As one of the components that make up The Beatles you’d expect a lot from a solo album from Paul McCartney, especially considering the time this was released was just after their critically acclaimed record ‘Abbey Road’. However, you find this album to be nothing like that, as Paul takes on his own approach to an album which ends up feeling pretty muddled. This album is a weird mix of instrumental tracks along with some lyrical tracks. Considering this is a self titled album, it’s strange that it’s confused on what it wants to be. For the first half it seems like McCartney is trying to do his best Elvis impression and it just feels so out of character, this is especially seen in ‘That Would Be Something’ which resembles Elvia’ ‘Kentucky Rain’ with McCartney’s strange vocal inflections added in, which end up being a running theme in this album with him singing along to the instrumentals multiple times which makes this feel like a live recording. The best song here is ‘Maybe I’m Amazed’ by a country mile as you can actually hear Paul put in some soul into this track, plus the guitar is fantastic. It’s then just a shame that the album ends on this unique drum solo and McCartney breathing which I don’t think he has a right to do considering he barely put any effort into the vocals throughout this album. I did just find this album a bit boring, the first couple of tracks put me off so much that the none of the rest of the album really made me feel like I would thoroughly enjoy this album. I’d come back to 1 or 2 songs but for the rest of the album I’d just listen to some Elvis instead. 2/5

This is an album I’ve been meaning to get around to as I’ve heard be referred to as an underrated ‘classic’. Also, since I’m a fan of Lupe’s newer releases I had high hopes for this record and for the most part they delivered. Firstly, I love how this album is presented, it’s more of an introduction to Lupe, as this is his debut album, which makes sense and is evident by the use of an intro and outro where Lupe introduces himself and also thanks everyone that helped/inspired him at the end. This means that within the album there’s not a lot of diversion in quality, there are definitely some stand out tracks, ‘Kick, Push’ definitely being one which tells of a young kid going out and skating all day, being moved from place to place as security tells him he can’t skate round here, he meets a girl who also skates on the way. It’s a perfect skating song filled with trumpets and smooth strings in the back, definitely a key moment. However, the quality of tracks doesn’t change from here, for example, ‘The Instrumental’ speaks on the rise of technology and how young kids are fixated on screens, more specifically TV, and what it tells them. The track is led by some groovy drums which really brings out Lupe’s rhyme scheme which is just fantastic. Another track is ‘Daydreamin’ where Lupe raps about his home town Chicago and also dreams about classic hip hop videos, the track is beautifully paired with a hook by Jill Scott who is also layered into the song later on into the track, a brilliant addition to the track. My favourite track, the stand out to me, is ‘He Say She Say’ which looks at the departure of a father from a family from 2 perspectives, first the mother of a child who complains to the father about how he’s not there for his son. The 2nd verse is almost a copy but from the son’s perspective which brought me to tears it’s a really honest performance from Lupe. I’d also like to mention the features on this record, for the most part they’re usually singing features which are great to add a bit of R&B/Soul to the tracks, especially on the hooks. Whereas the only rap feature is Jay-Z on ‘Pressure’ where he has a confident verse on the back end, definitely a stand out moment. I really really want to give this record 5 stars, there’s just so many quality tracks and I absolutely love the variety of content that is contained within these tracks however there’s just something missing for me, it’s a great record but it’s not perfect and with a run time of 1 hour and 12 mins I’m not sure I can justify 5 stars. Nevertheless this is an album I can say I really enjoyed and it will be something I return to.

Now I’m not much of a fan of 60’s rock, I am indeed a Beatles disliker, so I wasn’t going into this album too optimistic but staying open minded, and I’m glad I did. Although this record fully embodies the 60’s rock sound I can’t get over how well each song is put together, each one is as consistent as the last and makes for a strong album. This album does have some stand out tracks such as ‘Somebody to Love’, ‘White Rabbit’ and ‘Go To Her’ but honestly each song here is incredibly strong I find it hard to pick one that doesn’t click with me. Another thing I really like about this album is the handful of slow songs mixed in with the classic rock songs, these include ‘Today’ and ‘J. P. P. Mc Step B. Blues’, and not forgetting the lovely instrumental track ‘Embryonic Journey’ that sits nicely in the middle of the record. In all honesty I really liked this album and I’m saying it like this as I’m surprised to how much I liked it considering my experiences with other 60’s rock albums. Gonna give it a few more listens but for now there’s nothing negative for me to say.

One thing I love that this list has done for me is expose me to live jazz albums, live recordings turned into albums that are full of heart, soul and everything in between, and that’s exactly what ‘Nighthawks At The Diner” is all about. There are so many great things about this album so firstly I have to say how authentic it feels. This is not trying to be a studio album, there is a lot of dialogue by Tom before and in between tracks telling the audience about how a certain song came about or giving a little story. You can immediately tell the setting is very intimate and Tom is taking his time with this set, hence the 1 hr+ run time, but it all works out to be this enjoyable set of live jazz music. You also have to recognise Waits’ unique cadence throughout, he has this somewhat gravelly voice that perfectly suits the band's style, it’s also some how quite nostalgic as the album has some certain themes such as love and storytelling but it’s an album about life, so it’s very easy to relate to. The accompanying band has this great instinct to just sit nicely in the back but jumps forward every now and again for some particularly soulful moments such as at the end of the 11 minute masterpiece that is ‘Nighthawk Postcards’. Another particular standout is ‘Warm Beer And Cold Women’ where the saxophonist makes a beautiful appearance whilst Tom sits so relaxed on the beat, it’s such a great song. As seen above there are many things I like about this album but what I really love about it is that it’s an album so effortlessly. Artists will try their best to make a concept/storytelling album in a studio setting and it can come off so artificially whereas you take this where Waits isn’t afraid to talk for 2 songs opening up the album whilst the band plays in the back because it’s how the set was, there’s no need to cut it or change it. There are songs I really like on here but as a whole this is such a fantastic listen and really makes me feel like I’ve just walked in on the show mid set. There’s nothing negative I have to say about this, go give it a listen. 5/5

Overall a very consistent album, not something I would usually check out but after hearing the first couple of songs and recognising the classic that is ‘Howlin” for you’ I did begin to enjoy it, not sure how often I’ll return to it but it was a nice first listen

Some classic rock sounds to this album, I particularly like the energy in the vocalists voice on tracks like ‘Tame’ and ‘Crackity Jones’. Not an album I would really return to for a casual listen but overall some nice sounds and a good mix of tracks which I think the shorter song lengths help with

Amazing album, even though I’d heard a couple of the songs already it exceeded my expectations with how much energy is in this project. Would definitely recommend just wish I checked it out sooner

Loving the sound of this whole album, some classic rock sounds all throughout with the iconic track ‘Jump’. No filler to this album at all, straight to the point with some incredible instrumentals and overall quality set of songs, loving it

To be honest I’m not really much into pop so I was a bit sceptical when I saw this album come up as it is a bit more country pop and I think I was right to be. There are a good handful of enjoyable snippets throughout the album and I appreciate the singing as well but none of the songs really do much for me, at most I find some of them okay such as ‘Golden hour’ and ‘Lonely weekend’ but then a fair few, especially in the middle of the album, just seem very boring and I can’t really shake the feeling of how similar some of the songs sound. I guess also Kacey’s country accent and constant use of the acoustic guitar are a reminder that this does have country elements to it but I feel it also holds it back instrumentally as well as I think this could be a good pop album with more interesting production and a change in pace every now and again. However, I probably won’t return to this and if I do it’ll only be for a small collection of songs

Very cool album, I’m liking the pattern of classic rock albums that they are usually fairly short in length with no more than 10 songs but they really hit hard. I particularly like the vocalist’s inflection’s on this one and some of the guitar work, it gets a little repetitive in the middle which is the only thing holding me back from giving it 5 stars but I think I will return to this

I think it’s quite obvious this album was made in the 50’s just from the sound of it and therefore it really isn’t tailored for streaming services. I don’t find this album interesting at all I’d say it’s more something you’d hear just passing by, you wouldn’t sit down and listen to it. The only track that stood out to me is “That’ll Be The Day” that had a pretty catchy chorus and some nice guitar but overall this is something I wouldn’t return to. I think for someone in the 50’s this probably was great but considering how much other music we’re exposed to now it’s hard to justify that opinion 70 years later.

I’ll be honest I’d never heard a Pink Floyd song before this so when I saw the album length I was a little sceptical that it would hold all the way through but I gotta say wow it exceeded my expectations. The attention to detail throughout the album made it theatrical at times whilst not straying to far from a psychedelic rock sound. Strong vocalist and guitar performances throughout and the right pacing to keep the 1 hour + run time feeling pretty short, very excited to check out the other Pink Floyd albums when they come up at some point later

An album with some nice classic hip hop sounds mixed with soulful jazz instrumentals makes this album thoroughly enjoyable for the most part, paired with Queen Latifah’s rhyme schemes and confident lyricism this really displays hip hop at its roots. I particularly enjoy how well the collaborating artists on this project pair with Queen Latifah, there’s some real chemistry throughout and makes those particular songs a great listen. The only thing letting this album down I’d say is the last 2 songs, they’re not bad by any means but the instrumentals are a bit plain and Latifah isn’t being as much energy as in the rest of the project

This album was way ahead of its time, although being electronic and thus sounding futuristic if I wasn’t given the year it was made I wouldn’t be able to tell what decade this was from. Each song was so different instrumentally and sonically it just grabbed me on every track. My only fault with this album is the (official) closing track ‘Pimpf’ which I find pretty boring and repetitive, I think this was a great opportunity to finish the album with something a bit more grand

Based off the band name I thought this album would be a bit more intense but turned out to be a nice collection of consistent rock songs. My issue with this album though is that there’s not a lot of variation, the songs are nice for the most part but I find it hard to distinguish some of the songs, especially in the middle of the song, when casually listening. Apart from that I do have some standouts, in particular the guitar playing on ‘Dying days’ is great to hear and overall the lyrical performance is very nice too especially on ‘Look at you’. Only song I wasn’t a big fan of is ‘Traveler’, felt as if there was going to be some climax to the song but never really delivered

Although I had never heard of Jeru The Damaya before seeing this the album cover alone screams classic 90’s hip hop and this project really does not disappoint. This album is filled with slick rhymes, abstract beats and little MF Doom-like skit snippets throughout with no filler whatsoever, I wouldn’t be surprised if Joey Bada$$ took inspiration from this album for his mixtape 1999 as there are a good handful of moments on here that remind me of that project, classic Brooklyn hip hop. I particularly enjoy the unorthodox piano on the track ‘D.Original’ and the catchy hook on ‘Da Bichez’. Despite the stripped back production making way for more lyrical focus the beats on this record kept me listening and that’s why I find this to be such a great record, because there’s that balance

Probably one of the nicest first listens of one of these albums I’ve had in a while, despite it being a live recording James Brown’s voice and the band are so and just sound amazing. The only issue I have with this album is that because it’s a live recording it doesn’t necessarily feel like an album but the songs are fantastic regardless particularly ‘Think’, ‘Lost Someone’ and ‘Night Train’. The mix of Jazz, funk and R&B throughout makes for such a pleasant first listen

I’ve never really been a fan of the Beatles despite their popularity and I think this album just sums up my feelings. I imagine the Beatles were probably making very different music to others in the 60’s and that can be seen be some of their top hits on ‘Abbey Road’ but this album doesn’t sound much different to some of the stuff on the Buddy Holly record I was given to listen to a few days ago and I said the same about that record, although there is a classic sound to both albums, the majority of songs are fairly basic in their instrumental patterns and incredibly repetitive to the point where you can guess what the chorus is going to sound like just based off the title alone, actually re listening now I think every songs chorus is just the title of the track repeated with not even anything more added. There was some nice instrumental choices on tracks such as ‘Little Child’ and ‘Roll Over Beethoven’ and some cool vocal inflections throughout but there was nothing about this album that made me want to come back to it. Would just like to add that for some reason on Spotify the vocals were coming through the right headphone whilst the instrumental the left, I only found it happening with this album and it made the listening experience a bit strange.

