945
Albums Rated
3.54
Average Rating
87%
Complete
144 albums remaining
Rating Distribution
Rating Timeline
Taste Profile
1950s
Favorite Decade
Jazz
Favorite Genre
other
Top Origin
Wordsmith
Rater Style ?
179
5-Star Albums
13
1-Star Albums
Breakdown
By Genre
By Decade
By Origin
Albums
You Love More Than Most
| Album | You | Global | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
|
m b v
My Bloody Valentine
|
5 | 2.72 | +2.28 |
|
Yeezus
Kanye West
|
5 | 2.77 | +2.23 |
|
Tago Mago
Can
|
5 | 2.79 | +2.21 |
|
D.O.A. the Third and Final Report of Throbbing Gristle
Throbbing Gristle
|
4 | 1.88 | +2.12 |
|
White Light / White Heat
The Velvet Underground
|
5 | 2.89 | +2.11 |
|
Gentlemen
The Afghan Whigs
|
5 | 2.9 | +2.1 |
|
Merriweather Post Pavilion
Animal Collective
|
5 | 2.9 | +2.1 |
|
Music Has The Right To Children
Boards of Canada
|
5 | 2.91 | +2.09 |
|
I Against I
Bad Brains
|
5 | 2.93 | +2.07 |
|
16 Lovers Lane
The Go-Betweens
|
5 | 2.94 | +2.06 |
You Love Less Than Most
| Album | You | Global | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
|
MTV Unplugged In New York
Nirvana
|
1 | 4.21 | -3.21 |
|
In Utero
Nirvana
|
1 | 3.83 | -2.83 |
|
Dookie
Green Day
|
1 | 3.79 | -2.79 |
|
American Idiot
Green Day
|
1 | 3.76 | -2.76 |
|
Jagged Little Pill
Alanis Morissette
|
1 | 3.72 | -2.72 |
|
With The Beatles
Beatles
|
1 | 3.66 | -2.66 |
|
Abbey Road
Beatles
|
2 | 4.46 | -2.46 |
|
Hybrid Theory
Linkin Park
|
1 | 3.39 | -2.39 |
|
Nevermind
Nirvana
|
2 | 4.37 | -2.37 |
|
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Beatles
|
2 | 4.26 | -2.26 |
Artists
Favorites
| Artist | Albums | Average |
|---|---|---|
| Led Zeppelin | 5 | 5 |
| David Bowie | 9 | 4.56 |
| Miles Davis | 4 | 5 |
| Brian Eno | 4 | 5 |
| Bob Dylan | 5 | 4.8 |
| Radiohead | 5 | 4.8 |
| U2 | 4 | 4.75 |
| Neil Young | 4 | 4.75 |
| Marvin Gaye | 3 | 5 |
| Black Sabbath | 3 | 5 |
| Jimi Hendrix | 3 | 5 |
| Pink Floyd | 3 | 5 |
| Steely Dan | 4 | 4.5 |
| The Who | 4 | 4.5 |
| Joni Mitchell | 4 | 4.5 |
| Public Enemy | 3 | 4.67 |
| The Velvet Underground | 3 | 4.67 |
| Arcade Fire | 3 | 4.67 |
| Joy Division | 2 | 5 |
| T. Rex | 2 | 5 |
| Can | 2 | 5 |
| The Smiths | 2 | 5 |
| The Flaming Lips | 2 | 5 |
| LCD Soundsystem | 2 | 5 |
| Kendrick Lamar | 2 | 5 |
| OutKast | 2 | 5 |
| Coldplay | 2 | 5 |
| Funkadelic | 2 | 5 |
| Prince | 2 | 5 |
| Wilco | 2 | 5 |
| Van Halen | 2 | 5 |
| My Bloody Valentine | 2 | 5 |
| Fleetwood Mac | 2 | 5 |
| Metallica | 2 | 5 |
| Kanye West | 2 | 5 |
| Pavement | 2 | 5 |
| Iggy Pop | 2 | 5 |
| Yes | 2 | 5 |
| A Tribe Called Quest | 2 | 5 |
| Sonic Youth | 5 | 4.2 |
| Stevie Wonder | 4 | 4.25 |
| Johnny Cash | 3 | 4.33 |
| Frank Sinatra | 3 | 4.33 |
Least Favorites
| Artist | Albums | Average |
|---|---|---|
| Nirvana | 3 | 1.33 |
| Beatles | 7 | 1.86 |
| Green Day | 2 | 1 |
| Kings of Leon | 3 | 2 |
5-Star Albums (179)
View Album Wall
Popular Reviews
Paul Simon
2/5
I’m not saying this record is a toothless snoozefest flirting with cultural appropriation…but I’m also not not saying that.
35 likes
Creedence Clearwater Revival
3/5
Best listened to on an airboat in Louisiana or helicopter above Vietnam.
28 likes
Queen
3/5
A surprising amount of fluff surrounding the eternal hits makes for a night at the opera that’s less memorable than you might hope.
24 likes
Doves
3/5
I enjoyed many of the moody, melancholy components at play here but found they never truly coalesced into a resonant conclusion.
9 likes
1-Star Albums (13)
All Ratings
Red Hot Chili Peppers
2/5
What you got, I must respectfully decline-a.
Air
4/5
Languid lunar lounge tracks, soundtracking your electronic expedition across the stars.
Kacey Musgraves
2/5
Not my cup of tea, no matter the hour.
Simon & Garfunkel
3/5
Lovely and herbaceous but it could use a little spice.
Duran Duran
2/5
Doesn’t quite light my fuse resulting in a bang, b-b-bang-oh.
PJ Harvey
4/5
PJ’s most pastoral project paints a picture most perpetual.
Miles Davis
5/5
Mr. Davis proves, in ways not so silent, just how many Miles ahead he always was.
Tito Puente
4/5
Eternal rhythms sure to populate even the most neglected of dance floors.
Dion
4/5
Levitational longings for the hopeless, restless romantic.
R.E.M.
3/5
Reasonably Enjoyable Music.
Depeche Mode
2/5
If I’m taking a ride with my best friend and they queue up this record, well, they’re going to let me down.
N.W.A.
5/5
Straight Outta Compton, straight into my veins.
Joy Division
5/5
Seminal sad boy music capturing, in ways both gorgeous and ghastly, a man’s final circlings down the drain.
Janelle Monáe
3/5
An expansive and eclectic achievement, from an undeniable talent, that’s not quite for me.
Nirvana
1/5
Go ahead and unplug me too while you’re at it.
Paul Simon
2/5
I’m not saying this record is a toothless snoozefest flirting with cultural appropriation…but I’m also not not saying that.
AC/DC
2/5
I listened to this album whilst barreling down a literal highway, and while my destination wasn't “Hell,” it might as well have been.
The Replacements
3/5
Perfectly adequate, albeit not quite irreplaceable, post-punk rock tunes.
Jamiroquai
3/5
A fun, funky party best left a little early.
Drive-By Truckers
1/5
Firmly filing under HARD PASS.
Jurassic 5
4/5
Classic conscious hip hop worth trapping in amber.
Minutemen
5/5
The embarrassment I feel having never experienced this record prior to this exercise is outweighed only by the immense joy brought forth by the knowledge that I’ll have it in my life for the rest of my days.
Pixies
3/5
My mind’s right here, and it’s landed on “Surfer So-Sosa.”
Tom Waits
4/5
A swampy slide down the depths of a subterranean circus led luridly by a raucous ringmaster.
The War On Drugs
5/5
A dream worth both getting lost in and making recurring.
Super Furry Animals
2/5
Immediately left me with a fuzzy memory of its contents.
CHIC
3/5
C’est chic, oui, et oh si funky mais dans l'ensemble juste comme ci, comme ça.
R.E.M.
3/5
Revered Enigmatic Mediocrity.
The Band
4/5
Can’t help but feel that spinning your father-in-law’s well-worn copy of Music From Big Pink while smoking cigars on a sunny Easter Sunday, like I did, is the way everyone should experience this record.
David Gray
3/5
The firm grip this record applied to my attention with its opening track, regrettably, loosened with each subsequent song.
Soft Cell
2/5
The “Tainted Love” cover is immortal, but I found most else from this Soft Cell effort to be a hard listen.
Bob Dylan
4/5
Mindful and murky, Dylan’s 30th (!) record benefits greatly from the diminished returns of the icon’s lean years and atmospheric production from Daniel Lanois.
Tom Waits
3/5
The barking bard, with his rock tumbler voice and a head full of sleaze, leads us on a tour of dank alleyways, hazy cabarets, and bars where everybody knows your game.
Snoop Dogg
4/5
With so much drama in the LBC, it’s kind of hard to give less than a 4, let alone a 3.
Drive Like Jehu
2/5
Shame this wasn’t an instrumental record.
Louis Prima
4/5
OG (Original Gangster, not Olive Garden) jazz, swing, and jump blues standards performed with jubilance and reverence for the genres.
T. Rex
5/5
An offer from The Glamfather I simply can't refuse.
Public Enemy
4/5
The fact that THIS record is considered lesser than Public Enemy’s three previous releases says all you need to know about the vital group’s ridiculous run from 1987–1991.
David Bowie
4/5
No one captured lightning in a bottle with more flair, nor more frequently, than Bowie.
Beck
4/5
Beck es bastante guay para ser un güero.
Jimmy Smith
4/5
Extra crispy jazz jams that’d make even Gus Fring get up and shake his tail feather.
Maxwell
3/5
A collection of horizontal love songs I’ll likely be hitting and quitting.
John Grant
3/5
Shimmering soliloquies featuring a striking dichotomy between sonic stylings and subject matter.
Eurythmics
2/5
Sweet Dreams (Is An Apt Title) 😴
William Orbit
3/5
I have a strong appreciation for ambient music and for spending time in William’s orbit, but I ultimately found the gravitational pull of this record to be a bit lacking.
Echo And The Bunnymen
3/5
I hear the echoes of so many other bands in this Bunnymen debut, and feel a nagging desire to hop on over to their discographies instead.
Scott Walker
2/5
It’s a “Scott 2/5” for me, but I have to say that this dude’s voice was made to croon over the big brass and smooth strings of a Bond theme (Fun Fact: Walker’s “Only Myself To Blame” was originally intended for the closing credits of 1999’s The World Is Not Enough before being replaced with a techno remix of the classic Bond theme…tough break).
Mike Oldfield
4/5
Mike Oldfield’s Renaissance fair fever dream of a debut record (best known for its use in the opening theme of The Exorcist) features over 20 instruments (mostly played by Oldfield alone), runs over 49 minutes across just two songs, and gets two thumbs up from me.
Simple Minds
2/5
I’ll keep it simple: I didn’t pay this record much mind.
Big Star
2/5
Big 2-Star Energy.
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
4/5
Rust Never Sleeps, nor does it ever seem to accumulate on Neil Young’s discography.
Marvin Gaye
5/5
Maybe we’ll never find the answers to Marvin’s musings, as the injustices of the past bleed into modern day, but as much as our revolving reality makes us want to cry, you just have to remember, always, to try.
Fairport Convention
3/5
An at times transcendent time capsule of late 60s baroque folk that could still place on Pitchfork’s Best New Music today.
Alanis Morissette
1/5
WARNING: Prolonged listening can lead to an increased risk of certain side effects and complications, including nausea, migraines, diarrhea, perforated eardrums, dizziness, and death.
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
4/5
Everybody knows skips are nowhere to be found on this record.
The Monkees
2/5
Welcome to BS HQ.
Can
5/5
I CAN and WILL give this deranged krautrock classic an EASY 5.
Pulp
2/5
To write anything suggesting I enjoyed, so much as tolerated, this record would be a work of Pulp Fiction.
Beth Orton
2/5
My Central Reservation in rating this album any higher than 2 stars is based on a complete lack of memorability.
Machito
4/5
Kinetic Latin jazz kindling ready and raring to spark the flame of any dance floor, house party, or, in my case, Wednesday morning.
Emerson, Lake & Palmer
3/5
Add some cannabis smoke to this fog of prog and get lost in its seas of keys and harmonies.
Screaming Trees
4/5
I’m as surprised as you are, dear reader, that a grunge-adjacent record from 1996 is getting a 4 from me, but the powers of Mark Lanegan seem to trump any of my genre or decade biases.
The Smiths
5/5
Long live The Queen Is Dead!
Kraftwerk
4/5
Electronic music means a whole lot to me, and I really respect Kraftwerk for laying the foundation for the genre’s proliferation by way of this groundbreaking sonic highway of a record.
David Bowie
4/5
A bleak, beguiling, and, at times, bewildering Bowie record that synthesizes the singular artist's individual introspections into universal understandings.
U2
5/5
This was my favorite U2 record throughout my angstier years, and while time, maturation, and perspective have led to its ranking being bumped down one peg, it'll always hold a special place in my (still quite angsty) heart.
Digital Underground
2/5
There’s some funky fun to be had here, but I think I’ll pass on the generous, 65-minute offer of, uh, sex…packets (?!?), thank you.
4/5
Immortal Britpop glory for the morning, noon, and night.
Johnny Cash
4/5
Come for Cash’s raw, live vocal performance for a crowd of convicts, stay for the stage banter directed at said crowd of convicts.
Miles Davis
5/5
The best Kind Of Blue.
Caetano Veloso
4/5
A sonically-diverse and well-formed debut that’d sound equally at home soundtracking a Sunday morning or cocktails by the pool as it would a Latin nightclub or cigars in a low-lit lounge.
The Go-Go's
3/5
This Go-Go’s harder than I expected it to.
David Bowie
5/5
The opening act of Bowie’s Berlin Trilogy features few lows and many highs thanks to the art rock atmospherics created in collaboration with Brian Eno and Tony Visconti.
Rahul Dev Burman
4/5
Ascending a mountain as the sun set behind me while these enchanting songs from faraway lands soundtracked my journey had me feeling like a proper Bollywood hero.
Madonna
2/5
Hollow and inconsequential, much like an actual prayer.
Daft Punk
4/5
A dazzlingly well-formed, supremely danceable debut from a duo that only got better with time.
Lenny Kravitz
2/5
Love rules—this record does not.
The La's
2/5
And I just can't contain, this 2-star feeling that remains.
Eminem
2/5
I can really respect Eminem’s considerable creative control of the English language, but the enjoyment I’ve found in actually listening to his music has always been slim.
Faust
3/5
Moments of experimental excitement are ultimately too few and far between in this over-fermented work of krautrock.
Lightning Bolt
4/5
Listened to this record at the gym and now I’m convinced it should be classified as a performance-enhancing drug.
Sleater-Kinney
2/5
I dig the punk feminist energy; I do not dig the incessant warbly vocals expressing that energy.
Black Sabbath
5/5
Cocaine-fueled madness sharpens Sabbath's metallic edge to razor precision while expanding their unholy dominion, four albums deep with delicate ballads and crushing riffs forged by a band tighter than ever.
DJ Shadow
5/5
A mind-boggling masterpiece from a true pioneer serving as a towering testament to the unique ways in which a producer can transcend the sum of their samples.
Creedence Clearwater Revival
3/5
Best listened to on an airboat in Louisiana or helicopter above Vietnam.
Elbow
2/5
Seldom sounded interesting.
Fiona Apple
3/5
Worthwhile and well made, just not made for me.
Steely Dan
4/5
I’ll never be a father, nor will I ever own a yacht, so why is it that I find myself so enchanted by Steely Dan’s silky-smooth siren songs?!
The Flaming Lips
5/5
Why’s it called The Soft Bulletin when it hits so fucking hard?
Jimi Hendrix
5/5
Bow down to one of the most unassailable talents our world has ever seen.
Venom
3/5
Big, dumb, trailblazing metal for those looking to spice up their next séance, summoning, and/or Satanic slumber party.
Grateful Dead
2/5
Maybe if my formative experiences with psychedelics were soundtracked by The Dead, I’d have more patience for their nonsensical noodling…but they weren’t…and I don’t.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
4/5
A wonderfully woeful album to get lost in when you’re lost in your feelings.
808 State
4/5
Lush, perfectly produced acid house as likely to get your brain moving as it is your body.
Roxy Music
5/5
Spirits of art-, glam-, and avant-rock meld marvelously to craft a stunningly singular cocktail of particular intoxication.
Pet Shop Boys
4/5
Knowing nothing going in, I came out mostly swept off my feet by the melodic melancholy and emotional resonance of these decidedly-adult synth-pop soundscapes.
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
3/5
I was prepared to write “Meh Meh Mehs,” then Karen O. & Co. smacked some (but not all) of the smug out of me.
Common
5/5
Production from Kanye Fucking West and J Fucking Dilla are cheat codes for a game already made all too easy by Common’s street-wisened rhymes.
Meat Puppets
3/5
I find much of the guitarwork on this record to be interesting, compelling even, but the cowpunk vocals and trailer park vibes do not work for me.
Leonard Cohen
3/5
Cohen premeditates on the afterlife with a tombstone timbre as his two feet steadily sink down six.
Jane Weaver
2/5
Folktronic explorations through the neopsych kosmos are done no favors by a less-than-captivating captain.
The Who
4/5
Worth the price of admission alone to hear my favorite classic rock rhythm section run rampant.
