd Barret. Barret famously was ousted from Pink Floyd because his mental illness caused him to become unreliable. There are stories of him standing blankly on stage with his guitar hanging around his neck, while the rest of the band tries to play the concert. David Gilmour was brought into the band initially to back up Barret in those moments.
The Madcap Laughs, recorded in a moment of lucidness, was tired even when it came out. Psychedelia was on the way out and the Prog Rock of Meddle was the future for the band. The Madcap Laughs looks backward not forward and, by Pink Floyd standards, is mediocre. Not bad, just meh.
Listen to it on Spotify but don't spend money on new or vintage vinyl for this album.
Ramones
5/5
At the time this album was released, the rock world had never seen anything like it. Folks around NYC (of which I was one thankfully) had heard of the Ramones or "punk rock" but very few people had actually heard them.
The Ramones (the album) was like a blast of electrical energy to an otherwise moribund 70s rock scene. Stripped down, fast, and (if properly played) loud, The Ramones were unlike anything most people had heard. It contains some of their best-known songs, especially Blitzkrieg Bop, Beat on the Brat, Judy is a Punk, Now I Wanna Sniff Some Glue. It never made it into the mainstream, but the effects are still felt in music today. Punk, New Wave, Pop Punk, Hardcore, Hair Metal, Alternative, and today's Indie rock would not have existed without this album and this band.
Yes
5/5
One of the best Yes albums (and their breakout), especially considering how early it was in their career. It is jam packed with staples of classic rock and examples of the best of prog rock. Out of the starting gate, there is Yours is no Disgrace, one of the earliest pop-prog songs that presaged later bands such as Boston. That doesn't mean the album is to like on the prog part though. There are two extended suites - Starship Troopers and I've Seen All Good People - that combine theatrics and virtuosity common to the prog rock format. The effects of The Yes Album were felt in future Yes albums, prog rock, and rock in general for years to come.
James Taylor
1/5
Just... no. Even back int he 70s this album was music for our moms and girls with emotional issues. It traffics in banality masking as depth. James Taylor doesn't even have a sweet voice. Instead, it's like Musak - dull with no emotional quotient.
The success of albums like this was not due to any inherent positive quality. It was simply that folkies had nowhere else to go after Dylan went electric and the Vietnam War was winding down, leaving everyone exhausted with the now irrelevant protest songs.
Sweet Baby James is only useful if you need to get some sleep or want. So, just... no.
The Smiths
4/5
As a follow up to Meat is Murder and Hatful of Hollow (which are kind of the same but different) The Queen is Dead hits all the right notes. You have Johnny Marr's jangly guitars turned up plus Morrissey's morose whining tuned down. Some songs, such as Cemetary Gates and Frankly Mr. Shankly, are downright upbeat. Even the sadder or angrier songs, such as Bigmouth Strikes Again or The Boy with the Thorn in His Side, are fine tunes.
While there is no giant of a song like How Soon is Now?, it is full of great songs and better production. Definitely an album any Smiths fan, 80s fan, or music lover should have.
Supertramp
2/5
If I'm going to be honest, I have disliked Supertramp since the 1970s when they were actually a thing. You can see why here. The two biggest hits off this album are a master's class in terrible pop music. Bloody Well Right might play for UK audiences but to an American it sounds campy at best, irritating at worst. Then there's Dreamer. The vocals sound like a child screaming - high pitched with a hint of whining.
Unfortunately, this is not just a bad first album that the band would just as soon forget. Instead, it's the template for their followups.
ZZ Top
5/5
Is it the best ZZ Top album? Depends on who you ask. It is full of great tunes that dominated the radio and MTV in the mid-1980s. Gimme All Your Lovin', Legs, and Sharp Dresed Man were all major hits and helped revive blues-oriented rock from its coma. Without Eliminator, you don't have Stevie Ray Vaughn's commercial success.
The thing is, it was a popular album and watered down the Texas blues that ZZ Top was known for. It made them mainstream famous but for previous fans of albums like Tres Hombres, it seemed like a bit of a sellout.
Overall, it's a great album, maybe not one for the purists, but for the rest of us.
Pearl Jam
5/5
I mean, this is the premier album of the Grunge movement, more so than even Nevermind. The album is full of rage yet utterly accessible in ways that Nevermind isn't. It is jam packed with stories of loss, abandonment, and sorrow. Probably the best song is Jeremy, a true story of a neglected, picked on kid that committed murder in a fit of rage. A close second is the radio favorite, Alive. An autobiographical song about Eddie Vetter finding out that his father was not his birth father. These are songs of amazing disfunction showing a side of middle class America that most of us would rather ignore.
Despite the subject matter, it is a lyrical album with recognizable song structures and real tunes you can sing. A true classic of modern rock.
Billy Joel
5/5
If you want to know why some people adore Billy Joel, then listen to this album. Stylistically diverse, moving between ballads, singer-songwriter type songs, and rock and roll, all with a bit of jazz thrown in, The Stranger is a masterpiece of the rock era.
There is no reason to talk about the hit songs since just about every song is a hit on this album. Even in the golden age of rock, that was unusual. Probably half this album was played at every prom from its release until ten years after.
Besides the exquisite songwriting, the performance is also impeccable. Joel's band is tight, professional, and energetic. Vocally, this is Billy Joel at peak.
While there were good albums before and after (with Turnstiles and 52nd Street the best of them), none can top The Stranger.
The Police
3/5
The last album for The Police, Synchronicity, reflects the internal divisions of the band at the time. There are some true classic songs here (Synchronicity I & II, King of Pain, Wrapped Around Your Finger) and some incredible dogs (Mother, Oh My God). and some obvious filler. Even the biggest hit from the album, Every Breath You Take, has not aged well, sounding dull and creepy instead of intense and scary.
As someone who has had this album since 1983 (and got to see them on their last major tour at Shea Stadium in NYC), the best way to listen to this album is on a streaming service where you can edit out the worst crap and focus on the best stuff.
Seriously, edit out Mother. It's terrible. I can't imagine what excuse the band has for that song and I know they didn't play it in concert.
The Velvet Underground
5/5
I mean, it's the end of the beginning of what would become punk, new wave, and alt rock. I could go on about how great Pale Blue Eyes is or how Candy Says could be a Beatles song if the Beatles sang about aging drug addicts and such. None of that would matter. It's not the best Velvet Underground album but the one that best presages the 70s in its entirety - the doom and gloom, angst, and sorrow.
Bruce Springsteen
5/5
One of the most underappreciated Springsteen albums - maybe of any artist - of all time. Darkness on the Edge of Town is the middle act in a triptych of Springsteen albums that represent his best and most classic work. Whereas Born to Run is full of youthful enthusiasm as our working-class heroes try to find a way out of their gritty lives, Darkness on the Edge of Town shows them giving up hope. The world is crashing down on these characters, and they know there is no way out. Finally, we end the story with The River, whereby the world is crashing down and yet, some glimmer of light is showing through. Born in the USA is the epilogue, where our now aging characters are learning to live within the constraints of lesser life.
Outside of the overall arc, the music - the SONGS - are Springsteen at his finest. Badlands, Candy's Room, The Promised Land, Prove It All Night, and the title track were all major hits in their day and have endured as staples of the rock lexicon. It is full of stories that you become engrossed in and characters you care about. It's over 45 years later and I still wonder what the hell the guy in Candy's Room is doing. Is she a prostitute? Probably but why does he think of Candy as his girl? What's wrong with this guy? I still think about it every time I hear the song. This is the power of this album. Do not overlook it unless you want to miss something extraordinary.
Pet Shop Boys
2/5
So, when this came out, I was so sick of the Pet Shop Boys that I didn't really give it a chance. West End Girls had played endlessly in the NYC clubs and then was revised as a radio hit a year or so later. By the 12000th play, I was done with Pet Shop Boys.
In the interest of fairness, I decided to give this a listen again, first in the 90s and then recently after watching a documentary about the Pet Shop Boys. I still don't think much of it. It's basically disco and not all that clever, I especially dislike Rent. While they may mean it to be tongue in cheek, it comes across heavy handed - more like foot in mouth.
What can I say? I tried to like it but found it still dull and self-absorbed.
Patti Smith
4/5
This is the moment in time when we start to see punk morph into something more serious. Though aligning with the CBGB movement, Smith is really in the same vein as Bruce Springsteen or Jim Morrison - a rock and roll poet. Lyrically, she is like the new wave artists (think Television and Talking Heads) who were artists first and, hence, whose lyrics were about more than cars, girls, and not giving a damn. Musically, however, she has all the rough edges and sonic boom of the punks.
Her next two albums, Radio Ethiopia and Easter are more accessible and, arguably, better. Horses, however, is the first time punk dared take itself seriously.
Marty Robbins
5/5
This is not Country; it's Western. Probably the most Western of all singers were Frankie Lane and Marty Robbins. This is the best of all the former's music, especially the epic El Paso.
All of these songs are staples of the singing cowboys of the 1950s. Some are really cowboy folk songs, others just sound like something a cowboy would sing around the campfire. It doesn't matter - it's all evocative of open plains, cowboys, the Old West, and gunfights. Many ended up as the theme songs for real Western movies.
So, put on a cowboy hat, strap on your (faux) six shooter, and listen to Marty Robbins take you back in time to a mythical American frontier.
The Sugarcubes
4/5
When the Sugarcubes appeared, out of nowhere, on the music scene int he late 80s, no one knew what to make of them. They were quirky to the point of weird and came from Iceland. Bands from Iceland were hardly ever scene. Bjork especially was this space pixie that seemed to have dropped out of the sky.
There first album, Life's Too Good, mirrored the band in music. Full of off-tempo songs with odd lyrics, and weird singing, they were nothing like the emerging alternative scene or previous new wave. Instead, they were fresh, interesting, and attention getting.
Birthday, is full of strnage vocal tics, motorcrash has a great driving beat but the lyrics hardly make sense. Delicious Demon is... I don't know what it is. It's just out there.
I had the oppurtunty to see them live with PiL and New Order. Live they were even stranger and hyperactive. In other words, an excellent show.
