Honestly going into this I was expecting something far lamer, but honestly it caught me off guard with just how hard the band could get with some of these tracks (I LOVE how crunchy the guitar is). Really put into perspective why this style of rock became popular, and how shitty its imitators actually were!
I'd definitely say that the album loses some steam in the second half, but I appreciate how lean the it is which alleviates the effect a lot. All killer no filler, which is quite frankly the platonic ideal for a hard rock album.
Highlights are Runnin' With The Devil, Eruption, Ain't Talkin' 'Bout Love and Jamie's Cryin'.
I'm honestly not a huge fan of 80's Hip-Hop, but I always find the reaction it gets from people to be very overblown and overly negative. There's still plenty of charm, fun lines and you can always rely on the beats to be crazy good.
This is basically the experience I both expected, and proceeded to have, with this album. I very much enjoyed this experience despite a few lesser cuts (You Be Illin' and Dumb Girl were both pretty bad, especially one after the other), mostly because the hits on here hit hard.
Make no mistake either, this record was a HIT. The first platinum Hip-Hop album ever, the record that legitimized the genre as more than just a single creating fad. Honestly if any record had to have the honor of this feat in the 80's, I'm glad it was the one with Walk This Way on it (an all time classic, do NOT trust any 'people' that hate this track)
Highlights: Its Tricky, My Adidas, Walk This Way (feat. Aerosmith), Raising Hell
It took a few listens but I eventually came to appreciate the production on this one, its super minimalist and clean which brought to mind the kind of garbage indie rock that gets popular nowadays at first (the kind where you can envision exactly which product its going to be used to advertise when you hear it) but this is definitely a step above that.
Although I can certainly hear its influence on a lot of music nowadays, I hadn't heard of the album or the artists prior to today but upon listening I instantly heard the origin of sounds used by acts like Lorde, Billie Eilish, James Blunt etc.
Although the obvious issue is...yeah I mostly just wished I was listening to other artists I like more. I didn't really connect with the record on an emotional level and its aural pleasures have been done far better by its many predecessors.
Overall not even remotely a bad album, and I glad I've experienced it, but definitely not something I ever plan on returning to.
Highlights: Intro, Crystalized, Basic Space
I'm only familiar with Lou Reed's solo work through a few of the hits on Transformer (and the reputation of Metal Machine Music) so this was a 'nice' chance to check out some of his work beyond the VU.
I say 'nice' in quotation marks because this is one of the most deeply depressing albums I've ever listened to. The tale of two addicts who fall in and out of love, eventually settling on spitefully causing the other as much harm as possible in a pathetic and miserable state of codependence. Lyrically this record is incredible, the story being told only from Jim's perspective was an excellent choice not allowing the viewer to get the full story but instead filtering through an extremely human and sad lens not possible with a more objective viewpoint.
Musically I was pleasantly surprised with how willing this record was to flirt with the theatrical, a lot of these tracks are very melodramatic sounding which can occasionally flirt with a comical tone but for the most part give off the air of being told a tale of woe by a drunken stranger you met in a bar (a tone that fits the subjects of this record perfectly)
Overall I'd say this is a fantastic record that I'm sure will stick with me a long while after listening to it, an album at once theatrical and eccentric whilst remaining deeply moving and true to life. A balance I'm not sure many artists besides Lou Reed could manage to keep up.
Highlights: Caroline Says II, The Kids, The Bed, Sad Song
This is probably the quintessential Elvis record, at least in regards to most people's popular conception of Elvis before he got held hostage in Vegas and became a fat, drugged up, glittery mess (which to be fair wasn't even remotely his fault and I do sympathize with him a lot, especially after watching the very good recent biopic)
I think I'm probably just going to have to reckon with that fact that I don't really care about Elvis outside of his big hits, the two of which that are on here being In The Ghetto and Suspicious Minds which are both excellent tracks worth the hype (especially the latter). The tracks quickly become tedious when listened to one after the other, especially as I don't personally find many of them to be particularly compelling as anything other than background noise. Which doesn't really help when my preferred method of listening (at least critically) is lying back and focusing entirely on the music)
If you happen to be an Elvis fan and haven't check this out, fix that. Otherwise just stick to the hits, I'm always going to consider The King more a singles artist.
