At the age of 12 I was in the back of mom's car with my best buddy listening to this album on cassette with a portable boom box. Bad Habit starts playing with nervous excitement and anticipation. The breakdown starts and we turn it up knowing what the result will be. Mom grounded me for a week and took my tape away. Luckily it was only a copy of the original I hid in my bedroom.
There are days when you are disappointed with the albums, others when you're surprised or pleased. Today is a very special day. It is akin to Charlie finding the golden ticket. Such a brilliant album from the first second to the last. It really makes my Monday feel a bit closer to a Friday.
Terrible right out of the gate. I hope the rest of the album isn't this bad. Yep. This is rough.
If you love early new wave pop this is the album for you. It is painfully terrible.
Feels like it was trying to ride on the highs from Santana's Supernatural, but in an unoriginal generic way. Song breakdowns with rap feel forced and inorganic.
Wonder if ZZ Top wrote La Grange first or Rolling Stones wrote Shake Your Hips first?
Really do not like Chris Robinson's vocals. High pitched and whiny.
Absolutely incredible album. Horrible how poorly this was received when it was first released. I hope Gene Clark knew how good it was before his death.
Music is great but her voice drones.
Eh..
The first song off the album is stunning.
Classic album that defines the 1990s. Climbatize is a great sleeper song.
Björk is best understood when stoned.
Bowie was writing from the heart with the intent of giving his last farewell. Quite an emotional album no one was prepared for but we all appreciated.
Classic punk rock album that defined the genre.
Don't want to give the guy any sound scans. Not listening to it.
Just not for me.
Save the Life of My Child - A wonderfully avant garde track America - Sound defining Simon & Garfunkel song Overs - Jazzy little song with lyrical wordplay "an old person without money is pathetic" Mrs Robinson - Another sound defining song
Beck sounds a lot like Chris Cornell on Missing. Hell Yes is a great track. Love the country western flare.
Genre defining album
This album should be in the top 10 albums of all time.
My initial impressions were pleasant but now not so much. The band relies to heavily on reverb and echo along with "indie guy" vocals. I can see the appeal but I also see grinding boredom.
Album is quite good. Could deal with a little less "indie guy" sound to the vocals. - The Good The View from the Afternoon I Bet You Look Good on the Dancefloor Fake Tales of San Francisco Perhaps Vampires... A Certain Romance - The Suck and Skip Riot Van From the Ritz to he Rubble
Ironic vaporwave before vaporwave. I am sure I would enjoy this while taking foreign substances. What a tough listen and very pretentious. Do they not have another tone for the keyboard and more than 6 keys? Same crap over and over. This is terrible. - The Good Lorelei - The Suck & Skip Wordy Rappinghood Genius of Love L'Elephant As Above, so Below On, on, on, on The rest of the album
Good album. Surprised this was my first exposure to them. Would listen to them again.
Great album and defining of the 90s
Great album from start to finish.
It is a middle of the road album. Surprised it is included in the list. Notable Songs Song 2 Death of a Party
Initially this album was interesting but now it is an absolute bore. Same sound through out of "WWWoooooOOoooOooOoooooOoooOoooo".
Super happy to see this pick today.
Silky smooth
Band is super tight, but the singer is just rough. This band would have been bigger if they would have had someone who didn't sound like David Spade. The further I get into this album the more I wish this guy didn't sing. I am glad it is over.
Laura Nyro sounds inebriated on the first track while yelling about getting lucky and digging potatoes
Elvis Costello would have benefited if he didn't have to compete with Bruce Springsteen. He is constantly trying to one up the Boss and seems to come up short. You have to feel for the guy. I could not get through this album. Just uneventful and lacking genuine emotion.
Normally not a fan hip hop but Eminem seems to be different which is probably why he commands so much respect in the genre. His lyrics tell stories that are often hilarious with tongue-in-cheek mixed with a dark double entendre. The Good My Name Is '97 Bonnie & Clyde My Fault The Bad
Absolutely incredible album.
