My 1001 Albums Journey

Album	You	Global	Diff
Trout Mask Replica Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band	5	2.28	+2.72
Public Image: First Issue Public Image Ltd.	5	2.42	+2.58
Third Soft Machine	5	2.44	+2.56
Black Metal Venom	5	2.47	+2.53
Playing With Fire Spacemen 3	5	2.55	+2.45
Live At The Witch Trials The Fall	5	2.64	+2.36
Slipknot Slipknot	5	2.67	+2.33
Bright Flight Silver Jews	5	2.68	+2.32
KEAH** (Psalm 69) Ministry	5	2.69	+2.31
Space Ritual Hawkwind	5	2.69	+2.31

Album	You	Global	Diff
The Stranger Billy Joel	1	3.86	-2.86
Tracy Chapman Tracy Chapman	1	3.79	-2.79
21 Adele	1	3.7	-2.7
Tea for the Tillerman Cat Stevens	1	3.67	-2.67
3 + 3 The Isley Brothers	1	3.59	-2.59
Gorillaz Gorillaz	1	3.53	-2.53
She's So Unusual Cyndi Lauper	1	3.48	-2.48
Dusty In Memphis Dusty Springfield	1	3.47	-2.47
Diamond Life Sade	1	3.45	-2.45
Imagine John Lennon	1	3.45	-2.45

Artist	Albums	Average
Pink Floyd	4	5
Sonic Youth	5	4.8
Nick Drake	3	5
Neil Young	3	5
Neil Young & Crazy Horse	3	5
Black Sabbath	3	5
Led Zeppelin	3	5
Metallica	3	4.67
Public Enemy	3	4.67
The Smiths	3	4.67
The Doors	3	4.67
Bob Dylan	7	4.14
The Velvet Underground	2	5
Deep Purple	2	5
Pavement	2	5
Iron Maiden	2	5
King Crimson	2	5
Kendrick Lamar	2	5
The Fall	2	5
Slipknot	2	5
Joy Division	2	5
Fairport Convention	2	5
Rush	2	5
Eminem	2	5
Morrissey	4	4.25
Radiohead	6	4
Arcade Fire	3	4.33
Nirvana	3	4.33
Pixies	3	4.33
Yes	3	4.33
Beastie Boys	3	4.33
Kraftwerk	3	4.33
Creedence Clearwater Revival	3	4.33

Artist	Albums	Average
Elvis Costello & The Attractions	4	1
Dusty Springfield	2	1
Billy Bragg	2	1
Everything But The Girl	2	1
Elvis Costello	2	1
M.I.A.	2	1
Prince	3	1.67
Rufus Wainwright	2	1.5
Fiona Apple	2	1.5
Emmylou Harris	2	1.5
Dexys Midnight Runners	2	1.5
Bee Gees	2	1.5
The Divine Comedy	2	1.5
Blur	3	2
Elvis Presley	3	2
Talking Heads	3	2
Kings of Leon	3	2
The Beach Boys	3	2
U2	4	2.25
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds	4	2.25

Artist	Ratings
The Rolling Stones	5, 1, 3, 2, 3
Beatles	2, 4, 4, 3, 5, 2

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young

3/5

This was one of three albums we had on cassette on a lad's holiday in the Lake District 30-odd years ago. We listened to each one many, many times. So I know this album well and it's a good one. However, it's not a great album, some of the tracks have aged better than others. Neil Young's presence seems a little lacking. There's also a dip in quality on side 2 in my opinion.

Fever To Tell

Yeah Yeah Yeahs

2/5

Rather dull, sanitised post-punk with little in the way of soul. Singer was okay, but the rest of the band were very forgettable.

Is This It

The Strokes

4/5

Enjoyed this more than I thought I would. Definitely a retro feel to this album, shades of Velvet Underground, with short, punchy indie pop songs.

My Generation

The Who

2/5

Although I'm not going to become a Who fan after listening to one album, this was actually not nearly as bad as I had thought it would be. Dated and samey in places, but I guess it was ground-breaking at the time.

Django Django

2/5

Very reminiscent of west coast 60s surf rock. It's okay, but my initial enthusiasm faded as each track started to sound similar to the one before it. It's pleasant background music and it didn't grate, but I doubt I will listen to it ever again.

Elastica

5/5

I figured I would like this album and indeed I loved it from the opening to the first track. Nice mixture of short and interesting songs that never got stale, in fact it just got better and better the more I listened. It's not quite a 5, but seemed closer to a 5 than a 4.

The Suburbs

Arcade Fire

5/5

Glorious Indie Rock/ Pop - shades of REM, Radiohead, even a bit of Ride and MBV here and there. An obvious 5 out of 5.

Pink Moon

Nick Drake

5/5

One of my all time favourite albums. An immediate and automatic 5 stars.

Green Onions

Booker T. & The MG's

2/5

It was pleasant enough, but I wouldn't go out of my way to listen to this again. Really grateful there were no lyrics, as singing would have made this really dated I think.

Beyond Skin

Nitin Sawhney

2/5

Some of this is pleasant hip-hop/ trip-hop sounds that has some interesting tempos and instruments. The rest is just people making noises that I didn't really like. I think the vocals killed it for me, but it's not bad enough for 1 star, below average but not awful

Buena Vista Social Club

3/5

I enjoyed this far more than I expected to. It was great easy listening music and transported me to sunnier climes.

In It For The Money

Supergrass

4/5

Plenty of memorable songs that have stood the test of time. It's a lovely sound, rich and dense, just a little murky. The tracks I hadn't heard before stood up well, with little filler.

The College Dropout

Kanye West

4/5

This is quite the dilemma, it feels a bit like the medical research done by Nazis in WW2, should we use it to save lives, knowing it was based on unethical experiments? Although Kanye West is a terrible person, this is a very good album. It's also a breath of fresh air compared to the generic gangster rap garbage that was doing the rounds at the time. If it was anyone else it would be a 5 star album, but because I know it's a bigot that produced this, I'm reducing it to 4 stars.

Wild Is The Wind

Nina Simone

2/5

I enjoyed four women a lot, the rest of the tracks less so. I can appreciate the simplicity, power, and talent on show here, but it's really not the sort of music I enjoy and I would never listen to this again.

Bitches Brew

Miles Davis

2/5

It wasn't difficult to listen to, but it also wasn't something that I particularly enjoyed, or would choose to listen to again in the near future. Nothing on this album really spoke to me, just lots of noises all jumbled up. Some of it was pleasant, some of it seemed to be going somewhere, but never really arrived. I'm sure it's all really clever stuff and I didn't hate it, but it was good background music at best.

Achtung Baby

U2

2/5

There's some great pop songs here and the production is oh-so-glossy and polished, but U2 just leave me a bit cold. I think I used to own this album back in the day and it was just one of those albums I wouldn't ever think to listen to, as it's just lacking something special. Also, it really tapers off in quality for the last three or four tracks.

Ellington at Newport

Duke Ellington

5/5

When I saw this album come up I was horrified that I would have to listen to such a long jazz album, I predicted it would be a 2-hour chore. However, the music was sublime and the talent was outstanding. The pseudo-live editing helped to make it all come together and give some sense of the pandemonium (I pretended not to know how much of it had been put together in a studio)! The whole time I was listening I was imagining old Tom & Jerry cartoons for some reason - guess the music is similar to the old soundtracks they used back then? I would definitely listen to this again and I was amazed how much I was moved by something recorded in the 1950s, the era of "bad" music.

Want Two

Rufus Wainwright

2/5

I really like OK Computer by Radiohead, particularly Exit Music (for a Film). To me this album is like having that one song taken and expanded from a few minutes to an entire hour. After the pretty turgid first track, it was good but not great to my ears. Sort of mumbly and samey in parts, with some tracks standing out to some degree here and there.

I Should Coco

Supergrass

3/5

I preferred the second album. This one is quite raw, some places in a good way, other places in a not so great way. I don't like "Alright" and that soured the experience for me slightly. I really like "Caught by the Fuzz" though, so it's all good. There was a nice variety of tempos and sounds, but it felt a little incohesive.

Diamond Life

Sade

1/5

Smooth, jazz-lite, syrupy, sweet... awful elevator music. My first one star review - and well-deserved as there's literally nothing redeeming here. Awful music that makes me feel the world would be a better place if this album didn't exist. Sounds like someone with no soul, singing with a backing band of B-rated session musicians. This is radio 2 music, the sort of music that is so bland and meaningless that it can only offend by being so incredibly cheesy and dull to listen to. This is what sad hotel bands play to fill in the time between Chris de Burgh and other lobby music that give people indigestion. I spent 45 minutes feeling that I was in a telephone queue and someone had put this hold music on to try and discourage people from waiting for their turn.

Imperial Bedroom

Elvis Costello & The Attractions

1/5

Didn't like the whiny vocals or the dull arrangements. This was a chore to get through and I was glad when it was over. If this is Mr Costello's best album then god help me when the others show up. Lots of bland songs of a similar length and nature, nothing stood out. Sometimes there were strange noises that only served to wake me up and check how much longer I had to endure before I could call this one done. As the last strings and brass plodded away, fading into the distance, I had an immense feeling of satisfaction, knowing I would never have to listen to this drek ever again.

Appetite For Destruction

Guns N' Roses

5/5

Takes me back to the summer of 1987, a year before this album was played everywhere. Me and my friends got it on import with the original album art (that got banned I think?) and for one year we got to play it to death before it was a hit in the UK. It's a great debut album, even though some tracks are covered too much by other bands and get too much radio play. That doesn't seem like a valid reason to knock off a star though, so it's the full 5-stars from me, even though it's not a genre (hair-metal) I normally appreciate, it's just such a great album!

In Utero

Nirvana

4/5

I'm kind of surprised that I had never listened to this album before. I was a BIG fan of Nirvana up to Nevermind. Then my first child was born and music took a back seat for a few years. I knew this album had come out, but I thought it was some sort of acoustic rehash of earlier material or a put-together mash up of unreleased studio outtakes. Imagine my surprise and delight to realise it was neither of these, but an actual album that I had somehow missed. However, although it's a good album, these aren't my favourite Nirvana songs and there's a few meh tracks stuck in here and there among the better ones. A lot of people bang on about how much they liked the direction Nirvana were taking, but for my money they did one really good first album and then never managed to achieve the same heights in their later work.

Berlin

Lou Reed

5/5

Pretty depressing, but in a good way. I was never really a fan of Lou Reed's solo albums before, having felt that his best work was as part of the Velvet Underground. When I first heard this album, many decades ago, I didn't really like it as it was a bit sparse and sad. Listening to it again, it just keeps getting better and when I got to the end I felt a powerful urge to listen to it again from the start. So I listened to it again, from the beginning to the end and it was even better the second time.

Duck Rock

Malcolm McLaren

3/5

I remember this coming out and at the time it never really interested me. The video for Double Dutch was kind of cool, but the world music influences left me cold. Having been semi-forced to listen to the entire album, it was actually kind of enjoyable. I found Malcom McLaren's voice a bit annoying and felt the whole thing would have been better if had stuck to producing, or coming up with ideas, or whatever he actually did on this album, leaving everything else to the professionals. Couldn't give a stuff about who got credited and who didn't, not an issue for me; some of these artists got a kickstart to their careers and a new audience for their music. The world music influences still leave me somewhat cold, steel drums and people chanting meaningless words, but overall it was pleasant enough. The "Punk it Up" track was the only time I felt mildly annoyed throughout my listen. Double Dutch raises the rating from 2 to 3 stars.

Purple Rain

Prince

2/5

I wasn't really looking forward to this one and sure enough it was just as bad as I remembered. I had to endure this album being played over and over by friends when it first came out and it hasn't aged well. I was glad to get to the end of it. There are a few tracks that are okay, plus a lot of filler, shrieking, bad guitar. Not my kind of music. Very 1980s; best left in the 1980s. I do actually like a few songs by Prince. I like his earlier stuff, also some of his later albums. I still remember the outrage when he appeared at some music awards ceremony and wasn't humble enough for the UK press. That has to be worth a star or two I suppose.

Speakerboxxx/The Love Below

OutKast

3/5

Listened to Speakerboxxx and I liked it a lot. Not exactly ground-breaking, but I loved the flow, the beats, the variety, even the skits. I've never listened to an entire Outkast album before and had always seen them as being associated with a couple of tracks that I got sick of hearing in the early 2000s. This was far better than I had expected. Didn't enjoy the second album as much, it was kind of grating and brought down the rating from 5-stars to 3-stars.

Dust

Screaming Trees

3/5

Never heard of the Screaming Trees before. It was okay, a little bland, the vocals weren't great, but some of the guitar was quite nice. I liked the folky touches here and there, but the vocals killed it for me I'm afraid. Average overall.

Low

David Bowie

4/5

I'm not really a big fan of Bowie, but this turned out to be rather enjoyable. I think the main reason I liked this so much was because it was more like a Brian Eno album with Bowie singing on only a couple of tracks here and there. Overall it was very relaxing and nice to listen to in a laid back way.

American Beauty

Grateful Dead

1/5

Never liked the Grateful Dead and this album hasn't changed my opinion in the slightest. It was a slog of forgettable, country-tinged nastiness from start to finish. If I had to pick out a track as being slightly better than the rest, then it would be Friend of the Devil. I can think of so many other bands that did this genre better; the Eagles, CSN, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Lynyrd Skynyrd. This is the epitome of bland music that should never have been made. It's radio friendly mush with poor musicianship, bad production, boring songs that don't go anywhere, horrible guitar picking with little licks added for no reason here and there. The only thing I liked was the cover.

Darklands

The Jesus And Mary Chain

4/5

Short and sweet. I worked in East Kilbride for many years and still own a flat up there. This band is probably just about the only good thing to ever come out of East Kilbride! The music is a lovely mish mash, with some parts sounding shoegazey, others like a Scottish version of the Velvet Underground. It's minimal in places, with little in the way of guitar solos or hook lines. The lyrics are suitably dark and depressing, with an undercurrent of humour "dead like a Christmas tree" springs to mind. I have to say that I actually prefer other work by this band and I was slightly missing the wall of noise I had been looking forward to when I saw the Jesus and Mary Chain come up. Difficult to award 5 stars, but definitely a 4.5.

3/5

My memories of this album is that there were always copious quantities of it in the record bins marked down to like 50p. I think I even owned this album at one point, but ultimately decided to ditch it. I really like the cover of Next on this album and it's definitely the high point. There's a few other pre-ACDC hard rock/ blues tracks that are enjoyable. However, I really didn't enjoy the more glam rock style tracks, Gang Bang being particularly odious. This makes it very difficult to score, as the individual tracks range from 1 to 5. I think a 3 rating makes sense for me.

Red Headed Stranger

Willie Nelson

5/5

This is what I love about this album generator. I would never have listened to Willie Nelson by choice, Country Music is a genre that I always considered as something to despise, lots of "Get Along Lil' Doggie" and Dolly Parton. The closest I would ever normally get to Country would be parody songs about families all dying and the crops dying, etc. This album has opened my eyes to music that I never realised existed. Sparse and simple, relaxing, laid back, a concept album that tells a coherent story about love, betrayal, revenge, and redemption, all tied up nicely and bookended with some outstanding piano pieces. Loved it.

Modern Life Is Rubbish

Blur

2/5

A little samey in places, but every time I was starting to get a bit bored, it would start to move in a different direction. Dreamy pop with a nice mix of different styles taken from older musicians and also contemporaries. Hints of everyone from Bowie to Ray Davies. Probably somewhere between a 2 and 4 for me for the first disc. Then it seemed to get more rambling and boring the longer I listened and was actually horrified to find I was still in the first third of the second disc when I was hoping to be near the end. As the last disc rolled on things started to get worse and worse, awful covers, horrible filler, I wish they had just stopped at the end of the first disc to be honest. Two stars I guess.

Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space

Spiritualized

3/5

I was a big fan of Spacemen 3 back in the day, and always felt that Spiritualized were okay, but not quite up to the same standard. Jason took the gospel/ soul elements and dialled them up to ten and that wasn't the part of the music I liked the most. This album was more of a return to form I felt and I enjoyed it when it was first released. However, it's not an album I would listen to over and over again, like the Spacemen 3 material. There's a mixture between space rock, psychedelia, laid back drone sounds, with the aforementioned gospel elements thrown in. Listening to it now, for the first time in a couple of decades, it's actually a bit better than I remembered. I don't like some of the songs, the slow ones with just singing and not much instrumental accompaniment, they're just a bit dull. This makes the end result a strong 3 stars.

A Girl Called Dusty

Dusty Springfield

1/5

Awful, just terrible, dated, of its time music that I would rather have not had to listen to. I derived zero enjoyment from listening to this rather dull collection of drab songs. I almost had to stop when I endured Dusty wailing away during Mockingbird, an unpleasant experience. I was also disturbed to learn this must have been a double album, as the listening time was too long for a single LP. Truly a test of endurance to make it all the way to the end, like having the worst radio station ever on for an hour.

Nothing's Shocking

Jane's Addiction

3/5

I was actually a bit excited when I saw this album come up, as I vaguely liked Jane's Addiction and had never listened to a full album before. However, although I did enjoy this listen, it wasn't enough to change my vague appreciation to anything stronger. I've never liked the funk-metal genre, so a number of songs here grated slightly. I did like the more Led Zepplin inspired tracks and an album of just this material would have been great. So I ended up with something I enjoyed listening to, but would probably never make an effort to listen to again. Even the "Jane Says" track did little for me I'm afraid. Definitely a 3-star, probably the most 3-star album I've heard so far, not awful (and quite consistent), but nothing special. "Mountain Song" was by far my favourite track.

Exit Planet Dust

The Chemical Brothers

4/5

Pretty chill album, no stand out tracks, but a vague urge to play Wipeout all the way through listening. I own this album already, but it's not one I listened to a lot back in the day, as it was always a bit too mellow and slow for me. It sounds a little better now after a gap of 20 years or so between listens, a definite four. Notably, I have quite a few Chemical Brothers tracks liked on Spotify, but not a single one of them is from this album. Greater things were to come on future releases and the sound here is a bit raw and samey.

Manassas

Stephen Stills

2/5

I didn't hate it and it was actually quite pleasant listening in parts, but it didn't give me any reason to ever listen to this again. I think my main issue with this album is that the songs don't really have any relevance to me. The lyrics all seem to be about things I couldn't care less about, hippy concepts and lovey dovey stuff. I hovered between 2 and 3 stars for this.