Queen
3/5
A surprising amount of fluff surrounding the eternal hits makes for a night at the opera that’s less memorable than you might hope.
Beastie Boys
4/5
Pretty cheesy, pretty grating, yet still pretty ill, which I suppose describes the Boys pretty well, doesn’t it?
Black Flag
4/5
Bricks walls stand no chance against runners aided by this acrid assault on the senses.
Foo Fighters
2/5
Mr. Grohl seems like a great dude, and I do feel bad about the heartbreak he's endured, but to my ears his bland-ass butt rock may as well be made with dog whistles.
The Dave Brubeck Quartet
5/5
The world would be an immensely better place if sending children to “Time Out” meant sitting them down with this record.
Talking Heads
2/5
I haven’t quite cracked the code on why I can’t quite get behind Talking Heads, but it’s quite clear there no answers to be found in their sleepy debut.
New Order
4/5
Joy Division walked (and lan Curtis swung) so New Order could run (and ultimately dance).
Bob Marley & The Wailers
4/5
As Marley's dreads flowed free, so too did his music and the messages woven within.
Eminem
2/5
Take a seat, young Slim Shady.
Kraftwerk
4/5
An ode to the glory of modern machinery, of place and identity, and of electronic possibilities ever-explored thanks to Kraftwerk's industrial innovation.
Gotan Project
4/5
Je vais en prendre davantage, s'il vous plaît, et merci.
Fats Domino
4/5
Listen to Fats if you want the skinny on rock and roll’s real, non-whitewashed history.
Lucinda Williams
2/5
Prepare for a bumpy ride if alt country’s not your jam.
Solange
4/5
I don’t belong at the table, but I’ll gladly play the part of enthralled fly on the wall.
The Young Gods
3/5
You ever had a fever dream where all the sleep paralysis demons appear as French-speaking, metalhead amalgamations of Tom Waits and Trent Reznor?
Blur
3/5
For all the hooks and catchy choruses, nothing here really grabbed me.
4/5
Leaders of the British Invasion look within, setting sail on a new, conceptual conquest against foes of their own making.
The Beach Boys
3/5
Not today, The Beach Boys.
Bob Dylan
5/5
You could revisit this landmark stretch of sonic highway 61 times over and still uncover new insights on the inevitable 62nd.
Gene Clark
2/5
White Light/White Noise
Neil Young
5/5
One of the finest golden hours from one of the most consistently captivating songwriters and guitarists of all time.
Adele
4/5
Not something I’d ever put on regular rotation, but man, what a set of pipes.
Janis Joplin
3/5
The final feat from a talent rarer than pearls and more raw than tartare.
KISS
3/5
Wake up, losers, it’s cock rock o’clock!
LCD Soundsystem
5/5
This record is a great metaphor for LCD Soundsystem's post-retirement return and perhaps even for James Murphy himself: it's a little bloated, self-righteous, and long in the tooth, yet still showcases a singular style and sound I can't get enough of.
Lou Reed
5/5
Transformational transgressions from one of the coolest motherfuckers to ever do it.
Calexico
4/5
Would summing up this pleasantly surprising, Sunday morning-worthy discovery as “MexiWilco” be clever or offensive (I’ll take my answer off air)?
Blondie
4/5
Succinct and seductive, Blondie’s Parallel Lines comes oh-so close to perfection, but some slight shagginess gets in the way of true transcendence.
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
3/5
The hits hit just hard enough to elevate the more conventional rock tracks peppering Petty’s debut.
Dr. Dre
5/5
This record’s unfadeable, so please don’t try to fade this record (hell yeah).
Hawkwind
3/5
A groovy, psychedelic, mostly-worthwhile, but ultimately inconsequential, head-scratcher of an inclusion on this list.
Roxy Music
3/5
Couldn’t quite see the forest for the trees on this one, which is a common conceit of most Eno-less Roxy Music for me.
The Stone Roses
3/5
Theory would suggest I’d really like this, but the pieces don’t quite fit in practice.
Björk
4/5
Björk’s beautiful, bewildering response to the age-old question: “What that mouth do?”
Radiohead
4/5
My heart tells me every post-Pablo Honey Radiohead record is a 5; my brain understands the unfair precedent set by Radiohead’s revolutionary 5s.
Mudhoney
3/5
Went in with a shitty attitude expecting to hate this record, and still wound up kind of liking it.
The Band
4/5
The kind of record you put on in the company of babbling brooks and crackling fires.
Ray Charles
3/5
The gravity of Ray’s genius helps exalt what often sounds like 24 versions of the same song.
Heaven 17
3/5
Although it sounds exactly as you’d expect an English synth-pop record from 1981 would, a deceptive amount of lyrical depth and instrumental nuance keep things interesting.
Björk
4/5
It’s astounding hearing a voice as distinct as Björk’s intermingle with so many varying styles of music, with such aplomb, from the very start of her career.
Sonic Youth
4/5
An inflection point for a band on the verge of greatness, a too-cool-for-school drink of water that leaves you quenched yet still Thurston for Moore.
Belle & Sebastian
2/5
Relatively charming—for something I’ll never listen to again.
Kraftwerk
4/5
My appreciation for these robot revolutionaries has deepened with each record this list has gifted me (three now), and I still might be underrating how important they were/are.
Miles Davis
5/5
If smashing the fifth star whenever Miles Davis pops up is cool, consider me the man himself!
Neneh Cherry
2/5
Left me feeling unsatisfied and a bit queasy, like gas station sushi.
Doves
3/5
I enjoyed many of the moody, melancholy components at play here but found they never truly coalesced into a resonant conclusion.
Amy Winehouse
3/5
Winehouse was a sultry, soulful powerhouse from the very start, even though the music accompanying her vocal debut leaves much to be desired.
Lana Del Rey
2/5
I’ve done it, I’ve finally done it: I found the cure for insomnia!
Kendrick Lamar
5/5
One of the greatest major label debuts of all time from THE greatest rapper of all time.
Jeff Beck
3/5
This record (and its ridiculous list of contributors) is at its best when it strays from blues tradition and wanders toward weirder, heavier sounds.
Paul Simon
2/5
Listening to what Simon says is a subjective chore for me, even if he’s objectively good at what he does.
Songhoy Blues
3/5
Although originally an American export, “the blues” is revealed, through the stylings of Mali-based Songhoy Blues, to be a uniquely global, decidedly human form of expression.
Pixies
2/5
I was happy when it was finally Bossanover.
Jerry Lee Lewis
4/5
That Nutty Pianist sure can tickle those keys, can’t he?
Country Joe & The Fish
2/5
I’d require several tabs in my body for this electric music to blow my mind.
Norah Jones
3/5
Now That’s What I Call Coffee Shop Music!
Brian Eno
5/5
Few musicians fascinate me more than Brian Eno; I’m forever in his corner, and shit like this is why.
Elton John
4/5
Elton’s extravagant excess turns monochrome to technicolor, forever substantiating that the showman behind the curtain is far from a phony.
Eagles
3/5
5-star hotel (try the pink champagne), 3-star record (you can never leave, nor escape it).
David Crosby
4/5
There’s something sonically spiritual to the way these ethereal, meandering sounds seem to rhyme with whatever you’re doing while the record’s on.
Green Day
1/5
This feckless, pseudo-protest bullshit can fuck all the way off.
Isaac Hayes
4/5
Yes, as a matter of fact, I can dig it.
Sigur Rós
4/5
There’s an ethereal beauty to be found in these deep, dark Icelandic waters, provided you’re in the right mood to go diving for them.
Black Sabbath
5/5
The sound of Black Sabbath opening Black Sabbath with the titular Black Sabbath is one of unholy creation—of a paradigm shifting as the flames of hell lick the anvil forging what we now hail as HEAVY METAL.
Led Zeppelin
5/5
Led Zeppelin's hit rate is near mythical, and this debut record with a tracklist now reading like a best-of compilation is testament to that rock fact.
Frank Black
2/5
I’m guessing 1994 was a down year for teenagers.
Sonic Youth
4/5
Not my favorite from Sonic Youth, but “Kool Thing” and that album cover certainly go a long way.
David Bowie
4/5
The Thin White Duke experiments with Black soul and R&B, and the results are compelling, even if it was just a passing phase.
The Isley Brothers
4/5
Funky psychedelic soul that sounds as good on the streets as it does between the sheets.
Neu!
4/5
Enchanting soundscapes made for quiet contemplation and moody night drives.
XTC
2/5
I’ve come to realize I really only like “Making Plans For Nigel” from XTC, and, reader, that song's not on this record.
Depeche Mode
4/5
Probably a 3, but my fond memories of frequenting a club with a weekly goth/industrial/new wave night are paving the way toward generosity.
Beatles
2/5
I can appreciate the production experimentation here (and I like LSD too), but the fact of the matter is that I do not enjoy The Beatles, and this record did not change my mind.
Frank Ocean
5/5
A genreless form of artistry that channel-surfs styles, transcends traditional trappings, and tunes into programming too seldom broadcast.
Curtis Mayfield
5/5
Mayfield’s masterclass in funk contains more soul and cinematic vision than even the Blaxploitation film it’s designed to complement.
The Sensational Alex Harvey Band
2/5
The only sensational aspect of this album can be found in the song titles (shout out to “Giddy Up A Ding Dong”).
Fela Kuti
4/5
Fela Kuti is a commanding harbor in the tempest of primal rhythms swirling around him.
Van Morrison
3/5
I don’t connect with Van’s vocals, and I find the music to be a bit astral plain.
Jimi Hendrix
5/5
Hendrix: Good As Fuck
The Velvet Underground
4/5
Lou Reed kicked John Cale out of the band and a lot of The Velvet Underground’s thrilling experimentation left with him, as is evidenced by this tame, though lovely, post-split record.
Duke Ellington
4/5
An exhaustive, but never exhausting, exhibition of the iconic mover and shaker’s charismatic big band jazz control.
Beatles
2/5
Points for being the last Beatles album, thus bringing Paul McCartney one step closer to his career highlight: co-writing the "Live And Let Die" theme song.
Sly & The Family Stone
4/5
Foundational familial funk that started conversations continued still today between artists across so many styles and genres.
Tears For Fears
4/5
This record is 1985 as fuck and no doubt belongs on a short list of albums that perfectly captured the zeitgeist of the year in which they were released.
Missy Elliott
3/5
I love me some Missy, but I think her true superpower lies in her knack for crafting bonafide hits rather than cohesive albums.
Bruce Springsteen
3/5
As I drive down the road in Good Ol' Town, USA, with the sun's golden hour filtering through the dust kicked up behind me, I reflect on the American working class before letting out a raspy growl, “BABY, THIS IS NOT FOR ME!”
The Cure
4/5
I’m not one to shy away from my feelings, but I really have to be in the mood for 72 minutes of doom and gloom (no matter how gorgeous or iconic it might be).
Rod Stewart
3/5
I found the interplay between Stewart’s gravelly tones and the picturesque, minstrel-inspired music behind him to be the most interesting part of this story.
Aretha Franklin
4/5
The Queen of Soul stays running vocal circles around everything and everyone.
New York Dolls
4/5
This is the type of record that requires a sort of mental time travel back to the year it was released, as it’s so foundational to everything coming next that you feel like you’ve heard it a million times before, even if it’s your first go-round.
LTJ Bukem
4/5
Don’t look to me for an unbiased take; I listen to shit like this every single day.
The 13th Floor Elevators
3/5
This album’s fine, but it didn’t really inspire me, so in lieu of a clever review, I will instead point out that the phenomenal 5-star Outkast record ATLiens (which is inexplicably not on this list) features songs titled both “13th Floor” and “Elevators.”
Sister Sledge
4/5
Sister Sledge gallops gallantly atop golden grooves from Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards in this silky smooth late-70s showcase.
Fleet Foxes
2/5
The ho-hum spark igniting the “Ho Hey” powder keg explosion of the 2010s’ insufferable indie folk “revival.”
Ghostface Killah
4/5
Ghostface Killah’s stream of consciousness rhymes shine iridescent over a murderer’s row of producers and co-conspirators.
The Kinks
4/5
A satirical yet sincere, biting yet bucolic romp of a record from an iconic band that somehow still remains underrated after all these years.
MGMT
4/5
I’ve taken too many drugs too many times to too many of these songs to have too many complaints.
Saint Etienne
4/5
This ethereal blend of electronic instrumentation and pop melodies evokes the carefree spirit of a perfect spring day or the sun-kissed liberation of the summer’s open road.
Stevie Wonder
3/5
Not my favorite work from this acclaimed author despite the presence of a few killer chapters.
Fatboy Slim
4/5
Big fat beats are far from slim on this raving relic of late-90s British electronica.
Ride
2/5
I'm quite the fan of shoegazing, but I've always considered Ride to be a class below the Slowdives and My Bloody Valentines of the world; Nowhere did nothing to make me reconsider that preconception.
Richard Hawley
4/5
I can definitely get down with this melancholic, sad cowboy, “Keep the whiskey coming, barkeep,” type shit.
Earth, Wind & Fire
4/5
Earth, Wind(,) & Fire’s trademark blend of musical versatility and energetic positivity is on full display within this rich, dynamic, & socially conscious outing.
Janet Jackson
2/5
This took me back to the days of riding along with my mom without control over what played on the radio; which is to say, I didn’t like it.
Bert Jansch
3/5
This one caught me at the right time: It’s a decidedly autumnal day here in Asheville, NC, and these rambling acoustics complemented rather well the swirling ballet of leaves pirouetting upon the crisp fall air.
Napalm Death
3/5
This was a definite case of enjoying reading up on the band and it’s importance more than listening to said band’s output, but it’s certainly worth your time, especially if you have an interest in the history of metal.
Frank Zappa
5/5
The number of times I reactively raised my eyebrows or made a stank face during these 6 songs spanning ~43 minutes was truly absurd.
The Doors
3/5
The hits soar; the rest is a bit of a bore.
The Fall
4/5
This unrelenting cavalcade of Mancunian barks, carnival keyboards, incisive, elastic guitar work, and pervasive, post-punk percussion isn’t just up my alley; it IS my alley.
The White Stripes
3/5
Reminiscent of modern prequels, requels, and sequels in the way it looks backward in an attempt to move forward.
Dennis Wilson
3/5
I found this more contemplative, downbeat departure from the classic Beach Boys surf-pop sound by one of the band’s founders to be rather refreshing.
1/5
Uh, yeah, I'm gonna go ahead and take a page from the Book of Bizkit itself and keep things rollin', rollin', rollin', rollin’.
Elliott Smith
2/5
With all due respect, I’ll never be in the mood to fire this up, even when I’m feeling blue.
Jimi Hendrix
5/5
I would argue that one cannot truly be considered experienced until they themselves have experienced this mind-bending, psychedelic rock masterpiece from the undisputed GGOAT (Greatest Guitarist of All Time).
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
4/5
I have all the time in the world for Neil’s sinewy, soul-searching guitar solos.
The Louvin Brothers
3/5
I wouldn’t say I louv-ed it, but get a little shine in me and sure, I’ll jig to these ditties.
Isaac Hayes
5/5
This soul isn't just hot, it's forged from Olympian flame; this soul isn't just buttered, it's draped in liquid gold.
The Specials
3/5
I nearly ran for the hills when I saw those three frightening letters (S-K-A 😟) but was relatively relieved to find this relatively inoffensive.
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
3/5
Although poppy, punchy, and, of course, pumped up, the lack of a certain je ne sais quoi will likely keep me from returning.
Jazmine Sullivan
3/5
Get it, girl.
David Bowie
5/5
This all-time great transition transmission is brought to you by milk, red peppers, and the Duke’s legendary affinity for Thin White lines.
Big Black
4/5
It sounds like shit and Albini’s a total edgelord, but if the unhinged DIY guy of it all reels you in, the riffs just might keep you hooked.
Thin Lizzy
2/5
Neither truly live or dangerous, Lizzy’s big night out is awful bloated for an artist purporting to be thin.
George Harrison
3/5
All Things Must Pass, some take longer to do so than others.
The Adverts
4/5
Passionately riding punk rock’s seminal first wave, The Adverts make crossing the Red Sea look easy in a voracious voyage that still resonates and reverberates today.
Marianne Faithfull
4/5
Marianne’s righteous rasp faithfully harmonizes her harrowing past atop a smoke-swirled synthesis of musical styles and influences.
The United States Of America
4/5
Surreal and near-spectacular stone cold sober, one might imagine this record would be even more of a doozy when heard dosed up.
Joni Mitchell
5/5
I don’t often fill my cup with the type of tea brewed by singer/songwriter types sat down with their guitar or piano, but Joni’s voice on Blue is so smooth, her writing so strong, that I’m finding the irresistible taste linger long after my final sip.
The Mothers Of Invention
4/5
A psychedelic swirl of sardonic social commentary so potent it’ll have you checking your pupils just a few tracks in.
Pentangle
3/5
Perfectly delightful folk tunes blending ethereal vocals and intricate instrumentation across a variety of vibes and musical moods.
OutKast
5/5
I want to shout out OutKast’s three 5-star records preceding Stankonia (Southernplayalisticcadillacmuzick, ATLiens, and Aquemini—all of which SHOULD be on this list) and extend a heartfelt “Stank You” to one of my all-time favorite musical acts for this forever, ever masterwork.