The Sugarcubes didn't last very long. They only had one more album but the novelty had worn off as the alt music scene got weirder in it's own right. Bjork left to basically invent Euro Dance Pop. For a moment though, in 1988, weird was good, and the Sugarcubesw awesome.
The White Stripes
5/5
The White Stripes were the most innovative band of the early 2000s. Stripped down yet full, their sound was unlike anything else. Elephant was their masterpiece. Their first three albums were incredibly good but Elephant stands apart from those and subsequent albums in the quality of the songs. Seven Nation Army alone would make this great but the whole album is tuneful while being noisy.
Afterwards, the quality of their albums went down. Icky Thump seemed like a return to form after the confusing Get Behind Me Satan but never rose to the level of Elephant.
If you want to buy just one White Stripes album (though they are a bit like potato chips - you can't have just one) this is it.
The Pogues
5/5
This is the album that launched a thousand Celt Punk groups. The second full -length album by the Pogues, this presents the Pogues as a fully realized band. Whereas Red Roses for Me introduced early fans to the band, this one broke through college radio at a time that was incredibly meaningful.
It is loud, audacious, and at times funny and poignant.
Starting with the thermonuclear blast of Sick Bed of Cuchuliann, the album whip saws between wildly frenetic and drunken sadness. Classic songs include the aforementioned Sick Bed of Cuckulainn, Sally MacLennane, Wild and Cats of Kilkenney. That said, probably the two best songs on the album are modern folk songs full of pain and hopelessness - Ewan MacColl's Dirty Old Town and Eric Bogle's Band Played Waltzing Matilda. Here, Shane MacGowen's plaintive vocals really shine as he sings of terrible loss and despair. And yet, in the hands of the Pogues, these songs don't become too heavy to handle, and hence, the listener doesn't tune out the message as too much emotionally. They strike a rare balance that is hard to achieve.
A true classic and foundation of Celt Punk, Rum Sodomy and the Lash is a worthy listen many time over.
Nirvana
5/5
An iconic album cover? Check. Instantly recognizable open bars of a hit song? Check. Songs emblematic of their genre, in this case grunge? Check, check, check.
This was Nirvana at their height, after the low production values of Bleach and before the excesses of In Utero (not that there's anything wrong with either of those albums), Nevermind found the sweet spot for 90s grunge greatness.
Pearl Jam sustained their run a bit longer, and Mudhoney, Soundgarden, and others made valuable contributions, but there was no other band with the impact of Nirvana with Nevermind.
Duran Duran
5/5
I know, many of you are saying "Ok, it's a fun album but a great album?" Yes, it's a great album Rio is one of the hallmarks of the MTV era but also full of great 80s club hits. Driving but dancable rhythms abound in club hits like My Own Way, Hold Back The Rain, the title track Rio, and of course Hungry Like The Wolf. In between are more downbeat songs such as Lonely in Your Nightmare and Save a Prayer that keep the album from devolving into a frenetic mess, but also highlights Duran Duran's reach beyond danceable New Wave.
So, yes, it's a great album.
Public Image Ltd.
3/5
More Goth than punk, Metal Box by PiL is not for everyone. It's full of noise, unusual but dancable rhythms, and sounds not typically found in popular music. Overall, it sounds experimental, but that's because it is. It presages the industrial sounds of the later 80s and early 90s rather than the sensibilities of late 70s punk and post-punk.
Johnny Lydon's limited range and wailing is oft times unsettling. It's like keening at an Irish wake.
It is, however, worth listening to if only to see the evolution of Johnny Rotten of the Sex Pistols to Johnny Lydon of PiL, as will as punk to industrial.
Eagles
5/5
Does anyone need a review for this album? It's one of the most famous classic albums of all time. In addition to the constantly played title track, Hotel California delivers one great song after another. It might be the best album of that soft country rock genre ever recorded.
You don't need me to tell you how great this album is.
The Afghan Whigs
1/5
What's with this cover? It clearly is a meant to look like an after-sex movie shot but with children. Sorry, no can do. Won't listen. Nope.
Fairport Convention
4/5
On Unhalfbricking Fairport Convention is heading full stream toward what would become their signature sound, namely rock music based on traditional British (rather than American) folk. It is a beautiful album. At times it's light and breezy, like a brisk walk along a city street, and at other times flat out pastoral. There's even a bit of blues that slips in from time to time.
Sandy Dennis' voice is fantastic, sounding like the best of Joan Baez. Richard Thompson's backup vocal complement her well.
While the sound really comes together on the followup, Liege and Leaf, this is still a great folk-rock album and just a good listen.
Jean-Michel Jarre
5/5
Ethereal, mind bending, and innovative. Oxygene (along with Equinox) is Jean-Michel Jarre's most famous work and most enduring. It is a swirling mass of tones, melodies, and beats and represents one of the critical peices of 70s electronica. It's effect on later techno, electronica, new age, and, especially, stoned college students is vast.
Oxygene is an amazing work when you want to expand your mind and chill your soul.
Neil Young
5/5
Although Lynryd Skynryd seems to have taken offense at this album, or at least the Song Southern Man, After The Gold Rush is a true classic of early 70s country rock and proto-type of Southern Rock. Almost every song is a classic, especially the aforementioned Southern Man, Tell Me Why, the title track, Don't Let it bring You Down, and Only Love Can Break Your Heart. There are quiet ballads (Only Love Can Break Your Heart) and rocking tunes (Don't Let It Bring You Down), and everything in between.
What's the most amazing is how different it is from the work he did with CSNY or Buffalo Springfield. Perhaps it's because Young is in the driver's seat here instead of a supporting role. Whatever the reason, this is pure Neil Young and toward his 70s peak.
It's also his first fully realized album. His first, eponymous, album was fine but yielded no note worthy songs. The follow up Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, was more on track (especially the songs Cinnamon Girl and Down By The River) but aren't nearly as complete as After The Gold Rush.
The follow-up Harvest was also phenomenal, but Young wouldn't see an album like this (and Harvest) again until Comes a Time, 8 years later.
The Pogues
5/5
The big one for The Pogues. Most U.S. listeners first heard of The Pogues from this album, after it became a darling of the alternative rock stations. It contains their most recognizable song, Fairytale of New York, which is often played as part fo Christmas playlists. This is hilarious because it's anything but a nice Christmas song. Like so many Pogues songs, it's a story song about disillusionment and addiction. It's a rollicking album full of high energy folk-rock and sad ballads.
It's predecessor, Rum Sodomy and the Lash, was more raw, and it's successor, Peace and Love a hot mess. If I Should Fall From Grace With God is Pogues at peak.
Van Halen
5/5
Van Halen's eponymous debut album is everything a debut should be. Inventive (for the time), audacious, and perfectly executed. The first side of the original vinyl album only qualifies this for classic with Runnin' with the Devil, Ain't Talkin 'Bout Love, and their fiery highly charged version of The Kinks' You Really Got Me. That does mean that side two was lame with it including one of their biggest hits Jamie's Cryin'.
This album introduced the world to Diamond Dave and especially, guitarist supreme Eddie Van Halen. The world never looked back and never forgot. The band got even better with their subsequent releases, all full of chart topping hits.
Tori Amos
2/5
Back in the 90s, I really liked Tori Amos. She was a singer songwriter that was much more raw and visceral than was typical of the genre. Amos was part of that wave of high confessional, no holds barred singers that emerged at that time. Subsequently, I bought her first three albums which include this one, LIttle Earthquakes, plus Under the Pink and Boys for Pele.
In the ensuing decades, I find that her music hasn't aged well. What seemed intense then, now just comes across like shrieking. Highly confessional songs from that time, are more like whining now. Maybe the world has changed; Maybe I have. Perhaps it was a simplier time and I've becopme jaded. In any case, Tori Amos is not something I bother with anymore. She was of the time but the time has gone. Listen to this album, if only to get the zeitgeist of the early 90s which spawned a lot of angry music. Just don't expect to come back to it again and again. It's a one and done type album.
Paul Simon
5/5
Graceland is likely to be considered Paul Simon's most impactful album. Domniating charts and radio in the late 1980s, it brought world music, especially Afro-Pop, to the masses of the U.S. The guest list alone such as Ladysmith Black Mombazo and Los Lobos, makes this an incredible collaborative effort in welding together musical styles into somethign both new and familar. The song list is packed with chart toppers as well, especially the title track, You Can Call Me Al, The Boy in the Bubble, and Diamonds on the Soles of their Boots.
This is Simon's Magnus Opus, his masterpiece. Its fine craftmanship makes it one of the greatest albums of all time.
Beatles
1/5
I will never understand why anyone thinks this is a good album let alone a great album. Because it's the Beatles and they were the biggest band of that era? Likely. Because they hadn't yet imploded? Maybe. Perhaps it's because it's demonstrably better than Let It Be. Sure, that makes sense. I'm guessing the whole "Paul is dead" crap was endearing to people at the time. Any modern listener can see that this is a band in decline. Strip away the nostalgia and there's not much here to like.
The lead off song, Come Together, is harsh - one of the least Beatlesque songs ever - with other grating songs spewed throughout, such as I Want You (She's So Heavy). It's full of stupid fillers like Octopuses Garden or Maxwell's Silver Hammer. There are songs that could be cute but come off as trite or twee. I'm looking at Mean Mr. Mustard and Polythene Pam. I mean WTF is with those names? Carry That Weight and She Came in Through the Bathroom Windows somehow managed to be both harsh AND stupid. The only thing that saves this album from the title "Worst Beatles Album Ever" and "Top 100 Albums That Should Have Been Good but Suck" is that Let it Be is demonstrably worse.
If you want to hear why the Beatles are one of the best bands ever to emerge from rock and roll, listen to Revolver, Rubber Soul, The White Album, or Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Damn, even Help! is better than Abbey Road. This one? Just no, unless you want to see what a band at the edge of crashing and burning sounds like. Why would you want that?
Prince
5/5
Iconic. Classic. These are the words we use to describe Prince's 1999 now. Back in 1982 we said something different. Wow! Mind blowing! Tight! Finely crafted. These were the 1982 phrases for what would become one of the best albums of all time. 1999 not only blew apart the pop charts then, not only did it dominate MTV, not only were these staples of any club experience no matter what the genre of the club, they introduced the larger audience to funk in a way that no one else had ever done.