Disintegration

The Cure

4/5

I've always been a bit on the fence with the Cure. On one hand, I like some of their early stuff, remember it having a place at goth night clubs back in the early to mid 80s, nothing that would ever induce me to listen to a whole album, but not awful. One the other hand, they released "Love Cats", which was monstrous. This album didn't really change my view. I found myself hoping for instrumentals, as Robert Smith's voice was just a tiny bit too petulant and whiny in places. Many times he didn't start up any singing until halfway through a track, which suited me fine. By the end I was actually quite enjoying it.

Dig Me Out

Sleater-Kinney

4/5

Raucous guitar and simple, short songs. I had never heard of this band before and was expecting this album to be awful, but I was pleasantly surprised to find I really liked it. I will definitely listen to this again.

Crosby, Stills & Nash

3/5

Bit of a mixed bag, the harmonies are a little grating to be honest, but there's some good tracks on this album alongside the duller ones.

...And Justice For All

Metallica

5/5

For me this was the last Metallica album that I really liked. The first album was raw but had great songs and catchy riffs. The second album was somewhat more technical, but still had some rawness. The third album was far more commercial and this one is more of the same. To consistently put out four amazing albums without any real filler is an amazing feat. I don't personally think anything Metallica did after "...and Justice" stands up to this. I saw them on this tour, in Donnington Monsters of Rock I think and it was just after Jason Newsted had joined. He did a great job here trying to cover for Cliff Burton RIP, who obviously had his hand in most of the songs. Powerful and epic from start to finish. Easy 5 stars.

Roxy Music

3/5

Sounded like a mixture of Bowie and the Velvet Underground, with honkey-tonk piano. I was expecting less musicianship and more glam. I don't think there was actually any glam rock that I could hear. I liked the first half better than the second half, but it was all not bad.

Penthouse And Pavement

Heaven 17

2/5

First impression here is the repetition is off the scale. Some of these songs are just a phrase repeated over and over again with little to no variation. It did end up being just short enough to get away with being pretty awful in some places. I kind of didn't mind some of the jingly-jangly proto-synth-pop bits, but as I'm typing is I can hear they put the last song on an annoying loop to close out the album. Was going to be generous and go for a three, but this is definitely two material.

Rapture

Anita Baker

2/5

It wasn't quite bad enough for 1 star, but it was pretty meh. Syrupy pop/ soul stuff that is radio friendly and instantly forgettable.

Bad

Michael Jackson

3/5

Difficult to review this one. Half of the album is made up of big hits that I can appreciate the quality of. The other half of the album is made up of what could only be described as filler, nothing stands out as anything other than that. It made me wonder if the bad tracks on Bad are there simply to make up the running time, maybe they're not as bad as I thought and just haven't had the airplay that the other tracks get, or maybe it's part of the whole MJ song writing. Maybe there's always going to be failures to sit alongside the huge hits?

Fisherman's Blues

The Waterboys

2/5

Rather dull, very "fiddly". The first half was bland and the second half was grating. Not my kind of music.

S.F. Sorrow

The Pretty Things

4/5

Well this was a band I had definitely never heard of, so I went into this not knowing what to expect. It was reminiscent of early Pink Floyd, but with more guitar in place, plus a touch of the Beatles and other pop/psychedelic bands of the 1960s. There weren't any stand-out tracks on a single play through, but nothing too awful either. It's hard to rate, probably somewhere between a 3 and a 4.

Surrealistic Pillow

Jefferson Airplane

3/5

I think this album can be split into two parts, the rockier numbers with Grace Slick singing, which are great, and the poppier/ folky numbers without Grace Slick singing, which are nothing special. There's a similarity to other bands, like the Beach Boys, CSN, etc. a sort of folk-rock-pop combination that sometimes works and sometimes doesn't. Without the two big hits this would probably be a 2, but I'm going to raise it to 3 stars for White Rabbit alone.

Time Out

The Dave Brubeck Quartet

3/5

It wasn't amazing, but it was easy to listen to, quite pleasant and interesting to hear hints of what would come in the following decades. There were definitely some parts that sounded like the beginnings of Progressive Rock for example, particularly King Crimson. Another one that was hard to rate. It felt like a pretty strong 3, not quite enough for a 4.

In Our Heads

Hot Chip

3/5

This was the very definition of innocuous music. Many different flavours, but all of them were really vanilla once the sprinkles fell off. I heard Heaven 17, Pet Shop Boys, New Order, even a bit of Reverend and the Makers as I listened. Nothing new, nothing really exciting, just pleasant and abstract reimagining of music that already existed. I kind of liked Flutes, but only because it stood out as being a bit different from the rest of the album. Synth Pop/ 80s-retro, no way can I see this as having any Dance music influences. Very middle of the road 3 stars because I didn't hate it but it didn't really do much for me.

Forever Changes

Love

4/5

I recognised the album cover immediately, but this is an album I haven't and wouldn't ever have listened to by choice. I always had Love down as some sad flower power band who faded away like the hippy dreams of the 60s did. I recognised the first track immediately, didn't know it was Love who did this and liked it. The rest of the album was a glorious mix of uplifting, happy music and depressing lyrics about society failing. Definitely 4 stars for me, not quite perfect, and nothing stood out enough for a full 5 stars.

Music in Exile

Songhoy Blues

2/5

Liked the first track, but then it just flowed over me as every track sounded similar to the one before it. Was bored of this long before it ended.

Bone Machine

Tom Waits

4/5

When I was at university I attended a Tom Waits film showing. I can't remember what we saw, some documentary with Tom Waits providing the music, it was arty. After the first five minutes people began to stand up and leave, soon it was a mass exodus. The people leaving seemed almost angry, as it they had been here under false pretences. There was also a mild disgust directed at the people who weren't leaving, as if they were only remaining in their seats to be annoying. In hindsight, I think it was more likely that the people leaving felt threatened by those staying, as they must see something in the music that the people leaving couldn't appreciate. About fifteen minutes in, we were down to around a third of the original crowd, but notably, nobody else left before the end. As for this album, I found it imperfect, but still enjoyable, and very much an interesting listening experience. I have a few Tom Waits albums, but earlier ones. I hadn't ever heard this before, but it was a great mix of howls, shouts, the odd melody, and more howling. Easy 4 stars.

Vanishing Point

Primal Scream

4/5

Seeing that this album was meant to be a "sort of" movie soundtrack makes sense. It's an eclectic mixture of mood-music with the odd vocals thrown in here and there. I was looking forward to the cover of Motorhead, but that actually felt a bit dull then it finally came along. Lots of Happy Mondays vibes. I hovered between a 3-star and 4-star rating, but in the end I think this would be great music to have on in the background and I'm going to go for the higher score for that reason alone.

Surfer Rosa

Pixies

5/5

This is one of the handful of 5-star albums that I have been looking forward to and the first to come up on my list. A most excellent album, and my favourite Pixies album by far. An excellent album, even though they had an idiot of a producer and this wasn't a massive hit when it was first released. Looking back, this is an interesting album, it has some of the signs of what was to come later, more refined, but ultimately a bit more boring. Along with the surfer rock/ punk combination, there's shades of the Velvet Underground here and there. Fantastic melodies, interesting strong structures, amazing sound. Nobody really stands out above the pack in this album, it's a definite team album, with the whole standing way above the sum of its parts. This is also a very short album, just over 30 minutes of excellence.

Joan Armatrading

2/5

Saw the album cover and was half looking forward to some Tracy Chapman, until I noticed the year, then the name of the album. Although this wasn't quite bad enough for a single star rating, it was incredibly dull from start to finish. Middle of the road, boring, the first few tracks were slightly more interesting, but it rapidly became a snooze-fest of safe nothingness. I remember Love and Affection being a hit in the 1970s; hated it then, if anything it's even worse now. I feel 2 stars is being generous.

Grievous Angel

Gram Parsons

3/5

I ended up going down the rabbit hole of reading about Gram Parsons, as I had never heard of him before and he seems to have lived a really interesting life. I don't normally like this style of music, but it was pretty inoffensive and I quite liked the musical arrangements here and there. It felt slightly closer to a 3 than a 2, probably 4 out of 10, and it wasn't overlong, so a 3 rating seems appropriate.

Bummed

Happy Mondays

4/5

This was a fun listening experience. I knew around half of the tracks really well from a "best of" album I owned in the 90s. The other half were almost entirely new to me. I can see why some people would be annoyed by the production, Shaun's vocals, or even the fact this music is very much "of it's time". None of these are problems for me in the slightest. I've always liked the stream of consciousness lyrics that Mr Ryder comes up with, the strange combination of alt-rock, psychedelia, and dance music. It was far from a perfect album, probably somewhere between a 3 and a 4 stars, but I'm going to hike it up to 4 stars for how original this was at the time.

All Directions

The Temptations

3/5

Seeing The Temptations come up didn't instil me with joy it has to be said. But the album started out better than I had expected. The second side trailed away a little in terms of quality and overall it felt a bit like one long track "Papa was a..." with some filler packed around it to make an album. It wasn't awful, but it probably hovers between 2 and 3 stars for me. I'll give it a grudging 3 as it was quite short and the main track is a classic.

I Am a Bird Now

Antony and the Johnsons

1/5

The music sounded quite nice, but good grief, the vocals were awful. Warbling and affected, like someone doing deliberately bad singing for a comedy recording, it killed the entire album for me. Even the presence of Lou Reed wasn't enough to save this from the weird warbling noises that just vibrated up and down constantly, ruining everything. I always like to complete albums, even stinkers like this one, but it took me multiple sittings to endure the awful caterwauling noise coming out of the singer. Sorry, but this really isn't for me, just plain torture from start to finish. Like someone gargling their own snot, not a single phrase made without some vibrato added where it totally wasn't required.

Vento De Maio

Elis Regina

4/5

I have to admit that I was dreading this based on the year and cover alone. I was also disheartened to find I was going to be listening to someone singing in a non-English language. However, by the end of the first track I was happy to find that this was not at all what I was expecting. It seemed like a mixture of funk, jazz, strong progressive elements, complex arrangements, and fantastic singing. Somehow I found myself singing along, even though the songs might as well as have been in Martian for all I could understand of them. It feel it would be unfair to give this album less than 4 stars, but it doesn't quite reach the heights required for a full 5 star rating.

The Genius Of Ray Charles

Ray Charles

3/5

It wasn't the best produced album, but it wasn't dreadful and I found it quite enjoyable. I also liked the fact that each side sounded so different, which kept my interest going.

The Undertones

3/5

Very samey, but in a good way I guess. There's a few stand out songs, but everything else is just more of the same with slightly different lyrics and a slightly different tune. Short and sweet, but nothing amazing.

Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge

Mudhoney

4/5

I had vaguely been aware of Mudhoney's existence, but never listened to an actual song by them, never mind a whole album. This turned out to be an enjoyable experience. They sounded like a mix of Nirvana, the Pixies, with a bit of Neutral Milk Hotel thrown in for good measure. The vocals were great, the guitar was fantastic, nothing irritated me or felt off. This was very close to being a 5 star album, but not quite there.

Future Days

Can

4/5

I was vaguely aware of CAN's existence, but I didn't even know that they were a German band. I wasn't really sure what to expect, maybe some experimental, jangly noise that I might find slightly irritating, or hippy crap that never went anywhere. I certainly wasn't expecting the dreamy space rock sounds I was treated to. I think the closest band I can think of to this is probably Hawkwind, particularly the last track (Bel Air) which was my favourite and could have easily appeared on In Search of Space (which came out a couple of years earlier than this album) without anyone noticing. It's another really hard album to rate, which shows the 1-5 ratings just don't work in my opinion. This would probably be an 8, but I'm not giving it a 5 rating as I'm reserving that for albums that are practically perfect.

She's So Unusual

Cyndi Lauper

1/5

Never liked Cyndi Lauper. She has a nasal, whiny singing voice that makes me think of nails on a blackboard. She always seems on the verge of shouting as though she has a serious chest infection and her voice has to squeeze past congestion. I keep expecting her to start coughing her lungs up at the end of each song. She was sold as being quirky and unusual, but always came over as being slightly unhinged, in a sad way. I didn't enjoy the big hits on this album when they were being played everywhere and time hasn't improved this situation. The music is pretty basic synth pop, bland, the sort of music played by those part-time bands that play at weddings for middle-aged people to dance to. I was thinking about a 2-star rating for a little while, but as I got into the second half I realised this is a definite 1-star for me.

Figure 8

Elliott Smith

2/5

Very Beatles-esque and I don't like the Beatles so I didn't really enjoy this much either. The quieter and more reflective songs were boring, while some of the more energetic songs were sort of okay I guess. As the album progressed my interest waned and around the halfway mark I was just looking forward to this ending. Whiny and dull. Not bad enough for 1 star, but not deserving of more than 2 for me.

Tres Hombres

ZZ Top

4/5

I always preferred ZZ Top's earlier albums to the synth-driven 80s soft rock that was to come. This isn't my favourite album but it still has some great tracks on it, including Jesus Just Left Chicago and La Grange. It gets a bit lost on the way, so it's not quite a 5-star album, but an easy 4 stars.

The Stone Roses

5/5

One of the best albums ever recorded, an instant 5-star rating. This is where the stars must have aligned and the various artists came together to produce an album full of back to back classics. This album will always remind me of working at Pizza Hut in the 1980s. Our treat on a Saturday close would be to put this album on as loud as the sound system could handle and clean up the store as we listened. Ideally we would be lying on our backs having a smoke for the last two tracks. This is truly almost an hour of perfection, stunning and timeless, an influential album that has stood the test of time and still sounds as fresh today as it did when it first came out. I hate to think how many hundreds of times I must have listened to this album, yet it still moves me to tears as it's just so bloody brilliant.

Mermaid Avenue

Billy Bragg

1/5

Sometimes I read other people's reviews and wonder if they were listening to the same album as me. I guess different people have different tastes, which is fine; nothing wrong with that. This was fifty minutes of turgid and depressing dullness, truly awful from start to finish. There were no stand out tracks, apart from maybe Hoodoo Voodoo, which was a definite low point and where I would have normally given up listening if I hadn't promised myself to endure to the bitter end. It didn't get any better and if anything it actually got worse.

Joan Baez

1/5

Oh god, that shrill voice was painful first thing in the morning. My tinnitus was so bad by the halfway mark, I actually thought about giving up on this. There were periods where I was lulled into a false sense of security and then the screeching would start up again. I guess this wasn't quite dreadful enough for only 1 star, but there was little here that I took any enjoyment from. The guitar playing was okay, but the horrible voice ruined this for me. I can imagine this album being weaponised by being played at loud volume to get protestors to move on, which would be slightly ironic. The folk songs chosen here had no interest to me whatsoever, boring and twee. There was little joy in this recording, it came over as too serious and almost forced. I was glad to get to the end and will make a point of never listening to this again if I can help it.

All Mod Cons

The Jam

3/5

I didn't expect to like this album, but I was a bit disappointed to find I didn't really think much of it either way. It was a pretty uninspiring listening experience from start to end. In 1978 there was a clear distinction in my class at school between people who like the Jam and people who preferred AC/DC. I was firmly in the latter group. This album brought back some of those memories. The pop-punk-lite songs all sounded rather watered down, although there was the odd flash of something more going on here and there. This was difficult to rate as it wasn't awful, but I wouldn't make an effort to ever listen to this album again. It's probably somewhere between a 2 and a 3, but I'll give it a 3 purely because I do like the last track a little bit more than the rest of this rather pedestrian album.

The Velvet Underground

5/5

Well this was a rare treat after a run of duds. Not my favourite album by the Velvet Underground, but it's still a solid 5-stars. Even though this is one of the more straightforward albums with only really Murder Mystery being experimental, there's still so much to take in here. Never dull, there's a mixture of ballads, straight-up rock songs, and everything in between. Each song is perfectly placed in terms of structure and pace, absolute perfection! It's staggering to think how much of an influence the Velvet Underground were on the music scene and how an album from the 1960s sounds so fresh that it could have been recorded yesterday. There's nothing flashy or clever here, just people singing with guitars and backing. But this is exactly what is so revolutionary about the Velvets, showing the world what could be done and inspiring generations of musicians who came after them.

Meat Puppets II

Meat Puppets

4/5

I'd never even heard of the Meat Puppets before, so this was a pleasant listening experience. Lots to love here, great guitar, interesting lyrics and delivery. I can see how the vocals might put some people off, but they were a good fit as far as I was concerned. Nowhere near perfect and it petered out a bit towards the end a little. Definitely worth 4 stars though.

New Wave

The Auteurs

3/5

I liked this more and more as the album progressed through various shades of brit pop/ alt rock. No real high points, but no low points either. It felt somewhere between a 3 and a 4 star album to me.

25

Adele

3/5

This was okayish I suppose. I don't think I would have recognised an Adele track before as I have zero interest in pop music. I didn't recognise any of the songs on this album, but they were inoffensive, just maybe a bit bland in places. She has a good voice, so I'm going for a three.

Machine Head

Deep Purple

5/5

Deep Purple were actually a pretty respectable band back in the 1970s, decades before they became a comedy band. Lots of talent on display here from the classic Mk2 line up. This was a fun listen, where I knew half the tracks really well, but hadn't heard the other half much at all. I was expecting this to be a strong 4-star album, based on the fact that I predicted to find the tracks I hadn't heard before were all filler, but they weren't and this is a strong 5 star album.

Tuesday Night Music Club

Sheryl Crow

2/5

This felt like it was going to be a chore and indeed it wasn't a great listen, but it wasn't quite as bad as I thought it was going to be and I even quite liked some of the less pop-rock songs in the latter half. Still not strong enough for more than a 2-star rating though.

Fishscale

Ghostface Killah

5/5

Kilo is a thousand grammes, easy to remember! I wasn't expecting to see a Ghostface Killah album come up, but it was definitely a pleasant surprise. I would be hard pressed to pick just one of his albums to put in this list, but I guess if I had to choose, then this would be the one. Even though there's so many guest artists and producers, this is always a Ghostface album, and all the better for it. It was always a bit of a disappointment for me that some of the members of the Wu-Tang Clan went on to pretty dull solo work, but there was still plenty of good stuff that came of the project, Raekwon and GZA spring to mind, but Ghostface was probably the most prolific and also the best for consistent quality. Easy 5 star album that was a delight to listen to again after not hearing it in a year or three. I still sing "whips me with a strap" on a weekly basis.