Overall I’d have to say this album is very solid, great consistency throughout with the instrumentation and song writing and a nice collection of longer songs which I think really suit the Eagles style. Stand out tracks are of course ‘Hotel California’ and ‘Life in the Fast Lane’ but I also particularly enjoyed the final track ‘The Last Resort’ too, all 3 songs had a fantastic fill of guitar all throughout. I felt that by being a Frank Ocean fan I should’ve really known that ‘Hotel California’ was sampled for ‘American Wedding’ off of Frank’s debut mixtape ‘Nostalgia, Ultra’ but nevertheless it gave a nice feeling hearing that instrumental again which is what makes me love the track so much and I’m glad a longer track such as that is appreciated as much as it is. Unfortunately I can’t help but think about how poorly the Eagles dealt with Frank sampling the song especially considering Frank’s song ‘American wedding’ was released for free and he gained nothing but some recognition from making the song. Despite this the only issue I have with this album is the ‘Wasted time’ interlude right after the track itself, it’s okay but considering this is 9 songs long I would’ve just preferred another track. Other than that I did quite enjoy this project, it would be something I would come back to however there is something missing about it that stops me from wanting to give it 5/5 but I’m not sure what. Would still recommend this to anyone regardless.

I think this is the first album on this list that I’ve genuinely been amazed by, to think this came out in 1971 is insane considering how complex and futuristic some of these songs sound. The only way I can describe the sound of this album is a mix of Black Midi and Tame Impala with some old western piano and some classic guitar rock thrown in, it is such a mix of genres that even this vague idea of sounds doesn’t do it justice. I’ll start with the opening title track ‘Tarkus’ which is a 20 minute, 7 part mash of sounds and energy that’ll leave you stunned. It is equally chaotic and yet so well put together it almost feels like a journey when listening to it, the more chaotic parts of this track help you really appreciate when it slows down and the lyrics come in patterned with a smooth instrumental in the background. The next 2 tracks, ‘Jeremy Bender’ and ‘Bitches Crystal’ are just filled with this mesmerising western style piano as if you’d just entered an old Texas bar in the middle of a fight in a movie, but the accompanying guitar and drum work in both songs bring it down a notch to a more classic rock style at points. The following track ‘The Only Way (Hymn)’ takes a completely different turn with some beautiful vocals accompanied with what I can only guess is a church organ bellowing in the background. The final 3 tracks definitely don’t disappoint either with more of the same sounds, some hard guitar on “Time and a Place’ and some fast paced rock n roll on the final track ‘Are You Ready Eddy?’ to close off the album. Not only is this album incredibly enjoyable but it ticks both boxes for creating great songs but also being unique enough that the listener can’t forget the sound when they finish listening. One of my favourite first listens so far, would highly recommend. 5/5

I haven’t really got much to say about this album, overall it was nice, had some cool instrumental choices and Marley’s vocal delivery’s are passionate and cool throughout. Despite this I found this album to just be more of a chill relaxed album and not really pushing any sort of musical extremes, in no way is this a bad album though, I did enjoy it but I felt this was more of an album that needed a time and place that suited it, I wouldn’t casually listen to this on a day to day basis. I can totally see why people would really enjoy this though but for me it doesn’t hit all the right spots.

This album was definitely an experience, technically only consisting of 2 songs, Mike Oldfield’s ‘Tubular Bells’ is an instrumental journey of sorts through a variety of musical genres. Let’s start with the first track ‘Tubular Bells - Part I’ that probably features the most recognisable piano tune in all of cinema history let alone just the horror genre and what gave Mike the recognition he deserved for this album. Despite this part of the song only lasting for no more than a couple minutes at the beginning, accompanied with some nice electric guitar, the whole track is very eerie and a lot harder to pin down than the following part II track. Electric guitar is actually used quite frequently through this track whether it be subtly lurking in the back as in the final couple of minutes of the track or standing on its own at around the 13:30 mark. Finally in the last 6 minutes of the track we get an instrument break down where singular instruments are introduced one by one with a voice in the background to create a climax of sorts out of the so called ‘tubular bells’ which stand out rightly so which leads to the track ending on some folk like acoustic guitar. The end of Part I sets up Part II very nicely which instrumentally is far more acoustic and folk like on the front half and a mix of rock genres on the latter half. There is also the introduction of some wind instruments around the 5:30 mark which definitely gives this part of the track a slightly medieval touch. We start transitioning to the next part of the track around the 9-10 minute mark where more drums are introduced and an electric guitar is forever present at the front with a strange set of noises being repeated in the background sounding like they come from sort of mythical creature. This continues to the 16 minute mark where we transition to another phase of fairly somber Spanish guitar that is played beautifully all to finish at the end with an up beat folky style playing in the last couple of minutes as a sort of ‘happy ending’ to a story if you will. Overall I think this album is fantastic and can definitely see why it is highly praised but as an album for enjoyment I don’t get that much out of it, it is not something I feel like I’d want to return to it’s more something you feel deserves to be heard in a theatre and that’s my only downfall to this is that it really does not feel like it should be an album but something in its own lane. Nevertheless I recognise the quality this album displays and I think it is worth the listen regardless. 4/5

This is one of those albums where I have to decide whether to rate it based off the instrumentation and concept of the album or how much I liked listening to the album. You’d think they’d go hand in hand but for this project anyways I can say that the sound and live performance is fantastic, a great range of instruments that sound so clear you wouldn’t even believe it was a live performance if not for the audience and the conversation breaks in between songs. This album provides a whole host of jazz and funk sounds with some standout moments such as the saxophonist in ‘Ye Ye De Smell’ and Fela Kuti’s vocal performance on ‘Black Man’s Cry’. That being said as an album I found this quite tedious, particularly the last 2 songs which dragged on way too long for me. I can appreciate Ginger Baker’s drum solo on the final track but it’s not something I’d ever throw on to listen to it’s really more of an experience track that would be great to hear live. ‘Egbe Mi O (Carry Me)’ on the other hand I just found to be instrumental quite flat until the last few minutes where the vocals are projected to the front and the pace picks up a bit. It is a bit disappointing to be honest as the opening track gets you excited and ready for the rest of the album but these longer songs really ruin the pace for me when I think this style probably would suit 5-7 minute songs at most. Lastly I wish I could’ve heard Fela’s vocals a bit more throughout as there was definitely enough room for him to have more vocals but they were left empty, it’s a shame especially since he has such passion in his voice. Overall this isn’t a bad album I just think it’s more suited for a live performance more than anything, it was probably just made into an album so people could hear it all over the world and I don’t blame them but as an album it’s not something that I will be returning to.

I think this is the first singer-songwriter type of album I’ve had so far which had me pretty interested as there are a few current day singers that I listen to regularly. I have to say although this album isn’t musically groundbreaking or necessarily ‘different’ so it stands out, you can’t argue how beautiful it is. Joni Mitchell’s vocals throughout are a dream to hear and when she goes for them high notes she really hits them high notes, a prime example is on the song ‘River’ which is a gorgeous piano tune about Joni’s self awareness in a recent break up with a lover around Christmas time and how she wants to “skate away” on a river. Another stand out to me is the song ‘California’ as Joni tells of her homesickness as she’s away in Europe. Although it initially could be perceived as a sad song it’s more about Mitchell’s appreciation for what she may have there, that even though she is away right now she has good thoughts of being back and that keeps her hopeful. Seems strange at first considering Joni is from Canada originally but I imagine the song is more about her freedom within the state and the ability for her to be a musician. The final stand out track is ‘A Case of You’ which is another sweet love song about a man from her home country Canada, a song that has become synonymous in pop culture now as being used a handful of times within movies. Overall I thought this album was good, it’s nice and sweet with some heartache attached to it. I hate to say it but the only thing letting this down for me is the instrumentals, I know it doesn’t really make any sense considering this is a singer-songwriter album so it’s more focused on the vocal performances, however, it would’ve been nice to have a little bit more variety within the songs, I would’ve also loved it if Joni hit those high notes more often cause they’re a real gem. Lastly I’d just like to point out that this is not on Spotify along with the majority of Joni Mitchell’s work which, after a bit of digging, looks like to be because of a decision made by her which is a bit of a shame cause I would’ve liked to revisit some songs a bit more easily than loading up YouTube every time.

So I’ve seen this album around quite a lot before and came to recognise how much of a classic this album is seen as, so really I had high expectations and I’ll be honest they weren’t met. I’ll start by saying that for the time this album was made I respect the sounds the band were going for as some of the harsher instrumentals seem even a bit alien to someone like me listening to them now but I’ll be honest, half of these songs gave me a headache and were genuinely not the nicest to listen to. The album opens up with ‘Sunday Morning’ which is a lovely almost lullaby-esque start to the record which genuinely feels like waking up on a peaceful Sunday morning. The chimes in the background really help to cement this feeling and the backing vocals on the latter half of this track are a great addition too. This goes well with the next 2 tracks, the first “I’m Waiting For The Man’ is a nice upbeat rock song which sounds really typical of the classic rock era and the second ‘Femme Fatale’ is a gorgeous track with a female vocalist taking over and a slightly stripped back instrumental which makes way for such a nice listen. I also have to mention ‘Run Run Run’ and ‘There She Goes Again’ which give some more of this classic rock sound that is so pleasing to hear, and ‘I’ll Be Your Mirror’ which follows the female vocalist again giving a very soft vocal performance which makes this another stand out track. For the other 5 tracks on this record I really don’t know what to say, I do kind of hope that just because this is my first listen they throw me off guard as I’m sure at another time they might click for me, but the instrumentals on some of these are honestly painful. It’s just hard to tell where the band were going with these as the vocals are completely overshadowed by these harrowing screeching tones as in the song ‘The Black Angel’s Death Song’ or in the last 2 minutes of ‘Heroin’. Then there are songs such as ‘Venus In Furs’ which is just covered in this horrific bagpipe-like sound screeching in the back which really takes away from the rest of the song. I have to say I don’t actually mind ‘All Tomorrow’s Parties’ it just goes on a bit too long for me with that instrumental. Finally there’s the closer ‘European Son’ which starts off quite promising reaching for that classic rock sound again until it is overwhelmed by this screeching and unorthodox guitar fill which for the nearly 8 minutes this track runs for can get pretty tiring. Overall, this record left me with mixed emotions, I feel that over time I will probably come to love each of the tracks that I’ve criticised here as they’re just a bit harder to swallow initially but this is based on my first listen and right now I’m pretty divided on this album, so I’ll leave it at that. 3/5

I was going to give this review a sort of intro as I expected to write a lot for this album but simply I’ll just say this record is incredible and honestly I expected nothing less from The Roots. This is quite a long album spanning 1 hour and 7 minutes over 16 tracks however this doesn’t take away from the quality that is imbedded all throughout this record. The first stand out track is ‘Rock You’ where Black Thought is spitting braggadocious lines over this hard hitting beat pattern that runs through the track, this is really prime Thought rapping. Phrenology really shows off Thought’s versatility too as the next stand out track ‘Sacrifice’ has him harmonising with pop singer Nelly Furtado over a smooth sounding track about the Sacrifices one has to make to succeed in life. Some other key moments on the record are the collaboration tracks with none other than Talib Kweli. The first track ‘Rolling With Heat’ is a funky smooth track where Roots member Dice Raw opens with the hook and Talib follows with a fantastic verse. The other track ‘Rhymes And Ammo’ is a bit more classic hip hop especially with the chorus with Thought and Talib going back and forth “Pump that, Shit up”, “Stand up, Get up” is such an infectious moment in the record. The true peak of this album is quite fittingly the middle of the album which is nice to see considering it’s more common to see albums these days put their best songs between the 2-5 song mark, well the singles anyways. This starts off with ‘Thought @ Work’ which is layered with instruments and some classic hip hop sounds that cumulates to such a groovy instrumental, in the background you can hear some small drums and more prominently later in the track some brass instruments that give this track some nice groove. This is followed by the highlight off the album ‘The Seed (2.0)’ which is a mix off some hip hop drums and this almost western guitar in the back giving the track a fairly cold tone, and of course the sample of Cody Chesnutt is fantastic, gives the track some extra soul. This is followed by an equally incredible track ‘Break You Off’ which is a story told by Thought about him trying to steal someone else’s girl. The hook, performed by Musiq Soulchild, gives the track a slightly R&B touch and with the piano fill in the background it makes for an incredibly smooth track. The last 2 minutes of instrumental in this track are equally beautiful where some strings are introduced to calmly close off the track. The final grand track that makes up the middle of this album is ‘Water’ where Black Thought displays his feelings about former member Malik B who had to leave the group due to drug problems, it’s a reminder to everyone of how they met and how talented Malik B is when it comes to rapping. The latter half of this track is an instrumental mix possibly an audio visual into drug affects on the body as we hear some heartbeat sounds and some disorganised instrumentals. Lastly I’d like to mention the closing track ‘Thirsty!’ which stands out because it’s not really a hip hop track, it’s more of an electro-dance track with some small verses from Black Thought. I’m not entirely sure if it’s relevance with the rest of the album but I guess it’s another display of the versatility shown already. Honestly, I could write a lot more about this album but it’s something that over time I want to digest even more. This has probably been my favourite first listen so far and I hope others would agree with me when I say this album is a work of art. 5/5