Prince was a genius and 1999 his masterpiece. That's obvious today, but it was equally obvious, even to this punk rocker, in 1982.
Madonna
5/5
In the late 80s, Madonna was everywhere. The first time I heard her music was in a Long Island club, where she quickly became a staple. Then, she graduated to MTV stardom with her Material Girl album, and movie actor with Desperately Seeking Susan (as well as not so stardom with Who's That Girl). By 1989, Madonna could have rested on her laurels and settled in to just making more 80s techno pop. Madonna, however, was always able to read the tea leaves and by the late 80s, techno was on its way out and MTV was turning to hip hop. So, she reinvented herself. That reinvention yielded a remarkable album that combined pop with Gospel (Like a Prayer), Soul (Express Yourself) and bubblegum (Cherish).
Besides (or in spite of) being eclectic, the album holds together. This is in part due to the near perfect production. Much of the success of this album though is the quality of the songs. In the years between True Blue (1986) and Like A Prayer, her song writing suffered as she pursued acting and remixes. Like a Prayer returns Madonna to her old prowess with her songs, presentation, and ability to read the zeitgeist, impeccable.
It's just a great album.
Cyndi Lauper
5/5
Really? Do you need a review for this album. It's quirky, fun, party music with just the right touch of pathos. I mean, Girls Just Want To Have Fun is on this album. A versino of Prince's When You Were Mine done in the least Price way is on this album. The sad and soulful Time After Time is on this album. The ever so slightly dirty She Bop is on this album.
This was an enourmous hit when it came out in 1983 fueled by the party atmosphere in clubs and MTV in general. Even today, Girls Just Want To Have Fun is a staple of anything 80s plus alt-rock stations. Teenagers today still listen to it and Time After Time shows up in Rom-Com movies.
I could go on by why? You all know this album and why it's great.
Bonnie Raitt
5/5
Is it pop or is it blues? A little country and gospel maybe? A touch of MTV? Yep. All that and a bag of chips. Raitt's 1989 album Nick of Time is a stylistic mélange that exemplifies where the blues were in the 80s. At the same time, it plays well today as an example of Raitt's exquisite songwriting and selection.
The mid-to late 80s showed a revival in roots music and blues especially. This was the era of Stevie Ray Vaughn, the Fabulous Thunderbirds, Robert Cray, and, of course, Bonnie Raitt. Some, like Vaughn, were pure blues. Raitt, Cray, and others fused traditional blues with 80s pop, creating a new form of pop blues. Nick of Time is one of the best examples of that sound - classic blues guitar mixed with synths and slick production.
Without Nick of Time, you don't have Tedeschi Trucks. Without Raitt, Cray, and a few others, blues may have just died out and become a legacy style like ragtime or swing.
Fleetwood Mac
5/5
Nearly every song on this album still plays on the radio. Teenagers still listen to this album. It may be one of the greatest albums ever created. The production is impeccable, songs wonderful, and a bit of band tension adds a little bit of bite. This was Fleetwood Macs magnus opus and one of the best albums of the 1970s, perhaps of all time.
When it first came out, I ignored it. I was into punk rock and Rumours was anything but punk. When I heard Stevie Nicks singing Gold Dust Woman, however, my teenage self was enthralled. Enthralled is the polite word. My sister gave me a copy of the album and I've had it ever since. It is simply a marvelous time capsule while still timeless.
Yes
4/5
Not the best but clearly the most well known of Yes' work from there original pre-90125 era. It contains radio freindly classics such as Roundabout, Long Distance Runaround, and one of my personal favorite Yes songs, Heart of the Sunrise.
With Fragile, Yes successfully took prog rock, which was a niche genre at the time, and made it accessible to mainstream audiences. Songs liek Heart of the Sunrise represent more mainline prog rock with extended suites and ethereal content. Roundabout, on the other hand, is pure rock in a prog wrapper, allowing for 70s FM radio friendly edits.
Close to the Edge and Tales From the Togographic Ocean are more what one expects from prog rock, and better realized concepts. Neither would have turned Yes into a mainstay of classic rock. Fragile was the vehicle for that.
Kate Bush
5/5
Kate Bush is weird, quirky, artsy - in other words wonderful. With Hounds of Love she added inventive, forward thinking, and popular. One of the first popular albums to make extensive use of a Fairlight system, Hound of Love is a tour de force of 80s progressive pop. The title song, Running Up That Hill - an MTV and college radio hit - and Cloudbusting are the highlights but the whole album is amazing.
If you can only have one Kate Bush album, this is it. If you have a "ten albums on a dessert island" list, this belongs on it. You won't be disappointed.
Nine Inch Nails
5/5
A tour de force masterpiece of industrial music, The Downward Spiral, is dark, depressing, and emotional. The album would be a classic if only for Closer and much covered Hurt. That, however, is not what makes a great album. It is a master class in production and the whole atmosphere, not the bits and pieces, are what is special.
Certainly not for every mood or every person, The Downward Spiral, sits at the inflection point of 90s music, as it was transitioning from generally happy techno 80s music to the darkness of grunge and much of the alt music landscape.
Kid Rock
1/5
Kid Rock sucks, as a muscian and a person. Don't give him your money by streaming this garbage. Unless, of course, you're into d!ckhead rock then, by all means.
Roxy Music
5/5
If you think of Roxy Music as the sophisticated pop of Avalon or Flesh and Blood, then this will be a bit of a surprise. Roxy Music was much more experimental and edgy in their earlier days and this, their second album, is just that. There are shrieking saxophones and tribal beats overlaid with Bryan Ferry's smooth vocals. Even those "smooth" vocals are more urgent. It's more prog rock than 80s pop.
No matter what, it's a great album. The leadoff single along, Do the Strand, may be shocking to later Roxy Music/Bryan Ferry fans, but it's a good kind of shocked. It's the shock that wakes you up.
R.E.M.
5/5
Over the span of four albums, REM built up a following, especially on alternative and college radio. If not for this album, they would have stayed a something of a cult band. Green, it turns out, had a secret weapon in the form of the song It's the End of the World As We KNow It (And I Feel Fine). It checked all the boxes necessary to elevate REM to major stardom - easy to remember and singable tune (check), funny memorable lyrics (check), and uplifting attitude (check). Overall, the album is somewhat distopian but doesn't fall in on it's own heaviness.
It would take two more albums for REM to start headlining stadium shows, but this is the album that got the ball rolling.
Cat Stevens
4/5
If you like soft, folk, rock, then this is the album for you. Cat Stevens' (now Yusaf) songwriting is exquisite. He creates songs that are deeply personal without becoming too heavy or saccharine sweet. Sometimes, he even rocks out (especially Wild World). Most of all, Stevens/Yusaf keeps the emotional quotient in balance. He ensures that things don't get too sad or depressing but nothing is light or frothy.
Hard headed Woman, Father and SOn, and Wild World were all major hits at the time and Wild World has been covered by a number of bands. 10000 Maniacs had another hit with their cover.
Bob Marley & The Wailers
5/5
While I personally think that Burning is the best Bob Marley and the Wailers album, Natty Dread is close on its heals. It is jam packed with iconic reggae songs including Lively Up Yourself, Rebel Music, the title track, and one of Marley's most touching, emotional songs, No Woman, No Cry.
By 1974, The Wailers were really all about Bob Marley. The songs reflect him and he alone. Without Peter Tosh, the Wailers had become little more than a backing band for Marley. That's fine because his vision for reggae was leaps and bounds ahead of everyone else, even in 1974.
It's hard to answer the question "If you can only own one Bob Marley album, what should it be?" because there are so many good ones. The beauty of our times is that you don't have to make that choice. Go listen to this now, and try not to cry during No Woman, No Cry.
Leonard Cohen
3/5
I approach Leonard Cohen like I approach Bob Dylan - excellent song writer, terrible voice. Seriously, it's like nails on a blackboard. That said, listen to this for the songs, not the singer. It's brilliant in that way.
Dead Kennedys
5/5
A true classic of 80s punk. The sardonic, sarcastic high energy punk of the DKs pretty much set the stage for SoCal punk and what we think of as punk today.
This album shows the DKs in all their glory - from the Swiftien Kill the Poor and Holiday and Cambodia, to the straighahead social commentary of California Uber Alles, and the "life is too horrible to believe" of Funland at the Beach.
An album for the modern era as much as it was for the 80s.
The B-52's
5/5
I saw the B52s open for the Talking Heads as a teenager in 1978 (and got to dance with Kate for some 30 seconds). They only had the single Rock Lobster out but were incredible. When they released this, their eponymous debut, I had to ride my bike all over Long Island to find a store that carried, but it was worth it. I still have this album and it is still one my favorites.
It's the purest for of B52s zanyness. Besides the funny, irreverant, and I-dare-you-not-to dance Rock Lobster, there is also weird sci-fo epic Planet Claire (complete with keyed walkie talkie sound effects), the gloriously retro 6060-842, the straight-forward-yet-somehow-still-weird Dance This Mess Around, and my frenetic favorite, 52 Girls.
The B52s were always an egalitarian outfit, with all the muscians highlighted in one way or another. This ethos is evident with the prominent bass lines, featured guitar work, and switch off vocals. No one is in the background.
This is the moment in time whent he B52s redefined party rock in the New Wave mold - quirky, at times sardonic, but with loads of fun all around. The B52s - the band and the album - captures the musical zertgeist of the late 70s New Wave movement, infuses it with some Southern quirkiness, and makes everyone want to dance.
Emerson, Lake & Palmer
5/5
"We're gonna give you Pictures at an Exhibition" (insane cheering).
ELP was prog rock's first supergroup. All of the members of the band had been in successful early prog rock bands in the late 60s; All had been disatisfied with those groups. ELP would go on to become one of the best known prog rock (and classic rock) groups of the 1970s.
Pictures at an Exhibition was recorded live at a Newcastle City Hall between their first and second albums. The sound is, by modern standards, crude. Crowd noises can be heard during the performance. At times the sound can be a bit muddy. These were due to the limitations of live recording systems at the time.
And yet....