Bookends

Simon & Garfunkel

4/5

Thought I was going to hate this, but it wasn't too bad. Hazy Shade of Winter is a great song and I honestly didn't even know it was Simon & Garfunkel who recorded it - I thought it was The Bangles. Some of the other songs were okay too. I was expecting a 1-2 star album, but this turned out to be a 3-4 star experience. I think there's definitely pleasure to be had listening to this again, so I'm going to give out a generous 4.

Supa Dupa Fly

Missy Elliott

3/5

It was okay I guess, nothing incredible, got a bit dull in the middle, but picked up again near the end. Didn't hate it, but wouldn't go out of my way to listen to this again.

Crocodiles

Echo And The Bunnymen

4/5

This was a funny one. I never used to like Echo and the Bunnymen. By the time I heard of them they had released a few hits and I didn't particularly like any of them. I had some friends who liked the band, but I had already written them off and wasn't convinced otherwise by listening to their later albums. However, this album I enjoyed. There seems to be a strange mixture of sounds here, synth pop, psych rock, very jingly guitars and a few songs I was singing along too without knowing them. Some of it grated, so it's not a 5, but it's a decent 4 star album.

Young Americans

David Bowie

2/5

Okay, but a bit dull. Was glad to get to the end as it dragged on a bit. I feel 2 stars is generous, but it wasn't dreadful enough for only 1 star.

Tellin’ Stories

The Charlatans

2/5

Very bland album from the band that nobody wanted to own up to liking at the time. They were a few years too late, too poppy, a bit whiny and derivative. This album was pretty much what I was expecting, like a poor man's version of all the more accomplished bands around that had already done the same thing a decade or so earlier. The murky production didn't help much and there wasn't anything to stand out, no amazing guitar or exciting compositions, just lots of stuff that sounded a bit like other bands. I was considering a 3-star rating, but I think I'll drop this one to a 2.

Roots

Sepultura

4/5

I knew of Sepultura but I had only a vague awareness of this album and had never actually heard a single track from it before today. I figured the mixture of metal and world music wouldn't be great, but I actually really enjoyed this one. It was surprising how well this has held up for an album made in the 1990s and it's amazing to see how much Gojira has "borrowed" from this material. The vocals sounded very like early Slayer, the groove-metal just reminded me of any number of bands, but the tribal elements fitted in well and kept things interesting. It's definitely worth a relisten, but it wasn't quite a 5-star experience, probably close to a 9/10, but not quite perfect enough for 5/5.

Parachutes

Coldplay

4/5

I remember having this album on rotation back when it came out. I went through a period of really liking it, then it began to grate a bit, then Coldplay became too popular and I rapidly lost interest in them. Putting aside the unfortunate personalities involved, there's still a lot to like here. Although they come across as a poor man's Radiohead, there's plenty of high points on their debut album. I like the mellow sound and everything just glides along nicely without any abrasive parts, but also without ever getting dull. Listening to this after a gap of 20+ years was interesting. I remembered half of the tracks very clearly and the other half not at all. The second half does drag on a tiny bit towards the end. Difficult to rate this, I thought somewhere between a 3 and 4 star rating seemed fair. It's not perfect but it's a solid album and I enjoyed listening it to after a sizeable gap. I'm going to go with a 4.

MTV Unplugged In New York

Nirvana

4/5

I think I have heard just about every track off this album at some point over the years, even seen a bit on video from the actual performance, but never sat down and listened to the whole thing from start to finish. It was a good mix of material, also a showcase that these songs can stand up to a far more sparse arrangement with semi-acoustic instruments being played. I'm glad the Meat Puppets album came up for me a week or so ago, as otherwise I wouldn't have known the three tracks that were played near the end. I remember at the time that everyone was raving over this "new direction" for Nirvana, but it's not quite as ground breaking in retrospect. In fact, many of these songs just seem to work as well, if not better in this format. Not quite a 5-star for me - it's a great performance though and worthy of 4-stars.

Elephant Mountain

The Youngbloods

2/5

Started off really well, but never really lived up to the first track. It was okay in places, but I think I would have preferred if they had stuck to at least one musical style rather than chopping and changing between psych-rock, bluegrass, jazz, etc. Not amazing, but not abysmal, so 2 stars from me.

Slanted And Enchanted

Pavement

5/5

I was dimly aware of Pavement, somewhere between an American version of The Fall and The Velvet Underground. Some of the songs here could have been on a Fall album without seeming out of place at all, which is a good thing in my personal opinion. As the album progressed I heard echoes of The Pixies, even a little shoegaze here and there. Really enjoyed this.

Paul Simon

2/5

It wasn't totally horrid, just a bit dull. 2 stars as it was inoffensive, no more than 2 stars because it just didn't do much for me. I kind of liked Duncan as the one stand out track I guess.

Double Nickels On The Dime

Minutemen

3/5

I'm pretty torn here. This wasn't a bad album, but I did tire of it by the end as it was long and 43 tracks started to feel a bit of a chore. Okay, the tracks are all very short, but even so it did begin to drag. Some bits stood out and I had a gut feeling that I might like this a lot more with repeated listens. I also experienced a bit of snobbery, as Hardcore is essentially American punk and that just feels wrong! The half-spoken vocals were probably the weak point for me. I liked the music, but there wasn't anything to ever grab hold of due to the rapid delivery of short songs. Ultimately, this album slipped away from me a bit.

Abraxas

Santana

4/5

This was another "oh no!" moment when I saw Santana pop up in my list. I had mentally placed them into the same category as bands like the Grateful Dead - ponderous and boring hippy-shit. I was expecting an album of Latin-tinged coffee commercial pap, but it turned out I was wrong. From the opening I realised this was going to be something much better than I had expected. I could hear echoes of Pink Floyd (particularly Animals - which would come 7 years down the line) and a bit of Deep Purple. The guitar was great, but the whole album was well put together, never dragging and changing style throughout. The covers at the start were probably the highlights, but I also enjoyed the instrumentals, even the foreign language tracks were good. Not quite a 5-star experience, but pretty close.

The Trinity Session

Cowboy Junkies

2/5

Laid back and gently unassuming. Incredibly boring. I'm sure there's some great stuff going on here, but it's really not for me. I have heard many albums from this list that are outside my comfort zone and I learned to love, but this is just an hour of dullness. I guess it would make good atmospheric music for something where the music was entirely in the background, but it's not something I would ever choose to listen to again. As the album progressed it felt more and more like it was slipping away from me, shyly trying to hide itself, almost as if the volume on my headset was being turned down lower and lower. I was reminded of that game kids play where they make quieter and quieter noises in turn, until it's almost impossible to distinguish between the noise and utter silence. Having an hour of silence might have been preferable here. I was thinking 1 star, but they cover Sweet Jane and that's got to be worth a star maybe. God it's an awful cover though, it sucked all the life out of that poor song. I think 2 stars for the astounding levels of tiredness I felt listening to this. I might have found the perfect music to put myself to sleep with?

Fear Of A Black Planet

Public Enemy

5/5

I feel like I need to break my own scoring rules here. This is definitely a 5-star album, but there is also a bit of filler, so it's not perfect. For me this will always be the "middle album" of the trio of really great Public Enemy albums. There's some fantastic tracks here, particularly Fight the Power, probably my favourite Public Enemy track of all time. The samples are diverse, dense, interesting, and set up a great backing for Chuck D and Flavour Flav. There's so many iconic moments here to mention and much of this album has itself ended up being sampled for a multitude of purposes, which is slightly ironic I guess. It makes you wonder how much copyright laws stifle musical creativity. The weaker parts are still musically interesting and there's definitely some importance to the positioning/ sequence of the album. However, some of the individual tracks are just so good that they can be lifted out and stand up on their own right.

Peace Sells...But Who's Buying

Megadeth

4/5

I saw Megadeth headline Christmas on Earth 1987 in Queens Hall, Leeds, a couple of years before the venue was demolished. It was an "interesting" day. Me and my friends had to sit out most of the support bands, as we had decided to start the day with a bottle of vodka each and needed to sleep this off in a corner of the venue. However, we were all okay by the time Dave Mustaine hit the stage. The band played many tracks from this album and they pretty much all sounded better than they did on the original mix of Peace Sells. The first album was really badly produced, but this one also has a bit of a muddy sound, particularly the vocals. Megadeth have always been the lesser of the "big four" for me but this is probably one of the high points in their career. There's a couple of stand out tracks (Wake up Dead and Peace Sells), with everything else a bit forgettable. Definitely a strong 4-star, not quite enough for the full 5 stars.

Brothers

The Black Keys

2/5

I guess this was okayish, nothing really stood out as overly grating, just all a bit formulaic and dull.

Brothers In Arms

Dire Straits

4/5

This was a pleasant surprise. I despise Money for Nothing, mainly due to the fact that when it was a hit it seemed to lurk around for years and was on constant radio/ TV rotation. I also knew Walk of Life and didn't particularly like it either. I figured that was about it for the tracks I knew, but I half remembered the title track maybe. Turns out I had heard almost every track on here at some point or another, often without even realising it was Dire Straits. On one hand this is awful AOR, sax-solos, 80s cheese, pop/rock, everything I disliked about the 1980s. However, it's done so well, the guitar is superb, the long tracks almost sound like prog rock in places. I came away having seen why this was such a big hit. There's always a reason for an album being popular enough to be one of the biggest selling records of all time. Often the reason is simply that it's a good album and I feel this is the case here. Not a 5-star album, and not even a strong 4-star one, but I'm giving it 4 stars anyway as I enjoyed it and, once I was past the hits, it was better than I had expected.

At San Quentin

Johnny Cash

4/5

This was a blast! I enjoyed it so much I even watched the film that was made of the performance. I'm not going to give it a 5-star rating, as musically it wasn't really my cup of tea, but it's a well-deserved 4 stars. There's definitely some bonus points there for the sheer persona of Johnny Cash. He oozes coolness throughout and turns some basic music into something special.

Vulgar Display Of Power

Pantera

5/5

This is my favourite Pantera album and I like Pantera, so it's an instant 5-star review from me. I liked Cowboys from Hell, but this album feels more coherent, everyone at the top of the individual member's form, tight as it could possibly be. The songs are great and we even get Hollow at the end. Lovely production here as well, just overall a fantastic album. It's always a good sign when I open Spotify and half the tracks have green hearts already! I used to play this endlessly as background music when I was playing some video game (that I can't remember the name of now) back in the day and it never got annoying. Yes, this was a high point with many lows to follow, but I'm not going to knock off a point just because the lead singer turned into a douchebag.

Sulk

The Associates

4/5

This is probably the most 80s album I've had to date. It seems set up to grate, falsetto singing, synth pop, experimental sounds. However, I ended up really enjoying it. I knew the two "hits" which I guess are literally all I had ever heard from this band before. I had a dim recollection of when they first charted that was dredged up from the sludge in my head from the early 80s. This one is extremely hard to score fairly. I feel it's somewhere between a 3 and a 4. It's definitely not a bad album, but it's not a great one either, and I feel I wouldn't go out of my way to listen to it again. I was also horrified to see Spotify stick an extra 50-60 minutes of demos and alternate versions that I wasn't prepared to listen to. I think I'm going to be generous and go for a 4, purely because I love some of the weird instruments I can hear, particularly the jangling piano in "Party Fears Two".

Bridge Over Troubled Water

Simon & Garfunkel

3/5

The tracks I knew are indeed great, but the tracks I didn't know weren't so great, making this difficult to score. I feel a 3-star rating is a little on the mean side, but I had lost any interest by the time The Boxer ended and the album just kept going.

The Rise & Fall

Madness

3/5

When I was young you literally couldn't get away from Madness, they were always on TV with a new hit and video. Only two hits on this album, but I remember them well. I always liked the fact that "Our House" seems to have multiple levels, with something incredibly sad lurking just beneath the surface. Many of the songs were similar, someone doing start-stop half-speaking vocals with a sax in the background. They sound like a very well-polished band that might do weddings or small nightclubs for middle-aged adults. I got a bit tired of this by the end, but it wasn't as awful as I was expecting, so I'm giving it 3-stars.

Gold

Ryan Adams

2/5

Kind of whiny, all a bit too serious, this is the sort of music you just never hear in the UK, as it's aimed squarely at American listeners. I actually liked the Nobody Girl song and there were a few places where I started to get into it a little, but mainly because I identified the music as being similar to another, better band. It also took me to the end of the first disc to realise that one of the female backing vocalists was actually the main guy singing in a squeaky voice. Not awful, but very cheesy and no real substance. Having to listen to an hour and a half of petulance about relationships got dull fast. Two stars.

In Rainbows

Radiohead

4/5

I love OK Computer and early Radiohead. I struggled with this though. I listened to it twice and nothing really stood out, but I felt there were hidden depths. I don't feel it should be getting a 4-star rating on the basis that it might grow on me, but the fact I heard so much new stuff on a second listening was enough to push it from 3 to 4 stars.

Tusk

Fleetwood Mac

2/5

I liked the dog on the album cover and the production seemed pretty good. That's about it I'm afraid. This was airy-fairy-later-70s pap with no real substance to it. I didn't like Rumours much at all and if that was Fleetwood Mac's high point, then there's no way I'm going to like this mess. It feels like Rumours again, but just the filler songs and none of the hits. It all breezes along in a jangly, bright manner, with people singing nicely and lots of instruments playing pleasantly in the background. God it's boring - almost like a parody of indulgent 70s pop/ rock. I also found it quite amazing that a band could put out 100 minutes of tedium with not a single stand out track from start to finish. In itself that is some accomplishment. I half recognised the title track, second from the end, but then it faded into the background noise again. Pretty easy to rate - it's not dire enough for a 1-star rating and I could even imagine having this on in the background of a long car journey, or when trying to get to sleep. 2-stars for elevator music seems fair enough.

The Scream

Siouxsie And The Banshees

4/5

I enjoyed this from start to finish. I was actually a little surprised that I hadn't heard a single track from this album before (I'm not counting Helter Skelter for obvious reasons, and Hong Kong Garden wasn't originally on the album, although I do love it for both the music and the imagery of a busy Chinese takeaway). It definitely deserves another listen, but it's not quite a 5-star album. There's a couple of tracks that felt like filler, like the song about smoking which made me feel a little ill. But even then there was something interesting to keep my attention.

Fleet Foxes

3/5

This was pleasant stuff, bright, sharp, nice vocals, I liked the pastoral lyrics and the feeling of being taken somewhere into a clean forest. It was nice for 30 minutes or so, but I doubt I would ever listen to this again. Definitely a 3-star rating for me, glad to have given this a go, but it's not really for me I think.

American Idiot

Green Day

4/5

When this came out I worked with a guy who was a massive Green Day fan and he loved this album (he generally had very bad taste). We had some similarity in the music we liked, so he used to try and convince me that this was a good album. In the end I agreed to listen to it twice, end to end, uninterrupted and not while I was working. He was sure I would change my mind; I didn't, it was bubble gum pop/punk of the worst kind. My purist mind just couldn't see anything redeemable here. Stupid American 30-somethings pretending to be angry and sounding like Avril Lavigne. Well almost 20 years later and I figured I would have the exact same opinion, but I actually enjoyed this, once I got over the annoying first track, which still grates. It's not really that the music is improved, but I think I must have mellowed a bit. Also, I now understand that this isn't an affront to rock/ punk, it's just soft-rock/ pop that's been mislabelled. Treating it as music with no particular genre, it's actually pretty tight and melodic. So I'm giving it 4 stars.

Astral Weeks

Van Morrison

3/5

I had to listen to this twice to decide what I thought of it and I'm still on the fence after two listens. One one hand it's kind of repetitive and the vocals are annoying. It also feels sometimes like the music and lyrics are strangely detached. However, I also found myself enjoying the slightly depressing sounds and the musicality of the whole thing. I wavered between a 2 and a 4, sometimes in the space of a few minutes in some of the individual tracks. I also felt myself hovering over the like button and then backing out again. I feel a 3-star rating is a bit low, but I probably won't go out of my way to listen to this again.

James Brown Live At The Apollo

James Brown

3/5

Not my cup of tea musically, but I can still appreciate the power of JB's voice and the tightness of the backing band. I didn't find the crowd noises to be distracting and the whole thing was atmospheric enough to get 3-stars for the talent, even if I didn't really enjoy it.

A Night At The Opera

Queen

3/5

This was kind of fun in place, a bit grating in others. A peculiar mash up of progressive rock, early heavy metal, vocal harmonies, all in one album. I guess it was interesting, although I wouldn't hurry back to listen to this ever again. Queen were often seen as the final nail in the coffin for progressive rock, a bridge between pomposity and popular music. This is definitely on evidence here, even within Bohemian Rhapsody itself, which varies from operatic prog-rock styling to proto-metal. It's difficult to rate this album, probably a 4 in places and a 2 in many others. I'm going to give it 3 stars, as there's some really bad songs here among the better ones.

Foxbase Alpha

Saint Etienne

3/5

I was vaguely aware of Saint Etienne, but I thought they were more shoegaze and less indie-retro-pop. I actually think I may have been confusing them with Pale Saints, or other bands of that time. Very chill, nice beats with a retro 60s vibe. Ultimately got a bit boring and there wasn't anything that really stood out. Definitely a 3-star album for me; I liked it, but I won't go out of my way to revisit it.

Nixon

Lambchop

2/5

I like to go into albums I've never heard before blind, so I was surprised to see so many other reviewers hating on the vocals. I didn't actually mind them in the main, although there were a couple of places they did seem slightly out of place and too high pitched. Overall this was dull and now I know I'm definitely not a fan of Countrypolitan music. It wasn't so bad that I felt extreme relief at getting through it, but bad enough that I'm giving it 2-stars. There just wasn't anything interesting going on here and it felt a bit like a mixture of Neil Diamond and Radiohead.

