218
Albums Rated
3.56
Average Rating
20%
Complete
871 albums remaining
Rating Distribution
Rating Timeline
Taste Profile
1970s
Favorite Decade
Funk
Favorite Genre
UK
Top Origin
Wordsmith
Rater Style ?
58
5-Star Albums
9
1-Star Albums
Breakdown
By Genre
By Decade
By Origin
Albums
You Love More Than Most
| Album | You | Global | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
| American Gothic | 5 | 2.48 | +2.52 |
| OK | 5 | 2.57 | +2.43 |
| Slipknot | 5 | 2.67 | +2.33 |
| All Hope Is Gone | 5 | 2.7 | +2.3 |
| Ananda Shankar | 5 | 2.83 | +2.17 |
| Bone Machine | 5 | 2.86 | +2.14 |
| Giant Steps | 5 | 2.88 | +2.12 |
| Blood And Chocolate | 5 | 2.92 | +2.08 |
| The Nightfly | 5 | 3.01 | +1.99 |
| Nighthawks At The Diner | 5 | 3.01 | +1.99 |
You Love Less Than Most
| Album | You | Global | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
| Automatic For The People | 1 | 3.82 | -2.82 |
| She's So Unusual | 1 | 3.48 | -2.48 |
| Synchronicity | 1 | 3.42 | -2.42 |
| Thriller | 2 | 4.22 | -2.22 |
| D | 1 | 3.21 | -2.21 |
| Take Me Apart | 1 | 2.75 | -1.75 |
| ...Baby One More Time | 1 | 2.67 | -1.67 |
| Duck Rock | 1 | 2.65 | -1.65 |
| Shalimar | 1 | 2.65 | -1.65 |
| The Velvet Underground & Nico | 2 | 3.62 | -1.62 |
Artists
Favorites
| Artist | Albums | Average |
|---|---|---|
| Willie Nelson | 2 | 5 |
| Slipknot | 2 | 5 |
| Tom Waits | 2 | 5 |
| Bob Dylan | 2 | 5 |
| David Bowie | 3 | 4.33 |
Least Favorites
| Artist | Albums | Average |
|---|---|---|
| R.E.M. | 2 | 1.5 |
Controversial
| Artist | Ratings |
|---|---|
| The Smiths | 5, 2, 4 |
5-Star Albums (58)
View Album Wall
Popular Reviews
White Denim
1/5
-Didn’t write a BL-
AL: this album was just so… boring. It kind of felt like a nothingness. It was so comically ok that I feel nothing but disdain for it. Maybe it just didn’t hit right, maybe it wasn’t the right time. But god I couldn’t distinguish anything about this.
FT: didn’t have one
1/5
9 likes
Talvin Singh
5/5
BL: never heard of this artist before but the cover reminds me of the Roni Size brown paper bag album so I’ll be interested to hear if it’s in a similar vein
AL: funnily enough, my 90s ambient DnB assumption was correct, and wow. This album blew me away. I wasn’t too sure about the opener, but by track 3 this album had me in a chokehold. The fusion of ambient DnB & Sourh Asian instrumentals and vocals was mesmerising, the drone of DnB was meant to go with the resonant frequencies of the sitar. Definitely some Bhangra influence in there too. Highly recommend this. It reminds me of another comment I saw under a different album (can’t remember which one though), with albums like this on the generator, you have to wonder why the people who wrote those chose so many 80s new wave and post punk albums.
FT: “Eclipse”, “O.K.”, “Light”, “Vikram the Vampire”
5/5
4 likes
Slipknot
5/5
BL: This album is one quite near and dear to my heart. Slipknot was the first metal band (alongside Korn) I got properly into back when I was 12 or 13, I owned this record on CD and used to listen to it quite often, not as much as the debut, but this was definitely my second favourite album by them. Psychosocial was one of the first metal songs I learned on the guitar, and still remember the riff to this day. The chaos this album brings is truly something of a calibre many other metal albums could never rival. That being said, it’s been maybe 3 or 4 years since I listened to it the whole way through. So I’ll see what I think. “Snuff” continues to be one of my favourite sad songs of all time
AL: this was even better on the relisten than I remember it being. There is a lot of diversity here which brings in some blues notations alongside traditional metal, Screamo vocals alongside sung breaks. There were some tracks here which I’ve grown to massively appreciate here which I didn’t when I was younger (“Sulfur”, “Gehenna”). There are still a couple tracks here and there that I think are weaker (“Butcher’s Hook”, “This Cold Black”), but the main tracks I love stayed just as good (“Dead Memories”, “Snuff”)
FT: “Dead Memories”, “Snuff”, “Gehenna”, “Sulfur”
5/5
3 likes
David Ackles
5/5
BL: never heard of. But read that Costello cites him as a major influence so I am looking forward to it.
AL: wow. I thought this was brilliant. Cutting and beautiful song writing, “love’s enough”, “another Friday night”, “family band”, and “Montana song” all have amazing lyrics and the instrumentation is pretty solid too. His gentle yet rough voice really adds and emotional tone to it. Highly recommend
FT: “love’s enough”, “Montana song”, “another Friday night”, “family band”,
5/5
2 likes
Hot Chip
4/5
BL: this is my first 100% “blind listening” do not know anything about any of the members and after a quick google around I can’t see any obvious links other than they wrote a song for Katy Perry a long time after this album came out - so I will give it a listen.
AL: wow. I thought this album was great! Very cool electronic pop album which reminded me a lot of Air, The Postal Service and at some points Daft Punk. The synth hooks and vocal lines were incredibly catchy and offer a lot of Lo-Fi groove similar to some of LCD Soundsystem’s “Sounds of Silver” album. This was very appealing to listen to the whole way through - I absolutely loved tracks 1-7, the last 4 tracks however I felt were slightly weaker than the previous 2/3rds of the album. I highly recommend this overall and would definitely think it’s worth the listen,
Favourite tracks: “Motion Sickness”, “Don’t Deny Your Heart”, and “Night and Day”
4/5
1 likes
1-Star Albums (9)
All Ratings
Paul Simon
3/5
Not massively familiar with Paul Simon's solo work besides "You Can Call me Al", however I enjoyed listening to this album a lot. The traditional Folk and Blues influence combined with other genres at points like Gospel end up giving a very nice and relaxing listen. The lyrical content is quite dark in points which provide a good juxtaposition from the fairly peaceful and sweet melodies he plays on the guitar.
I liked the use of storylines within the album too - highlighting the tale of Papa Hobo, and all of this coming together to carve out a kind of narrative.
I ended up listening to the demos on the expanded version and I enjoyed them more than the album counterparts - the stripped back underproduced acoustic sound adds to the vibe I reckon
Favourite Track: "Mother & Child Reunion" or "Peace like a River"
Coldplay
3/5
Thoughts before listening: Unsure about Coldplay - some of their songs, namely “Paradise” and “Viva La Vida” featuring quite heavily within my Childhood. While I can respect them for the high level of musicianship I’ve always found myself not revisiting their music due to it seeming rather cliche and faux emotional in my head when I remember my childhood. Maybe I’ll be proved wrong.
Thoughts after listening: I ended up enjoying this a lot more than I thought I would. A very concise and well orchestrated album, exploring a lot more of an introspective sound than Coldplay later become known for in their stadium fillers. I enjoyed all of the tracks on this album and it has encouraged me to go listen to some of Coldplays later albums - im sure I won’t feel the same way about those as I did this one but this was very different to what I expected and I ended up loving it.
Favourite tracks: “Don’t Panic”, “Yellow”, and “High Speed”
3/5
Funkadelic
5/5
-Listened to this album before-
BFL: Maggot Brain is one of my favourite funk albums of all time (only beaten by “There’s a riot goin on” and “funkentelechy”. The grooves and fills on this are unparalleled and all the musicians are absolutely amazing under George Clinton’s command. Look forward to listening to this one again.
AL: Reminded myself of why I love Funkadelic and Parliament so much - will never stop being brilliant - especially the opening track - 10 minutes of funky trippy mayhem
Joni Mitchell
2/5
BL: I only know “Big Yellow Taxi” - which is both a comedic and harrowing pro-nature song. Pointing fun at car centric infrastructure and hammering the point on that we are destroying the earth - and the majority are only really listening now. I’ll see how I find this album.
AL: I didn’t really like it that much tbh. The 2 stars is for the lyrical content - Mitchell is very clearly a brilliant lyricist and writer, however this whole album falls apart for me because I just don’t like Joni Mitchell’s voice, which obviously devalues my ranking of the album. I think that it definitely appeals to a crowd which I’m sure it reaches and they love it - however that’s not me.
Favourite track: “river”
Elvis Presley
4/5
BL: Elvis is a man who needs no introduction - possibly the most famous man of all time (besides Jesus). He was known to revolutionise the rock game - basically inventing it. While he has come under scrutiny as most of his influence is from black musicians and he was the first to get famous off of it I don’t think that’s reflectant of Elvis trying to speak over black voices (he named Sister Rosetta Tharpe as one of his biggest influences - and I highly recommend you check her out too) there are more damning things he did (namely involving marriage). At the end of the day he’s a man who’s incredibly famous - “suspicious minds” is one of my favourite songs of all time and his ballads are excellent - I’ll see if I enjoy an album of the Jukebox classics.
AL: my point made in the before listening still rings true. I like his more laid back love songs then his traditional “rock” songs which were designed to get the 50s chicks crunked. While I can appreciate how crazy “tutti frutti” would’ve been at the time, nowadays it feels rather stale - especially as it holds the same power as that Take That CD your gran used to own and put on in her shitty ‘98 Civic. However songs like “I’m counting on you” and “I love you because” come across as quite heartfelt and genuinely quite beautiful. I suppose it’s ironic because Presley’s love life is where all my disdain for him stems from but he sure know how to express how he felt, I’ll give him that.
Favourite Tracks: “I’m counting on you”, “I love you because”, and “blue moon”
4/5
Elastica
2/5
BL: never heard of Elastica before - but after doing some digging and seeing their links to Suede I’m excited to hear it - Suede has produced many a song I like.
AL: in the end I felt pretty “meh” about this album. It wasn’t bad, but it certainly wasn’t good. It’s a shame because Suede was a band which in my eyes had some amazing diversity alongside being quintessential to the development of britpop as a genre so how is it that an offshoot of it can be so bland and generic? All 15 tracks sound the same, and while it wasn’t too offensive due to its short running time I just felt rather empty after listening - I can’t say much else about it. The instrumentation is good - however it all mostly sounds the same, there weren’t any drum breaks, guitar solos or even vocal moments which stood out as interesting or even unique. A pretty bland experience overall, don’t think I’ll listen to it again.
Favourite tracks: “Car Song” & “2:1” (the only two which made me actually look at the track listing)
2/5
Hot Chip
4/5
BL: this is my first 100% “blind listening” do not know anything about any of the members and after a quick google around I can’t see any obvious links other than they wrote a song for Katy Perry a long time after this album came out - so I will give it a listen.
AL: wow. I thought this album was great! Very cool electronic pop album which reminded me a lot of Air, The Postal Service and at some points Daft Punk. The synth hooks and vocal lines were incredibly catchy and offer a lot of Lo-Fi groove similar to some of LCD Soundsystem’s “Sounds of Silver” album. This was very appealing to listen to the whole way through - I absolutely loved tracks 1-7, the last 4 tracks however I felt were slightly weaker than the previous 2/3rds of the album. I highly recommend this overall and would definitely think it’s worth the listen,
Favourite tracks: “Motion Sickness”, “Don’t Deny Your Heart”, and “Night and Day”
4/5
The Kinks
3/5
BL: The Kinks were synonymous with my childhood. My Dad always used to play “You Really Got Me” in his car and my mum “Lola” and “Waterloo Sunset”. This album of course has the latter. I’ve never listened to a Kinks LP the whole way through so this is going to be an interesting experience to see if my childhood love of this band and my dads constant yammering about how they changed the game was justified.
AL: it was pretty good. I can appreciate for the time this would’ve been pretty crazy. The witticisms in the lyrics writing may be the highlight for me. There are some pretty wacky sounds and production choices in the first third of the album which I think play in the albums favour very well. Overall I don’t think I’d rush to listen to the album again - it had some very good points but a lot of it was just ok, and some of it hasn’t aged very well. Sometimes the overt simplicity works (“Two Sisters”) and other times it does not (“Harry Rag”)
FT: “David Watts”, “Death of a Clown”, “Waterloo Sunset”
3/5
Madness
4/5
BL: Madness is one of those groups I always say “I need to listen to them more”, and I guess now I finally am - I’m aware of the hits but have zero B-sides and deep cuts in my discography.
AL: a good listen. Madness is a very fun if not zany band. Wacky piano parts offer a unique take on the Ska genre. Excellent levels of musicianship and lyrical content - these guys really were ahead of their times and genius in all their individual rights. It’s also worth mentioning the very good album art which just highlights the insanity inside
FT: “Rise and Fall”, “Tomorrow’s Just Another Day”, “New Delhi”, and “House of Fun”
4/5
The Offspring
3/5
BL: Forgot to write a BL - but I am aware of the offspring and used to be a big fan of them when I was 12-14
AL: pretty good album, a lot more variety than I expected. The guitar parts were good but tbh the other instrument parts weren’t massively noticeable. Lyrics were typical 90s teen angst but “Self-Esteem” is still a banger
FT: “Self Esteem”, “Genocide”, “What Happened to You?”
3/5
Jazmine Sullivan
3/5
BL: never heard of Jazmine Sullivan, but having a look at the track listing I know .Paak and H.E.R - both very talented artists, so if she’s akin to them I’m looking forward to it.
AL: in some ways this album worked for me and other ways it didn’t. I loved the structure of the album, and the spoken word interludes where women would share their struggles, it was very insightful and it really made me think about a lot of things as a man. I thought the first track was quite garish and over the top but then I reflect on what was said in the track immediately after that “Antoinette’s Tale”. Listening to a lot of male rap which a lot of the time utilises very misogynistic languages and treats women as hoes and sluts it’s quite refreshing to see someone who reverses the roles and embraces their sexuality. In an industry that profits off of the mistreatment of women for an album to have tracks that empower women and give them that voice to express the same rhetoric those men often do is powerful and because of that the album is a cultural landmark.
However on the same note. I felt a lot of the album wasn’t massively interesting. I loved the interludes and a few tracks stood out but generally the instrumentals felt quite samey and all bled into one. They were all nice to listen to and the album flowed well but only a couple tracks really stood out to me and remain in my memory now it’s over. I’ll listen to the Deluxe version too and see how that goes down.
FT: “Price Tags”, “Girl Like Me” (original), “Hurt me so good”, “Roster” (Deluxe)
AL (Deluxe ED): I liked these additional tracks a lot more. The tales were just as gripping and also one of them had a male story, I guess it just goes to show that love is hard for all.
3/5 (Original) 4/5 (Deluxe)
Sarah Vaughan
2/5
BL: never heard of Sarah Vaughan before - but saw she opened for Ella Fitzgerald so the expectations are high. Mr Kelly’s seems like one of those mythical venues smothered in history, I’d never heard of it before but to know it supported Ella Fitzgerald, Barbera Streisand, Woody Allen and Richard Pryor is quite some feat, especially for a venue with a capacity of 200 odd. So my hopes are high
AL: the first thing that stuck out to me was how brilliant the recording and mastering is for a live album from ‘57 - obviously the actual PA set up was minimalistic due to the small venue size which reduces feedback but more live albums should be like this. As to the singing - she has an inflection style similar to the one Amy Winehouse would adopt many years later, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but I personally find it a bit annoying and I don’t glue with it well. I can appreciate on a technical level she’s an amazing singer - unfortunately it’s just not for me, I wanted to like this album a lot though.
2/5
Tears For Fears
3/5
BL: Tears for Fears were a major part of my childhood, “Pale Shelter” is probably in my top 50 songs of all time. I know the two hits off of this album but none else so I’ll see how I find it
AL: it was a very good album overall. Good composition, good orchestration, good vocals and lyrics. I didn’t think it was exceptional but there were a few tracks that really stood out as amazing. Would I come back to it again? Probably not for a while but I enjoyed the listen. It reminded me however how overrated I think Head over Heals is, that track is just a massive load of uninspired Meh, I don’t know why that song became so popular
FT: “Shout”, “Everyone wants to rule the world”, “Broken”
3/5
Beach House
2/5
BL: don’t know much about Beach House other than “Space Song” - But I think it’s pretty ok. There‘s not much to it.
