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Tue Jan 31 2023
Rattus Norvegicus
The Stranglers
A true classic. The deep baritone of singer Hugh Cornwall, alongside the Farfifa organ sells the album.
5
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Wed Feb 01 2023
Physical Graffiti
Led Zeppelin
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.
5
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Thu Feb 02 2023
Faith
George Michael
Nope. Hated it then, hate it now.
1
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Tue Feb 07 2023
Strangeways, Here We Come
The Smiths
4
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Wed Feb 08 2023
Dare!
The Human League
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".
4
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Thu Feb 09 2023
Younger Than Yesterday
The Byrds
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.
5
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Sun Feb 12 2023
The Wall
Pink Floyd
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.
5
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Sat Feb 18 2023
Shake Your Money Maker
The Black Crowes
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.
3
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Mon Feb 27 2023
Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
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.
5
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Tue Feb 28 2023
Soul Mining
The The
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.
5
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Wed Mar 01 2023
Fisherman's Blues
The Waterboys
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.
5
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Thu Mar 02 2023
Viva Hate
Morrissey
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.
2
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Mon Mar 06 2023
Mama Said Knock You Out
LL Cool J
This is what old school hip hop is all about. Solid music, great rapping, and not too much of that misogynist crap.
4
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Thu Mar 09 2023
Dire Straits
Dire Straits
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.
5
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Fri Mar 10 2023
Unknown Pleasures
Joy Division
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.
5
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Wed Mar 15 2023
The Rising
Bruce Springsteen
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.
4
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Sun Mar 19 2023
Band On The Run
Paul McCartney and Wings
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.
3
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Sat Mar 25 2023
Ritual De Lo Habitual
Jane's Addiction
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.
5
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Fri Mar 31 2023
At Folsom Prison
Johnny Cash
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.
5
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Thu Apr 06 2023
The Dark Side Of The Moon
Pink Floyd
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.
5
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Fri Apr 07 2023
Tommy
The Who
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.
5
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Sat Apr 08 2023
The Man Machine
Kraftwerk
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.
5
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Tue Apr 11 2023
Superunknown
Soundgarden
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.
5
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Fri Apr 14 2023
New Boots And Panties
Ian Dury
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.
5
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Sun Apr 16 2023
Fifth Dimension
The Byrds
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.
4
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Tue Apr 18 2023
Peter Gabriel
Peter Gabriel
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.
4
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Wed Apr 19 2023
Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
Elton John
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
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Mon Apr 24 2023
Celebrity Skin
Hole
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.
4
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Tue Apr 25 2023
Pretenders
Pretenders
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.
5
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Fri Apr 28 2023
New York Dolls
New York Dolls
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
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Sat Apr 29 2023
Cypress Hill
Cypress Hill
Nope. The music of emotionally stunted frat boys who think they can rap. Nope nope nope.
1
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Mon May 01 2023
Group Sex
Circle Jerks
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.
4
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Tue May 02 2023
Armed Forces
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
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.
5
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Wed May 03 2023
In The Wee Small Hours
Frank Sinatra
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.
5
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Mon May 08 2023
Toys In The Attic
Aerosmith
This is an amazing bit of the 70s. The song "Toys in the Attic" alone makes it worthwhile. Really, Aerosmith v1 at its height
4
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Wed May 10 2023
The Only Ones
The Only Ones
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.
3
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Sat May 13 2023
Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)
Eurythmics
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.
5
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Sun May 14 2023
Kid A
Radiohead
Kid A was a worthy followup to OK Computer. The latter album represented a serious departure from previous Radiohead. It's a sonic landscape.
5
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Tue May 16 2023
Thriller
Michael Jackson
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.
5
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Thu May 25 2023
Led Zeppelin IV
Led Zeppelin
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.
5
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Tue May 30 2023
The Specials
The Specials
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.
5
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Sat Jun 03 2023
The Number Of The Beast
Iron Maiden
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.
5
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Tue Jun 06 2023
Tapestry
Carole King
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.
4
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Sun Jun 11 2023
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
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.
5
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Wed Jun 14 2023
Orbital 2
Orbital
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.
5
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Tue Jun 27 2023
Siamese Dream
The Smashing Pumpkins
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.
5
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Fri Jun 30 2023
Tarkus
Emerson, Lake & Palmer
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.
5
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Sat Jul 01 2023
A Rush Of Blood To The Head
Coldplay
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.
4
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Tue Jul 11 2023
American Idiot
Green Day
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.
5
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Sun Jul 16 2023
Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
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.
4
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Tue Jul 18 2023
Tusk
Fleetwood Mac
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.
3
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Wed Jul 26 2023
Talking Heads 77
Talking Heads
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.
5
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Thu Jul 27 2023
The Undertones
The Undertones
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.
4
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Tue Aug 01 2023
London Calling
The Clash
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.
5
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Tue Aug 08 2023
Remain In Light
Talking Heads
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.
5
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Thu Aug 10 2023
The Lexicon Of Love
ABC
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.
4
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Sun Aug 13 2023
Talking With the Taxman About Poetry
Billy Bragg
4
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Fri Aug 18 2023
Chris
Christine and the Queens
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.
4
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Wed Aug 23 2023
Moondance
Van Morrison
4
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Fri Aug 25 2023
Imagine
John Lennon
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.
2
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Sat Aug 26 2023
Morrison Hotel
The Doors
4
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Sun Aug 27 2023
Blood Sugar Sex Magik
Red Hot Chili Peppers
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.