White Ladder

David Gray

1/5

I was hoping for something good this morning after a rare heavy night of mid-week drinking. But no, the music gods decided I deserved this drek instead. This is music that firmly falls into the "the world would be a better place if this didn't exist" category. I can't rate it less than 1, but I would rate it negatively if I could. Just awful, affected, bland, over-produced shite. This is the music that made me cringe at the time it came out, when you literally couldn't avoid this dross as it was everywhere. After twenty years it actually manages to sound even worse. Appalling! I promised that I would listen to each album from start to finish, but this one was difficult. Just fake music for fake people. I can't quite decide which part of this is worst, the horrible false vocal performance, the dreadful computer synth noises, the nasty harmonies, the dull and repetitive lyrics, or the relentlessly slow and drudging pace. This was audio torture. David Gray manages to sound like a goat bleating in pain at times, sometimes a failed Bob Dylan impressionist, then at other times he sounds like a talentless busker/ pub singer who has had one too many drinks. This is a vile abomination of a record and I'm going to need to listen to a lot of proper music when this is done to cleanse my soul. God he butchered "Say Hello, Wave Goodbye" - that must surely be a crime against humanity? If someone gave me a gun with one bullet, a time machine, and told me to "save humankind", then I would be sorely tempted to visit David Gray at the moment of his birth. Sorry, but anyone who likes this music must have something wrong with their hearing. I can understand different people have different tastes, but this is beyond bad music.

Natty Dread

Bob Marley & The Wailers

4/5

It's Bob Marley, so I liked it, not a perfect album, but definitely a 4-star for the sheer musicality alone.

At Folsom Prison

Johnny Cash

4/5

Although I slightly preferred the other live prison performance on this list by Mr Cash, this was still a very good album. I love the fact that you can tell how much Johnny is enjoying performing with his little jokes and interludes.

Under Construction

Missy Elliott

3/5

By the end of the first half this was a weak 4-stars, but by the end I had really gotten bored of it and the quality had noticeably dipped, so 3-stars overall. It's not bad, but it's in the awkward spot between classic 90s hip-hop and 2000s fake hip-hop/R&B for me and all the talking got dull.

A Hard Day's Night

Beatles

2/5

This was surprisingly dull. Yes, there were a few big hits from the film, etc. but the rest of the album was just packed with the same, short, rather obnoxious songs that sounded incredibly dated and shallow. I can appreciate the Beatles, but their later work was far superior to this.

Idlewild

Everything But The Girl

1/5

This was really hard to get through, even worse than I had imagined it would be. Mumbling/ whiny singing, bland tunes, smooth/ cheesy sounds, horrible keyboards, saxo-fail, and jazz-lite noises thrown into a vat and blended together to come up with a dozen incredibly samey tracks that meander on and merge together into over 45 minutes of awfulness. This is the sort of music I would expect to hear when put on hold ringing a company who don't want me to wait on hold. It's almost like it's designed to offend. God the keyboards are an atrocity, a lot of work must have gone into making them sound so bad, they really are so very bad. They actually sound like something you might get out of a Christmas cracker. It's not even an excuse that this is from the 1980s, as I've heard better keyboards from albums made two decades earlier than this. This has been one of the few times I've found myself looking forward to adverts on Spotify as some relief from the horror of this album. What a worthless chore this was. Definitely 1-star, almost worth more for the sheer relief of getting to the end.

Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness

The Smashing Pumpkins

4/5

Rather embarrassingly, I used to confuse Smashing Pumpkins with Helloween - both were pumpkin themed I guess? Then I went through a phase of trying to listen to the odd Smashing Pumpkins track, but it never quite clicked with me and I gave them up as some US band that didn't have the same crossover appeal as Nirvana, et al. I had never listened to this album before, or even heard a single track from it (or at least that I had remembered). It wasn't big in the UK as far as I remember, or if it was then it wasn't on my radar, even though it fit right into the sort of music I liked back then. Billy's voice took a bit of getting used to, but I didn't hate it once I got past the mental image of Eric Cartman singing. Yes, some of the lyrics are true cringe, but I can forgive that I guess. In the end I decided that it was best to consider the vocal effort as being just another instrument and to tune out from the words being sung. Then I got along a lot better with this album. I honestly didn't mind the 2+ hour running time, as there was quite a bit of variety here, with the "day/ night" thing going on I guess as well. The first CD (two sides?) were superior in my opinion, but the second CD ("night"?) wasn't bad, just not as musically interesting to me. I could see some of the tracks must have been big hits somewhere, e.g. "1979", based on the listen count. None of these really stood out to me, which is where I think I went wrong with this band in the past. For me, they don't make songs that stand out, it's more a case of an interesting musical tapestry with interesting bits here and there. As a whole, the album seemed a lot stronger than a sum of its parts. I wouldn't call this progressive rock by any means, but it had some good keyboards and I enjoyed the mixture of genres greatly. I'm not giving this a 5-star rating, as I feel the quality tapered off towards the end (and the lyrics really sucked in places), but it's a strong 4-stars.

Born In The U.S.A.

Bruce Springsteen

3/5

More big hits on one album than anything else I can think of. It's a bit samey and the shout/groan-singing gets a little tiring by the end. However, there's enough hooks here to supply a fishing competition. There were only one or two tracks here I hadn't heard before and they were so similar to the others that it was hard to tell the difference. It's not music I particularly like or would choose to listen to, but I have to give credit for the sheer quality of the songs here and the staying power to make an 80s album that is so iconic. It's not as cheesy as I thought it was going to be and I would even go as far as saying that I quite enjoyed listening to this, even though once in a lifetime is enough for me. 3-stars for a middle-of-the-road experience.

The Seldom Seen Kid

Elbow

5/5

I had heard of Elbow, but that was about it. I think I maybe once, very long ago, listened to one or two tracks by them, but either didn't like them or wasn't in the mood. So this seemed like what might have happened if Peter Gabriel had set up with Radiohead and kicked out Thom Yorke. It was very much like listening to early Genesis Gabriel, but with a different band that was more film-score-music and less guitar/keyboard-orientated. I loved it, nice lyrics, interesting songs, felt like a 5-star album from start to finish. I'm going to go back and listen to it again now!

World Clique

Deee-Lite

4/5

More piano runs and "proper" house than I was expecting. The one, obvious hit single stood out as head and shoulders above the rest. I was expecting an album of fillers and, although it wasn't an album of killers, it wasn't too bad.

Coles Corner

Richard Hawley

3/5

I was torn on whether this sounded more like Johnny Cash or Frank Sinatra, but there were some serious retro vibes going on here. It could have all fallen apart, but the backing music was spot on and the vocal performance was suitably underplayed. It all came together to make this sit nicely together. I'm still not sure if this album needed to be made in the early 2000s, but it was pleasant enough to earn 3 stats from me even though it was slow and not a genre I'm terribly interested in.

What's Going On

Marvin Gaye

4/5

Short, solid, quality album that takes you on a journey. I only knew a couple of the tracks, but it felt very complete.

The Number Of The Beast

Iron Maiden

5/5

This is the first Iron Maiden album with Bruce Dickinson on vocals and the last with Clive Burr on drums. It's the best line up Maiden ever had in my opinion. Excellent drumming, stand out bass, tight guitar, great vocal performance. Thanks to the dumb Americans getting all fired up about the album cover, this album got loads of free publicity and propelled Iron Maiden into stardom. It's always a good sign when I go to play an album on Spotify and over half the songs have already been hearted! Yes, Invaders and Gangland aren't up to the quality of the other songs, but the fact that Hallowed Be Thy Name is the last track is enough for a 5-star rating from me.

Violent Femmes

3/5

Never heard this before and folk-punk sounded interesting. However, I soon realised that this was an American band and Americans really don't just get punk in the slightest for some reason. It didn't ruin the album for me, but for me "folk-punk" resolves to low-fi/ acoustic alt-rock. If I had to think of similar artists then I would probably look to the Pixies. I found this difficult to rate. Musically it wasn't anything special, but I did find the lyrics and performances amusing.

Felt Mountain

Goldfrapp

4/5

Dreamy, breathy singing over an eclectic trip-hop/ electronica/ classical backing. I liked it and even went back to listen to some of my favourite tracks a second time. But ultimately, it just made me want to listen to Portishead, who are in my opinion anyway, similar but superior in every way, including doing this almost a decade earlier. I'm going to stick to my personal rules here for scoring: 1- awful/ irredeemable - the world would be a better place without this album 2 - bad but had something about it that saved it from a single star rating 3 - average/ bland - won't listen to again but not awful 4 - good - will probably listen to this again 5 - superb - almost perfect and will definitely relisten or already on my playlist This is somewhere between a 3 and a 4, but I'll be generous and bump it up to a 4 as I keep finding myself whistling the first track.

Ramones

4/5

Well I guess I asked for this when I said Americans didn't understand Punk and totally forgot that they (sort of) invented it with 60s garage rock. This is 60s garage rock sped up even though it sounds quite slow by more modern standards, I imagine it was shockingly fast in the mid 70s. It's not a bad album by any standard, but it's also not the holy grail that some people seem to think it is. It wasn't even slightly successful when it was first released, probably because it's actually a bit samey. I couldn't imagine picking a favourite song from this album, because they're all essentially the same as each other. I was kind of on the fence with this, but I found myself humming some of the songs all day, so I'm going for a 4 star rating.

Treasure

Cocteau Twins

4/5

I think my experience of the Coteau Twins is Pearly Dewdrops Drop and that's about it. This album was of the same era and was pretty much as I expected it would be. Lots of ethereal singing and atmospheric music that never got dull but wasn't enough for a full five stars.

The Gershwin Songbook

Ella Fitzgerald

3/5

There was no way I was ever going to listen to the full 3 hours of this, but the best of seemed a sufficient exposure. Not my thing, but I'm going with 3 stars as it's quality stuff I don't like, which is better than poorly done stuff I don't like I guess.

Tonight's The Night

Neil Young

5/5

I knew Tonight's The Night, the main song on this album, very well indeed, but I hadn't heard any of the others much. Will definitely be giving this a repeat listening. Not my favourite Neil Young material, but it's still an easy 5 stars.

Live At The Regal

B.B. King

3/5

I guess it was okay, not really overly fussed on the songs themselves though. It was all a bit sparse and samey. It was also mercifully short though and the guitar playing was great, so 3 stars for effort.

Disraeli Gears

Cream

4/5

Short and sweet. Tales of Brave Ulysses is the stand out track on this album for me, a seminal psychedelic rock number that served as a template for decades to come. There were some other very good tracks, Strange Brew and Sunshine of Your Love also stood out as excellent. There was also some weird, almost comedy/ skit tracks, including the very strange Mother's Lament that closes the album. Definitely not 5 stars, probably somewhere between 3 and 4 for me, but closer to a 4 than a 3.

The Bends

Radiohead

5/5

This was the album where Radiohead moved from one-hit-wonder to being a force to reckon with. Everything after this came with a much greater freedom for self-indulgence. This was also the last guitar-based album from them, a sore point for some fans. When I was a contractor I did a job for a couple of months with someone who insisted on playing the first few tracks of this album, then skipping to Street Spirit, then back to the start again, over and over, all day long. The "missing" tracks have always felt fresher to me due to this and the first few I've heard so often I literally struggle for them to not just slip by my brain without even realising what I'm listening to. High and Dry starts up, then the next thing I know we're into Just and everything in between was a blur. It's a great album, not a perfect album like OK Computer, but not far off and the few dips in consistency can easily be ignored. As soon as I saw this come up I knew it was another 5-star rating, one that's definitely deserved.

At Mister Kelly's

Sarah Vaughan

4/5

I was almost determined to not like this, a live jazz record by someone I've literally never heard of before from the 1950s sounded like a punishment. However, it won me over and it was actually enjoyable enough for me to listen to the Spotify 35 minutes, then hunt out the "rest" of the album that wasn't available there. This was definitely a good move, as some of the later songs were brilliant. I love the fact that this is so live that there's not just the odd mistake, there's an entire song where she doesn't know the words and just makes it up on the spot. Sheer brilliance!

Penance Soiree

The Icarus Line

4/5

Another band I'd never heard of before that I enjoyed. This was a tiny bit too derivative in places, but overall I liked it very much. Definitely on my list to relisten now, as there were a few stand out parts here and there. Nothing too grating and no weak tracks that I noticed on one play through, although there were a few "this is too angst" moments maybe. Will get 4 stars for not being perfection, but good enough for another spin. Bonus points for Spotify playing The Fall "Green Eyed Loco Man" after the album completed, which I took as a good sign, helped me place when this album first came out, and did indeed have some similarities.

Konnichiwa

Skepta

3/5

Started out as a 4, dipped to a 2, rallied for a weak 3. Quite honestly, it all sounded a bit whiny, like a skinny little man/boy was whinging on about stuff. Didn't like the "skits" and all felt a bit flat.

Never Mind The Bollocks, Here’s The Sex Pistols

Sex Pistols

5/5

One of the most hyped albums of all time and it's still criminally underrated. The music is a little basic at times, but this is part of the raw charm that exudes throughout. The rather murky production just makes this sound like it's been recorded live, rather than in a studio with a million takes. There's so many standout tracks here, Holidays in the Sun, Bodies, God Save the Queen, Anarchy in the UK, and Pretty Vacant. Even the weaker tracks are superb, with a special call out for Submission, which has to be one of the biggest piss take tracks ever and has it's own little back story. The whole band are really tight, much better than they should be for being pretty much self-taught. I'm guessing lots of live performances helped here. Steve Jones keeps it all hanging together, playing lead guitar and bass guitar for most of the tracks. Combined with Lydon's anti-singing it's aged well and still sounds fresh in the 2020s. Like a breath of fresh air, the lyrics to each song are simple and honest. One of the best albums of all time and a well-deserved 5 stars.

Logical Progression

LTJ Bukem

3/5

This was a grim reminder that, although I love Drum & Bass very much now, it was a bit crap in the early days. The era of "classic" Drum & Bass is littered with this atmospheric, slow, abrasive and unmelodic music. I'm reminded of Goldie and Roni Size, artists I don't particularly like. It's actually quite amazing how far the genre has come from these early days when it wasn't so great. However, this leaves me with this long and quite dull album to review. It's very chilled indeed, to the point of being boring in parts. Drawn out, overblown, too chilled, horrible vocals, very much off its time. It's aged really badly, which is a shame. This should have been a strong 5-star album, but it's a rather weak 3-star one.

You Are The Quarry

Morrissey

3/5

I was only vaguely aware that Morrisey was still making music post Smiths and was surprised to find that he's actually been pumping out so much material. This album was very well produced and Morrisey's voice sounded great. The material itself was okay, not as musically interesting as earlier songs, but there were some good tracks and it was all nicely put together. I didn't hate on the lyrics as much as I thought I would; they were basic but nothing I wasn't expecting. I doubt I'll listen to this again, so I'm going to give it 3 stars, even though it felt like a strong 3, maybe a 3.4, not quite enough to push it up to a 4. I'm probably letting myself be swayed a little by the fact that Morrisey is a bit of a dick?

Imagine

John Lennon

1/5

So glad to get this one out the way. I'm going to rate this as fairly as I can, pretending I don't know that John Lennon was such a terrible person. Imagine is awful, it infested the UK charts for months and was played to death on the radio and TV throughout the 1970s and 1980s. Like a bad cancer, it kept coming back again and again, even into the 1990s and early 2000s. We finally got remission, but it's a constant danger, lurking somewhere, just waiting to be played again for some reason. Jealous Guy sounds so bad sung by Lennon. Bryan Ferry made it his song and sang it so much better. The rest of the album is just dull, pale shadows of Beatles songs hung together by session musicians. Some of the songs are awful, really bad, irredeemable garbage like "I don't want to be a soldier mama" that just lurches on and on without going anywhere. The faux "peace people" crap surrounding this whole album makes me feel physically ill at times. Then I realise I'm back to the fact that the two people who put this album together are detestable, vile human beings. I hate to think how Lennon would be if he hadn't been gunned down in the 1980s. He was already a cynical, vicious piece of work and I don't think he would have aged gracefully like Paul and the rest of the Beatles did. He was probably one of the fakest people who ever existed. I was half-hoping "Oh Yoko" might be half decent, as I had heard rumours that it was different to the rest of the album. But no, it was probably the most vomit-inducing trash on the whole album. So this was forty minutes of utter shite. I hope I don't get too many other albums like this one where it's almost physically painful to get to the end. I would rather have to listen to three hours of Sandy Shaw than be forced to listen to this garbage again.

Out Of The Blue

Electric Light Orchestra

4/5

I've seen it written that whatever someone is listening to when they were 13/14 will have a big impact on their musical tastes. Well my first album was an ELO Greatest Hits tape put together by Teledisc - back when you could order an album by phone and it would turn up in the post a month or so later. I think this hit my mailbox around that impactful age. So the greatest hits of ELO got a LOT of playtime (for a while it was literally the only album I owned) and had four tracks that appear on this double album. I know those songs as old friends, but every other song on this album was entirely new to me. ELO are awkward to pigeonhole. They have elements of classical, prog rock, and disco, all constructed with pop sensibilities. Sometimes sounding like the Bee Gees, syrupy ballads, rockier numbers, catchy pop songs all with dense and rich backing music. Having listened to the entire album, I have to say that it's not my favourite ELO album. I think Time, Eldorado, and Discovery are all superior. But I can appreciate how this was popular and I love the cover. The vocoder is used a lot here, maybe even too much, like a new toy that someone just found and couldn't put down. Almost every song has at least one vocoder section thrown in. I was tempted to give this a 5 star rating, partly for the nostalgia effect, but it's not quite perfect enough to deserve that rating. It's still a very strong 4 star album though.

Sweetheart Of The Rodeo

The Byrds

3/5

First side was pretty generic, but the second side was more memorable. Nothing amazing, lots of twang and country-style rock that I didn't really love.

John Prine

4/5

In a mini run of country albums, this one wasn't half bad. There were some great lyrics and the music wasn't awful either. I can see where Roger Waters got some of his ideas maybe.

Endtroducing.....

DJ Shadow

5/5

This was an old favourite back in the day, so glad to see it come up today. The album has some stand out tracks, Midnight in a Perfect World for example, but there's also some weaker tracks mixed in like Napalm Brain, that never seems to go anywhere. I love the feeling of a movie soundtrack here, lots of interesting sounds, ambient one minute, hip-hop another, even elements of jazz, funk, rock from time to time. I'm probably going off nostalgia slightly, but I feel this still deserves a full 5-stars, mainly for the sheer effort of taking so many samples and making them into something that sounds seamless.

Rust Never Sleeps

Neil Young & Crazy Horse

5/5

Just perfection from start to finish, way ahead of its time and also has one of my all time favourite Neil Young songs on it (Powderfinger) as a bonus. The fuzzed up electric guitar on side 2 is something to behold.