As a hip hop fan there’s certain albums over the past 40 years or so that can be considered as benchmarks or ‘instant classics’ if you will and even if you’re not a fan of rap it’s hard to argue Kendrick Lamar’s discography is not familiar with this. I’m already incredibly familiar with this album but a re listen didn’t go a miss as there’s always something about revisiting this body of work that makes me smile as it really is everything that makes hip hop brilliant which is what I’ll break down in these thoughts. The record opens up with ‘Sherane a.k.a Master Splinter’s Daughter’ where Kendrick opens up the album by introducing a reoccurring person in this timeline of tracks, a love interest (Sherane), who Kendrick is on his way to meet. It opens up with a bible verse that we come to visit later on, he details the moments up to meeting her and also tells the listener how he met her and what his intentions are, he specifically left the house because he wanted to hook up with her, he took his mothers car and went to go see her until he reaches her house and there’s 2 guys in hoodies which transitions into the phone call from his momma asking where he is with her car, this voicemail dialogue continues throughout the album as Kendrick’s mother shows her concerns for the type of activities he gets caught up in. The beat has this slightly laid backed but eerie tone to it with some sort of short electronic style beats and a mix of piano and guitar in the background, this track sets up the story for the rest of the album. The following track ‘Bitch, Don’t Kill My Vibe’ is a slight detour from the story as it’s a bit of a time jump to present day Kendrick as the rapper explains on how much things have changed around him since starting to reach fame. It’s also a social commentary about the current state on rap music as, and I quote, ‘Die in a pitiful vain, tell me a watch and a chain is more believable’ is a node to rappers that just want to get rich fast and focus on the materialistic gains rather than focus on something more substantial. This track brings back some of the guitar from the 1st track but a bit more up beat with some vocals from Anna Wise that make the hook evermore infections “Bitch, don’t kill my vibe”. The 3rd track ‘Backseat Freestyle’ is pretty self explanatory, it’s Kendrick rapping off the top of his head from the perspective of a 16 year old version of him who is striving to achieve everything someone young in Compton would want. The track is one of a few hard hitters on the track list as it is submerged in this bass and ringing bells which makes you want to bump to it in a car. ‘The Art of Peer Pressure’ has a stronger return to the storyline that was introduced in track 1. The first minute or so is a nice drum fill with some static that gives a vague idea of the tracks direction in a more melodic rap style with some smooth background vocals, the line ‘But I’m with the homies right now’ is paraphrased and repeated throughout as Kendrick tries to explain that he’s not usually like all of his friends but when he’s with them he doesn’t want to ruin the buzz of them altogether so he partakes in getting faded and pulling up on other people. The rest of the track brings the best down and follows the story of a usual day that Kendrick has chilling with his friends but this is followed by a house robbery on a house they’ve been scoping out for 2 months which they misjudged when they find someone inside who presumably calls the cops on them, showing their youth by this mistake, and the track closes off with their journey speeding away from the house and a short dialogue when they’ve escaped which reveals this is before Kendrick plans to meet up with Sherane. ‘Money Trees’ is another social commentary about the life of growing up in Compton, an impoverished area, where young men like Kendrick and his friends strive to reach what’s seemingly out of reach for them due to where they live, this could be money, power, respect etc. The chorus is another comment on activities within Compton and how people who grow up there choose what type of lifestyle they’ll live, ‘But the one in front of the gun lives forever’ tells how the person who falls victim to a shooting is the one remembered despite how respected the shooter may be. The title ‘Money Trees’ is very fitting as it is a metaphor, “being shaded under a money tree” shows how if you have reach the point of comfortable wealth in Compton it takes a lot of weight of your shoulders, you can relax in a sense, but also the term Money Trees refers to the age old saying ‘money doesn’t grow on trees’, Kendrick releases this is a hard goal for someone from an impoverished community and thus that goal is not only incredibly challenging but evermore desirable. This is also seen in the chorus by the line, “A dollar might just make that lane switch”, people wold turn their back on you for money and that’s how rough it gets. The track is lead by some smooth humming background vocals and bells with appearances from Anna Wise on the chorus and a top tier verse from Jay Rock on the back end. In the middle of the album we have ‘Poetic Justice’ which is an addition to the opening track about Sherane as it’s a smooth track about Kendrick’s love at the time with a very appropriate Drake feature who really suits this topic of rap. The track is lead by a gorgeous Janet Jackson sample that gives the whole song a sort of sensual feeling to it which definitely shows Kendrick’s feelings for Sherane. The outro to the track links directly back to the first track as the 2 hooded figures start to interrogate Kendrick as they seem to not want him messing around with Sherane, they can tell that he’s not from around there and so Kendrick tries to keep his head down to avoid confrontation but it doesn’t work. The 2nd half of the album is kicked off with ‘good kid’ where Kendrick displays his innocence of being a good kid whilst growing up around a certain type of culture where he couldn’t escape gang activity, drugs, police racially profiling etc. It highlights that no matter the type of person you may be in Compton you can’t escape these things as shown in the previous track where Kendrick is confronted by the 2 figures he doesn’t know. The track is beautifully filled with background vocals and a guitar riff patterned with a nice chorus from Pharrell Williams, one of the more underrated tracks. The following partner track ‘m.A.A.d city’ is the album heavy hitter and is split in 2 parts, the first part is an aggressive, almost harsh sounding, instrumental filled with these eerie, what I believe to be, strings or possibly a keyboard paired with Kendrick’s ruthless rapping a fast paced delivery almost out of frustration about some of the things he’s witnessed as growing up in Compton. The best switch gives room to some hard hitting drums whilst Kendrick continues with stories about getting a job and planning to rob it, this part also gives room the the feature MC Eiht who gives a powerful verse on the back end which is followed up by a distorted Kendrick almost giving light to what he’s actually like as a person, he’s saying yes he is the good kid but he’s also done some things you wouldn’t expect from him. ‘Swimming Pools (Drank)’ is all about the pressures of drinking, on the surface if you casually listen to the song you may think it’s a drinking anthem of sorts but it’s actually the complete opposite. This song relates to ‘The Art of Peer Pressure’ as it details people drowning their sorrows in alcohol, almost swimming in it, if you will, due to the large amount consumed. It also shines light on that there is no such thing as casual drinking, from Kendrick’s perspective anyways, you don’t want to be that baby that’s sipping your drink when you’re with everyone else. The track ends with some more dialogue where we find out Kendrick was set up by Sherane and got beat down by the 2 hooded figures, Kendrick’s friends come to pick him up and shoot the 2 guys that beat up Kendrick but also losing their friend Dave in the process, this is a turning point for Kendrick as he realises his actions have consequences. The following 12 minute masterpiece ‘Sing About Me, I’m Dying Of Thirst’ is split into multiple parts. The first is a continuation of the end of Swimming Pools as we hear Kendrick rap from Dave’s brother’s perspective who appreciates that Kendrick was there to hold Dave as he bled out, he doesn’t blame Kendrick for what happened he now just has his eyes fixed on getting revenge against the shooters. The 2nd part is from the perspective of Keisha’s sister, Keisha in question Kendrick wrote about on his mixtape Section. 80, he argues for her about the role of being a prostitute and that she shouldn’t be criticised for being in that line of work when there is little else available for her, that was her life and she doesn’t need people to look down on her for that. The verse ends with Keisha’s sister saying that Kendrick didn’t help her by making that song, being outspoken isn’t helping the women that are in that situation, she argues it would be better if he pimped her out instead so she could get some money. The 3rd part returns to Kendrick, he self reflects about life in general which is a reference to the 2 perspectives he just rapped from, he’s desensitised to death from Dave’s passing but he feels guilt for speaking on Keisha’s death even though he felt that her story needed to be told. Although not directly said he alludes to the question of ‘what if I wasn’t a rapper?’ as he believes he could’ve been put in a similar situation to some of the ones he’s seen. There is a beat switch separated by dialogue of Dave’s brother and friends wanting to seek revenge, you can hear the pain in Dave’s brother’s voice as he says he’s tired of this shit, this revenge is a thirst that will lead them to their deaths if they follow. This is exactly what Kendrick raps about as it’s so easy to be lead down the life of sin by giving into temptations. The track ends with dialogue of an older woman, one of Kendrick’s neighbours, that interrupts Dave’s brother and his friends to lead them down a path of Jesus and religion to stop them enacting revenge. The song ‘Real’ is a mature moment for Kendrick as his self reflection has led him to a realisation that he must do things for himself too, you can’t strive for all these materialistic things if you don’t love yourself. The track is filled with a relaxed guitar riff and some gorgeous vocals from Anna Wise. The dialogue at the end is Kendrick’s father who gives some sincere advice after hearing of Dave’s passing, his mother can also be heard at the end as an almost promising end as she mentions Kendrick’s music career hoping that he’s able to make it out of Compton but also fearful that he might not be alive as he hasn’t picked up his phone the whole time he’s been out. The final track ‘Compton’ sees Kendrick team up with legendary hip hop producer Dr Dre for an epilogue of sorts as we see present day Kendrick look back on his life as he is now proud of the person he’s become and hopefully can lead kids that are in a similar situation that he was in to a better life. It’s a sort of optimistic ending to the album as we’ve heard a lot of pain through it we now know that is in the past and it’s better to focus on what can be done now. The track ends with Kendrick saying he’s going to borrow his mothers van and that he’ll be back in 15 minutes, chronically this fits right before the first track and so the album works in a cyclical manner. To conclude, this album is nothing less that legendary, I urge anybody who didn’t click with it on first listen to go back and listen again as this is one of those albums I’ll defend till the end of time, this is one of my favourite rap albums if not one of my favourite albums of all time. Absolute perfection. 5/5

This album is not it at all, I don’t think I’ve come across anything more aggressively American in my life. There’s nothing redeemable about any of the songs in this album, all filled with painfully generic guitar riffs and some awful vocals and basic lyrics. A stand out track is ‘It’s The End Of The World As We Know It’ which has verses that remind me way too much of the theme song to The Fairly Odd Parents and a boring chorus I genuinely can’t believe that’s one of their more popular songs. I’ll be honest some parts of the instrumentals were nice like the saxophone in the middle of ‘Fireplace’ and the opening to ‘Lightnin’ Hopkins’ but when these are the redeemable parts and they make up less than 5% of the album then what’s the point. I genuinely can’t escape from the cadence of the vocalist his voice is actually so annoying especially at times like at the end of ‘Exhuming McCarthy’ it makes me cringe, he sounds like he’s trying way too hard. Finally, the album artwork is terrible it looks so rough and boring, so I guess a perfect display for the music you’re about to be subjected to. I don’t think I need to ever hear this album again, nor do I want to.