Sonic Youth
4/5
A tangled web of guitar-forward art rock dazzling in its distorted dissonance.
The Cult
2/5
The Cult sold their gothic rock sanctuary for THIS?!
Amy Winehouse
3/5
Amy’s voice often conjures images in my mind of smoke-filled clubs and lounges from a bygone era; unfortunately, like the smoke filling those rooms, my interest tends to dissipate into thin air over time.
Oasis
4/5
Definitely Maybe my favourite Oasis record and definitely no-maybes-about-it one of England’s most enduring exports.
Neil Young
4/5
An album I’m sure Neil Young would have preferred to have never recorded—given the subject matter—stands out as one of the most emotionally resonant and hauntingly intimate entries in his expansive discography.
The Style Council
4/5
I was kind of taken off guard by how stylistically diverse, yet of a piece, this record was; even the awkward missteps are endearing.
Cat Stevens
4/5
There’s some tired cliché about the cracks of a broken heart helping to let the light in, and without getting too sappy, I’ll say that the sips of this tea helped to illuminate the room and restore my fractured spirits.
Emerson, Lake & Palmer
3/5
This bong is made for packin’, and that’s just what I’ll do…
The Magnetic Fields
4/5
Do your stretches before diving into this record—the ultimate love letter to love letters—and don't be surprised if your heart stretches in turn by the time you finally reach its end.
Paul Weller
2/5
How many stars would Wild Wood get if Wild Wood truly sounded wild (more than this tame affair, surely)?
The Rolling Stones
3/5
All Main Streets look the same and all these Exile songs sound the same.
Coldplay
5/5
Fuck the haters; the first four Coldplay records are all legitimately great and there’s a reason this sophomore effort sent them into the stratosphere.
Jefferson Airplane
4/5
The only thing cooler than the other side of Surrealistic Pillow is the other side of Surrealistic Pillow.
Bob Marley & The Wailers
3/5
All Bob Marley is good Bob Marley, even when it’s just alright Bob Marley.
The Stooges
4/5
36 minutes and 26 seconds of pure, uncut snarl and low-down, unadulterated sleaze.
The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
2/5
Now I got tinnitus.
Weather Report
3/5
Cloudy with a chance of hotel lobby.
The Police
4/5
I much prefer the first three Police records to the last two but grooving along with Copeland & Co. is never a bad time.
The Boo Radleys
3/5
Points for eclecticism, but this one’s a bit more “Boo” than “Rad” for me.
Crowded House
2/5
I can’t imagine your house would ever be crowded again if you made a habit of spinning this snoozer.
AC/DC
4/5
I feel a great disturbance in the Force when I listen close, as if millions of Coors-drunk denim-wearers suddenly put another quarter in the jukebox and were suddenly soloing on their pool cues.
Jane's Addiction
3/5
It’s frivolous fun fabricated from the Farrell-led foursome, but it’s fun nonetheless.
The Flying Burrito Brothers
4/5
Tightly rolled and complementarily flavored with no single note overwhelming another.
Scott Walker
4/5
The coulda-woulda-shoulda-been-a-Bond-theme-crooner returns with a velvety vengeance!
Led Zeppelin
5/5
This stands as my favorite Zeppelin record, and arguably their best, even though it feels a bit like cheating, considering it's a double album from one of the most all-around talented bands at the apex of their respective powers.
4/5
Sumptuous soul painting a vivid scene where stylistic flourishes and genre influences stroll on by like passing strangers in the park.
The Afghan Whigs
5/5
Take a dive down into the dark, debaucherous depths of Dulli and The Whigs’s most well-known—and most malignant—masterpiece; fucked up as it might seem, it’s one of my favorite places to be.
Led Zeppelin
5/5
There’s no denying the impact, influence, and, frankly, immortality of this album, so don’t even try.
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
4/5
Poignant songwriting powered by haunting harmonies and just the right amount of six-string muscularity to accentuate the quiet coziness.
The Rolling Stones
3/5
It takes stones, indeed, to put out a debut record comprised mostly of covers—that are mostly good covers but covers nonetheless.
Sonic Youth
5/5
The crown jewel of Sonic Youth’s discography and an unassailable alt-rock masterpiece.
Ella Fitzgerald
4/5
Life tastes a bit sweeter when soundtracked by the First Lady of Song’s renditions of these timeless jazz standards.
Hüsker Dü
2/5
I tried to connect to this band that so many others seem to be influenced by, but just couldn’t Dü it in the end.
Hookworms
3/5
I found most of this record engaging, and I was pleasantly reminded that I had a song or two saved in previous playlists, though I can’t say most of what’s here warrants regular rotation.
Jeff Buckley
5/5
Buckley’s unique mix of raw virtuosity, remarkable vocal range, and tender vulnerability results in a classic one-and-done legacy that, like the mighty Mississippi, remains unfuckwitable.
Siouxsie And The Banshees
4/5
I’ve a lot of love in my heart for post-punk, and this band’s debut helped write the book.
Adele
4/5
On 21, Adele delivers a vocal performance almost as awe-inspiring as the album's colossal, enduring success.
Cream
4/5
Everyone digs “Sunshine Of Your Love,” but it’s under-appreciated tracks like the groovy “World Of Pain” and—perhaps my favorite Cream song—the absurd “SWLABR” that rise to the top of this supergroup’s sophomore album.
Beastie Boys
4/5
The sheer audacity of cramming 105 samples into this album's production is unreal; yet, the Beastie Boys manage to not only keep up but run rap circles around the kaleidoscopic beats.
Funkadelic
5/5
This p-funk perfection—with its scorching soul, indelible grooves, and Hall of Fame Eddie Hazel performance—is required listening for any motherlover lucky enough to be breathing on this thrice-knocked-up planet of ours.
The Rolling Stones
3/5
“Sympathy For The Devil” and “Street Fighting Man” are so, so good, but everything else here is so, so dull.
Prince
5/5
The Purple One proves, without a shadow of a doubt, that he is by far the most prodigious pop powerhouse this world’s ever seen.
Jacques Brel
3/5
I really wish I remembered more (read: any) of the French I took in school so I could understand and better appreciate what sounded to be a rather revelrous evening of music and life.
Orbital
4/5
I’ve got nothing but love and respect for dance floor forefathers like Orbital, whose pioneering efforts helped shape one of my most-listened-to genres today.
Ray Charles
4/5
Self-proclaimed geniuses rarely live up to their own mythologizing, but the proclamation tends to ring true when you’re one of the most prolific purveyors of popular music in the 20th century and beyond.
4/5
Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea, PJ plus NY equals magic to me.
The xx
3/5
This record kicks off with its best song, and that bar is never again met, let alone raised; I’d much rather listen to Jamie xx’s solo stuff.
Wilco
5/5
Modern Midwestern melancholia masterfully tinged with enough turn-of-the-century country psychedelia and folksy flights of fancy to make every re-listen a revelation in its own right.
Fugees
5/5
The Score melds intricate flows, knockout beats, and incisive lyrics into a hip-hop epic that still cuts as deep and sounds as smooth as it did in '96.
Teenage Fanclub
3/5
Not going to jump on the bandwagon or join the club, but the guitar work on this record really captured my attention even if my overall interest waned over time.
2/5
MC5 promised me revolution; MC5 failed to light my molotov.
The Prodigy
4/5
A big beat odyssey that tapped its era's youth culture zeitgeist by successfully fusing the techno rave with the punk rock pit, becoming a defining musical force of the late 90s in the process.
Leonard Cohen
3/5
The religious allusions—of which there are many—were completely lost on me, but the bleeding heart romanticism—delivered in equally ample supply—spoke to me loud and clear.
Shivkumar Sharma
4/5
A beguiling portal into a world I’ll never truly know but one I very much enjoyed momentarily experiencing.
Stan Getz
4/5
The wistful interplay between Getz's jazz sensibilities and Charlie Byrd's bossa nova experiences make for a landmark fusion of styles at once both somber and serene.
Various Artists
4/5
I'm a total Grinch and still found it cheeky for this otherwise random list of albums to intentionally gift a collection of classic Christmas hits on the day itself.
PJ Harvey
4/5
Bit grungy for my tastes, but the rising PJ tide lifts all boats of style and genre.
2/5
I did not enjoy the show.
Shack
2/5
The first few pints better be free if this is your pub’s entertainment for the night.
Nirvana
1/5
All the apologies in the world wouldn’t suffice for making me listen to this butt rock bullshit.
SZA
3/5
The production is top notch but I can’t totally get behind the vocal style.
Nightmares On Wax
4/5
This expansive exploration into the world of chilled-out trip-hop is a delight indeed.
Meat Loaf
4/5
Wagnerian, over-the-top operatic rock rife with heightened tales of love, lust, and rebellion featuring one of the greatest album covers ever printed.
Le Tigre
4/5
With an electrifying clash of punk rock feminism and dancefloor aptitude, Le Tigre's debut sinks its claws into complacency and shakes listeners out of their comfort zone.
George Michael
4/5
George Michael moves away from the upbeat pop sound of his previous work in this introspective, at times somber, demonstration of the thoughtful artistic depth behind and beyond his mega-stardom.
Bon Jovi
3/5
Slick, catchy, and oh-so-feathered, Bon Jovi's rafters-reaching breakthrough cemented these Jersey boys as global superstars and heirs to the hair metal throne.
John Lennon
2/5
I can't imagine I'll ever be listening to this drivel again.
Can
5/5
This sounds like the future no matter what days you call your own.
The Monks
4/5
The ramshackle blast of primal rhythms—including an electric banjo (!)—and shrill, shouted vocals on Black Monk Time prove The Monks were wildly unconventional rock innovators who presaged punk's revolt against the musical and societal establishments.
The Zombies
4/5
Introspective, well-read lyricism is complemented by deceptively intricate baroque pop arrangements in this underappreciated-in-its-time, ahead-of-its-time vestige of psychedelia's golden age.
Julian Cope
3/5
While ultimately something I'd deem inessential, there was enough eclecticism and experimentation in the songwriting to keep me engaged.
The Teardrop Explodes
3/5
This record never reaches the heights of its namesake, but I did quite like the bubbling flow of funky bass lines throughout.
Kings of Leon
2/5
No gods, no masters, no Kings of Fucking Leon.
Massive Attack
3/5
Blue Lines simmers with trip hop's signature hypnotic allure, though its sparse sonic palette leaves some moments feeling unfulfilled.
George Michael
3/5
Faith shows Michael's willingness to evolve past his Wham! days and explore more sophisticated terrain in a solo debut rife with hits for both the streets and the sheets.
Robert Wyatt
4/5
What initially comes across as a tough hang, in time, gives way to devastating beauty for the patient, active listener.
Steely Dan
5/5
The dads were right, and they still are; this shit rips.
Elton John
3/5
I was rather lukewarm on this one, though I no doubt enjoyed and appreciated the affecting introspection in Elton's character-driven lyrical style.
James Brown
3/5
Although iconic, I prefer Brown's funk pioneering to his early blues- and gospel-inspired work; it almost feels like a disservice to The Hardest Working Man In Show Business to merely listen to his legendary stage presence without actually seeing it happen.
David Bowie
5/5
I can't even think of this album, let alone listen to it, without tearing up; the artistic intention in its creation and release as a final statement and parting gift to the world is, and will forever be, heartbreakingly transcendent.
Dusty Springfield
4/5
Beautifully melancholic yet uplifting soul-pop that perfectly soundtracked a walk around my snow-dusted neighborhood.
Giant Sand
3/5
Started off feeling like a chore to get through; ended up leaving me feeling rather enchanted.
The Allman Brothers Band
3/5
There’s no denying The Allman Brothers Band’s vast breadth and depth of musicianship, but I’m more or less immune to the charms of blues-based Southern rock bands.
Led Zeppelin
5/5
Though underappreciated upon its 1970 release, Led Zeppelin III has proven over time to be one of the band's most crucial and inventive records, marking a transitional, masterful fusion of their hard rock roots with emerging folk influences.
Burning Spear
3/5
I appreciated the message of the album more so than I enjoyed the delivery of said message.
Butthole Surfers
4/5
Defiantly delightful madness that’s as artful as it is abrasive.
Alice Cooper
4/5
Chock-full of performative, angst-fueled shock rock anthems, School's Out proves that even though Alice Cooper looks like a goth or a metalhead, he was always a theatre kid at heart.
Elvis Costello
2/5
I’m going to say that claim is false, Elvis; this one missed the mark.
The Clash
5/5
No skips across its 19 songs, no doubts about its 5-star rating, and no hesitations in picking up when it's London on the other end of the line.
Cee Lo Green
4/5
The Soul Machine showcases his vocal versatility and flow flexibility in this stellar sonic snapshot of early 00s hip hop.
OutKast
5/5
OutKast split it down the middle so you can see both the visions; the resulting divine dichotomy's the closest I'll ever get to religion.
Bruce Springsteen
3/5
Springsteen illuminates the dashed dreams, dead-end jobs, and decayed towns at the shadowed heart of so many working-class lives, but ultimately his somber soliloquies can't quite light up this heart of mine.
4/5
All I’m left thinking after this record took my eardrums on a ride pugnaciously piloted by two saxophonists, two drummers, and a bassist is, “Let’s go again!”
Cocteau Twins
5/5
When David Lynch wrote, "We are like the dreamer who dreams, and then lives inside the dream,” I think he might have been listening to this (perfect dream pop) record.
Deep Purple
3/5
I like Deep Purple quite a lot, but five of the seven songs on this live album originate from two studio albums also on this list, and I don't believe the live versions are revelatory enough to warrant double-dipping, sooo what are we doing here?
The Incredible String Band
3/5
There's a certain mystifying esotericism and musical eclecticism here that keeps me thinking about and returning to this album, even though it's not something I'd say I particularly enjoy.
Franz Ferdinand
5/5
Franz Ferdinand is the best named-after-an-archduke band of all time, and their potent debut instantly assassinated any doubts that they would have a major role to play in rock and roll's early 2000s revival.
Beck
4/5
Even in the midst of considerable stylistic diversity, Beck maintains a singular musical identity that is unmistakably his own.
The Beta Band
2/5
Rather listless and slippery, as if the entire auditory experience passed through my memory banks without any consideration of taking root.
The Beau Brummels
3/5
I was quick to dismiss this on an initial listen, but another go-round revealed a delightful bit of fantastical whimsy to break up the standard psych folk fare.
Dolly Parton
3/5
This triumvirate of distinct voices interweaves marvelously to co-create honeyed harmonies that gently glide above classic country tunes.
Fiona Apple
4/5
Bad, bad girl; good, good debut.
Nirvana
2/5
It's hard to find words that are kind, so I guess I'll just say, "Oh well, whatever, Nevermind."
Pere Ubu
4/5
An angular album uncompromising in its abstract chaos and unquestionable in its importance for the development of post punk and art rock.
Judas Priest
4/5
One of the strongest, most enduring exports forged during the almighty New Wave of British Heavy Metal in the late 70s/early 80s.
Ananda Shankar
3/5
Eastern traditionalism meets Western sensibility in this synth- and sitar-fused raga rock reclamation project.
Funkadelic
5/5
The only flag I pledge allegiance to belongs to the United Funk of Funkadelica.
Radiohead
5/5
The first perfect album from a band primarily concerned with one-upping themselves by finding new ways to make a perfect album.
Derek & The Dominos
3/5
The band's blues prowess, while undeniable, is showcased to the point of excess, and the assorted love songs often feel more like fleeting flings than enduring romances.
Van Halen
5/5
My pops didn’t raise no fool, and he sure as hell didn’t raise his son to give MCMLXXXIV anything less than a V.
Ravi Shankar
3/5
A fascinating educational exploration into Hindustani classical music from a supremely qualified teacher.
Beatles
1/5
I acknowledge the importance of this band's later innovation and experimentation, but their early bowl-cut bubblegum bullshit belongs in the bin.
My Bloody Valentine
5/5
I don’t think we can be friends if this album doesn’t make you levitate.
Otis Redding
4/5
Though I would have preferred more originals and fewer covers, Redding's iconic soulful voice could recite the phone book and I'd still be captivated.
Willie Nelson
4/5
Willie’s storytelling ability transports you so effectively that you can practically taste the cheap beer served in the dimly-lit taverns and smell the smoke filling those quiet little out-of-the-way places he croons about.
The Offspring
2/5
I’m not completely immune to The Offspring’s charms, but this mostly just sounds like a 13-year-old Mountain Dew addict’s ideal skate soundtrack.
The Prodigy
4/5
The Prodigy fights for our rights to party in this rebellious relic of rave culture's heyday.
U2
5/5
Well, folks, here it is: my favorite album of all time.
Led Zeppelin
5/5
They don’t make them—sequels—like they used to.
Fun Lovin' Criminals
2/5
It's time to rethink some things if you come to find yourself vibing with these cringe-worthy attempts at hip hop and blues rock fusion.
Mekons
4/5
The punk-meets-country aesthetic and familiar angsty English vocal seemed bound for a 3 at best, but the synthesis oddly compelled and propelled something in me.
Pearl Jam
2/5
I find it difficult to take this band seriously.