Deloused in the Comatorium

The Mars Volta

5/5

I'd had The Mars Volta on my list to listen to for years now, but never got round to it. The name put me off a little, also the description of Latin/ Punk/ Prog didn't sound amazing, even though their name consistently comes up in forums I subscribe to. So I had mixed feelings seeing this come up; would it be as good as people said, or would it not fit my tastes. I also flicked through a few reviews, noting that there was a lot of 1s and 5s and not much in between. The vocals were often picked out as a weak link. Then I listened to the album, halfway through I stopped playing it and went and purchased a copy, then continued. Yes, it was incredible, not ground breaking, with lots of influences I could detect from other bands from the 1970s onwards, and probably bands influenced by this album possibly? Definitely a bit of a Muse, Radiohead, King Crimson vibe throughout, but in a good way. Listened to it again, twice and it only got better each time.

The Who Sell Out

The Who

3/5

Kind of interesting in a psychedelic pop way. Sounded a bit dated and I wouldn't go out of my way to listen to this again, but I enjoyed it for what it was while I was listening to it. The one hit (I can see...) stood out above the songs about deodorant and masturbation. Definitely quirky and I liked the song about baked beans.

Amnesiac

Radiohead

4/5

I love OK Computer and I know Radiohead's first three albums pretty well. However, for some reason I'd never heard Kid-A or Amnesiac before. I bought In Rainbows when it came out (it was the last CD I ever bought), played it once, didn't like it. I felt this needed a few playthroughs to get a fair opinion, so I listened to it four times. I know I like it now, but it doesn't feel perfect. Maybe it will end up as a 5 star album for me, but it's a 4 star one right now.

Hms Fable

Shack

2/5

I'd never heard of Shack before and not a single song from this album jogged my memory. It was pleasant enough stuff I guess, but it all felt a bit like a pub band who were five years too late to hit the curve. Got to the end and felt no reason to ever listen to this again. Dull enough to drop to 2 stars for me.

Transformer

Lou Reed

3/5

Never really liked this album much and a couple of decades of not listening to it haven't really helped. There's one great song (Perfect Day), a couple of good ones (Walk on the Wild Side and Satellite of Love), then there's the rest of the album, which is a bit dull. I can hear Bowie's influence, which for me is a bad thing I'm afraid.

Station To Station

David Bowie

3/5

I liked the first track and already knew the second. The rest of the album wasn't as good. It was okay I guess, but nothing special.

The World is a Ghetto

War

3/5

This was kind of chill, a mix between psychedelic and funk. Some songs were better than others, like four cornered room. Not incredible, but okay for a single listen.

Fulfillingness' First Finale

Stevie Wonder

3/5

Okay, but ultimately a bit dull. Not a huge fan of this sort of 70s soul/ funk. This was pleasant enough, but not inspiring.

White Light

Gene Clark

2/5

Hated it, slow, dull, musically totally uninteresting. It was a chore to listen to this and I was glad when I got to the end. If I was listening to this on a record I would be constantly checking I was playing it at the right speed, as it sounds slowed down. It's like Bob Dylan if he had a stroke and was in recovery from some serious throat affliction. Some of the songs sound like he has his testicles in a vice, it's a strange, unnatural sound. It was actually too dull to even deserve a 1-star rating, so I decided on a 2. It was also mercifully short. Spotify had a whole load of "bonus" tracks, but I didn't want to punish myself, so I skipped them. This album made me want to go and eat some cheese, which I can only assume is due to the Dylanesque sound, as Bob Dylan always sounds like he's singing about cheese to my ears.

Queen II

Queen

4/5

Funnily enough, literally yesterday evening someone recommended that I listen to Queen II as I might enjoy it. I took a quick look at the Wikipedia article, saw the only song I recognised on the track listing was Seven Seas of Rhye, then worried that it might come up on 1001 albums. I played some Starfield instead and went to bed. The very next day..! Well yes, I did like it very much. I grew up with Queen in the charts and vaguely remember Bohemian Rhapsody being played on TV when I was very young. My parents wanted me to come out to the car and I was hanging back to listen to the song. I said, "just this one song" and they agreed - then regretted this decision. Then Queen changed into their 80s form and I lost interest, just another stadium pop/ rock band who sang songs that were big hits, but didn't really interest me in any way. Lots of "ga ga do do" nonsense mixed with silly videos that were funny a few times but got stale quick. This album however was definitely a blast. I liked the fantasy lyrics, the ones that I guess many people don't like. The muddy production was only a problem for the first five minutes or so. I didn't love the harmonizing vocals in some places, but it worked in others when it wasn't so heavy-handed. Lots of Led Zeppelin influences, some enthusiastic guitar solos (some of which were also okay technically, others not so much), and a few progressive rock elements all add up to a pretty great album. Not perfect, but definitely a strong 4 stars as I will definitely listen to this again.

The Band

2/5

Total snoozefest - there was the odd bit of interesting guitar here and there, but mostly just dull as ditch water.

Queen Of Denmark

John Grant

4/5

Enjoyed this a lot more than I thought I would and it ended up being a 4-star album for me. I have to say that, unlike other reviewers, I thought the last third was a dip in quality and became a bit more generic.

Blonde On Blonde

Bob Dylan

4/5

I recognised this from the iconic album cover and inwardly groaned. However, I must be reaching that time in my life where even Bob Dylan starts to sound good. The singing wasn't great, but the song writing was superb, so I think 4 stars seems fair.

The Bones Of What You Believe

CHVRCHES

2/5

Yeah, this was pretty sucky. By the end of the first track I'd pretty much heard all I was going to hear. Retro-synth-pop for no reason I can think of, nothing new, nothing interesting. Just a dozen or so tracks that were almost identical, vapid, boring. Notably, the only track I half-liked (and the only reason for a 2-star rating) was the last track, where the female singer is either not present, or in the background. Maybe I only liked this slightly more because it sounded different? Not a good album by any means; they can't even spell properly!

Steve McQueen

Prefab Sprout

1/5

Well now I know for sure that I hate "sophisto-pop". I'm sure that there's lots of people out there who like jazzy pop music about relationships, but I hated every minute of this. Even the half-hit that I vaguely remembered was just a further reminder that I hated that single when it was released in the 1980s, that single was what I based my opinion of Prefab Sprout on, and my opinion was right. There was nothing here to change my mind, just dull and entirely redundant music that I could have happily lived without. This was a waste of almost an hour (for once Spotify adverts were a blessed relief from the chore of this album). Since starting my journey through 1001 albums, I've listened to many albums and musicians I hadn't heard of before. I've found music I now love, but I've also found music I just don't get - this is clearly in that latter camp. I really can't understand why anyone would like this at all, it's just worthless pap.

Beautiful Freak

Eels

3/5

This peaked too quickly for me. I loved the first two tracks, both of which I had heard before. I hadn't heard any of the remaining tracks and sort of lost interest as they became more and more samey. I didn't hate it, but it wasn't something I'd go out of my way to listen to again. Middle of the road 3-stars from me.

Mothership Connection

Parliament

4/5

This was great fun to listen to and the 41 minutes flew by. I will probably go back to this again, even if it's just to try and pick up more of the samples used by other artists. I picked up a few on my first listen, but there's probably more there. Funk isn't really my thing, or this would be an easy 5-stars. It was great, but not quite perfect enough for a perfect rating.

Sticky Fingers

The Rolling Stones

5/5

I've never been a massive fan of the Rolling Stones and I've never sat down and actually listened to one of their albums from start to finish before. Having now done that, this is clearly a most excellent album, well deserving of the full 5 stars that I'm going to give it. There's a couple of tracks here I knew before, Brown Sugar and Wild Horses. I enjoyed them and I also enjoyed all the tracks I hadn't heard before. There was plenty of variation in styles, some excellent guitar work, basically just some very solid songs that are all expertly put together.

System Of A Down

5/5

It's always nice when an album comes up that I have in my collection and can avoid having to play on Spotify with adverts. This is probably my least favourite System of a Down album and by far the one I've listened to the least. It's still a strong 5 star album though. Spiders alone is enough to propel this to 5 stars, Peephole is the icing on the cake.

That's The Way Of The World

Earth, Wind & Fire

3/5

Very nice, easy listening, didn't hate it, but it wasn't a life changer.

Bryter Layter

Nick Drake

5/5

I was introduced to Nick Drake in the mid-80s, long before his resurgence. I always feel a debt of gratitude to the friend who played me these albums. Of his three albums, this is probably my least favourite. It's still incredible though and well deserving of the full five star rating I'm going to give it. I don't think anyone would ever call this over-produced, but compared to the two albums that bookend it, it probably is a little "busy" in places. However, it's also a nice alternative to the stripped back, "man with an acoustic guitar in a dark room" sound. This is totally not the sort of music I would normally enjoy. However, it ticks so many boxes for me anyway. It's evocative from start to finish, even the instrumentals make me cry tears that are partly sorrow but also joy for the music. Anything that can make me cry, even after repeated listens, deserves a full five star rating.

Hotel California

Eagles

4/5

I went on a lads holiday in the 1980s and we realised we had no music for the car. The first garage we stopped at had tapes for sale and we agreed to buy one each. There were three of us and I bought this album. I can't even remember what the other two albums were, but this was the one we played the most. The Eagles have that country rock, over-produced feel that I should hate, but I don't; I love this album from start to finish. It could have been made a decade later and would have fitted in just fine, with the slightly cheesy 80s feel it has. There's a tiny dip in quality in the second half of the album, but it's mainly due to the fact that the first side is so strong. I don't think it's quite a 5-star recording, but it's a very strong 4.

Blood Sugar Sex Magik

Red Hot Chili Peppers

2/5

Like a dead fish with sightless eyes, starting to rot and stinking to the heavens, this album hasn't aged well at all. I never liked this band and hated having to listen to their funk-metal hits in the 90s when they were charting. I'm not a hater of funk-metal either, but there's just something contrived and artificial about the red hot chilli peppers that just doesn't sit well at all with me. I tried really hard to listen to this without any bias, particularly because there was plenty here that I hadn't heard before. But it was ultimately hollow and soulless muzak that I didn't like one bit.

Franz Ferdinand

3/5

I didn't hate it and it didn't drag too much, but it wasn't anything special. Very middle of the road, like something that would sound good with a small crowd in an after hours club maybe. Going to give it 3 stars.

Happy Sad

Tim Buckley

2/5

Bit whiney...

The Dark Side Of The Moon

Pink Floyd

5/5

So this particular slice of perfection comes with incredible depth, particularly considering how young the band were when they put all this together. I sometimes like to imagine that they didn't even create this album, but "discovered" it somewhere in their heads, waiting to be recorded. It's just too good for mere humans to have made this. If I was doing scoring properly, this would get a 5, as it's perfect from start to finish, but the dozen or so other albums I already ranked 5 would all have to be reduced to 4 stars.

Zombie

Fela Kuti

3/5

Okay I guess, but it dragged on a bit. I didn't really understand much of the lyrics, but I see this is some sort of anti-dictatorship stuff.

More Specials

The Specials

3/5

I didn't think I would enjoy this at all, but it turned out to be half-decent. Only half-decent though, so only 3 stars.

Clandestino

Manu Chao

1/5

I always wondered where that awful "King of the Bongos" song came from and now I know. Imagine my horror when I realised that the shitty bongo song was actually the best part of this album. This is the sort of music buskers play to be paid to stop. I really hated this from start to finish. I guess I just don't like world music, but there was literally nothing here for me to enjoy.

Metal Box

Public Image Ltd.

4/5

Well this was truly a difficult one to review. An incredibly eclectic mix of sometimes impenetrable music with a distinctive bass guitar running over every track. Some people hate Lydon's vocal style, but that wasn't a problem for me, partly because I knew what to expect. He drones where he needs to and is off-key in the "right way" throughout, so fine so far. My main problem here is that I knew I had dipped into PIL before many times and always come away bitten. I love their hits, with "This is Not a Love Song" being one of the first songs I ever heard that made me realise music didn't just have to be people singing in harmony about elves and shit. This was similar, with the opener, "Albatross", being almost an endurance test. However, I also found a lot to enjoy here, difficult to listen to at times, but also fascinating to see where so many bands got their ideas from. Did later bands do it better? Probably, but then this is some of the rawest, most experimental, and ground-breaking music from the late 1970s. I think I would naturally give this a 2-3 star rating, but it's definitely on my list to listen to again and I'm going to give it a tactical 4 stars, just to nudge the average up a tiny bit from all the 1s given by people who can't appreciate anything out of their comfort zone.

Definitely Maybe

Oasis

4/5

I was a bit surprised how much I enjoyed this. I remember the Oasis hype around the time this came out and it really was something to behold. Yes, it's derivative, but many good things are. I can hear sounds of the Stone Roses, the Beatles, even the Rolling Stones here and there. I prefer this album to the next one, it's rawer, the songs haven't been as over-played, and there's not a single clanger. I can put aside the pretty awful personalities involved and take this at face value, in which case it's a 4-star album for me, not quite perfection, but about as close to it as any brit-pop album I've ever heard.

Bringing It All Back Home

Bob Dylan

4/5

I'm starting to think I might actually like Bob Dylan. So many classics here, not quite perfect, but not far from it.

Stripped

Christina Aguilera

3/5

Kudos to Christina that I'm giving this 3 stars when it's definitely music I wouldn't normally have any interest in whatsoever. I was also impressed that the big hits didn't really stand out above the rest of the material and there were no real dips in quality.

3 Feet High and Rising

De La Soul

3/5

3-stars are the magic number I'm afraid. I've never been a big fan of De La Soul. This album was okay I guess, but the big hits are just pop songs and there's not really any depth to any of it. The skits have aged particularly badly. I know this was supposed to be ground breaking at the time, but there's other bands who did this better, much better. I did appreciate locating some samples that I knew had been used in hip-hop but I had never quite managed to place before though.

Goodbye And Hello

Tim Buckley

3/5

Half of this album was awful, really bad 1-star material. The vocal performance sounded strained at best, weirdly like the singer was just about to let go with explosive diarrhoea and was suffering terrible cramps. The other half was much better. Basically, I liked the three songs that lasted more than five minutes and disliked the rest. The longer songs were great examples of mildly psychedelic folk/ pop. Not sure what the rest was supposed to be. "Knight-Errant" was probably the low point of the album and "I Never Asked..." was the high point. Seeing as I liked about half of it, I'll give it a 3-star review.

Paranoid

Black Sabbath

5/5

The true source and origin of all stoner/ sludge rock. If it wasn't for this album then there's so many bands who would have either not existed at all, or would have gone down a different route entirely. It's not perfect, a bit rough around the edges here and there, with a drum solo instrumental track that serves little purpose. But it's close enough for a well-deserved 5-stars. One of the things I love about this album is that there's not much in the way of fancy guitar solos and everything sounds musically achievable, even though there's undoubtedly a lot of talent on display. I strongly feel that this is what led so many other bands to get together and try to copy this style of music.

Marquee Moon

Television

4/5

I had a friend who introduced this album to me back in the mid 1980s, so around ten years after the album was first released. I always liked the title track, but struggled to find anything else that really stood out to me. Having not listened to this for over thirty years it was a pleasant musical journey. The guitar is superlative, but the vocals don't quite work for me I'm afraid. It seems really unfair to mark this down from 5 stars based on the artists that the album inspired, but I can hear just a little too much David Byrne in the vocals for my liking, and that sours my experience a little. Love the simple production, the guitar sounds, even the hisses and pops from the vinyl on the version I listened to. It's a tricky balancing act between post punk, pop/rock, even progressive rock in places. Sometimes the style will change mid-track, which I love. For the most part the band keep that balance tight and I can see why this is a classic, but it's not quite perfect in my opinion.

It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back

Public Enemy

5/5

This is probably the weakest of the three classic Public Enemy albums, but it's still more than worthy of a five star rating. There's just so much going on here, such variety, so many samples, some amazing scratching, and memorable tracks.

Phrenology

The Roots

3/5

Pleasant enough I guess, but not really ground-breaking, which is what I was expecting. Very middle of the road R&B in places, with the odd bit of progressive hip-hop thrown in. Hovered between 2 and 4 stars throughout my listen through, so 3-stars seems fair.

The Psychedelic Sounds of the 13th Floor Elevators

The 13th Floor Elevators

3/5

This used to be one of my all time favourite albums. However, much as I love this, it's far from perfect. The first two tracks set a high bar that the rest of the album never quite manages to maintain and the garage rock has lost its shine a bit by the end.

Raising Hell

Run-D.M.C.

3/5

Pleasant enough slice of classic hip-hop/ beatbox/ rap. It's staggering to think that this album dropped shortly before Public Enemy's first album release. The big hits are great, particularly Tricky, which has endured the test of time more than Walk This Way in my opinion. The rest is a bit lacklustre and some of the tracks haven't aged well.

Fromohio

fIREHOSE

2/5

Pretty weak, nothing grabbed me about this, but at least it had a short running time, so it wasn't unbearable.

BEYONCÉ

Beyoncé

1/5

This album is so bad it started to make me feel angry! Beyonce wails and moans for over an hour of synthetic R&B pop with zero originality, merit, or any actual music. I know this list is supposed to bring me music out of my comfort zone, but this is just a waste of my time. The lyrics are embarrassingly awful and seem to keep running out, resulting in more pointless wailing, baby noises, and strange moans. I think you would need to be mentally challenged to actually enjoy this. Also, whoever or whatever "creative" team produced this monstrosity obviously just discovered some electronic bass effect and loved it so very much that they felt the need to layer it over just about every single track on this abominable mess.

The Sounds Of India

Ravi Shankar

4/5

I love drone music. One of my favourite albums of all time is Spacemen 3 performing "an evening of contemporary sitar music" (Dreamweapon). I also like the drone/ rock crossover sound the Velvet Underground perfected. However, I've never actually listened to Hindustan classical sitar music, so this album piqued my interest. Turns out I liked it quite a bit. It's excellent background music and the minimalist, three instruments sound sent me on a relaxing and pleasant musical journey for almost an hour. I can't give this a full 5 stars, as it doesn't quite hit perfection. I actually didn't like the explanations being given, finding they distracted a little from the music, probably due to me having pretty much zero interest in the technicalities of playing a sitar.