Keith Emerson's arrangement is spectacular. It is packed with energy and depth. The decision to have Greg Lake add lyrics and vocals to some of the movements was inspired, especially for the Great Gates of Kiev. A lot of rock adapations of classical music do not do justice to the source material. This is not one of those cases. ELP not only adapts this piece for more modern tastes but elevates into something new and different. It is Mussorsky, but not only Mussorsky.
They never recorded Pictures at an Exhibition in the studio nor did they include any of it on subsequent live albums. This is the only version of this complete piece, in all of it's messy glory, that can be found on vinyl, tape, or CD. Excerpts are found on some of their later box sets including from an earlier Isle of Wight concert, but not the entire suite. I suggest listening to it on original vinyl if you can so that you hear it's original incarnation and can view the fold out album sleeve.
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
5/5
A classic of New Wave, This Year's Model is packed with some of Costello's most oconic and subversive songs. Pump It Up, (I Don't Want To Go To) Chelsea, and the especially rebellious Radio Radio. The latter song caused a stir on Saturday Night Live when Costello was told not to play it, ironically an indictment of broadcast censorship, but did so anyway.
This Year's Model catches Costello and New Wave in general, at it's true height - just before it all went corporate - when it was still on message. Musically, his later album Armed Forces may have been better, but it was also much more polished, the antithesis of the Punk/New Wave DIY ethos. This Year's Model is a snapshot of a rare moment when music and social conscienceness melded into the perfect synthesis of both.
Suzanne Vega
5/5
I was walking through Greenwich Village in NYC in Spring of 1985. It was exceptionally warm, and people had their windows open. From an apartment a few stories up, I heard this warm and engaging song filtering through the noise of the street. It was Marlene on the Wall. My friend and I stood outside listening to the song, completely enthralled. We eventually moved on and, as we crossed the street, we saw a painting ont he side of an old movie theater of none other than Marlene Deitrich. Weird and cool at the same time.
Just like that experience, Suzanne Vega's epounymous debut was entralling throughout. Unlike any other music at the time (folk was pretty dead at that point), it was also a slice of New Yorl City in the mid-1980s - a little rough, sometimes sweet, but it draws you in nonetheless. I can tell you that my favorite songs are marlene on the Wall, Straight Lines, and Undertow, but you might get the wrong impression. The whole album is wonderful.
Her next album, Solitude Standing catapulted Vega to stardom two years later, but this album captures the soul of the mid-80s much better.
The Go-Go's
5/5
One of the great New Wave albums, Beauty and the Beat hit the market just as New Wave and (first wave) Punk were peaking. The New York scene had spun off the London scene and eventually migrated to Los Angeles. The Go-Gos were born out of this LA punk community and released this debut only a year or so after New Wave and Punk had gone mainstream. The birth of MTV also worked in their favor. Their timing was impeccable.
Timing alone wasn't enough. This is one of those albums where every song is really good or great. Sure, everyone's heard radio and MTV favorites Our Lips Are Sealed and We've Got The Beat, but those are just the singles they chose. Skidmark's On My Heart is one of my personal favorites, yet it's only a favorite amoungst more favorites.
Beauty and the Beat is the classic example of lightning in the bottle - an amazing debut, full of incredible songs that captured the zeitgeist of the early 80s and New Wave in general. It belongs in every serious collection.
David Bowie
5/5
Heroes comes from that time in Bowie's career when he was transitioning from his glam roots (Ziggy Stardust, Hunky Dory, Pinups, etc.) through his Berlin phase. As such, it doesn't sound like any of those old albums, being much more experimental. In fact, the only radio hit on this album you are likely to hear is the title track, which dramatically shows Brian Eno's influence and Robert Fripp's guitar work. It has a harder edge than Low or Station to Station, presaging his 80s work.
That said, Heroes is one of Bowie4s great albums. It is emotion laden in ways his glam albums were not. This and Low are the albums that took Bowie from rock stardom into a transcendent place few artists ever arrive at.
Bowie took what he made in this album, added more pop influences, and reinvented himself for the 80s. Heroes and Low are the critical junction where Bowie transitioned from rock star into true artist.
Louis Prima
5/5
Is Louis Prima a big band artist? Is he pop or maybe some form of proto-rockabilly? Maybe, he's just a genre unto himself. He's also the king orangutan in the movie Jungle Book. Is he a movie star?
It doesn't matter, he's Louis Prima and there is no one else like him. This album is chocked full of some of his greatest music. It jumps, jives, and wails. It's funny, much of the time, and just damn enjoyable.
Needless to say, this is an album everyone should listen to. Go! Do that now.
The Doors
5/5
I mean, this is The Doors? Of course it's great. But there is "great" and there is "great!!!" This is the latter.
The album starts off with a musical explosion from Break on Through (To the Other Side) and then proceeds from one hit song to another. Just naming the one's everyone knows we have the aforementioned Break on Through, the obvious drug song The Crystal Ship, their most famous song, Light My Fire, and the epic The End. In between there is more great music, from start to (pun intended) end.
This is the album that changed rock music. Instead of a tenor crooner, Jim Morrison was a bass, with a deep rich voice. Instead of lyrics about holding a girl's hand or be infatuated with someone, The Doors sang about death. Even when they sang about "love" it had a lustful element not seen in rock music before, not even blues rock. Rather than big, lush, overwrought arrangements, The Doors reintroduced minimalist rock and roll.
All told, this album was a game changer.
Emmylou Harris
5/5
Lush, beautiful, hard, sad, sweet... I don't have enough adjectives to describe Emmylou Harris' Red Dirt Girl. Probably her last truly great album (Ok Maybe Stumble Into Grace was the last), Red Dirt Girl is an emotional powerhouse of an album. The title track alone makes this album worthwhile, but the song My Antonia with Dave Matthews is a kick in the emotions. It has all the feels, love, longing betrayal, deep deep sadness.
This is Emmylou as a mature singer and expert songwriter. It's just wonderful.
Morrissey
1/5
Sigh... Morrisey makes me sad. Only this time, I don't think it's intentional. Maybe it is...
Despite the tough guy cover, it's mostly endless mope rock. Dull as dirt, repetitive, boring, sameness. You see what I did there.
At least this is before Morrissey full on diva (altough to be fair he was always a bit of a diva), but it's still precious and self-absorbed. Oh, and the first song dishes on the U.S. which is one of his biggest markets. Not too smart if you want your old audience to still love you (though, to hear Morrissey tell it, no one loves him).
I can only image this was a misguided effort to attract the burgeoning emo crowd of the early 2000s. As they say in baseball, swing and a miss.
Elvis Costello
5/5
I could never quite get why Elvis Costello had some albums with The Attractions, and some that weren't. They were all intermingled. But I digress...
My Aim Is True came out just as the New Wave/Punk movement was making headway into the mainstream. Punk had started in NYC, made its way to London, and was heading out to L.A. in 1977. Even in a year of crowded albums by The Ramones, Blondie, The Clash, and Talking Heads, My Aim Is True stood out. It wasn't just fast and loud, or kitschy, or artsy. It was all that but also bittersweet (Allison), literary (Watching the Detectives), socially conscience (Welcome to the Working Week, and just fun (The Angels Want to Wear My) Red Shoes. There's so much going on, but the album is cohesive.
Costello's popularity has never been about his voice, which is marginal though original. It has never been about his guitar playing, which is fine but not exceptional. His main attraction (see what I did there) is his songwriting and My Aim Is True is a tour de force of songwriting.
The Stone Roses
4/5
The seminal and eponymous album by Madchester scene's The Stone Roses, it carries their most famous and misunderstood song I Wanna Be Adored. I can't tell you how many people I know thought it was I Wanna Be a Dog...
It's still a great, and clearly their most enduring song. That may have been affected by their not having another album out for five years, that being their last album. That album didn't really do much even on the Alt Rock stations of the time.
That said, THIS album is amazing. Full of great pop hooks, overlayed with droning guitar noise, and great solos. There are also so many great songs. The second song on the album, She Bangs the Drum, was a college radio hit back in the late 80s and is nothing like I Wanna Be Adored - it's a great pop song, more New Wave than Dream Pop or Shoegaze.
And so goes the rest of the album. They may have been a flash in the pan but it was a bright flash.
Jane's Addiction
5/5
At the time Nothing's Shocking was released in the late 80s, there was nothing like it. Musically, vocally, content-wise, even the cover art of completely unique. The closest analog to them was the Velvet Underground, especially the songs about the dark underbelly of urban culture.
Therein lies the problem with Nothing's Shocking and Jane's Addiction overall. Like the Velvet Underground two decades before, you either loved Jane's Addiction or you hated them. Very few people had a take it or leave it attitude toward the band and their debut album.
Ultimately, this is one of the albums that kicks off the Alt Rock movement that came to dominate the 90s. Songs such as Idiots Rule, Standing in the Shower... Thinking, and Jane Said became staples of Alt Rock radio. It's easy to forget that, when these songs were released, only college radio would play them and no one over 30 listened to them. That is until Jane's Addicition help launch Lollapalooza. Then everyone knew them.
Now, they're classics.
Bruce Springsteen
5/5
Bruce Springsteen started his career as a folk singer. In the beginning, he was viewed as a Bob Dylan replacement, who had gone all rock and electric by the late 1960s. Alas, the record executives were incredibly wrong. The Boss rocked harder than Dylan ever could.
In his heart, however, Springsteen had a deep love and appreciation for folk music. That is all the explanation you need for this album.
Coming on the heels of his famous three act play (Born To Run, Darkness on the Edge of Town, and the sublime The River) , this was not what Springsteen fans expected. Instead of the heavy sound of the E Street, most songs are just Springsteen and his guitar and harmonica. These are lush, beautiful, and usually sad songs. Atlantic City especially, is so hopeless it's hard to listen to, but listen you must because it makes you feel. Feel! This is real music, not throwaway pop. Not that The Boss ever made that kind of pap...
In the day, only certain fans embraced Nebraska. It's fared much better over the years and understood as an understated masterpiece.