Elvis Presley
3/5
Whether you consider Elvis the “King” of Rock and Roll or of Musical Appropriation, there’s really no denying his singular ability to meld influences into a style and presence all his own.
SAULT
4/5
An astonishing exploration and celebration of Black identity, culture, power, and beauty expressed through a uniquely understated blend of soul, funk, gospel, and electronica.
The Cramps
4/5
I throw this record on and am immediately transported to an eerie, edgy Halloween party where everyone’s costume incorporates leather and lung darts are passed out in lieu of candy.
Iron Maiden
5/5
I can do all things through The Beast who strengthens me.
Frank Sinatra
5/5
Sad songs, quite Frankly, have never sounded more cinematic nor more mesmerizing than they do coming from the lips of Sinatra.
Nick Drake
3/5
It's a "not for me, dawg," but I can certainly appreciate Drake's delicate vocals, introspective lyrics, and soft finger-picking fusion of folk, jazz, and baroque pop.
Baaba Maal
4/5
I love records like this for their ability to transport the listener and transform even the most mundane of life’s experiences.
Keith Jarrett
4/5
The brain boggles at the sheer scale of spontaneous creation resulting from Jarrett’s immaculate improvisation; as his fingers wander, so too will your mind.
Goldie
3/5
Don’t let the album title fool you, this pioneering drum and bass effort is very much a hermetically-sealed capsule of the time and place in which it was recorded.
Incubus
2/5
I’m not gonna lie: it took some doing to make myself get through this one.
Linkin Park
1/5
The notion of being "born in the wrong generation" is usually one I roll my eyes at, then I remember that most members of the one I belong to not only tolerate but adore this drivel.
Orange Juice
4/5
Rip It Up and pour it up: this blend of post-punk, indie pop, and early-80s guitar jangle goes down smooth!
The Pharcyde
3/5
The songs will get you bouncing (“Passin’ Me By” will never not be a bop), just don’t expect the album to bounce around your mind for long after it concludes.
Milton Nascimento
5/5
Imagine zooming in on the lifecycle of several seeds (these songs)—each blossoming into a distinct, striking flower—then zooming out to behold how every vibrant participant played its part in forming a garden (this album) of immaculate, harmonious beauty.
Willie Nelson
3/5
I loved reading about how Willie’s decision to release an album of jazz and pop covers ruffled the feathers of record company executives worried it would undermine his outlaw image when, in fact, doing so only reinforced that image.
Missy Elliott
3/5
It’s interesting hearing Missy operate at a more subdued frequency before she achieved supa-dupa-star status; at times this sounds more like a showcase of Timbaland’s production than it does Elliot’s presence.
Bad Company
3/5
Comme Ci, Comme Ça Company.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
3/5
Cave’s lyricism often grabs my attention, and his enunciation practically demands it, though I’m not always so captivated by the musical worlds it mingles in.
Van Morrison
2/5
The facial expressions I made while listening to Moondance were eerily similar to that of Van’s on the album’s cover.
Joy Division
5/5
I simply cannot imagine a world where these beautifully bleak pleasures are unknown to me.
The Everly Brothers
3/5
This so-called date totally took place at a sock hop.
The Who
5/5
A monumental record with just enough charming shag in between the monolithic bookends to keep revisits interesting.
The Undertones
3/5
Competently crafted punk rock that's most definitely a tier or two below the more household names of the genre.
The Good, The Bad & The Queen
3/5
While moody and grandiose in its conceptual design, the production’s a step too slick and the prevailing feeling I walk away with is one of heavy-blanketed languidity.
Steely Dan
4/5
A soft baked pretzel is a lot like Steely Dan when you think about it: both pair well with a dad beer, neither ever truly disappoints, and when done just right, they can really hit the spot.
Morrissey
4/5
The ceiling for my enjoyment of a Smiths-less Morrissey is fairly low, but this self-important sad sack’s solo effort packs just enough biting wit and wry worldliness to outweigh all the eye rolls.
Stephen Stills
4/5
Stills goes solo tying together soul, funk, and Latin influences with folk, the blues, and an absolutely STACKED featured guest list.
Johnny Cash
4/5
The Man In Black’s legacy and mortality loom heavy over 15 haunting closing statements.
Arcade Fire
5/5
I’ll proudly serve as pallbearer for this triumphant introduction to these instant indie rock icons until my very own final day.
Michael Kiwanuka
5/5
Kiwanuka soars through soundscapes of his own making with an effortless ease and exacting control befitting only a musician of his prodigious caliber.
Simon & Garfunkel
4/5
I found this to be much more engaging than any other S&G (or just S, or just G) project I’ve heard to this point.
LCD Soundsystem
5/5
This groovin’, movin’ masterpiece from the maestro Murphy never, ever fails to get hands in the air or feet on the floor.
Afrika Bambaataa
4/5
The pioneering electro sounds, drum machine rhythms, and danceable grooves across Planet Rock make it one of the most monumentally influential records in the origins of hip-hop, electronica, and other contemporary genres still sampling it today.
Sarah Vaughan
5/5
I’ve listened to a lot of live albums, and this just might be the one that most makes me feel like part of the crowd.
Doves
3/5
Totally serviceable British indie rock but not a second of the album sounds unlike the band’s more original, more talented inspirations.
Fleetwood Mac
5/5
Fleetwood Mac is my mom’s favorite band, and my little sister’s name is Stevie; this album’s so in my bones that they’d probably break if I rated it less than a 5.
Madness
3/5
Three stars, in the middle of our scale.
Soul II Soul
3/5
Smooth, real smooth…maybe TOO smooth but smoooooth.
The Strokes
5/5
Motherfucker, this is IT!
5/5
U2’s most top-heavy album—if only for the massive weight of its front-loaded mega-hits—is as timeless as it is topographical.
Love
3/5
As I understand it, this is viewed as a seminal album from the Summer of Love psychedelic era…which is something I don’t quite understand.
Herbie Hancock
5/5
Herbie and his hunters are after your head, and once they find it, they’re going to fill that cranium with the funkiest, grooviest, sweetest cerebral candy your mind’s ever tasted.
Bruce Springsteen
3/5
When The Boss called this album “a group of songs about which I've always had some ambivalence," I felt that.
The Mars Volta
3/5
Kind of like a good, strong shot of espresso—it’s invigorating, it’s robust, and it’s best consumed in small doses.
Elliott Smith
3/5
Appreciated/Endured
Ministry
3/5
A delirious freefall into the oily, mechanized mouth of industrial metal's apocalyptic wasteland.
Fugazi
3/5
I like some Fugazi songs—and I really like their politics—but I ultimately think I like the idea of Fugazi more than Fugazi itself.
Ramblin' Jack Elliott
3/5
Humble, honest, workmanlike early folk played with deep respect for the enduring American tradition.
Don McLean
2/5
One delightful slice in an otherwise doughy, disappointing dessert.
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band
4/5
Uniquely adventurous and uncompromising in its approach to avant-garde, psychedelic blues.
Bruce Springsteen
3/5
Springsteen’s first artistic departure admirably shifts toward sparse arrangements, gritty acoustic folk storytelling, and austere, character-driven lyricism.
The Cure
4/5
Describing The Cure as moody is like calling water wet, but the shoe’s a perfect fit on this murky, mysterious album from the band’s early days.
Guided By Voices
3/5
Alien Lanes exudes a concise lo-fi charm, its 28 blink-and-you’ll-miss-them tracks evoking the feeling of scrubbing through radio static in search of the perfect fuzz-tinged gem.
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
2/5
I call for disarmament.
Eagles
2/5
Boring debuts by boring bands get boring reviews.
Lambchop
2/5
Like Tricky Dick resigning before impeachment, Lambchop should have abdicated the studio before this release.
Miles Davis
5/5
Brews don’t get much more bitchin’ than this.
David Bowie
4/5
Though it doesn't hit the highs of "Low," "Heroes" still soars as the second act of Bowie's ambient, experimental Berlin Trilogy, introducing one of its strongest characters in Robert Fripp's atmospheric guitar work.
Blur
3/5
I found this to be more engaging than earlier Blur, as the shift from the Britpop sound towards a more eclectic, lo-fi approach aligns more closely with my sonic sensibilities.
Sebadoh
3/5
Lo-fi rock's frill-free ethos captured but lacking the thrills to keep one fully enraptured.
The Yardbirds
2/5
Come for early Jeff Beck, don’t bother staying for anything else.
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
2/5
My blood, it boils, this chocolate’s too bitter; Elvis Costello, I don’t like you much, mister.
Boston
5/5
Boston’s blockbuster self-titled debut marries complex recording techniques with instantly-memorable melodies to create an iconic classic arena rock sound.
The Birthday Party
3/5
The album’s name and cover perfectly portend its abrasive, cacophonous, and nihilistic sonic assault.
Bruce Springsteen
2/5
I’m putting in my two-star notice, Boss.
The Jam
3/5
UK’s mod revival era isn’t my favourite, but The Jam sure know how to kick out some effective genre-blending punk, and I really like the sly simplicity of the album title.
Orbital
3/5
A few euphoric electronic highs here, but the overall trip is a bit up and down.
Wire
5/5
An audacious album that’s slick yet grimy, minimalistic yet complex, fragmented yet cohesive, and still somehow underrated despite its considerable influence.
Peter Tosh
3/5
I’m not sure I have enough experience with the reggae genre to truly discern between good and great offerings, so I’ll just say this was an enjoyable, chilled-out listen and that you could do a lot worse soundtracking your smoke sesh.
Bee Gees
2/5
I was honestly unaware of pre-disco Bee Gees (PDBG), maybe I should have kept it that way.
Dinosaur Jr.
2/5
Fuzzed-out guitar interplay and nasally melodies abound, yet nothing memorable comes out of the distorted wash.
Beck
4/5
Beck plumbs the troubled waters of romantic heartbreak, ultimately discovering poignant treasures in its gloomy depths.
The Smiths
5/5
Pour out some Perrier for the death of a dynamite discography.
Cheap Trick
4/5
This live album does exactly what all live albums should: make you wish you were in the crowd that night.
Charles Mingus
5/5
I believe jazz to be intrinsically romantic and cinematic, and this album is a grand, sweeping sonic narrative—a heart-swelling, emotionally epic journey that encapsulates the seductive and transporting powers inherent to the genre.
George Jones
4/5
Jones’s emotionally evocative country ballads took this cowboy off guard.
R.E.M.
3/5
Respectable Even-Though Middling.
50 Cent
5/5
A gangsta rap sacred text as bulletproof as the man who wrote it.
3/5
A good, not quite great, psychedelic prog journey with a heartening undercurrent of environmental consciousness and naturalistic wonder.
Scritti Politti
2/5
Pritti shitti.
Al Green
4/5
Smooth, romantic ballads showcasing the velvety vocals and seductive soulfulness of a leading purveyor in lush, sensual R&B.
Gorillaz
4/5
It is a sick and heinous crime that Deltron 3030 is not on this list, but I can find a quantum of solace in knowing Del the Funky Homosapien, Dan the Automator, and Kid Koala’s immense talents are integral to the successful debut of Damon Albarn’s most interesting project.
Bad Brains
5/5
What the hell kind of music does a good brain make if the bad ones sound like THIS?!?
Michael Jackson
3/5
I will not be intimidated by the likes of this creep and his legacy; Bad is not Good, it’s Fine.
Abdullah Ibrahim
4/5
This meditative unearthing of ancestral waters culminates in tastes and sounds as ruminative as they are refreshing.
The Hives
3/5
Quite the presumptuous title coming from everyone’s, like, fifth- or sixth-favourite garage rock revival band.
Björk
4/5
Björk cathartically charts the anxiety, actualization, and aftermath of a broken heart through the healing powers of soaring strings and avant-garde electronica.
Django Django
4/5
Django Django rides from track to track with melodies unchained and eclectic electric fun fired off at a machine gun’s pace.
Röyksopp
4/5
I'm pretty sure I'm 0% Norwegian, but this record has me feeling most koselig; it's like sipping something warm and fortified at the edge of a formidable fjord.
JAY Z
5/5
One of the game's greatest success stories—and improvisational talents—lays out the schematics to moving on up, but not everyone's built to bust the ceiling.
Tom Waits
3/5
For fans of: gritty seaside shanty towns, smoking two packs a day, xylophones made from bones, drinking alone, backyard percussion with rusty tools, apocalyptic gospel hymns, etc.
PJ Harvey
4/5
Scrub all you like, there's not enough elbow grease in the world to do away with the dingy, indelible imprint this record leaves.
Radiohead
5/5
I’ve listened to this album 1,001 times, and I’ll listen to it 1,001 more, because each revisit is just as good, if not better, than the revisit before.
Slipknot
2/5
Slipknot always struck me as daytime television heavy/hardcore metal; you can find me outside until primetime rolls around.
The Divine Comedy
2/5
These lounge love songs are crooned charmingly enough but they're ultimately too sleepy to truly penetrate the heart.
Cornershop
3/5
A musical masala where every genre-spice contributes a tantalizing detail, yet lacks an essential element of taste needed to truly make the dish sing.
The Pogues
3/5
Vivid Irish tavern tales and rousing pub anthems that grow more compelling with every sunken pint of Guinness.
Animal Collective
5/5
Press play for pleasant flashbacks of formative psychedelic experiences.
Buena Vista Social Club
4/5
A cavalcade of Cuban musicians, bound by cultural pride and fueled by rum and coffee, come together to preserve their country’s rich musical heritage for generations to come.
Tortoise
3/5
Hypnotic rhythms, layered instrumentation, and affecting, atmospheric ambiance make for an engaging post-rock listen whether in the background or the forefront.
Dead Kennedys
4/5
Punchy instrumentation is fused with trenchant social critique in this blissfully bitter early hardcore punk declaration.
Paul McCartney and Wings
2/5
Shake up a heavy pour of big Bond horns here and I’d be double-oh so delighted to imbibe; as is, I’ll live and let you have it.
Shuggie Otis
5/5
Shuggie's addictive confection of funk and psychedelic soul is even sweeter than his namesake.
Wu-Tang Clan
5/5
Ric Flair “WOOOOO!” but he’s referencing Wu-Tang.
Japan
4/5
Nascent New Romantic art-pop that feels oddly essential as a forbearer of synth-based popular music's meteoric rise in the years following its release.
David Holmes
3/5
Cinematic atmospherics from the streets of New York and some jazz fusion adds a touch of individuality to what is an otherwise standard, though still enjoyable, downtempo electronica affair.
Wild Beasts
4/5
I would have been pretty into this back in 2009, but I guess it slipped through the cracks; everything comes back around, however, as I'm still plenty into it 15 years later.
The Byrds
3/5
A lot is going on here stylistically, from psychedelic folk and baroque pop to country and instrumental electronica, yet the record blends everything cohesively without ever seeming like it's trying to do too much.
Nico
4/5
Wonderfully wistful, whimsical little escapades of songs that put not a pep in your step but a glide in your stride.
Lauryn Hill
5/5
Pencils down, ears open: Miseducation contains no misinformation on subjects of the heart or neo-soul.
Fairport Convention
3/5
Fairly pleasant conventional British folk rock.
Buck Owens
3/5
It won’t change your stripes, but it’s worth a couple coins at your local honky tonk’s jukebox.
Paul McCartney
2/5
Self-indulgent slop from the too-cute Beatle.
Bob Dylan
5/5
Shelf upon shelf of brain-tickling literary lyricism and toe-tappingly layered instrumentation, all bound together within one totemic volume.
Stevie Wonder
5/5
The Keys Of Life In Song.
Leonard Cohen
3/5
Leonard Cohen's works (this one included) strike me as acquired tastes that are perhaps too intense or foreboding for some palates, but for those willing to let the flavor linger, there are rewards of emotional catharsis and poetic resonance to be revealed.
Grizzly Bear
2/5
Aside from the hit, this record's too weak to warrant serious listening consideration.
Ladysmith Black Mambazo
3/5
Musically, I don’t care for it, but culturally, I appreciate the record for introducing Western listeners to traditional Zulu music and South African culture during a time when the country was still under apartheid rule.
Bebel Gilberto
4/5
Bebel helped me turn a rainy Asheville morning into a sunny Brazilian afternoon.
The Verve
2/5
I’m a million different people from one day to the next, and they all lack verve for this album.
Aimee Mann
2/5
Props to Aimee, mann; she really captured the essence of her album with its title.
John Martyn
4/5
One mesmerizingly atmospheric, heartbreakingly beautiful world.
The Go-Betweens
5/5
From no opinion to no skips: I loved this album on my first listen and fall harder with each return.
Roni Size
3/5
Though the forms no longer sound new, I can certainly acknowledge this album's impact on electronic music and how it helped establish drum and bass as a respected genre beyond the club scene.
Green Day
1/5
If your idea of paradise involves watering down the rebellious spirit of punk for mass consumption via a derivative sound and whiny vocals, welcome to it.
Ian Dury
4/5
I’m so in the bag for Ian Dury’s dry, wry, Cockney tales delivered over punk-funk grooves fringed with music hall flair.
Big Star
3/5
Jangly guitars and honey-sweet harmonies make this power pop gem shine, even if it doesn't always dazzle.
Mercury Rev
4/5
A curious, mood-lifting daydream of an album, one which I’m struggling to shake from my psyche.
