Mar 31 2023
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Illinois
Sufjan Stevens
3
Apr 01 2023
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Melodrama
Lorde
4
Apr 02 2023
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Heroes
David Bowie
4
Apr 03 2023
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Fear Of Music
Talking Heads
5
Apr 04 2023
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B-52's
The B-52's
4
Apr 05 2023
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Beautiful Freak
Eels
3
Apr 06 2023
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Crocodiles
Echo And The Bunnymen
5
Apr 07 2023
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Only Built 4 Cuban Linx
Raekwon
5
Apr 08 2023
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The Undertones
The Undertones
4
Apr 09 2023
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Heartattack And Vine
Tom Waits
4
Apr 10 2023
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Daydream Nation
Sonic Youth
4
Apr 11 2023
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My Aim Is True
Elvis Costello
3
Apr 12 2023
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Fulfillingness' First Finale
Stevie Wonder
4
Apr 13 2023
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Moon Safari
Air
2
Apr 14 2023
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Sea Change
Beck
2
Apr 15 2023
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S&M
Metallica
1
Apr 16 2023
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Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
Beatles
5
Apr 17 2023
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Django Django
Django Django
2
Apr 18 2023
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Tapestry
Carole King
5
Apr 19 2023
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Odessey And Oracle
The Zombies
3
Apr 20 2023
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I'm Your Man
Leonard Cohen
3
Apr 21 2023
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Siembra
Willie Colón & Rubén Blades
5
Apr 22 2023
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Home Is Where The Music Is
Hugh Masekela
2
Apr 23 2023
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Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space
Spiritualized
4
Apr 24 2023
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Is This It
The Strokes
4
Apr 25 2023
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Figure 8
Elliott Smith
2
Apr 26 2023
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Arise
Sepultura
3
Apr 27 2023
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Stand!
Sly & The Family Stone
4
Apr 28 2023
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British Steel
Judas Priest
3
Apr 29 2023
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This Is Fats Domino
Fats Domino
4
Apr 30 2023
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Parklife
Blur
5
May 01 2023
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Rock 'N Soul
Solomon Burke
5
May 02 2023
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Violent Femmes
Violent Femmes
5
May 03 2023
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The Soft Bulletin
The Flaming Lips
4
May 04 2023
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Nevermind
Nirvana
5
May 05 2023
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Come Find Yourself
Fun Lovin' Criminals
2
May 06 2023
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Dummy
Portishead
4
May 07 2023
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John Prine
John Prine
3
May 08 2023
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Solid Air
John Martyn
5
May 09 2023
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Countdown To Ecstasy
Steely Dan
3
May 10 2023
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Time Out
The Dave Brubeck Quartet
5
May 11 2023
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Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots
The Flaming Lips
5
May 12 2023
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Elephant
The White Stripes
4
May 13 2023
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The Number Of The Beast
Iron Maiden
5
May 14 2023
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Pacific Ocean Blue
Dennis Wilson
4
May 15 2023
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Exile In Guyville
Liz Phair
3
May 16 2023
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Forever Changes
Love
5
May 17 2023
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Coat Of Many Colors
Dolly Parton
3
May 18 2023
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Back At The Chicken Shack
Jimmy Smith
2
May 19 2023
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The Boatman's Call
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
2
May 20 2023
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The Man Machine
Kraftwerk
5
May 21 2023
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69 Love Songs
The Magnetic Fields
5
May 22 2023
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Black Holes and Revelations
Muse
5
May 23 2023
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Vol. 4
Black Sabbath
3
May 24 2023
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The Genius Of Ray Charles
Ray Charles
5
May 25 2023
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The Stooges
The Stooges
2
May 26 2023
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Post Orgasmic Chill
Skunk Anansie
2
May 27 2023
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Grace
Jeff Buckley
2
May 28 2023
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Bug
Dinosaur Jr.
2
May 29 2023
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The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
5
May 30 2023
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The Blueprint
JAY Z
4
May 31 2023
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Endtroducing.....
DJ Shadow
4
Jun 01 2023
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In The Court Of The Crimson King
King Crimson
3
Jun 02 2023
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Hounds Of Love
Kate Bush
4
Jun 03 2023
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Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)
Wu-Tang Clan
5
Jun 04 2023
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Frampton Comes Alive
Peter Frampton
2
Jun 05 2023
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Sail Away
Randy Newman
5
Jun 06 2023
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Boston
Boston
3
Jun 07 2023
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Hypocrisy Is The Greatest Luxury
The Disposable Heroes Of Hiphoprisy
4
Jun 08 2023
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Remedy
Basement Jaxx
4
Jun 09 2023
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Dr. Octagonecologyst
Dr. Octagon
2
Jun 10 2023
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Smash
The Offspring
3
Jun 11 2023
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Sulk
The Associates
5
Jun 12 2023
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Armed Forces
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
5
Jun 13 2023
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Licensed To Ill
Beastie Boys
5
Jun 14 2023
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Fear and Whiskey
Mekons
5
Jun 15 2023
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OK
Talvin Singh
3
Jun 16 2023
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Water From An Ancient Well
Abdullah Ibrahim
5
Jun 17 2023
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OK Computer
Radiohead
5
Jun 18 2023
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Tea for the Tillerman
Cat Stevens
3
Jun 19 2023
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Toys In The Attic
Aerosmith
2
Jun 20 2023
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If You Can Believe Your Eyes & Ears
The Mamas & The Papas
3
Jun 21 2023
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Bummed
Happy Mondays
I’ve kept coming back to this album for more than 30 years. It’s a complete mess from start to finish and sounds like it was recorded in a club toilet. But it’s also great in its own shambolic way. Shaun Ryder sings out of tune like no one’s listening and there’s something of the everyman in that, he’s not trying to be a rock star. He’s also a great lyricist. The way he uses the rhythms of ordinary (often sweary) language to express meaning and match the melody is extraordinary. For example, the lines from ‘Wrote For Luck’ about his lack of education: ‘I’ve not been trained, I can sit and stand and beg and roll over, I don’t read I just guess’. Ryder isn’t book smart and he can barely sing, but he’s very good with words. He was awarded the NME Godlike Genius award in 2000, and I know they give the award every year but there really is something preternaturally gifted about Shaun Ryder that justifies the genius label.
Best song: Wrote For Luck
5
Jun 22 2023
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Oar
Alexander 'Skip' Spence
It’s difficult not to be influenced by the back-story, but this stumbling search for music seems completely authentic. I felt close to something mysterious and powerful.
5
Jun 23 2023
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After The Gold Rush
Neil Young
4
Jun 24 2023
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Meat Is Murder
The Smiths
4
Jun 25 2023
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Exodus
Bob Marley & The Wailers
5
Jun 26 2023
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John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band
John Lennon
5
Jun 27 2023
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Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
Wilco
4
Jun 28 2023
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Unknown Pleasures
Joy Division
5
Jun 29 2023
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Here, My Dear
Marvin Gaye
5
Jun 30 2023
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Tarkus
Emerson, Lake & Palmer
I listened to the Jordan Rudess cover of Tarkus and it really helped. Back to the original album again and after a few listens I eventually liked Tarkus and Bitches Crystal.
3
Jul 01 2023
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Electric Ladyland
Jimi Hendrix
5
Jul 02 2023
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Time (The Revelator)
Gillian Welch
2
Jul 03 2023
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Let It Bleed
The Rolling Stones
5
Jul 04 2023
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One Nation Under A Groove
Funkadelic
4
Jul 05 2023
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Green
R.E.M.