AL: I thought it was a whole load of meh. “Zebra” and “Used to Be” are good and remind me a lot of early tame impala. All in all it’s minimalistic electro pop which doesn’t really provide a whole lot of substance in my opinion
FT: “Zebra” and “Used to Be”
2/5
Brian Eno
4/5
BL: forgot to write a BL - aware of both artists and their work however.
AL: I thought it was very cool and very well made. The instrumentation was fascinating and gave a lot to explore. I unfortunately just didn’t find it very listenable. It’s nice background drone but I didn’t find myself wanting to pick it a part as much as I would’ve wanted. I still enjoyed it very much though.
FT: “America Is Waiting”, “Mountain of Needles”
Britney Spears
1/5
BL: Britney is someone who needs no introduction. Probably one of the most popular artist of the 90s and one of the most culturally significant of all time. Will be interested to listen to this as I only know the hits.
AL: I’m pretty dissapointed by this album. It didn’t really do anything to me. 12 of the 14 tracks sounded identical to one another. The only two that stood out were the opening track (due to how iconic it is) and “The Beat Goes On” due to its very nice sampling and beat sequencing. Other than that it was standard 90s love song girl pop, which I understand why it appealed to the target demographic of the Y2K teens at the time but doesn’t really do anything for me now.
FT: “…Baby one more time”, and “The Beat Goes On”
1/5
Metallica
4/5
BL: I listened to Metallica a little bit whilst I was in my metal head phase when I was 13-15, however I quickly used them as a stepping stone into deeper cuts and more hardcore things which i thought were cooler. Aware of maybe 2/3rds of the tracks on this album. Will be interested to see what I find it like now I don’t listen to too much metal.
AL: I enjoyed it a lot. “Enter Sandman” is overrated but “nothing else matters” is still a gem to this day. A lot of cool stuff and a thoroughly enjoyed listen through.
FT: “The Unforgiven”, “Nothing Else Matters”, “The God That Failed”
4/5
The The
5/5
BL: "The, The" is a band my dad really likes but have never listened to outside of the "Burning Blue Soul" album. Will be interested to give it a listen.
AL: I really liked this album. Hit the spot of Funky Electronica even better than the Hot Chip album did a couple weeks ago. Glad to have heard it. A kind of pre-trip hop masterpiece which makes me see where Massive Attack and all of them got major inspiration from. Definitely worth the listen.
FT: “this is the day” “uncertain smile” giant”
5/5
Dennis Wilson
2/5
BL: know zilch about Dennis Wilson, he looks cool though, so I will see how it pans out.
AL: Apparently Dennis Wilson was a Beach Boy. Album was pretty OK. The type of music you'd see your disillusioned uncle put on in his car, blues and light rock tracks you could imagine a beach boy in his latter years making. Can't say any tracks really stood out at all, maybe I will give it a relisten and see if it changes though.
FT: didn't stand out whatsoever rip
2/5
Minor Threat
2/5
BL: Aware of Minor Threat but never listened to any of their discography, will see what I think
AL: it was just very samey. Most of the tracks felt pretty similar, and it felt quite sanitised. For a punk album it didn’t really feel that angry at anything in particular. Didn’t enjoy this one but it wasn’t massively offensive. Just don’t particularly want to listen to it again.
FT: “it follows”
2/5
Nightmares On Wax
4/5
BL: know this album and have 2 songs already saved from it - “nightmares introlude” and “dreddoverboard”, look forward to listening to the rest of the album.
AL: I liked it. Listened to the digital deluxe version which had some bonus tracks too. Overall while I liked it, it did feel quite samey. I know why this album exists, for the sole purpose of zoning out to whilst your “hazed” so sober its not quite the same. If this album was 45 minutes it would be brilliant but the extra content makes it a slightly overstayed welcome.
FT: “pipes honour”, “stars”, “Rise (Reprise)”
4/5
Parliament
5/5
BL: didn’t write a BL
AL: I loved this album. Clinton’s Parliament & Funkadelic are two of my favourite groups of all time, the level of musicianship and talent are unparalleled. Parliament is slightly better than Funkadelic though imo. All the riffs are catchy and groovy, and this is a very appealing listen.
FT: “mothership connection”, “unfunky UFO”, “give up the funk”
5/5
Frank Ocean
3/5
BL: Frank Ocean is a figure I almost detest. I think this is mainly due to his fan bases mentality that he can do nothing wrong despite repeatedly screwing them over. I respect his ability to create such a solid business acumen from releasing different colours of the same record that came out over half a decade ago. And people still eat it up. I like a couple of his tracks “crack rock” is good. I’ll see how I feel about this album, I will listen without prejudice
AL: it’s a very mixed bag to be honest. I can see why some think Frank is a genius, on some tracks some very good ideas and instrumentals shine through, however to me so much of the album feels like filler to make the (very) high highs feel not quite as monumentous as they could be. While I definitely get the hype I think the Frank Ocean hype train has definitely always been too strong, and this has reinforced this.
FT: “Pyramids”, “Lost”, “Pink Matter”
3/5
The Mamas & The Papas
2/5
BL: Mamas and the Papas known for “California Dreamin’”, nothing else. Will see what I think.
AL: Thought this album was chronically ok. The Hammond esque organ was very cool but instrumentally pretty uninspired. Not amazed these guys are only remembered for one ir two hits.
FT: “California dreamin’”, “ Spanish Harlem”, “somebody groovy”
2/5
Nas
5/5
BL: Nas is someone shrouded in the legends of east coast raps golden age. Despite this I’ve never actually listened to him. So I will see how I feel about it.
AL: I loved this, an incredibly tight and concise listen, 10 tracks which keep their pace and never feel like they go on for too long or lose their point. The instrumentals are those classic groove cut early 90s rap instrumentals I absolutely love. “The world is yours” was a stand out for me.
FT: “the world is yours”, “life’s a bitch”, Half-time”
5/5
4/5
-didn’t write a BL, completely blind listen-
AL: I’m often on the fence with psychedelic albums, some have the opportunity to lack all kinds of pacing and fall flat on their face, this however does not feel this way. I enjoyed this album and it was a very good listen, with some genuinely out there instrumentation at points - without ever feeling like it loses it’s way. Very good would listen again.
FT: “Animal Zoo”, “why can’t I be free”, Red Light Roll On”
4/5
John Martyn
3/5
BL: never heard of John Martyn or solid air but seems he was a collaborator of Nick Drake who I do love, so I’m sure I’ll enjoy this
AL: I enjoyed this. I didn’t think it was anything spectacular and a lot of tracks blended into one another. But it was a very good atmospheric album for late night driving, which is where I experienced it.
FT: “Solid Air”, “I’d rather be the devil”, “dreams by the sea”
3/5
Rush
3/5
-Didn't write BL-
AL: a very solid album, I felt every track after the first could not recreate the level of musicianship and theatricality seen on the twenty minute epic however it was still a very good listen.
FT: "2112" (Discovery & Soliloquy specifically)
3/5
2/5
BL: Loretta Lynn is a name i'd heard before but never listened to until this, i like the album cover
AL: it all felt quite samey. It was definitely a zero filler album and was very short and snappy however I felt that there wasn’t much to it. I can understand why for the time this might have resonated however this didn’t ring any bells for me
FT: “there goes my everything”
2/5
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
5/5
BL: Elvis Costello's solo work I am familiar with but not with his work with the Attractions. Will see how it turns out
AL: Liked this a lot. Very well orchestrated and composed. a mixture of simple and more complex tracks all playing into one of the best heartbreak albums of all time in my eyes
FT: "I Hope You're Happy Now" "Home is Anywhere you Hang you're Head" "Battered Old Bird" "Crimes of Paris"
5/5
Pentangle
2/5
BL: never heard of Pentangle before, I like the RAH feature in the album cover.
AL: it wasn’t my thing massively. I enjoyed many aspects and I can objectively say this is a “good” album. However it doesn’t align with my tastes, folk-rock has never massively been my thing. There were some tracks I could find myself getting into, but generally speaking I didn’t think this was to my tastes, despite being a very clearly well crafted album full of love.
FT: “Springtime Promises”, “Cold Mountain”, “I Saw an Angel”
2/5
The Velvet Underground
2/5
-didn’t write a BL-
AL: I came into this album expecting a lot. One of the most famous albums of all time and frequently lauded by the critics as one of the best albums of all time, and the album cover in my opinion, is probably the most famous album cover of all time. Andy Warhol of course being the eponymous painter of the cover.
If only the album was as good as the cover…
I thought this was just very ok. I got excited with the first track because it’s very well orchestrated, however the rest of the album just sort of devolves into noise, in my opinion. I understand that this album is kind of an amalgamation of all that was relevant at the moment which is why it’s seen as so culturally significant but these days the early experiments in distortion leave a lot to be desired. It also doesn’t help that I think Nico isn’t a very good singer. Lou Reed and the other members of The Velvet Underground are very clearly talented and for a record made in the 60s to sound so modern is quite interesting. But it just doesn’t cut it today and it generally felt pretty underwhelming. It was good to experience one of the most iconic albums of all time. But I’m not a big fan.
FT: “Sunday Morning”
2/5
Adele
3/5
-didn’t write a BL-
AL: Adele is such a well known figure. And it’s no surprise, she’s got an amazing voice, so powerful and yet so fragile and never looses a hint of emotionality throughout any of it. However it just doesn’t click with me, I find that David Byrne said it best when he said “The better the singer’s voice, the harder it is to believe what they’re saying”. While Adele generally does hit home a lot better than the other pop stars out there I still find it hard connecting with her music. I suppose me and the mentality a 25 year old woman has are radically different from one another. So maybe I’ll change my mind at some point. As of right now however i had to say this album was OK, nothing more nothing less
FT: “when we were young”, “remedy”, “a million years ago”
3/5
Shack
4/5
BL: Never heard of Shack but i like the album cover
AL: Pretty good album. Underrated in the britpop sphere, much better than any Oasis or Blur record i've listened too. Solid instrumentation and some very good mixing. a hidden gem for sure
FT: "Comedy", "Streets of Kenny", "Cornish Town", "Daniella"
4/5
Shuggie Otis
3/5
BL: Shuggie Otis is a artist I became aware of earlier this year when i discovered "Sweet Thang" on a random spotify mix whilst playing Dead Island, that warranted it being added to the playlist. Lets see how this album holds up
AL: Very good rare groove cut, I didn't think it was particularly mindblowing but can appreciate its place and why for the age he was at the time it was made this was particularly good. I'm sure i'd grow to appreciate it more with a relisten.
FT: "Inspiration Information", "Sparkle City", "XL-30", "Ice cold daydream"
3/5
The Smiths
5/5
BL: this is an album I’m going to have to go into disregarding any pre-concieved notions I may have. Because truth be told I don’t like the smiths that much, outside of “how soon is now” and “I know it’s over”, I find a lot of the stuff just too gloomy and I don’t ever really want to listen to it. But I’ll give it a listen and try give as objective of a take as possible.
AL: alright fine. Maybe you got me. This album was pretty good. Morrisey’s lyricism is mostly on point and incredibly cutting and intellectual. The opening track is phenomenal. The production is amazing especially for the era. I take back most of what I said before, this is a very solid album and I’m glad to have experienced it. The only track I didn’t like was the end track, thought it was a bit one note and put in last minute as filler
FT: “The Queen is Dead”, “Frankly, Mr. Shankly”, “I know it’s over”, “Cemetry Gates”
5/5
Aretha Franklin
3/5
BL: Aretha, oh Aretha. In my opinion Aretha has one of the best voices of all time, it’s indisputable. Have never listened to a project the whole way through though, so let’s see how it goes
AL: this project just highlights how powerful of a voice Aretha had and how powerful she was as a women. While a lot of the songs I’d argue are filler material with someone like Aretha at the helm it still makes them incredibly listenable and just reminds us how she’s such a tour de force. And that Sam Cooke tribute at the end was beautiful.
FT: “baby baby baby”, “a change is gonna come”
3/5
David Bowie
3/5
BL: Bowie is an icon, there’s no disputing that. I’ve never heard of this project mentioned alongside his other works though, so I’ll have to give it a listen and see what I think
AL: a pretty solid record, but it didn’t really do anything that stood out to me. I liked the themes of immortalisation through art and him always feeling younger than he is because of this but overal the experience was nothing radical.
FT: “the next day”, “dancing out in space”, “you feel so lonely you could die”
3/5
Nanci Griffith
2/5
BL: this is another bond listen. Never heard of Nanci Griffith because I’m not a massive country head. We’ll see what I think
AL: the album wasn’t bad it just felt incredibly one note. Most of the songs sounded the same, and nothing massively stood out to me. This more reflects that I have an implicit bias towards country but I’m trying my best to work through it. It’s definitely good for easy listening but not for much else.
FT: “love at the five and dime
2/5
The Velvet Underground
3/5
BL: after being incredibly Dissapointed by the velvet underground & nico, I’ll have to see how this one makes me feel. I’ll approach it as if I’ve never heard VU before
AL: I liked this a lot more than VU&N but this still wasn’t massively my thing. I can tell they refined their sound and developed their ideas. Shedding Nico was smart too, I think she’s an awful singer. I loved the opener and closer. And the rest of it was pretty good. Can’t say I’d go back to it anytime soon though.
FT: “candy says” “after hours”
3/5
The Temptations
4/5
BL: I love the temptations, I have many singles of theirs that I love listening to, but never listened to a full album. Let’s give it a listen.
AL: very good. Exactly what I’d expect from the temptations, all wrapped up in a neat package. Some lovely grooves, some good lyrics and the vocals are just buttery and as sublime as always. Never Dissapointed with the temptations
FT: “I Heard it Through the Grapevine”, “Runaway Child, Running Wild”, “I Gotta Find a Way”
4/5
R.E.M.
1/5
-didn’t write a BL-
AL: I really didn’t like this album. R.E.M. is a band my mum likes, but I’ve personally never felt any affinity for. I just thought this album was annoying and corny. The lyricism is very shallow (“everybody hurts”, my only reaction is that of a no shit!) some tracks were just downright annoying (the aforementioned “everybody hurts” and “the sidewinder sleeps tonite”. It’s just jangly American pseudo-country shite. This has to be truly the most milquetoast album I’ve ever witnessed. The production value is good but you know the saying about polishing a turd. I’d be happy if I never had to listen to R.E.M. ever again.
FT: “Man on the Moon” was the only one I thought this is ok
1/5
Willie Nelson
5/5
BL: Willie Nelson is iconic and a cultural icon but despite this I’ve never listened to any of his music. I hope to rectify this error and make good.
AL: This is brilliant. Can’t believe I slept on Willie Nelson for so long. A very nice collection of well known tracks. This almost feels like a “babies first Willie Nelson”, and I’m all here for it. The gentle soulful organ, the twang of the acoustic guitar, this is country at its finest. Very much liked this
FT: “Stardust”, “Georgia on my Mind”, “Someone to watch over me”
5/5
3/5
BL: never listened to Yes before but seeing a 3 track album seems interesting. Structured and formatted very similarly to the rush album a couple weeks back. So let’s see if it is a similar experience.
AL: not as strong as the rush album. Maybe it was wrong of me to assume a similar thing but there are definite thematic and structural similarities. The opener didn’t really feel like the 4 parts were any different from one another (apart from the final part) the subsequent two tracks were pretty alright though. A very good listen with headphones on and the best way to enjoy this kind of album. If you like Rush and prog rock this is certainly you’re thing but if you’re not then you may not like this. At the very least it has encouraged me to dig further and see if I enjoy anymore of their discography
FT: “Siberian Khatru”
3/5
Björk
2/5
BL: know of Björk. The few things I’ve listened to I’ve not been a massive fan of. I’ll see how I find this.
AL: I can appreciate what Björk was going for here. Having an album which is 99% acapella is definitely a good idea, and it creates some very interesting sounds and is unique but it just doesn’t stick with me. It just sounds a bit bad to me, I can appreciate Björk I’d always gonna be avant garde but yeah this pushed it too far for me. 2/5 just for the concept, 1/5 for my enjoyment
FT: “mouths cradle”
2/5
David Ackles
5/5
BL: never heard of. But read that Costello cites him as a major influence so I am looking forward to it.
AL: wow. I thought this was brilliant. Cutting and beautiful song writing, “love’s enough”, “another Friday night”, “family band”, and “Montana song” all have amazing lyrics and the instrumentation is pretty solid too. His gentle yet rough voice really adds and emotional tone to it. Highly recommend
FT: “love’s enough”, “Montana song”, “another Friday night”, “family band”,
5/5
Lorde
4/5
BL: I love pure heroine - however I’ve never listened to Melodrama despite everyone unanimously agreeing this is her best album. Look forward to listening to it.