Lou Reed
5/5
This is the album that turned Lou Reed of the Velvet Underground into Lou Reed. While often plumbing the same depths of society as his work with the Velvet Underground, Transformer doesn't sound like the VU. Instead, it is a little more pop, more accessible, which is why it charted so much better than any VU album.
The big difference between Transformer and Reed's self title debut solo album is David Bowie who produced but did not write any of the songs. Bowie helped Reed takes songs like Vicious, and especially the megahit Walk on the Wild Side, add a splash of Glam and Pop. Songs that could have been VU dirges, instead sparkle with energy. Bowie infuses some light into the darkness to great effect.
Transformer introduces the template that later punk artists would leverage to great effect - music that is willing to talk to the dark side of society but doesn't take itself too seriously. This makes the message easier to hear and hence more effective. This also makes Transformer one of the most influential, perhaps even pivotal, albums in the rock genre. It's not one to miss.
ZZ Top
5/5
If only for the two songs Jesus Left Chicago and La Grange, this would be a classic album. The good news is that the rest of the album is also great. It is 45 minutes of smokin' hot Texas blues with more grit than a dirt road.
You don't have to say a lot about Tres Hombres. One listen says it all.
Pixies
5/5
Before there was Alternative Rock, there was the Pixies. While the college music snobs all loved their Surfer Rosa album (and played Gigantic over and over), it was Doolittle that made their blend of punk and pop cross over to more mainstream radio and the masses.
Ok, not the masses. The masses never got the Pixies, but certainly more people beyond the college radio crowd heard the screaming Debaser, or the unsettling Wave of Mutilation, or the WTF is Gouge Away. The Pixies were unique then and now, but helped launched the transition from college radio to Alt-Rock, which exploded in the 90s. It not for the faint of heart, but greate nonetheless.
Jefferson Airplane
5/5
A classic of the 60's Haight Asbury psychedelic movement, Surrealist Pillow has come of Jefferson Airplane's most memorable songs. Somebody to Love and Plastic Fantasic Lover are amazing - well, power pop really - but it's White Rabbit that defines psychedelia as we know it today. It's Alic in Wonderland inspired lyrics and slow building pace make for the perfect soundtrack to a drug trip.
The band is great, of course, but it's Grace Slicks' vocals that really drive the best songs. With Somebody To Love, she set the stage for later female rock vocalists such as Ann Wilson of Heart, Joan Jett, and later on teh riot grrl movement. Without Grace Slick you don't have Blondie or Heart or Throwing Muses or Soccer Mommy or St. Vincent.
The album suffers a little from mediocre production but what should you expect from a first album in a then unknown genre. Volunteers is better made but Surrealist Pillow has better songs and a betetr version of Grace.
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
5/5
If Neil Young had finished his career with CSNY he still would have been famous for all time. Between that and Buffalo Springfield, he produced a lot of iconic music in a short time. A listen to his first album may have had you thinking that it would be better if that were so.
His second album, Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere would have changed that opinion in a heartbeat. It propelled Young to stardom as a solo artist, alongside his backing band Crazy Horse, and he kept going from there. The rest of his albums througout the 1970s were hit makers and part of the common culture of the time. Many of the songs from that era are staples of classic rock. This is the album that kicked it off.
Standout songs such as Cinnamon Girl and Down By The River, as well as Cowgirl in the Sand capture the emerging zeitgeist of the era and sound more 70s than 60s. It was Country Rock that got the balance between Country and Rock correct, and is a formula that can stll be heard in modern Country Music today.
It's unfortunate that Young's music became less accessible, that the balance shifted more toward Rock, and that his politics overcame his muscianship later in his career, especially in the 1990s. Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere, however, captures Young at the beginning of his solo career, mature enough to make memorable music, but young enough to be idealistic. It launched him to stardom before he fizzled.
Peter Frampton
5/5
When Frampton Comes Alive was released, Peter Frampton became an instant phenomenon. Frampton had already been in Humble Pie and had several solo albums, but most listeners had never heard of him. All of a sudden, he was everywhere and the live renditions of Baby I Love Your Way and Show Me the Way were everywhere.
The difference between Frampton Comes Alive and his studio albums was the energy. Live, Peter Frampton and his band showed off the musicianship and power of the leader and the band. This was especially true on the extended guitar solos and improvisations that are the hallmark of the album. Freed from the need to produce a 3-minute radio-friendly single, Peter Frampton could showcase his dynamic playing and obvious talent.
The album isn't perfect, mostly because the technology of live recordings wasn't all that advanced. There is, at times, too much crowd noise (you can hear individuals shouting out), and the percussion can be muffled. None of that really matters though since the star is Frampton and his guitars. They come across crystal clear.
Sadly, this was Frampton's apex. His follow-up studio albums were only "meh". He just couldn't put the lightning in the bottle. Frampton Comes Alive, however, IS 70's rock in a neat two album set.
Sheryl Crow
5/5
Dexys Midnight Runners
4/5
Lucinda Williams
5/5
Raw, at times. Full of pathos, much fo the time. Real, all the time. Car Wheels on a Gravel Road is what country music should be - raw, pathos, and real. Alas, most is not but thank goodness for Lucinda.
These are stories that tug at the heart, but there is enough joy to keep the listener from drowning in dispair. Her gravelly voice perfectly fits the stories and her band is just what this type of music needs.
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
5/5
The best CSN(Y) lineup, Deja Vu is the apotheosis of the country blues rock movement. One the one hand it reaches back into 1960s country infused rock (being a supergroup of 60's country rock bands) and on the other hand, looks forward to the 70's, especially Southern Rock and California-style country rock.
Three things makes this album one of the best albums of all time: exquisite songwriting, Stephen Stills amazing guitar skills, and the lush harmonies of all four vocalists. These elements combine to create sweet songs (Teach Your Children, Our House), sad and plaintative (Helpless), and powerful (Carry On, Woodstock).
Very few albums still get airplay after 55 years, but this one does. There is a reason for that.
Simple Minds
5/5
The big hit from this album was Promised You a Miracle. That song pointed to what Simple Minds would be later on - melodic new wave infused alt-pop. That wasn't the best music on the album however. That would be the synth driven techno dance music of the title track, New Gold Dream. The opening riff alone sent flocks of club goers to the dance floor.
The entire album is like this which, in hindsight, makes it seem transitional. At the time, though, it just felt eclectic. Many of the songs, including the opening track are techno, while others more alt-pop. Ultimately, this makes New World Dream (81-82-83-84) a great album to listen to and to dance to. Simple Minds eventually figured out their sound with Don't You (Forget About Me) from the Breakfast Club soundtrack, one of the most 80s of 80s songs. In that respect, New World Dream (81-82-83-84), is transitional. It succeeds too as an exercise in electicism. It's a wonderful slice of the 1980s music scene on it's way to alternative.
Simon & Garfunkel
5/5
I'm sorry but who hasn't heard Scarborough Fair? Homeward Bound? The 59th Street Bridge Song has been in countless commercials and movies. Why? Because this album represents some of the best folk rock ever. I don't have to talk about the two-part harmonies, or lush arrangements - you already know that. It would be another 20 years before folk rock was this good (except for Simon and Garfunkel's own album, Bridge Over Troubled Waters).
The Doors
5/5
Cowboy Junkies
4/5
The Cowboy Junkies have always had a unique style, sitting somewhere between dream pop, folk, and country. I can best describe them as Emmylou Harris on quaaludes.
The Trinity Sessions, recorded in a church in Toronto, made the group famous, at least for a while, in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Needless to say, The Trinity Session was an unexpected, underground college radio hit. The standout song is their folkified, more chill than chill version of the Velvet Underground's Sweet Jane. With Sweet Jane, they took a drug induced fever dream and made it... more so.
The Cowboy Junkies stayed on college radio and eventually Alt-Rock radio, peaking in 1993 with the sublime Black Eyed Man. Since then, they've been putting out more of the same and touring.
Faith No More
3/5
The release of The Real Thing by Faith No More is the moment most people became aware of RapCore. Is that a good thing? That depends on how much you like RapCore. Faith No More is definitely more palatable than what came later (I'm looking at you Linkin Park) and was more unique at the time.
The only song on the album to become a real hit was Epic which is, well, epic. It helps that their songs have a real chorus, as opposed to only rapping, making it more palatable to a general audience.
At the end of the day, Faith No More is like Rage Against the Machine with a lot less rage. It's more Angst About the Machine. Their subsequent albums never did achieve the same level of popularity as The Real Thing; They did, however, continue to have a loyal fan base for whom they produced albums into the 2020s. The Real Thing was their only real brush with widespread fame.
Alanis Morissette
4/5
Ah, Jagged Little Pill. Everyone's guilty pleasure from the 1990s. It has been the butt of innumerable jokes since its 1995 release which, unfortunately, masks just how good this album is. It was a huge album at the time, driving up the charts on the strength of the angry, bitter You Oughta Know and decidedly unironic Ironic. The latter should have been called Unfortunate but being "ironic" was a thing back then, so we have this title. Hand In My Pocket is a dose of optimism in a world full of difficulty, beautifully capturing the things suck/things are great zeitgeist of the 90s. This is the brilliance of this Jagged Little Pill. It is a cultural time capsule of the 90s that today offers feelings over nostalgia.
So, if you are want to piss all over this album, keep in mind it has spawned a hit jukebox musical, showing just how much beloved, it is. It's also a good listen no matter what the age.
5/5
In it's time and today, Q. Are We Not Men?, Devo's debut album, is one of the most unique offerings in tbe world of weird New Wave, or any rock album. Full of quirky rhythms, strange lyrics, and espousing the theory of Devolution, it is not for everyone. Only the truly cool will get it.
Jethro Tull
5/5
It's almost stupid to write a review of Aqualung. It is one of the most iconic, recognizable, and emblematic albums of all time. Even if you don't know the album, even if you don't know the song most associated with Jethro Tull, you have to know the opening riff to Aqualung. It is that well known.
If you don't - for example, if you've been living in a cave all of your life - go listen to this album. If you've never listened to rock music ever (EVER!) then this should be one of your first five albums. Aqualung is rock and roll.