5
Jul 06 2023
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Snivilisation
Orbital
3
Jul 07 2023
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Maxinquaye
Tricky
I like the witty cover of Public Enemy and the Portishead adjacent “Hell is Round The Corner”. The rest is just too evocative of a sinister demi-monde for me. All credit to Tricky for diving into this psychosexual morass, but it's very disturbing. The fact that it’s also really boring to listen to doesn’t help.
2
Jul 08 2023
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The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars
David Bowie
5
Jul 09 2023
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Peter Gabriel 3
Peter Gabriel
4
Jul 10 2023
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evermore
Taylor Swift
4
Jul 11 2023
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Led Zeppelin III
Led Zeppelin
3
Jul 12 2023
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At Folsom Prison
Johnny Cash
5
Jul 13 2023
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Little Earthquakes
Tori Amos
3
Jul 14 2023
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Moving Pictures
Rush
The run from 'Red Barchetta' to 'YYZ' to 'Limelight' is great. The rest doesn't grab me in the same way, but I like 'Witch Hunt' enough.
4
Jul 15 2023
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Hot Fuss
The Killers
Mr Brightside is a bit annoying after you’ve heard it a zillion times, but I have to concede that the first half of this album is relentless, banger after banger. The second half is pretty good as well, it only seems weak compared to the first half.
5
Jul 16 2023
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Superfly
Curtis Mayfield
4
Jul 17 2023
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Third/Sister Lovers
Big Star
An excellent album. Ahead of its time, but great songs in their own right as well.
5
Jul 18 2023
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Garbage
Garbage
3
Jul 19 2023
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Felt Mountain
Goldfrapp
5
Jul 20 2023
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Deep Purple In Rock
Deep Purple
5
Jul 21 2023
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At Fillmore East
The Allman Brothers Band
The blues rock jamming on Disc 1 is nice to listen to, but In Memory of Elizabeth Reed and Whipping Post on Disc 2 take it somewhere else. About 15 minutes in Whipping Post is clinically dead, but I kind of like how they nonetheless persist and keep going, even resorting to Frere Au Jacques at one point. It's the impression of music being formed in real time that draws my attention.
4
Jul 22 2023
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Bat Out Of Hell
Meat Loaf
An exhilarating, energising album. It's campy fun, but there's also a raw, primal power.
5
Jul 23 2023
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Fred Neil
Fred Neil
4
Jul 24 2023
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Searching For The Young Soul Rebels
Dexys Midnight Runners
Classic Northern Soul. Kevin Rowland captures the feel of late 50s/early 60s US soul perfectly. The mannered vocals, the crying/singing is very specific to the music he's evoking, and outside of that context it's a bit of a challenge to listen to.
4
Jul 25 2023
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Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness
The Smashing Pumpkins
I liked the drumming, quite a distinctive style. I liked some of the songs: Tonight Tonight, Jellybelly, Zero, Bullet With Butterfly Wings, Love, Galapogos, Take Me Down, Bodies, XYU, By Starlight.
3
Jul 26 2023
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Wild Gift
X
The female vocalist (Exene) really makes this album for me. Her singing is terrible, but that’s exactly what this kind of music needs. John Doe can sing, and the combination of the two voices is just perfect. The lyrics are wonderfully clever/stupid. Great fun.
5
Jul 27 2023
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Fleet Foxes
Fleet Foxes
Beautiful music and excellent lyrics. I like the patterning of words and phrases across the different songs. For example, variations on the phrases ‘come home’ and ‘lay down’. The patterns create strange emotional ambiguities as the phrases are repeated with slightly different meanings.
5
Jul 28 2023
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The Last Broadcast
Doves
I liked Words and There Goes The Fear. A bit folky, ethereal, dance beats. The rest was dreary and leaden.
2
Jul 29 2023
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1989
Taylor Swift
Jaw-droppingly stunning.
5
Jul 30 2023
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Black Metal
Venom
The singer sounds like he’s on the verge of laughing at the silliness of it all. Pirate aaarghs!, amateur dramatic society Olden Times accents, a chorus of ‘Get your tits out for the lads!’. It’s such a daft album, lots of fun.
4
Jul 31 2023
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Rust In Peace
Megadeth
Surprisingly delicate in places, but mostly like being plugged into the mains.
5
Aug 01 2023
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Since I Left You
The Avalanches
4
Aug 02 2023
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Debut
Björk
4
Aug 03 2023
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Shake Your Money Maker
The Black Crowes
Maybe I'm missing the point with this kind of music, but isn't it supposed to be fun and exciting? Like The Faces and The Rolling Stones. This is mostly a joyless trudge, except for the excellent piano work provided by session musician Chuck Leavell (formerly of The Allman Brothers, keyboardist on Rolling Stones studio albums). I watched the video for Hard to Handle, and the lead singer is a cool dude, he looks a lot of fun. None of that came across listening to the album.
2
Aug 04 2023
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Seventeen Seconds
The Cure
Songs that pulsate like living things on life support. Electronic heartbeats, waves crashing, lovely swooshing noises, swirling, enveloping, jangly, surprisingly danceable. A Forest is a great dance track. Part John Carpenter horror movie, part disco for the despondent.
5
Aug 05 2023
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Fragile
Yes
The music changing every 10 seconds made this a difficult album to get a fix on. I really liked Heart of the Sunrise, especially the last sung part. I also liked South Side of the Sky.
3
Aug 06 2023
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Sweet Baby James
James Taylor
3
Aug 07 2023
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Cross
Justice
An erratic dial up internet connection in musical form. Nostalgic for interference, static and distortion. Stuttering, dark, dystopian, decadent, nihilistic. Also very catchy and accessible.
4
Aug 08 2023
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The Bends
Radiohead
5
Aug 09 2023
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Floodland
Sisters Of Mercy
Alternates between dance tracks and gloomy gothic. I really liked Lucretia, This Corrosion, Flood II and Driven Like Snow. 1959 is pretty good as well.
4
Aug 21 2023
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Document
R.E.M.
Definitive late 80s indie pop. Best in class for this kind of thing. Soul and dance beats, funky bass lines, jangly guitar, interlacing melodies, bookish lyrics. A lot of indie disco floor fillers here.
5
Aug 22 2023
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Bitches Brew
Miles Davis
5
Aug 23 2023
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Guero
Beck
I like the first half. Weirdly aggressive lyrics at odds with the easy-going vibes. Girl is a creepy song. The second half is mostly cowboy songs and 60s pop pastiches, but Rental Car is back in the world of the funky psychopath.
3
Aug 24 2023
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Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge
Mudhoney
I liked the indie/post-punk tracks: Generation Genocide, Good Enough, Something So Clear, Fuzz Gun and Pokin Around. I didn’t like the full-on metal tracks.
3
Aug 25 2023
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Before And After Science
Brian Eno
The second half is really rather lovely. It just lifts you up and floats you away. By the end of the final lullaby I was completely relaxed. And it works surprising well with the daftness of the first half. Like you’re loosening up with jokes and a good old sing song first.
5
Aug 26 2023
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Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music
Ray Charles
Romantic, sexy music for grownups. A great let's get back together album.
So many people saying it's too long, you're listening to Vol 1 & 2! The original album is 40 minutes long and ends with Hey, Good Lookin'...