I had heard some of The Smiths stuff before so although I don’t like Morrissey, for obvious reasons, I can’t deny The Smiths music really does have a hold on me in some way, it’s equally catchy and clever with some beauty to it, some elegance if you will, which might be down to the soft tone of Morrissey. So as expected I am a fan of this album for a number of reasons. Firstly, I want to point out how well the vocals and the instrumental are mixed with each other. Although Morrissey can hit those higher notes I like that he sits equal with the instrumental with a fairly relaxed tone instead so that the listener is equally exposed to all elements of the songs, this is especially seen on the opening track ‘A Rush and a Push and the Land Is Ours’ where you can hear the vocals go rough on the chorus without his voice being raised, a good example of not overdoing it on a song. Secondly, I want to point out the variety of songs we get in this album. There’s a couple of 5-6 minute songs here which allow for a slower instrumental and to really open the song up which I appreciate, a key example of this is from the 2 consecutive tracks ‘I Started Something I Couldn’t Finish’ and ‘Death of a Disco Dancer’ which although using similar instruments suit the lengths of each track well respectively. In addition to this is the mix of harsher and softer songs such as ‘Death at One’s Elbow’ and I Won’t Share You’, the former in which has some nice rock and roll guitar riffs mixed with some drums to create a faster paced song whereas the latter, the final song in which, opens up for the vocalist to sing more whilst being accompanied by an acoustic guitar, it’s a beautiful way to end the album. Finally, I’d like to point out 1 song in particular, ‘Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me’. This song is introduced with an interlude full of background crowd noise until the 2 minute mark where the vocals kick in with a slow drum and almost somber piano. It really creates an atmosphere of helplessness which builds for the rest of the song u til we reach a climax at the end where some high notes are hit. It’s truly a wonderful song and probably my favourite on the album. Overall, I really enjoyed this album, the vocals, the instrumentals all of it sounded lovely. There were some weaker cuts on the back end of the record that knock it down slightly for me but my point still holds as the sound of this album is just so pleasing, something I will be returning to. P.S. Jpegmafia - Veteran, track 16 4/5

Quite a coincidence that I’m given this highly rated Smiths album the day after I’m given The Smiths album that came out directly after this one. I’m quite aware of this albums presence and have heard it before but I thought it deserved a couple more listens so I could really gather my thoughts on it, and I have to say that this is even better than the previous Smiths album, it’s in a lane of its own. As I mentioned in the previous review what makes The Smiths so fantastic is the cohesiveness between the vocalist and the instrumentalists, there are only a few moments where the vocalist is intended to stand out so most of the time you can really appreciate all parts of the song at the same time. Firstly, the opening track, the title track, really takes the cake here with a killer guitar fill and a consistent drum pattern which gives this 6 minute song such energy when it’s needed. You can also hear another guitar enter about half way through with some other instruments to break up the song a bit, it’s a great opener to the album and one of my favourites. There’s also a few slightly tongue-in-cheek tracks in here, more specifically ‘Frankly Mr. Shankly’ and ‘Vicar in a Tutu’ which have the most catchy choruses of the record. The former has quite a slow opening which I think isn’t the best for the 2nd song on the album but it opens up shortly after when some deeper electric guitar is introduced whereas the former is fairly consistent and hence suits the shorter song length well, it’s probably also the weakest song on the album but luckily doesn’t take away from the rest as it fits the style really well. There are just so many great moments on this record from the slower ‘I Know It’s Over’ where Morrissey’s is made to stand out over some slow bass until the last 2 minutes where both he and the instrumental are projected outwards, to the speedy ‘Bigmouth Strikes Again’ where you can feel the guitar rushing through the track and the vocals slightly bringing the instrumental back whilst keeping the track altogether. Also not forgetting the true stand out track ‘There Is a Light That Never Goes Out’ which is a beautifully smooth track that feels as if it is being played effortlessly. The only thing I would change about this album is the last song, although a good song and fitting, it almost feels like I’m waiting for a slower acoustic song to show me out as shown in the their following record. However, I can’t really complain as I like the song regardless, which makes this album fantastic. P.S. Jpegmafia - Veteran, track 16 5/5

Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh what I don’t really have anything to say about this album mainly because there isn’t much to comment on. I think there’s a fine line between experimental and just some noise and I’m really struggling to decide which side this album fits in to. Firstly, I’ll say that this album seems to be split into 3 tracks of 3, not sure if that was intentional but it feels like it. The 3 tracks in the middle are actually quite nice in a way, almost giving off beach house sounds at points but with a bit more rock essence to them. The reason I like these certain tracks is that you can actually hear the vocals, unlike the rest of the album. The first track sounds shoegaze-esque with this constant dreary guitar groaning in the back which isn’t too bad. The following 2 tracks on the other hand gave me a headache just because of how intense they are. This goes for the last 3 tracks too as I’m not sure what’s really going on in them either. I’ll give the band props because to some extent all these tracks are unique in their own way yet fit to the style of the record well. However, I don’t enjoy this album at all, it was honestly too much to get through and I kept asking myself when was the next song was going to play. I appreciate the sound they’re going for but with a bit more variety in the tracks then I would probably enjoy it, I just find it hard when there’s 5, 6 minute long tracks that are filled with loud dreary guitar, it just doesn’t get me excited for the next track. I give this an uhhhhhh so much noise/5

I’ve had Arcade Fire on my list to listen to for a little while now as I’ve seen their debut album float around quite a lot, which I’m sure is on this list as well, but I ended up with this album first instead which is very enjoyable nonetheless. Despite the band’s sound being primarily indie rock there are a multitude of sounds on this record that really keep you listening, from the upbeat title track opener that has this steady beat reminiscent of an old speakeasy with a band playing in the corner, the piano really helps with that, to the to the build up instrumental of ‘Rococo’ that starts with an acoustic guitar riff and builds up to this grand finale of an electric guitar lead by some steady drums. Further examples include ‘Half Light II’ that has the pace of an electronic track consistently beating through, and ‘We Used To Wait’ that prioritises the piano into a build up of the drums really letting the instrumental speak. My other 2 stand out tracks are ‘Empty Room’ which is very fast paced accompanied by some dreary almost shoegaze instrumentation in the back ground, both vocalists do incredibly well too being very in sync with each other and keeping the energy. The other track being ‘Sprawl II’ which is definitely a bit more electronic inspired with keyboards taking over accompanied by what sounds like the maracas. I think what makes these 2 stand out the most is the inclusion of the female vocalist, she fits the style so well and really adds to the tracks. What’s stopping me from giving this album a top rating is the length of the album. Although some tracks are very memorable I had to go back and really re-listen to some others as they just flew past me. Another part is sometimes I find the lyrics a little bland, for the most part they’re great but on songs like ‘Rococo’ and ‘Month of May’ the over repetitive nature of the tracks titles does slightly ruin it for me, I want to hear more verses because the verses are great! Overall, I did like this album quite a bit, some things not so much as others but the sound that was created on this record was fantastic and I look forward to going back to a good handful of these songs. 4/5

This album was a bit of a strange one, I’ve never heard of Devo before so based off the cover I was interested to check this one out, and I have to say it’s definitely unique. What makes Devo stand out is the eccentric vocalist paired with the up beat instrumentals, a perfect example of this is on the first track ‘Uncontrollable Urge’ which is filled with this killer guitar riff and an almost back and forth between the main vocalist and the backing vocalists like they’re giving 2 different perspectives. This is again seen on ‘Jocko Homo’ where the main lyrics are a repetition of the album title where the main vocalist asks the question and is answered by the backing vocalists. Another point that stands out to me is the mix of rock and some slight electronic influences, there are some tracks which are heavy rock and roll such as the first track and ‘Come Back Jonee’ and there are tracks with that almost futuristic sound like on the back end of ‘Mongoloid’. To be honest the praise kinda stops there as I find there are 2 massive things letting this album down, first is the structure of the songs. Unfortunately, most of the songs rely on the chorus to carry them and it’s alright with the cadence of the vocalist but it’s gets a bit dull when you know what’s coming next before you’ve even heard the song. Secondly, the lyrics are just bland. A very clear example is the track ‘Praying Hands’ which repeats “You’ve got your left hand, you’ve got your right hand, you’ve got both hands, you’ve got praying hands” it’s just a bit predictable. Also the track ‘Space Junk’ where I’m pretty sure they just start naming places around the world in a list which I don’t get. It’s a shame because the vocalist is really entertaining but a lot of these songs feel like chants at times and barely a nice tune, especially the last track which just sounds so weird and a bit sinister, almost like a cartoon villain. I think this band definitely has the sound to it but in my opinion a lot of the songs are lacking some key structure, would love to hear them do some longer tracks as that sort of energy can really boost a longer track. Nevertheless, I found this album a bit strange, I probably won’t return to it. 2/5

This is an album I’ve been meaning to get around to as I’ve heard be referred to as an underrated ‘classic’. Also, since I’m a fan of Lupe’s newer releases I had high hopes for this record and for the most part they delivered. Firstly, I love how this album is presented, it’s more of an introduction to Lupe, as this is his debut album, which makes sense and is evident by the use of an intro and outro where Lupe introduces himself and also thanks everyone that helped/inspired him at the end. This means that within the album there’s not a lot of diversion in quality, there are definitely some stand out tracks, ‘Kick, Push’ definitely being one which tells of a young kid going out and skating all day, being moved from place to place as security tells him he can’t skate round here, he meets a girl who also skates on the way. It’s a perfect skating song filled with trumpets and smooth strings in the back, definitely a key moment. However, the quality of tracks doesn’t change from here, for example, ‘The Instrumental’ speaks on the rise of technology and how young kids are fixated on screens, more specifically TV, and what it tells them. The track is led by some groovy drums which really brings out Lupe’s rhyme scheme which is just fantastic. Another track is ‘Daydreamin’ where Lupe raps about his home town Chicago and also dreams about classic hip hop videos, the track is beautifully paired with a hook by Jill Scott who is also layered into the song later on into the track, a brilliant addition to the track. My favourite track, the stand out to me, is ‘He Say She Say’ which looks at the departure of a father from a family from 2 perspectives, first the mother of a child who complains to the father about how he’s not there for his son. The 2nd verse is almost a copy but from the son’s perspective which brought me to tears it’s a really honest performance from Lupe. I’d also like to mention the features on this record, for the most part they’re usually singing features which are great to add a bit of R&B/Soul to the tracks, especially on the hooks. Whereas the only rap feature is Jay-Z on ‘Pressure’ where he has a confident verse on the back end, definitely a stand out moment. I really really want to give this record 5 stars, there’s just so many quality tracks and I absolutely love the variety of content that is contained within these tracks however there’s just something missing for me, it’s a great record but it’s not perfect and with a run time of 1 hour and 12 mins I’m not sure I can justify 5 stars. Nevertheless this is an album I can say I really enjoyed and it will be something I return to.

Of course Elvis Presley is one of the most well known names in music, plus with a signature cadence and brand to represent him I was interested to see what his music was like as I don’t think I’ve heard an Elvis song before. After hearing this album all I really have to say is eh it’s okay. To be honest there are some very nice parts such as the song ‘Kentucky Rain’ where Elvis gives a great performance, also on ‘Suspicious Minds’ where Elvis pairs with the background singers beautifully. Furthermore, I particularly like some of the instrumentals, ‘Power of My Love’ immediately comes to mind with the brass instruments, particularly the use of the harmonica. I think it’s also key to mention that a lot of these songs are elevated by the man himself, as his distinct vocal range really is quite pleasant to hear. Now although I like the sounds on this album, for the most part, I do find the run time a bit long especially as some of the slower songs come earlier in the track list, such as ‘I’ll Hold You In My Heart’, in truth there aren’t really any faces paced tracks but that’s what makes this album feel so much longer and it really does drag. In addition, the variety of the songs isn’t that much either, I did like the subject matter of ‘Don’t Cry Daddy’ and ‘In the Ghetto’ though as they were a bit of a break from all the typical love tracks. Really, this sound in general just isn’t for me but I can understand why people listen to it as Elvis is very entertaining in his songs but as an album this doesn’t do a lot for me. So, to conclude, there was a nice handful of tracks here with some cool sounds but overall I’d just say it’s okay, nothing that I’ll be rushing back to listen to.