TLC
4/5
CrazySexyCool vocal performances meet SoulfulFunkySmooth production in this pop R&B benchmark.
The Residents
4/5
Undeniably off-kilter yet not challenging, with an equally undeniable rhythmic and melodic sensibility lurking just beneath the strange surface.
Throbbing Gristle
4/5
A harsh symphony of automation, an early industrial opus, forcibly welcoming listeners to its uncompromising mechanical dreamscape.
Steely Dan
5/5
Ears are all you need to make this album soundtrack seemingly any activity imaginable—no yacht required.
Hole
2/5
I find Courtney Love to be quite the compelling character, but that sentiment does not extend to her music.
Raekwon
4/5
Mafioso Rap Revelations, a.k.a The Book Of Gambino Genesis, a.k.a Optimally Built 2 Culturally Last.
Metallica
5/5
Thrash dudes love to trash this classic metal album’s perceived lack of heaviness, as if they haven’t lovingly memorized every iconic riff, solo, and shitty Lars fill top to bottom.
Slint
4/5
The still waters of Spiderland run deep with sparse, tension-filled arrangements, hypnotically unconventional song structures, and trance-like spoken-word vocals.
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
4/5
The controlled chaos of angular guitars and propulsive percussion still hold up, but it is Karen O's uncompromising vocal urgency and undeniable magnetism that will forever draw listeners in.
Kanye West
5/5
Yeezus is the pinnacle of Kanye’s career, one of the greatest left turns in all of music history, and my all-time favorite rap record.
New Order
4/5
New Order expertly fuses rock and dance to create a triumphant, Balearic blend of sun-drenched sounds evoking the sensual pleasures of a perfect summer day.
Pavement
5/5
Not many bands can claim to be both one of the best bands ever and one of the coolest bands ever; Pavement can.
Robert Wyatt
3/5
Much like waking from a good night's shleep, the fragmented memories of Wyatt's album drift between lucid beauty and hazy bewilderment once dissolved by the harsh light of day.
Aerosmith
2/5
I've never heard a hornier album with less sex appeal in my life.
The Fall
3/5
Everything about this album should light up my brain, so why, after several listens, am I feeling less than illuminated?
Elvis Costello
2/5
Can we get THIS Elvis to leave the building now, please?
Kid Rock
1/5
Kick rocks, kid.
Kanye West
5/5
Kanye's legendary opening statement instantly cemented himself as a genre-defining artist whose only real competition would be himself.
Sex Pistols
4/5
Top marks for cultural impact and importance, but the music doesn’t quite match the influence.
The Chemical Brothers
5/5
When it comes to big beat bangers, few beats bang bigger than those from The Chemical Bros.
The Temptations
4/5
A dash of psychedelia tempts these Motown soul staples toward a higher ground.
Buffalo Springfield
4/5
Feels like three solo albums stitched together, but instead of that being a detriment to this album's effectiveness, it's actually its greatest differentiator.
Cypress Hill
3/5
While I wouldn't die on this Hill, the Cypress branches aren't my favorite limbs of the hip-hop tree.
Beatles
2/5
Bouncy bouncy, not such a good time.
Anita Baker
3/5
Some sections veer dangerously close to department store soundtrack territory, but under the right circumstances, a little Anita could definitely set this party off right.
Violent Femmes
3/5
An acoustic punk romp with busy bass lines, rich harmonies, and vocals that dance on the edge of grating charm.
Creedence Clearwater Revival
4/5
I love the smell of Cosmo’s Factory in the morning.
Justice
4/5
Famous French electro maestros (the other ones) topple the dancefloor aristocracy with their microsampled manifesto of synth-driven anthems and operatic disco glitz.
The Auteurs
3/5
Intriguing though mediocre, the album's distinctly British indie-retro-glam identity predates Britpop, sidesteps nostalgia, and avoids sounding too of its time.
Rufus Wainwright
2/5
Have two.
Grateful Dead
2/5
All I’m saying is that the bands I like to listen to ON drugs still sound good OFF drugs…
Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five
4/5
A snapshot of its time—for better and for worse—The Message is delivered loud and clear for all those willing to hear it.
Penguin Cafe Orchestra
5/5
I awoke from a dream where I visited The Penguin Cafe and desperately tried to fall back asleep.
Koffi Olomide
3/5
The only Congolese album on this list will likely elicit a smile if you've got a straw in something tropical while you listen.
Billy Bragg
3/5
The humble Bragg folksily fuses personal and political, exploring matters of heart, mind, and society with his distinctive voice and songcraft.
fIREHOSE
3/5
Formed from the ashes of Minutemen, fIREHOSE shows promise but fails to rise anywhere near the heights of its predecessor despite retaining two-thirds of its jazz-punk DNA.
Public Enemy
5/5
Though the goosebumps this culturally critical album raises on my skin lack melanin, the heart and soul within are forever tuned into the fearless frequency of Chuck D and the limitless legacy of Public Enemy.
Billie Holiday
4/5
Holiday's weathered, vulnerable voice intertwined with lush orchestrations creates a haunting, emotionally resonant capstone to her illustrious career.
FKA twigs
3/5
Frequently Kinda Awesome: twigs's production twirls, even when songs don't fully bloom.
Ozomatli
3/5
Much of this doesn’t do much for me, but there’s enough stylistic variance, genre fusion, and global influence to keep things interesting.
The Charlatans
2/5
Despite their Madchester pedigree, The Charlatans fail to captivate with these stories, proving that seniority doesn't always translate to superiority in the dynamic 90s UK rock scene.
Ice Cube
4/5
Cube’s first solo effort is a furious declaration of West Coast independence made all the more memorable by its idiosyncratic East Coast production.
Ali Farka Touré
3/5
Enthralling West African blues elevated by Touré's trance-inducing guitar work.
Randy Newman
2/5
Sail away to sleepy time slumber land.
Pixies
4/5
I would do little to dissuade someone from giving the best Pixies record five stars, so imagine my surprise when I walked away from my latest listen without that special five-star feeling.
Sabu
4/5
Listening to this wild, visceral Cuban rumba while strolling the sterile aisles of a grocery store was a refreshingly dichotomous experience.
Deerhunter
3/5
There's a certain chrysalistic quality to this album that sticks with me, even though most of the actual songs do not.
Stevie Wonder
4/5
Brushing with his own first finale in a near-fatal crash, Wonder emerged from the wreckage with the introspective inspiration necessary for a fulfilling album worthy of its ambitious title.
Kings of Leon
2/5
I gave this a whirl when it first came out—I won't deny it—but nowadays it'll take much more than night falling for me to return to the whirl well.
Klaxons
4/5
Though these myths now sound more like the recent past, each track contains a melody, lick, or line worthy of space in the crowded mid-aughts canon of UK indie rock.
Pink Floyd
5/5
You've heard it all, so here's a story you haven't: On May 13, 2023, I took too many edibles at Chicago's Adler Planetarium before a 50th-anniversary audiovisual celebration of this capital-P perfect record, resulting in an overwhelmingly transcendent experience that quickened my pulse to alarming levels and nearly caused my heart to burst from my chest.
Bobby Womack
3/5
If you think this album is inessential, wait until "If You Think You're Lonely Now" and your skepticism will be long gone.
Miriam Makeba
3/5
A charming debut that brought Makeba's distinctive South African voice to the global stage.
Beatles
2/5
I’m trying to be softer, so I’ll simply use this space to state that this is my favorite person’s favorite Beatles album.
King Crimson
4/5
If no one man should have all that power, how did the majestic Crimson King acquire these weapons of mass percussion?
The Stranglers
4/5
The musical equivalent of a city rat, slick with slime, crawling from the gutter to leer at passing suits.
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
3/5
A meditative, trance-like listening experience awaits all those willing to try on a different perspective.
Deep Purple
4/5
Deep Purple undergoes metamorphosis, adding heft and depth to their sonic strata, forever setting their sound in stone.
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band
4/5
All you need to know going in is that this is one of David Lynch’s favorite albums.
Air
3/5
Air's score complements this film so well, but it loses some of its ethereal magic as a standalone listen.
Iggy Pop
5/5
Iggy and the artist formerly known as Ziggy construct a brave new world of gothic industry and stark, robotic grooves that pulse with dystopian decadence.
Creedence Clearwater Revival
3/5
Everything you've come to expect from the Berkeley bayou boys, nothing more, nothing less.
Einstürzende Neubauten
3/5
I'm not sure if it's because I have German ancestry, anarchistic tendencies, or a few screws loose, but I found Kollaps to be one of the more fascinating listening experiences provided by this list.
TV On The Radio
4/5
On Dear Science, TV On The Radio continues to carve out their niche as the thinking person's indie band, merging eclectic sounds with cerebral themes.
Brian Wilson
2/5
Wince.
Aerosmith
3/5
These toys aren't as embarrassing to play with as later models but they're best kept in the attic either way.
Buzzcocks
4/5
Music in the kitchen hits different, and Buzzcocks music hits different no matter where you listen.
Badly Drawn Boy
4/5
Though "The 40 Minutes of Bewilderbeast" would have been more effective, I appreciate the boundless ambition inherent to an artist pouring everything they have into their debut, especially when it covers so much sonic ground.
American Music Club
2/5
We have Bruce Springsteen at home.
Christine and the Queens
3/5
Promiscuous production underpins lusty bilingual lyricism in this discotheque dalliance.
Tori Amos
3/5
An undeniably declarative debut showcasing complete control of the artist's worldview and considerable talents.
The Kinks
4/5
The Kinks pack so much social commentary, character study, and eccentric whimsy into these 36 minutes of quintessentially English art pop; it's Something Else, indeed.
The Thrills
3/5
Pleasant though vapid, this band is more interested in referencing the Golden State than they are in living up to their namesake.
Boards of Canada
5/5
Now we’re talking…aaand now we’re melting.
The Rolling Stones
4/5
Come for the opening and closing tracks you’ve heard too many times, stay for the penultimate track you’ve heard too few.
Leonard Cohen
3/5
The melancholic minstrel rides again.
Rocket From The Crypt
2/5
I feel like I'm stuck in a shitty sports bar; all the kegs are kicked, they just ran out of mozzarella sticks, and the dude who drank all the beer and ate all the mozzarella sticks keeps loading up the TouchTunes with songs from this album.
Dire Straits
3/5
Despite its relatively narrow sonic palette, the Dire Straits debut showcases enough intricate musicianship and effortless virtuosity to elicit, at the very least, sincere appreciation.
System Of A Down
3/5
SOAD tops the nu metal pyramid with their unique Armenian-influenced political fury, but while I appreciate their distinct cultural identity and activism, the resulting music isn’t really for me.
Tim Buckley
3/5
From Los Angeles With Lust.
Jack White
3/5
The drab, muted blues of White’s cover spills over into the blues played in his songs, resulting in an album that, while technically proficient, leaves me feeling wonderless.
Khaled
3/5
Khaled's "Kenza" delivers solid raï-pop fusion with some genuinely catchy moments, even if it occasionally feels too polished for its own good.
Robbie Williams
2/5
Life appears rather, well, lifeless thru this vapid prescription.
Slipknot
3/5
Though the horror-show aesthetics might suggest otherwise, Slipknot's debut reveals a band more interested in musical complexity than mere shock value.
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
3/5
Down home country classics from the Nitty Gritty Ditty Committee.
Billy Bragg
3/5
Old dust bowl ballads sprouting through contemporary cracks.
Curtis Mayfield
4/5
The sounds of Superfly all sobered up, trading street funk fantasies for stark American truths.
Alexander 'Skip' Spence
2/5
His nickname checks out.
Sonic Youth
4/5
Sonic Youth's "Dirty" paradoxically polishes their sound while keeping their subversive spirit wonderfully unwashed.
Pulp
2/5
No, it’s not.
Spiritualized
4/5
A soaring space rock love letter to heartbreak and healing, orchestrated in zero gravity.
Manic Street Preachers
3/5
The Manic Street Preachers deliver their sermon on human depravity with all the subtlety of pyrotechnics at a funeral march.
M.I.A.
3/5
Like a politically charged sugar rush, these repetitive beats and rebel soundbites hit hard but fade fast.
Sinead O'Connor
3/5
An achingly intimate ritual of raw confessions and spectral melodies.
Beastie Boys
4/5
The Beasties dial back the samples to flex their musical muscles, letting punk and jazz influences color their signature hip-hop backdrop in a communication that comes through loud, clear, and undeniably ill.
The Smashing Pumpkins
3/5
Despite the killer guitar and drum work, this album is too long and my patience for Corgan’s nasally wailing is too short.
The Pretty Things
3/5
S.F. Sorrow: The brooding, lesser-known older brother of Tommy who traded pinball for profound despair and avant-garde introspection.
The Who
4/5
Whether you're a Boomer or an Alpha, the raucous rhythms and timeless themes of The Who's debut prove these tunes don't need to be of your generation to be your anthem.
Mariah Carey
3/5
The album's sometimes somnolent production occasionally holds things down, but Mariah's generational voice lifts it all up, adding a grace that elevates the overall experience.
Dirty Projectors
2/5
Bitte shitte, innit?
Terence Trent D'Arby
2/5
Introducing The Hard Truth According To Blake Matson Becker: This Shit Sucks, Terence.
James Taylor
3/5
Short and sweet, Baby James is not without his folksy charms, though his sleepy melodies may put you in a tranquil daze.
Gene Clark
4/5
How many other albums on this list can say they successfully synthesize the trappings of six different genre classifications yet still maintain such a cohesive artistic vision?
Underworld
4/5
A driving dose of hypnotic electronica where trance-like beats and mumbled poetry create something both danceable and deeply strange.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
4/5
Cave is at his most incisive and convictive here, crafting caustic narratives that linger like half-remembered dreams.
Michael Jackson
3/5
I rock with the maestro Quincy and the many musicians he employs on this album, but I do not rock with the man on its cover.
The Coral
2/5
A debut that throws everything at the wall with youthful abandon, but despite its creative ambition, nothing quite sticks.
Frank Sinatra
3/5
For all his sartorial splendor, Ol' Blue Eyes finds himself a touch overdressed for Jobim's breezy yet balmy Brazilian cocktail hour.
Fishbone
3/5
Truthfully—maybe not so soulfully—just a silly grab bag of styles and influences that’s as groovy as it is goofy.
Muddy Waters
3/5
Once again, despite the simplicity and repetition inherent to the blues, Muddy makes it hard to deny his monumental influence on guitar-based music.
Devendra Banhart
2/5
Rejoicing in the ears when this record finally ended.
The Associates
2/5
Fallow, fruitless, not very fun.
The Doors
4/5
I needed to stoke the flames here and there between the eternal fire-starters, but when this debut album burns, it leaves an indelible mark.
Soft Machine
3/5
A cerebral jazz-fusion odyssey that intrigues more than it entrances.
Slayer
3/5
I prefer my metal to be less reined in.
Tim Buckley
3/5
Buckley bridges the gap between his earlier folk period and later avant-garde work, finding a pleasant middle ground where his trademark vocal elongations and jazz improvisations can run free.
Blue Cheer
3/5
A thunderous, groundbreaking prototype of heavy metal that roars with primitive power, even if it sounds quaint compared to the genre's later sonic sophistication.
Ryan Adams
3/5
Poignant, though not universally appealing, revealing sensitive songwriting and emotional depth for those willing to listen.
Genesis
4/5
I avoided listening to this when I saw the runtime, and I rolled my eyes as the concept album narrative revealed itself, but I'll be damned if this bloated mess didn't wear me down into submissive appreciation by the very end.
Nanci Griffith
3/5
The Last Of The True Believers offers a pleasant journey through Nanci Griffith's folk storytelling, with a welcomingly-healthy dose of slide guitar adding warmth to a satisfyingly average album.
Megadeth
5/5
The best thrash metal band beginning with an M not-so-peacefully proves that what shreds may never die.
Bonnie "Prince" Billy
2/5
Bonnie “Prince” Billy has to think about his entire life before he plays.
Neil Young
5/5
I found Harvest's soul driving through November cornfields, where Young's earthen wisdom resonated across every stubbled acre.
Electric Light Orchestra
4/5
ELO delivers high-voltage, arena-sized pop with precision, if not restraint.
John Prine
4/5
Prine's debut transcends the genre's wandering tendencies with clever, cutting commentary that locks the listener's mind firmly in place.
Beach House
3/5
Beach House crafts a hazy sonic landscape where dreamy dirges shimmer momentarily before dissolving into sonic wallpaper.
Cowboy Junkies
2/5
Not the kind of stuff this cowboy is going to be fiending for.
Kendrick Lamar
5/5
The greatest rapper's greatest achievement; an album sharing space not just with other GOAT albums but with other GOAT works of art, regardless of medium.
Nick Drake
4/5
A wispy, whimsical spiderweb on the wind of an album—light as a feather, even when the subject matter is anything but.
Roxy Music
4/5
Roxy Music blur the lines between business and pleasure on their playful, provocative second act.
Elastica
3/5
While this isn't going to win any originality contests, Elastica manages a solid, tight post-punk homage that's more enjoyable than it probably should be.
The Verve
2/5
A record so devoid of spirit that its title becomes an accidental punch line.