Very dreamy and melancholic music. Wayne Coyne's vocals are not the strongest by any stretch of the imagination and at times he lacks confidence in it.
Fantastic album.
Super funky and experimental. David Byrne's lackadaisical vocals are at times tough to handle. Cannot stand the spoken word in Seen and Not Seen. Reminds me of the ramblings of a second year philosophy student at university who discovered the devil's lettuce.
What an absolute pleasure to listen to this album.
Björk seems to intrigue the mind until one gets halfway through an album. Then a mind craves a small bag of potent green floral notes to help Björk become interesting again. It is her mysterious nature that allures but the altered state of conscientiousness that helps her endure.
What an amazing voice Willie has on this album. Probably some of his finest work.
Interesting shoegaze
Vocals are off key and lifeless. Horribly boring. Thankfully they broke up in 2009. No reunion tours need to happen.
Quite an amazing album. Precursor to At The Drive-in and many post-punk/ bands in the late 90s to early 2000s.
Thom Yorke's vocals are decent but this album is the start of the decline for me. We Suck Young Blood is where it gets a bit much vocal fry and I want him to clear his throat with a hot cup of tea with lemon. Side note, "A Punch Up At a Wedding" is a great song name. Interesting Songs 2 + 2 = 5 There, There I Will Myxomatosis Skipped Songs We Suck Young Blood The Gloaming
Feels like it was trying to ride on the highs from Santana's Supernatural, but in an unoriginal generic way. Song breakdowns with rap feel forced and inorganic.
Not listening to Kanye. He sucks.
The whisper vocals are annoying at best. The vocals make this unlistenable.
Quite boring
Kind of boring and generic
Kind of boring
Fun album that isn't serious at all. I guess you could get that impression from the lobster bibbed lads on the cover.
Not a bad blues album. His voice is haunting and leaves no doubt why he is considered one of the greats.
So... I did in fact gave up on this album after 3 tracks.
Great middle album by the Beatles. Incredibly tough to only pick three great songs. Top 3 In My Life Norwegian Wood Drive My Car
The "dual solo" in Jackals is horrible. There are is the bass and rhythm guitar doing the same thing along with a keyboard doing some dodgy Pink Floyd "On the Run" lick. Then we have a clean-ish guitar solo and another solo with a fuzzed out guitar that has nothing to do with the song. That was a tough listen. I think part of the problem with Pavement is that we are listening to them years after they influenced bands refined the sound and this was their debut recording. Then again listen to Nirvana's debut and see there is no comparison.
Music is fun, vocals are tough. It must have been the mid to late 1970s that forced post-punk male singers to be higher pitched and whimsical. I would put the vocals in the same group as David Byrne of the Talking Heads and Fred Schneider of the B-52s.
Brilliant album from start to finish. I picked up this album from a record store in NYC back during spring break in 2005. I fell in love with this album immediately and long to savor it for the first time again.
3 songs in and I am bored to tears. Really quiet basic 4/4 beat. Nothing interesting at all about this album. This shouldn't have been included in the list. Found a decent part. There is a neat little guitar run in "Me and Those Dreamin' Eyes of Mine".
Wasn't a fan when it came out and not a fan now.
There are days when you are disappointed with the albums, others when you're surprised or pleased. Today is a very special day. It is akin to Charlie finding the golden ticket. Such a brilliant album from the first second to the last. It really makes my Monday feel a bit closer to a Friday.
Quite a decent album until Free Form Guitar.
Genre defining 90s bubblegum pop. Although not something I would ever listen to on my own it seems pretty obvious why it is so popular. Repetitive angsty teenager lyrics that are easy to sing and simple 4/4 beats for dancing. The entire oozes a predictable premanufactured cheesiness.
Kinda boring
I tried but couldn't get through the album. Might be a great rap album but that doesn't mean much to me.