5
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Mon Aug 28 2023
Trio
Dolly Parton
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.
5
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Sat Sep 02 2023
Ill Communication
Beastie Boys
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.
3
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Tue Sep 12 2023
Is This It
The Strokes
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.
5
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Fri Sep 15 2023
Countdown To Ecstasy
Steely Dan
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.
2
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Sat Sep 16 2023
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
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.
5
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Mon Sep 25 2023
Low-Life
New Order
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.
5
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Wed Sep 27 2023
Hot Fuss
The Killers
A classic of the rock revival of the 2000, Hot Fuss is unpretentious rock music that would for into nearly any era.
4
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Thu Sep 28 2023
All Things Must Pass
George Harrison
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.
5
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Mon Oct 02 2023
Larks' Tongues In Aspic
King Crimson
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.
4
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Wed Oct 04 2023
The Velvet Underground & Nico
The Velvet Underground
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.
5
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Fri Oct 06 2023
Bat Out Of Hell
Meat Loaf
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.
5
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Sat Oct 07 2023
Off The Wall
Michael Jackson
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.
4
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Tue Oct 10 2023
The Band
The Band
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.
5
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Fri Oct 13 2023
Psychocandy
The Jesus And Mary Chain
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.
3
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Sat Oct 14 2023
(What's The Story) Morning Glory
Oasis
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".
4
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Wed Oct 18 2023
Crocodiles
Echo And The Bunnymen
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.
4
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Thu Oct 19 2023
Bad
Michael Jackson
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.
2
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Sat Oct 21 2023
25
Adele
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.
5
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Tue Oct 24 2023
In The Court Of The Crimson King
King Crimson
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.
5
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Wed Oct 25 2023
Chemtrails Over The Country Club
Lana Del Rey
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.
1
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Thu Oct 26 2023
The Cars
The Cars
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.
5
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Tue Oct 31 2023
White Blood Cells
The White Stripes
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
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Thu Nov 02 2023
The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars
David Bowie
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.
5
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Sun Nov 05 2023
Funeral
Arcade Fire
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.
4
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Tue Nov 07 2023
Rust Never Sleeps
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
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.
5
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Thu Nov 09 2023
Arc Of A Diver
Steve Winwood
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
3
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Sat Nov 11 2023
Automatic For The People
R.E.M.
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.
5
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Mon Nov 13 2023
Beautiful Freak
Eels
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.
5
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Sat Nov 18 2023
So
Peter Gabriel
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.
5
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Mon Nov 20 2023
Vivid
Living Colour
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.
4
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Tue Nov 21 2023
Revolver
Beatles
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.
5
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Fri Nov 24 2023
Germfree Adolescents
X-Ray Spex
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.
5
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Tue Nov 28 2023
Hunky Dory
David Bowie
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.
4
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Fri Dec 01 2023
New Forms
Roni Size
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.
2
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Tue Dec 05 2023
Marquee Moon
Television
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.
5
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Fri Dec 08 2023
Elastica
Elastica
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.
5
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Sat Dec 09 2023
Highway to Hell
AC/DC
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.
4
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Sun Dec 10 2023
Tidal
Fiona Apple
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.
2
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Tue Dec 12 2023
21
Adele
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.
5
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Wed Dec 13 2023
Exile On Main Street
The Rolling Stones
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.
3
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Tue Dec 19 2023
Reggatta De Blanc
The Police
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.
5
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Sat Dec 23 2023
The White Album
Beatles
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
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Tue Jan 02 2024
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Beatles
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.
5
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Fri Jan 05 2024
Bridge Over Troubled Water
Simon & Garfunkel
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.
5
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Sat Jan 06 2024
Urban Hymns
The Verve
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.
1
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Tue Jan 09 2024
Dummy
Portishead
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.
5
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Wed Jan 10 2024
Back In Black
AC/DC
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.
4
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Fri Jan 12 2024
The Bends
Radiohead
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.
4
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Sat Jan 27 2024
War
U2
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.
5
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Mon Jan 29 2024
Every Picture Tells A Story
Rod Stewart
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.
4
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Tue Jan 30 2024
The Clash
The Clash
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.
5
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Sat Feb 03 2024
Moving Pictures
Rush
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.
5
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Wed Feb 07 2024
Steve McQueen
Prefab Sprout
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.
2
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Thu Feb 08 2024
Exile In Guyville
Liz Phair
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.
1
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Fri Feb 09 2024
Juju
Siouxsie And The Banshees
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.
5
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Sat Feb 10 2024
Boston
Boston
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.
5
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Sat Feb 17 2024
Pet Sounds
The Beach Boys
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.
3
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Sun Feb 18 2024
OK Computer
Radiohead
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.
4
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Fri Feb 23 2024
Live 1966 (The Royal Albert Hall Concert)
Bob Dylan
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.
2
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Sun Feb 25 2024
Close To The Edge
Yes
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.
5
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Mon Feb 26 2024
Licensed To Ill
Beastie Boys
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.
5
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Tue Feb 27 2024
Disintegration
The Cure
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.
5
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Sat Mar 02 2024
In Utero
Nirvana
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.
5
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Sat Mar 16 2024
Bookends
Simon & Garfunkel
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.
4
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Thu Mar 21 2024
Autobahn
Kraftwerk
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.
5
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Sun Apr 07 2024
Wish You Were Here
Pink Floyd
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.
5
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Wed Apr 10 2024
At Fillmore East
The Allman Brothers Band
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.
5
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Sun Apr 14 2024
Paranoid
Black Sabbath
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.
5