This is another record I'm not sure I think I'm able to fully appreciate, if you like James Brown and classic RnB then of course this is essential but personally I can only really get into his music when I can see him perform it directly. It doesn't help that the mixing on this is pretty terrible? AFAIK the master tapes were lost for a while so it took ages for this to get remastered beyond 60's vinyl quality, and it really shows in how empty and tinny the mix feels.
But the man's a crazy good performer, and the moments you get where you can hear the audience going apeshit are fantastic (especially the 'say it a little louder' part on Lost Someone). Honestly I wish the album leaned into the crowd interaction more because it never failed to put a grin on my face.
Its definitely worth the listen but its not one of my favorite live albums, nor something I'll likely come back to.
Also I have to give a shout to that album art, absolutely fantastic atmosphere created by that painting.
Highlights: Lost Someone, Medley: Please Please Please/You've Got The Power/I Found Someone
I've heard a lot of complaints that this album is bloated, but honestly I don't know that I could pick out a single track that I actively dislike. Billy Corgan is a genuinely great songwriter, managing to keep the album authentically grungy and alternative whilst having some excellent pop instincts that make it no wonder this was a big hit.
Obviously there are some overwrought lyrics on this thing but they come across to me as less cringeworthy and more charming, very authentic feeling without any of the artifice that is poison to the tone the band is trying to achieve.
I also appreciated the wide variety of tones and sounds the band was willing to explore, opening with an instrumental piano ballad and going on to demonstrate harder grungier tracks as well as some light pseudo-dream pop cuts.
Overall the best criteria I can judge a double album on is if I ever wanted it to hurry up and end, and to be honest I cannot say that thought ever crossed my mind. In fact I honestly wanted to jump straight back in and listen over again, which is a rare feat even for many shorter albums! Highly recommended.
Highlights: Tonight, Tonight, Zero, Bullet With Butterfly Wings, Cupid De Locke, Porcelina of the Vast Oceans Bodies, 1979, Thru The Eyes of Ruby, X.Y.U, By Starlight
Obviously the eponymous track is the main event here, and rightfully so as its one of the best classic rock songs ever and absolutely one of my favorites (that piano coda is just *chefs kiss*). But don't let it distract you from the rest of the album, comprising of some really great bluesy rock music from one of the best guitarists to ever do it (so good its hard to appreciate if you weren't there at the time, the Jerry Seinfeld of guitar playing if you will).
The problem comes with just how bloated the album ends up being, the solo's are good and all but they extend these tracks well beyond the length they ideally should be. Which by extension, extends what should have been a great lean single record into an unfortunately bloated double record that just becomes exhausting by the end. No matter how good Clapton's guitar playing is, he just can't sustain these tracks for how long they meander on.
It shouldn't stop you from checking this out however, its a decent album and worth a listen. Although Clapton can go fuck himself, just a terrible human being in nearly all the ways its possible to be one.
Highlights: Keep on Growing, Anyday, Layla
The climax of Pink Floyd's Imperial run of albums in the 70's (just as an aside, its genuinely insane to me that Animals is not on this list) and certainly the messiest. It really is clear at this point that the band is becoming the Roger Waters show in real time, although it certainly feels like a team effort unlike its follow/B-Side collection The Final Cut. The solo from Comfortably Numb should make that clear enough.
That messiness I mentioned is almost what makes this album as great as it is, going from critiques of the UK school system, to lamentations on the isolation created by living the life of a Rockstar (inspired by Waters' spitting on a fan at a concert in their previous Animals tour) and ending up as a decent into psychosexual fascist madness with a musical theatre finale.
The whole album feels more theatrical than any other Floyd album, which really helps to sell the deep resentment and emotional turmoil that lays at the heart of this album. The other albums from this period had this cold and stern aura to them, only Wish You Were Here and both parts of Pigs on the Wing had any sort of emotional warmth to them (an emotion Dark Side especially traded in favor of all-encompassing grief and existential dread).
Even the negative emotions explored on previous albums feel more human than on those records, which helps immensely to sell the slow decay of Pink into an emotionally dead fascist trapped inside his wall. On songs like Mother, Goodbye Blue Sky and Vera the band manages to reach a genuine sense of pathos, which is brilliantly contrasted by the cold rage of tracks such as Another Brick In The Wall pt 2, Run Like Hell and Waiting For the Worms.