Good example of the early 2000s revival of the classic rock sounds. The lead singer's voice is annoying as a boil on your rear. The babyish indie boy vocal style sucks horribly.
This album is much better than their next album, "In It for the Money". Love the energy of the opening song. Pleasantly surprised.
Do you remember that really avant garde guy back in college who was getting a BFA performance art? Everyone said that his art was incredible, groundbreaking, and thought provoking, but it reminded you of a fish flopping around gasping for air wishing death upon itself. You would often wonder how this guy was able to be so popular and coast through college with less than an ounce of talent. Here is that guy. Again you don't get it and even want to listen to it. It sucks and yet he is immortalized in this list.
It might be a great album but not my genre.
Good album for auditory torture
Find this a decent folksy and psychedelic album. Something you would hear at a Renaissance Festival. I think this album would be best served with a few edibles and a glass of mead.
Classic album, classic cover, brilliant Friday album
John Lydon is a magaT shill. Not giving him listens for royalties.
One of the best albums released in the 90s.
There are times which are ever increasing as I get older where I tell myself on the first listen "I have heard this song a 1,000 times already". Looking deeper into this album I find Max Martin which tells me why I know this album without having to listen to it. The guy has wrote or co-written 25 number singles since 1998, won ASCAP pop songwriter of the year 11 times and yet I do not find his songs enjoyable. Taylor Swift is a wonderful artist and I wish she wouldn't have worked with this producer for this album.
I could go through life without listening to this and be just fine. It suffers the problem of a lot of electronica. Slow to start and oppressively repetitive.
Just not my style
The cover art is the best thing about the album along with the last track being over. It is as if someone who just finished doing 5½ fat long white lines of nose candy, picked up their instrument and yelled RECORD DAMN IT! I have gotten through 10 minutes yet I feel like I have spent a lifetime trying to find a melody.
I thought this album was pretentious when it came out and it still is.
"The Rough and the Quick" was one of those songs that made me listen to the lyrics not because they were profound but it was unexpected. The song was a bit to repetitive but I guess the ol' in out in out is as well. Art imitating life perhaps? Good tracks - Keeping Pigs Together - Bussing
First two songs are an absolute bore. Monday is a "Springsteen" song Red-Eyed and Blue has the first interesting melody.
Really pretentious early 80s euro new wave. I am certainly not impressed with this album. This album was certainly not impressed with me even before we met. The title track never feels like it gets into a grove. It painfully works up to a more disappointing crescendo than my first time. I liken this album to what the great Peter Griffin once said about the Godfather, "it insists upon itself".
Not a bad album, but the vocals are the biggest drawback. The lead singer's vice reminds me of the first few years a child is trying to sing with an obvious, uncontrolled, and forced vibrato. "Things You Say" would be so much better if the vibrato was taken out completely from her vocals. Side Note Words and Guitar should have been cut from the album. It would be an instant skip from me.
Better than expected but the vocals on Stagger are horribly flat. Reminds me of a middle schooler recording their own singing voice for the first time and singing about the random objects they see with an artsy flair.
Guitar work saves this album. If you have heard one Bon Jovi power ballad then you have heard them all. He found the formula and did not deviate.
I haven't listened to an entire Elton John album before and I was pleasantly surprised. Elton John, like David Bowie, seems to have get command over the highest quality studio musicians. A truly great album.
Terrible right out of the gate. I hope the rest of the album isn't this bad. Yep. This is rough.
Kanye produced this and I don't want to give him indirect sound scans
Quite decent album. I really liked it when it came out. It has quite a bit of nostalgia for me. There was a bit too much emphasis on Load/Reload but those were the hot albums at the time. Best Tracks Call of the Ktulu No Leaf Clover One Skips The Outlaw Torn
The direct inspiration for Dropkick Murphy's. That bloke in the center is all ears.
Not my type of music.