Funeral

Arcade Fire

4/5

Really enjoyed this and I think I will enjoy it more on a relisten. Not as good as the Suburbia album, but still an easy 4-stars.

The Predator

Ice Cube

4/5

Brutal and unflinching from start to finish. I like 80-90% of this very much and it would easily be 5-stars if there were a few less interludes and it was about 2-3 tracks shorter. It was a Good Day was the theme of the 1990s and the video was fantastic.

Raw Power

The Stooges

4/5

I knew of this album, but I'd never actually listened to it before. Hey, it's only just over 30 minutes long, so I listened to the Bowie mix, then the Iggy mix right after. I think I preferred the Iggy mix, but both had their merits. It's very difficult to rate this 5 stars, as it's obviously imperfect. However, it's impossible to avoid, well the raw power I guess. It's sludgy, dirty music with the lead guitar standing out alongside Iggy's vocal performance and everything else obscured in the murky production. I guess at the time this sounded like nothing before. There's a bit of a Jim Morrison influence sometimes in the vocals, but it's tenuous at best.

Parklife

Blur

2/5

If I had to pick a side in the Blur versus Oasis debates that took place in the 90s, I would never pick Blur. They always came over as slightly nerdy failed art-school friends who formed a band to earn some money. I did like the two good tracks on this album, the first one and the album's title. They held up reasonably well, even though they've been played to death for the last 30 years or so. The rest of the album sucked and was incredibly dull. I even considered a 1 star rating at some points, but the two half-decent tracks pulled it back up to 2.

Midnight Ride

Paul Revere & The Raiders

3/5

Short and quite sweet collection of garage rock, with a little variation, dipping into psychedelia in some parts, then a little crooning thrown in here and there. Apart from a few incredibly lame tracks (Little Girl in the 4th Row is hella creepy for example), it's a pretty solid affair and I enjoyed this much more than I thought I would. I might have even given it four stars if it had been a little more focused on the garage rock/ pop style used for Kicks and Steppin' Stone, which were the definite highlights. I could hear a lot of different influences, but although I understand that this was a response to the British musical invasion, it didn't sound remotely British. More of a cross between the Beach Boys, with some Thirteenth Floor Elevators thrown in.

Songs From The Big Chair

Tears For Fears

3/5

When I saw Tears for Fears I figured another 1 star rating might be incoming, but this album wasn't actually too bad. Slightly cheesy 80s synth-pop with guest guitar and some saxophone chucked in. There were the obvious two tracks I already knew very well indeed, both of which managed to hold up reasonably well considering their era. I quite liked some of the other stuff and was surprised to even hear a few progressive elements coming in from time to time. The ballads at the end of the first side and the start of the second side were rather dull, lowering the score from a possible 4 back to a solid 3.

So

Peter Gabriel

3/5

I love Peter Gabriel in Genesis. For me Genesis was a fantastic band up until the point that Gabriel left and then became a pale shadow, eventually devolving into cheesy 80s pop music. However, in the 1980s I only knew of the Phil Collins led Genesis and wasn't aware they were actually a great band in the 70s or even that Gabriel had been their singer/ main songwriter back then. I actually first came across Gabriel when he released Solsbury Hill, later Games Without Frontiers, both of which I loved. Then he had his smash hit with Sledgehammer, which was okay for pop music I guess and had an amazing video for the time. I didn't have much interest in listening to his album; I knew the 4-5 big hits already and I assumed the entire album would just be more of the same. It turns out I was right. It's not awful, but there's nothing here to make want to listen to this again. Probably the definition of a middle of the road pop album, deserving of a slightly reluctant 3 stars. It's a little telling that the world music influences here don't really stand out at all now. They probably were more ground breaking at the time this was released? The production is very 1980s, syrupy and a little cheesy in places. Syrup and cheese isn't a great mixture.

Blunderbuss

Jack White

3/5

I really enjoyed about half of this, didn't like the other half as much though. Every time it dipped into country rock I groaned inwardly, but then there were peaks to match the troughs. I particularly enjoyed the progressive folk that showed up now and then. Overall there were definitely 2 and 4 star moments, so a 3-star review seems fair, even if pretty much none of this sounded like a 3 star album.

Os Mutantes

3/5

Kind of goofy and a little strange in places, but I loved the variety of instruments and the general vibe I got from this. I don't speak Portuguese, but it didn't seem to matter, as the words were just another part of the sonic assault.

I’ve Got a Tiger By the Tail

Buck Owens

2/5

It was short, but not a great listen for me. Very country, like I'm pretty sure it was even poking fun at itself in a few places. To be honest, that's all that's saving this from a 1 star review, as it's just not of any interest to me whatsoever. By the halfway point I had heard everything I was going to hear and the rest was just a blur.

Bossanova

Pixies

3/5

When I first bought this album it was a bit of a disappointment after the first two albums, which I loved. Hearing it again after over twenty years since I last listened to it, it's pretty much the same as I remembered. It's not a bad album, just not a great one, and the beginning of the decline in quality for the pixies in my opinion.

Devotional Songs

Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan

2/5

I'm going to try to set aside the fact that this is essentially religious music, someone wailing away to a made up god who doesn't exist and, if they did exist, would be a cruel and corrupt deity not worthy of worship. Musically this was pretty much as described, some bloke moaning and wailing for around 45 minutes, with simple drums and stringed instruments backing him. It wasn't terrible, but every time he sang Allah I was reminded that this is for idiots who follow a made up man who lives in the sky and then fight other people because they aren't similarly deluded. It gets a begrudging two stars for being kind of relaxing in places.

Night Life

Ray Price

2/5

If I was in a bar, a live band appeared, and they started playing this music, well I would probably endure it, but not really enjoy it. Ray has a very clear voice, great diction, and now I know all about his alcoholism and bad attitude to women. Every song was like the last one, fiddles, guitar, country-music-stuff, songs of regret. Has this made me a better person? Probably not, neither has the music really opened my eyes to anything new.

Electric Prunes

The Electric Prunes

2/5

I guess the only think I ever knew of the Electric Prunes was Kyrie Eleison from Easy Rider, which very much fit what was happening in the film at the point it was played, but to be quite honest sucked on the soundtrack album, often getting skipped. I even remember that when Hendrix's track was nearing the end, it was time to go and lift the needle and skip over to Bob Dylan. I love psychedelic garage rock, but this album wasn't great. The band didn't write many of their own songs, so it was a case of taking songs written for them, that they didn't even like, and recording them to make an album so uneven that it was painful to listen to in some parts. Nothing of any particular interest here for me. Just a couple of half-decent pop songs and a lot of filler of varying bad quality. If I was playing this on a record player, well the whole album would end up getting skipped I'm afraid.

Reggatta De Blanc

The Police

3/5

When I was little my cousin had this album and insisted on playing it over and over. He also had a Kool and the Gang album, so his taste was dubious at best. I always enjoyed the two hits and drifted over the rest of the material. Having not heard this in 40 years, it was a pleasant musical journey. The band are tighter than I realised back then. The same two tracks still stand out, but I also enjoyed the laid back vibe of the whole package. It's not a great album, but it's not half bad.

Truth

Jeff Beck

4/5

I never thought I would listen to an album with Rod Stewart singing and actually enjoy it, but here we go. There's some definite clunkers in the middle of this, Old Man River is pretty dire and Greensleeves is just awful. The canned audience noises are also a bad idea. The rest of the album is fantastic, a showcase of Jeff Beck's talent with the guitar. Rod Stewart is surprisingly inoffensive here, and there's enough celebrity appearances to keep it interesting. It's probably not quite a 4-star album, but I enjoyed the majority of this enough to elevate it from a middle of the road 3 stars.

Electric Warrior

T. Rex

3/5

I figured I would detest this, but it actually wasn't too bad and sounded remarkably fresh considering it's over 50 years old now. It hasn't suddenly made me like glam rock, but there was surprisingly little filler, just a solid album with some pretty tight songs on it.

Rumours

Fleetwood Mac

3/5

I'm not a big fan of Fleetwood Mac and I've listened to this album a few times now without really enjoying it much. I like some of the big hits a little, particularly The Chain, but the other tracks don't really stand out in any particular way. It's essentially an album of rather drab, safe, beige music that is inoffensive but ultimately a bit dull. I can't give this higher than a 3 star rating, as it's middle of the road.

Abattoir Blues / The Lyre of Orpheus

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds

4/5

I was not looking forward to a double album by Nick Cave this morning, but the time flew and it was over before I knew it. The first part was great, but I also enjoyed the second part equally, even though it was a bit more mellow and derivative. I think this is the definition of a four star album using my scoring methods. I liked it, but I felt it needed at least one relisten, and it was definitely not perfect.

Wild Wood

Paul Weller

2/5

Uninspiring and unoriginal blues rock. This was 1993, when there was some great music around. 1992 was probably my favourite year for music across all time, so this totally flew under my radar at the time. I was shocked to see there were three top 20 hits off this album and expected to half-recognise them. It turns out that I really had managed to somehow avoid this material when it first came out. To be honest I would rather have left it that way.

Entertainment

Gang Of Four

4/5

Nothing to fault here, loved the vocals, the lyrics, the angular guitar, the bass. I think this would only improve given repeat listens. Although Damaged Goods stood out, I think that's more a case of it simply being slightly more accessible than the rest of the album.

Strangeways, Here We Come

The Smiths

5/5

I've always been quite fond of The Smiths, with half a dozen or so of their big hits in my music collection for the last 20 years or so. I only knew one song from this entire album, and it wasn't even one I knew terribly well. This was sublime. I'm starting to find myself clock-watching during some album choices, willing the album to be over soon, even if I'm enjoying it. I often just want to get to the end so I can give my rating and move on. If I decide to relisten, then that's cool, but that first play through often drags. It's like I want to see how big my meal is going to be before attempting to eat it. I did the opposite here, hoping this would just keep going on and on, then very disappointed when it finally ended. It's just so perfectly formed, unique guitar playing, depressing but amusing lyrics, great delivery by the entire band. So many little moments that I can see copied by bands who came later, the Stone Roses, Oasis, etc. all borrowed from this much more than I ever realised. This is also about the most even album I think I've ever heard, with not a single filler, but also without an obvious "hit" inserted halfway through. I can't see how this could deserve less than 5 stars.

Floodland

Sisters Of Mercy

5/5

Another album I can't believe I've never listened to before. This was an important release at the time and, although it probably hasn't aged well in some respects, it's quite staggering how many contemporary bands are still using the basic formula found here. This brings me back to the late 80s, dancing in goth-rock clubs with a dispassionate face, dressed all in black, jerky movements, attitude and lack of any sign of enjoyment essential. Looking back, it's now obvious that there wasn't really much new here. It's just a repackaging of other post-punk material from the late 70s, with a drum machine and some dark wave thrown in for good measure. However, there's not a single bit of filler here and some absolute stonking tracks mingled in at just the right places. If they had added Temple of Love, then this would be perfection, but as it is, it's close enough for a full 5 stars.

Tidal

Fiona Apple

2/5

Beautifully produced, breathy vocals, jazz-leaning chamber pop. God this was boring! The songs all seem to be about the same thing, something about relationships, lots of angst, very dull indeed. Not even interesting enough for 1 star, so I'm giving it 2.

Exodus

Bob Marley & The Wailers

3/5

Great album with some interesting songs, not all the same, plenty of variety. However, it's not really my cup of tea and it's not breaking any new ground. Feels mean to give it 3 stars, but it's a strong 3, almost a 4.

Dig Your Own Hole

The Chemical Brothers

4/5

I owned this album once, many years ago. It's definitely the high point of the Chemical Brothers career as far as I'm concerned. But it's not perfection. I like the breakbeat, but the big beat/ Fat Boy Slim sound is a bit of its time and dates it badly in my opinion. There's a bit of a bridge here between club music and pop music and I would rather the album went harder and wasn't so catchy/ accessible. Setting Sun is a definite high point, and the lowest points aren't too shabby either, but there are low points definitely, a mixture of strong tracks with the odd bit of filler, which is a shame as a tighter 45 minute album would probably have been what I wanted. The last track sounds like something Hawkwind could have made and that's meant as a compliment. This gets a strong 4 stars from me.

Blur

2/5

This went downhill fast. I knew the first two songs and they weren't too bad after a long time since I last heard them. Everything else sucked and just dragged on and on until I lost any waning interest I ever had. I think my take away from this album was "affected". It sounded like a band who had lost any direction they might have once had and were desperately trying to reinvent themselves as alt-rock indie music, but just going through the motions and pretending to be something they definitely never were. Fake music that I didn't enjoy in the slightest. After I read that the band did Song 2 as a joke that went wrong, it dawned on me that the one track I actually half-enjoyed was also fake.

Rhythm Nation 1814

Janet Jackson

2/5

I used to work with a woman who loved this album and spent literally hours telling me how Janet Jackson was the "greatest living talent", a "visionary", and how this album was the most perfect music ever made. I resisted all attempts from her to lend me a copy of this album and there was not much in the way of internet in the late 80s, so I never listened to Rhythm Nation. It turns out that my attempts to avoid this album were more successful than even I realised. I read that there were seven top 5 singles from this album and I had never heard any of them, even the title track was new to me. Turns out I wasn't missing much.

From Elvis In Memphis

Elvis Presley

2/5

Filler with a big hit on the end. Very much of the "get along lil' doggie" variety of country-style pop music. I mean he has a great and distinctive voice, but there's not much else going on.

Little Earthquakes

Tori Amos

3/5

I knew of this album from the "Tori in a box" iconic cover. But I'd never heard anything from it before. It was great to begin with and I figured this was a strong 4, but it began to drag towards the end. Also, the atonal moanings started to annoy me, so I marked it down to a 3.

The Man Who

Travis

2/5

If Coldplay met Radiohead and... yeah, not the greatest.

More Songs About Buildings And Food

Talking Heads

2/5

Never liked Talking Heads, mainly the vocals, I just don't like David Byrne's voice. Never heard this album before and figured it might change my mind; it didn't.

Gunfighter Ballads And Trail Songs

Marty Robbins

3/5

I figured this was going to be a chore and I had my 1-star review written in my head before I even found a copy of this album to play that was reasonably close to the original running order. But it was actually pretty good and I very much enjoyed the stories. Musically it wasn't anything special, but I enjoyed it enough for 3 stars.

Emperor Tomato Ketchup

Stereolab

4/5

The French vocals didn't sit well to begin with, but I tuned them out and started to like the general vibe of this. Didn't sound like a 90s album particularly, maybe a little too sophisticated for my liking? Around the halfway mark I was starting to get a little bored, but then it picked up and got better and better until it rose to a weak 4 stars.

When I Was Born For The 7th Time

Cornershop

4/5

Far more diverse and eclectic than I was expecting. Every time I thought I had the genre pinned down it would change again. I would struggle to know what would bring me to actually play this album again as it had almost too much variety. If I fancied a bit of Punjabi-style hip-hop/ funk/ electronica then I guess this would be a good fit? Hearing Brim Full of Asha at the far slower speed than the Norman Cook remix was interesting. Anyway, I liked it, but not enough for more than 4 stars.

Layla And Other Assorted Love Songs

Derek & The Dominos

4/5

I really enjoyed this for what it was, just over an hour of excellent musicianship. Layla has been overplayed, so it wasn't really the high point it should have been. The other material was great and I loved the Hendrix cover thrown in. Definitely a strong 4 stars.

Play

Moby

3/5

Moby was everywhere when this hit in the year 2000. Car adverts, in the charts, on the radio, on TV. I preferred the Fatboy Slim take on this trend of blending old gospel songs with techno, but there's no dispute that something here was commercially viable. That's probably my main problem with this album, it's a bit soulless. It was interesting to hear the tracks that I somehow managed to avoid back in the day. I would have rated this as a 1 star when it came out, but time has been kinder than I expected and I will bump it up to 3.

Sunshine Hit Me

The Bees

2/5

Put it on in the background and it just faded itself away into nothing. Pretty dull stuff, Jamaican dub influences sounded better on paper than it did in real life. 2 stars.

A Christmas Gift For You From Phil Spector

Various Artists

3/5

It's Christmas so I'm being VERY generous by giving this a 3 star rating. I would have preferred it without the creepy message at the end or some of the less well known songs replaced.

No Other

Gene Clark

4/5

I was actually a little sad when I got to the end of this, as I was really quite enjoying it. I was expecting country/ folk, but what I heard was more gospel/ psychedelia. Horrible album cover, but the contents were 4 stars.

Post Orgasmic Chill

Skunk Anansie

2/5

I'm not a big fan of female vocalists. Maybe that's unfair, but it's my personal taste and I'm going to mark this album down because of that fact. I was also never a big fan of Skunk Anansie, seeing them very much as a nu-metal band with the lead singer being a bit of a Grace Jones clone with a chip on her shoulder. Yes, she's angry about something, but it's just fake anger and it gets boring fast. They were everywhere in the 90s, appearing as a support act for bigger bands and crowding out smaller, upcoming bands. I'd never heard this album before, but it didn't do anything to change my mind about either point. The ballads in the second half are incredibly dull and the backing music is derivative pap. Reluctantly I will give this 2 stars, as it's not quite bad enough for 1.

Foo Fighters

4/5

Got to be worth at least 3 stars. Dave Grohl seems like a genuinely nice person, so I'm going to push this to a shaky 4 stars as it was inoffensive and it was a pleasant enough listen. Not much stood out on a first listen, but there were a couple of songs I may listen to again and the lack of anything I already knew kept this a bit fresh.

In The Court Of The Crimson King

King Crimson

5/5

I was one years old when this came out. But what wouldn't I give to be able to go back in time and listen to this being performed live for the first time. There's a power here, lurking behind the music, pushing everything along relentlessly. Every single note (and there's a lot of them) has its place and is perfectly placed. It's amazing to think that something so musically dense and complex would make it to number five in the UK album charts. If this were to be released today, I doubt it would make such an impact. It's hard to remember that this is pre-Bruford era King Crimson, although the drums still sound amazing to my untrained ears. Greg Lake also does a fantastic job with the vocals, although John Wetton is my preferred singer. Every track has its place and fits perfectly into the album to form a whole that is even greater than the sum of its parts. I love the changes in tempo and even the improvisation in Moonchild that some people find off-putting. This is one of the few "perfect" albums that I was waiting for on this list.