Tom Tom Club
4/5
Call me contrarian if you'd like, but I'd rather listen to this quirky curio than anything from Talking Heads.
Jah Wobble's Invaders Of The Heart
4/5
These Invaders don't just rise, they soar above bedlam with an eclectic sound that moves through genres with surprising dexterity—ambitious, sonically varied, and groovy as all get out.
Van Halen
5/5
Not a debut, a declaration: an album so atomic that its fallout fundamentally rewrote rock’s laws of physics.
Rod Stewart
3/5
Spinning tales of youth, love, and wanderlust with his trademark gravelly charm, Stewart offers an unleaded rock narrative that meanders pleasantly but never fully accelerates.
Bauhaus
3/5
There's a murkiness to Mask that helps establish its world while also leaving the listener wanting a more dynamic exploration of its atmospheric potential.
Little Simz
4/5
Intelligent, introspective lyrics delivered through incisive flows over innovative beats create a powerful musical statement from an artist who defies conventional hip-hop boundaries.
Turbonegro
4/5
Everything about this album, from the title and cover to the tracks about pizza and good head, sounds like it was AI-generated according to a prepubescent boy’s prompt…and I kind of love it?
Death In Vegas
3/5
Equal parts mesmerizing and meandering, beautiful and boring, world-building and world-weary.
Malcolm McLaren
3/5
Like scanning the radio in a new town, you stumble through a restless collage of rhythms—fascinating in passing, forgotten on the next frequency.
Brian Eno
5/5
The perfect synthesis of Eno's art-rock "before" and ambient "after," a masterful bridge of musical alchemy where quirky complexity dissolves into ethereal expansiveness.
a-ha
2/5
Another case of the massive pop single on the album deserving some sort of "before you die" recognition, but not the album itself.
4/5
Forgive Suba, Father, for their infectious São Paulo soundscapes have led me to sin.
Madonna
2/5
I might as well be Pluto.
Blood, Sweat & Tears
3/5
Every track oscillates so wildly between rock, jazz, blues, and pop genres to the point where, if you're like me, you might just glance at your phone to ensure you're still listening to the right album.
Girls Against Boys
2/5
Wholly uninspired but not wholly unlistenable, baby.
Arcade Fire
4/5
This entry in the Book of Arcade Fire takes place between its two best chapters and falls short in comparison but remains an essential part of their story.
John Coltrane
5/5
Coltrane's quartet bares all before the higher power of jazz, revealing a collective soul in this supreme meditation on music, faith, and spiritual transcendence.
5/5
Close to the edge, down by a river is where you’ll find a quintessential prog rock spirit journey that sounds and feels like an endless freefall into enlightenment.
MC Solaar
4/5
Qui tend l'oreille, récolte le message.
Elis Regina
4/5
One of the most sonically diverse samba albums I've ever heard; every track is a new playground for Regina's enchanting voice to explore and run wild within.
Syd Barrett
4/5
There are few moments of random precision and even fewer worn-out welcomes in this shining diamond's solo debut.
Ms. Dynamite
3/5
If you really want to investigate this time period’s UK garage and subsequent grime scene, I would suggest digging a little deeper, but you could do worse for an entry point.
The Libertines
2/5
Historically speaking, I've had a lot of time for bands of this ilk, and my allegiances still lean Anglophilic, but this band was never part of my rotation and that fact will not change.
Nina Simone
5/5
Wild are the emotions wrought by the gale-force of Simone's stirring voice.
David Ackles
2/5
Bernie Taupin serving as Ackles's aide isn't enough for me to extend any accolades to this mannered folk cabaret.
A Tribe Called Quest
5/5
These tribe members rap with such absurd, effortless intelligence that listening to their flows feels like witnessing rhythmic conjuration disguised as everyday conversation.
Eric Clapton
3/5
There's a house on Ocean Boulevard, where Eric kicked the smack to play tunes in his yard.
Paul Revere & The Raiders
3/5
My opinion of these historical reenactment dorks has been forever altered for the better by Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, and I’m not afraid to admit it.
Massive Attack
4/5
Massive Attack architects a subtlety sophisticated expansion on their trip-hop foundation, constructing new wings of dub, soul, and electronic design through refined production and intricate arrangements.
Emmylou Harris
4/5
Harris bridges traditional country and folk-rock sensibilities, her crystalline voice illuminating both classic covers and original gems with haunting grace.
Michael Jackson
3/5
The hits stick, everything else gives me the ick.
Alice In Chains
3/5
Dirt's unwavering aura is both its asset and Achilles heel, proving Alice In Chains were capable hard rock metallurgists caught in grunge's suffocating undertow.
k.d. lang
2/5
My irrational grudge against k.d. lang stems purely from her association with my least favorite Bond movie (Brosnan's masterclass in banality: Tomorrow Never Dies), and the adult contemporary slog that is Ingénue does not help her case.
Everything But The Girl
3/5
The girl’s voice evocatively interplays with the boy’s production well enough, but everything commingles in such a way that nothing truly stands out.
Skepta
4/5
Skepta goes in, fam, bare cold bars from the ends, big man ting, man’s moving mad, patterned it worldwide, fam, merking every ting, every wasteman, mandem, ya get me, fam?
Stevie Wonder
5/5
Innervisions, outer revisions: Wonder reimagines a better, funkier world through his soul-stirring musical decisions.
Though lauded as a “return to form” and harbinger of U2's 2000s resurgence, ATYCLB marks my favorite band’s retreat from risk-taking and the definitive end of their most innovative era.
Crosby, Stills & Nash
4/5
While Laurel Canyon birthed CSN's sophisticated debut, its true spirit found me thousands of miles north, where their pristine harmonies perfectly scored a winding drive through Donner Pass and Tahoe's alpine grandeur.
Faith No More
3/5
The arrival of Mike Patton's impressive vocal range proved to be even better than the real thing for Faith No More and the emerging funk metal movement, though for me it's something I only really want in small doses.
Anthrax
3/5
The goofiest gang in thrash metal's "Big Four" lives up to their billing, mixing humorous, metaphorical social commentary with the requisite rage.
Nas
5/5
Poignant production provides Nas the perfect platform for his flawless flows, masterful meter, and luminous lyricism: it ain't hard to tell why this is a hallowed hip-hop classic.
4/5
Modern life’s not so bad if you ask me.
The Doors
3/5
Check-out’s at 11, and I won’t be asking for more time.
Jorge Ben Jor
4/5
Jorge builds a beautiful bridge between Brazilian and African musical traditions in this vibrant fusion of funk-powered samba-rock.
Nitin Sawhney
3/5
Personal meets political and programming meets percussion in this imperfect but intriguing meditation on identity and annihilation.
Pere Ubu
4/5
Clangorous, unsettling avant-rock that transforms Cleveland's industrial decay into surreal sonic architecture.
Neil Young
5/5
Between honey slides and midnight tides, Young found a raw truth that flows through every note of this blearily beautiful seaside symphony.
Peter Gabriel
2/5
So trite, so glossy, so commercially compromised, so not my thing.
Dinosaur Jr.
2/5
I feel the pain of everyone struggling to get through this album’s muddled malaise, then I feel nothing.
Radiohead
5/5
Radiohead belongs to that rarest tier of band where multiple albums could legitimately be called their masterpiece: In Rainbows is the one for me, striking a perfect balance between experimentation and intimacy that continues to evolve since the magic moment it first entered my life.
Aphex Twin
5/5
Ambient techno Jesus melts warm analog textures into hypnotic rhythms across these sacred selections that redefined what electronic music could be.
Flamin' Groovies
3/5
The Flamin' Groovies may be xeroxing their influences on Teenage Head, but they at least picked good source material and kept most of the important details legible.
ZZ Top
3/5
They've got guitars and they know how to use them, just don't ask them to shift out of their comfort gear.
G. Love & Special Sauce
1/5
This album affixed me with a perpetual stank face during its duration; not in an "oooh, this shit goes hard" kind of way, but rather an "oooh nooo, this shit is simultaneously setting both blues AND hip hop back decades...turn it off, TURN IT OFF" kind of way.
The Fall
3/5
Infotaining, if not a bit samey throughout.
Lynyrd Skynyrd
4/5
An acquired Southern taste, much like chitlins, potlikker, or pinto bean pie, that may not be haute cuisine but satisfies a certain craving when it hits.
Q-Tip
4/5
Conscious, crafty, and effortlessly cool, Q-Tip combines his signature smooth delivery with rich, jazz-infused production to craft a compelling vision of mature hip-hop.
Van Morrison
2/5
It’s never too late, Van, even after you’ve eclipsed the hour mark, even as you approach 90 minutes…you can stop…any…time now…..
Holger Czukay
4/5
Auspiciously avant-garde, Czukay offers four fleeting glimpses into wonderfully strange worlds that blur the lines between music, found audio, and sound art.
The White Stripes
3/5
I don't hold White or his Stripes in the same reverence as much of my generation; for all its tusks, this record is rather toothless.
Traffic
3/5
A fun display of jazz/folk fusion and a good, ambling hang—in a kick-it-with-your-uncle-who's-way-more-into-this-than-you-could-ever-be type of way.
Dexys Midnight Runners
2/5
I don't even like this band's big hit, so it should come as no surprise that the experimental follow-up to the record with the big hit doesn't hit big with me either.
Korn
1/5
Wedged in the festering bowels of late-90s rock, this nu-metal abomination refuses to be flushed away, clinging to cultural memory like an undigested kernel of pure sonic waste.
Public Image Ltd.
3/5
Murky to the point of almost sounding subaqueous, I can definitely hear how this would not be everyone's cup of tea, but I can't help but at least appreciate the bitter aftertaste.
Leftfield
4/5
A genre-jumping, speaker-bumping house mosaic that deftly builds upon its electronic foundation with diverse sounds and guest vocalists, creating a dynamic yet unified sonic experience.
Mike Ladd
3/5
This record grew on me after initially coming off as Diet Deltron, though the rhymes never quite match the quality of the production.
John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers
3/5
A British blues rock finishing school where all the would-be guitar heroes get a C.
The Beach Boys
3/5
As much as I can appreciate what people like about these sandy fellows (the songwriting, the harmonies, etc.), I just don’t connect with the aw-shucks mawkishness underneath it all, and they certainly aren’t suited for the kind of social commentary they attempt to make on this album.
Garbage
2/5
Not fond of this album, but I do believe Garbage’s Bond theme for The World Is Not Enough is underrated (and one of the better parts of a bloody awful film).
Kelela
3/5
Clearly a baffling addition to the book’s later editions despite some nice vocal stylings and killer production throughout.
Liz Phair
3/5
History will rightly remember Exile in Guyville for breaking barriers for women and energizing Chicago's scene with its lo-fi authenticity, even if some of us find the actual music less compelling than its influence.
X-Ray Spex
4/5
Punky, funky, sexy, and saxy; you don't need X-ray vision to see why this is a classic of the genre.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
3/5
Morbid, morose, and whimsically wicked, Cave opts for darker shades on this particular canvas.
Justin Timberlake
3/5
Justin Timberlake has always been a dweeb that thinks he’s way cooler than he really is, but the fact remains that he hoodwinked some very talented people (The Neptunes, Timbaland, Clipse, Janet Jackson (yikes)) into helping legitimize his cosplay, and the hits stand as a reminder that sometimes great pop music can come from inauthentic places.
Manic Street Preachers
2/5
Nearly every one of these dozen tracks sounds like rip offs of nearly as many bands that are far better and far more successful.
10cc
4/5
One of the most fun and delightful albums on this list; each song is a distinct little curio all living within the album’s quirky ecosystem.
Happy Mondays
2/5
Low on thrills and heavy on the bellyaches, you might just need a pill or two to get you through this one.
Public Image Ltd.
2/5
Dour, sour, 39 minutes but it feels like an hour.
Ramones
5/5
Keep it simple, keep it moving: the everlasting ethos of this eternal band and the tagline for a life well lived.
Arrested Development
3/5
Not my favorite flavor of hip-hop, yet its unwavering theme of positivity and empowerment breathes fresh air, without veering preachy or overwrought.
Jungle Brothers
3/5
Welcome to the jungle, where these brothers bring fun back to the rap game.
Beyoncé
4/5
Not since In Rainbows had a surprise album drop stirred such a frenzy, and for good reason: BEYONCÉ is a towering testament to the singularity of its creator, an internet-breaking audio-visual showcase of sexual empowerment and vocal supremacy.
Peter Gabriel
3/5
I'm coming to realize that I don't care much for Peter Gabriel unless his voice is washed out by a wall of prog rock sound behind him.
Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark
5/5
I'm writing this review a few days before Valentine's Day, so maybe love is simply in the air, but this New Romantic, synth-pop masterwork took me completely off guard and sent my heart to the moon.
Prince
5/5
Prince & The Revolution penetrate the pop charts in this track-by-track aphrodisiac, adding some much-needed spice to the mainstream's bedroom.
Todd Rundgren
5/5
Rundgren's “Something/Anything?” is “Stunning/Audacious!” in its melodic mastery and virtuosic variety.
Fleetwood Mac
5/5
Like its ivoried namesake, Fleetwood Mac's frizzled double-album follow-up to their most lauded record stampedes through a fever dream of Buckingham's manic perfectionism, splintering into what often feels like three distinct solo ventures held together by cocaine and studio excess.
Destiny's Child
4/5
Destiny’s Child’s third album—and first as a trio—soulfully survives as a showcase of sublime vocal chemistry that turns personal tribulation into R&B triumph.
Femi Kuti
4/5
The afrobeat apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.
The Mamas & The Papas
3/5
An album, more precisely a sound, synonymous with the time and place it was created, that's worthy of its place in history really only because of its two classic hits.
Count Basie & His Orchestra
5/5
The end of the world ain’t no thing when it’s soundtracked by big band swing.
CHIC
4/5
The sound of five musicians willing to Risqué it all for the groove.
Morrissey
4/5
Lillywhite's pristine production provides the perfect polish for one of Morrissey's most mellow and measured collection of solo songs.
Eels
3/5
Better than the terrible album cover would suggest but not by much.
Queen Latifah
3/5
Solid rhymes and familiar flows make this an easy, pleasant listen, but I won’t be bending the knee (or lending my ear again) anytime soon.
Iron Butterfly
3/5
Psychedelic rock milestone that traded lasting innovation for sheer endurance, coasting on one admittedly hypnotic riff for far too long.
Wilco
5/5
Wilco's weathered, uniquely midwestern opus takes the soul on a cross-country ride through the heartland, arriving somewhere wisened and out of time.
Tracy Chapman
2/5
Thematically, I'm riding for the causes; sonically, I would like to be let out of the car, please.
Pink Floyd
5/5
I had a cigar of my own (hats off to Roy Harper) and took a solo stroll through mossened trails—blanketed by downed Douglas firs following some nasty wind—with this album, setting a scene that helped me unlock yet another layer of appreciation for an album I've heard 10,000 times.
Living Colour
3/5
Living Colour delivers quality funk-metal riffage and stands as a crucial breakthrough for Black artists in rock's white-dominated landscape, even if the album’s quality is less vivid than its importance.
Siouxsie And The Banshees
4/5
Siouxsie and her Banshees conjure a mesmerizing dark spell of spiraling guitars and tribal rhythms, creating a gothic landmark that continues to influence and enchant.
Barry Adamson
4/5
A brilliant noir soundscape where jazzy rhythms and unsettling melodies collide in beautiful dissonance, creating a world both seductively familiar and gloriously unhinged.
Adam & The Ants
4/5
Punk rebellion meets dance floor seduction in this flamboyant ride through the wild new wave frontier.
The Smashing Pumpkins
2/5
Corg and crew deliver exactly what they promise: 121 minutes of aptly-named joylessness.
Iggy Pop
5/5
Lust for Life completes the perfect yin-yang duality with The Idiot: where the latter dwelled in Berlin's mechanical shadows, the former explodes with solar energy as Iggy and Bowie strike an alchemical balance between primal abandon and artistic discipline, creating a transcendent work where destruction and creation dance in perfect, vital harmony.
Rush
5/5
Like meticulous cinematographers, Rush frames each track on Moving Pictures with impeccable technique and artistic vision to create an album where technical wizardry serves storytelling, and seven distinct compositions form a singular, cohesive masterwork.
Astrud Gilberto
4/5
Gilberto's Beach Samba evokes tropical warmth on even the coldest days, marrying bossa nova rhythms and pop sensibilities with her sunshine-bright vocals that transport listeners straight to the shores of Ipanema.
The Human League
4/5
Don’t You Want Me has long been a synth-pop favorite of mine, and I was pleasantly surprised to find the rest of the album just as exuberant and danceable as its lasting hit.
My Bloody Valentine
5/5
In a culture consumed by the nostalgic need to regurgitate past successes, we are increasingly fortunate to have had (hopefully still have) a band like My Bloody Valentine that both sounds like none other and is resolutely uninterested in recycling sounds from 20+ years ago.
ABBA
4/5
If you're not too cool to welcome these visiting Swedes, I believe you'll find this to be a collection of technically immaculate pop tunes with enough emotional undertones to keep things interesting.
Tom Waits
3/5
The gravel-voiced troubadour crafts something truly singular that earns my sincere admiration, if not my subsequent plays.