Truckin is the best song on the album. Much faster tempo and enjoyable. The rest of it is just a slow crawl through the doldrums.
Didn't like it then and certainly do not like it now. Pretentious pile of crap.
It just sucks. Pete, I really don't enjoy your music.
Tired of Kanye West. 1 Star.
Ronnie Wood's guitar playing is the highlight for me on this album.
Where there is pretentiousness there is an indie opus of keyboards, acoustic guitar, fuzzed electric guitar, drum machines, with a cacophony of vocals. There are flashes of interest but it tries too hard at being avant garde.
Great album. You can here the influence it had on Josh Homme vocals along with countless other artists. Clapton is a highly talented musician who excels at bigotry and medical ignorance.
After days of horribly boring and pretentious albums I get this gem. Nine Simone had such a soulful voice with well deserved confidence at times and timidity at others. Wonderful recommendation.
I have resigned that I will never understand Prince and that is ok.
I am sad that I didn't discover this album sooner in life. Lady Grinning Soul is a stand out song for me. It is a slow ballad that is melancholic for an experience the listener has never had but understands well. There is an guarded approach for optimism at the end with both Bowie and a guitar singing, but fading away. Brilliant album.
If you love early new wave pop this is the album for you. It is painfully terrible.
Pretentious and boring just like most indie rock
Every day is a great day to listen to Led Zeppelin. It makes my Friday just that much sweeter to know I got this album.
Dog shit.
The only way he could have gone from something that is enjoyable to the pile known as Trout Mask Replica must have been acid. There is no other explanation.
Tries so hard to be avant garde that it is boring at times. There are times it is trying to recreate the magic of Sgt. Peppers but comes across bland and lackluster. Would not listen to again.
Brilliant fucking album.
Liquid ass
Sorry Gen Z, it's one of the worst things to happen to music with the breathy and lifeless indie girl vocals.
This album feels like a collection of short ditties
Feels a lot like every 70s Brit punk band out there. I am sure it was interesting back in the day but now it is mildly interesting.
An interesting take on the early electronic music era blended with a bit of shoegaze. Would listen to again if I was in a chill mood with a bit of green.
First track blows. Second track is background Third track is background It is all starting to blend together Last track blows
Another pretentious indie folk rock album
Aretha at her best. The band adds just enough to give the melody and enhance her vocals. She was blessed with an incredible voice and we are lucky to have heard it.
What a great album to help out a Monday.
She is flat of several songs that are out of her vocal range. "Time after Time" is a perfect range for her which make it a pleasant song. "When You Were Mine" is a rough listen. I can't. I just can't with this album. Stopped halfway though. 80s new wave pop is rough.
Nightswimming is a masterpiece. Lovely album.
Good Lord, Jon Lord was one of the few who could make the organ sound metal especially his solo on Highway Star. Masterpiece of an album that paved the sound for future bands in the rock genre at large.
Really liked the opening track vocals. Yorke sings without his signature falsetto which caught me off guard. Pyramid Song is a masterpiece all of its own with its much debated subject of time signature.
Amazing pedal steel guitar on this album.
Great little album. Love the guitar lick in "It Won't Be Long". Nice bouncy feeling in "All My Loving" with an almost Fogerty-esque solo. Roll Over Beethoven is a decent cover but George's lead was rough.
I would rather get kicked in the beanbag than listen to this again.
Great album. Loved the reprise of "Band on the Run" during "Nineteen Hundred and Eighty-Five". Feels like a Beatles album that we all wanted.
Morrissey sing the same melody throughout the album. "What She Said" has an amazing groove and then Morrissey starts with his minimal midrange 6 tone vocal range which flattens the entire groove. There are times where it works such as the harmonies in "That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore". The bass line in "Barbarism Begins at Home" is quite delightful. Wish they would have been brave enough to add more on the album but again Morrissey flattens the song with his 6 toned voice.