I'm Your Man

Leonard Cohen

2/5

I was kind of looking forward to some Leonard Cohen, as I had heard a lot about him but never got round to actually listening to anything by him. I hope this isn't representative of his other work, as it was pretty awful. The backing music is probably the worst, like something I would expect to hear coming out of a kids synthesiser, a bontempi or casio keyboard. I suppose it's an 80s sound, but it left me cold as it was just so jarringly bad. The lyrics seemed interesting, so 2 stars, but the delivery was just horrid.

KE*A*H** (Psalm 69)

Ministry

5/5

I had Ministry pegged as synth-pop-industrial-goth-metal-hardcore and they weren't ever really on my radar as a band to listen to. This album is probably the only one from their long career that is going to tick boxes for me, but it manages to tick a LOT of boxes. Turns out I actually did know of Jesus built my Hotrod, but I didn't think it was by Ministry. I spent the last 30 years or so thinking it was a Butthole Surfers track instead. The whole album sounds like it could have been outtakes from Slayer from the mid 90s to early 2000s, but tracks they may have considered too humorous to have used, and mixed with Zodiac Mindwarp. I liked the humour and I really liked the speed/ thrash/ industrial metal vibes I got from this. I often don't like an album much on the first playthrough, but I loved this from the get go. Then I listened to it a second time and it seemed like a very different album. I feel torn giving this 5 stars, but it really seems too good for a 4 star rating.

We Are Family

Sister Sledge

3/5

The three big hits are fantastic, but the rest of the album is a bit repetitive and feels like filler wrapped around the good bits. 5 stars for the three hits, but reduced to 3 stars due to the duller sections.

Scum

Napalm Death

4/5

When I first heard Napalm Death it was an eye opener and me and my friends decided we could form a band of similar quality. I was going to be the guitarist, one of my mates could do a passable job of shouting into a microphone, we struggled for drums and bass, but these didn't seem important at the time. Anyway, nothing much ever came of that short-lived endeavour. As for the album, I love the first side, but the second side is just a bit too muddy and the flashes of brilliance are less frequent. Having not heard this album for a long, long time, it reminds me of other bands like Nuclear Assault, who were around at the same time and doing the same sort of thing. A strong 4 stars, but not quite enough for 5.

Djam Leelii

Baaba Maal

2/5

Started off quite hopeful, with the first track sounding like a mixture between folk and world music in an interesting way. But before long it had descended into hand clapping and repetitive noises that became progressively more and more dull. I realised that I could skip the last four tracks, as they weren't part of the original recording, and by the time I was through the first half a dozen tracks I was done anyway. I listened to this on YouTube and I noticed that every song has almost an identical structure, given away by the sound shape below the video; introduction, mumbling and guitar with drums and other stuff, slowly getting more and more subdued, until a crescendo at the end to finish. Rinse and repeat, and with the language barrier all the tracks started to sound identical too. Disappointing 2 stars, but then I don't have any love for world music, so I suppose it's no real surprise.

Cafe Bleu

The Style Council

3/5

I really wanted to hate this. Paul Weller is such a bell end and the "Style Council" ranks as one of the most pretentious names for a band in all time, only overshadowed by the "Cafe Bleu" album name. I was pleased to find that Mr Weller's solo work was indeed awful. I looked at the guest musicians on this album and groaned inwardly. Prefab Sprout was enough for me to crack my knuckles and prepare for a 1 star review incoming. However, I actually rather enjoyed this, even the godawful "rap" track wasn't as bad as I expected. Attempting to listen to this with no preconceptions was difficult, made more so by the two singles I vaguely remembered from when this was first released. But I did my best and I honestly feel like this was very close to a 4 star album. I'm giving it 3 because there's still something that felt a bit "off" about the whole affair, a little too eclectic, maybe the instrumental tracks were a bit too similar to telephone on-hold muzak?

You've Come a Long Way Baby

Fatboy Slim

3/5

I always had a soft spot for Fatboy Slim, mainly because I felt ahead of the curve getting into the big beat genre before it hit the mainstream. I also remember buying this album when it came out and being slightly disappointed with it. Listening to it again over 20 years later I have pretty much the same feelings. It's difficult to put together a coherent electronic dance music album in my opinion. There's plenty of ambient electronic classics, but Daft Punk and The Chemical Brothers are in a similar boat; great singles, music you want to dance to, but patchy albums. Somehow The Prodigy managed to put together some truly awesome albums, so it is possible. This is very patchy. There's some definite 5-star high points, but there's also some 1-star low points that could have easily been dropped to make the album shorter and better. It's not an album I enjoy listening to, as the low points are just so bad that they ruin the good bits. It's not even a 4-star album for me, it's just a very strong 3-star rating.

Lost In The Dream

The War On Drugs

3/5

I was listening intently for any signs of Spacemen 3 and found none whatsoever. So that was a bit sad, but the album was fine I guess in parts, a bit dull in others. It plays out like something Tom Petty might have recorded, or even Bob Dylan in an electric phase. There's one track near the end which is more like Bruce Springsteen, and that was a definite low point for me, lots of "hey"s and generally incredibly cringe. I was half expecting it to suddenly morph into "Dancing in the Dark". It might have been a 4 star album in places, but the derivative nature let it down a bit I feel, so 3 stars from me.

The Score

Fugees

5/5

Wow! I don't know how I managed to miss this, but this was perfection. Even the skits weren't too bad, although I can understand the hate for Chinese Restaurant. The only similarity I could think of was Cuban Linx, which was recorded at almost exactly the same time. I actually think this album is slightly better, more consistent maybe. The hits were a possibly the only low point, as some of them were a little overplayed at the time? This will go on heavy rotation for me now.

Hounds Of Love

Kate Bush

2/5

I generally don't like female vocalists and sadly, this did nothing to change my mind. I guess it was interesting in places, a little experimental, but some of the strange animal noises just sounded a bit silly. Not for me, too 80s, all big hair and electronic drums. The Irish jig halfway through the second side was a definite low point.

Garbage

4/5

I knew the big hits from this album, but they still sound reasonably fresh, maybe as they seemed to fall out of general rotation pretty quickly. I usually don't like female vocalists, but I've always liked Shirley Manson's voice and it's a good fit here. The rest of the band are also great and the production is fantastic. It's maybe a little too glossy and perfect, but there's no real dip in quality, and the album felt exactly the right length. I can see why the lyrics might be cringeworthy for some listeners, but they're fine for what they are, and I enjoyed listening to how Shirley is only happy when the weather is bad. Almost tempted to push this to 5 stars, but I'll settle with a strong 4 stars.

Chirping Crickets

Buddy Holly & The Crickets

2/5

Definitely outside my comfort zone and not much here to enjoy for someone who despises early rock and roll I'm afraid. Far too many songs about being lovesick, kissing, rocking, etc. Mercifully short I guess.

Very

Pet Shop Boys

2/5

Very forgettable. I can see that this album might speak to young gay men, which is fine, there's plenty of albums already with songs about straight young men/ women. However, it's not very interesting/ relevant to me. The songs were very similar and I was very glad to hear the one big hit I remembered, as this marked the very end of the album. 2 stars seems fair, this wasn't very bad, just very dull.

Led Zeppelin

5/5

Everything just sounds so good, almost effortless. Plant's vocal performance is out of this world and the rest of the band sound tight and fresh. This is one of those rare albums that has aged well and the quality is timeless. There was even better to come with the following albums, but the debut is still an easy 5 star recording.

Hot Rats

Frank Zappa

4/5

I hadn't heard a lot of Frank Zappa, other than his comedy songs about eating yellow snow, STDs, or Valley Girls. This wasn't what I expected at all. No idea why this is classed as Psychedelic Rock when it's clearly Jazz Fusion. I can see the criticism that sometimes the guitar solos sound a little bit mechanical, but I still enjoyed this very much indeed. The second side wasn't quite as remarkable as the first, so a 4 star rating seems fair.

Urban Hymns

The Verve

2/5

I didn't expect to enjoy this and indeed I didn't. But I figured it would be grating and it really wasn't, just quite dull. If I wanted to put on some background music that wouldn't offend or draw notice to itself, then this would be ideal.

The Stranger

Billy Joel

1/5

Bill Joel has really nailed the piano and songwriter combo here. In a similar way to other singer/ songwriters, Barry Manilow, Neil Diamond, and of course Elton John. Here's a hint, I despise all of the above. It's pretty dismal listening, like a whole album of songs Elton John rejected for being too generic. I'm not a big fan of Elton John, but I can appreciate he sometimes has a memorable hook or two. There's no such relief here, just nine incredibly cheesy songs that are instantly forgettable. Once I hear Billy singing, "la la la la la la la la la" it's like he's not even trying any more. I can see a lot of people who split Mr Joel's career into "talented" (which this album falls into) and "for the money" (when he was forced to come out of retirement and sing about uptown girls). To me, there's far more continuity and his entire career is based around cheese. This is the sort of safe but dull music that I would expect to hear being performed by cover bands on cruises for the over 60s. This is maybe not quite bad enough for only 1 star, but it's so close I'm going to mark it down, mainly for the awful "la la la la la la" crap and the whistling, got to hate that whistling.

The Notorious Byrd Brothers

The Byrds

3/5

Short and kind of interesting folk/ rock/ psych/ country. I didn't like the sugary-sweet vocals, but the psychedelic sections were pretty good and there was some great guitar here and there. Overall it felt dated and not even particularly ground breaking. But it wasn't awful and I liked the horse on the cover so I'm giving it 3 stars.

Bitte Orca

Dirty Projectors

1/5

Oh! This was awful! It sounded like someone asked an AI to produce an album and went on to feed it with King Crimson, Yes (lots of Yes, positive prompt = just copy entire Steve Howe passages verbatim), Radiohead, and a little bit of Destiny's Child. Then, once the dreadful noise had been assembled, rather than granting it merciful death, they released it as an album. The singing is probably the worst aspect, or is it the blatant rip-off almost directly from other (better) albums that this entire dross is sprinkled with maybe? It's hard to tell which I despised the most listening to this. It's affected garbage of the worst order and it actually made me a little sad because it was just so self-indulgent and plain pathetic. The video for the single (llama being led by two robed women) tells me everything I need to know about how pretentious the people making this music were. After enduring this, I felt the need to clean my ears out,

California

American Music Club

2/5

I'm imagining a pub band who nobody really likes. Maybe they realise the people in the bar they play in want to talk and aren't hear to listen to their rather drab music. They got together as something to do after work, but none of them are particularly talented. One of them has a friend who can get them time in a studio, so they record an album. They don't want to record covers, so they record their own material, but they all know it's no good; there's something missing. They release it anyway, knowing that they still have their day jobs to rely on. Extremely boring and "bad liquor" was really just plain bad. This is the definition of "instantly forgettable". I couldn't even remember the name of the band when I got to the end of the album.

good kid, m.A.A.d city

Kendrick Lamar

5/5

The first two tracks here made me feel quite strongly that this was going to be an awful album. There were a lot of things I didn't like here, starting with some weird Jesus chanting, then some very electronic-sounding synth-beats, electronic drums, and chipmunk rap about pussy and crack. But then something clicked and I found myself liking this, then really liking it, to the point where I couldn't tear myself away until the album was done. I hadn't even heard of Kendrik Lamar before and the fact this came out in 2012 made me assume this would fall into the category of the almost universally bad hip-hop that didn't come out of the "golden age" of the late 80s and early to mid 90s. I'm now a fan and I'm even finding myself comparing this to Illmatic or other classics. I'm going to slap a full 5 stars on this album. I still think the worst of the album is the beginning and it gets way better before dipping slightly again at the end. However, as a journey/ story, it all starts to make sense when viewed as a complete narrative.

Histoire De Melody Nelson

Serge Gainsbourg

4/5

I figured I hadn't heard this before, but it turns out it's been so heavily sampled, that I'd actually heard almost all of it, just not in the original form. It's an interesting tale of the loss of innocence and the music is just sublime throughout, apart from the laughing in one of the tracks on side 2, which was quite horrible. Difficult to rate, but I'm going with 4 stars as I will probably listen to this again and I found nothing to dislike here, even the fact I didn't understand much of the lyrics.

Seventeen Seconds

The Cure

3/5

I was a little bit torn with this one. On the one hand it has my favourite Cure track ("A Forest"), but on the other hand the production is very spartan and even a little inconsistent in places. I liked more than I disliked, so 3.5 rounded down to 3 stars.

Blackstar

David Bowie

4/5

I came to this with pretty low expectations, not being a big fan of David Bowie and his other work. However, I really enjoyed this and will probably listen to it again at least once. Not much else to say, it was interesting and not as depressing as I figured it might be, almost uplifting in parts. 4 stars.

Ragged Glory

Neil Young & Crazy Horse

5/5

I bought this album around the time it came out and I enjoyed it very much at the time, but never went back to it over the last thirty years or so. It was a rare treat to revisit today and I actually enjoyed it even more than I did. I love Neil Young's voice, the garage-rock sound he goes back to here, the (slightly nonsensical) lyrics, there's nothing to fault. Easy 5 stars.

Hot Shots II

The Beta Band

3/5

Nice trippy vibe with a sound that reminds me of quite a few other bands, all mashed together in a dreamy way that generally pleases. But the vocals are just lost in the mix, washed out, flat, and lifeless. In fact the whole album has a murky sound to it, like I'm listening to it with one ear under water with a head cold. It generally got more boring the further I got. Not unpleasant, but not as good as the first track had led me to believe. It hovered between 3 and 4 stars, but I'm voting it down as the lead singer sounded like he had places he would rather have been and was just dialling in his performance. I'm half sure this is what he was aiming for, some sort of disinterested cool thing? If so, then it fell incredibly flat for me.

Hejira

Joni Mitchell

4/5

I think the only material I've ever heard by Joni Mitchell is her song about paving over paradise. I had slightly less than zero interest in hearing anything else she had produced during her long career, imagining it would be lightweight fluff. Now I know where Sheryl Crow, Suzanne Vega, Carly Simon, and probably a whole load of others got their inspiration from. If this hadn't been a mid 70s album, I would have probably assumed it was a direct rip-off from one or more of those other artists. I really liked the musical arrangements here, sort of poppy jazz with a lot of strange bass sounds which was hard to tie down. The lyrics were interesting, although songs about road trips and relationships did begin to drag a little towards the end. The main weak point was probably Joni's voice, which was great, but I just don't enjoy female vocalists, not her fault I guess. I'm going with 4 stars for this one, as it was definitely above average, but not quite good enough for that last star.

21

Adele

1/5

Well I had somehow avoided ever listening to this album, or indeed any of the songs from it. I mean I'd probably heard them being played in supermarkets, but they didn't register with me at all. It's warbly, bland pop music for the masses. Vapid songs about relationships that seems to be targeted at young women. It's nicely put together and the production makes it all very pleasing as background music, but Adele's voice honestly makes me feel nauseous the more I hear it. She has this nasty habit of singing around a note, which sounds affected and fake. There's nothing of any interest whatsoever, just someone singing songs that sound like they could have been written 40-50 years earlier and could have been recorded by just about any one of many interchangeable female pop singers. For me, this was a horrible experience, like being forced to watch soap operas or reality television. It might sound a bit snobby, but just as I would never sit down to waste away the evening watching television, I would never choose to listen to this music for the lowest common denominator. Easy 1 star, music that I could have happily continued to avoid for the rest of my life. The only good bit was when I realised I had accidentally picked an extended version of the album and could stop listening to it earlier than I thought.

Survivor

Destiny's Child

1/5

My father once commented on Destiny's Child around the time this album came out, which was a rare occurrence, as he normally wouldn't show any interest in pop music. He said that he found their cheeks unsettling as they were just so big. He went as far as suggesting that it made him feel a bit hungry, as the three singers reminded him a little of hogs fattened up for slaughter. Anyway, this album was awful. I think the lowest point was "Sexy Daddy", fart noises from a Casio keyboard and a caterwauling vocal performance that was literally torture to listen to. Definitely a 1 star experience from start to finish. If this music made my father consider cannibalism, then I think he would have agreed with this assessment.

Live At The Witch Trials

The Fall

5/5

Such an incredible first album by this band. Industrial Estate is probably the stand out track or maybe Music Scene is. Anyway the blueprint for just about everything I like about The Fall is here somewhere all ready and perfectly formed. Who would have known just how prolific Mark E Smith would turn out to be. I'm looking in my music collection and I have almost 70 albums by The Fall. This is a definite 5 stars.

Tea for the Tillerman

Cat Stevens

1/5

If I was judging this album by the music alone, it would probably be somewhere between a 3 and a 4. I think I would end up giving it 3, as although there were some good tracks, there were also a few that were a bit dull, or short, or even short and dull (which is difficult to pull off). However, I'm pushing it down to 1 stars as I can't bring myself to give the artist more than the minimum allowed. When I was at university, many decades ago, I had a friend who was fine most of the time, but there was some darkness about him. That dark part in him must have called out and found an answer somewhere, because one day he decided he was quitting university, changing his name, and joining the cult of Islam. Looking back, this was probably an early sign of mental illness. Anyone who can justify killing another human for the crime of writing a book doesn't deserve more than one star.

Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not

Arctic Monkeys

4/5

It's a great first album, but listening to it now, I felt the same as when I listened to it when it first came out. There's a bit of filler, there's some high points, there's some dull parts, it's not perfect, but there's loads of energy. I can imagine seeing this band play live in a small venue and the atmosphere would be superb. Listening to a studio recording, some of that raw energy is distilled away a little. Not worthy of 5 stars, but a strong 4 stars.

Tom Tom Club

3/5

I despise David Byrne, there's something I find annoying about him, almost creepy in a way. Which is great, as he's not on this album, just his rhythm section, who put together this rather quirky and funky offering. I didn't hate it and the first few tracks were great, but it did get a bit stale by the end, and it didn't seem as ground-breaking as I thought it was going to be. Smells like 3 stars to me.

Fragile

Yes

5/5

Purely based on the fact that this album brings together Bill Bruford and Rick Wakeman I would give it 5 stars without having to even listen to it. However, I obviously did listen to it and have listened to it many times before. I think what I like most about this album is that it's so jam-packed with ideas that all seem to be pulling in different directions, but somehow it ends up cohesive. It's a bit like the musical equivalent of an overstuffed suitcase that refuses to stay closed - in a good way. But perhaps the best thing about Fragile is that I know that this is far from my favourite album by Yes and I have the rest still to come. Finally, I see some popular reviews suggesting that this is "Dad Rock" or "not for women". I have to admit that comments like this give me mixed feelings. Part of me is glad that there's so many people who are closed minded and they will probably never appreciate the quality of albums made long before they were born. This somehow adds to my enjoyment, knowing that this is not popular music. However, I also feel a slight tinge of regret that this level of mental laziness exists and that assigning a label to something you don't like is how ignorant people avoid having to engage their brains. This is one of my wife's favourite albums of all time incidentally, also my daughter's (who is in her 20s).