AL: I loved it a lot. Lorde is a voice of a generation. She weaves stories of guilt and heartbreak and shame all into one melodramatic package, 100% worth the listen. Like pure heroine but more diverse in sound and higher production value.
FT: “sober” “green light”
4/5
Stan Getz
5/5
BL: Aware of this Getz/Gilberto project. I have “the girl from ipanema” on my playlist (the version off the deluxe issue with Astrid Gilberto featuring), so very excited to hear this record.
AL: an excellent record. especially loved listening to this with headphones on and dolby atmos mixing. Getz gentle voice alongside Astruds apperances and the soulful yet gentle jazz backing from Getz & Gilberto, truly revolutionary stuff and still holds up in my opinion, as one of (if not the) best jazz album of all time.
FT: "the girl from ipanema" "doralice" "corcovado" "Só Danço Samba"
5/5
Malcolm McLaren
1/5
BL: never heard of Malcom McClaren before but seen that he had a lot of connections to the underground art rock scene, so will be interested to see how this one turns out.
AL: i can appreciate what this was going for. But as I also do not like the sex pistols or the new york dolls, who he was responsible for a lot of their fame alongside westwood. This just felt like it was trying way too hard to say or do something, and in turn just ends up being too experimental - but not even in the way that it pushes boundaries, its just odd for the sake of being odd. I'm so happy I wasnt alive in the 70s and 80s because this wave of punk pseudointellectualism is absolutely mindnumbing and id be happy if i never had to think about it again.
FT: "Buffalo gals" (the only one i found catchy)
1/5
The Saints
3/5
BL: never heard of before, will see how it turns out
AL: thought it was pretty fun. The major problem for me is for a punk album there just isn’t no bite. I’m sure with a better mix & master engineer these problems could’ve been solved but nothing really stuck out and it all felt rather sludgy. This should be a case study on exactly why mixing and mastering is so important.
FT: “private affair”, “no, your product” “this perfect day”
2.5/5
Soul II Soul
3/5
BL: heard the name Soul II Soul before but don't think ive ever listened to a track.
AL: I liked a lot of the tracks on the album but the problem is to me a lot of them are too repetitive, which I get from dance music is kinda the M.O., but I can appreciate there are a lot of highs on here.
FT: “African dance” “back to life” “keep on Movin (big beat acapella)”
3/5
Metallica
3/5
BL: Metallica as mentioned in my black album review, is something I listened to a little bit back when I was first getting into metal but not much before or since. So it’s good to be finally expanding my mind with them.
AL: I think in terms of the Metallica discography, this and “Ride the Lightning” show them at their purest in terms of thrash metal. I think this did less for me than the black album did as this didn’t really try to experiment with the formula. This is just pure thrash, and if that’s your lane you’ll love it but to me it’s not really my go to metal sub genre so it wasn’t the worlds most inspiring listen.
FT: “blackened”, “one”, “to live is to die”
3/5
Beck
3/5
BL: Beck is an artist my dad really likes but I’ve never personally had too much of a chance to get into him because I’ve never given him a go. Hopefully this’ll be a good jumping off point.
AL: I thought this album was pretty solid. The opener is an absolute banger, however everything else it did feel it plateau’d around the ok to pretty good mark, no other super exceptional tracks I thought. Though nothing felt wasted and the album did not feel bloated in any capacity.
FT: “the golden age”
3/5
Stereo MC's
3/5
BL: never heard of stereo MCs but Will give it a bump
AL: it was good but suffered from the same problem the soul II soul album did last week. Dance albums just aren’t that listenable. If I was blazed out of my mind though this would be crazy.
FT: “connected” “ground level” “step it up”
3/5
Big Black
4/5
-Retrospectively Reviewed on 17/06/23 (generated: 13/06/23)-
AL: this to me is what a punk album should be. Weird out there guitaring, soaring cutting sounds. Well engineered, pure power and passion. I wasn’t massively following along with the lyrics but to me this trumps Out of Step and Eternally Yours by a long way. Solid album for sure.
FT: “kerosene”, “fists of love”, “bazooka Joe”
4/5
Scott Walker
4/5
-Retrospectively Reviewed on 17/06/23 (generated: 14/06/23)-
BL: Never heard of Scott Walker before but interested to hear
AL: very solid album. Loved the Ingmar Bergman reference at the start. Held pretty solid the whole way through. Excellent examples of 60s counterculture lyrical witticism. His voice is also excellent. My only problem with the album is the strings throughout, makes it feel quite overproduced when I think the album would’ve been stronger with a more acoustic sound. Enjoyed though.
FT: “The Seventh Seal”, “Hero of the War”, “the old man’s back again”
4/5
The Band
5/5
-Didn’t write a BL-
AL: very cool folk rock album. My favourite one we’ve had so far. Pretty much all bangers on here. Inclusion of the organ juxtaposing the guitar very fun
FT: “the night they drove old Dixie down”, “up on cripple creek”, “whispering pines”, “Jemima surrender”
5/5
ZZ Top
2/5
-Retrospectively Reviewed on 21/06/23 (generated: 19/06/23)-
AL: it was very middle of the road rock. Type of thing I’d listen to whilst road tripping in ‘MURICA. Not bad but for a band you’d expect to hear on a station with a slogan like “not your momma’s radio station” it is pretty inoffensive. Maybe would give a relisten though.
FT: “Sharp Dressed Man”, “I Need you Tonight”
2/5
The Smashing Pumpkins
5/5
BL: one of my favourite albums of all time. Was the soundtrack to my first year of sixth form and some of the songs hold really special memories to me. I remember learning the intro on piano to impress a girl, listening to Tonight, Tonight with my friend Joe and nearly crying - and then we tried to record a cover of 1979. Porcelina of the Vast oceans was one of the first long tracks I ever listened to which widened my perception of what music could be. Thirty Three and Farewell & Goodnight are still in rotation and are such beautiful orchestrations. Cannot wait to give this a relisten.
AL: just as brilliant as I remember. Very fun. Does drag a little bit in the second half but by raw amount of amazing content this is still an amazing album
FT: “Jellybelly”, “porcelina of the vast oceans”, “take me down”, “love”, “thirty three”, “beautiful”, “farewell and goodnight”
5/5
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
3/5
BL: second Costello album I’ve got. Will see how I find this one
AL: didn’t like this as much as blood or chocolate. Had some very strong high points but a lot of it felt very same-y, I know Costello’s main appeal is his songwriting, which is on point here as always, but this didn’t do as much for me.
FT: “senior service”, “Oliver’s army”, “goon squad”
3/5
Orbital
4/5
BL: haven’t heard of Orbital but will listen
AL: this is my favourite EDM album I’ve listened to, the ambient and jungle 90s movement produced some really good stuff.
FT: “Lush 3-2”, “Walk Now…”, “Monday”
4/5
Garbage
3/5
-Didn’t write a BL-
AL: pretty solid. Knowing there is personnel overlap with the smashing pumpkins and nirvana makes a lot of sense. While doesn’t compare to those two this was still a good listen and I enjoyed it
FT: “only happy when it rains”, “stupid girl”, “milk”
3/5
White Denim
1/5
-Didn’t write a BL-
AL: this album was just so… boring. It kind of felt like a nothingness. It was so comically ok that I feel nothing but disdain for it. Maybe it just didn’t hit right, maybe it wasn’t the right time. But god I couldn’t distinguish anything about this.
FT: didn’t have one
1/5
Iron Maiden
2/5
BL: Iron Maiden was my first introduction to metal with their track “run to the hills” and the powerslave album when I was around 12 years old. Will be good to finally listen to an album of theirs other than what I’m familiar with.
AL: to be honest this was kind of weak. I can appreciate the level of charm it has but nothing really does me with iron maiden anymore. I have nostalgia for run to the hills but nothing else really so it felt quite shite really. I can’t quite put my finger on why I find it so mid nowadays but I do
FT: “run to the hills”
2/5
Sonic Youth
2/5
BL: Sonic Youth have been on my to-listen list for some time so let’s see if they live up to my expectation
AL: I thought this was pretty meh. I liked the more spoken word style tracks but generally speaking sonically it was quite bland I thought. Maybe on a relisten I’d like it a bit more but I’m not really sold on it
FT: “star power”, “in the kingdom #19”,
2/5
Björk
2/5
-retrospectively reviewed on 03/07/23, generated 29/06/23-
AL: I liked this a lot more then Medulla but I think when it comes down to it I just don’t really like Björk’s voice that much. It just isn’t for me I suppose.
FT: “there’s more to life than this”, “come to me”
2/5
Frank Sinatra
4/5
BL: have listened to this album before. Last time I listened I thought it was a solid 4/5, very good mood music.
AL: nothing has changed since the last listen. Excellent mood music, nothing necessarily stands out as an amazing track besides the opener but as mood music it is the exact thing I could picture sipping whisky to outside at night romanticising my despair.
FT: “in the wee small hours of the morning”
4/5
Talking Heads
4/5
BL: I love talking heads, they’ve been with me my entire life due to my parents putting me onto Once in a Lifetime at the age of maybe 7 or so in the car. Remain in Light is one of my favourite albums of all time - but I’ve never listened to this one, so let’s see.
AL: I liked it a lot. Doesn’t hold a candle to remain in light but still a very fun listen, Byrne is quirky and clever as ever.
FT: “Artists Only”, “take me to the river” “The Big Country”
4/5
Oasis
4/5
BL: this was one of the first albums I ever bought on vinyl when I was younger (I wanted to be a hipster so bad), and I remember listening to this once or twice, I think as I’ve aged my respect for their impact of the game has risen but my like for their music has dropped, so I’ll see where I stand with this
AL: this held up better than I expected it to. While I do feel like a lot of the tracks are just OK, there are no songs which I find particularly bad apart from the opener which suffers from being about 2 minutes too long. There are some songs which I didn’t appreciate before which i can now being a bit more mature (“Columbia” and “Married with Children” specifically). All in all surprisingly impressed with this album
FT: “live forever”, “Columbia”, “Digsy’s Diner”, “Married with Children”
4/5
Jungle Brothers
3/5
BL: not heard of Jungle Brothers before - look forward to the listen
AL: I can appreciate how foreword thinking and progressive this was - and how much this must’ve pushed the rap game forward. The instrumentals in this are amazing, the use of sampling is brilliant. I loved this, I felt the first 1/3rd was the weakest.
FT: “Acknowledge Your Own History”, “Good Newz Comin’”, “Tribe Vibes”, “Black Woman”,
3/5
Johnny Cash
4/5
BL: generally consumed a decent amount of the Johnny Cash discography through parents and grandparents but interested to give my first proper Johnny Cash album a go. Having read a little about this album I absolutely love the concept.
AL: this is a great album. The idea of such an anti-authoritarian and powerful social commentary of an album that has not been replicated much since apart from RATM and similar acts is amazing from someone who I assumed was a pretty standard country lad. Mind blowing stuff especially for the time, some of the music was just ok but the album as an experience was amazing.
FT: “cocaine blues”, “give my love to rose”, “green green grass of home”, “grey stone chapel”
4/5
Led Zeppelin
5/5
BL: despite being incredibly iconic I’ve never really delved into Zeppelin’s discography. So I’ll be interested to give this one a go
AL: more than anything the appreciation for how talented all the musicians in Led Zeppelin are. As someone who can drum & play guitar, Page and Bonham are exceptional musicians and have always been some of the best in their class, the album cuts definitely let Bonham shine through a lot more on here (the drum solo in Moby Dick was wild). While I can’t quite break down Jones’ talent in quite the same way as I’m not familiar with bass I can be sure he is also a huge talent. It was incoherently coherent (in the best way) and everything 60s fuzzed out hard rock should be. An excellent way to be introduced to Zeppelin’s discography.
FT: “whole lotta love”, “Ramble On”, “Moby Dick”
5/5
Miles Davis
3/5
BL: Miles Davis is one of the most iconic figures in Jazz and one of the reasons why I picked up trying to learn the trumpet, I’ve never listened to this album the whole way through but I’m sure I’ve heard each individual track at some point.
AL: very competent jazz album, excellent lounge listening and Davis is certainly one of if not the best Brass player of all time.
FT: “So What”, “All Blues”
3/5
Gang Of Four
4/5
-Didn’t write a BL-
AL: Very familiar with Gang of Four & Andy Gill’s work. Never listened to the album the whole way through but I’m glad I did. Very solid writing and unique sound cutting through.
FT: “Ether”, “Damaged Goods”, “Guns Before Butter”, “Contract”
4/5
The 13th Floor Elevators
2/5
BL: aware of these guys through the Nuggets compilation. Would’ve listened to them around December ‘20 but never dug deeper into them, I guess now’s the time
AL: pretty radical stuff. While it isn’t necessarily mind blowing to listen to for the time it would’ve been boundary pushing. The use of the jug is very cool and adds a dynamic not really seen in any other music before or after. But generally I don’t think I’ll be revisiting this one - it all gets caught up in the 60s psych rock wave, many better and more cutting acts from that time.
FT: “Roller Coaster”
2/5
SAULT
4/5
BL: Literally never heard of Sault, no mention no familiarity no recognition of album covers. So this’ll be a blind listen.
AL: I thought that this album was incredibly powerful and also fun. Designed to be a celebration of black culture amidst the 2020 riots this provided a positive outlook and message to young black youths who may be suffering crises around their race in the political turmoil of our time. Whilst also designed to have powerful moments and express sadness, anger and pain it exists as a reminder that every person and culture is beautiful. This stands as a perfect celebration of that
FT: “Stop Dem”, “Wildfires”, “Don’t shoot guns down”, “Black”, “monsters”
4/5
The Police
1/5
BL: Aware of The Police but never listened to them too much. I know my parents both love them, so I’ll see how it is.
AL: yeah just didn’t like this one in the slightest. I liked “wrapped around your finger”, but other than that it was all very samey, the synths just don’t work for me. It’s all very contrite and mehhhhhhh the whole way through. I feel bad for hating on this but I just can’t get into it.
FT: “wrapped around your finger”
1/5
Prince
3/5
BL: Prince’s purple rain is one of my mothers favourite albums of all time. I personally have no fondness attached to it besides the track “when doves cry” as it was a song I used to listen all the time when I was about 9 or 10. I’ll see how it holds up as a unit
AL: it was pretty solid. There are some real bangers in the second half but the first half is quite weak I think.
FT: “darling Nikki”, “when doves cry”, “I would die 4 u”
3/5
Marvin Gaye
4/5
BL: know how influential Marvin Gaye is but never really listened to anything by him besides “let’s get it on”, so will be interested to hear a much later work
AL: very solid album, soul & funk - lots of emotion, everything I could ever want. Just felt like there could have been a little bit more of range in the dynamics between soft ballads and funkier tracks
FT: “Anger”, “Is That Enough”, “sparrow”, “when did you stop loving me”
4/5
Lupe Fiasco
4/5
-Didn’t write a BL-
AL: Food & Liquor is a compelling socially conscious rap album from a creative and lyrical MC. Highly recommend a listen for any fans of golden era lyrical and socially conscious hip hop.
FT: “Kick, Push”
4/5
The Pharcyde
5/5
BL: An album I've listened to before quite recently. Discovered The Pharcyde properly over the summer and completely fell in love with their lyrical hooks, alongside some very graphic rapping, in terms of verbosity and bizarre artistic choices they definitely shine through as the definitive group from the 90s West Coast scene.
AL: Just as I remembered it being, the production is incredibly and is so definitively analogue 90s drum machine & sampler construction, while not as technically proficient as their other work "labcabincalifornia" here it feels incredibly tight and refined which is phenomenal considering it is their first album. The lyrical content suffers from the same pitfalls of all the artists in the scene at the time but overall is nowhere near the worst offender compared with other artists. I absolutely loved this record, will be relistening again and again.
FT: "Oh Shit", "4 Better or 4 Worse", "Soul Flower (Remix)", "Passin' Me By", "Return of the B-Boy"
5/5
Elliott Smith
3/5
BL: I have listened to this album before - and consider it the best of Smith’s work from what I’ve listened to (though I’ve only listened to around half his discography) so it’ll be good to give this one a repeat. “Say Yes” is in my top 100 songs of all time
AL: still like I remember it. It’s a very sweet and concise album. But to me “Say Yes” dwarves almost every other track on the album. As it is so good. The rest of the album is incredibly solid though
FT: “Say Yes”, “Alameda”
3/5
Radiohead
3/5
-Didn’t write a BL-
AL: I thought this album was decent - good even, but I’m gonna have to say it - I still don’t quite get the Radiohead hype, so many people think it’s one of my worst musical takes - but to me they seem like any standard 90s alt-rock band - The Smashing Pumpkins have a much more compelling discography as far as I’m concerned. This album was pretty good, and “high and dry” still holds a lot of emotional weight to me having heard it at a specific time in my life which it struck a massive chord at the time.