5
Aug 27 2023
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Bluesbreakers
John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers
4
Aug 28 2023
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The Healer
John Lee Hooker
4
Aug 29 2023
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Transformer
Lou Reed
5
Aug 30 2023
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American IV: The Man Comes Around
Johnny Cash
4
Aug 31 2023
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The Sensual World
Kate Bush
4
Sep 01 2023
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Risque
CHIC
5
Sep 02 2023
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Arrival
ABBA
Outside of the hits, I really liked some of the curios here: That’s Me, Tiger, Arrival. A more eclectic album than I was expecting.
4
Sep 03 2023
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La Revancha Del Tango
Gotan Project
2
Sep 04 2023
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Ágætis Byrjun
Sigur Rós
3
Sep 05 2023
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London Calling
The Clash
5
Sep 06 2023
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Alien Lanes
Guided By Voices
3
Sep 07 2023
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Os Mutantes
Os Mutantes
5
Sep 08 2023
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Being There
Wilco
A pleasant, undemanding listen. Ideal music for a nice sit down and a cup of tea. I’m really liking some of the Randy Newman vibes.
4
Sep 09 2023
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Fear Of A Black Planet
Public Enemy
I bought the follow up to It Takes a Nation of Millions To Hold Us Back as soon it was released, and, blimey, if it wasn’t even better. One of the most powerful musical experiences of my life.
Instead of rough, industrial beats for Chuck D to rap over, the music is much lusher, more depth, more funk. It wasn’t the political content that hit me back when I first heard it (because ITANOMTHUB is similar in that regard, although Fear Of A Black Planet does package it up more neatly into discrete topics), it was the new way it was being delivered. It takes the ITANOMTHUB song ‘Party For Your Right To Fight’ and follows through on its promise.
As well as the full-on party friendly funk, another thing that’s different on this album is the use of interludes and snippets. They control the pace, but also provide context and/or make rhetorical points. For example, the ‘They would rather switch than fight’ introduction to Fight The Power and the phone call that abruptly transitions between Anti-Nigga Machine and Burn, Hollywood Burn. You don’t get that kind of thing on It ITANOMTHUB.
On the downside, Meet The G That Killed Me is incredibly crass, and I always skip it. While I’m about it I skip Pollywanacraka as well. The attitude to women in a couple of the tracks is a bit cringe. Chuck D isn’t a convincing feminist, which isn’t surprising really because he’s one of the world’s great mansplainers.
5
Sep 10 2023
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Atomizer
Big Black
3
Sep 11 2023
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I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight
Richard Thompson
4
Sep 12 2023
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Music in Exile
Songhoy Blues
4
Sep 13 2023
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O.G. Original Gangster
Ice T
3
Sep 14 2023
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Ramones
Ramones
5
Sep 15 2023
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The Beach Boys Today!
The Beach Boys
5
Sep 16 2023
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Paul's Boutique
Beastie Boys
5
Sep 17 2023
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Loveless
My Bloody Valentine
5
Sep 18 2023
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Cut
The Slits
I’d heard of The Slits, thought they would be a challenge, wasn’t expecting this at all. It’s loads of fun, incredibly catchy post-punk/ska.
5
Sep 19 2023
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Deja Vu
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
4
Sep 20 2023
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Physical Graffiti
Led Zeppelin
3
Sep 21 2023
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Drunk
Thundercat
3
Sep 22 2023
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Maxwell's Urban Hang Suite
Maxwell
5
Sep 23 2023
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Brothers
The Black Keys
I like this, but the soul seems like filler to the blues. El Camino is the other way round.
4
Sep 24 2023
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Miriam Makeba
Miriam Makeba
3
Sep 25 2023
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The Idiot
Iggy Pop
5
Sep 26 2023
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Dire Straits
Dire Straits
3
Sep 27 2023
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Lazer Guided Melodies
Spiritualized
4
Sep 28 2023
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Tres Hombres
ZZ Top
3
Sep 29 2023
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Talking Timbuktu
Ali Farka Touré
3
Sep 30 2023
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Amnesiac
Radiohead
Turn of the century electronica/exotica/cabaret combined with turn of the century singer-songwriter. I didn't find it very interesting. I do like that they did a track with Humphrey Lyttelton though, it’s the best on the album.
2
Oct 01 2023
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A Little Deeper
Ms. Dynamite
Ms Dynamite emerged from the UK Garage scene, but she didn’t have the same global success as Craig David. It’s a decent British R&B album. I really liked it.
4
Oct 02 2023
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All Directions
The Temptations
The Temptations are the epitome of classy, the kind of act that if you're in a tight spot you might think, what would The Temptations do? The answer being grab a tuxedo and style it out. Turns out they were in a tight spot with this album. They wanted to keep it classy and not use the n word. On the other hand, they also wanted to keep it classy and not sing a song about an irresponsible father. They weren't happy, but they slid into the tuxedos and went to work.
3
Oct 03 2023
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The World is a Ghetto
War
4
Oct 04 2023
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Rapture
Anita Baker
4
Oct 05 2023
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Made In Japan
Deep Purple
4
Oct 06 2023
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It's A Shame About Ray
The Lemonheads
It’s making me think of ‘My So Called Life’. So many bands sounded like this in the late 80s and early 90s, The Lemonheads don’t really stand out from the rest, but it’s easy on the ears, pleasant enough indie pop.
3
Oct 07 2023
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Lost In The Dream
The War On Drugs
5
Oct 08 2023
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Liege And Lief
Fairport Convention
5
Oct 09 2023
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Youth And Young Manhood
Kings of Leon
3
Oct 10 2023
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GREY Area
Little Simz
4
Oct 11 2023
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Boy In Da Corner
Dizzee Rascal
5
Oct 12 2023
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E.V.O.L.
Sonic Youth
3
Oct 13 2023
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It's Too Late to Stop Now
Van Morrison
2
Oct 14 2023
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We Are Family
Sister Sledge
4
Oct 15 2023
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Truth
Jeff Beck
2
Oct 16 2023
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25
Adele
4
Oct 17 2023
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Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
5
Oct 18 2023
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Let's Get It On
Marvin Gaye
5
Oct 19 2023
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Microshift
Hookworms
3
Oct 20 2023
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Darklands
The Jesus And Mary Chain
4
Oct 21 2023
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Head Hunters
Herbie Hancock
The proto EDM of Chameleon makes an initial impact. There’s a jittery, nervous energy to side 1 that I found anxiety inducing. The anxiety is resolved about 2 minutes into Sly at the start of side 2. The two halves complement each other perfectly. It's also got a great album cover. Favourite track: Sly.
5
Oct 22 2023
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Rip It Up
Orange Juice
4
Oct 23 2023
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Aja
Steely Dan
5
Oct 24 2023
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Superunknown
Soundgarden
4
Oct 25 2023
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White Light / White Heat
The Velvet Underground
I thought this was great. It’s got a 60s Happenings vibe to it, part beatnik party, part performance art. The white noise and distortion add to the atmosphere, sounding like the hubbub of a crowd or a poorly recorded bootleg. Favourite track: Sister Ray.
5
Oct 26 2023
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...And Justice For All
Metallica
3
Oct 27 2023
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The Contino Sessions
Death In Vegas
Better than I expected. And it’s trying so hard to be liked, bringing in the guest vocalists and everything. It meets the listener half-way, and I’ll return the courtesy by bumping them up to a 4.
4
Oct 28 2023
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Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
5
Oct 29 2023
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Ingenue
k.d. lang
4
Oct 30 2023
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The Dreaming
Kate Bush
My favourite Bush album so far. The title track includes contributions from well-known animal impersonator Percy Edwards, and well-known didgeridoo player Rolf Harris. Bush herself channels Kenneth Williams’ Rambling Syd Rumpo. She really embraces the music hall tradition, 60s and 70s light entertainment and novelty records. The whole thing is completely bonkers, loads of fun.