One of the early pioneering albums that made the grunge movement along with Meat Puppets' album II and Pixies' Surfer Rosa
The cover art alone is worth the pick today. Some super funky lines. This gets annoying after 3 or 4 songs into the album. I am done with it.
The massive amount Kevin Rowland's vibrato needs to be dialed back. Over used and more than necessary.
Cool album name. Felt a lot like classic jam bands of the past with a British flare to it.
Both 80s synth-pop and ironically named modern vaporwave. Generally uninspiring but could be used in the club due to its medium to slow tempo 4/4 beat. A rare all-skips album.
Another modern take on 1980s synth-pop. Boring, uninspiring, and a waste of time.
Interesting album in the earlier days of rock. "C.T.A.-102" such an odd ending to a song which I suspect might be the origins of the Minions voice.
The Naughty Little Flea such a fun song on this album. Love the intro to The Click Song. Ms. Makeba has such a beautiful voice and her control was incredible which is best shown in Where Does it Lead?
Every time I hear Duran Duran I get this image of someone singing karaoke. The voice never fits with the music. That opening bass line is super funk.
Not horrible but not something I would listen to again. His vocals are constantly flat.
Nice
Dorothy Moskowitz cannot carry a tune.
I get that Bob Dylan has been instrumental to music but sometimes you want to listen to something else.
This was a surprisingly entertaining album. Janis Joplin's vocals are excellent and you can hear hints of a softer less gritty voice.
I had a chance to see Kings of Leon for free at Google Next 2024. I skipped for a very good reason.
There are plenty of better country albums out there to pick but somehow this one got the nod. I would have put Garth Brooks - No Fences on here before this album.
Nothing says punk more than a turtle neck and puffy jacket
I am tired of 1980s Brit pop-punk
Look at You is the best song on the album. Mark Lanegan's vocals make the band. Screaming Tree's were always on the cusp of the next big grunge band but lacked the hook that helped other Seattle bands.
This list is way to heavy handed with British influence. While there are absolute genre defining British musicians this is not one of those groups. The song "American Guitars" irrationally makes me annoyed. What a terrible album.
Not usually a fan of this genre but it has some interesting appeal. DANCE is super funky. Quite enjoyable.
I would agree this is a hip-hop history artifact. A tough listen and would not listen to again.
There is a reason why this album has been lost in time. Nothing really sticks out to me as brilliant or incredible. There are plenty of early pioneers that have had their sounds improved upon but are still remembered.
Good album but it is all covers.
Super safe elevator music
Same shaky novice vibrato in the singers voice and annoying 80s synth-pop with sax. So tired of the same pile of excrement in this list.
Cheesy 80s
The more I have listened to Elvis Castello the more it seems he tried to be Bruce Springsteen. The songwriting is there but the song quality has always been lacking.
This album really helps a Monday out.
Good album. "Coconut" is a popular one but I find it annoying. "Gotta Get Up" is my favorite on the album.
Repetitive and boring and repetitive and boring
It is amazing how many awesome bands were around during this time and Cornershop wasn't one of them.
Thanks for this Christmas present. Now I get to listen to the Walmart version of Bruce Springsteen.
Not listening to someone who did gross things with Diddy
The Man Who Sold The World is such a great song and Kurt's voice is particularly haunting on it. This was a transformational album for many of us who grew up during this time.
No thank you
Opening riff is nice and doomy slow for a trash band and right into a fast gallop.
Super tough to give an honest rating on this album due to the time period. It feels like a classic and defining rock and roll album.
Feel like a mix of late 60s/early 70s rock, with a bit of psychedelics. I wish the vocals were a bit more baritone and less nasally, but they work. Really nice use of a string section in some of the songs that gives them a theatric feel.
Voice is annoying at best
At the age of 12 I was in the back of mom's car with my best buddy listening to this album on cassette with a portable boom box. Bad Habit starts playing with nervous excitement and anticipation. The breakdown starts and we turn it up knowing what the result will be. Mom grounded me for a week and took my tape away. Luckily it was only a copy of the original I hid in my bedroom.