FT: “High and Dry”, “Fake Plastic Trees”, “Black Star”
3/5
Radiohead
5/5
BL: the generator must be trying to prod me by making me get two Radiohead albums two days in a row - this is supposed to be their magnum opus - so I will have to go into it thusly, and disregarded my previous take on The Bends yesterday.
AL: alright fine. You got me. This album is brilliant, I was walking through a forest in the morning whilst listening to this and I don’t think there was a better way to experience this for the first time. Somber, beautiful and harrowing. The tones, ethereal sounds, electronica and rock all combined makes for a pretty unique experience and in the early internet days before the popularisation of electronic and rock synergies this would’ve been mind blowing to hear.
FT: “Airbag”, “Paranoid Android”, “Exit Music (For a Film)”
5/5
Ray Charles
3/5
BL: Ray Charles isn’t someone I know much about, so I’ll give it a listen
AL: I enjoyed this a lot, some incredibly melancholic tracks on here. I didn’t think it was revolutionary but for the 50s it was pretty good. One of the most soulful voices I’ve ever heard
FT: “It Had to be You”, “When your Lover has Gone”, “Am I Blue”
3/5
Liz Phair
3/5
-Didn’t write a BL (but never heard of Liz Phair)-
AL: a very solid record. I liked the tonal sounds she was producing - very rock esque but also very drone and minimalist, you could almost imagine My Bloody Valentine making a lot of the licks without their signature layering and distortion.
FT: “6’1”, “Glory”, “Fuck and Run”
3/5
Public Enemy
4/5
BL: Public Enemy to me are one of the most iconic and provocative rap groups of all time. While I don’t know many cuts off of this album and “fear of a black planet” has always been more in my rotation I cannot wait to hear this one
AL: got everything you could want from a public enemy record. Socially conscious lyrics, excellent chopping, sampling and production, and a general apocalyptic and political feel that never stops being provocative
FT: “don’t believe the hype”, “she watch channel zero?!”, “black steel in the hour of chaos”
4/5
Green Day
3/5
-didn’t write a BL, retroactively reviewed on 24/08/23, generated on 7/08/23-
AL: I like Green Day, this album was an anthem throughout my childhood. Nowadays when I’m older and can look at it under a more mature eye I can see that it maybe wasn’t the political statement I might’ve thought it was when I was 10. This Bush era political album sort of has points and ideas that reflect disdain for the wars in the Middle East that were going on but I think it kind of distracts a lot from the other stuff that’s going on. While it’s still a perfectly solid album I would argue it has not aged super well, still a fun listen and very catch pop punk but not much more than that these days in my eyes.
FT: “Jesus of suburbia”, “Give me Novocaine”, “Wake me up when September ends”
3/5
Merle Haggard
4/5
-didn’t write a BL, retroactively reviewed on 25/08/23, generated on 8/08/23-
AL: I liked this. A very good pure country record. Lyrics on point, good guitaring, and Merle Haggard has pretty compelling country vocals which hold their purity but don’t overdo the twang. Would listen to quite a few of these tracks again.
FT: “House of Memories”, “Drink up and be Somebody”, “Mixed Up Mess of a Heart”
4/5
Alice Cooper
2/5
(Retroactively reviewed on 25/08/23, generated 9/08/23)
BL: heard the opener track from this one before, but never listened to the album the whole way through. Will have to see my thoughts on this
AL: I just thought this was quite boring to be honest. Maybe I’m missing the point but it just came off as very basic, the orchestration had some moments where it stood out but otherwise mostly faded into the green and blue. Still deserves its place on the list but relatively speaking this was quite weak.
FT: “Gutter Cat vs. The Jets”
2/5
3/5
-Didn’t write a BL-
AL: a very compelling debut (and last) album from an artist I knew nothing about. The beats were amazing. Some of the singers were good but there were certainly stronger and weaker cuts on the album.
FT: “Antropofagos”, “Felicidade”
3/5
AC/DC
3/5
BL: AC/DC is a group my father likes a lot. To me they do have some real stadium shaker rock anthems, but the statement that they made the same album 20 times is absolutely true. I suppose I’ll see when I listen to this one.
AL: my hypothesis was correct. The album started strong but by track 5 I knew I was just listening to the same stuff. I suppose the lyrical or melodic appeal has never been what people come to AC/DC for, but the Young’s guitar sonics, which are outstanding here. However there’s not much else going for it
FT: “walk all over you”
3/5
5/5
-Didn’t write a BL, unsure when generated, retroactively reviewed 26/08/23-
AL: what a great album. Bowie truly was one of a kind. This album just rips from start to finish. Amazing production, vocals. I don’t think I have any complaints with this album. Star man can feel a bit overplayed but it still is an amazing track so there’s no disdain from me.
FT: “Five Years”, “Lady Stardust”, Suffragette City”
5/5
XTC
3/5
BL: Never heard of XTC, interested to hear, like the album cover although it is incredibly 80s
AL: I liked this. A very solid record. I did feel I would maybe appreciate it more on a repeat listen however the first time around it was very solid.
FT: “Summer’s Cauldron”, “Season Cycle”, “Dear God”
3/5
Adam & The Ants
4/5
Adam and the Ants are a band I’ve been aware of for a long time, ever since I heard the Horrible Histories parody of “Stand and Deliver” (which was always my favourite song when I was younger), my mum showed me the original and I was sold. Never really listened to anything by them other than that song though.
AL: this album just radiated charm. While not all of the tracks were necessarily hits or standouts, all of them had their own individual feel and charm, the album is also pretty short and concise which helps add to that feeling. No tracks particularly stood out as bad and I’d say the baseline is probably a B-grade for how good all these songs were, many pushing into A territory, nothing particularly excelled though, which was my only problem.
FT: “Dog Eat Dog”, “Ant Music”, “Kings of the wild Frontier”, “Don’t be Square”, “Jolly Roger”
4/5
Ananda Shankar
5/5
-didn’t write a BL-
AL: this was a delight to listen to. The hybrid of western music and sitar Asian music was absolutely beautiful and really gave it a psychedelic feel. I’d expect nothing less from the talents of the Shankar family. Highly worth a listen and one of my favourite albums I’ve had on this generator so far.
FT: “Metamorphosis”, “Raghupati”
5/5
Tracy Chapman
3/5
-didn’t write a BL-
AL: a solid album. Fast Car is a song I’ve known for all my life. The rest of them were very nice and soulful ballads. Definitely worth the listen, the only thing that was lacking in my opinion was diversity in the instrumentation. Otherwise excellent.
FT: “Fast Car”, “Baby Can I Hold You”
3/5
R.E.M.
2/5
BL: I really did not like the previous R.E.M. record I had, I pray that this one is better because I thought the last one was a slog and probably the worst record I’ve had the entire run so far.
AL: While this was definitely an improvement on “Automatic for the People”, I still didn’t like this. The first half of the album had some moments where I was almost excited for it. The opener and “Catapult” were two tracks I enjoyed. However everything else just melded into one, and the second half of the album after Catapult just became a chore to listen to, no interesting ideas were heard or musical variation. I’m amazed I’m dissapointed by R.E.M. twice in a row but I guess they are just not for me.
FT: “Radio Free Europe”, “Catapult”
2/5
Portishead
5/5
-Didn’t write a BL-
AL: I knew “Roads” and “Glory Box” off of this album but I was amazed that there were some tracks that even superseded how amazing those are, while I know the members of this band reject the term “trip-hop” I think the argument to be made that these guys founded the genre is pretty strong, and although their statement may be a rejection of the subsequent acts which were inspired by them you can’t help but admire how many artists declare portishead and specifically this record as an influence. For good reason too. The sounds this creates is unparalleled to anything else that was around at the time, and in the modern day due to the use of hardware and physical signal chains, the rise of DAWs has made so many of these beautifully nostalgic sounds very hard to recreate. Viva La Analogue Revolution
FT: “Mysterons”, “Strangers”, “Roads”, “Pedestal”, “Glory Box”
5/5
Rahul Dev Burman
1/5
BL: An album and artist I’ve never heard of. This is my first film soundtrack as far as I’m aware so excited to hear this one. Always loved Bollywood and the music from it is always absolutely great
AL: didn’t like this at all to be honest. There were some moments when the choral vocals were being layered on tracks like “Aaina Wohi Rehta Hai” at the start but just when I felt like there were gonna be some cool psychedelic or drone parts introduced it was replaced by some standard Indian pop. Really not my thing.
FT: “Tum Ek”
1/5
The Associates
2/5
BL: Never heard of The Associates before, the first thing that stands out to me is how beautiful this album cover is. It’s so definitely 80s but the use of neon and the looks of the two men on the cover really makes for an appealing cover and I’m interested to hear what the album is about.
AL: this was a pretty good album for background noise but I don’t feel like anything really stood out. I was listening to this through my phone which I’ll give it the benefit of the doubt. Hasn’t got amazing audio quality, I feel this is more of an atmospheric spacial audio experience - so maybe I’ll give it a re-listen when I get the chance with my proper headphones on.
FT: “18 carat love affair”
2/5
George Harrison
5/5
BL: this is an album that has a level of infamy for me. Despite never listening to this one it’s been regarded as one of the greats for the longest time, my dad loves this album and I know plenty of others have that know me. So it’ll be interesting to hear the album of a post-beatle that isn’t Lennon or McCartney
AL: wow. What a listen. This was truly a white whale of an album. Being such a long record but keeping consistency is such a feat. While some lyrical content is simplistic the wonder contained within it is emotive enough to make up for it. Absolutely loved this, probably on a running for my favourite album of all time within the first listen. All of the guitar parts and the mixing is absolutely superb.
FT: “wah-wah”, “if not for you”, “apple scruffs”, “all things must pass”, “hear me lord”, “plug me in”, “thanks for the pepperoni”
5/5
The Dave Brubeck Quartet
3/5
-Didn’t write a BL-
AL: This album truly is a worthy contender for one of the most important albums of all time. Having never heard this before, as soon as I listened I noticed how almost all lounge room jazz seems to stem from a sound created here. The sound is very formulaic here, but then an argument can be made for is a piece of art formulaic if it’s what creates the formula. The tracks which this album laid down for chilled jazz is second to none and while this may not be the most important album of all time I’d certainly say this is the most important Jazz album of all time, maybe only seconded by Bitches Brew. The actual album itself was pretty compelling, a golden standard for what lounge jazz should be however I found the opener surprisingly weak on this album. All of the other tracks were really strong but I just couldn’t connect with that one. Overall there are definitely a few tracks I would put on again but this serves its purpose as defining and creating lounge jazz, this recording stands testament to everything the new wave of jazz would become. While it certainly wasn’t the first “lounge jazz” act, it is one of the first recordings and likely inspired a whole generation of players and quartets after it.
FT: “Take Five”, “Kathy’s Waltz”, “Pick Up Sticks”
3/5
Aerosmith
2/5
BL: Aerosmith is a band I don’t have very high thoughts of. Besides walk this way the only things I know about them is everything the lead singer has done. Putting that aside for an objective review I’ll see how this plays out
AL: this was a very mixed bag. I found the first half to be very derivative and uninspired, at some points like “Adam and Eve” straight up insulting, but the second half had some good stuff on it. The problem with this record is that it’s mostly derivative rock music that’s pretty cookie cutter, the most famous track has a much better version with Run-DMC on it and nothing else other than sweet emotion stands out to general audiences. So I’m not really sure why this album made the list. The final closing thought would be: just a generic rock album.
FT: “sweet emotion”, “no more no more”
2/5
Thin Lizzy
2/5
BL: Thin Lizzie is not a band I’m particularly passionate about in any way. I remember being about 12 and performing “Jail Break” on stage in front of the rest of our theatre group. They didn’t think too much of it, I didn’t think too much of it. He wanted to learn it cos it was a piece for his grade 3 or 4 guitar I believe. Since that there’s been little to no listening of them from me. I can appreciate “whiskey in the jar” as a song but other than that I don’t think I’d really go out my way to listen to them.
AL: there is not much I can say about the content of this album and yet so much around the context of this album. The music? Functional at best, mostly middle of the road music from a couple hit wonder 70s rock band. One track that stood out was “Massacre”, surprisingly good. However my main criticism of this album is it isn’t technically a live album. As a lot of it is overdubbed, not good enough to be a studio album but not a pure live album this stands as a unique but not provocative example of interference. The one thing I will say that’s evident from this is that Phil Lynott is very clearly an amazing frontman, having the crowd wrapped around his finger (unless the cheering is overdubbed too). Wouldn’t recommend a listen to this. Would maybe be better if it was a single album as opposed to a double.
FT: “Massacre”
2/5
Willie Nelson
5/5
BL: Willie Nelson’s previous album was really good I thought: this one seems to be originals as oppose to covers so more interested to hear this one. I like the album cover a lot.
AL1: first time round I enjoyed the listen. Very honky tonk. I tried to decipher the story behind it but found it very difficult to follow. Round about 2/3rds of the way through I realised the album was on shuffle play. So I’ll give it another listen the right way around and see what I think this time. As of first time around it’s a 3/5
AL2: wow. What a way to do a storytelling album. Very impressed by this. The story was fun, the juxtaposition of short and long tracks gives this a very ahead of it’s time feeling. I really really sincerely enjoyed this, I’ve never been a massive country fan bar Jason Molina but I’m starting to get roped into certain aspects of the singer/songwriter material. Very very enjoyable
FT: “Medley: Blue Rock Montana”, “Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain”, “Denver”, “Bandera”
5/5
The Smiths
2/5
BL: I have listened to this album before, after this generator put me onto \"The Queen is Dead\" I sought out and listened to the three other studio efforts from the Morrisey and Marr dynasty. I personally found this album to be their weakest on first listen (excluding Hatful of Hollow), and it almost feels like you can feel the disputes between the creatives on this album, as the sonic cohesion on this album is nowhere near as powerful and refined here. I'll see what I think on a second listen.
AL: felt pretty much the same way on the relisten as I did the first time I heard it. Still a very enjoyable listen though.
FT: “a rush and a push and the land is ours”, “last night I dreamt somebody loved me”
2/5
Miles Davis
4/5
BL: my previous serving of Miles Davis was somber and beautiful, I’ll be interested to hear what this serving has to offer me. I think this may be a more eclectic record than the last judging by what I can see at face value but I will have to see. Truly a spectacular artist, and I loved the first record.
AL: two very well crafted suites to listen to and engage with. The first one does greatly outshine the second however, for that reason alone I do think it is not quite as good as his previous project on this generator. Still an amazing listen none the less
FT: “Shhh / Peaceful”
4/5
Killing Joke
3/5
-Didn’t write a BL-
AL: killing joke was a band I was aware of only due to their controversy with Nirvana copying their eighties’ lick. And while I liked this more than nirvana I must admit I didn’t think this was anything special. While I didn’t think it was bad, and the use of layered guitars must’ve been pretty cool for the time in a pre-loveless by MBV world, I think this hasn’t aged amazingly, and while there are some tracks still worth the listen I’m not sure if this stood the test of time like many of the other post punk albums, despite it being very influential. So this made me decisive about how I rate my albums, whether I think they deserve to be on this list or whether I enjoy them. I have decided I will rank all efforts based purely on my enjoyment - if this was based off of influence this album would get a 4 or a 5 but due to my enjoyment being a high ok at best it’ll get a 3/5. Though some really dislike the abrasive flanger on the vocal in track 2 I honestly didn’t find it too bad and thought it was quite interesting if not very obviously a gimmick.
FT: “requiem”, “S.O.36”
3/5
LCD Soundsystem
3/5
BL: thought this was a weird one to feature. As in my eyes it was always the weakest of the LCD Soundsystem records. I suppose it was a big hurrah reunion album but besides it being in the zeitgeist when the list was made I can’t see why it would feature. But maybe my thoughts will change on the relisten.