5
Oct 31 2023
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Tidal
Fiona Apple
3
Nov 01 2023
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In The Wee Small Hours
Frank Sinatra
It’s all very film noir. The romantic tough guy. The lyrics are strikingly prosaic and domestic. There are a few poetic descriptions of rain falling and whatnot, but mostly it’s easy chairs, empty beds and toothpaste around the mouth.
4
Nov 02 2023
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Grievous Angel
Gram Parsons
4
Nov 03 2023
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The Infotainment Scan
The Fall
Absolutely bloody brilliant, like everything by The Fall. The only downside was that I knew I was going to listen to the full 2 hours including extras. This is described as one of the most accessible albums from The Fall, but don't worry, the ‘accessible’ bit just refers to a dance music tilt, other than that it's business as usual.
Favourite lyric from the extras: ‘If I ever end up like Richard Madeley cut my hands off with an axe please’ (A Past Gone Mad, Peel Session 16)
Favourite song: Lost in Music
5
Nov 04 2023
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The Stranger
Billy Joel
3
Nov 05 2023
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Crossing the Red Sea With the Adverts
The Adverts
4
Nov 06 2023
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What's That Noise?
Coldcut
4
Nov 07 2023
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The ArchAndroid
Janelle Monáe
5
Nov 08 2023
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Something Else By The Kinks
The Kinks
4
Nov 09 2023
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Rising Above Bedlam
Jah Wobble's Invaders Of The Heart
3
Nov 10 2023
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Sheer Heart Attack
Queen
3
Nov 11 2023
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Live At The Regal
B.B. King
One of my all-time favourite albums. BB hams it up something rotten, but to say the audience lap it up is something of an understatement. The atmosphere is electric, I’m imagining people being carried out on stretchers.
5
Nov 12 2023
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Scream, Dracula, Scream
Rocket From The Crypt
Meat and potatoes rock, but the horns and Elvis Costello vibes are fun, I might come back to it.
3
Nov 13 2023
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Teenager Of The Year
Frank Black
4
Nov 14 2023
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Hybrid Theory
Linkin Park
4
Nov 15 2023
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Rid Of Me
PJ Harvey
5
Nov 16 2023
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Bookends
Simon & Garfunkel
5
Nov 17 2023
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Crime Of The Century
Supertramp
2
Nov 18 2023
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Rust Never Sleeps
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
I liked Side 1, and the closer Hey, Hey, My, My.
3
Nov 19 2023
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Nighthawks At The Diner
Tom Waits
4
Nov 20 2023
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Music From Big Pink
The Band
Favourite song: I Shall Be Released.
3
Nov 21 2023
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Rubber Soul
Beatles
5
Nov 22 2023
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Paranoid
Black Sabbath
3
Nov 23 2023
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Kick Out The Jams (Live)
MC5
3
Nov 24 2023
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Disraeli Gears
Cream
5
Nov 26 2023
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American Idiot
Green Day
3
Nov 27 2023
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The Dark Side Of The Moon
Pink Floyd
5
Nov 28 2023
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Speakerboxxx/The Love Below
OutKast
3
Nov 29 2023
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Smile
Brian Wilson
4
Nov 30 2023
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Hard Again
Muddy Waters
5
Dec 01 2023
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Fifth Dimension
The Byrds
4
Dec 02 2023
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The Fat Of The Land
The Prodigy
5
Dec 03 2023
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Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
2
Dec 04 2023
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Hail To the Thief
Radiohead
4
Dec 05 2023
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Bossanova
Pixies
3
Dec 06 2023
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Live At Leeds
The Who
3
Dec 07 2023
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In A Silent Way
Miles Davis
5
Dec 08 2023
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Henry's Dream
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
5
Dec 09 2023
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Ill Communication
Beastie Boys
3
Dec 10 2023
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1999
Prince
3
Dec 11 2023
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Different Class
Pulp
5
Dec 12 2023
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Five Leaves Left
Nick Drake
5
Dec 13 2023
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Isn't Anything
My Bloody Valentine
5
Dec 14 2023
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Songs In The Key Of Life
Stevie Wonder
5
Dec 15 2023
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When I Was Born For The 7th Time
Cornershop
3
Dec 16 2023
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Cloud Nine
The Temptations
3
Dec 17 2023
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Suicide
Suicide
4
Dec 18 2023
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Caetano Veloso
Caetano Veloso
3
Dec 19 2023
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Gorillaz
Gorillaz
3
Dec 20 2023
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Electric Warrior
T. Rex
5
Dec 21 2023
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Deloused in the Comatorium
The Mars Volta
3
Dec 22 2023
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Jagged Little Pill
Alanis Morissette
4
Dec 23 2023
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Zombie
Fela Kuti
5
Dec 24 2023
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Madman Across The Water
Elton John
4
Dec 25 2023
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Station To Station
David Bowie
5
Dec 26 2023
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A Christmas Gift For You From Phil Spector
Various Artists
4
Dec 27 2023
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Goo
Sonic Youth
4
Dec 28 2023
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Real Life
Magazine
4
Dec 29 2023
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The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter
The Incredible String Band
3
Dec 30 2023
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Blonde On Blonde
Bob Dylan
I like Bob Dylan, but oddly enough have never listened to Blonde On Blonde. It’s quite poppy, isn’t it? More swinging 60s than the two preceding albums, a bit more continental sounding.
5
Dec 31 2023
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Remain In Light
Talking Heads
5
Jan 01 2024
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Marcus Garvey
Burning Spear
4
Jan 02 2024
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The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill
Lauryn Hill
5
Jan 03 2024
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Africa Brasil
Jorge Ben Jor
4
Jan 04 2024
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Technique
New Order
3
Jan 05 2024
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Gentlemen
The Afghan Whigs
3
Jan 06 2024
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Catch A Fire
Bob Marley & The Wailers
5
Jan 07 2024
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Your New Favourite Band
The Hives
5
Jan 08 2024
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Led Zeppelin II
Led Zeppelin
3
Jan 09 2024
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Straight Outta Compton
N.W.A.
4
Jan 10 2024
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Abbey Road
Beatles
5
Jan 11 2024
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Smokers Delight
Nightmares On Wax
3
Jan 12 2024
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Pretzel Logic
Steely Dan
2
Jan 13 2024
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Iron Maiden
Iron Maiden
I really liked this, maybe even more than ‘classic’ Maiden. They went off in a more epic and epically silly direction, which was also great, but this is an enjoyable dance rock album. Surprisingly reminiscent of bands like The Jam, The Police, even The Clash, as well as the more expected Status Quo and Gary Glitter.
5
Jan 14 2024
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Pelican West
Haircut 100
4
Jan 15 2024
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Protection
Massive Attack
There’s an ominous sense of dread and foreboding that I don’t enjoy. But Protection (the song) is a real earworm, and I do like the James Bond side of trip hop eg Sly.
2
Jan 16 2024
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KIWANUKA
Michael Kiwanuka
3
Jan 17 2024
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The Modern Lovers
The Modern Lovers
4
Jan 18 2024
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The United States Of America
The United States Of America
4
Jan 19 2024
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New Boots And Panties
Ian Dury
4
Jan 20 2024
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2112
Rush
I know it’s not a serious aesthetic/political treatise, and that the authority being resisted is more likely your parents telling you to turn it down than totalitarianism. But even so, what a load of rockist tosh.