Leonard Cohen
2/5
I didn't have a synth-pop Leonard Cohen album on my 1,001 bingo card, but here we are—this is my fifth (?!?) Cohen album generated to date, so I suppose that's a bingo!
Prefab Sprout
4/5
Euphoric in its highs and therapeutic at its lows, Prefab is a pretty fab mid-80s gem no longer hidden from me.
The Who
5/5
While neither the first nor definitively the best rock opera, Tommy stands as the first truly great one—a pivotal moment when The Who leapt forward to cement their legacy among rock's most essential bands.
Pink Floyd
5/5
An otherworldly debut radiating fantastical whimsy like a cosmic storybook, standing as an eternal pillar of psychedelia that dances merrily through dreamscapes no subsequent explorer has quite managed to rediscover.
Mott The Hoople
3/5
Mott The Hoople’s Spotify About section really stole my thunder calling these dudes “also-rans,” because while you’ll hear echoes of great glam rock here, you won’t hear anything that sets it apart from the greats.
Moby Grape
3/5
A competent psychedelic artifact with undeniable harmonies and textural richness offering more historical significance than genuine musical revelation.
Pavement
5/5
The best band of the 90s' debut is not just Slanted And Enchanted, it's also unmatched and detached, inspired and rewired, deconstructed and combusted; effortlessly unbound and deservingly renowned.
The Streets
4/5
I'm a sucker for the exceedingly English, and, mate, listening to these South London slices of life rapped in Skinner's spoken-word (while I was coincidentally preparing a steak and Guinness pie) had me proper chuffed.
Gang Of Four
5/5
I've no notes—I love this band and their debut is post-punk perfection.
Travis
2/5
The band who bored the world.
4/5
Don't Go A Spinnin' This Record (Without Tissues in Your Hand)
Sugar
2/5
In one ear and out the other, but not without wreaking displeasure between those ears in the process.
Astor Piazzolla
4/5
Piazzolla's bandoneon and Mulligan's saxophone engage in an intimate musical dialogue, transporting listeners to a beautiful place where nuevo tango's passionate rhythms mingle magically with cool jazz sensibilities.
John Cale
4/5
I found this record so refreshing and enchanting; the songwriting, the orchestral elements, the guitar work, etc., make for such a lovely listen.
David Bowie
5/5
The first great album from an artist with more great albums than many artists have albums period reveals the transformative power of Bowie's shift from guitar to piano as his compositional foundation.
Aerosmith
2/5
I'll take "False Advertising in Album Titles" for $200, Alex.
Portishead
3/5
Brilliant individual elements of sonic experimentation and haunting atmospherics that for whatever reason just doesn’t all come together for me.
Bonnie Raitt
2/5
Here’s a glimpse into my mind: I first read Bonnie Raitt as Bonnie Ratt, then spent the entirety of this lackluster listening experience thinking about how a late-80s country cover of “Round and Round” would sound.
The Soft Boys
3/5
Jangly guitars, tight harmonies, and eccentric songwriting create an accessible and adventurous sound across a just alright album.
Ray Price
4/5
Price's forlorn tales of love lost and hearts sinking to the bottom of bottles are ultimately transcended by his vivid storytelling and the soaring pedal steel guitar work that elevates this country concept album beyond mere melancholy.
King Crimson
4/5
King Crimson serves up a sonic feast where rhythmic acrobatics and percussion wizardry dance on the tightrope between genius and madness.
Little Richard
3/5
Transcendent 5-star talent, repetitive 3-star record.
The most entertaining aspect of this serviceable, if not a bit middle-of-the-road, blues rock record is its cheeky title.
The Velvet Underground
5/5
What a moment of sublime serendipity to receive this album, this monument of influence, taste, and iridescence, on a rainy Sunday morning.
Echo And The Bunnymen
3/5
Echo & Co. always manages to pierce my psyche while failing to penetrate my musical soul, offering moments that charm without fully enrapturing me like so many of their more memorable post-punk contemporaries.
Dire Straits
3/5
There's a give and take between iconic guitar-driven brilliance and pop bombast that doesn't really work for me, resulting in an uneven listening journey that occasionally soars but doesn't consistently maintain its altitude.
4/5
Economical and razor sharp, with a healthy diversification of style and genre for what is essentially a straightforward punk record.
Mudhoney
3/5
I’m not so sure a purveyor of big dumb rock and roll named Mudhoney is qualified to make such sweeping declarations on who does and does not deserve fudge.
5/5
Bowie didn't just capture lightning in a bottle when he birthed Ziggy, he captured the very essence of the cosmos to create a glamorous galaxy where misfits reign as celestial royalty and revolution sparkles with sequined defiance.
Sade
4/5
Arranged, produced, and, of course, operated with supreme smoothness.
The Slits
4/5
Sometimes the vibe of a record and aura of its performers elevate the material; this is one of those times.
Pet Shop Boys
4/5
Very lives up to its title—richly textured and sonically exuberant, Pet Shop Boys very successfully bridge emotion and motion, filling both hearts and dancefloors through their polished pop craftsmanship.
Joan Armatrading
4/5
An unexpected breath of jazzy-funky-folky fresh air.
Gillian Welch
4/5
Welch doesn't just chronicle life’s passing moments, she crafts revelations that will follow us through our own.
The Avalanches
5/5
There are party records and there are PARTY RECORDS that transcend mere background music to become catalysts for joy and movement, and this is undoubtedly the latter: a sample-stitched masterpiece that transforms any space into an instant celebration.
The Kinks
4/5
It's not hard to go the distance when you finally get involved Face to Face.
The Byrds
4/5
Come for the tambourine, stay for that sweet Rickenbacker 12-string jangle.
Gary Numan
4/5
The principle of the matter, and the pleasure throughout, is how Numan takes cold synthesizers to school, teaching electronic machines to speak directly to matters of the human soul.
Ash
2/5
Empty-calorie mid-90s schlock rock unbefitting of a far superior music decade's association.
Talvin Singh
4/5
OK, Talvin, go off and traverse the world with your tablas in tow, bridging continents through your boundary-breaking beats.
Joni Mitchell
5/5
Through a fruitful fusion of folk introspection and jazz sophistication, Court And Spark balances commercial appeal with artistic depth and emotional vulnerability with musical ambition, showcasing a songwriter at the height of her powers yet still reaching for more.
Patti Smith
5/5
Giddy up and follow punk's poet laureate as she guides you along a stream of manic creative consciousness flowing forevermore.
The Disposable Heroes Of Hiphoprisy
4/5
The greatest luxury of all would be for these heroes to truly be disposable instead of perpetual, but the hypocrisies they put on blast remain painfully relevant decades later.
Randy Newman
2/5
I think it’s safe to say that Randy Newman is not invited to the cookout.
Joni Mitchell
4/5
Though not all of Joni's global influences and experimental touches here work for me, her piercing examination of suburban materialism and the gilded cages of domesticity from a feminine perspective easily outweighs the occasional missteps.
Donald Fagen
4/5
The juice is always worth the squeeze: beneath The Nightfly's manicured production and effortless cool lies a pure heart that defies its meticulous creation.
Arcade Fire
5/5
The memories and feelings I have tied up in these songs (listen to the deluxe!) are nearly as boundless as the suburban sprawl that serves as their inspiration.
Solomon Burke
4/5
The King of Rock 'n' Soul lives up to his royal title here, delivering passionate performances steeped in soul, gospel, and R&B with a commanding presence and heartfelt conviction.
John Lennon
2/5
Most of these songs feel like leftover ideas that the rest of his former band passed on, adding to a prevailing feeling of inauthenticity and ineffectiveness throughout the record.
Brian Eno
5/5
One of my favorite world builder’s most emotionally effective and affective creations; every song makes my heart soar, my eyes well, and my mind run wild with reckless abandon, admiration, and awe.
Hugh Masekela
5/5
Masekela's afrobeat-jazz-funk fusion double album creates such a welcoming sonic home that you'll never want to leave its irresistible grooves, making even a sprawling 76 minutes feel too short.
Suzanne Vega
3/5
I don't typically fill my cup with this particular type of tea, but the overall strength of storytelling here won me over by the last sip.
The Velvet Underground
5/5
I believe White Light/White Heat to be the purest distillation of VU’s artistic ethos: beautiful chaos gloriously unrestrained, dangerously honest, and defiantly unbound by time.
Björk
4/5
One of Björk's most hauntingly heartbreaking albums (could this be her Kid A?), Vespertine is fairytale-like in its delicate dynamism, and it sounds absolutely incredible on a good pair of headphones.
Muddy Waters
3/5
Muddy Waters lays down the bluesprint At Newport 1960, recording a foundational performance whose impact is almost impossible to appreciate without recognizing how thoroughly his innovations have been absorbed into the musical landscape.
Marilyn Manson
2/5
Is it just me, or does this dude sound like he has ribs missing?
Tricky
3/5
Maxinquaye is a solid trip-hop album with some clever production touches that might color your mood, but don't expect it to change your life.
Alice Cooper
4/5
Billion Dollar Bombast, Babies: Alice dials up the malice for a shock rock classic oozing with camp and theatricality.
Echo And The Bunnymen
3/5
While delivering their most recognizable single, this album epitomizes my Echo And The Bunnymen experience: acknowledged talent that never quite converts to genuine passion.
Run-D.M.C.
5/5
There's something perpetually immediate about Run-D.M.C.'s authenticity, earnestness, and even their corniness that makes this debut sound simultaneously anchored in its era yet somehow also timeless.
3/5
What kind of reaction this record elicits might depend on your headspace and general patience in life, but if nothing else I thought this was a welcomed dissonant deviation from the norm.
Sly & The Family Stone
5/5
This manifesto's measured yet meandering soundscape pulls you into Stone's darkness while your body responds to its revolutionary funk, illustrating Questlove's observation about how we often celebrate Black artistic suffering without acknowledging its human cost.
Tom Waits
4/5
The glasses clink, and the laughter ensues, as Waits offers a live glimpse into his wildly witty mind unraveling over smoke-swirled jazz and beat poetry confessions.
2/5
I will not be sticking around for Volume 2; too much of this bloated album is cloying at best, insufferable at worst.
Ryan Adams
3/5
Though not my bag, there's an impressive, debut-artist-arriving-fully-formed quality here that I can appreciate, even if I can't get behind much of the sound.
The KLF
4/5
Pass the pacifier, please, I'm peaking.
The Young Rascals
3/5
Pleasant enough blue-eyed soul that evokes feelings of a sun-soaked beach day but leaves no lasting footprints in the sand.
Santana
5/5
Santana's Abraxas embodies its titular deity's paradoxical nature, fusing technical virtuosity with raw intuition, cultural tradition with psychedelic exploration, and spiritual ascension with earthly groove.
A Tribe Called Quest
5/5
The Big Bang decoded the cosmos, natural selection decoded evolution, general relativity decoded physics, and The Low End Theory decoded how hip-hop could simultaneously expand its universe while honoring its origin.
CHVRCHES
3/5
Some of this is a little too polished and radio ready (even though that's the point), but it's hard not to get swept up by these Scottish synths and soaring vocals.
Grant Lee Buffalo
3/5
This album is constantly veering toward a particular '90s sound and feeling that makes me itch, but they always manage to pull it back just in time with unexpected sonic left turns that feel both vintage and startingly fresh.
Taylor Swift
1/5
Yo Taylor, I’m really happy for you, I’ll let you finish, but this is not one of the 1,001 albums you must hear before you die.
Guns N' Roses
4/5
I think it’s fair to say our collective appetite for this album has been sufficiently satiated after decades of airplay, and just as fair to say the play was earned by hits that still bang and solos that still rip.
Throwing Muses
3/5
Nothing took me out; nothing drew me in.
Baaba Maal
3/5
Maal creates music that links ancient Fulani traditions with global sounds, achieving a spiritual resonance that speaks to both cultural roots and the impact of African music on the world.
The Only Ones
4/5
Every track has a unique voice, feel, and perspective, while the total package sounds both of a time and place and distinct within that time and place; color me pleasantly surprised.
Fela Kuti
4/5
Fela Kuti and his band of rhythmic reanimators craft Afrobeat that makes you want to grab somebody and burn up the dancefloor then grab a molotov and burn down the powers that be.
Coldcut
4/5
Loops, grooves, and samples unite genre, melody, and style to create a beautiful, diversely danceable noise.
Fatboy Slim
4/5
Fatboy Slim arrives fully formed to bust the big beat door open with a flurry of sample-fueled drum 'n' bass goodness from front to back.
The White Stripes
3/5
I can’t fully get behind this album, or any Jack White project, for that matter, but I’ll gladly walk at Satan’s side.
Bob Dylan
5/5
Dylan's return to Columbia Studio A serves as the ideal backdrop for a creative renaissance that feels like a homecoming where traditional folk structures encompass some of his most temporally unmoored songwriting.
GZA
5/5
In my favorite Wu-Tang solo project (maybe my favorite Wu-Tang project full stop), sensei GZA leads a masterclass in lyrical swordsmanship, where every guest in his dojo brings skills likewise sharpened to perfection, all cutting from separate angles as one unified blade.
Stereo MC's
3/5
A pleasing blend of hip-hop, house, and alt-rock that reflects the UK electronic scene during the rave era, anchored by an instantly recognizable dance floor anthem.
Spacemen 3
2/5
Dazed and bemused.
Morrissey
4/5
It’s not my favorite solo Morrissey pursuit, but I’ve come to realize that, for better and for worse, when the Mozzer opens his big mouth, I can’t help but listen.
Beatles
2/5
Hey, at least it's only 30 minutes long.
Happy Mondays
3/5
A baggy blend of dance rhythms and rock attitude that feels authentically Manchester messy.
The Last Shadow Puppets
5/5
Voices dance, strings swell, and songs stampede in this sweeping symphony of swagger and melancholy.
Rufus Wainwright
2/5
Not one I want to return to.
Tangerine Dream
4/5
More spacey soundscape journey than traditional album, Phaedra flows wherever your mind's guidance takes it, each ambient passage a gateway to your own inner exploration.
Germs
3/5
A promising display of contained chaos and groovy grit tragically never followed up on.
The Police
5/5
Time won’t take the Regatta De Blanc boy out of this Zenyatta Mondatta man.
The Divine Comedy
2/5
I’m equally as confident in noting the charms and virtues of this record as I am in saying I’ll never listen to it again.
Kate Bush
5/5
There's something undeniably intoxicating about an artist taking full control of the studio to create such a unique, fully realized expression of self, and The Dreaming finds Kate Bush doing precisely that with fearless intensity.
Morrissey
4/5
Love him or hate him, Morrissey mostly succeeds in proving that as much as we may prefer his talents within a Smiths setting, he doesn't need that scene to deliver music that stands on its own merits.
Kings of Leon
2/5
There's a time and a place for Kings of Leon: never again, and not in my ears.
The Beach Boys
5/5
Pet Sounds pulls you into a kaleidoscopic maze of stacked harmonies and impressionistic textures, each track a different wholesome world you can't help but get lost in, leaving you pleasantly trapped in its beautiful complexity long after the needle lifts.
The Bees
3/5
The answers to the questions "Could I have peacefully shuffled off this mortal coil without hearing these 40 minutes?" and "Is this a pleasant, chilled-out listen with some solid harmonies and interesting influences?" are both "Yes."
Les Rythmes Digitales
4/5
Pop the top on this effervescent synthesis of disco electronica and let the fizzy funk flow.
Richard Thompson
3/5
Charming British folk featuring lovely arrangements, textures, and vocal interplay.
Waylon Jennings
4/5
Jennings creates an immersive emotional journey through evocative storytelling, transporting listeners into both the vivid physical landscapes he occupies, as well as the intimate mental terrain of his reflections on life, regrets, and dreams.
Goldfrapp
3/5
With its gorgeous strings and acoustic warmth, Seventh Tree achieves a daydream-like quality that momentarily captivates but doesn't necessarily resonate.
The Byrds
3/5
Trading in psychedelia for a more countrified sound wouldn't have been my first choice, but The Byrds, with the addition of Gram Parsons, deliver authentic roots-rock that makes you forget this was their first rodeo with the style.
D'Angelo
4/5
D'Angelo's veritable voice varies velvetly within smooth R&B trappings and sensual jazz grooves.
Yes
5/5
The musical bond on Fragile is anything but, with an egoless back-and-forth between virtuosic group cuts and tight solo explorations that add individual colors to the collective canvas.
Primal Scream
3/5
There's an interesting album lurking in here somewhere, just know you'll need to sift through uneven dynamics and restless genre-jumping to find it.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
4/5
If you’re like me, it might take you some time to find the right mood and moment for this sparse meditation on grief, but when you finally do, a heartbreakingly beautiful world of universal truths will reveal itself.
Bill Evans Trio
5/5
Evans's democratic vision of trio cooperation reaches its sublime peak here, with his understated leadership guiding three voices into one through a legendary session of musical telepathy.
Fred Neil
4/5
Every emotion Neil ever felt seems to live in that impossibly deep voice, turning each song into an act of soul spelunking where his baritone excavates stories the lyrics only begin to tell.
The Mothers Of Invention
4/5
Zappa's most carefully constructed middle finger to both hippies and squares, built from layers of studio trickery and razor-sharp satire.