Ultimately The Wall could have ended up as an overly dramatic wreck of an album, suffocating under its own huge length and lack of substance (listen to the first few Roger Waters solo albums if you'd like an idea of how that would end up). But I can honestly say The Wall is a constantly engaging and incredibly well executed album, I never felt the length for a moment and it really is a perfect note for the best era of Pink Floyd to go out on (The Final Cut is ok but everything afterwards is dogshit, yes that includes the Division Bell. Sue me).
Highlights: In the Flesh?, Another Brick in the Wall (Part II), Mother, Goodbye Blue Sky, Young Lust, Hey You, Comfortably Numb, Run Like Hell, The Trial
I started listening to this with some strong reservations, as someone who generally finds 'Britpop' to be an odious genre with very little redeeming qualities (I am seriously not looking forward to listening to the Blur records on this list). But after a few tracks I started to lighten up a bit as I realized this had more in common with the Pulp side of Britpop (aka: the good stuff) and if anything sounded more like Jangle Pop to me. From what I can tell this band just got sort of thrown into the Britpop scene because of their proximity to all the other big originators of that sound, which definitely makes more sense than someone classifying them as such based on their sound.
One of the more appealing aspects of this record is certainly the lyrics, blending some impressively acerbic wit with an enjoyable amount of literary pretension. Everything I've read about this band's frontman points to him being a Grade-A twat, and honestly that feels like the kind of person you'd need to write lyrics this entertaining.
At no point do these pretensions become pretentious however, combined with some memorable and catchy hooks that I'm always looking for in music like this. The opening track 'Show Girl demonstrates this very well, a fantastic opener that immediately grabs your attention and the rest of the album refuses to let up with nary a dull or uninteresting track. Another highlight is Idiot Brother with its sneering guitars and equally sneering lyrics.
Definitely a great record, although I'm not entirely sure if I would have picked it for this list considering some of the snubs it managed to get in over. Although considering I almost certainly wouldn't have checked this out without it being on the list, it seems foolish of me to look this gift horse in the mouth.
Highlights: Show Girl, Junk Shop Clothes, Starstruck, Valet Parking, Idiot Brother
I've always been a sucker for moody and ethereal post punk, and The Cure are easily one of the best to every do it. Every track on this record carries so much emotion and creates a whole soundscape of overwhelming melancholy. And it manages to do this without every becoming dour or static, despite an impressive 77 minute runtime and only one track below 4 minutes its hard to get bored listening to Disintegration.
The album blends these beautiful overwhelming ambient walls of synth with jangly guitar riffs and strong baselines, its truly the kind of album you need to listen to with no other surrounding stimuli and just get lost in the world the band have created. All of this is perfectly topped off with Robert Smith's beautiful vocals crafting images of long lost romance and forgotten emotions, his voice perfect for the dramatic and gothic world of Disintegration. This is probably the easiest 5 I've given so far.
Highlights: Plainsong, Pictures of You, Fascination Street, Prayers for Rain, Disintegration
I'm always hesitant to use the phrase 'You just don't get it' to bash negative criticism of a work I enjoy, especially when the work is not exactly hard to 'get', but unfortunately I find myself in need of this argument when talking about Diamond Life. The reviews for this page are filled to the brim of complaints that this record is 'generic, 'uninspired' or 'artificial. 'Music for people that don't actually care about music' is a sentiment I see shared by people who will then give positive scores to the fucking Foo Fighters with no sense of irony. I have no issue with disliking this album of course, but if you think these descriptors apply to any part of this album you straight up don't know what makes good pop music and probably shouldn't act like an authority on the subject.
This album simply epitomizes the word 'cool', everything about it is the smoothest of the smooth with its funky jazz instrumentals and Sade's sensual voice. Sade really is the perfect singer for this kind of music, she feels sort of like she's been designed in a lab to perfectly accompany this kind of easy listening jazz pop. Whilst this sounds on paper like it would create a nightmarishly bland LP the likes of which Michael Bolton and Bryan Adams could never hope to record, every track is full of soul and makes you feel like you're living an episode of Miami Vice (which is really what this kind of music should do). Rather than reveling in the artifice of many contemporary pop records, Diamond Life is a record that perfectly weaponizes subtlety to make the biggest impact on the listener it possibly can. It really makes you want to gaze across a neon cityscape, smoking a cigarette on an apartment balcony whilst reminiscing about a lost lover.
