After listening to Jurassic 5's "Power in Numbers" yesterday, it feels fitting that I was given an album by a group that influenced it heavily. This record here being vastly superior in terms of originality and messaging. There a lot of great cuts here. My favourites being "911 is a Joke", "Who Stole the Soul?", and of course, "Fight the Power". I definitely see the Influence that Funkadelic had on this era of hip-hop shine on this album. And that's a very good thing. Personal Enjoyment - 8.5 Songwriting - 7.5 Lyrics - 8.5 - the subject matter is a 10 but the cheesy moments bring it down slightly for me. Originality - 7 Production Value - 10 Artwork - 10 Overall - 8.3

Good album. Very Doors. Personal enjoyment - 8.5 Songwriting - 8 Lyrics - 5. Pretty derivative but it works for what it is Originality - 7 Production Value - 10 Artwork - 9 Overall - 7.6

Great listen. This is now the first Dylan record I've listened to front to back. Some songs that I have heard before remain my favourites. Specifically "Like a Rolling Stone", "Ballad of a Thin Man", and "Queen Jane Approximately". Personal Enjoyment - 8 Song Writing - 8.5 Lyrics - 10 Originality - 7.5 Production Value - 10 Artwork - 10 Overall - 8.8

Fun record. A little too long for me but there are definitely some strong moments that make it enjoyable. My standout songs were "A Day at the Races", "Thin Line", and the closer "Acetate Prophets". Definitely a strong early 90s sound to this. Maybe not the most original but still a solid project. Personal Enjoyment - 7.5 Songwriting - 7.5 Lyrics - 7 Originality - 6.5 Production Value - 10 Artwork - 9 Overall - 7.6

After listening to Jurassic 5's "Power in Numbers" yesterday, it feels fitting that I was given an album by a group that influenced it heavily. This record here being vastly superior in terms of originality and messaging. There a lot of great cuts here. My favourites being "911 is a Joke", "Who Stole the Soul?", and of course, "Fight the Power". I definitely see the Influence that Funkadelic had on this era of hip-hop shine on this album. And that's a very good thing. Personal Enjoyment - 8.5 Songwriting - 7.5 Lyrics - 8.5 - the subject matter is a 10 but the cheesy moments bring it down slightly for me. Originality - 7 Production Value - 10 Artwork - 10 Overall - 8.3

Stop! Look! And Listen, one of the greatest jazz records I've listened to so far. I haven't listened to many to be fair but this is a great one. Such a good listen. An interesting blend of smooth jazz and sudden bursts of excitement and uneasiness makes this one pretty unique and enjoyable. All tracks are great. Personal Enjoyment - 9 Songwriting - 10 Originality - 9 Production Value - 10 Artwork - 10 Overall - 9.5

As a kid, I thought I didn't like the Beatles. My friends had gotten into them and from what I heard through them I thought they were an old boy band. I held this belief for years and never gave them a shot. When I got my first job at 15, I used my first paycheck to buy a budget record player (something I had wanted for years) and was soon gifted "Let it Be" and "Abbey Road" from family friends. At the time I wished that I had gotten albums that I wanted myself but soon came to realise the power of gifting music. I gave both these records a try and was absolutely blown away by what I heard on "Abbey Road". The ideas of a boy band had disappeared with songs like "Come Together", "Oh Darling!", and especially "I Want You (She's So Heavy)". And the genius of the medley on the B side was an amazing listening experience. It made me rethink the Beatles but it also made me rethink music. There were many aspects of this record that I have never heard before from any other group in the last 50 years. This album has stuck as one of my favourites and so have the Beatles. Overall - 9.7 Maxwell's Silver Hammer knocks off 0.3

I have never heard of this group but apparently it was part of my dad's tape repertoire he would listen to on his Walkman in the lab in grad school. I definitely enjoyed the first two-thirds of this record a lot. "It's only Natural", "Weather With You", and "There Goes God" were the standouts for me and there were a couple others I liked too. It slows down quite a bit and probably would have benefited from being a few songs shorter but I can't say the quality diminishes too much. I will definitely listen to this record again. Personal Enjoyment - 8 Songwriting - 8 Lyrics - 8.5 Originality - 7 Production Value - 9 Artwork - 10 Overall - 8.3

Instantly Irish. This is straight punk. No surprises. All fun stuff but nothing to blow me away. My favourites are "There Goes Norman", "Tearproof", and "Girls That Don't Talk" Personal Enjoyment - 8 Songwriting - 7 Lyrics - 7 Originality - 7 Production Value - 9 Artwork - 10 Overall - 7.6