This is a "best of" album.
Pour out the Juice because it has gone bad.
This album gets repetitive after a few songs and as such is the nature of rap.
I wouldn't seek out this album but it is an interesting listen. The did highlight how much giuliani sucks in My My Metrocard.
Strange album but with interesting parts. The guitar tone at the end of "Why Can't I Be Free" is wonderful.
The guy can write an amazing song but his vocals are terrible at times especially when he sings outside his vocal range. Great example is the last minute of Mellow My Mind. It made he dogs in my neighborhood collectively howl in pain.
This album is not waiting to be rediscovered, but rather it is waiting to have a reasonable vocal melody sung with enthusiastically in key. David Ackles tries to be interesting avant-garde with Ballad of the Ship of State but it comes off as pretentious.
Yet again, Elvis Costello, I have to listen to a song by you albeit sung by someone else. This album is the very essence of a slightly faux-edgy but very pretentious upper white middle class wine, cheese, and hors d'oeuvres party. I shall see myself out while I speak to Reginald Longbottom and his dear wife Dorothy about days of yore.
Odd lounge music with slight crooning and peppered with 1970s modern influence and less edge than a dusty bag of dull spoons.
The obvious vocal influences from Sting, Morrissey, and Michael Stipe is the first thing that jumps out at me. The hit single is interesting and there are some other bits of note. Did I need to listen to this album before my ultimate death? No. I would gladly take this album before anything on the bottom 20 of this list.
The safest type of rock is called Paul Weller.
It wouldn't be indie without being pretentious and this certainly fulfills that requirement along with being sad, depressing and moody.
The band was one of the better children born out of the original grunge movement of the late 80s to mid 90s. Major punk influences with the lofi artsy flair. "Date with the Night" is a very representative cut from the album. Karen O has a great no-Fs-given style where she belts in the loud screams when needed but lures in the listener with her quieter vocals. "Maps" is the song people would remember but it is far too subdued to represent who the Yeah Yeah Yeahs are on this album.
Genre defining album. It makes no apologies for "shouting", being too "tedious", or too loud. There should be some indication with an album cover of someone getting punched in the face that it wasn't going to be smooth jazz from a long curly haired guy playing a soprano saxophone.
Undoubtedly the best album he released, but sometimes it is tough to separate the art from the artist.
Devil Eyes is pretty gross.
No thank you
I wouldn't go searching for this album.
Very few good parts to this album
Add it to the pile of 80s pop British bands over populating this list.
It was probably groundbreaking back in the day but the droning harmonies are tough to get through.
Brilliant album from start to finish
I am always surprised there haven't been more iconic reggae artists. You ask the average person to name a reggae musician other than Bob Marley and they might name Peter Tosh. If it wasn't picked as my daily album I would have still been in the dark about Burning Spear. Marcus Garvey is a fantastic album and a wonderful representation of the genre. The cover art is wonderful and thought provoking. Great pick for today.
How can a voice be in and out of tune at the same time? This also feels really generic.
What makes this album so incredible is the year it came out, 1986. The album was ahead of its time.
It works as generic corporate background music from the mid 90s. This album makes James Taylor and Jack Johnson edgy.
Growing up in the 90s I listened to a lot of music and enjoyed much of it. Although Aimee Mann was not on my rotation I feel like I have heard her a thousand times before with artists like Gin Blossoms, Sheryl Crow, and other staples of 90s alternative pop/rock. The song writing is not bad and has some really decent hooks. There always seems to be a light dusting of country influence during this time period in the bridge or the short guitar solo. Unfortunately her vocals are mixed too far forward and often feel like a recording of a well sung karaoke track. As I progressed deeper in the album the songs blend together with no real differentiation between. I have gotten bored.