2
Jan 21 2024
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Gris Gris
Dr. John
5
Jan 22 2024
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Slayed?
Slade
5
Jan 23 2024
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Odelay
Beck
3
Jan 24 2024
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Heartbreaker
Ryan Adams
2
Jan 25 2024
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Bad Company
Bad Company
I’ve never heard of this band before. I really liked the mix of rock and soul/R&B, very smooth The singer has a great voice.
5
Jan 26 2024
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The Coral
The Coral
3
Jan 27 2024
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Sign 'O' The Times
Prince
4
Jan 28 2024
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Private Dancer
Tina Turner
2
Jan 29 2024
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Femi Kuti
Femi Kuti
4
Jan 30 2024
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A Love Supreme
John Coltrane
5
Jan 31 2024
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Pretenders
Pretenders
5
Feb 01 2024
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Beauty And The Beat
The Go-Go's
4
Feb 02 2024
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Ambient 1/Music For Airports
Brian Eno
5
Feb 03 2024
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That's The Way Of The World
Earth, Wind & Fire
4
Feb 04 2024
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Back In Black
AC/DC
5
Feb 05 2024
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Teenage Head
Flamin' Groovies
3
Feb 06 2024
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You Want It Darker
Leonard Cohen
3
Feb 07 2024
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Dookie
Green Day
3
Feb 08 2024
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Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor
Lupe Fiasco
4
Feb 09 2024
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Country Life
Roxy Music
5
Feb 10 2024
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Funeral
Arcade Fire
Remember when that Big Brother contestant said she was into a new kind of music called indie? (I checked the date and it was 2007). Everyone thought it was the most hilariously stupid thing to say. Because, obviously, indie was a 1980s thing. But reading the reviews on the Wikipedia article, and some of the reviews here, there does seem to be support for the idea that indie started in the 00s. This album, and the Big Brother comment, may mark the start of a cultural fragmentation, alternative versions of reality existing in their own bubbles. Fittingly enough, Arcade Fire address just this kind of problem. Their response is to build tunnels connecting people by returning to childhood. The primary emotion is nostalgia, in its original sense as a kind of homesickness. They’re not the first indie band to do this, REM got there first in the 1980s, obviously. They didn’t invent this kind of music, or this kind of sensibility, but they do it very, very well. And listening to it, you’d be forgiven for thinking that indie did in fact start in 2004.
5
Feb 11 2024
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Killing Joke
Killing Joke
4
Feb 12 2024
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The Nightfly
Donald Fagen
3
Feb 13 2024
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Hot Buttered Soul
Isaac Hayes
4
Feb 14 2024
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Hot Rats
Frank Zappa
5
Feb 15 2024
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Porcupine
Echo And The Bunnymen
4
Feb 16 2024
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Queen Of Denmark
John Grant
A more polished version of something like Magnetic Fields' 69 Love Songs. An interesting combination of unmediated shower thoughts, rhyming doggerel and slippery images.
4
Feb 17 2024
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You've Come a Long Way Baby
Fatboy Slim
A mash-up of electronic dance and old school rock ‘n’ roll dance. A style of music that scored several number one hit singles in the 1980s, by artists as diverse in their artistic intentions as Art of Noise and Jive Bunny. But it wasn’t Rockafeller Skank (which samples Art of Noise’s version of Peter Gunn and resembles Jive Bunny’s That’s What I Like) that got to number 1, it was Praise You. And that song remains the standout song on the album. It’s essential to the album, gives it a bit of class.
4
Feb 18 2024
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Crosby, Stills & Nash
Crosby, Stills & Nash
Good, but also kind of creepy, these guys singing to each other. They sound like members of a cult.
4
Feb 19 2024
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Sticky Fingers
The Rolling Stones
5
Feb 20 2024
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Frank
Amy Winehouse
4
Feb 21 2024
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Pills 'n' Thrills And Bellyaches
Happy Mondays
4
Feb 22 2024
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Rock Bottom
Robert Wyatt
What a beautiful album. The baby talk love songs to his wife are wonderful. They’re so tender and reassuring. The music is noodling, but everyone involved is pulling in the same direction. Ivor Cutler is doing the spoken word parts at the end of each side. (Ivor Cutler was a comedy/folk singer who doesn’t have an album on the list, but he recorded 20 Peel sessions, more than any other artist except The Fall).
5
Feb 23 2024
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Manassas
Stephen Stills
2
Feb 24 2024
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Goodbye Yellow Brick Road
Elton John
5
Feb 25 2024
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Peggy Suicide
Julian Cope
4
Feb 26 2024
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The Specials
The Specials
5
Feb 27 2024
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Music for the Masses
Depeche Mode
I loved my cassette of the Singles 81 – 85, but by 1987 Depeche Mode had dropped off my radar completely. I don’t think I missed much with this ponderously gloomy goth album. It’s interesting that it really took off in the US. Maybe there were fewer bands that sounded similar.
2
Feb 28 2024
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Young Americans
David Bowie
4
Feb 29 2024
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My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts
Brian Eno
4
Mar 01 2024
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Cupid & Psyche 85
Scritti Politti
The most 80s album imaginable. Parody isn’t quite the right word, maybe hyperpop? I like the way Green takes on male and female roles, singing duets with himself. He’s a bit of a smarty pants, all the references to Derrida and Lacan, and I like that as well.
5
Mar 02 2024
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The Wall
Pink Floyd
I’ve seen the film a few times, but never got much out of the music compared to the visuals (the marching hammers, the children being fed into the sausage machine etc.). Giving it a proper listen today, I’m still not hearing a heartbreaking work of staggering genius. I do like side 3 and all the versions of Another Brick In The Wall, throwing The Happiest Days Of Our Lives into that.
2
Mar 03 2024
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Let It Be
The Replacements
3
Mar 04 2024
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Happy Sad
Tim Buckley
A combination of psychedelic folk, jazz and exotica sung in a lounge style. Buzzin Fly is very reminiscent of The Stone Roses, and that’s something of a way in to the album’s belated contribution to music, via the late 80s resurgence of interest in psychedelic folk.
3
Mar 05 2024
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Pink Moon
Nick Drake
5
Mar 06 2024
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Faust IV
Faust
4
Mar 07 2024
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Doolittle
Pixies
5
Mar 08 2024
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Survivor
Destiny's Child
3
Mar 09 2024
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My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
Kanye West
5
Mar 10 2024
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Diamond Life
Sade
4
Mar 11 2024
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Either Or
Elliott Smith
4
Mar 12 2024
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(What's The Story) Morning Glory
Oasis
Very evocative of a 1970s childhood, with musical borrowings from eg Gary Glitter, the theme tune of Whatever Happened to The Likely Lads and educational kid’s show You and Me. The last one I can’t stop mansplaining whenever She’s Electric comes on the radio. No Way Sis’s parody ‘I’d Like to Teach The World To Sing’ really nails what Oasis are about.
5
Mar 13 2024
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Chore of Enchantment
Giant Sand
3
Mar 14 2024
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Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)
Eurythmics
4
Mar 15 2024
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Rain Dogs
Tom Waits
5
Mar 16 2024
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Buena Vista Social Club
Buena Vista Social Club
4
Mar 17 2024
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Imperial Bedroom
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
4
Mar 18 2024
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Back to Mystery City
Hanoi Rocks
3
Mar 19 2024
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Liquid Swords
GZA
3
Mar 20 2024
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Third
Portishead
4
Mar 21 2024
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The Madcap Laughs
Syd Barrett
Loose, shambolic, Beatleseque, the band this reminds me of the most is The Libertines. I really liked it.