I'm not the biggest country fan but I don't mind the folky stuff. This record was pretty standard I think. As far as my undeveloped palette knows, this was a mediocre standard record. I guess one track I thought was a highlight was "She'll Love The One She's With". I enjoyed the record more than I disliked it so it's still a positive listen. Not something I'll revisit though. Personal Enjoyment - 6.5 Songwriting - 7 Lyrics - 7 Originality - 6 Production Value - 9 Artwork - 8 Overall - 7.0

This was an interesting one. I've never heard of this group or record before but it was pretty good. I think it's aged well and many artists are making music with these sounds and ideas today. May be ahead of its time and that's impressive. I found the music itself to be pretty good too but nothing totally mind blowing other than the experimentation which was great. Personal Enjoyment - 7.5 Songwriting - 8.5 Lyrics - 7.5 Originality - 9 Production Value - 10 Artwork - 10 Overall - 8.3

This record was surprisingly fun. I could see some of these songs being played in the NHL Slapshot menu or in pubs in St. John's. Not a genre I ever listen to and that probably won't change but it was fun. The album cover made me think it would be a bad listen though. My favourites were "Bottle of Smoke" and the medley on side B. Personal Enjoyment - 7.5 Songwriting - 8 Lyrics - 7.5 Originality - 7 Production Value - 9 Artwork - 5 Overall - 7.6

It's not that deep. This was pretty mid. Personal Enjoyment - 5 Songwriting - 6 Lyrics - 7 Originality - 6 Production Value - 9 Artwork - 9 Overall - 6.5

For an album I hear an awful lot about, and see on the internet as a staple to some people, I was left pretty disappointed with this one. It had it's moments, but mostly felt like a representation of the time and not much more. It wasn't at all bad, just a little outdated in presentation. Especially vocally. My favourite song was probably "(I Don't Want To Go To) Chelsea. Personal Enjoyment - 6.5 Songwriting - 8 Lyrics - 7 Originality - 8 Production Value -10 Artwork - 10 Overall - 7.7

I've heard a lot about this album and it's been slightly hyped up for me. It's definitely pretty solid and the album is produced great and performed well too. It's very 2001 hip-hop which isn't at all a bad thing. It's one of my personal favourite eras of the genre. I don't really have any favourites here. The songs were all good but not amazing to me. Personal Enjoyment - 7.5 Songwriting - 7.5 Lyrics - 8 Originality - 7.5 Production Value - 10 Artwork - 10 Overall - 8.0

Coldplay gets a bad wrap. Especially over the last 15 years or so. But their first small handful of albums have a lot to offer. Although simply written and performed, the strength of the music here is quite good and although I prefer their debut, this here undoubtedly has the Coldplay sound fully developed with the piano work and yeeee oooohhhs and aaahhhhs. And while there are some nostalgic radio hits here, my favourites are definitely some of the deeper cuts. "Daylight", "God Put A Smile Upon Your Face", and "Green Eyes" shine through the most for me. Lyrically though, Martin doesn't fail to disappoint with some pretty cliche lines. Personal Enjoyment - 9 Songwriting - 7.5 Lyrics - 7 Originality - 7.5 Production Value - 10 Artwork - 10 Overall - 8.2

This is a well written and performed record. Nothing too special about it in my opinion and there were certainly more ambitious projects released in '67. I think the title track is my favourite but there are some other gems here and there. Personal Enjoyment - 8.5 Songwriting - 7.5 Lyrics - 7.5 Originality - 7.5 Production Value - 9 Artwork - 8 Overall - 7.9

These guys want to be Gorillaz so bad. 8.2

I like the Beach Boys a lot and this was just more of a good thing really. Solid tracks front to back but nothing that compares to what they would do later in their careers. My favourite tracks were "Help me, Rhonda" and "Please Let Me Wonder". Personal Enjoyment - 9 Songwriting - 7.5 Lyrics - 7 Originality - 7 Production Value - 9 Artwork - 9 Overall - 7.9

I listened to this one a few years ago while travelling and was too caught up with the ordeals of travel to give it a close listen. There are some gems on here that I didn't notice before. Of course "There She Goes" is the standout but "Son of a Gun" and "I.O.U." made an impression on me this time around. I'm not sure I'll come back to the album as a whole. I've picked out my favourites. The rest are fine to me but not much more. Personal Enjoyment - 8 Songwriting - 7 Lyrics - 7 Originality - 7.5 Production Value - 10 Artwork - 10 Overall - 7.8