Kind of a modern day Captain Beefheart with the a bit more rhythmic quality. I will never understand how this makes the list but Tool's Lateralus or Isis' Panopticon is left off. Only interesting thing about this album is the cover art.
Just Another Oasis Clone Another band where the cover art is more interesting than the music. This music is about the safest Britpop album ever produced. The singer(s) also are lost in who they are from song to song. Sounding like Michael Stipe in "Beautiful", the Gallagher brother in others, and lyrics delivered in the style of Bruce Springsteen. Nothing original with this band which is why it is oddly listenable. It feels familiar with a constant undertone of being a rip off. I don't think it would have hurt anyone's feelings if this was subbed out for Tool's Lateralus or Stabbing Westward's Darkest Days.
Random horn blowing and not in a good way.
Nothing about this excites my senses
Her desperate copycat vocal stylings of Stevie Nicks except the cracking voice is out of tune, lifeless and follows the same listless melody.
The day after Ozzy passed away. Rest in Peace. Incredible album. Right out of the gate "Wheels of Confusion" hits you with a classic doomy track. "Changes" comes out of no where with a haunting song that features Ozzy's vocals being front and center the entire song. "Supernaut" brings the energy back with purpose and guides you into a powdery "Snowblind".
What an album name. Amazing how many bands were influenced by Black Sabbath with Sweat Loaf right out of the gate. I can only imagine an day old meat loaf sitting out on a hot park bench with that title.
I may not speak French but I can feel the passion in his voice. Beautiful recording.
I can't stand this. It is cheesy. They are great musicians but the music is not for me.
Excellent album. Ironically The Stooges writing a 10 minute song was the most punk thing of all time.
Classic Peter Gabriel. Every song sounds the same and is pretentious. Just like his Genesis bandmate, Phil Collins, there are no sharp edges or wrinkles to his music. This is an all-skips album.
This feels like the onslaught of artists similar to Natalie Merchant, Jewel, Joan Osborne and to a lesser extent the Cranberries. There is a bit more polished feel to this album with the strings, slide guitar and the Fender Rhodes keyboard.
Sad bastard music.
Great album from an underrated band. So many musicians were influenced by the Pixies.
No reason to listen to this one again.
Nothing kills an album more than starting off with generic hackneyed poetry with the same cadence and quality you get from a college poetry slam competition.
This must have been groundbreaking stuff because this is one of the earlier examples of Brit New Wave we have all heard 100s of times on this list. One song in and I am done. Just boring.
The Zutons are really into being Zutons with the album and a song named after the band's namesake. Lead singer indie boy vocal stylings are incredibly annoying and unlistenable.
Indie girl vocals are over done and an instant album skip.
Brilliant album from start to finish with its odd guitar tunings, blending of grunge/psychedelics, and above all Chris Cornell's vocals.
Started into "Heaps of Sheeps" and read the reviews thinking I am not understanding the general pretentious artsy feelings. "The Duchess" starts. There is no doubt this is pretentiously artsy. There is a part where Wyatt makes a roflcopter sound. "Maryan" has a cool little repetitive guitar run at the end that is interesting. "Was A Friend" is annoyingly terrible. "Free Will and Testament" has a cool slide guitar part in it. The song reminds me a lot of The Flaming Lips. What a Jekyll and Hyde album.
If you are looking for something that fills the background sonic void, this album is for you. If you are looking for something when finished you think to yourself "Wasn't there something playing like an hour ago?", this album is for you. If you are looking for something that helps take you on a trance-like peyote stupor during a misappropriated vision quest, this album is for you.
About the safest light rock I have heard since the last Coldplay, Peter Gabriel, or Phil Collins albums served up on this list. "I said words they mean nothing So you can't hurt me". Profound statement if you're 5 and just woke up from a nap. Would love to sit with the lists author(s) and ask what criteria was used when filler was needed. You could place the vocals from "There Goes the Fear" and place them into any Coldplay song. A blatant rip off of an equally boring band.