AL: while I do view this album slightly more positively on the relisten. My thoughts still remain mostly the same. There is much more use of ambient tones and repetition within this record, which maybe makes it an objectively better dance record, as a sit down and listen electronic record it doesn’t stand to the same standard as Sound of Silver or This is Happening
FT: “how do you sleep?”, “call the police”
3/5
Talvin Singh
5/5
BL: never heard of this artist before but the cover reminds me of the Roni Size brown paper bag album so I’ll be interested to hear if it’s in a similar vein
AL: funnily enough, my 90s ambient DnB assumption was correct, and wow. This album blew me away. I wasn’t too sure about the opener, but by track 3 this album had me in a chokehold. The fusion of ambient DnB & Sourh Asian instrumentals and vocals was mesmerising, the drone of DnB was meant to go with the resonant frequencies of the sitar. Definitely some Bhangra influence in there too. Highly recommend this. It reminds me of another comment I saw under a different album (can’t remember which one though), with albums like this on the generator, you have to wonder why the people who wrote those chose so many 80s new wave and post punk albums.
FT: “Eclipse”, “O.K.”, “Light”, “Vikram the Vampire”
5/5
Jorge Ben Jor
5/5
BL: never heard of this artist before just as yesterdays album but I hope it is another hit like the Talvin Singh record was.
AL: this was also an incredibly strong record. The combination of Brazilian & African rhythms make this a pleasure to listen to, and I reckon even more of a pleasure to dance to. Having two world albums like this in a row is a blessing, and reminds me how much music there is just outside my language barrier which can completely change my world.
FT: “O Plebeu”, “Ponta de Lanca Africans”, “Cavaleiro do Cavalo Imaculado”
5/5
Pink Floyd
5/5
BL: this album I’ve listened to once before and have some memories associated to it. Namely being sick in my mates toilet at his university accom whilst “Have a Cigar was playing”, funny with hindsight. Intangibly linked to my first year of university.
AL: euphoric listening experience. In the dark with high quality headphones on. One of the best music listening experiences I’ve had, maybe ever. Truly everything on here is brilliant. No filler.
FT: “Shine on you crazy diamonds, Pts. 1-5”, “Have a Cigar”, “Wish You Were Here”
5/5
Beck
4/5
BL: Beck is an artist (as I’ve probably stated before) I don’t really “get”, the previous album I got on this generator was just ok. As I assume this one will be, maybe it’ll sweep me off my feet but I’ll assume it’s gonna be self indulgent nonsense like the rest of them.
AL: this is a LOT better than I expected it to be. I definitely think the record overstays it’s welcome, and there is a massive dip about 2/3rds of the way through the album but the combination of Central American sounds with standard twangy desert rock was a good combination. Some tracks were amazing. Most were just good or ok though. Glad I gave it a listen, it was a pleasant surprise. Though I suspect I may be raving so much because I actually did enjoy it, which is a proper Beck first for me
FT: “E-Pro”, “Qué Onda Guero”, “Black Tambourine”, “Go It Alone”, “Farewell Ride”, “Send a Message to Her”
4/5
Sade
3/5
-Didn’t write a BL-
AL: Sade is very good at what she does. I however find that she’s a bit of a one trick pony - atleast within the scope of this album. While it was by no means bad the album ended up dragging for me by the time the last 3 or so tracks occured. Smooth Operator is still a classic though
FT: “Smooth Operator”, “Frankie’s First Affair”
3/5
The Clash
4/5
BL: Had a big tie to The Clash since a young age. My dad always loved The Clash and I started listening to their hits when I was 9 or 10. Listened to their first two albums the whole way through but never this one. So will be good to hear it.
AL: This album was very good, it had a massive range which I did not expect, especially the ska tracks. The album is full of twists and turns and still manages to flow incredibly well. I don't have much to say beyond that, but it was a good listen.
FT: "Hateful", "Lost in the Supermarket", "The Guns of Brixton", "Koka, Kola"
4/5
Michael Jackson
2/5
BL: one of the most famous albums of all time. I know about half the tracks on this album, so will be excited to hear the other half and see the cuts and it they stand up well or not
AL: Didn’t really like this truth be told. Found it to be incredibly overproduced, lacking in vision, and just a collection of songs designed to sell singles. Which to me is antithetical to the concept of an album. So not really my thing.
FT: “Thriller”
2/5
5/5
-Didn’t write a BL, but have listened to the album many times before-
AL: definitely a contender for one of the best records of all time. The appeal, diversity, production and lyrical content are all sublime. Not much to say beyond that. Stellar.
FT: “Where the streets have no name”, “I still haven’t found what I’m looking for”, “Bullet the Blue Sky”, “One Tree Hill”
5/5
Frankie Goes To Hollywood
5/5
BL: Only aware of "Relax" off of this album due to it's inclusion in "Zoolander", so my only awareness of this album is in a mostly ironic context. That will make this a unique listen within the generator and I am excited to see how it ends up going
AL: Ok WOW! I didn't come into this with any expectations (which is maybe why I thought this was so phenomenal), but this just absolutely ripped the whole way through. I was not expecting the 10+ minute epic which was "Welcome to The Pleasuredome", I absolutely adored that track. Relax is a good track all things considered, generally the instrumentation does come off as a bit dated at some points - however I do think in the context of dance rock / pop like this and New Order the overproduced basslines work incredibly well. It was controversial, it was erotic, it was LGBT, it was everything I didn't expect and everything I could have wanted, and then it had a Bruce Springsteen cover which completely blew it to another level. Multiple tracks from this are going to make their way into my general rotation
FT: "Welcome to the Pleasuredome", "Relax", "War", "Born to Run", "San Jose", "Black Night White Light", "The Power of Love"
5/5
Creedence Clearwater Revival
4/5
BL: CCR is a band I always intend to listen to more but never get round to it. I’ve listened to the famous tracks, however never strayed outside of that. So I’ll be glad to have finally put one of these on.
AL: I fully get the hype. I had a great time with this album. A few sprawling psychedelic country epics juxtapose with incredibly short and sweet political and social anthems. This album could’ve been perfect, if there weren’t some absolutely dire filler tracks on here (namely track 2 “before you accuse me”) using an incredibly basic (and mildly infringing) guitar riff which just really doesn’t stand up. The rest of the album was very solid though.
FT: “Ramble Tamble”, “Who’ll stop the rain”, “I heard it through the grapevine”
4/5
Ms. Dynamite
4/5
BL: Never heard of Ms. Dynamite, but seeing she's a UK female rapper from the early 2000s I'm expecting something akin to the works of Shystie, and if it is so, I'm sure I'll enjoy it a lot.
AL: I liked this more than I already expected, which was good as my expectations were already high. While I thought the second half of this album was not as impactful as the first, the use of socially conscious lyrics, juxtaposed with the daily life of a girl growing up in this environment is incredibly powerful, and offers a great alternative perspective (especially for the time), when it was an incredibly misogynistic and male dominated industry. The second half did not deliver the same highs as the first half but kept pretty consistent the whole way through. The production was also exceptional throughout the entire record, the beats were the perfect mix of instrumentation and technology. Would recommend this album just for the production
FT: "Dy-Na-Mi-Tee", "Put Him Out", "It Takes More (Bloodshy Main Mix)", "A Lil Deeper / Get Up Stand Up"
4/5
The Black Keys
4/5
BL: a band my guitarist of an old band I was in absolutely adored along with the bassist but never got the chance to listen to them. As they were both utter talents this is going to be a project that has a high expectation from me to be honest.
AL: this was a very fun rock record. I found it to be in the same vein as The White Stripes, I suppose they were both part of that same wave of 00s rock. A fine addition to the listening repertoire, some tracks will definitely make their way into my playlists. But also suffered from having some filler.
FT: “She’s Long Gone”, “Too Afraid to Love You”, “Never Gonna Give You Up”, “These Days”
4/5
LCD Soundsystem
5/5
BL: Sound of Silver is one of my favourite albums of all time already so I doubt listening to an album I’ve listen to maybe 50+ times is really going to shift on the 51st listen
AL: my hypothesis was correct
FT: “get innocuous”, “someone great”, “all my friends”, “New York, I love you but you’re bringing me down”
5/5
Kelela
1/5
BL: a complete blind listen. So will have to wait till after I’ve listened to pass judgement
AL: I can’t help but feel massively Dissapointed by this one. I feel like this doesn’t really deserve to be on the 1001 albums list at all. There was very little that stood out in this record to me than the hundreds of other modern RnB/Neo-Soul albums that get churned out every year. The production was good value, there were some songs that I liked. But nothing at all that warranted it’s place on this list for me. I think I have to give it a 1 just for how forgettable it is. A record like “Heaux Tales” by Jazmine Sullivan did this a whole lot better.
FT: “Take me Apart”, “Blue Light”
1/5
Joan Armatrading
5/5
BL: this one is a complete blind listen, never heard of Joan Armatrading and can’t really gage anything about this apart from it’ll involve guitar.
AL: this absolutely blew me away. The lyricism, the guitar. The blends of genre. Wow. Absolutely stellar, and some tracks will definitely be making their way into my rotation.
FT: “down to zero”, “love and affection”, “join the boys”, “people”,
5/5
N.W.A.
2/5
BL: An album I’m aware of the hits from, but not any of the smaller cuts. Having seen this be used both genuinely and ironically it’ll be interesting to see how this holds up
AL: this didn’t really do it for me. The allusion that their lyrics were superior to all other groups of the time when it all comes down to guns, girls, drugs and money. They acknowledge this but still truly believe it’s some sort of incredible statement. Historically speaking this album is phenomenal, kickstarting the career of so many people we hold dearly to this day within music and media in general: Dr. Dre, Ice Cube, and Eazy-E. I think while some records of the time the misogyny and homophobia can be overlooked from the time just due to the products of the environment (the same applies here), the lack of remorse and “take no prisoners” attitude of the lyrics ends up leaving quite a bad taste in your mouth. While it’s certainly of it’s time, I can see why it was groundbreaking. The story of down and out youths making a life from a record is incredibly inspiring, but from a modern perspective this isn’t particularly my thing.
FT: “straight outa Compton”, “express yourself”, “dopeman”
2/5
The White Stripes
5/5
BL: the white stripes are a band I love a few select tracks from a lot but never got the chance to properly dig into their discography. Will be good to hopefully properly get into them as all of the tracks I’ve heard by them I love
AL: this album left me speechless, awesome, no frills rock from start to finish. Only track I didn’t really like was the closer. Truly one of the most anthemic bands of all time
FT: “Seven Nation Army”, “Black Math”, “In The Cold, Cold Night”, “You’ve Got Her in Your Pocket”, “The Air Near my Fingers”
5/5
Sonic Youth
3/5
BL: An album I've not heard anything from. I wasn't a massive fan of the previous Sonic Youth album I got on the generator "E.V.O.L", To me it felt quite reductive, not having the punk flare of Gang of Four, or Dead Kennedys, nor the post-punk charm of something like Joy Division. However I am going into this with an open mind to see if I change my mind.
BL: This album was certainly a lot better than their previous work. It feels like there was a big sonic progression, utilising complex guitar parts with harmonics and crushing walls of drum lines. Vocally the performances were still rather hit-or-miss I found, generally at a 1:1 ratio of hits and misses. I can definitely hear big inspiration from a project I like "Parannoul", they clearly listened to SY heavily. Overall this was not a wasted listen, but definitely could've done with some heavy fat trimming.
FT: "Teen Age Riot", "Eric's Trip", "Hey Joni", "Candle", "B) Hyperstation"
3/5
The Mothers Of Invention
4/5
-Didn’t write a BL-
AL: now do I think this is good from a historical context? Absolutely, the use of sampling and audio recordings must’ve been thrilling at the time. It creates an interesting sound and also a good piss take at the psychedelia wave of the time (as implied by the album cover). However the album isn’t really cohesive, which I suppose is the point.
FT: None
4/5 (for creativity + impact) 2/5 for actual musical enjoyment
Echo And The Bunnymen
3/5
BL: echo and the bunny men I know only for their one hit. So it’ll be worth digging into a band that I know loads of my friends really love
AL: very cohesive and solid album. My one complaint is that there seems to be a recurring theme of a lot of 80s British New Wave albums appearing on this list. Not that my objections are massive as I do enjoy the genre, I fear it may get stale after a while. For now this was a solid project, however nothing particularly stood out to me as anything exceeding, it was all just “good”
FT: “stars are stars”
3/5
Lou Reed
5/5
BL: an album I have listened to before. The first time I listened it I must admit I didn’t massively get it. Reed’s overly simplistic melodies and lyricism did not massively come off as charming or unique. Despite the fact I love “Satellite of Love”, nothing else particularly stood out on the album
AL: I’ve done a complete radical 180° on this record. I absolutely loved this. For some reason it just clicked into place, this is absolutely genius, and I can’t quite put my finger on why.
FT: “Andy’s Chest”, “Perfect Day”, “Satellite of Love”, “Goodnight Ladies”
5/5
Santana
4/5
BL: I know of Santana for the much later works ala supernatural. Never listened to his stuff from before, so I’ll see how it turns out
AL: very fun album. While it wasn’t necessarily 100% of my thing, I really enjoyed listening to it. The fusion of Latin beats with psychedelic organ is a raw juxtaposition which while doesn’t always blend, usually helps it stick out and makes it a rewarding listen anyways. Some of these tracks will sneak their way into my playlist.
FT: “Black Magic Woman”, “Mother’s Daughter”, “Hope You’re Feeling Better”, “El Nicoya”
4/5
The Notorious B.I.G.
4/5
BL: Biggie is a character I’m mostly aware of by name alone. Aware of the hits and aware of his influence, but don’t really know much about him beyond being imperative to the 90s hip hop scene
AL: A good album. Definitely a bit too long in my eyes for the scope it’s trying to encompass (I suppose people revel in it’s length knowing it’s the only album he’d produce whilst alive) and the lyrical cuts definitely vary in value. There are some very powerful and insightful mentions of classism, poverty and the cycle of oppression that affects African-Americans, however a lot of this was overshadowed by derogatory talk of women. While this is often a cornerstone of 90s rap, as it was part of the culture of that scene at the time, to include these things in the lyrical content it has led to it aging rather poorly. However I believe Biggie is trying to highlight the grime and the underbelly of that life and the world in that project, he’s often speaking in a way which narrates both his stories but the stories of those around him. Which does come off genuine, you truly believe everything he’s saying and he is an amazing storyteller - so while it is certainly dated it is indisputably authentic.
FT: “Things Done Changed”, “Ready To Die”, “Juicy”, “Big Poppa”
4/5
Happy Mondays
3/5
BL: this album in many ways does mean some things to me. While never listening to the whole record. “Step On” is a track I’ve been aware of before and even played live a couple times in some cover bands. I also often have Bez cross my mind, I see him as somewhat the UK’s answer to Steve-O (jackass era). So it’ll be interesting to hear the rest of this record outside of the aforementioned track and “Kinky Afro”
AL: this record had some real bangers in it. The general upbeat tone of this album and the madchester movement as a whole really creates a good vibe. The similarities to primal scream is massive, though that album certainly trumps this one in every way. Very solid listen though don’t think it quite deserves it’s place on this list compared to some other madchester albums
FT: “Donovan”, “Grandbag’s funeral”, “Step On”
3/5
Richard Thompson
4/5
BL: listened to this album before over the summer, liked it a lot as a folk album. Will decide a proper rating on the re-listen
AL: I think this is certainly an album which will grow on you with more and more relistens. I got a lot more out of this the second time than I did the first time around, especially the appreciation for the instrumentals and lyricism. Sometimes the vocals can be a bit corny and some tracks don’t stick at all for me (“the little beggar girl”, “mother and son”) but generally this is a very solid record with some amazing standout tracks
FT: “when I get to the border”, “the Calvary cross”, “The Great Valerio”, “Down Where the Drunkards Roll”
4/5
Pixies
2/5
BL: the pixies are a band I’m only really aware of for “where is my mind” and “Monkey gone to heaven” the former of which I have some pretty negative associations with unpleasant people I used to know and the whole fight club chud male boys that haunt me as someone who works in an industry full of them. It’ll be good to hopefully create some more positive connotation with this band
AL: this album was a swing and a miss for me. Maybe it’s because it’s always going to be tied to some horrible times in my life, however “Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness” by The Smashing Pumpkins was from the same friend group and the same time period in my own life and I still fondly listen to that. Therefore I’ve come to the conclusion while sonically there were some interesting ideas, this album didn’t do too much for me.
FT: “Something About You”, “Gigantic”
2/5
Various Artists
2/5
BL: Spector is arguably the best producer of all time, and this compilation of his takes on some Christmas classics will be interesting to hear, even if I don’t particularly like Christmas music.