I’m a big rap fan, it’s the first genre of music I started listening to and then I went out from there but I still haven’t gotten around to listening to a lot of the more classic 90’s hip hop albums so I was excited to see GZA, one of the founding members of Wu Tang, come up as I knew this was going to be an album full of quality rhymes and exceptional lyrics. So I’ll start with what I like about this album, the majority of the album is filled with cool lyrical focused songs that GZA really floats on, some particular stand outs to me are ‘Duel Of The Iron Mic’ which has some killer performances from the features especially the verse from ‘Inspectah Deck’ where the beat fades away temporarily as he takes the stage. Another favourite being 4th Chamber which is similar to the above track as everyone is just so consistent, the best is grimy and it just all fits together so well. Lastly, I have to mention the last track ‘B.I.B.L.E.’ which has my favourite performance from Killah Priest and probably my favourite beat too, somehow equally relaxed yet grimy, it’s a fantastic way to finish the album. There were a few duds to be honest and it’s unfortunate to see that they were mainly the tracks where it was just GZA, in particular ‘Gold’ and ‘Labels’ where his performance is very understated, there’s just not a lot of fire to these tracks and really the album is fairly long as it is I think it can be done without these. So to me the album does get a little stale at times but there are a nice bunch of high moments that I can appreciate too. To conclude, not one of my favourite rap albums that I’ve heard but I did enjoy it and looking forward to more rap albums in this list. 4/5

I’m already a fan of The Strokes, particularly their most recent album and this one, but I knew this one was due a re-listen as I haven’t listened to it all the way through since I first listened and I have to say this album is near perfection. There are so many reasons that make this album fantastic, the one that stands out to me the most is the cohesion between the drums and the guitar. For the most part they sound fairly fast paced but not a lot of the songs follow that feeling despite how they sound as there is a good mixture of relaxed moments to balance out the songs. A great example is ‘Alone, Together’ as the first 2/3 of the song follows a steady drum beat with a varying guitar mixture until the last minute and a half where both instruments pick up and the vocalist, Julian, really picks up which leads to a great guitar solo at the end. Another key example of this is ‘The Modern Age’ as we get this dreary guitar mix for most of the song but it’s the pairing with Julian’s vocals as he goes from a harsh tone to a softer singing chorus when the instruments open up some space, and of course this song has a guitar solo too that’s just fantastic. Some of the more underrated songs here, in my opinion anyways, are ‘Trying Your Luck’ which is one of the more relaxed cuts which has an almost emotional undertone to it in the way Julian delivers his vocals, it’s almost Arctic Monkeys-esque. The other underrated track being, ‘Hard To Explain’ which has this consistent guitar leading the track which is opened up for some drums during the chorus. Julian’s vocals are also quite mudded in the instrumental so you’re way more driven by the tone of the track, and I think it just works so well. This wouldn’t be a review if I didn’t mention the more popular tracks. First being ‘Someday’ which is one of the few tracks where Julian stands out more than the instruments however it’s not by much. The drums are also very prominent on this track where the instrumental is built up and then is left to just the drums and some guitar in the back around the middle of the track. For me this track definitely sounds the most indie rock to me, I think Julian mostly singing on this helps as well. The most popular track ‘Last Nite’ is appropriately the leading track to the album based off the chorus and the build up to it, Julian’s vocals really contribute here and make it a killer track. I’d also like to mention the opening and closing tracks, the opening title track is the most relaxed track here as the vocalist follows a steady tone and the instrumental stays fairly calm. Not one of my favourites but I think it’s a great opener which could also be the closer from the sound of it. The outro is a bit more abrasive and has less focus on the lyrics, almost sounds like Julian is frustrated as he’s telling the person he’s interested in to make up their mind already, I would’ve liked a bit of a slower outro song but this is still great. For how cool it sounds, ‘New York City Cops’ is probably one of my least favourites just down to the chorus, it’s just sort of meh but the pre chorus I really like especially with the lead guitarist. Overall, this album is nothing less than brilliant. For the 36 minute run time it sounds so short and I could easily Dow it another 10 minutes of music and it still wouldn’t sound long. Since this came up I’ve listened through the album 5+ times now and I’m just so hooked, such a great listen and undeniably one of my favourites. 5/5

I don’t really have anything great to say about this record to be honest, it’s just a bland generic love album with barely any passion to it. For something that’s about such an emotionally hard topic you can barely hear any heartbreak or care in the vocalists voice at all, it just seems so strange as he has such little presence on the microphone that what he says really means nothing when you can’t feel what he’s feeling through his words. The only exception to this is ‘Was There Anything I Could Do?’ which I found to be a good indie hit with a great chorus, it’s just a shame that the rest of this album falls short. Also, I find most of these instrumentals to be quite confused, I’m not sure if this album wants to be rock, indie, country or a mix of all 3 at times. It’s not genre defining, it’s genre confused and it really makes the vibe of this album a whole mess. I have to point out the harmonica in the first few songs also as it’s just such a strange instrument to be thrown into here as it doesn’t work at all with some of the rock themes they’re going with. This album was just boring and uninspired, won’t be returning to this one.

I’ll be honest this is the first album I’m struggling to finish and so I can’t really comment on much of the songs on the back end of this project but this whole experience is a really tough listen. I fully respect Slipknot for the name that they’ve created for themselves as a heavy metal band, even when I was a kid I knew about Slipknot but I had never really heard their music before so I have to say you really have to have a specific taste for this sort of music. I do imagine this to be great gym music though which I might try out at some point but I’m just terms of finishing the album that will come at some other time as I can’t get through it now. I have to give props to the energy of the vocalist as he does not let up, I imagine their live shows are insane, and the instrumentation is fantastic from a technical standpoint as it’s so engaging and just packed full of what you’d want in a death metal album. Despite all this I just don’t find the songs enjoyable, like at all. I feel like you have to be in a very specific mood to listen to this type of music so trying to do so whilst going about my everyday routine was a bit difficult as I think I would’ve rather listened to nothing than have someone screaming in my ear whilst I’m trying to make my lunch. As I said I’ve got respect for the band and the sound they’re achieving it’s just personally not for me however I’m not going to give this a 1 as I can see why people like it as the music is interesting, it’s just not something I’d listen to that’s all.

I’ve never really delved into music that isn’t in English apart from a small handful of songs so I was excited to give this one a go especially considering how popular this album is and I have to say I really enjoyed it. The 2 key things that really stood out to be were the cohesion of all the singers and the variety of instrumentation. It’s great to hear the front man sing but then when it effortlessly fades to the singers in the back you can tell all the members have some real chemistry. The instruments are just fantastic throughout, I particularly enjoy the trumpet on ‘De Camino a La Vereda’ which stands out really proudly, and the piano on ‘Pueblo Nuevo’ where I never thought I’d enjoy a 6 minute piano instrumental as much as I did until I heard that song. Other standouts include the opener ‘Chan Chan’ which has an almost sinister tone to it created by the Spanish guitar but is sung so smoothly. Also the song ‘Candela’ is a great example of the drums taking over which gives the track some energy especially in the latter half where all vocalists are involved, it’s a great track. In addition I just love the atmosphere this album gives off, it really makes me want to buy a new pair of headphones and just travel whilst having this on in the background. My only downfall of this album is the run time, it does run a bit long for me especially when we’re getting a lot of similar sounds so some of the songs on the back end don’t hit nearly as hard as the ones on the front end. Nevertheless I thoroughly enjoyed this album and appreciate the door this opened into exploring more non-English speaking music, will be returning to this.

The Undertones seem like such a familiar name but I guess it’s just the generic ‘The …’ sort of band name. The album cover also gave me somewhat nostalgic British rock vibes so I could kinda guess what direction this album was going in and I have to say it was what I was expecting but also what I wasn’t. At 26 songs this album does feel like a bit of a handful at times as you’re dealing with a lot of different sounds but I’ll point out the ones that stood out to me first. ‘Family Entertainment’ is a great way to open the album with a rock and roll banger and an infectious chorus, the front man and backing vocalists trading vocals is so catchy. The chorus on ‘I Gotta Getta’ is so incredibly catchy too with a deep guitar riff in the back that gives the song such a cool tone. The following track ‘Teenage Kicks’ has such a classic rock sound it’s hard not to nod your head along to it. The vocalists cadence is so clear on this track which really gives this album some uniqueness as he really does stand out. There are also some cooler cuts on the backend such as ‘You’ve Got My Number’ where the guitars really stand out here, and the final track ‘Let’s Talk About Girls’ which has some raw rock and roll energy to it. This ends up being the pattern in this album that usually the better songs have a longer run time. To add, what really does let this album, which was my worry from the start, is the run time. These are a nice group of catchy rock and roll songs but some of them are just not needed like two versions of ‘True Confessions’ when it is far from one of the best songs on the album and ‘Smarter Than You’ which starts off strong but the vocalist lets me down here, this as an instrumental only track would’ve been great. Personally if this album was condensed down to like 14 songs and some of them were a bit longer then I think I would’ve enjoyed it a lot more. Overall, a cool album with some nice bangers but not one of my favourites, will come back to a handful of songs.

When I saw this come up I was excited and surprised seeing it pop up this early into my 1001 albums but considering I’ve never listened to Nevermind and given it’s high praise I had no other choice but to go I with high expectations and it really showed me why it gets the critical acclaim it does. The album kicks off with ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ which everyone has heard whether you’re a fan, just a casual listener or never heard the album before. It’s really fitting kicking this album off with such an iconic guitar riff and energetic drum pattern it introduces the album perfectly. Also have to give props to Kurt Cobain as he gives it his all on the chorus and really rides the high energy and low energy parts of the track well, hard to say this isn’t a stand out. Other stand outs for me are ‘Come As You Are’ which has a bit more of a laid back delivery but the guitar really leads here making it really hard not to like. ‘Lithium’ stands out to me as a more classic rock track with Kurt taking a simple chorus by just repeating ‘yeahhhh’ over and over but the energy is unmatched and his singing in between is a great addition too. I also particularly enjoyed ‘Lounge Act’ where Cobain’s vocals are a little more pushed back compared to other songs and the focus is on the consistent instrumental that rocks the track. Finally the last 2 tracks are both very interesting, ‘Something In The Way’ is one of very few somber tracks on the album with very little lyrical change, the title is repeated for most of the track almost suggesting a stand still, a feeling of hopelessness which is led by Kurt’s tone. The final track ‘Endless, Nameless’ ends the album on an almost prog rock note as we’re hit with some very harsh vocals on the front end as Cobain is practically screaming and then we’re left with the final 4 minutes that turns into this distorted mix of guitar with a mini drum solo layered on top, although muddled it’s a fitting way to end the album. Honestly I can see the reason why this is popular, especially in the 90’s where Nirvana is leading the grunge genre this is almost a powerhouse of moody emotions and also just happens to be incredibly enjoyable as an album too. Will be digesting this one through a couple more listens very soon. 5/5

As one of the components that make up The Beatles you’d expect a lot from a solo album from Paul McCartney, especially considering the time this was released was just after their critically acclaimed record ‘Abbey Road’. However, you find this album to be nothing like that, as Paul takes on his own approach to an album which ends up feeling pretty muddled. This album is a weird mix of instrumental tracks along with some lyrical tracks. Considering this is a self titled album, it’s strange that it’s confused on what it wants to be. For the first half it seems like McCartney is trying to do his best Elvis impression and it just feels so out of character, this is especially seen in ‘That Would Be Something’ which resembles Elvia’ ‘Kentucky Rain’ with McCartney’s strange vocal inflections added in, which end up being a running theme in this album with him singing along to the instrumentals multiple times which makes this feel like a live recording. The best song here is ‘Maybe I’m Amazed’ by a country mile as you can actually hear Paul put in some soul into this track, plus the guitar is fantastic. It’s then just a shame that the album ends on this unique drum solo and McCartney breathing which I don’t think he has a right to do considering he barely put any effort into the vocals throughout this album. I did just find this album a bit boring, the first couple of tracks put me off so much that the none of the rest of the album really made me feel like I would thoroughly enjoy this album. I’d come back to 1 or 2 songs but for the rest of the album I’d just listen to some Elvis instead. 2/5

After hearing Buena Vista Social Club I did say I was excited to hear some more non-English speaking music so hear we are with ‘La Revancha Del Tango’ by Gotan Project, however the issue here is that the majority of tracks are instrumentals so you don’t get the benefit of hearing the vocals. I’ll start with the 2 tracks that included some lyrics, ‘Época’ and ‘Una Música Brutal’, the former of the 2 features some lovely vocals sprinkled throughout the track whilst the instrumental is led by what I can only guess to be some sort of accordion/harmonica or maybe even a keyboard, chirping in the background. It’s quite a slow moving track but it gives you the feeling of being in a spy/action movie which is unique. The 2nd song of the 2 is lead by that same instrument but now there as some rhythmic drums keeping the track together with some similar vocals to the first track mentioned. The rest of the songs follow a fairly similar instrumental pattern but vary quite a bit in length making up this hour long album, it can really feel like not a lot is happening at times which is disappointing because the sound is very unique. I’m really not sure how often I’ll return to this, I found it interesting but nothing really peaked my interest I can just appreciate the sound that this album is. 3/5

I am, as I’m sure everyone is, very aware of the Beastie Boys by name but I had never heard any songs by them. I also recognise this cover as the large inspiration for Eminems ‘Kamikaze’ album which is not an album I hold in high regard, nevertheless I was looking forward to this. The main thing that through me off about this is the classic hip hop sound that the Beastie Boys go for, I really wasn’t expecting them to have that much lyrical focus. Honestly, for me the album starts off quite weak, the first 2 songs remind me so much of the intro to ‘The Fresh Prince of Bel Air’ at some points which I guess makes sense because of the time era, but I find their ecstatic tones to get a bit much at times. They really remind me of rap battling with your friends at lunch time at school sometimes. The 3rd song ‘She’s Crafty’ picks the album up for me due to the instrumental taking on a really cool guitar riff and the chorus being incredibly infectious, I just can’t help but say “she’s crafty!” every time. A similar theme runs on ‘Fight For Your Right’ as the rock instrumental stands out at the front which really brings some weight to the song and adds so much, also when all 3 sing on the chorus there’s so much power it’s great. Of course you see this on ‘No Sleep Till Brooklyn’ too which is just as catchy on the chorus. There are also a handful of cheeky songs on here such as ‘Brass Monkey’ that really utilises these funky brass sounds, hence the title. You also see this on ‘Girls’ which has this almost xylophone beat to it making it a very playful song. Overall, I do quite like a handful of this album but as an album it’s not something I’m going crazy for. It’s alright but the start does take away a lot for me and their vocals get a bit annoying after a while. Glad this came up though.