Deep Purple
5/5
When you think 1970s Hard Rock, think Deep Purple's Machine Head. Some itheir most famous, self-indulgent, and best songs - Highway Star and Smoke on the Water especially - are on this album. What makes the Deep Purple of this era so special is the proto-Heavy Metal riffing of Ritchie Blackmore. Deep Purple without Blackmore is like Jethro Tull with without Ian Anderson or Black Sabbath without Ozzy. It's just not the same band. That happened in 1975 when Blackmore left to form early Hair Metal band Rainbow with Ronnie Dio (who left to form Hair Metal band Dio).
(As an aside, I saw Deep Purple in the post Blackmore era and it stands today as one of the worst concerts I ever attended. I still have nightmares)
If you want to know what classic Deep Purple sounds like, listent ot Machine Head. If you want to hear the roots of Heavy Metal and Hair Metal, listen to Machine head. If you want to be transported back to the early 70s, complete with muscle cars, pimped out vans, and young women in tube tops and bell bottoms, listen to Machine Head. If you want to listent to one of the greatest rock guitar muscians of all time at his peak, listen to Machine Head.
Grateful Dead
5/5
One of the all time greatest Grateful Dead albums. American Beauty, along with Workingman's Dead, both released in 1970, was the moment in time when the Grateful Dead figured out how to write songs that both their long time fans and a general audience would enjoy. Leaning more heavily into Country than Psychedelic, American Beauty is pack with radio and fan friendly songs. Some of their most famous songs - the one's the average listener would know - are on here including Sugar Magnolia, Friend of the Devil, and of course Truckin'. That said, the whole album is excellent. Ripple is often covered, as is the opening track Box of Rain.
If you have no Grateful Dead in your collection, get this and Workingman's Dead. You odn't have to be a Dead Head to enjoy them. If you are a Dead Head, you already have this.
Sex Pistols
5/5
From the opening snarl of Holidays in the Sun to the closing shriek of EMI (an attack on their own label) the Sex Pistols redefined the nascent Punk genre with Don't Mind the Bollock Here's the Sex Piston. Their only full length album, it is angry, disrespectful, and as caustic as you'd want any Punk album to be. Stripped of the social conscience of The Clash and lacking the humor of the Ramones, The Sex Pistols are just angry and bitter - in other words pure Punk rock. Add to that Johnny Rotten's snarling, off key vocals, and the Pistol's paint peeling guitar noise, and you see the transition of Punk from a movement to reclaim the 3-minute song into an expression of pure Id. The Sex Pistols never had time to make another album; Member Sid Vicious hung himself in his cell awaiting trial for murder and the band just fell apart. For a moment there, just a moment, the Sex Pistols frightened adults across the globe and gave voice to the inner anger of youth.
Madonna
5/5
For someone used to the Material Girl's early work in the 1980s, Ray of Light was jarring. By 1998, Madonna's old style was old hat, she had made forays into acting with the quirky Desperately Seeking Susan, terrible Dick Tracy and Shanghai Surprise, the heartwarming A League of their Own, and surprisingly wonderful star turn as Evita. The old Madonna was done.
Instead of her usual techno-pop dance music, Ray of Light embraced the nascent EDM movement. Guided by early EDM innovator and Torch Song alumnus William Orbit, Madonna headed off into a new and modern (at the time) direction on the dance floor. Even by EDM standards, this album is impressive, lacking the usual stereotypes of the genre. Instead of constantly dropping the bass to inject emotionality into otherwise sterile beats, Madonna deploys emotive vocals - even screams - swirling rhythms, and percussive bass. It is an EDM album worth LISTENING to off the dance floor.
Her follow-up, Music, was similar but lacked the punch and pizzazz of Ray of Light. This was her last truly great album, but it was genuinely great.
R.E.M.
3/5
By the point Green came out, REM had hit the top of their career. They had gone from college radio favorites to mass market stars and filled arenas with the album, Document. Green, while a good album, sounded more like outtakes from Document. The leadoff, Pop Song 89, was jangly enough to be old REM and Orange Crush added a bit of social commentary to the REM mix. Plenty of others were MTV and radio hits (Get Up, Stand) but none of them are as good as It's End of the World as We Know It (And I Feel Fine), or almost anything else on Document.
After this came their biggest album ever, Out of Time, which was coincidentally one of their lowest artisticly. Lot's of teenage posers would soon loved REM but even they knew it wasn't quality. The albums that cam later, especially Automatic for the People, Monster, and Adventures in Hi-Fi were better albums but not as popular.
So, whether you see Green as the beginning of the fall or fork in the road depends on whether you care about sales or art. If the latter, then Green was only the bump in the road.
Arcade Fire
5/5
While hipsters in the 2000s loved their debut, Funeral, it was Neon Bible that made Arcade Fire rock stars. There was a good reason for this; The songs on Neon Bible were both accessible (i.e. not too weird) and artistic (i.e. weird enough). Their sound was unique and innovative yet followed pop song structure enough to be understood by a wider listening audience. While three songs, Keep the Car Running, the title track, and No Cars Go, stand out, all the songs are wonderful in their own quirky way.
While Neon Bible is of the times, along with albums by LCD Soundsystem, The National, The Shins, and many other bands that made up that amazing decade of music, it still stands out on its own as one of the best of the decade.
Don McLean
3/5
In 1971, There was American Pie. It was everywhere - Radio, TV, Boy Scout Camp Singalong. That song was unavoidable. At eight and a half minutes, it was exceedingly long for top 100 radio of the day, yet there it was. Every day and everywhere.
It never really stopped either. The song became an instant cultural icon. You can still hear it on the radio today and I have heard high school students singing it.
The funny thing is, it's not that great of a song. It has weird tempo changeups and is easily too long. The lyrics are as obscure now as they were then. Supposedly about Buddy Holly's death, even people who were teens in the 1950s, people like my parents, didn't get it. And yet, here we are; It's still around.
The thing is, American Pie is the outlier on the album. Everything else, including his follow up single Vincent, are typical early 70s singer-songwriter music - drippy, overwrought, and musically simple. It's the kind of thing that made even a 9-year-old wretch then... and now.
But that song! It endures.
Bad Company
5/5
Mike Oldfield
3/5
Led Zeppelin
5/5
Sophmore albums are often nothing but outtakes from the more excellent dbeut. Sometimes, they are a step toward the breakout album number three. These are pretty common patterns. As always, Led Zeppelin broke those patterns and produced a hit filled second album that was probably better than the debut but as good or better than the third album.
Led Zeppelin II is full of now classic Zeppelin songs such as Heartbreaker, Whole Lotta Love, Living Loving Maid, and Ramble On. It is one of the defining albums of hard rock but will all the Blues that Led Zepplin was known for in thier first album. The Lemon Song, especially, is classic Blues (and very suggestive).
If someone wants to explore Led Zeppelin for the first time, start here not with Led Zepplin IV. Both are great, but this is more honest and raw.
Lynyrd Skynyrd
5/5
"Pronounced" as it was affectionaly known at the time of it's release, gave the world Southern Rock. Southern Rock had been porculating in the Southern US for sometime and hints could be found in band's like The Allman Brothers southern blues rock. That was all under the covers. When Lynyrd Skynryrd's debut dropped, however, Southern Rock was suddently everywhere.
The sheer number of Southern Rock classics on this album should alone make it one for the record books. Tuesday's Gone, Gimme Three Steps, Simple Man, and the iconic anthem Free Bird are still classic rock radio staples, more than 50 years after their release. Modern country rock bands, such as the Zac Brown Band still play these songs in concert, typically performing them faithfully with little intrepretation.
Skynyrd only produced five albums before half the band died in a plane crash, with Pronounced Lynryd Skynrd, they came out swinging, making the most of their short time on earth.
Pink Floyd
5/5
The first album from Pink Floyd is, ostensibly, a psychedelic album. It is that but, also a proto-prog rock album. It has the extended jams of psychedelia but also the extended compositions and intricate musicianship of prog rock. Jams like Astronomy Domine live peacefully alongside intense 10-minute long sci-fi compositions such as Interstellar Overdrive. In between are shorter pop, psychedelia, and prog rock pieces such as Bike and Lucifer Sam.
Alot of what is on the album seems like filler but, none of it is bad filler. They are more like a palate cleanser for the longer compositions.
This is the original Pink Floyd too. The influence of Syd Barrett, pre breakdown, is felt throughout in the dreamy quality of most of the songs. This influence would only last one more album before Barrett's mental health declined. In later Pink Floyd, Roger Waters ideas became ascendant, and David Gilmour joined the band and became a force in his own right, leading to their arguably best material.
On Piper at the Gates of Dawn, however, you see Pink Floyd version 1.0 at it's best.
Tom Tom Club
5/5
The Tom Tom Club was a side project of Tina Weymouth and Chris Frantz, bass player and drummer respectively, of the Talking Heads. When this first came out, most of us doubted this was really them since the music was nothing like the Talking Heads. Rhythm heavy, as one might expect from a bass player and drummer, The Tom Tom Club's music was club music with heavy beats and even (heaven forbid!) rapping. Genius of Love and Wordy Rappinhood quickly became major club and new wave radio hits. It was different, fresh, accessible, and forward looking. The Tom Tom Club has continued to make albums throughout the decades but none achieved the popularity of their epynomous debut.
Lloyd Cole And The Commotions
5/5
Lloyd Cole was never a household name. Critics and music snobs loved him but, for most of us, he only had one bright moment and this was it. The single "Perfect Skin" made a splash on college and New Music radio in the mid-1980s. The rest of the album is as brilliant as that single though. Songs such as Rattlesnakes, 2cv, Down on Mission Street, and Charlotte Street are memorable jangle pop with great hooks and superb guitar work. Cole's voice is unusual - sort of plainative in the mold of Jerry Garcia - and always stretching for a high note. The problem was that you either liked his voice or it grated on your nerves. This may be what held him back from mainstream fame.
The Commitions broke up after only two more albums, after which Cole was a solo act. The difference wasn't noticable since The Commotions were basically Cole and a bunch of musicians you never heard of. Since then, he has continued to write and produce songs and tour, maintaining a following. He never had thta shot a mainstream success again.