AL: fascinating album. You just know this solidified Spector as one of music productions greats. In terms of the music. I hate Christmas music, so it was a hard listen. There is one song on here I do love though which is so good it subverts my hatred for Christmas music, “Baby Please Come Home” by Darlene Love. What a soulful and beautiful track.
FT: “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)”
2/5
Deep Purple
5/5
BL: Deep Purple are a band I've been aware of for most my life (naturally, "Smoke on the Water" was one of the first songs I ever learnt on guitar). Mostly from my grandad as my dad always found them too Avant-Garde. Will be interested to hear this live album
AL: I loved this. I understand why this wouldn't be everyone's thing (20 minute live interpretations) but as a prog fan I absolutely adored this. The interpretations were sprawling and the use of the hammond organ was beautiful as always, it is still one of my favourite instruments.
FT: "Child in Time", "The Mule", "Lazy", "Space Truckin'"
5/5
Sufjan Stevens
5/5
BL: Illinois was one of the first proper albums I listened to the whole way through. So many of the tracks hold close memory associations and are very near and dear in my heart. “The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades is Out to Get Us” is a personal favourite of mine as I remember singing it with a girl I had a crush on in acting school when I was 12 or 13. This album is completely linked to who I am as a person, and I’m sure my love for it will only continue to grow on a relisten.
AL: this album still holds so much emotional weight and memory to me. But as I grow older I do realise this album does suffer from having a decent amount of filler. While 80% of the album flows amazingly especially in the last few tracks it almost completely peters out. That being said, just for how strong the influence the album has had on me is. It’s a solid 5 from me.
FT: “Concerning the UFO sighting near Highland, Illinois”, “John Wayne Gacy Jr.”, “Casimir Pulaski Day”, “The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades is Out to Get Us!”, “They are Night Zombies!! They are Neighbours!! They Have Come Back from the Dead!! Ahhhhh!”
5/5
The Doors
2/5
BL: funnily enough I recently added this album to my library with intention to listen to it. But I hadn’t gotten round to it yet, so I guess this gives me all the more reason to give it a listen.
AL: this album was more art student pretentiousness then classic doors psych-rock goodness. Which is a shame. This is definitely the weakest doors record I’ve heard out of the key 4. There were some absolute shredders on here but generally more misses than hits which was dissapointing
FT: “waiting for the sun” “Peace Frog / Blue Sunday”
2/5
MGMT
4/5
BL: as a child of the 00s this album is synonymous with so many of my core memories growing up. Specifically the track “Kids” being prevalent throughout it all. I’ve listened to this album the whole way through, it was one of the first albums I ever listened to when I started listening to albums when I was maybe 13 or 14. I found it a bit too weird for my liking at the time but I’ll see how I find it on the relisten
AL: I personally think this album as a baseline is pretty good but the hits are certainly exceptional. Other tracks do stand out but generally this album is just good, not great or amazing.
FT: “Weekend Wars”, “Electric Feel”, “Kids”, “Pieces of What”
3/5
The Go-Go's
4/5
BL: never heard of “The Go-Go’s” before. I like the album cover a lot though. However this will be a complete blind listen through.
AL: highly worth the listen. A sleek, well produced, pop record. Digging into the past of The Go Go’s their punk past becomes apparent with the structuring and length of a lot of the tracks on this album. However this punk gone pop (not associated with pop-punk) approach really works well here and makes it stand out from a lot of other stuff on the market. Very fun.
FT: “Our Lips are Sealed”, “Lust to Love”, “This Town”
4/5
Wild Beasts
2/5
BL: I know the track “hooting and howling” but no other tracks off of this record. Will be interested to see what this is like
AL: I didn’t really like this record. I still find “hooting and howling” to be an incredibly insufferable track. I find the vocalists annoying, which is a shame when the instrumentals are often very good and inflict a similar simplistic depth that the first “The XX” record did. The instrumental breaks pick up the slack for what otherwise is a band with two horrendous lead singers. I didn’t mind the opening track though.
FT: “The Fun Powder Plot”, “Two Dancers Pt.2”, “Underbelly”
2/5
Willie Colón & Rubén Blades
2/5
BL: never heard of these artists or this album. So it’ll be a complete blind listen.
AL: an amazing album to dance to? Undoubtedly. An amazing album to sit down and listen to? Maybe not quite as much. The real appeal here are the drum lines and the percussion. The Latin beats are very inspiring and make me want to get the drum set out and practice. However I do find the problem is with this genre is it does get a bit same-y. Maybe part of this is down to me not understanding the lyrical content, but then again there are bands like Rammstein where I understand very little of the lyrical content and I still enjoy it. Definitely worth the listen but not one of my favourite albums on the generator so far
FT: “Ojos”
2/5
The Monkees
3/5
BL: aware of The Monkees but never really listened to them.
AL: I liked this. the first half of the album was pretty standard jangly 60s mild psychedelic rock, however in the second half there seems to be a shift to more aberrant lyrical content, interesting and boundary breaking mixing choices ("Zilch"). With a screaming closer of a track, this was an amazing album to experience and I'm incredibly glad I got to. Not too long to overstay it's welcome, just short enough to leave me wanting more.
FT: "Zilch", "Randy Scouse Git"
3/5
B.B. King
5/5
BL: BB King is someone I’m very much aware of but I have not heard this specific live record. Though I’ve heard it mentioned in discussion before as one of the best live records of all time, so I am excited to hear it.
AL: This was a rocking listen. The one take with audience interaction was absolutely mind blowing, as I’m sure a record of its calibre was of the time. In the age of the internet and the digital sphere it’s so easy to forget stuff like this was truly revolutionary only 60 or so years ago. I’d love to have seen the mic’ing and tech set up on this: will have to research in my spare time. Absolutely awesome, and a good selection of songs.
FT: “Sweet Little Angel”, “Worry, Worry”, “You Done lost your Good Thing Now”, “Help The Poor”
5/5
Marvin Gaye
4/5
BL: Second Marvin Gaye album I've received on the generator. I liked the previous album but my major gripe with it was it's length, I think it did not justify it's runtime. I will see if this record does.
AL: I liked this. I didn’t think it was anything mind blowing but it was incredibly listenable and the instrumentation and production is absolutely at its best here. Some tracks are very recognisable, and some are album cuts but all were enjoyable. Didn’t have a single song I disliked to be honest.
FT: “What’s Happening Brother”, “Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)”, “Inner City Blues”
4/5
Slipknot
5/5
BL: This album is one quite near and dear to my heart. Slipknot was the first metal band (alongside Korn) I got properly into back when I was 12 or 13, I owned this record on CD and used to listen to it quite often, not as much as the debut, but this was definitely my second favourite album by them. Psychosocial was one of the first metal songs I learned on the guitar, and still remember the riff to this day. The chaos this album brings is truly something of a calibre many other metal albums could never rival. That being said, it’s been maybe 3 or 4 years since I listened to it the whole way through. So I’ll see what I think. “Snuff” continues to be one of my favourite sad songs of all time
AL: this was even better on the relisten than I remember it being. There is a lot of diversity here which brings in some blues notations alongside traditional metal, Screamo vocals alongside sung breaks. There were some tracks here which I’ve grown to massively appreciate here which I didn’t when I was younger (“Sulfur”, “Gehenna”). There are still a couple tracks here and there that I think are weaker (“Butcher’s Hook”, “This Cold Black”), but the main tracks I love stayed just as good (“Dead Memories”, “Snuff”)
FT: “Dead Memories”, “Snuff”, “Gehenna”, “Sulfur”
5/5
Cyndi Lauper
1/5
BL: only aware of the hit from this album, but I quite like that track so will be interested to hear more
AL: to be fair I actually did know more from this album than I thought I did. But after about 10 minutes Lauper’s voice gets incredibly grating. The oversimplistic 80s synth-pop lines really don’t help either: this was not a particularly enjoyable listen, was nothing special and to be honest will be quite forgettable besides the hits, and for that has netted itself a 1
FT: “Money Changes Everything”
1/5
The Zombies
4/5
BL: The Zombies are a band I know a lot about but not much of the history. The only song of theirs I listen to is “She’s not there”, so it’ll be interesting to date back the knowledge I personally know about the band and then match it alongside the music
AL: this album offered a much richer experience than I was expecting. Whilst not perfect. The uses of the Mellotron, alongside the vocals and psychedelic rooms crafted within this album are so much more textured and complex than their previous explorations which I know. Really enjoyed listening to this one.
FT: “Care of Cell 44”, “Maybe After He’s Gone”, “Beechwood Park”, “Butchers Tale (Western Front 1914)”
4/5
The Rolling Stones
4/5
BL: very much aware of this album but admittedly I’ve never listened to it. Which is a massive hole in my repertoire considering my love for the stones. I’m sure I’ll greatly enjoy this one but I’ll have to see.
AL: this album didn’t necessarily strike me as much as I expected it to. It feels rather formulaic. Then you have to remember that this is the formula that all subsequent albums would follow. The mid point of the album has a bit of a dip but overall quality stays consistent and it’s a good listen. The slide guitar and mixing is especially amazing for a recording of the time. Will definitely need to relisten.
FT: “Love In Vain”, “You Can’t Always Get What You Want”
4/5
Beatles
3/5
BL: First Beatles album I’ve got on this list. Listened Before, I liked this one a lot, I think it marks the most interesting point in The Beatles career, the point of no return where they went to a fully psychedelic band. Will be happy to give this one a relisten
AL: while this record does struggle with its identity a little bit (combining some incredibly psychedelic cuts like “Norwegian Wood”, and incredibly standard early 60s Beatle-pop like “Run for your life”). The record generally maintains posture and has some incredibly compelling moments. Though overall this was the awkward puberty phase of The Beatles and while it is a good listen it doesn’t compare anywhere near to some of the later efforts in “Revolver” or “The White Album”
FT: “Norwegian Wood”, “Nowhere Man”, “In My Life”
3/5
Sonic Youth
3/5
BL: The third Sonic Youth album I’ve got on this generator now. I didn’t think much of “E.V.O.L” and I thought “Daydream Nation” was a bit better but still nothing exceptional. Let’s see if they can prove me wrong with this third one. DN was better I believed cos it was later on and gave them time to develop their sound, and this released after that. So in theory I should love this
AL: funnily enough this went against my hypothesis. While I went into this not knowing it was their first major label record, the tightening and polishing of the sound that comes with a new calibre of record actually ends up selling this band short. Some of my favourite parts of Daydream Nation were the insane walls of sound, and while they are still present here occasionally, it is stripped back in favour of slightly more vocal present tracks, which exposes a bigger problem with the sonic youth - their lyrics aren’t very good. They’re amazing musicians just not very good writers. Still enjoyed listening to, but I’d rank it better than E.V.O.L, and worse than Daydream Nation
FT: “Dirty Boots”, “Kool Thing”, “Dissapearer”, “Titanium Expose”
3/5
The Chemical Brothers
4/5
BL: The Chemical Brothers are a personal favourite 90s EDM choice for me, after The Prodigy of course. This style of 90s dance music just isn’t the same anymore, the switch from analogue destroyed a certain tone that was present I believe; anyways I’ve never listened to a Chemical Brothers album the whole way through but I’ll be interested to.
AL: As I suspected, an album full of classics. While the drops are a little bit similar from time to time, considering the limitations of the technology and how early into the Brothers' career this was I think it can be excused. Some of the vocals were particularly cool, giving more of an Acid-House sound to it all. Overall, a lot more diversity than your standard 90s EDM album. It's not quite "Fat of the Land", but it's certainly somewhere close.
FT: "Song to the Siren", "Life is Sweet", "Playground of a Wedgeless Firm", "Alive Alone"
4/5
The Hives
2/5
BL: I've heard of The Hives but I've never had a chance to listen to them. So will have to see how it goes.
AL: Fun upbeat punk music. Nothing particularly world changing and only clocking in at around 30 minutes. This was enjoyable but I doubt I'd be running back to this to relisten any time particularly soon, compare to a lot of records on this list its incredibly forgettable and I'm not particularly sure why it was included.
FT: "Main Offender", "Untutored Youth", "A.K.a. I - D - I - O - T"
2/5
Violent Femmes
3/5
BL: heard of these guys because I had a friend back when I was 16 who was really into them. He was an arsehole but I have to say he had pretty impeccable music taste and got me into a lot of the stuff I’m into now. So I’ll give it a listen for sure
AL: I have to say this was a very mixed bag for me. There were some songs I did like but I found a lot of the folk-punk stuff to be incredibly annoying. If I was shown this at 16 I probably would’ve adored it but I think my music taste has matured beyond some of this now. That being said I did like some of it, some of it specifically hasn’t aged well (the lyrics on “gimmie the car” especially). But it was no where near as unenjoyable as other albums on this list. For the time I also have to appreciate this would’ve been pretty mind blowing. So I’d say it’s justified being on the list
FT: “Please Do Not Go”, “Prove my Love”, “Good Feeling”
3/5
Miles Davis
3/5
BL: The Third (and I'm sure not the last) Miles album on this generator. As far as I'm aware this is one of his better releases but I love every release of Davis I've heard so far.
AL: A very solid album. I prefer the longer 2 side suite records like "In a Silent Way" but this offered an excellent selection of more accessible jazz music for radio play. Still quintessential Davis.
FT: "Jeru", "Budo", "Godchild", "Rouge"
3/5
The Smiths
4/5
BL: I believe this is my third Smiths album on the generator now and this is my second favorite record by them as it stands generally. So it'll be good to give it a relisten.
AL: Just as I remember this is a really solid album the whole way through, though The Queen is Dead still beats this one it is certainly still a very good listen. I feel musically they were in their prime with this one.
FT: "Rusholme Ruffians", "That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore", "Barbarism Begins at Home"
4/5
Stephen Stills
5/5
BL: I've heard the name Steven Stills be mentioned a few times but never really got the chance to dig into him in any particular way so will be excited to hear this record.
AL: I loved this record a lot. The perfect mix between emotional ballads and more traditionally upbeat story writing. Highly worth the listen, stylistically nothing mindblowing especially for the time. But the musicianship and lyricism was highly worth the listen. Also a special mention to a very cool (but very 70s) cover art
FT: "Love the One You're With", "Church", "To a Flame", "We Are Not Helpless"
5/5
The Kinks
5/5
BL: The first Kinks album I got on this generator I was not a massive fan of, I found it a bit reductive. However I'm willing to come into this with an open mind as I am still a big lover of this band.
AL: This was awesome, the weird and mildly creepy vocals of The Kinks invoke a rallying cry, it is powerful and the lyrics are incredibly political for the time. Exploring concepts of small town hegemony, culture and the criticisms of it, this album serves as a brilliant deconstruction of many issues. Sonically very sound and some excellent production. Great listen and potentially one of the best rock albums I've had on the generator so far. Was listening to a vinyl rip of this and that made me think about intentional production decisions being made at the time as they may translate better to the format.
FT: "The Village Green Preservation Society, "Do You Remember Walter?", "Big Sky", "Animal Farm", "Village Green"
5/5
Buddy Holly & The Crickets
5/5
BL: Knowing my music history I'm incredibly familiar with "The Day the Music Died", however I've never actually listened to any of Buddy Holly's works. So will be interesting to check this out.
AL: This may be one of the most important records for rock and roll. The synonymous twang of Holly's Stratocaster, the group vocals still a hangover from the doo-wop eras of the past. Tight songwriting about love and lust. What more could you want. This established the hegemony until The Beatles blew it out of the water just under 10 years later.
FT: "Oh Boy!", "Not Fade Away", "Last Night"
5/5
Kanye West
4/5
BL: One of the major Kanye albums I have not listened to, I probably should've but never got round to it due to the turbulent discourse surrounding it - some laud it as the best, other spew Fantanoisms about it and agree with his and others opinions. I for one come into this unbiased so I will evaluate it as literally as possible.
AL: I Liked this. Best album of all time? No. Best Kanye album? Also probably no, I enjoyed the direction he took with this though, there are some really good ideas and musical motifs explored here. This is probably the second most culturally significant Ye album (besides The College Dropout), and it certainly holds up as it.
FT: "Dark Fantasy", "Power", "Monster", "Hell of a Life"
4/5
Teenage Fanclub
4/5
BL: Complete blind listen. Never heard of this band before. I like the album cover though.
AL: Good listen, very fun rock album. I did know "What You Do to Me" as it's definitely been in a film I'm just not sure which one. Some specific tracks really stood out, generally speaking a good strong album overall.