I'm not too well-versed in electronic music so this was pretty interesting. I don't have too much to say other than it was alright. There were a few shining moments in it for me. "One Too Many Mornings" was a pretty cool track and the rest of the record was good and meshed really well. I think it was a pretty good length too. Nothing here really surprised me, once it started I had a good idea of what I was in for and I was pretty much right. Personal Enjoyment - 6 Songwriting - 7.5 Originality - 7.5 Production Value - 10 Artwork - 9 Overall - 7.4

I really really liked this record. It was just such a great way to start my Monday morning and my week as a whole. I will certainly be revisiting this one. My favourite tracks were "Take Five" (of course), "Kathy's Waltz", Everybody's Jumpin'", and "pick Up Sticks". Personal Enjoyment - 9 Songwriting - 9 Originality - 8 Production Value - 10 Artwork - 10 Overall - 9.0

This was alright. Not a huge fan of the vocal style but the music was pretty good. Personal Enjoyment - 6.5 Songwriting - 7.5 Lyrics - 7.5 Originality- 7 Production Value - 10 Artwork - 9 Overall - 7.5

This is a classic for a reason. It's probably my personal favourite R&B album. There are a lot of great tracks on this so I won't bother listing any. Personal Enjoyment - 8.5 Songwriting - 9 Lyrics - 8 Originality - 8.5 Production Value - 10 Artwork - 10 Overall - 8.8

Okay this might be my least favourite of the 1001 albums so far. I personally find the vocals too obnoxious to bear. I've seen someone say it's worse than fingernails on a chalkboard and I completely agree. There's also no substance here lyrically (lyrics are actually bad in my opinion) which is fine when the music is good. The instrumentation is fine, nothing special, but the vocal performance is too much for me. No favourite tracks. Glad I got it out of the way. Personal Enjoyment - 3.5 Songwriting - 7 Lyrics - 4 Originality - 6 Production Value - 10 Artwork - 9 Overall - 5.8

This one was a lot better than I thought it would be and I really enjoyed it. The songs were pretty well written and it was pretty good fun. Of course as a guitar player I had heard some of this before (especially eruption) but the whole album is pretty good. Not too sure what happened between this and "Jump" but it's a travesty. Personal Enjoyment - 8.5 Songwriting - 8.5 Lyrics - 6 Originality - 9 Production Value - 10 Artwork - 9 Overall - 8.2

It was fine. not my cup of tea but it can be a vibe. Overall - 7.0

Give a bunch of Hobbits acid and this is what you'll get. I was really excited after I hit play and was met with the style of this record. And although I can't say it got worse, it's hard to say if it got any better. I got tired of the mediaeval theme relatively quickly but I would be lying if I said I didn't like the idea. It's quite unique. No songs really stood out to me unfortunately it was all good but not amazing. Personal Enjoyment - 6.5 Songwriting - 7.5 Lyrics - 8.5 Originality - 10 Production Value - 9 Artwork - 9 Overall - 8.1

I found this a little dry for most of the runtime unfortunately. I liked some of the melodic elements throughout the record but it wasn't really enough to bring me back to it. I enjoyed "Anyone's Ghost" which I have heard before either on the radio or elsewhere but nothing else stuck out to me. I didn't find the record very exciting or deep or anything. Personal Enjoyment - 6.5 Songwriting - 7 Lyrics - 8.5 Originality - 7.5 Production Value - 9 Artwork - 9 Overall - 7.6

This album cover really made me think this would be a country soundtrack or something so I was pleasantly surprised by the club style psych rock I was met with. The first half being split up seemed a little pointless to me but if that's the way they wanted to present it, I think it's a cool idea. Overall - 8.1

A really like the ideas and style here and it feels like a bunch of demos to me. This isn't a bad thing at all though and I think a lot of other artists could benefit from dialing the production back but I feel like this is lacking some oomph for me. The songs I liked the most were "Fuck and Run", "6'1"", and "Shatter". Personal Enjoyment - 8 Songwriting - 8 Lyrics - 8 Originality - 7 Production Value - 9 Artwork - 10 Overall - 8.1

This was a great performance. Don't really know what else to say other than it made me feel good. Overall - 8.8

This was pretty good. Lots of signs of what was to come in music. The 80s sound is in it's transition stage here and the Cure were on the forefront of that maybe behind Joy Division. Personal Enjoyment - 7.5 Songwriting - 7 Lyrics - 8.5 Originality - 8.5 Production Value - 10 Artwork - 10 Overall - 8.1

It's ambient

Loved the instrumentals mixed in there. Really good music. Can't go wrong with good soul 8.1

9.1