Blondie
5/5
The Blondie Disco Album! Parallel Lines was the Blondie album that yanked Blondie out of the NYC New Wave scene and into international stardom, mostly because of the song Heart of Glass i.e. The Disco Song. The rest of the album is a masterpiece of New Wave songs, full of pop references and just enough quirkiness to not seem too insular or precious. From the cover of The Nerves' Hanging on the Telephone to the Robert Fripp infused Fade Away and Radiate, to the final track telling you to Just Go Away, Parallel lines is one great song after another... except Heart of Glass.
It's hard to imagine today the breath of the controversy at the time but, Heart of Glass was almost a Blondie deal breaker to the NYC New Wave community. It's disco beat alone, while presaging the technopop of the 80s, was patently offensive to most Punk and New Wave folks. The whole "Blondie as Disco" thing seemed like capitualtion to the mainstream and not forward muscial evolution. The rest of the world loved it though. It was pop, it was disco, and to mainstream top-40 radio, a great song.
With the space of almost 50 years between now and then, it's easy to see Heart of Glass for what it was - a sellout. It worked too! It's actually one of the weakest songs on the album but it got Blondie the attention they were seeking and it's why we are even talking about this album today. That's unfortuntate because the album itself is amazing... except for Heart of Glass.
R.E.M.
4/5
The first time I saw REM, they were opening for Joan Jett and The Police. They said they were going to play five songs and then leave. Which was a bit of a lie because they had six songs, five on the Chronic Town EP and the single, Radio Free Europe. Radio Free Europe, was well played on New Music (i.e. New Wave i.e. College i.e. Alternative) radio stations. It was a great song. The jangly guitars and esoteric lyrics, usually a liability, worked for REM, and the Cold War references resonated with young adults sick of the constant threat of nuclear annihilation. In any event, they were great.
This is why all the cool kids were thrilled when Murmur came out. We thought that there would be a bunch of new songs in the vein of Radio Free Europe. Which was true! While not as fully formed as their next two records (some of th songs were a bit repetitive) Murmur was more REM goodness, especially Talk About The Passion, Catapult, and Pilgimage.
Murmur was a good start to what would become an major band of the mid to late 1980s and into the 90s, before kind of falling off the cliff and into a see of their own self-importance.
Tears For Fears
5/5
Some moments stick with you. I was heading up to from the metro NYC area to Western NY to visit my then fiancée, driving across the Throggs Neck Bridge. I popped a cassette of this album into my tape player and Boom! Instant wow. The music from Song from the Big Chair had just started playing in the clubs but I hadn't yet listened to them. For the next 45 minutes, I drove the worst part of driving to Upstate NY (Cross Bronx Expressway anyone?) and kept my sanity listening to this fantastic album.
The breakout album for Tears for Fears, Songs from the Big Chair took them away from the mope rock of The Hurting (which was still awesome) and towards the Beatlesque pop of their subsequent albums. It also made the MTV stars. Top 40 hits include Everybody Wants to Rule the World and Shout, both now fixtures of classic alt rock. Head Over Heels was also popular on New Music radio and College radio at the time and is my personal favorite song on the album.
Songs from the Big Chair was an inflection point between the new wave and disco influenced music of the early 80s and the brit pop of the latter 80s and 90s. Listen for the history but especially for the songs.
Green Day
5/5
Ah, 1994. A great year in music. This was the year Alternative really emerged as a force, Grunge was in full stride, and Pop Punk went from being a SoCal (and maybe rapidly aging punk rocker) thing to the mainstream.
Pop Punk wasn't invented in 1994 nor was it invented by Green Day. Bad Religion (and a bunch of other SoCal groups) had been creating Pop Punk for over 10 years by this point. What made 1994 special was that Dookie. Dookie made Pop Punks something you heard in a local radio station on the way to work. After Dookie, the flood gates opened.
It makes sense. Dookie is the ultimate chucklehead album. It mixes punk irreverance with lots of humor, and finishes it with Pop harmonies. Unlike, say, Bad Religion, it wasn't political. Instead it was stupid in a fun way. Topics include, stupid slackers, masterbation, teen crushes, and other less than heavy subjects. Dookie is jam packed with great songs too; There are no bad songs on this album. Basket Case, Chump, Burnout, When I Come Around, Longview, and especially, Welcome to Paradise are now stables of Classic Rock and just damn good songs.
American Idiot may be Green Day's masterpiece but, Dookie was the launch pad. It's also just damn fun.
Electric Light Orchestra
4/5
Out of the Blue is the album that transitioned ELO from a cool band, especially amongst college students, into a mainstream blockbuster. Sweet Talkin' Woman and Turn to Stone were both massive hits in the US and the album cover was incredibly cool for it's day. The big turn off was that it was so long. While the music is great, it's not as densely packed with great songs as A New World Record from a year earlier. Even so, it's pretty spectacular and made ELO a household name in popular music.
U2
5/5
By 1991, the music everyone was listening to had changed. The New Wave of the 80s, had given way to the Alternative of the 90s and U2 was starting to look like the last decade. Having already messed around with Roots Revival to profound effect, U2 knew that changing their style didn't mean music business death. This is the genesis of Achtung Baby: a reinvention of U2 for the 90s.
The Edge's signature jangly guitar is still there. Bono's urgent vocals are still there. The style, however, is clearly alternative. The grinding guitar opening of Zoostation, the lead song on the album, sounds more like The Breeders than 80s era U2. The muted vocals of Until the Ends of the World were not classic U2 but certainly of the time. And yet, Mysterious Ways, the big hit, could be an outtake from Joshua Tree.
Despite this mélange of 90s and late 80s styles, Achtung Baby is not a jumble. The production is so clean, the song list so well thought out, that it hangs together like a movie soundtrack.
Achtung Baby extended the career of U2 by another 15 years, ushering in an era of experimentation and allowing them to weather the horrid experiment in electronica called Pop. By the mid-2000s they were phoning it in and from then on were mostly a legacy band despite a rash of underperforming, dull albums in the 2020s. Achtung Baby, however, moved the band into the 90s without fundamentally changing who they were.
Adam & The Ants
5/5
When I purchased this record in 1980, I came home and played it on my stereo in my room at my parent's house. My mother said to me "I don't always like your music but I agree it's music. This! This is not music." Such was the polarization this album created. Either you loved or you hated it. I loved it, and still do. Mom? Not so much.
It is a different record. There are jangly new wave songs, punk songs, and experimental discordant songs. It is unlike the music of the period and just like it.
Sinead O'Connor
5/5
This was a moment in time between when Sinead O'Connor was elevated from Alternative darling to a mainstream goddess and when she crashed and burned. Three years before, The Lion and the Cobra seemed to come out of nowhere and capture the minds of college students and punk rockers. It was one of the most powerful albums of the time. It still is. It gave her just enough album sales and notoriety that she could make the grand and expansive "I do not want what I haven't got". The first single off the album was Black Boys on Mopeds, a song about police violence against Black teens. This gained traction enough to keep everyone interested until the blockbuster Prince-penned hit Nothing Compares to U could break out of college radio and into the mainstream. Sinead was suddenly the object of devotion of millions of teenage girls.
Unfortunately, she used this newfound fame to diss the Catholic Church on SNL. That she was right about what was going on was beside the point. This was decades before the scandals would explode. The amount of anger she generated among Catholics was evenly matched or surpassed by the ennui everyone else felt about having to listen to her politics instead of her music. Her career would never be the same.
That said, "I do not want what I haven't got" is a brilliant album. The songwriting is remarkable, her voice angelic, and production tight. It's amazing. Too bad that her politics outshone her music when it should have been the other way around.
Rush
5/5
Some Rush fans would argue that 2112 is the best Rush album ever. I would argue it is one of the best albums ever by any artist. A perfect combination of prog rock and hard rock, 2112 has the incredible, sweeping, expansive title suite (which took up the whole first half of the original album) that is then bolstered by an array of brilliant songs. My favorite is the adventurous and drug-oriented Passage to Bangkok. The Twilight Zone is more contemplative, Lessons Zepplinesque, Tears is sad and slow, while Something for Nothing is just classic Rush.
Rush was always tight and incredibly talented but, on 2112, they were inspired. That said, 2112 is still firmly in their more prog rock style. That style carried over for the next few years into A Farewell to Kings and, the apotheosis of that era, Hemispheres. After that, the long suites such as 2112, Xanadu, and Trees disappeared in favor of the shorter hard rock pieces of Permanent Waves and Moving Pictures which came to dominate their albums, though not their concerts.
If you came to Rush in the 1980s, 2112 will seem very different than what you're used to. So be it! It's still one of their finest albums and a truly great rock album.
Bruce Springsteen
5/5
After The River, Bruce Springsteen turned away from Rock and, instead, spent his time back in his roots of Folk with Nebraska. He had, however, some unfinished business. If you view Born to Run, Darkness on the Edge of Town, and The River as a play in three acts, we find our young protagonists living in a gritty world, yet full of hopeful enthusiasm (Born To Run), followed by crushing reality (Darkness on the Edge of Town), and finally painful disillusionment (The River). With Born in the USA, we get a fourth installment that finds our protagonists now grown up and learning to cope with disappointment and life in general. We see them working a blue color job but remaining upbeat (Working on the Highway), dealing with their PTSD (Born in the USA), a weekend out of the city looking for girls (Darlington County), resistance to hopelessness (No Surrender, Dancing in the Dark), and reminiscing about the old days that now seem better than they did at the time (Glory Days).
Born in the USA is an iconic album of the 1980s. It captures the sense of worry but resistance common at the time. It also spurred more hit songs than any other Springsteen album and made him the darling of MTV. It's not his greatest album - I'd argue for Born to Run or The River for that - but is a close second. Very close.
Note: A lot of politicians use Born in the USA as walkup music at rallies. Both Presidents Reagan and Trump did this. Neither bothered to listen to the lyrics or get permission from The Boss. If they had, they would have realized it's not the jingoistic, patriotic song they were hoping for. Instead, it's a critique of what war does to people and how politicians use the armed forces for strictly political aims. It's an indictment of the USA, not a celebration.