I’ve seen Nick Cave’s name thrown around every now and again but I was yet to get around to one of his, and his bands, records so this did slightly peak my interest, even more so considering it was one of his latest records. I’ll say that Nick Cave is great throughout this whole project, he’s got this powerful yet soft voice that can be really emotional, he sort of reminds me of James Blake at times. I can tell the atmosphere that was being aimed for on this record as it does feel a bit dreamy and quite futuristic at points especially on the first track ‘Spinning Song’. However I do find this record way too slow for me, I get it’s a singer-song writer record but it felt like you could easily put this over a montage of space pictures and just zone out for the hour. Also considering how slow this whole album is I really don’t think 2 10+ minute songs were really that necessary, despite the title track being quite good. Overall, I think this album is nice I don’t really have much to say about it but it’s not bad by any means, just not something I’d really come back to.

I was pleasantly surprised to see that Dave Navarro plays guitar for Jane’s Addiction, having previously seen him on TV, so I already kind of had an idea where this album was going but even then there were moments that really stood out. The album kicks off with a very distorted ‘Up the Beach’ acting as a grand opening for the album, it’s a very cool intro which leads into a slightly less distorted ‘Ocean Size’ giving this album a strong opening and it doesn’t let down from there as the following ‘Had a Dad’ is an infectious rock song. Both the guitar and the drums stand tall with a key guitar moment in the middle and the end, it’s simply a fantastic song. Dave has some other key moments such as ‘Standing in the Shower…Thinking’ as he shreds the guitar. Also on the final track ‘Pigs in Zen’ he creates so much depth with a long low notes shredding into a high pitched finale. I also have to mention ‘Jane Says’ considering it’s their most popular song I’m guessing solely based off the laid back instrumental and the standout vocals, not my favourite on here so I do find it a little hard to see how it’s their most popular but still a good song nonetheless. Really enjoyed this listen, not an incredible album but a very good one that I will be returning to.

I’ll be honest I only got through half of this album and skimmed through the last half because it was dragging on so long. There’s not much going for this album at all, weirdly paced, strangely mixed at times and way way too long. There’s also times where random noises are chucked in that don’t make much sense, so what I’m trying to say is I didn’t like any song on here, it was all just a bit dull.

One thing I love that this list has done for me is expose me to live jazz albums, live recordings turned into albums that are full of heart, soul and everything in between, and that’s exactly what ‘Nighthawks At The Diner” is all about. There are so many great things about this album so firstly I have to say how authentic it feels. This is not trying to be a studio album, there is a lot of dialogue by Tom before and in between tracks telling the audience about how a certain song came about or giving a little story. You can immediately tell the setting is very intimate and Tom is taking his time with this set, hence the 1 hr+ run time, but it all works out to be this enjoyable set of live jazz music. You also have to recognise Waits’ unique cadence throughout, he has this somewhat gravelly voice that perfectly suits the band's style, it’s also some how quite nostalgic as the album has some certain themes such as love and storytelling but it’s an album about life, so it’s very easy to relate to. The accompanying band has this great instinct to just sit nicely in the back but jumps forward every now and again for some particularly soulful moments such as at the end of the 11 minute masterpiece that is ‘Nighthawk Postcards’. Another particular standout is ‘Warm Beer And Cold Women’ where the saxophonist makes a beautiful appearance whilst Tom sits so relaxed on the beat, it’s such a great song. As seen above there are many things I like about this album but what I really love about it is that it’s an album so effortlessly. Artists will try their best to make a concept/storytelling album in a studio setting and it can come off so artificially whereas you take this where Waits isn’t afraid to talk for 2 songs opening up the album whilst the band plays in the back because it’s how the set was, there’s no need to cut it or change it. There are songs I really like on here but as a whole this is such a fantastic listen and really makes me feel like I’ve just walked in on the show mid set. There’s nothing negative I have to say about this, go give it a listen. 5/5

I was always aware of The Police as a band but not their music style so I was expecting some classic rock/rock and roll style music which I would’ve welcomed too but I was pleasantly surprised to hear the reggae and jazz influences throughout this record. I’ll be honest I do find the lyrics to be slightly derivative at times with a lot of religion, however the instrumentation and style of this record is great. The opener ‘Message In A Bottle’ does have a bit more classic British rock band style but Sting’s vocal inflections really give that reggae undertone. Compare this to track such as ‘Walking On The Moon’ and you can see how parts of this record really embrace that reggae tone, it is a much more laid back track which gives focus to this spaced out guitar sounds. Then there’s the jazz influence which is clear as day on ‘Does Everyone Stare’ with the piano leading the way and some light percussion to accompany. Now I don’t think this album is perfect but it was a damn great listen, wouldn’t mind another Police album on this list if they’re gonna be more like that.

For a band called Primal Scream I was expecting a lot more, you know “screaming”. However this album was a lot different experience to that. I found this album to be a strange mix of electronic and prog rock, with a lot of very hard to pin down points and no songs really following a typical song structure. For example I found ‘Kowalski’ to be incredibly spaced out and forward thinking with its limited lyrics and emphasis on electronic noises whereas the following track ‘Star’ is a lot more subtle with some relaxed sung lyrics about fighting for rights for minority groups. Now although I like the spaces out sort of sound they’re going for I much prefer their more to the point songs such as ‘Medication’ that has a driving guitar riff but I can understand why there’s the variety as an album full of theses type of songs would eventually end up sounding fairly derivative. As much as I appreciate what this album is going for I found the beginning and ends a little bit of a let down compared to the core of the record which is what brings it down for me but I will be returning to this as I feel it’s one of those albums I will come to appreciate a lot more over time.

I found this to be quite a nice singer-songwriter album with some occasional uplifting beats that drove the record for the most part however that’s about it I didn’t think so much of it in general, it was decent but might take a bit longer for me to properly digest it if I I’m going to see it in a more positive light.

Having recently found out Boy George was the frontman of Culture Club it seemed quite a coincidence that this album would pop up but I was intrigued nonetheless. Going into this I wasn’t sure what type of style this album was all I know was the opening track ‘Karma Chameleon’ which is quite a nice pop sounding track with an incredibly catchy chorus. However I gotta say this album had me hooked, the energy on here was nothing less than vibrant and focused. The record length is a bit long so I was worried for this type of sound what it would sound like towards the end and it does drop a little bit but for the most part it holds it’s own. One of my favourites is ‘Miss Me Blind’ which is an incredibly funky track that I can’t help but bop along to. I got the same feeling from ‘Mystery Boy’ which gave some dance electronic vibes that was just as groovy. I was surprised the amount of social commentary on this album, I really did just expect some fun pop/disco sounding tracks but tracks such as ‘Melting Pot’ talking about how great of all races could live together and get along was not something I was expecting from this band but I gladly accept it as it adds a good amount of depth. Overall I do have to say I quite enjoyed this album, it almost feels like a bit of a guilty pleasure album I must say as it’s not the type of music I’m usually into but nevertheless a good handful of songs on here hit well for me.

I didn’t really know what to expect to much from this album, all I knew was that I recognised ‘Everybody Wants To Rule The World’ just based off its popularity but even that didn’t really describe this album. Songs From The Big Chair is a collection of pop rock songs almost stretching to prog rock territory. The album opens with probably one of my favourite intro tracks I’ve gotten on this list so far with ‘Shout’ which is this 6 1/2 minute grand build up track that continues to incorporate more and more in the instrumental as the track goes on. It is an incredibly moving track that sparks motivation, for me anyways. Both vocalists fill the track so well it’s an incredible opening. Of course the main other stand out track is ‘Everybody Wants To Rule The World’ which has this great upbeat pace to it, almost as if you’re running in a montage in an 80’s movie, it fits the era of the time perfectly and also it being a great song there’s no denying it’s impact. The rest of this album follows this general vibe of upbeat synth wave rock pop apart from the track ‘I Believe’ that takes a somber approach which is a nice break as it really puts the duos vocals on display. My slight downfall for this album is the closing track ‘Listen’ which I find to be a little all over the place, a sort of grand build up as the opening was like would’ve suited the ending as well but still it’s a nice song and the guitar on the backend is so satisfying. To be honest this album really did way more for me than I was expecting and for the most part I can only praise it.

I really don’t know why these sort of country albums keep appearing on the list, I think there’s a big gap between singer-songwriter and country/singer-songwriter albums and I really did not want to finish this album. This country sound just really isn’t for me and I don’t find this sort of music to be something that’s essential especially for albums that I need to hear.

Interesting to see another UK Reggae pop/rock album on here after The Police album but I expect it not to be the last one. This is a first for me in this genre since starting the list and I do find it to be a unique sound but a very pleasant one at that. The issue, however, that I do have with these albums is they tend to not sound too unique when comparing song by song. The Police are an exception due to the wider rock incorporations into their music but I did find this UB40 album to drag on a bit. Don’t get me wrong the majority of instruments were great and I loved the brass instruments introduced but some of the tracks made this album way longer than it needed to be, those being the instrumental tracks such as ‘Adella’ and the 13 minute ‘Madam Medusa’ where when it comes to a sound like this I don’t think there’s a need for this empty space. Honestly I think I might be being a bit too critical on it as it is a great sound I just think for an album it doesn’t really give me what I want an album to be, it’s more just a nice groovy collection of songs. So did I like this album? Yes. Did I love it? No. Do I think it should be on this list? Yes, and that’s the most important thing as I wouldn’t have given this sound a try otherwise.

I’d seen this album before as an inspiration to Childish Gambino’s “Awaken, My Love!” so I was very interested to check it out, that along with the groups name ‘Funkadelic’ it seemed this was going to be an album filled with groovy beats and interesting sounds and I’m here for it. The album kicks off with the title track ‘Maggot Brain’ which is a 10 minute mostly instrumental masterpiece that features some of the coolest sounding guitar I’ve ever heard. It did seem a little strange to lead such a short album with such a long intro track but I love the song regardless so I’m not complaining. It’s an atmospheric experience and very clear to see where Gambino got the inspiration from for his album. This is followed up well by the next 2 tracks, the first being ‘Can You Get To That’ which is a smooth track filled with group vocals that you can’t help but groove along to. The next track being ‘Hit It and Quit It’ which is a lot more in your face funk with a guitar and keyboard leading the way. The next 3 tracks follow a similar sort of style, each being particularly groovy in its own way with a shout out the guitar player on ‘Super Stupid’ absolutely rocking that track. The album finishes with ‘Wars of Armageddon’ which, like the opener, is a 10 minute mostly instrumental track but this time we’ve got some wild percussion leading the way with some very impressive drumming filled with an assortment of sounds in the background. It’s a very interesting way to end the album but I think it gives the bands name justice as this is very funky. Honestly I loved this album, it encapsulates everything jazz and funk that I love and does it in such a compact album that they leave no room for filler, couldn’t recommend this enough.

I honestly hate how little I have to say about this album, to think after Kurt Cobain’s passing, Dave Grohl had all this material for Nirvana lined up and he recorded all the songs and did all the instrumentals himself to release under a new name ‘Foo Fighters’ is astonishing to me, going from a drummer to a one man band even for a small amount of time is impressive and to create a record like this is even better. Due to the timing of this album it is very reminiscent of prime Nirvana and I’m so here for it, every song just encapsulates that grunge feel so well and even Dave on vocal’s actually suits the music really well. I also like how he incorporated a slower song in there as well in the form of ‘Big Me’, which makes me think I could’ve easily taken another 2 more slower songs on this album and I probably would’ve loved them. As I said I don’t have a lot more to say about this album I just love it, there’s raw energy, there’s a story behind it and in your face is a handful of great songs, I just can’t fault it. Props to Dave Grohl for the effort he put in here as it paid off.