FT: "The Concept", "What You Do to Me", "Sidewinder", "Guiding Star"
4/5
Led Zeppelin
4/5
BL: Listened many times before, one of the quintessential rock albums of my childhood, and of course I learned Stairway to Heaven on the guitar when I was 14 or so as what else was there to do to prove I was cool.
AL: A rock staple, how can anyone argue with it. Whilst I've always been more partial to Zeppelin II, this is also a very solid listen, although I do feel like Zeppelin did rest on their laurels a little bit for this record at points. Though it's still arguably an amazing album and there are some of the best rock tracks of all time on this album.
FT: "Black Dog", "Stairway to Heaven", "Going to California", "When the Levee Breaks"
4/5
SZA
4/5
BL: Like some SZA tracks but they’re all off of her second record as opposed to this first one. So I’ll see my thoughts on this.
AL: I liked this a lot. I find her voice a bit annoying sometimes but generally the songwriting is good, the production is mint, and the features are incredibly solid too. Would listen to again.
FT: “Supermodel”, “Doves in the Wind”, “Pretty Little Birds”, “20 Something”
4/5
Jefferson Airplane
5/5
BL: a band I know by name, and one some of my friends who are into psychedelia absolutely adore but I’ve never personally gotten round to. So it’ll be good to give this one a listen finally.
AL: Awesome psychedelic listen. I loved the instrumentation and the stereo mix was amazing, and I’m sure absolutely revolutionary for the time. The lyricism, and everything blends together into an absolutely beautiful melting pot of what made everything so great about 60s music. Definitely one of the best discoveries on this generator so far
FT: “She has funny cars”, “3/5 Of a Mile In 10 Seconds”, “Embryonic Journey”, “White Rabbit”, “Plastic Fantastic Lover”, “Come Back Baby”
5/5
Gorillaz
2/5
BL: I have lots of childhood nostalgia associated with Gorillaz, and my dad used to have the Demon Days album on CD which is a pretty good record. Only know “Clint Eastwood” off this record so it’ll be interesting to hear how this record is.
AL: this was actually not that great in my opinion. I found the sounds to be rather boring throughout the record, lots of samey stuff. Generally too long for its own good and not enough to sustain itself in my eyes, which is a shame because Demon Days is actually a brilliant record. This one just isn’t in my eyes. I guess this album is on the list more for the precedent it established as the virtual band, this is cool still and for that I understand it’s inclusion on the list. Otherwise I find it to be pretty underwhelming
FT: “Clint Eastwood”, “Rock The House”, “Slow Country”
2/5
The Boo Radleys
5/5
BL: A complete blind listen
AL: An awesome dream pop / noise rock record. Some absolute shriekers on this one, also some incredibly melodic and beautifully quiet stuff too, topped off with Boards of Canada esque sampling in interludes. Just about everything I want from an album. Absolutely glad I listened to this one.
FT: "Wish I Was Skinny", "Rodney King", "Barney (...And Me)", "Take the Time Around", "Lazarus"
5/5
Donald Fagen
5/5
BL: Only knowledge of Fagen is that he was one of the members of Steely Dan, who are a group I've tried to get into a few times, and I haven't ever disliked them but still found them a little bit of a struggle to get into. I'll see how a solo venture fairs.
AL: This was an incredibly good album, mixtures of city pop and traditional rock and singer/songwriter chops. A pleasure to listen to, will definitely be listening to again.
FT: "I.G.Y", "Ruby Baby", "New Frontier", "The Nightfly", "Walk Between Raindrops"
5/5
The Clash
3/5
BL: Listened to this album before and thought it was incredibly compelling, always saw The Clash as more compelling punk rockers than that of the Sex Pistols.
AL: still as decent as I remember it. I find it hard to really get into any punk records as I think they don’t have longevity - only short bursts of anger, but this is one of the better punk records out there to be sure.
FT: “Janie Jones”, “I’m So Bored With The U.S.A”, “Career Opportunities”, “Police & Thieves”
3/5
Fatboy Slim
3/5
BL: aware of the two big ones from this record "Rockerfeller Skank" and "Praise You", both very good dance records from the 90s, so I am excited to hear the rest of this one
AL: A very solid dance record. I'm not really the type of person who sits down and listens to this music as a whole album, as I don't think it's meant to be enjoyed that way, especially not through headphones, but it was a good record nonetheless and I enjoyed listening to it.
FT: "Gangster Trippin'", "Soul Surfing", "Love Island"
3/5
The La's
5/5
BL: Complete Blind Listen
AL: Awesome proto-Britpop album, lots of catchy licks, dreamy vocal performances and generally catchy 90s rock. One of the better hidden gems on this generator so far
FT: "Son of a Gun", "I Can't Sleep", "Timeless Melody", "There She Goes", "I.O.U", "Looking Glass"
5/5
Mariah Carey
1/5
BL: Almost dreading myself for this one, I've never at all considered myself to be a Mariah fan or even know much at all outside the obvious hits, I've always cast her aside and never really paid any attention to her or the music she produces, maybe this will turn out to have been a mistake, and I'm removing any bias I may come into this listen with but truth be told I'm not holding out much hope. We'll see Mariah - We'll see.
AL: Just as bad as I expected. Over produced late 90s girl vocal pop is some of my personal least favourite forms of music. I felt the same with the Brittany Spears record, I find this type of music to be almost entirely devoid of substance. One track stuck out to me but only because of the rap feature which was quite catchy, but still incredibly mellowed out and weak as opposed to some potential other offerings this album could've served up. Maybe it's unconscious bias to this genre as a whole, but overall I found this to be incredibly weak
FT: "The Roof"
1/5
David Bowie
5/5
BL: Know the eponymous title track from this album, however know no other track from it - so it'll be interesting to see.
AL: Very interesting album, the second half came like a complete curveball after the whimsically sad nature of the first half. I suppose that's typical Bowie fashion though. The title track is still in my top 25 songs of all time, and the rest of the album matches the pace. This is absolutely something I would listen to again and I intend to find the time to.
FT: "Beauty and the Beast", ""Heroes"", "Moss Garden", "The Secret Life of Arabia"
5/5
Green Day
4/5
BL: Listened to lots of this album before, comprised a major part of my lockdown listening, specifically "she". This is my second Green Day album on the gen, and I look forward to it being just as good as American Idiot.
AL: Was incredibly tight and compact and clearly served as a blueprint for all that came after it - the problem is with classics like this though is that overtime they get outdone, still incredibly fun though
FT: "she", "when I come around"
4/5
Neil Young
4/5
BL: Neil Young is one of those artists who’s admiration is always high amongst my parents and grandparents generation but I never really delved into him, almost being a complete myth for me, I’m not really sure what he does - he could be a Tom Jones figure or a Beatles-esque figure, I’m not sure. But I shall see
AL: I liked this a lot. As a big fan of Jason Molina I can now see where a major influence lies. While this differs and adopts a slightly more rock oriented sound than a folky sound, the comparisons cannot be ignored. Very awesome, sad songs for the late night. Highly recommended and will definitely become part of my listening repertoire
FT: “Borrowed Tune”, “Mellow on my Mind”, “Tonight’s the night pt.II”
4/5
Tom Waits
5/5
BL: Familiar with some of Waits' other work however I have never listened to anything on this record. So it'll be a blind listen.
AL: this album reflects an anger which was rife within American society within the 70s. The idea of straying from the path and being present at the gig of a man your parents told you to worry about. The spoken word poetic jazz really strikes strongly here. The lyrics combined with the simple loops and interpretations and improvisations really change this into an astounding record, Waits is a showman - and completely deserves a standing ovation for this one
FT: "Spare Parts I (Nocturnal Emissions)", "Better off Without a Wife", "Spare Parts II & Closing"
5/5
The Dandy Warhols
4/5
BL: Know nothing of this band except the namesake artist it stems from, so it will be interesting to see what I think of them.
AL: A very nice psych-rock album. Lots of rhythms to get into and slowly nod along to, the second half of the album is definitely better than the first half.
FT: "Not If You Were The Last Junkie On Earth"
4/5
John Coltrane
5/5
BL: Coltrane is an artist im incredibly aware of being one of the most notable in his class. Never listened to this one despite it being one of the key listens within the jazz compendium.
AL: Awesome jazz record. Lots of interpretation, soloing and getting lost in the music. One of the masterworks within its class, though I don't enjoy this as much as something like Davis, who I think captures the soul of the music in a very different way but in a way that is more compelling to me, Loved this either way though
FT: "I: Acknowledgement", "III: Pursuance"
5/5
The Cure
5/5
BL: I love The Cure, "A Forest" off this album is one of my favourite songs to blast whilst driving in the car at night. So it'll be good to listen to this album the whole way through.
AL: An amazing atmospheric listen. All of the album feels like its building up to A Forest, and the album follows a linear lyrical theme. It comes together with an awesome closer track. I've always felt an affinity with The Cure as they come from around where I come from. An awesome album and one I'm glad I got round to listening to.
FT: "A Forest", "M", "Seventeen Seconds"
5/5
Fats Domino
3/5
BL: Fats Domino is one of the legends of music, will be great to finally sit down and listen to one of the masters of the craft.
AL: Awesome stuff, for the time. While I can appreciate that Domino may be the best at what he does the record lacks diversity in any kind and the majority relies on the standard blues riffs that him and his fellow founding fathers popularised. This can be an issue with blues riffs as they are incredibly same-y. For what it was it is a very strong record though, and do think it deserves the listen.
FT: "Blueberry Hill", "What's the reason"
3/5
Queen
5/5
BL: An album I grew up with. Though never really ever intentionally listening to it in it's full until the past year or so. The production on this album is absolutely stellar, and solidifies Brian May as one of the best guitarists of all time. Will be a pleasure to relisten
AL: Just as good as I remember, if not better. The harmonics, the guitar, the backing vocals, just total perfection the whole way through. I think post "News of the World" Queen experienced a decline for me personally. This is still my favourite album by a long way
FT: "Procession", "Father to Son", "White Queen", "The Loser In The End", "Seven Seas of Rhye"
5/5
Muddy Waters
4/5
BL: Never listened to Muddy Waters properly before, I know he's one of the quintessential blues artists, and what a way to start than with a live album, the jams and the gigs which form the roots of African American interpretive music, truly the best way to indulge in this genre.
AL: This is really something special. Creativity and rawness. Waters truly was one of the best to ever do it from the looks of things. Especially the closer, wow. Another thing that really needs to be talked about is the mixing on this album - I'm not sure if the version I was listening to is remastered (it is not labelled as so) but the fact a live recording from 1960 sounds as crisp and developed as it does, when recordings even from the late 70s don't sound anywhere near as professional as this shows the raw talent of all of the creatives within the blues scene at this time, and it's a shame many will not have their names recognised on the same level as their white counterparts of the time. What an awesome record
FT: "Goodbye Newport Blues"
4/5
The Crusaders
4/5
BL: Never heard of The Crusaders so this will be a complete blind listen for me
AL: excellent album with lots of funk, jazz, and RnB elements. Amazing to listen to and really holds its own as a record, entirely propelled by the blazing opener. Will definitely be making its way into my general rotation.
FT: "Street Life", "My Lady", "The Hustler", "Night Faces"
4/5
Carole King
3/5
BL: Know the name but know nothing about King, therefore this is pretty much a blind listen
AL: Fairly strong songwriting throughout, however the final two tracks are what really stand out in this album, absolutely immense listens, especially the closer. Worth listening too but nothing phenomenal
FT: "Tapestry", "A Natural Woman"
3/5
Nirvana
3/5
BL: To say I've never really listened to Nirvana exposes me as the pedant I used to be in my teenage years. I was certain I loved Soundgarden, and my supposed allegiance to them almost seemed to prevent me from listening to these guys. Of course this did not stop me from learning "Smells Like Teen Spirit" on the guitar in some feeble attempt to try and swoon the girls when I was 14, I'd argue it probably made me more repulsive. The hypocrisy only grew around age 17 when I fell in love with Meat Puppets, who were the people who originally gave Nirvana a platform way back when. All that aside Kurt is a man I've come to idolize for his politics and view on life, it's a shame people want to live his life for the hedonistic pleasures and not for the positive social mindset he tried to adopt. I know the world about it but not the music itself, so lets see how this album stands.
AL: Definitely not as bad as I would've once believed them to be. However this was a very mixed bag of an album. The more noisy samplings this platter offers don't offer much but angst. Whereas the tighter more concise grunge offerings are gems. My assumption would be that the band were in two minds about it all after Nevermind. Wanting to appeal both ends of the spectrum. Which in turn does create an album which did lose cohesion a couple times. Overall not a disappointing listen purely for the songs I have found that I do now love.
FT: "Heart Shaped Box", "Rape Me"
3/5
Neil Young
5/5
Listened to 03/05/25
BL: this is my first album im listening to after getting back into album listening, of which i did lots of in summer 2023, and then intermittently throughout. I am beginning again by clearing out my backlog. The first of which I’ve chosen being “After the Goldrush” by Neil Young. I’m aware of a couple of his songs, from both his band and solo careers, but this will be the first record of his I’m listening to the whole way through. I will give my feedback as follows
AL: this album really spoke to me. A portrait of a young, quiet, lonely, yet poetic man. Weird somber country tunes battle politics and historical drama, grapple with religion, and show someone trying to understand their place in the world. The Lo-Fi nature of this really adds to the melancholic quality Young slashes the listener with. There will definitely be subsequent relistens.
FTs: “After the Gold Rush”, “Southern Man”, “Birds”, “When You Dance I Can Really Love”
5/5
Bob Dylan
5/5
BL: One of the quintessential Dylan albums... ...Or so I'm told. I must admit Dylan is a notable hole in my contemporary classic music listening. I suppose no better place to start than here. "Visions of Johanna" is the only track I'm familiar with from this record, and that is my favourite Dylan track of the few I know. So it'll be interesting to hear if the rest of the record holds up.
AL: A beautiful album. Dylan's soulful singing and somber themes shine through here in a way I'd never heard based off of the hits I knew. The painful blues tracks and ballads create a level of sorrow and gentleness as though the listener is being sung to. incredibly intimate and powerful, this has got to be one of the best listens I've had on the generator so far.
FT: "Rainy Day Woman #12 & 35", "Visions of Johanna", "One of Us Must Know (Sooner or Later)", "I Want You", "Just Like a Woman", "Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands"
5/5
Count Basie & His Orchestra
2/5
BL: Heard of Count Basie through word of mouth but never knowingly listened to his works, will be interested to hear.
AL: unless I'm missing some major historical context this to me just feels like a regular, run of the mill Jazz album of its time, of which I don't feel particularly strong towards, most of the tracks blended into one and didn't provide any terms of notable listening. Quite dissapointed with this
FT: didn't have one
2/5
Tom Waits
5/5
BL: After listening to "Nighthawks at the Diner" which was my first proper Waits LP i'd listened to the whole way through, I was eager to hear more. Thus the generator has presented me with another offering. This one often regarded as his best, or atleast most notable one, so we will see if its rightly famous, or infamous.
AL: I was originally going to write that this was not as strong as NHATD, but then I considered that these two records are not at all comparable. While that captures the discontentment of the working class in America, and the angers spoken in blue collar art and poetry this focuses on something much more harrowing. Concerned with themes of death and the nihilism that comes with pondering such sober thoughts - this captures a feel seen more in the likes of Jason Molina's works. This lives and breathes the discontentment of the rust belt, where nothing ever really lives - and humans are bone machines to their masters until they wilt away and return to the dust they came from. This is absolutely amazing and almost certainly a definitive album of a time in which rock music was oversaturated with RHCP and Grunge.
FT: "The Earth Died Screaming", "Dirt in the Ground", "A Little Rain", "Goin' Out West", "Whistle Down The Wind", "That Feel"
5/5
The Beach Boys
5/5
BL: never really delved outside of the classics and pet sounds in terms of beach boys, and I’m sure they have a wealth of classics to offer, so I’m interested to take a step off the path and listen to something else by them
AL: my jaw is on the floor. This record is absolutely nuts. A political album from one of the most universally acclaimed albums of the time which was propped up on the image of the western centric swinging sixties. Actively discussing issues of student riots, racism, and most shockingly environmental issues, in a time where this was an emerging theme but a lot of people didn’t want to touch the science in fear of their images changing in the public eye, this one is a real shocker and a bloody good listen too. One of the best finds on this generator so far.