4
Mar 22 2024
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Only By The Night
Kings of Leon
3
Mar 23 2024
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Pearl
Janis Joplin
5
Mar 24 2024
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Devil Without A Cause
Kid Rock
Not as bad as I was expecting from the reviews. Boisterous party music. Cowboy and Wasting Time are fun songs, and there are some hard driving bangers, Devil Without A Cause, I Am The Bullgod and Roving Gangster. If you’d have put this on at a party in 1998 it would have got people bopping around. I’m actually surprised it didn’t have much of an impact in the UK.
3
Mar 25 2024
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She's So Unusual
Cyndi Lauper
3
Mar 26 2024
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Purple Rain
Prince
4
Mar 27 2024
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Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes
TV On The Radio
3
Mar 28 2024
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I’m a Lonesome Fugitive
Merle Haggard
4
Mar 29 2024
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Fetch The Bolt Cutters
Fiona Apple
5
Mar 30 2024
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It's Blitz!
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
3
Mar 31 2024
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World Clique
Deee-Lite
4
Apr 01 2024
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The Black Saint And The Sinner Lady
Charles Mingus
4
Apr 02 2024
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Dirt
Alice In Chains
4
Apr 03 2024
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Songs Of Leonard Cohen
Leonard Cohen
5
Apr 04 2024
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The Chronic
Dr. Dre
5
Apr 05 2024
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Rage Against The Machine
Rage Against The Machine
3
Apr 06 2024
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Aqualung
Jethro Tull
5
Apr 07 2024
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Goodbye And Hello
Tim Buckley
Sometimes heartfelt, sometimes impossibly twee medievalism. But more good songs than bad, bumping it up to a 4.
Best tracks: Pleasant Street, I Never Asked To Be Your Mountain, Once I Was, Phantasmagoria In Two, Morning Glory.
4
Apr 14 2024
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Rattus Norvegicus
The Stranglers
5
Apr 15 2024
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Logical Progression
LTJ Bukem
It’s a faff to reconstruct the album (spread over 5 separate YouTubes: CD1, CD2, and three missing tracks). Going back to individual tracks (or even identifying them) is also a faff. And it’s got a 2 hours playing time… What a great album, though. All killer, no filler, difficult to single out favourite tracks, but Pharoah/Rings Around Saturn towards the end of CD2 stood out for me.
5
Apr 16 2024
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This Year's Model
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
5
Apr 17 2024
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Meat Puppets II
Meat Puppets
3
Apr 18 2024
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Pyromania
Def Leppard
3
Apr 19 2024
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Joan Baez
Joan Baez
3
Apr 20 2024
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Ten
Pearl Jam
I really liked Even Flow. It sounds very similar to Soho’s 1990 single Hippy Chick, but that’s surely coincidental. Other tracks I liked: Why Go, Jeremy. Anthemic rock with shoegazey stuff going on in the background.
3
Apr 21 2024
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We're Only In It For The Money
The Mothers Of Invention
5
Apr 22 2024
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Band On The Run
Paul McCartney and Wings
5
Apr 23 2024
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Harvest
Neil Young
4
Apr 24 2024
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Homework
Daft Punk
It’s quite physical, fleshy, squishy squashy. I found most of it a challenge to listen to, but it’s probably a grower.
Best tracks: Revolution 909, Da Funk, Phoenix, High Fidelity, Alive.
2
Apr 25 2024
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Peace Sells...But Who's Buying
Megadeth
4
Apr 26 2024
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Trafalgar
Bee Gees
The Beatle-esque songs are OK, but the soul ballads are really something. Robin is the stand-out vocalist by a wide margin. When Do I is one of the best songs I’ve ever heard.
Best songs: How Can You Mend A Broken Heart, When Do I, Lion In Winter, Walking Back To Waterloo
4
Apr 27 2024
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Getz/Gilberto
Stan Getz
5
Apr 28 2024
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Elvis Is Back
Elvis Presley
4
Apr 29 2024
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Live At The Star Club, Hamburg
Jerry Lee Lewis
5
Apr 30 2024
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Beggars Banquet
The Rolling Stones
5
May 01 2024
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Ragged Glory
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
5
May 02 2024
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Picture Book
Simply Red
3
May 03 2024
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Faith
George Michael
5
May 04 2024
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Parachutes
Coldplay
5
May 05 2024
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At San Quentin
Johnny Cash
4
May 06 2024
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New Wave
The Auteurs
4
May 07 2024
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Master Of Puppets
Metallica
3
May 08 2024
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Triangle
The Beau Brummels
2
May 09 2024
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Jazz Samba
Stan Getz
5
May 10 2024
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Tubular Bells
Mike Oldfield
4
May 11 2024
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3 + 3
The Isley Brothers
5
May 12 2024
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Murmur
R.E.M.
4
May 13 2024
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Truth And Soul
Fishbone
Two good songs: Ma and Pa and Slow Bus Movin’. A couple of fun, campy numbers: Deep Inside, Mighty Long Way.
2
May 14 2024
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Tusk
Fleetwood Mac
3
May 15 2024
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The Renaissance
Q-Tip
3
May 16 2024
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Histoire De Melody Nelson
Serge Gainsbourg
5
May 17 2024
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Revolver
Beatles
5
May 18 2024
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Imagine
John Lennon
I preferred Plastic Ono Band, but some great songs: Imagine, Crippled Inside, Jealous Guy, I Don’t Want To Be A Soldier Mama, Gimme Some Truth, How Do You Sleep?, Oh Yoko!.
4
May 19 2024
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Pieces Of The Sky
Emmylou Harris
3
May 20 2024
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This Is Hardcore
Pulp
3
May 21 2024
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Dusty In Memphis
Dusty Springfield
4
May 22 2024
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The Yes Album
Yes
3
May 23 2024
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A Walk Across The Rooftops
The Blue Nile
5
May 24 2024
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Oedipus Schmoedipus
Barry Adamson
2
May 25 2024
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Axis: Bold As Love
Jimi Hendrix
5
May 26 2024
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Street Signs
Ozomatli
3
May 27 2024
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Club Classics Vol. One
Soul II Soul
5
May 28 2024
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First Band On The Moon
The Cardigans
2
May 29 2024
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So
Peter Gabriel
3
May 30 2024
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The Trinity Session
Cowboy Junkies
5
May 31 2024
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Inspiration Information
Shuggie Otis
4
Jun 01 2024
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Bad
Michael Jackson
Jackson used to be a bit of a joke, a sexless man child pretending to be bad. But now I know he really was bad, the aggressive attack of the music makes more sense. Does that make me bad?
5
Jun 02 2024
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Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables
Dead Kennedys
4
Jun 03 2024
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Good Old Boys
Randy Newman
5
Jun 04 2024
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Golden Hour
Kacey Musgraves
4
Jun 05 2024
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461 Ocean Boulevard
Eric Clapton
I liked the Bluesbreakers album, I liked the Cream album. This is bland in comparison. I think I understand what he was doing, updating traditional blues for early 70s tastes rather than churning out retro blues rock. The Elmore James cover works well, he takes a rough and sleazy blues number and makes it sound just like some guy talking on the phone.
Favourite songs: Motherless Children, I Can’t Hold Out, Please Be With Me, Steady Rollin Man
3
Jun 06 2024
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Unhalfbricking
Fairport Convention
3
Jun 07 2024
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G. Love And Special Sauce
G. Love & Special Sauce
A quirky little piss-take band. An unusual set up of guitar, drums and double bass. Watching some of their videos on Youtube, they have an oddball charm that’s missing from the album.