So yes this is Taylor Swift but I’ve never listened to one of her albums so that won’t persuade my review despite the onslaught of Swifties I may face. With that being said I thought this album was decent, there wasn’t anything in particular that stood out well for me, however I did like the pacing of the album it felt quiet even so even with the hour long run time it didn’t seem as long and there were a nice collection of songs I liked, particularly on the backend of the record. I do have to say the weaker parts stood out at the front and in the middle, such as the opening track, it didn’t feel like it should’ve opened the album it wasn’t really any different from a track in the middle, unlike the closing track. Also I’m not sure bout particular songs pacing such as ‘gold rush’ that carries this pacing beat throughout with an anti-climax at the end. I do prefer some of the slower songs though such as ‘happiness’ and the closer ‘evermore’ with a great contribution from Bon Iver. Overall, this wasn’t bad by any means but not exactly something I would consider chart topping worthy, I do hope some of her other albums, particularly folklore, are on here as I’ve heard great stuff from them.

Even if you’re not a traditional American, Bruce Springsteen is such a well known name at this point that it’s hard to find anyone who hasn’t heard of his music, despite this I had never heard one of his albums before so I was interested to see what this had in store. Now I have to say one thing that particularly stood out to me was Springsteen’s charisma, he really puts effort into his vocals, this can clearly be heard on songs such as ‘Night’ and ‘She’s the one’ as his voice sits in the back but is still projected to the front, it makes for an interesting mix. Of course this album also contains the classic that is ‘Born To Run’ which is just an anthem of energy and spirit you can’t help but love. I also particularly enjoyed the slower cuts on here such as ‘Meeting Across the River’ with some excellent jazz accompaniment. Usually I’m not a fan of very traditional American sounding albums but I can’t help but appreciate what this album has to give, it’s got soul, it’s got spirit and it’s a nice handful of songs, it pleasantly surprised me.

Now I’m not much of a fan of 60’s rock, I am indeed a Beatles disliker, so I wasn’t going into this album too optimistic but staying open minded, and I’m glad I did. Although this record fully embodies the 60’s rock sound I can’t get over how well each song is put together, each one is as consistent as the last and makes for a strong album. This album does have some stand out tracks such as ‘Somebody to Love’, ‘White Rabbit’ and ‘Go To Her’ but honestly each song here is incredibly strong I find it hard to pick one that doesn’t click with me. Another thing I really like about this album is the handful of slow songs mixed in with the classic rock songs, these include ‘Today’ and ‘J. P. P. Mc Step B. Blues’, and not forgetting the lovely instrumental track ‘Embryonic Journey’ that sits nicely in the middle of the record. In all honesty I really liked this album and I’m saying it like this as I’m surprised to how much I liked it considering my experiences with other 60’s rock albums. Gonna give it a few more listens but for now there’s nothing negative for me to say.

This album was more of the more confusing choices on this list for me, not questioning why it was included just more the sound and personality of the album more than anything. I say this because the sound of this album feels like something I should like but yet it also feels incredibly stagnant. Don’t get me wrong songs like ‘There Goes The Fear’ and ‘N.Y.’ do sound great but when there’s an album full of these sort of songs I think the instrumental choices get a bit bland. What I mean is the continuous pounding of the same instruments to create the instrumentals gets so dull, this is seen on the song ‘Pounding’, excuse the pun, where the guitar in the back gets so incredibly monotonous it puts me off the track entirely. So really this album was alright but I’m disappointed in the lack of variety at times, there wasn’t much that was distinct for each song and it made the album seem way longer than it actually was.

I’ve been meaning to listen to this album for a while as Fleetwood Mac just seem like the band that’s impossible to hate, and o think after listening to Rumours I can safely say that has to be true because this is fantastic. Every song on here is as beautiful as the last and the whole album really embodies some soul. I also didn’t realise how many hits there were on this album such as “Don’t Stop” and “Go Your Own Way” in which both I’d heard before not realising they were made by Fleetwood Mac. Of course there’s also the gorgeous “Dreams” with a really smooth tempo and relaxed instrumental really letting the vocals stand out, similarly with “Never Going Back Again” the instrumental is pretty straightforward but it’s so pleasing to the ear. Would also like to point out the amazing “The Chain” which embody a real groove paired with dueting vocals and a really satisfying instrumental ending makes this song so perfect. It’s without mentioning but of course the rest of the songs are brilliant too. This album instantly feels like a classic when you listen to it I can’t praise it enough, definitely one of my favourite first listens on this list.

I found this album to be one of the more interesting first listens I’ve had on the list so far mainly because I wasn’t sure if I was going to like it or not despite knowing the sound of Bob Marley’s music. Also I had previously had a UB40 album given to me earlier on the list and wasn’t a big fan of that but still kept an open mind to this. I can say that I didn’t like this album but I didn’t hate it either. There were some very obvious hits such as “Three Little Birds”, “One Love/People Get Ready” and “Jamming” that stood out to me clearly, although I did enjoy the 12” single version of “Jamming” more than the album version. Now these were great and so we’re the other songs on the album but collectively as an album it didn’t really do anything for me, I’d for sure play this on a sunny day cruising down the street but I wouldn’t consider it a cohesive piece of work. I don’t think that’s down to Bob Marley as an artist but more how I feel about Reggae music in general and so I don’t think I can give this album higher than a 3 despite enjoying a good handful of songs. I can see why people would rate this highly but as an album it’s not for me, glad I got the chance to listen to it though.

Not too much to say on this album to be honest, I didn’t find it that interesting but there was a good handful of enjoyable songs. I particularly liked some of the slower songs such as “Homesick” and “Mary Jane” where I think the band really shined, not as much of a fan as some of the more rock style cuts such as “Get Free” despite it being their most popular song. Not sure if I need to give this album more chance to sit with me but just as an album I didn’t find it all too appealing despite liking the songs on it. I feel they should’ve either gone the more rock and roll sort of route or stuck with the lighthearted indie rock style, it feels like they’re trying to do too much sometimes, still a great sound though.

I had never heard of Elbow before but definitely kept an open mind when I saw them described as a “cinematic” alternative rock band, which sounds like something I’d like and I’ve got to say I was pleasantly surprised with the sound of this album. This album definitely feels like an experience, it takes you through a lot of different moments which brings a uniqueness to the collection of songs. I have to say though some of this did remind me of Radiohead’s “In Rainbows” so is it not a coincidence these albums were released not too far apart from one another, I’m not too sure. Nevertheless there’s some great moments on this album, standouts include “The Bones of You” which follows a groovy progressive tone given by some of the backing instruments which sound like maracas and possibly a Spanish guitar layered with some more alt rock elements, a great track overall. Another standout being “Grounds of Divorce” which embodies almost a western style like something you’d hear in a movie montage, the guitar riff chorus is fantastic though, and of course I have to mention “One Day Like This” which incorporates more orchestral instruments and tones compared to the other songs I’ve mentioned and deservedly their most popular song. The rest of the songs have a more calm tone to them, for example, “Mirrorball” gives a similar mood to “Nude” by Radiohead although not as emotional I think which is one of the reasons for me comparing the two. Overall, I really did like this album, there was plenty of great songs and some proper expression in the songs that made it feel like a complete album. I do find some of the songs in the middle to let it down slightly though as they start to focus more on the atmosphere of the song more than anything else and I feel it strays away from some of the stronger songs on the record. All in all though a great record.

I was very optimistic going into this album as someone who’s grown up with parents who are fans of David Bowie and of course how widely acclaimed an artist he is, it seemed impossible that I would get nothing from this album, so what was even better was that I got a lot more than nothing from this album. I always recognised Bowie as a rock and roll superstar but I never realised how much art/glam rock was incorporated into his music and how incredibly forward thinking his music is. This is instantly shown through the opening track “Speed of Life” which is covered in piano synths and slick guitar riffs, a very solid opener to really set the tone of the album. “Breaking Glass” follows as a groovy rock and roll track which I can only say I wish was way longer than it is cause it’s so damn good. Other songs I have to mention in the first half of the track listing are “Sound and Vision” which has a lovely laid back instrumental with some beautiful orchestral synths mixed in, it’s a fantastic track, and not to mention “Be My Wife” who’s piano led instrumental and ripping guitar in the background makes it nothing less than a banger. Now what really surprised me was the 2nd half of the album is mainly filled with instrumentals but I can’t say there is a dip in quality at all, “Warszawa” being one of my favourites, sounding like it’s just been lifted from an early era sci-fi movie it really takes the album deeper into space. Finally, the gorgeous closer that is “Subterraneans” gives a very similar feel with some great brass accompaniment. The only song I wasn’t a big fan of was “What in the World” with its quite muddled and glitchy instrumental however it’s a small blip in this grand feeling album. I was initially going to give this album a 3 or 4 on first listen but as I kept going back to listen I realised I must’ve heard the album 3/4 times in the past couple of hours and that’s when I knew that I really enjoyed a massive portion of this album and that I appreciated the sound it achieves. In my eyes it would be disrespectful to call Bowie anything less than an icon and I believe this album can only support that statement. 5/5

I had heard of Frank Zappa before just whilst hearing about music in general so I was somewhat curious about what sound he created for his music. That was until I realised I had seen his face before from the cover of “Freak Out!” by The Mothers Of Invention which I had got previously on this list and an album which I found to be practically unlistenable upon my first listen, this reduced my expectations massively for this album but I still entered with an open mind. Now what did stand out to me from the first 2 songs was that this album was going to be mainly instrumental which I didn’t have a problem with I was more apprehensive of the 6 song, 43 minute run time. I’ll say that I enjoyed the majority of the guitar and brass instrumentation across the album and I was pretty happy with how the first 2 tracks came across as a sort of futuristic jazz ensemble with some guitar, however, from there on I found it to just be a collection of improvisational pieces that dragged on for a while. “Son Of Mr. Green Genes” did follow suit of the first 2 tracks so that was fine but afterwards it felt like a mess, especially “The Gumbo Variations” which went on for way too long. As music, I’m happy to listen to it but I really didn’t get the most enjoyment from this. The 2nd half of the album really felt like you’d walked into a dusty jazz club and the band had already been up there for 2 hours and now they’re just stringing together anything that goes, I guess for some people that gives it some charm but for me it just sounds messy. I’m glad I gave this album a chance because I can appreciate some of the instrumentals on here enough that I might come back to them but honestly I would’ve given this a 2 if not for the first half which holds the album up way higher than the latter half. I liked this album far more than “Freak Out!” but I’m still not a great fan of Frank Zappa’s work.

I’d heard of The Cure before but never knew what music they made, I think based off the name I was expecting some metal songs but this album came through with a surprisingly nice sounding set of songs. There were a lot of cool instrumentals on this album that really took my perspective of gothic rock and flipped it upside down as I truly thought this would involve a load of shouting and screaming and to be honest I can’t go through another album like the Slipknot one mainly based off that. I did enjoy “Play For Today” which gave me almost an Indie rock vibe with darker undertones, “A Forest” was great too, I liked the echoing effect used on the vocals here, and also “At Night” which sounded like a synth gothic vampire rocker which was nice. I do have a few issues with this album though, although these are my favourite songs I’m finding it hard to identify any standout songs, I also notice that the vocals get lost in the instrumental quite frequently which is annoying since I like the tone of the vocalist but that’s about it really. I found this album tough to rate cause part of me doesn’t want to like it for how similar some of the songs sound instrumentally but the tone of the album is perfect for what they’re going for and they made the right choice of keeping it at a neat 35 minutes instead of dragging it out so personally this just about gets a 4, even though on a different day this might get a 3 from me.