Artificial is honestly the last word I would use to use to describe the music on this record, the emotion is oozing from every second of every track and quite frankly I would be surprised if anyone calling these tracks hollow was even attempting to meet them on their level. Its much more fun to sneer than give a chance to a work you happen to be apprehensive about.
Therefore I have to assume the reason people attack this album is that they quite simply hear something that slightly resembles easy listening or Yacht Rock, and immediately assume it sucks without actually *listening* to how the music sounds. I hate easy listening too, but even I could tell this album rocks after just the first track! Its especially egregious to me with how obviously this genre of music crosses over with City Pop, which I can only imagine gets a free pass from people because of the perceived exoticism in listening to Japanese music (not shitting on City Pop for the record, check out Fly-day Chinatown when you get the chance)
So ignore all of the screeching ignorance found in these 1 star reviews and go into this with an open mind, ideally at night and drift in Sade's world of sensuality and subtle melancholy. Then listen to everything else Sade has made. Its nothing but home runs for their entire discography, but Diamond Life is certainly a standout in that illustrious company.
Highlights: Smooth Operator, Hang On To Your Love, Cherry Pie, Sally
The star of the show here is for sure Dan The Automator and his fantastic beats, taking influence from trip hop to create tracks that have this fascinatingly hypnotic and threatening aura whilst still managing to keep the tunes funky enough so your head never stops bopping. He really is reason enough to check out this record, which is certainly no small feat when the person rapping over these immaculate beats is underground hip hop legend Kool Keith (performing as the eponymous Dr. Octagon).
This is probably his most famous record under his most famous pseudonym, and for good reason. Dr Octo is a bizarre figure and his presence creates a bizarre record, a radio-unfriendly mixture of science-fiction and horrorcore with some truly disgusting and evocative imagery combined with some of the funniest moments I've heard on a Hip Hip album (Oh Shit There's a Horse in the Hospital!). That tone is kinda par for the course when you rap about an incompetent intergalactic gynecologist with a habit for either fucking or accidentally killing his patients. Or both! And not always in the order you might think!
Some might find this record juvenile but other than the sex skits (which to be fair, are a step above the average Hip Hop sex skit purely by virtue of how bizarre they are) I found that they created a tone that you can't get from many other albums and reminded me a lot of The Slim Shady LP in all the right ways. Who says great art can't be irreverent or silly when it wants to? It does have some of the common Hip Hop failings (the aforementioned sex skits combined with a bloated runtime can test the listeners patience at times) but as far as 90's rap goes I'd put this in upper echelons. An underground classic for a reason.
Highlights: Earth People, No Awareness, Real Raw, Blue Roses, Halfsharkalligatorhalfman
Its very interesting how Arrested Development have been erased from music history, when people talk about the history of conscious Hip Hop somehow people never bring up this Grammy award winning act. Although its likely that win that cemented their downfall. 90's Hip Hop was all about threatening the establishment, both in the realms of Gangsta Rap and other conscious groups like The Native Tongues, and that Grammy was the ultimate stamp of approval from the musical establishment.
It also doesn't help how *preachy* the group could be at times. The fun beats and gorgeous vocals on tracks like Tennessee help to offset this problem, but frontman Speech can be just insufferable at times. Apparently this was an issue behind the scenes as well, and by the time you reach this albums follow up 'Zingalamaduni' it just feels like an hour of boring lecturing about the evils of edgy Hip Hop and how to live your life correctly (especially on the track Warm Sentiments which is just gross in all the wrong ways). But as I said prior, on this album it really isn't THAT bad. Although that doesn't necessarily mean its 'good'.
Ultimately I can see why Arrested Development never had the staying power of their contemporaries. Despite some theoretical good intentions, the group just doesn't reach the heights of their contemporaries musically or even politically (when was the last time you heard anyone shilling Afrocentrism?). I can see why one would really enjoy this record but to me and seemingly most Hip Hop fans, its inessential at best.
Highlights: Tennessee