FT: “long promised road”, “Disney girls”, “a day in the life of a tree”
5/5
Alice Cooper
3/5
BL: Aware of "generation landslide" from this album and not much else, so will be interested to hear
AL: The aforementioned track in my pre-listen is still the only track I think I would continue regularly listening to. There was good stuff on this record and functions incredibly tightly as a solo record.
FT: "Generation Landslide"
3/5
The Gun Club
4/5
BL: I know The Gun Club through the song "mother earth" which I randomly uncovered a few summers ago and became one of my songs of the summer in '22. Here I am now finally getting one of their albums on the gen and I'm excited to hear it.
AL: A solid listen, leaned more into the punk side of things in this record as opposed to what I've heard on Miami, But I liked this, very reminiscent of Meat Puppets.
FT: "Preaching the Blues", "She's Like Heroin To Me", "For the Love of Ivy"
4/5
Meat Puppets
5/5
BL: This album is absolutely one of my favourites of all time. From the first time I heard plateau when I was maybe 17 approaching 18, working a job in a kitchen far out in the middle of the woods I felt some kind of deep resonance with it. \"There ain't nothing on the top but a bucket and a mop, and an illustrated book about birds\", has got to be one of my favourite lyrics of all time, period. The guitar in this album is phenomenal and the tones created are truly unique. This was the best time of year to get this album too, quickly approaching the summertime and the first day of the year I'm wearing shorts to work. The summer vibes from this album are immaculate, and I'm glad this is the first album to mark the start of the summer 2024 listening season. It is also around the year anniversary since I started my journey. Very cool stuff.
AL: Nothing much to add besides this holds up and only continues to age like a fine wine
FT: "Plateau", "Aurora Borealis", "Climbing", "Lake of Fire"
5/5
Morrissey
4/5
BL: I've become a big Smiths fan through this generator, and now this is my first Morrissey album listen through the whole way, so it will be interesting to hear it.
AL: Very solid album, there were a few tracks that just did not click for me but the good tracks are amazing. This definitely feels like something from Morrissey and not from The Smiths. Specifically National Front Disco and Certain People I Know shine through here. Good listen and I'm glad to have heard it, the production is phenomenal - one of the best mixed albums I've heard on the generator so far.
FT: "You're Gonna Need Someone On Your Side", "National Front Disco", "Certain People I Know", "I know It's going to happen some day"
4/5
Bruce Springsteen
4/5
BL: Listened to this album before. Springsteen was a large part of my youth. Tapping into the cultural alienating feeling of coming from a small town with little prospects beyond working in what little infrastructure is there (limiting myself to retail or accountancy), or going beyond and exploring the great unknown (in my case, London). This album does focus more on the politics of the time as opposed to other forays but I think this is a welcome change, and reinforced Springsteen as one of the greats of all time. I still want to see him live before the time is up.
AL: As good on the relisten as I remember, not much I can add to my previous BL, but highly recommend this one. I’d say Springsteen’s best.
FT: “Born in the USA”, “No Surrender”, “Glory Days”, “Dancing in the Dark”
4/5
Moby
5/5
BL: Aware of "Porcelain" on this album, I've always intended to listen to this album the whole way through but never had a chance to. So will be good to finally hear it
AL: This was an even better listen than I expected. I've almost become a little bit dull to "Porcelain" after all the years of listening to it, I forgot how much of a master Moby is at sampling and building complex ambient and yet danceable soundscapes. Truly one of the greats, its a shame he is such a creep.
FT: "Find my Baby", "Porcelain", "Why does my heart feel so bad", "If things were perfect", "The sky is broken"
5/5
Michael Jackson
3/5
BL: After being incredibly dissapointed by Thriller as an album when I listened to it, I am weary if I will like this one, but I will come into it without bias and try listen to it as objectively as possible.
AL: Definitely better than Thriller, the production isn't as obnoxious. This style of overproduced disco is certainly never going to be my thing, but there are moments where it works incredibly well ("Rock With You") and also more tender and quiet moments ("She's Out of My Life"), which is equally as good in it's own way, highlighting that under the Quincy Jones production, there may just be a real human being. I definitely think if Jackson made more of the ballads I'd be a much bigger fan.
FT: "Don't Stop Til You Get Enough", "Rock With You", "She's Out of My Life"
3/5
Paul Simon
3/5
BL: Big Paul Simon fan, love a lot of his tracks but I've never actually listened to an album the whole way though, apart from his debut solo which was one of the first albums I received on the generator - so will be interested to hear how this one sounds, and how he progressed from there, I like the cover a lot.
AL: The issue with this album is it will always be overshadowed by what came after, as "Graceland" is considered his magnum opus, and while it is definitely a better record than this, this album has been underated in the scheme of things as it deserves discussion and yet is one of the lesser mentioned albums on the generator.
FT: "Hearts and Bones", "Song About the Moon", "The Late Great Johnny Ace"
3/5
Frank Sinatra
4/5
BL: Both known and loved artists by myself, however was unaware that this collaboration existed, So it'll be good to see.
AL: A great album, a lot of Americanized renditions of South American classics, which I appreciate would've been the norm at the time, although the originals in the mother tongue still appeal to me more. Solid record with lots of good tracks on it, Sinatra is amazing as is Jobim. The orchestration is also very good from Ogerman.
FT: "Quiet Night of Quiet Stars", "How Insensitive"
4/5
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
2/5
BL: Aware of this album only through "American Girl" which is a cultural classic at this point. Needed to get into Tom Petty for a while so this is a good excuse to.
AL: this personally to me, didn’t resonate at all that much. It just felt very cookie cutter 70s rock. Maybe this album is on here because it kickstarted the career of one of rocks all time greats, but it generally doesn’t feel like it has any outstanding features to me besides the aforementioned track
FT: “American girl”
2/5
Ray Charles
3/5
BL: I liked the first Ray Charles I had on the generator maybe 6 months ago or so now, so it'll be good to hear this album. I'll see if it matches up to how good the first one I listened to was.
AL: Volume one was very good, quite standard - not as much innovation as the previous record, but still very good and listenable, the use of the falsetto backing vocals add a eerie vibe to it which adds to the lonesome country twang which resonates throughout. Volume two was much of the same, and its welcome had worn a bit thin by the end. Still incredibly good music, just not sure if I'd ever want to consciously listen to an hour of it again. "Midnight" was the true standout track in these two volumes
FT: "Half as Much", "You Win Again", "Midnight", "I'll Never Stand in Your Way"
3/5
Charles Mingus
5/5
BL: listened to this album once before due to it being heavily lauded by 21st century jazz heads on the web. Me being one of them myself was interested to sample the wares. I remember not thinking much of this, though I was around 15 or 16 at the time and hadn’t developed the taste for jazz that I have now. So I will see how it holds up on the relisten
AL: this was a very good album. While to me it pails to something like Headhunters by Hancock this stands out as an amazing piece of song cycle jazz and I’m very glad to have heard it. I think it’ll take multiple listens to fully dissect everything going on here, but I’m sure I will be coming back to it.
FT: “Track C - Group Dancers”
5/5
Le Tigre
4/5
BL: I’ve heard the opening track from this record before. I love it. I understand their place within the riotgrrrl movement and female punk. I always thought that one track captured a Lo-Fi B52’s sound. Which I hope the rest of the album will capture
AL: this album had a LOT more diversity than I was expecting. It weaves back and forth through a variety of different styles and songs from synth-y disco tracks to more traditional punk songs, all of it is done tongue in cheek and with a level of unparalleled sheik. There was a lot here that will certainly reward a relisten. The use of sampling was incredibly interesting and totally added to the late 90s sample heavy dance punk experience. The only track I didn’t really like was “what’s Yr take on cassavettes”, which massively detracted from an otherwise awesome album.
FT: “Deceptacon”, “Hot Topic”, “Phanta”, “My My Metrocard”
4/5
Herbie Hancock
5/5
BL: I firmly believe this may be the best jazz record of all time. If not, it certainly has a place as my favourite jazz record of all time. The steps forward Hancock took in this album and his whole career are reflective of one of the biggest jazz pioneers of the 20th century. While he may not have gone into as wild experimentations as Davis or Monk, this groove filled exploration of electronic and acoustic sounds in harmony is everything an album should be.
AL: see above.
FT: “Chameleon”, “Watermelon Man”
5/5
The Beau Brummels
4/5
BL: completely blind listen. Not sure what I’m in for. Interesting name, expecting 60s deep cut psychedelia, maybe half zombies half Beatles, But we will see.
AL: this offered a very interesting listening experience. Crafting fantastical vignettes with sardonic character, reminiscent of somewhere between King Crimson and Pentangle. Considering the time period the production is phenomenal, the drums sound good if not slightly too soft. There are many songs off of this record which will now be making their way into my replayed.
FT: “The Painter of Women”, “Nine Pound Hammer”, “Triangle”
4/5
Slint
3/5
Iistened to: 13/06/25
AL: I thought this was an incredibly interesting and unique album. I loved the track “Washer”, but I found the overall aesthetic of the album difficult to get into. I can see the modern day influence in BC;NR and similar bands, however this is almost too raw for me.
FT: “Washer”
3/5
The Human League
3/5
BL: I love the human league. I have very happy memories of me and my dad listening to “keep feeling fascination” when I was younger, and I was inspired by the vocals in the hook. That being said, I have never really delved into the human league besides that track, “don’t you want me”, and “together in electric dreams”. So it’ll be interesting to hear a full LP from them.
AL: this album clearly blew the top off of the new wave movement at the time. There were some fascinating production choices and it was overall an incredibly enjoyable listen. Today it doesn’t quite hold up as the monolith it may have been upon release, but that’s not to say there definitely isn’t replay value here and it will definitely be something where I will come back to certain tracks, and I think it’ll grow on me over time.
FT: “Do or Die”, “Seconds”, “Don’t You Want Me”
3/5
OutKast
5/5
BL: This is an album I’ve listened through before. It was part of my dads CD collection which I delved into when I first started listening to music properly around age 12. It has been a long time since I’ve listened to this so I will see how it has evolved in the near decade since.
AL: this album still rocks. All of the P-funk influence throughout is absolutely what holds it down. It is fair to say that without this the rise of rappers embracing this style of integrating funk and older black music into their beats would not have happened in the same way. There are some tracks which definitely attracted my attention which I’d never really thought about before, “Toilet Tisha” specifically stood out as an amazing track which had slipped under my radar before. The features are amazing, the performances from both are amazing, this remains one of the strongest hip-hop records of all time for me.
FT: “Gasoline Dreams”, “Ms. Jackson”, “B.O.B. (Bombs Over Baghdad)”, “We Luv Deez Hoes”, “Toilet Tisha”
5/5
Black Sabbath
5/5
BL: I’ve listened to their S/T & Paranoid so I think I’ve got Sabbath pretty locked down at this point. The origins of that slow doom / stoner metal sound is something I’ve fallen completely in love with and I can’t wait to hear even more of it.
AL: I take back a lot of what I said in my initial before listening. I definitely did not have Sabbath pinned down. In the opening two tracks it followed the standard formula. Then we got hit by a cocaine fuelled super ballad “changes”, a track I was aware of (but for some reason had only ever heard covers of). Then it continues on in classic sabbathian fashion. “Snowblind” being a standout here. I loved this record a lot. As I love sabbath. Always pushing the boundaries, always trying to evolve, I have nothing bad to say about them or this record.
FT: “Wheels of Confusion / The Straightener”, “Changes”, “Snowblind”, “Laguna Sunrise”
5/5
Patti Smith
4/5
BL: completely blind listen, aware of one track from the Patti Smith Group but never listened to any of her solo work.
AL: I liked this. This is absolutely an album experience, I don’t think I’d see myself coming back to many of these tracks on their own, but I will certainly be coming back to this album and dissecting it further. I think it did start to drag a bit by the end, there is only so much spoken word drone rock I can muster. But the overarching story provided compelling and the overall experience would totally be spiritual to hear it blasted out of a venue PA with rising instrumentals.
FT: “Gloria”, “Land”
4/5
Bob Dylan
5/5
BL: a fan of Dylan, I specifically loved the first album I had of his on the generator (Blonde on Blonde), so I’ll be excited to hear another offering by him.
AL: this album provided a real treat to listen to. While more uptempo than Blonde on Blonde, the first half of the album captures a working class man’s rage as he expresses the anger of the humdrum of everyday life. This transitions into a more psychedelic transitional passage of dreams, leading into a more somber closing half - discussing violence, and lovers leaving. This was just as good as Blonde on Blonde, even though it was incredibly different. Dylan cements himself as one of the best musicians of all time, despite not harbouring a lot of the traditional accolades his counterparts would hold. Highly recommend to anyone.
FT: “Subterranean Homesick Blues”, “Maggie’s Farm”, “Bob Dylan’s 155th Dream”, “It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue”
5/5
New Order
5/5
BL: I’ve only listened to the hits from new order. I have fond memories of my dad introducing me to blue Monday. But despite the fact that it holds such a strong place in pop culture, I find myself not ever having properly dug into it, so I’m happy to be making this first step today.
AL: I loved this album. Existing in a groovy cavern between dance, disco, and ambient electronica. New Order have carved out a very specific niche that not many have broken into, and those that have still pail in comparison. I will be putting this on frequently now, and digging into different new order albums for more listening
FT: “Love Vigilante”, “This Time of The Night”, “Sunrise”, “Elegia”, “Face Up”
5/5
Slipknot
5/5
BL: used to listen to this album religiously when I first got into metal aged 13 or so. As I got older and I got into more hardcore metal I drifted away from this album and didn’t come back. Since returning I have become a full blown audiophile and my opinions on metal and how it exists in the space has radically changed, often not giving it the time of day. So it’ll be interesting to see how this sounds, and see if it ranks as high as All Hope is Gone, which I’ve already received on the generator
AL: this album is actually incredibly understated I reckon. The Rubin production on it is phenomenal, it’s mixed amazingly and the songs are all catchy, almost danceable, if not still embroiled with that hardcore vitriol that we came to love slipknot for. Undoubtedly the lyrical content feels Incelic at times, but ultimately apart from that, I understand why I adored this record when I started my metal journey, and I can see now why it’s even better than I originally imagined.
FT: “(sic)”, “Wait & Bleed”, “Me Inside”, “Prosthetics”
5/5
Peter Gabriel
4/5
BL: I own this album on cassette for testing my cassette player with speakers, but never listened the whole way through.
AL: I loved this album. There are so many understated picks which keep their pop appeal but also channel a level of aberrant I hadn’t expected. The second half isn’t quite as good, but I still loved it.
FT: “Red Rain”, “Mercy Street”
4/5
The White Stripes
4/5
BL: I am aware of "fell in love with a girl", from this album but have not delved further. I remember receiving "Elephant" on this generator before and absolutely loving it, so going back further now in the discography will be a case study of whether rawness and low fidelity captures the essence of a garage rock band more-so than pristine recording.
AL: I thought this album had some creative twists and turns, it highlights a formula which would become commonplace by the release of Elephant, cacophonous explosions of garage rock, combined with quieter ballads and spoken word segments. I think this album feels better, but this is likely only because it is a more recent listen, I would have to compare side by side to truly know. I liked this a lot and will certainly be coming back to a lot of the tracks
FT: "Fell In Love With A Girl", "The Union Forever", "We're Going To Be Friends", "This Protector"
4/5
Creedence Clearwater Revival
5/5
Listened to Tuesday 20/05/25 - around 3pm driving in my car
BL: I loved “cosmo’s factory” so it’ll be interesting to see whether this extends to another one of their records
AL: this was even better than I expected it to be. The driving blues rhythm behind all of this creates a feeling of political ease, ready to burst through the heat and plant the flag in some lonesome bog where the intact bodies of America’s damaged heritage lies. Not far from uncle tom’s cabin. Revolutionary music for the working man. Highly commended and will have to go back to and dig further through their discography.
FT: “Green River”, “Tombstone Shadow”, “Wrote a song for everyone”, “Bad Moon Rising”, “Lodi”, “The Night Time is the Right Time”
5/5
The Rolling Stones
3/5
Listened to Monday 19/05/25 - in the evening driving in the car with my dad
AL: I really enjoyed this album, the use of slide guitar which has a really raw recorded feel, as opposed to overproduced which you can often hear, reallly adds to the ‘down and dirty’ era of the stones we experience here, right after their drug bust, writing about all they were disillusioned with. While I don’t think this is as strong as ‘Exile on Main Street’ or ‘Sticky Fingers’, I think this is a very solid record all round, and am glad to have listened to it.
FT: “Sympathy for the Devil”, “Jigsaw Puzzle”, “Prodigal Son”
3/5