Never heard of The Verve before so not much to say as I went into this album till I started the intro track and immediately recognised it, like any other person from the UK, as a song off an advert. I can’t remember which one now but it made me interested to see how critically acclaimed the rest of this album was. I’ll just say right off the bat I did not enjoy this album, this sort of spacey singing over a soft instrumental is not enough to cover a full albums worth of songs and that’s what made this album feel incredibly long to me. For the most part it sounded like the singer wishes he could sing like Radiohead’s front man Thom Yorke but struggles to reach those impressive high notes. I’d also like to point out the song writing on this album is so bland, it’s painfully obvious how much this album feels like a child has contributed to it as if they were writing their first book, “I stop to say hello”, “I should have done”, “I am growing”, “I watch you look at me”, “and I hear a boom” like SHUT UP! Is this first person perspective writing really the best they could come up with? Also, what’s with the singer constantly repeating lyrics almost like an echo, it’s like he’s run out of things to say and keeps singing the same lyrics with a droning sort of singing voice, “This Time” is a particular culprit of this and it takes everything out of the song, I’m not sure if they feel like this gives more emphasis or emotion but it really doesn’t, it just sounds like lazy song writing. Also not forgetting the atrocity of an album cover, I know this was the late 90’s but come on, it’s not even that it’s lazy it just looks awful too. For the good parts of this album, the songs do have nice instrumentals, for the most part, and of course the opener is very well known and a nicely put together song but that’s about it. This album isn’t horrendous but it’s so boring to listen to, I think if I listened to it again I’d actually want to punch the singer cause his tone is so annoying and without the instrumentals, and a select few songs, I’d give this album a 1 so for now I’ll leave it at that and hope I don’t have to sit through this again.

I had heard the name Peter Gabriel floating around through exploring music before but had no idea of his background or music, a quick google search lead me to the band Genesis which, being someone from the UK who grew up in the 2000’s, meant my only knowledge of the band was through the classic Top Gear which made me slightly apprehensive. I didn’t know what to expect from this album but the intro definitely settled me in for an experience I wasn’t necessarily expecting. The opener “Intruder” was quite an eye opening introduction as it gave me many similarities to the band Swans, in which I grew to be a fan of last year. This flipped my initial perspective upside down and I can confidently say it only got better from there. I have to praise the variety of instruments on this album such as the brass instruments on what I believe to be an interlude “Start”, some keyboard on “Family Snapshot” and what I can only imagine is a xylophone on the first 2 songs. All of these are great and yet there is still such a strong 80’s sound on a handful of songs such as “I Don’t Remember” which is such a groovy guitar tune I can’t say anything bad about it, similarly with the song “And Through The Wire” which is also great. I would give this album a 5 if it wasn’t for the last 2 songs, not that they’re bad at all but they’re mostly instrumental driven and both instrumentals just don’t do a lot for me they seem a bit bland, I do enjoy the vocals at the end of the last track however, but it’s not enough considering these take up over 10 minutes of run time on the album. Nevertheless, it was an enjoyable listening experience and I hope to hear some more Peter Gabriel either in his solo work or through Genesis.

I think this is one of those albums that really doesn’t need justifying, there’s no need for individual song breakdowns, this album has some of the biggest songs of its time on, “Bad”, “Man in the Mirror” and “Smooth Criminal” just to name a few. Even then the deeper cuts are fantastic as well, such as “Liberian Girl” which is a particular stand out to me due to how beautiful a song it is. You wouldn’t be far off if you’d mistaken this album for a greatest hits compilation and that’s what makes it so great. Usually I’d make a point about the album feeling like an album, having a theme/story, but here I’m just appreciating the music that’s on here. Just a few points, some of the instrumentation on here is great, seeing a pop record sometimes you just assume more electronically generated pieces but there was some nice guitar and drum fills, especially on “Dirty Diana”. The composition of the songs are fantastic and of course the singing is not only beautiful but also incredibly charismatic, it’s the sound of someone really invested in the music. Overall, I have to give this album full ratings just based off the legacy of these songs and Michael Jackson as an artist, it also helps that the songs are all top tier too. Everyone has their own opinions about the man but you can’t deny the impact he had on modern music and how brilliantly he could put a song together. Not my favourite album by far but when each song is as good as the last I can only praise it and so anything less than a 5 is an insult.

Kraftwerk seemed like a vaguely recognisable name which all I knew about them was that they were a group from somewhere in Germany and that was about it. So I went into this album with an open mind ready to embrace whatever technical sounds I might face. First thing, I somehow got the impression already this would be a largely instrumental album which I didn’t have a problem with as long as it was interesting. The first track, also being the title track, “Autobahn” helped with this being a 23 minute electronic fusion piece, starting with some synth filled, space like texture with some guitar and wind instruments mixed in. It gave a pleasant feeling to the song where I could only imagine driving at sunrise which sort of suited the pace of that portion of the song. The rest of the song being a bit more space-like synth based, leaning into a more focused electronic sound. “Kometenmelodie 1” seemed to carry on from “Autobahn” into a very focused synth piece which I found a bit dull to be honest, especially at 6 minutes long you’d hope for a bit more than just a couple of synths. “Kometenmelodie 2” on the other hand was a lot more exciting bring back some vibrancy to the album. I found “Mitternacht” equally as dull as the track 2 songs prior as it seemed very atmosphere based but not much going on. Finally, we finish with “Morgenspaziergang” which is a really nice wind instrument and piano fill which suitably closes the album. I found this album really interesting, I’m guessing each song is stages of driving on the Autobahn or perhaps the focus of the album is the first song about driving on the Autobahn and the rest is an additional story if you can call it that. Either way, an intriguing listen, probably something I won’t return to, maybe the last song perhaps, but not something I disliked.

Just like many otter names on this list Dusty Springfield definitely rang a bell when I saw this album pop up but I had no idea what to expect. After seeing the album cover I did have my reservations hoping that this wouldn’t be another country album and to my surprise it wasn’t. “Dusty In Memphis” is a collection of beautiful songs led by Dusty Springfield and a band with extra accompaniment from a string section and brass instruments. These take each other over on different songs, for example “Don’t Forget About Me” is largely led by the band with some brass in the back, “Breakfast In Bed” has an excellent brass fill in the middle with some extra strings and piano tucked in there, and “The Windmills Of Your Mind” wouldn’t be the same song without the string section. All of these songs are fantastic and it’s not hard to hear Dusty’s soulful voice through all of the instruments too. What I found to be pretty interesting was the most popular song “Son Of A Preacher Man” didn’t have as much going on in terms of instruments but was equally groovy and paired with some accompanying singers. There’s nothing about how this album sounds that I’ve got a problem with but possibly more the style of music and era it was released almost makes the whole album slightly 2 dimensional as I can’t escape how the majority of songs are riddled with this 60’s rock sound, however I don’t know if I’m being too generous here but I can’t overlook how beautiful these songs are. Whilst listening I thought that I’d probably give this a 4 and every time I re listen I get caught off guard by a jazzy trumpet fill or break in the drum pattern that and I can’t get over Dusty’s soulful voice so I end this by saying that I’m pleasantly surprised to how much I enjoyed this album and I shall be returning to it.

Seems like I can’t escape 60’s rock albums on this list and so far I’ve learned they’re very hit or miss for me so I did go into this open minded, also not knowing who The Byrds are helped, so I could decide whether I was going to love or hate another 60’s rock album. This was really a mixed bag of songs, it subtly reminded of the Velvet Underground project I got a while ago with its somewhat futuristic almost experimental takes on some songs yet also keeping a classic feel in the atmosphere of the album. As usual I enjoyed some of the more classic sounding cuts but struggled with the more left field ones, for example, the opening track was a smooth track on wanting to be a rock ‘n’ roll star, an interesting way to open the album but it was nice and yet 2 songs later I’m hit with a futuristic song riddled with synths about life on other planets, it doesn’t really make much sense in context with the rest of the album and I don’t think it’s that great of a track. I could say the same about “Mind Gardens” which features this awkward reversed instrumental and some howling vocals at times that really don’t compliment the album well. There’s some catchy songs on here such as “Thoughts and Words” and “My Back Pages” which are good songs but I wouldn’t be surprised if these get very stale after getting familiar with them. Some tracks I did like were “Have You Seen Her Face” and “Renaissance Fair”, both are equally unique songs that don’t rely on the chorus for replay value. My main takeaway from this album is actually that I appreciate the Velvet Underground record more due to how 2 dimensional this one is at times. There’s some good tracks, and overall there’s nothing too bad about this album it just wasn’t great that’s all.

Back to back 60’s rock albums on this list left me wanting more after that slightly disappointing Byrds album so I went into “Cheap Thrills” optimistically and I couldn’t be happier with the result. This album is an attention grabbing rock fusion that mixes in hard rock and blues rock for a rocking, and slightly unpredictable, set of tracks. This album hits hard with groove and style which all kicks off on the opener “Combination of the Two”, now this song doesn’t have much in terms of lyrics but actually they compliment the funk of the track very nicely so you’re focusing on the groove of the music which allows you to be struck hard in the centre of the track by a roaring guitar, nothing better to hear. The funk doesn’t stop on “I Need a Man to Love” and “Piece of my Heart” where both tracks are riding the instrumentally so well it almost sounds improvisational at points especially with the guitar player but you can tell the band are really into it. “Summertime” and “Oh, Sweet Mary” are more vocal ballads, more the former rather than the latter, with intense instrumental build ups. A killer guitar fill on the first and a an army stampede of drums on the second with both letting the instruments breathe and the vocals shine through at some point or another. “Turtle Blues” is unique here being a largely piano driven song however it fits so well in the album and really contributes to the blues rock aspect. The official track listing finishes on “Ball and Chain” which is an immense 9 minute hard rock slow burner that I can’t get enough of with the guitar shining through the middle of the track again, it’s really a hard hitter that you can’t help but think about how insane this would’ve been to see live. I would also like to comment on Janis Joplin, the vocalist of the album, who’s raspy voice slightly put me off at first but she’s got so much soul and has great booming vocals to lead the band it compliments them so well. Finally, I have to give props to the album art, a very unique and fun way of displaying each track pictorially along with each band member. To conclude, this album is a true pick me up collection of songs, there’s an immense amount of soul in every song you can’t help but admire the effort put in. Massive respect to Big Brother & The Holding Company and of course Janis Joplin, this really surprised and I hope to hear more of this type of music from the list in the future. 5/5

Ah Southern Rock Opera by the Drive-By Truckers I wonder what type of genre this will be, either true southern USA rock or there’s still a slight chance on some country-rock mash up which would make the next 93 minutes not that nice. In all seriousness this album was a fair eye opener and a refreshing take on how aware a band is to social and political climates that they experienced and have seen which has also had impact on music. The band originating from the south there were some very obvious social issues occurring in the 50’s and 60’s in the USA and the band has a way of shining the light on these and also political stances during that time, for example “Three Great Alabama Icons” is a spoken word piece that highlights what Alabama is known for and particularly recognises how a politician could win favour in the civil rights era by leaning into racism particularly in the south, its worth listening to this song alone to get some context. Another reoccurring topic on the album is Lynyrd Skynyrd, who is mentioned a whole bunch of times and, more specifically, as an iconic band from Alabama that endorsed the recognition of music led by black musicians in the post civil rights time. Now in terms of the songs this is where I find the album to be a bit less interesting, overall I’m not much of a fan of the lead singers vocals, they’re very raspy and although suiting the genre of music fairly well they’re not that enjoyable. Also I do find this album to be excruciatingly long, now I do like some longer albums but there has to be enough variety to make it feel shorter and more enjoyable and I just don’t get that out of this, despite this I did enjoy a few songs such as “Ronnie and Neil” which is a truckers rock anthem, I get a similar vibe with “Let There Be Rock”, meanwhile “Greenville To Baton Rouge” had some standout guitar too. I do appreciate the band trying to switch things up on “Moved” as this slower style can definitely work on an album such as this I just find the vocalist not too strong without the thick instrumental in the back. From what I’ve heard so far on this list this might have the most interesting theme so far and I’d highly recommend just to try and understand what the band is commentating about on this album because I started to learn a bit about 60’s politics in the south and also what the area meant to the band. I’d also like to say the album is fairly well put together but from a song and genre standpoint it’s not my cup of tea unfortunately.

I really enjoy seeing another Van Halen record here since being dealt 1984 in the early stages of the list, and I’m happy to say on their debut they definitely didn’t disappoint. The first 4 songs are iconic enough for the band to really hook the listener in straight away, “Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love” being my favourite here. “Eruption” not necessarily fitting the same category here but a killer guitar solo for an interlude to connect the songs how could I say no. From the deeper cuts I’ve got to mention “I’m the One” which carries on the electric energy from the first handful of songs, “Atomic Punk” which is just as atmospheric as any of Van Halen’s top songs and “On Fire” which closes the album like it’s being burnt to flames, such a cool track. I didn’t have too much of an issue with the other tracks I just didn’t find them as interesting, also wasn’t a fan of the first half of “Ice Cream Man” it’s like Elvis had invaded the album for a minute or 2. Overall, very solid album, I don’t like it as much as 1984 but as a debut album this is pretty good and makes me appreciate the band even more, I hope to hear more from them.