2
Jun 08 2024
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Abattoir Blues / The Lyre of Orpheus
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
5
Jun 09 2024
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Damaged
Black Flag
5
Jun 10 2024
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Chelsea Girl
Nico
I love the way she drifts in and out of tune, especially on Little Sister and Eulogy to Lenny Bruce. Something hypnotic and tidal about it. The standout track is It Was A Pleasure Then.
5
Jun 11 2024
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Second Toughest In The Infants
Underworld
3
Jun 12 2024
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The Hour Of Bewilderbeast
Badly Drawn Boy
2
Jun 13 2024
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The Atomic Mr Basie
Count Basie & His Orchestra
5
Jun 14 2024
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High Violet
The National
4
Jun 15 2024
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If You're Feeling Sinister
Belle & Sebastian
5
Jun 16 2024
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3 Years, 5 Months And 2 Days In The Life Of...
Arrested Development
Peace and love hip hop in the same ballpark as A Tribe Called Quest, Jungle Brothers, Dream Warriors, and the UK’s Ruthless Rap Assassins (who went on to form Black Grape with Shaun Ryder). The Arrested Development album is OK, but the significance is mainly its crossover appeal. In the UK only Public Enemy, De La Soul and PM Dawn had the same album chart success as Arrested Development (leaving aside the more dance orientated MC Hammer and Vanilla Ice). PM Dawn’s Of The Heart… (1991) is something of a forgotten classic in my opinion.
3
Jun 17 2024
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Maverick A Strike
Finley Quaye
3
Jun 18 2024
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Slanted And Enchanted
Pavement
3
Jun 19 2024
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The New Tango
Astor Piazzolla
4
Jun 20 2024
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From Elvis In Memphis
Elvis Presley
5
Jun 21 2024
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The Queen Is Dead
The Smiths
Difficult to overstate the cultural significance of this album for people of a certain age. The slow burn influence was the normalisation of homosexuality. These were gay love songs that nonetheless resonated with straight listeners. It’s one of the all-time great albums because it changes the way you see the world. Not a wham-bang instant revolution, but a gradual integration of gay and straight emotional life. I know it’s currently fashionable to hate on Morrissey, but he created the more tolerant world that we’re now living in.
All the songs are amazing in their own way, but the standouts are: Cemetry Gates, Bigmouth, The Boy With The Thorn In His Side and There Is A Light. If I had to choose a Desert Island track it would be Cemetry Gates, but if I had to pick a single track to encapsulate what this album is all about it would be The Boy With The Thorn In His Side.
5
Jun 22 2024
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Court And Spark
Joni Mitchell
5
Jun 23 2024
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Midnight Ride
Paul Revere & The Raiders
3
Jun 24 2024
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The Cars
The Cars
In the early 2000s I used to go to a walkdown in Soho that only played classic rock. Very old school, you knocked on the door and small grill opened and a voice barked ‘members only’. Once you’d established you weren’t from the Council or the Police you signed in with an illegible scrawl. This is the kind of music they played, and it was loads of fun. The club still does the ‘members only’ thing, but it’s now a faux speakeasy serving cocktails out of vintage china cups. This album is corny dad rock, but some of the tracks really do the business in a way that cocktails in china teacups just don’t.
Favourite: My Best Friend’s Girl
4
Jun 25 2024
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McCartney
Paul McCartney
3
Jun 26 2024
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Scott 2
Scott Walker
This is brilliant. Laugh out loud funny. It’s so stupid, the lyrics, the strings, the whole ridiculousness of it all.
5
Jun 27 2024
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Lady Soul
Aretha Franklin
5
Jun 28 2024
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Myths Of The Near Future
Klaxons
3
Jun 29 2024
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Vulgar Display Of Power
Pantera
3
Jun 30 2024
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Cheap Thrills
Big Brother & The Holding Company
3
Jul 01 2024
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Never Mind The Bollocks, Here’s The Sex Pistols
Sex Pistols
5
Jul 03 2024
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White Light
Gene Clark
2
Jul 04 2024
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Van Halen
Van Halen
2
Jul 05 2024
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Kollaps
Einstürzende Neubauten
Get past the weirdness and the shouting and there are some decent tracks here. The second half is another album added for the 2002 re-release, it's less experimental, but also less interesting IMO. 3/5 for the re-release, 4/5 for the original album.
Favourite tracks: Kollaps, Abstieg and Zerfall
4
Jul 06 2024
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Untitled (Black Is)
SAULT
3
Jul 07 2024
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The Slim Shady LP
Eminem
3
Jul 08 2024
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Sex Packets
Digital Underground
3
Jul 09 2024
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The Marshall Mathers LP
Eminem
4
Jul 10 2024
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Make Yourself
Incubus
3
Jul 11 2024
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1984
Van Halen
4
Jul 12 2024
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Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea
PJ Harvey
5
Aug 01 2024
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The Gershwin Songbook
Ella Fitzgerald
3
Aug 02 2024
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The Hissing Of Summer Lawns
Joni Mitchell
3
Aug 03 2024
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Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not
Arctic Monkeys
Behind the snarky banter, it’s a lovingly nostalgic portrait of a night out in a Northern town. The police ignore the back-chat they’ve heard a hundred times before, the bouncers secretly want it all to kick off, but instead you slink away and nothing kicks off. It’s a world where everyone knows their place, and the greatest ire is reserved for posers with ideas above their station. ‘You’re not from New York City you’re from Rotherham’ remains one of the funniest lines ever written. Alex Turner is a top-tier lyricist here, and the cherry on the top is he sings like he’s drunk, he’s really inhabiting the role.
5
Aug 04 2024
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good kid, m.A.A.d city
Kendrick Lamar
5
Aug 05 2024
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Pump
Aerosmith
2
Aug 06 2024
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Apocalypse 91… The Enemy Strikes Black
Public Enemy
Overshadowed by It Takes A Nation of Millions and Fear Of A Black Planet, I’d completely forgotten how good this album is. Chuck D as ever is preaching from a mountain top, seeing the big picture. Flav is less of a comic foil than usual, more an everyman in conversation with the preacher man. Turning the Anthrax namecheck from ITANOM into a collaboration is the highlight.
5
Aug 11 2024
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Nothing's Shocking
Jane's Addiction
5
Aug 12 2024
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A Short Album About Love
The Divine Comedy
5
Aug 13 2024
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Heaux Tales
Jazmine Sullivan
I liked the way the songs develop themes from the spoken word interludes. I thought the content was interesting, but I don’t like the way her voice is processed, and the generic R&B backing. I preferred when she was singing with guitar accompaniment, reminded me of Tracy Chapman.
4
Aug 14 2024
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Slipknot
Slipknot
3
Aug 15 2024
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Crazysexycool
TLC
4
Aug 26 2024
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A Date With The Everly Brothers
The Everly Brothers
3
Aug 27 2024
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Face to Face
The Kinks
The Kinks show up The Beatles as tetchy and patronising. Which isn’t to say the brittleness of The Beatles doesn’t make them a better band overall, but it’s difficult not to root for Team Kinks as the soul of British music. Ray Davies sings about what the British really care about, class envy and people living in more expensive houses than us. Nice that a song taking the piss out of rich people moaning about paying taxes was released before The Beatles song where they moan about paying taxes.