Madonna
4/5
Haircut 100
4/5
There was a moment in the 1980s, between OG New Wave and Techno's dominance when there was smart, fun, New Wave, pop. Bands such as Adam and the Ants with their weird wailing, DEVO with it's... um.. just weirdness, high energy pop of Duran Duran, and Spandau Ballet and the other New Romantics performed music you could dance to and listen to.
Haircut 100 happened at this moment with their breezy, jazzy, funky New Wave. They were lightweight but sophisticated, precursors to the New Romantics. Favourite Shirts (Boy Meets Girl) and Love Plus One were mainstays of the NYC New Wave clubs, and New Wave/Punks stations such as WLIR NY and KROC in LA.
Aside from those songs, which lead off Pelican West, their one and only album, this record is uneven. Some songs such as Lemon Firebrigade are basically light jazz instrumentals, while others are Milk Film and Kingsize are more New Wave. The latter kind of sounds like Duran Duran with horns a nice touch that Duran Duran would add later. Fantastic Day, a UK hit, would have been a great addition to an 80s teen rom com.
All in all, Pelican West veers from inspired to insipid. which was common in the early 80s. It's an era that produced many one hot wonders. Pelican West is never bad but, never great either. It's a fun listen and Love Plus One and Favourite Shirts (Boy Meets Girl) are a must for any early 1980s club or driving mix.
Violent Femmes
4/5
The only way you might not have heard the music on this album, is if you have been living in a cave, situated in a remote jungle, towards the top of a mountain that can only be accessed by helicopter, with no electricity or contact with the outside world, for 42 years. Blister in the Sun is that ubiquitous. Kiss off and Gone Daddy Gone are not quite as common but can be found on fine Alternative Radio Stations throughout the world. The Violent Femmes eponymous debut is like that, full of catchy, quirky songs that not only captured the zeitgeist of the mid-1980s but somehow transcended the times to become pop culture icons.
Unfortunately, this album is an example of lightning in a bottle, something unrepeatable. It's not that they never created another album; It's that they never created an album like this. That's the problem with creating something iconic - it's not repeatable. So, while one could argue the value of the Violent Femmes' subsequent albums, none reached the heights of quality of their debut. It was of the times and out of time. That's why it's special.
Beatles
5/5
I can only look at this album through the lens of the 1970s and 80s - I was too young to experience Rubber Soul when it came out. What amazes me to this day is how forward looking this album is. It was only 1965 but the Beatles had ditched their previous "yeah yeah yeah" pop style and were not adopting the bubblegum pop of the era. Instead, they pioneered both Power Pop and Soft Rock in the same record. That's mind blowing.
Songs such as Norwegian Wood, You Won't See Me, Nowhere Man, debuted the Power Pop that would become the hallmark of their next album, Revolver. It wasn't even called Power Pop until more than a decade later. It was just the Beatles.
At the same time, songs such as In My Life and the wedding favorite Michelle, introduced the idea that a quite love song could still be a rock song i.e. Soft Rock. Soft Rock would come into its own in the 1970s, though the Beatles would often pepper their albums with this type of music.
Here's the controversial part of little diatribe: Sgt. Pepper is not their most inventive album. That album was the Beatles take on something that was already in progress. Rubber Soul and the next year's Revolver were true invention. They created something new from the air.
5/5
The Joshua Tree was the album that catapulted U2 from college radio and MTV darlings to one of the biggest bands in the world. They combined their anthematic new wave with American blues and roots to create an amazing synthesis of European and American music. Even U2 fans often consider this their best album and high point. With or Without You was a mega hit and I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For a timeless hit. Enumerating the great songs on the album is futile: Everything is great, just in different amounts. In addition, The Joshua Tree captures the sound of the late 1980s, a time before hip hop went mainstream and R&B Pop became, well, Pop.
I can argue on personal preferences for War as the better album but, that's nit picking. This is perhaps THE U2 record.
Harry Nilsson
1/5
I never got why critics think that Harry Nilsson was some kind of genius. His songs are often overwrought, drippy, often boring, and sometimes just stupid. Take the big "hit" from this album Without You. It's a whiney song that borders on creepy. Its lyrics sound like what a manipulative MAN might say to control a partner. It's basically "If you won't love me, I'd rather die!" you expect it to be followed up "I'll kill myself if you won't love me!" Ugh. That doesn't sound romantic; It sounds like a controlling threat." The Police got it right with Wrapped Around Your Finger, recognizing that the abusiveness of controlling a partner. Without You, romanticizes it.
Much of the rest of the album is either dull 70s easy listening pop or dull 70s singer songwriter folk.
I don't buy the usual flattery from critics. No matter how you look at it, this is not a good album, let alone a great one. Even the name is painfully trite and twee. Don't bother with this tripe.
Cream
5/5
What can one say about one of the most iconic rock albums in history? Is it a prime example of late 60s Blues Rock? It sure is. I could also mention that it set the stage for the next 25 years of Rock music and beyond. All of that is true. What's most important is that it is a great album. Three songs on the album are true classics in the sense that they are played today: Strange Brew, Tales Of Brave Ulysses, and, of course, Sunshine Of Your Love. The album itself shows up on every "classic rock albums" list you can find.
What makes Disraeli Gears so wonderful is that it mixes Blues, Rock, and Psychedelica into a neat and satisfying package. If you like Cream, Blue Rock, Rock music, or just music, then you must listen to this album.
Bob Marley & The Wailers
5/5
The quintessential Bob Marley album, Exodus might just be the zenith of first wave reggae. Besides all the hits on the record, including Marley's most successful single Jamming, Exodus has a vibe that reaches beyond the typical reggae audience at the time. In fact, Exodus was the gateway drug of reggae, especially int he early 1980s.
Released in 1977, Jamming somehow became part of the early 1981 new wave radio mix. While many people who were into more exotic music in the US listened to Bob Marley and the Wailers earlier, the mass market became aware of him in the early 1980s because of Jamming. After that, Markey was all over every college dorm for the next decade.
Tragically, Bob Marley achieved this height only a short time before he died from cancer. At least he went out on top.
Exodus is genuine, free feeling, and, yet, accessible. It belongs in every collection not matter if you have dozens of reggae albums or none yet.
Black Flag
5/5
Probably the most well-known Black Flag album, to the extent that you can say that about any of their albums, is Damaged. This is mostly because of the song TV Party, a song that is ultimately about giving up, which was featured in the cult movie classic Repo Man. You can find TV Party on the Repo Man soundtrack as well. Damaged is more than just one song. Besides TV Party, you have the raw anthem Rise Above, the anti-authoritarian screed Spray Paint, the ridiculous nihilism of Six Pack, and painfully loud Damaged I, II, and II.
Damaged is the first Black Flag album to feature the incredible Henry Rollins. It's intense, political, and at times, funny. I mean, how can you not laugh at the shouted list of early 1980s TV shows that anchors TV Party? You can't really.
Damaged is both an example of the 1980s DC hardcore scene and social commentary that is horribly relevant today.
The Good, The Bad & The Queen
5/5
The Good, the Bad and the Queen (TGBQ)is a sometimes Damon Albarn (of Blur and Gorillaz fame) with Danger Mouse and Paul Simonon (the Clash). They only produced two albums, the first, this one on 2007 and another in 2018. Their eponymous debut shows why it's a pity that they don't record more albums together. TGBQ sounds like a synthesis of Alternative, various retro styles, New Age, and a smattering of early 21st century Garage Revival. Quite the pastiche. It's much closer to Blur, though a much mellower Blur, than Gorillaz, with the exception of Herculean.
This was one of more favorite albums in the 2000s. In the intervening years it has lost much of its luster, mainly because there's no standout songs that are in my playlists and that drive me to relisten to the album. Instead, it's makes for great background music.
To quote Dom DeLuise as Ceaser in History of the World Part I, "it's nice. Not thrilling, but nice."
Culture Club
1/5
Gag! It's Culture Club. If their first big hit "Do You Really Want to Hurt Me?" didn't make you want to hurt them, then this album certainly will. It's a saccharine sweet lightweight vapor of an album dressed in a little bit of Blue-Eyed Soul. Karma Chameleon was a hit amongst middle schoolers new to MTV but serious club goers despised it. Church of the Poisoned Mind, while an MTV hit was repetitive and lacking any real substance.
But how do I really feel?
Red Hot Chili Peppers
1/5
It is pretty common to whiff your album after your breakout album. That level of quality, let alone the fame that comes with it, is tough to replicate on a regular basis. The good news that One Hot Minute was that album, coming on the heels of the seminal Blood Sugar Sex Magik. That freed them up to create the outstanding Californication. It took them four years but was worth the wait.
The problem for Chili Pepper fans, at that time, was this was Californication was more alternative than funk. Funk was there but in smaller amounts. If you liked the Chili Peppers for the Funk, well, you were disappointed. If you loved a great album, then you weren't. It was that simple. Californication IS a great album, from the opening track, Around the World, to Road Trippin' at the end. The big hits and highlights were Scar Tissue and the title track.
Californication is has enough of the Chili Peppers DNA to appeal to most fans but it also has enough Alt-Rock to appeal to folks who may not have been into them before. Blood Sugar Sex Magik is, undoubtably their best album but Califorination is a clsoe second.
The Psychedelic Furs
5/5
Talk Talk Talk (not to be confused with Talk Talk by Talk Talk... I know, the 80s were weird) is the album that made everyone take notice of the Psychedelic Furs. It's not the one that made them MTV darlings, that being Forever Now, though it does contain their most enduring song, Pretty in Pink. Alongside Pretty in Pink, there is a host of great tunes on this record, especially Into You Like a Train and Mr. Jones. The latter very much shows their punk roots. And that's because The Furs were punk and they were New Wave and they had a touch of what would become Shoegaze. That's what makes this album so wonderful. That's all there in its raw form, before the slick MTV style took over. Yes, Forever Now is a great album, but it's a different kind of album than Talk Talk Talk. It's more produced with far fewer (intentionally) rough edges.
Forever Now is an 80s album. Talk Talk Talk is a Punk and New Wave album. Maybe it's a matter of taste but I think Talk Talk Talk is the better album and this version of Pretty in Pink is vastly superior to the reworked version for the fantastic Brat Pack movie of the same name. Stick with the original song and the original Furs.