Magazine
4/5
Hard to be more in my wheelhouse than an artsy, spacey post-punk album closing with a cover of Goldfinger.
Parliament
5/5
The lifeblood of all that is good and groovy within this world pulsates throughout the Mothership, propelling our Earthly bodies to surrender completely to the irresistible call of pure, unfiltered funk, ya dig?
Arctic Monkeys
5/5
The birth of Arctic Monkeys arrives at the intersection of iteration and identity, on the corner of continual reinvention, instantly making space for my favorite modern band’s place within the great rock & roll tradition.
Sufjan Stevens
4/5
Despite my history with, and love for, the state of Illinois, this is a textbook example of something I most definitely appreciate objectively and most definitely do not enjoy subjectively.
Simply Red
3/5
Schmaltzy and dripping with mid-80s mass appeal, Simply Red's blue-eyed soul is easy to dismiss, but perhaps not so easy to deny.
Ali Farka Touré
4/5
Songs and sounds amorphize in such a way that passive listening turns into active listening, and vice versa, across what inevitably becomes extended listening as its world grabs ahold.
4/5
Sincere funk and unironic kitsch collide in one of the more open-hearted examples of early 80s pop’s power.
Christina Aguilera
3/5
Aguilera’s voice was without peer in this pop era, and it’s on full display here, but I almost always prefer the experimentation preceding returns to form, especially when they’re as bloated as this one is.
Dr. John
4/5
The idea of an artist channeling their city's essence through their music is one I find quite romantic, and Dr. John succeeds in doing so on Gris Gris, stirring up a swampy cauldron of New Orleans R&B and voodoo-tinged psychedelia bubbling over with reverence for his roots.
Jean-Michel Jarre
4/5
Entire worlds are built from Jarre's analog warmth and carefully crafted patterns, and if you're listening closely, you won't be able to resist the feeling of temporal transportation.
Laibach
3/5
Did I just get enlisted into the Slovenian Armed Forces by way of neoclassical industrial initiation?
Dizzee Rascal
3/5
Dizzee played a major role in getting grime off the ground, and for that I give him his due, but I don't hold him in as high an esteem as some of his contemporaries.
The Damned
5/5
Line up all the capital-P, capital-C Punk Classics, and I'll be damned if Machine Gun Etiquette doesn't stand toe-to-toe with every last one of them.
Pet Shop Boys
4/5
Pet Shop Boys have an uncanny ability to fill the dancefloor with both motion and emotion through their ever-fresh synth-pop.
Aretha Franklin
5/5
One of the finest, if not the finest, albums in Aretha Franklin's extensive discography and one of the greatest, if not the greatest, soul records to emerge from the 1960s.
Stephen Stills
3/5
Stills explores country, rock, and Latin sounds with genuine curiosity, and while the double album meanders at times, there's real joy to be found in hearing him stretch his musical boundaries.
Coldplay
5/5
Coldplay's debut does exactly as its title would suggest: brings you gently back down to Earth with tender consolation and the quiet assurance that everything will be alright.
Bill Callahan
4/5
I have a newfound appreciation for eagles as a recent transplant to the PNW, and I’ve long held a deep appreciation for Bill Callahan’s conversational storytelling and sparse profundity.
k.d. lang
3/5
Having only heard some of her later adult contemporary work (not my jam), I was pleasantly surprised to hear so much twang and sawdusted country charm on her debut (more my jam).
Black Sabbath
5/5
The punchy bounce of Ward’s and Butler’s rhythm section, the sonic sludge of Iommi’s genre-defining guitar, and the dark alchemy of Ozzy’s immortal aura forge the molten core of heavy metal itself in rock’s most unholy sacred text.
The Stooges
4/5
While I lean more toward Iggy's solo work, there's no denying the sheer importance of The Stooges and their primordial ripple effect on punk rock and countless other movements with its beautifully unvarnished appeal.
The Sugarcubes
4/5
Experimental, cheeky, and pulsing with a post-punk undercurrent, The Sugarcubes stick to the jubilant thesis statement of their infectiously authentic debut.
Sheryl Crow
2/5
I once worked with someone who harbored a passionate distaste for Sheryl Crow (shout out Cameron; I hope you’re well), and I think I get it now.
The Electric Prunes
3/5
A solid slice of garage rock psychedelia that does what it sets out to do competently enough, but ultimately it's more dried fruit than high voltage.
Joni Mitchell
4/5
Learning this record emerged from cross-country road trips deepened my appreciation for its restless, wandering instrumentation that perfectly complements Joni's exploratory and literate lyricism.
Radiohead
5/5
Any Radiohead record ranking is simply incorrect without Kid A in, at minimum, the top 3, and any conversation on the greatest left turns in musical history will be egregiously incomplete without Kid A’s immediate mention.
Megadeth
4/5
Megadeth delivers razor-sharp thrash with gloriously unhinged lyrics about political paranoia and nuclear doom, embracing their own ridiculousness with such earnest intensity that the cheese becomes part of the charm.
The Stooges
4/5
The Stooges took their foundational brutality and sharpened it into something more focused yet equally vicious, crafting a template for aggressive rock that still sounds absolutely ferocious today.
Elvis Presley
4/5
Don't call it a comeback, The King will remain here for the remainder of your years and innumerable years after that.
The Blue Nile
4/5
The highs here really astounded me (how have I never heard Tinseltown in the Rain?!?) to the point where I'm willing to overlook the middling lows, thanks to the overall sense of wistful romance and melancholy that warms my bones like a strong glass of scotch.
Cocteau Twins
4/5
Cocteau Twins is one of those bands whose music has the innate ability to shift your reality to fit the audio worlds they create, no matter your mood, vibe, or preoccupations.
Everything But The Girl
2/5
Heavy on the idle, light on the wild, Everything But The Girl also forgets to pack a compelling reason to listen in this sleepy collection of half-formed melodies.
Marty Robbins
4/5
It's hard to think of a better album recommendation for anyone desiring a healthy dose of American West romanticism and cinematic idealization than this one right here, partner.
Frankie Goes To Hollywood
3/5
Props to Frankie for making this sprawling synth-pop odyssey sound as if it was one continuous sonic journey, but could we have maybe relaxed just a little more and cut this puppy down from 64 minutes?
The Zutons
3/5
Inoffensive but not ineffective, The Zutons defy death in a musical birth worthy of mention in conversations about nearly-forgotten indie bands of the early-to-mid aughts.
The Cars
5/5
Buckle up, buckaroo: this well-oiled, fully-formed debut fires on all cylinders all the way through to the point that it might as well be a greatest hits compilation.
Scissor Sisters
4/5
Inspired by the dazzling worlds of glam and drag, Scissor Sisters put on a show of their own with infectiously jubilant dance-pop worthy of its theatrical heritage.
Booker T. & The MG's
3/5
It's got some funk, it's got some swing, and it's surely got some groove, but something about this produce seems unproductive, fallow even, as if I've walked past a lunch-hour jam session where everyone knows their parts too well and nobody's particularly interested in surprising themselves.
Carole King
5/5
King's confessional songwriting and warm vocal intimacy create a definitive singer-songwriter statement through transcendent melodies and deeply personal yet universal storytelling.
Red Snapper
4/5
This feels like stumbling onto a late-night radio block curated by an eclectic DJ with deep love for dub, experimental electronica, and the avant-garde: all seamlessly woven into one continuous genre-hopping groove.
Cyndi Lauper
3/5
A prime example of the grip that big, bright synth-pop and commercialism (five singles!) had on the collective 80s psyche.
The Waterboys
4/5
I get that’s it’s a bit lazy comparing any Irish band to the biggest one (surely U know who I’m alluding 2), but there’s a healthy dose of Rattle And Hum in the first half of this record, and the back half is comprised of compelling tavern tales that would make their country and inspirations proud.
Emmylou Harris
3/5
A pared-down, contemplative album where minimal instrumentation creates a beautifully intimate and introspective musical world.
The Temptations
4/5
The Temptations fire on all cylinders and pull no punches on All Directions, making for an essential education on funk and soul from one of Motown’s premier acts.
Big Brother & The Holding Company
3/5
I fear the thrills here are as advertised.
Billy Joel
3/5
I'm no stranger to Billy Joel's undeniably stellar storytelling, but there's something about his earnest piano-bar theatricality that keeps me at arm's length.
Hole
2/5
Lived through it, indeed, but just barely.
Barry Adamson
4/5
An atmospheric soundtrack to a non-existent crime film that's more than a little Lynchian might not be for everyone, but it's most definitely for me.
Spiritualized
4/5
Paired immaculately with the smoke in my lungs and the fog in the air during a supremely spacey Thursday morning walk.
The Byrds
3/5
This is very much a Byrds record, combining all the harmonious psychedelia listeners came to expect with a burgeoning interest in jazz textures (shout out to Hugh Masekela making an appearance) and just a hint of the country rock sound they'd soon lean into.
Carpenters
3/5
There's a golden, trapped-in-time quality to this album that, while a bit schmalzy, is undeniably warm and charming.
Erykah Badu
4/5
Badu's versatile delivery navigates the album's eclectic neo-soul arrangements with ease, creating a cohesive yet constantly shifting emotional landscape.
Supergrass
2/5
I hope they cashed in while the gettin' was good.
Pretenders
4/5
One of the definitive showcases of the guitar-forward, ass-kicking front-woman sound that helped defined this era of rock.
John Martyn
4/5
This list introduced me to Martyn many albums ago, and I was thrilled to have another chance to deepen my appreciation for his unique brand of hypnotic, meditative jazz-folk-space rock.
Metallica
5/5
How could I give an album with One any less than a Five?
The Triffids
3/5
There's something in the Australian water that breeds these slightly left-of-center acts like The Triffids, whose folk-rock-post-punk fusion on Calenture feels genuinely refreshing despite its middling execution.
Bob Dylan
5/5
Dylan's first great record and best acoustic album; the one that'd establish a stranglehold on American folk he'd spend decades tightening and loosening at will.
Brian Eno
5/5
Depart your mind on ambient’s arrival.
R.E.M.
3/5
Remarkably Enduring Meanderment.
Dwight Yoakam
3/5
Tex-Mex murder ballads for the nihilistic romantic.
Sepultura
3/5
Professional brutality that's impressively sterile.
The B-52's
3/5
Don't overthink it: grab your lover, make sure your towels are matching, and get down to these beachy new-wave surf-rock bops.
Queens of the Stone Age
5/5
Their debut is up there for me in terms of historical QOTSA listens (wild the next two records aren’t on this list), the band’s unique brand of stoner doom rock and roll invariably insisting I turn it up LOUD.
The Killers
4/5
Hot Fuss opens with five era-defining tracks that scream instant classic, then spends its back half talking me out of a 5-star review.
The Dandy Warhols
4/5
Bit too bloated and prone to bouts of aimlessness, but there are enough moments of sweet space-psych dandiness to make the listening experience worthwhile.
Johnny Cash
5/5
The cheers (for Johnny), the jeers (for the associate warden) from inmates, the official prison announcements between songs, and a legendarily cathartic performance from The Man In Black all cement this as one of the most vital live albums ever recorded.
The Beta Band
3/5
I had completely forgotten about Squares before hearing it again leading off this album, and now I’ve completely forgotten every other song that followed it.
Minor Threat
3/5
I’m in step with the importance of this band and their contributions, even if the music isn’t something I keep in rotation.
UB40
3/5
I usually smoke a joint and go on walks with these records; I didn’t want to be predictable, so I listened to this vibey reggae affair with my morning coffee instead and awoke to the upstrokes.
Talk Talk
3/5
Not a band I’m familiar with, and likely not one I’ll get to know better, but there were enough shades of interest to keep me invested throughout the record.
Sepultura
3/5
I’m not super into the encroaching nu-metal influence, but I’m quite fond of the textures incorporated from various indigenous Brazilian cultures that add a nice bit of flavor to the usual metallurgic milieu.
Skunk Anansie
2/5
Lacking in post-nut clarity.
John Lee Hooker
3/5
Legends meet in the middle to middling results.
Belle & Sebastian
3/5
If you're feeling sinister and would like to no longer feel sinister, this twee collection of indie pop tunes just might sand down those rough edges of yours.
Public Enemy
5/5
Best believe the hype: ignorance remains at an all-time high, and Public Enemy’s been in effect, sucka.
Red Hot Chili Peppers
3/5
Where are these guys from again?
Dexys Midnight Runners
3/5
The fiddle-lined folksiness and exaggeratedly expressive vocal styling that made 'Come On Eileen" such a lasting hit wears thin stretched across a full album.
Haircut 100
4/5
A rhythm section that’s groovy as all get out, a refreshing cast of diverse instruments, and some killer melodies make for a polished, propulsive early-80s pop production.
M.I.A.
2/5
I’ve no inherent issue with repetition, but I do when the sounds and loops are this uninteresting.
Nine Inch Nails
4/5
To all those circling the drain, take a note from Trent: draw the curtains, find the art within, then ascend again.
Pantera
2/5
Walk, don’t run, to pay your respects to Dimebag in this rather bland showcase of redneck groove metal.
Moby
3/5
Nearly every contemporary of Moby’s gets more play from me, both because their music is better and because Moby himself rubs me the wrong way.
Frank Sinatra
5/5
Heartstrings invariably tether with another’s in proximity to this classic crooner’s most classic croons.
Circle Jerks
3/5
Fourteen songs that blow their load in fifteen minutes—impressive stamina this is not, but at least they were enthusiastic about it.
The Specials
4/5
Never been a ska guy, but this album won me over with its restless genre-hopping through lounge, dub, music hall, and even a James Bond tribute that felt more adventurous than gimmicky.
The National
4/5
The National fandom grows every time a sad boy grows to become a sad man.
T. Rex
5/5
The Glamfather returns to defend his claim to the glitter throne against an army of satined usurpers, laying down twelve tracks of pure cosmic boogie that shimmer with electric swagger (ROCK!).
Marvin Gaye
5/5
When a record becomes so synonymous with something (a needle drop, a commercial, the act of fucking) it can be easy to say, “I get it,” but it’s not about getting it, people, it’s about getting it on.
N.E.R.D
3/5
I believe Pharrell’s talents are best expressed (and enjoyed) away from the microphone, though I can’t deny the eloquence of a line like “Her ass is a spaceship I want to ride.”
The Flaming Lips
5/5
The Flaming Lips broadcast a fairytale from the future, where warmth and wonder hold the line against technology's cold advance.
De La Soul
5/5
Clouds part for the hip-hop sunshine radiating from De La Soul’s brightest day.
Motörhead
4/5
Speed metal's rowdy, beer-soaked blueprint: ten tracks of pure adrenaline that hit like a freight train driven by a bull through a china shop.
Stereolab
5/5
Lounge jazz, motorik rhythms, and analog synths collide in the coziest possible way, building grooves you could happily get lost in for hours.
Deep Purple
5/5
If the aliens came down and I was tasked with explaining what "rock & roll" was to them, I'd throw on this album and watch as Highway Star melted their extraterrestrial minds—and that's just the first track!
The Byrds
3/5
Fifth Dimension is the fifth Byrds record I've received from this list and a tame one at that; though those five records varied in style and genre, I'm not left convinced that all five were needed to express this band's cultural importance.
Iron Maiden
4/5
Pre-Bruce Maiden will always be viewed through a different lens, but this is a band that arrived complete with their sound dialed in, just waiting for the right pieces to click into place.
Dolly Parton
4/5
Dolly's melancholic mosaic of love, loss, and Tennessee living transports you to simpler times tinged with both heartache and hope.
Youssou N'Dour
5/5
An initial ear-opening first spin gave way to closer listening and repeat visits, driven by harmonies and musical passages that lodged themselves in my limbic system from that very first exposure: all tell-tale signs that a brand-new listen just turned into a brand-new 5-star.
Steve Earle
3/5
A town worth passing through, perhaps, though not one I intend on spending more time in.
The Gun Club
4/5
Punk and blues: two great sounds that sound great together.
Hot Chip
4/5
I enjoy Hot Chip quite a bit, though I've never really taken the time to spin one of their records from front to back: this one's a body high that leaves little trace on the mind, and that's just fine with me.
Ice Cube
5/5
The coldest ice in Cube’s discograph-tray, featuring his most unmeltable hit (the one devoid of AK use).
Motörhead
4/5
Motörhead is sick; seeing Motörhead live would have been sick (but I never did, so this will have to do).
Marvin Gaye
5/5
Here, Marvin dear, have another 5, you can truly do no wrong.
Sisters Of Mercy
3/5
As the rivers rise and fall, Sisters Of Mercy flood the land with reverb-laden gothery not-so-subtly underpinned by a strong undercurrent of European Cold War anxiety.
3/5
These men are Devo: creators of infectious music helmed by an all-time brilliant producer that ultimately falls short of new wave's other originators.
The Undertones
3/5
It didn’t seem like enough new ground was trod here to justify two records from this band appearing on this list, and though the album cover did spark some joy, the incessant vocal warble really wore me down this time around.
Stan Getz
5/5
Start your day, or cap your night, with Getz/Gilberto, the best of both Brazilian bossa nova and American jazz worlds intermingled, and you'll soon find your mind wiped clean of worry, replaced instead with deep, contented tranquility and congenial warmth.