4
Aug 28 2024
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Dig Your Own Hole
The Chemical Brothers
5
Aug 29 2024
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Talking With the Taxman About Poetry
Billy Bragg
A very Sixth Form take on the personal/political, but I’d put this on any teenager’s listening list alongside the Offspring or Green Day angry stuff. Big nostalgia for me as a leftie teenager in the 80s.
5
Aug 30 2024
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Lost Souls
Doves
3
Aug 31 2024
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Giant Steps
The Boo Radleys
5
Sep 01 2024
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Brutal Youth
Elvis Costello
2
Sep 02 2024
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Chocolate Starfish And The Hot Dog Flavored Water
Limp Bizkit
2
Sep 03 2024
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Paris 1919
John Cale
4
Sep 04 2024
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Parallel Lines
Blondie
5
Sep 05 2024
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Stephen Stills
Stephen Stills
4
Sep 06 2024
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BEYONCÉ
Beyoncé
4
Sep 07 2024
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Repeater
Fugazi
5
Sep 08 2024
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Birth Of The Cool
Miles Davis
5
Sep 09 2024
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Olympia 64
Jacques Brel
4
Sep 10 2024
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Bryter Layter
Nick Drake
5
Sep 11 2024
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Cafe Bleu
The Style Council
Favourite songs: My Ever Changing Moods, Strength Of Your Nature, You’re The Best Thing
3
Sep 12 2024
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Movies
Holger Czukay
3
Sep 13 2024
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Oracular Spectacular
MGMT
The best song is Kids, which gives you the queasy, unsettling feeling that you’ve grasped some insight about life but can’t quite put your finger on what it is exactly. Outside of the three big singles, the rest of the album is disappointingly vapid and superficial.
2
Sep 14 2024
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Chicago Transit Authority
Chicago
I loved the big band crooner rock of Side 1, and my goodwill carried me through the soft rock on Side 2. The avant-garde guitar solo that begins Side 3 is quite a distance from where the album started out. I liked it. Experimental electronic artists twiddled diodes to get these kinds of sounds, it’s an impressive leap to use an electric guitar in the same way. Then some blues rock and the rock/soul/exotica of I’m A Man. Counter-cultural vibes coming in for Side 4, and we’re also back to the crooner style we started with. I like the use throughout of what we’d now call interludes, the talking and the sound of the protest crowd. I also like the way the loungey exotica weaves in and out.
5
Sep 15 2024
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Virgin Suicides
Air
3
Sep 16 2024
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I See You
The xx
2
Sep 17 2024
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The Age Of The Understatement
The Last Shadow Puppets
I’ll throw this on for the laid-back retro mood, but the propulsion and drama surprises me every time. It’s always better than I remember it. I think it’s an understated album, just doing its own thing, but it’s stood the test of time for me. I also like the other TLSP album and the last two Arctic Monkeys albums, which are in a similar style.
5
Sep 18 2024
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Music Has The Right To Children
Boards of Canada
3
Sep 19 2024
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Hearts And Bones
Paul Simon
2
Sep 20 2024
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Talk Talk Talk
The Psychedelic Furs
3
Sep 21 2024
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Rhythm Nation 1814
Janet Jackson
4
Sep 22 2024
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Synchronicity
The Police
5
Sep 23 2024
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Southern Rock Opera
Drive-By Truckers
4
Sep 24 2024
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American Pie
Don McLean
2
Sep 25 2024
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Tical
Method Man
5
Sep 26 2024
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Hot Shots II
The Beta Band
3
Sep 27 2024
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I See A Darkness
Bonnie "Prince" Billy
5
Sep 28 2024
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Blunderbuss
Jack White
5
Sep 29 2024
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Oxygène
Jean-Michel Jarre
5
Sep 30 2024
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Pornography
The Cure
3
Oct 01 2024
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Rumours
Fleetwood Mac
Three or four albums from 1977 that I’d put above this. Even within slick soft-rock, I prefer Steely Dan’s Aja. Nothing wrong with it, nice tunes, excellent production, top 5 of 1977 for me, rather than top 5 of every album ever made.
3
Oct 02 2024
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California
American Music Club
Liked: Firefly, Lonely, Western Sky, Last Harbour.
3
Oct 03 2024
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To Pimp A Butterfly
Kendrick Lamar
4
Oct 04 2024
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The Bones Of What You Believe
CHVRCHES
3
Oct 05 2024
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Who's Next
The Who
5
Oct 06 2024
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It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back
Public Enemy
5
Oct 07 2024
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NEU! 75
Neu!
5
Oct 08 2024
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The Rising
Bruce Springsteen
2
Oct 09 2024
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White Blood Cells
The White Stripes
4
Oct 10 2024
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Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath
5
Oct 11 2024
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Emperor Tomato Ketchup
Stereolab
5
Oct 12 2024
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Greetings From L.A.
Tim Buckley
5
Oct 13 2024
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Bizarre Ride II The Pharcyde
The Pharcyde
5
Oct 14 2024
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Entertainment
Gang Of Four
5
Oct 15 2024
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Get Rich Or Die Tryin'
50 Cent
3
Oct 16 2024
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Heaven Or Las Vegas
Cocteau Twins
5
Oct 17 2024
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The Seldom Seen Kid
Elbow
I remember an interview with Michael Caine where he was saying he liked the band with the old guy in it. The interviewer and the listeners knew exactly who the septuagenarian was talking about. Mid 30s Garvey exudes old man energy, boring, melancholy and slightly menacing.
4
Oct 18 2024
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Elephant Mountain
The Youngbloods
4
Oct 22 2024
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Stripped
Christina Aguilera
3
Oct 23 2024
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Signing Off
UB40
5
Oct 24 2024
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Viva Hate
Morrissey
5
Oct 25 2024
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Tanto Tempo
Bebel Gilberto
3
Oct 26 2024
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Mask
Bauhaus
5
Oct 27 2024
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Follow The Leader
Korn
3
Oct 28 2024
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Punishing Kiss
Ute Lemper
2
Oct 29 2024
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Timeless
Goldie
4
Nov 11 2024
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Channel Orange
Frank Ocean
4
Nov 12 2024
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Connected
Stereo MC's
3
Nov 13 2024
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The Grand Tour
George Jones
5
Nov 14 2024
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On The Beach
Neil Young
4
Nov 15 2024
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Sister
Sonic Youth
5
Nov 16 2024
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Will The Circle Be Unbroken
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
A triple album with a historical, archival intent, many of the songs are from the 19th century. The best parts (most accessible?) are side 1 of disc 1 and side 2 of disc 3. Disc 2 is crazily frenetic, it’s really exhausting to listen to, but I suspect this is the ‘real stuff’ and the main purpose of the album is to get us to like it, or at least occasionally listen to it. A difficult album to rate, because I’m not sure it’s meant to be listened to beginning to end, but I’m going with 4/5. I’d like to own a vinyl copy.
4
Nov 17 2024
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Chemtrails Over The Country Club
Lana Del Rey
3
Nov 18 2024
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Go Girl Crazy
The Dictators
3
Dec 04 2024
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Bongo Rock
Incredible Bongo Band
5
Dec 05 2024
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The Band
The Band
This was borderline unlistenable for the first few tracks, but it gets more enjoyably woozy as it goes on, and I liked it. Evokes the feeling of being drunk, in a good way.
Favourite songs: Whispering Pines, The Unfaithful Servant, King Harvest
4
Dec 06 2024
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Clube Da Esquina
Milton Nascimento
3
Dec 07 2024
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Born To Be With You
Dion
4
Dec 08 2024
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Bringing It All Back Home
Bob Dylan
5
Dec 09 2024
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Want One
Rufus Wainwright
3