Who's Next

The Who

4/5

Better than I thought it was going to be, but definitely had some dips in the middle. Probably a 3 or a 4, but I'm going to go with 4 because of the album cover.

Slayed?

Slade

2/5

Basic rock and roll from the distant past. It doesn't really tick many boxes for me. I always think of Slade as being an earlier form of other gimmicky bands like Black Lace, slightly embarrassing lyrics, lots of props to make up for the lack of talent, a bit cheesy. I don't like the dumb spellings in the song titles; it's just a bit sad. There were a couple of songs here that were kind of okay, but not enough to elevate this above a 2 star rating.

Golden Hour

Kacey Musgraves

2/5

I quite liked the first track, once I got over the fact that it's basically "Old Man" by Neil Young with different words. The rest of the album was pleasant enough, in a "this is definitely a 2 star album" way.

Hunky Dory

David Bowie

3/5

Less filler than I was thinking there was going to be. Not amazing, but worthy of a strong 3.

Junkyard

The Birthday Party

1/5

Terrible album cover and the contents wasn't great either. Shambling and noisy with no real substance. Feels like a 1 star album.

Faith

George Michael

1/5

Ugh! Awful synth pop with a pervasive drum machine providing a very dated 80s backbone to some pretty dire songs. There's only so far breathy vocals and uninspired R&B can get you. Nothing here to push this above 1 star.

Moon Safari

Air

4/5

I've always liked this album a lot; it's a strange mixture of psychedelia and 90s indie sounds with a bit of Trip Hop thrown in. If I had to think of similar artists it would surprisingly include Hawkwind - a few of the tracks seem like almost direct lifts of Hawkwind. For example, "La femme d'argent" is basically "Golden Void" with a different tune. The indie elements are reminiscent of bands like Garbage and there's a bit of Portishead here and there, even a bit of Lemon Jelly now and again. It's not an album I return to often, more of a late night/ early morning chillout vibe that fits a particular situation. The first four tracks are the best and then it settles into a chilled out groove that slowly winds down until the end comes. It feels wrong awarding only 4 stars, but it's a very strong 4.

Channel Orange

Frank Ocean

2/5

Pretty dull. I don't particularly enjoy R&B and this did nothing to change my mind. It felt a bit like a throwback to 90s UK garage in places, but ultimately not worth listening to in my opinion. I was going to give this 2 stars for effort, then I saw Mr Ocean has some pretty nasty views, so 1 star it is.

Step In The Arena

Gang Starr

5/5

I already had Daily Operation in my rotation, but somehow I had totally missed this gem. It's just quality golden age hip-hop from start to finish. I love the beats, the lyrical delivery is laid back and it's just extremely well produced. It's also one of those rare albums that gets better towards the end. The last few tracks shine. An easy 5 stars.

Group Sex

Circle Jerks

4/5

One of the rare American Punk albums that actually delivers. Short and very sweet. I'd never heard this album before, but I'd heard the influences in many other bands, from Nuclear Assault to the Arctic Monkeys. It's not quite good enough to deserve a full 5 stars, but it's really close.

British Steel

Judas Priest

4/5

This was one of the first albums I ever bought, which is odd as I was never really a massive fan of Judas Priest back in the day. I distinctly remember them performing Living After Midnight on Top of the Pops with lots of dry ice. That single got to number 12 in the UK top 40 and so did Breaking the Law. I doubt the same would happen if those singles were to be released any time after the 1980s. It's a technically competent album, without being overly flashy. I've heard many covers of Judas Priest songs by bands with more skilful musicians and to be honest, it's not always a good thing. These are pretty basic songs, more rock and roll than heavy metal in places. I'm not giving this 5 stars, as I've always found this album lacking something that I can't quite put my finger on. There's other Judas Priest albums that I would definitely give 5 stars to though, so I hope they're on the list.

The Coral

3/5

This is a really cool 1960s album apart from it was made in the 2000s and it's so derivative it's almost painful to listen to. I'm going to give it 3 stars for effort, as it must be difficult to come up with original music in the folk-psychedelia genre.

B-52's

The B-52's

4/5

This album was released in 1979. It does not sound like an 1970s album to me. In some ways it's timeless, but the production just seems really clean and it's really hard to pigeon hole into a specific decade. I'm going to give this 4 stars as it's a feel-good album that was deeper than I thought it was going to be and I think I will revisit. I even liked the weird cover of Downtown!

Slipknot

5/5

I really love the first side of this album, so much that this is an instant 5 stars for me, even though the second side is a bit weaker. Listening to this for the first time in a few years reminded me how much I love the start, particularly the drums and the Slayer-esque compositions. I was almost surprised by the second half as I couldn't really remember it at all from my habit of just listening to side one.

xx

The xx

2/5

Very mumble-pop, sparse, low energy music. This sort of reminded me of MBV a little bit, but without any talent or innovation. Every time I started to get into a track it would end,. then be followed by something dull and I would lose interest again rapidly. The intro was pretty cool and I found a longer version that I also enjoyed. I think the vocals were the deal breaker for me on the other tracks. I feel 2 stars is fair.

Document

R.E.M.

3/5

I know this album well, but it's not one I would normally choose to listen to. It was nice to play it through, but once every couple of decades is enough for me. I'm going to give it 3 stars. Back in the late 1980s I had a friend who was a massive REM fan and this was really their last great album as far as he was concerned. The next album (Automatic for the People) drifted just a little too far from their roots into pure pop music and then there was a gradual decline. Some of the hits on this album remind me of the incredibly dodgy night club we all used to go to on a Friday night when they had their alt/ indie-rock theme and REM would feature alongside The Cure, The Smiths, The Pixies, and similar bands of that era. Heady times indeed.

Harvest

Neil Young

5/5

Other than live albums and compilations, this is probably the strongest Neil Young album out there. There's really not a single bad track on it. Yes, even the slightly dodgy song about maids is a good one in my books. I understand that some people don't like Neil Young's voice and there is a bit of a downtempo theme to most of the songs. However, I adore Neil's voice and also the slightly melancholy feel to many of the songs. This really is as close to perfection as I think is possible; definitely one of the most important folk rock albums ever made. If I could give this a six then I would, but I'll have to settle with a five.

Goodbye Yellow Brick Road

Elton John

4/5

I'm actually going to break with my normal scoring rules today and give this album four stars. Ordinarily I would give it only three stars, based on the fact that I didn't hate it, but it wasn't life changing, and I don't plan to listen to it again any time soon. It's music that I wouldn't ordinarily want to listen to, but I appreciate that, for the popular music genre, it's about as good as it's ever going to get. There's also variation, a bit of reggae, a touch of progressive rock even. It all works, the lyrics are great, the singing is fantastic. The hits don't even stand out too far from the rest of the songs, which are all either very good, or good enough to not feel out of place.

Armed Forces

Elvis Costello & The Attractions

1/5

This album is a textbook example of how to make bad music. Slurry vocals, boring songs, "clever" lyrics, percussion that sounds like a kitchen drawer of cutlery being thrown down some stairs. It's just dreadful, instantly forgettable, awful music. I think I have to give a special shout out to the production, which is just so very bad that it stands out as a crime against recording. It was so bad, I thought my headphones were broken to begin with. The only good thing about the awful mix is that the vocals are often buried under the clattering and other ambient noises that might have once been music.

Nevermind

Nirvana

5/5

When stars align albums like this come along. I can still remember the extreme hype when this album dropped back at the very start of the 1990s and it still holds up today. There isn't a single weak track on here and I'm even including the "hidden" track at the end. Sometimes albums are mainstream simply because they're extremely good and this is definitely the case here.

Being There

Wilco

3/5

This was so inoffensive that I would feel bad giving it any rating other than 3 stars. It was pretty forgettable, but it didn't grate in the slightest and I could even say I quite enjoyed having it playing in the background. I was expecting it to start to drag, but before I knew it, the last track was winding down and it was done. I now have zero interest in ever listening to it again.

The Downward Spiral

Nine Inch Nails

4/5

It took me a couple of tracks to get into this, but when I did I found it quite interesting and will definitely want to listen to it again. A second listen went even better, but it seems like there's depth here left to uncover. Amazingly, the only song I had heard before from the whole album was Hurt, and only because Johnny Cash covered it.

Pills 'n' Thrills And Bellyaches

Happy Mondays

4/5

I used to have a best of compilation album that had four songs from this album on, which makes them familiar and the rest of the material pretty new to me. I have to say, that although I love the tracks I knew, some of the other tracks felt a little weak in comparison. I'm going to give this four stars, because it's a great album, but there is a little bit of filler.

Queens of the Stone Age

Queens Of The Stone Age

4/5

I feel I'm being a little bit generous giving this four stars. It starts extremely well, but it tapers off a bit towards the end, possibly because I was listening to the reissue and not the original, tighter version.

Aqualung

Jethro Tull

4/5

I've never been a massive fan of Jethro Tull, but this is one of their albums that I like quite a bit. I think I prefer Thick as a Brick, but this isn't bad at all and has Aqualung, which is a definite favourite of mine. I don't hate the flute, but some of Ian Anderson's vocals don't sit well with me. I think it's the way he elongates words at the end of each line that can be grating here and there? So four stars seems fair.

Lady In Satin

Billie Holiday

2/5

Kind of depressing, broken voice singing some samey songs that get boring fast. It wasn't horrible, but I would never go out of my way to listen to this again.

Locust Abortion Technician

Butthole Surfers

4/5

I like it and I could see me listening to it again, maybe a few times, particularly because it's just over 30 minutes long. It was an interesting mix of noise, tunes, riffs, and strange stuff that never failed to please.

Music for the Masses

Depeche Mode

2/5

Pretty meh, nothing really stood out, although it was pleasant enough as background music. I hadn't heard a single song off this album before, even the ones that were released as singles. Either that, or they were just so forgettable that I don't remember hearing them before? I kind of enjoyed "Sacred" a bit more than the rest of the album, but I wouldn't go out of my way to listen to any of this material ever again.

Madman Across The Water

Elton John

4/5

My first thoughts on seeing this album come up were "oh no! another Elton John album". I had been assigned Goodbye Yellow Brick Road last week and didn't feel ready for another album, even though I had enjoyed that one and rated it four stars. I had considered that must be the high point of Elton's career and anything else would be a disappointment. I was wrong. I think I hadn't truly appreciated just how prolific Elton was in the 1970s and 1980s (over 20 albums pumped out over those two decades). I tend to think of him in terms of his greatest hits, after all there are plenty of those to consider. I even saw the biopic a few years back; also concentrating on his hits mainly. This album had one song I thought I knew, listened to and realised I didn't know that well, and then remembered the end bit. Every other song was entirely new to me. Although this is not the sort of music I would actively seek out, I can see the charm, appreciate the craft, and love the fact that the songs here a totally different feel to the other material I've listened to. I'm going to give this four stars, mainly because it's taught me a valuable lesson about making assumptions, but also because of the sheer quality and talent on display here.

Beauty And The Beat

The Go-Go's

4/5

It feels excessively mean giving this album 3 stars, because it's anything but mediocre. I didn't think I would ever be in a situation where I was awarding 4 stars to an all-girl pop-punk band, but here we are. I was vaguely aware of the Go Go's, but hadn't actually heard any of their material before, or even realised that their lead singer was Belinda Carlisle. I recognised "Our Lips are Sealed", but only by the lyrics. A little research showed that this was a song co-written with Terry Hall, which helped to explain how I had heard a different version.

Frank

Amy Winehouse

2/5

Having a good voice doesn't make a great album if all of the songs suck.

The Clash

2/5

I was looking forward to this, but it turned out to be rather dull and uninspiring. Even the tracks I thought I knew turned out to be lacklustre versions. Not great = two stars.

Talk Talk Talk

The Psychedelic Furs

3/5

It was okay, but a little patchy in places. Some songs sounded vaguely like Hawkwind from around the same era (maybe the sax?), which was enough for me to push this up from a dismal 2 to an average 3.

3 + 3

The Isley Brothers

1/5

Seeing the cover was my first impression was that I was going to hate this. Put it on and it actually started off okay. But by the second track it was already descending into hotel-cover-band that are asked to play quietly, so they don't annoy the people who are here to have a good time and don't want to listen to the awful music. Background music for weddings, maybe good for sampling on 90s hip-hop albums? One good thing is that Spotify scared me into thinking I would have to listen to this for over an hour, but it turns out half the tracks weren't on the original album, so I only had to endure 9 from 18. If this was the eleventh album for this band, just how bad were the first ten?! I'm running out of things to write about this album as rapidly as it runs out of steam. I'm going to give it a 1 star rating.

Toys In The Attic

Aerosmith

3/5

I'm a little impressed that this came out in the mid-70s and not the mid-80s. Other than that, it's generic blues rock with a few dated sections and some okay bits. Overall a pretty dull 3 stars.

Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots

The Flaming Lips

4/5

This was actually rather good, not perfect, but not half bad at all. I went right off the first track when I realised where the melody was borrowed from, but the rest was pretty decent. Maybe the vocals got a little annoying, but only slightly.

They Were Wrong, So We Drowned

Liars

3/5

I can see why this album got low ratings, but I kind of liked it. It's atmospheric and interesting, never annoying or boring. I didn't love it enough for 5 stars, but it's definitely worthy of 3.

Hypnotised

The Undertones

2/5

My Perfect Cousin is the standout track here. When this came out, I had a perfect cousin a little like Kevin. He didn't have a sheepskin jacket, but this song could be about him anyway. Whenever I hear it, I think of my cousin. The rest of the album isn't great, just plodding along punk/pop that all gets a bit samey. Two stars seems a little mean, but it's not quite a 3.

Illmatic

Nas

5/5

Let me start by saying that I don't think this is the greatest hip hop album of all time. It's good, but there's half a dozen or so other albums that are just as good, if not better. It's still one of the easiest five stars I've awarded so far on this journey.

Bizarre Ride II The Pharcyde

The Pharcyde

4/5

Loved it, definitely a feel of Gravediggaz here, also a little De La Soul, but much better, less sell out and more comedic. The skits would probably start to get annoying though, so I'm bumping it down to 4 stars.

Countdown To Ecstasy

Steely Dan

4/5

I should detest this, pop/ jazz/ rock that sounds far too clean and polished, with cheesy lyrics about the USA. It sounds like a house band channelling some strange mixture of Neil Young, The Eagles, and various other bands of that ilk. However, I really enjoyed it. So much that when I got to the end I immediately went back and listened to the whole thing a second time. It's just too much cheese for 5 stars, but it's an easy 4.

Millions Now Living Will Never Die

Tortoise

4/5

Another great find! Never heard of Tortoise, I hadn't even heard of "post rock", although now I know what it is, it seems many of the bands I like are post rock. This was atmospheric, jazzy, dreamy music that I enjoyed very much and would happily listen to again. High 4 stars, almost 5.

Stankonia

OutKast

3/5

More hip-pop than hip-hop... I didn't hate it, but it wasn't anywhere near as good as I was expecting it to be and I'll probably never listen to it again. Far too many skits and a bloated result that could have easily been shaved down to something a little better than this rather dull 3 star effort.

The Libertines

3/5

I remember all the fuss about The Libertines back when this album dropped and I didn't find them that interesting to listen to at the time. Having not listened to their material for twenty years allowed me the chance to give it a fresh chance and it was better than I remembered. Not great though, just okay.

Headquarters

The Monkees

2/5

It's pretty dire. If it wasn't for Zilch this would be a 1 star album, but it barely scrapes 2 stars, partly due to the production cleverly hiding the lack of talent on display.

Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere

Neil Young & Crazy Horse

5/5

I mean, it's Neil Young, how could it not be a 5 star album? To be fair, of the four Neil Young albums I've had come up so far, this is probably the weakest and almost has a low point or two in some of the shorter tracks. However, the three biggies, Cinnamon Girl, Down by the River, and Cowgirl in the Sand are just so good that the album deserves a 5 even if the other tracks were recorded by the dog on the album cover.

D

White Denim

3/5

It reminds me a little bit of the Grateful Dead, which is a shame, as I despise the Grateful Dead for being about the lamest band to ever exist. I'm going to give this 3 stars, mainly for the flute. It was a bit of a non-event really, nothing stood out, but it wasn't truly offensive (like the Grateful Dead).

The United States Of America

4/5

I have a rule to only listen to albums in their original form, not the bloated bonus tracks that come on Spotify. So here I stopped after track 10, ignoring the further 10 tracks from some reissue done years later. There were some very good parts where everything seemed to come together perfectly. However, there were a few duller sections, often in the same songs, where it just wasn't as interesting. I could hear shades of many other bands that may or may not have been influenced by this album, everything from Hawkwind to Stereolab. I particularly enjoyed the electric violin. I loved the fact that, even halfway through a song, the album changed tack and went off in an entirely different direction. But it wasn't quite enough for 5 stars, so I'm awarding a strong 4 stars for this.

If I Could Only Remember My Name

David Crosby

4/5

This wasn't too bad at all, not outstanding, but definitely good enough for 4 stars. I always thought of David Crosby as a bit of a chubby stoner who had a bit of an annoying voice, but this album has opened my eyes. This has to be about the most awful album cover I've ever seen though!

The Doors

5/5

Nineteen sixty-seven was a great year. It was the year I was born and it was the year this album dropped. It's hard for me to pick one event as being more important than the other, but I might have a bit of personal bias. There's no dimension where this album doesn't deserve a rubber-stamped full five stars. It's probably one of the strongest debut albums ever recorded and it somehow manages to avoid the worst excesses of the 60s popular music tropes. Morrison's voice is fantastic and the rest of the band manage to keep everything fluid, with an emphasis on the keyboards. Special shoutout to The End, which I'll always remember from Apocalypse Now, and is probably the best fitting movie music ever. Oh, and I forgot how much I adore Alabama Song, particularly how it segues into Light My Fire.

E.V.O.L.

Sonic Youth

4/5

I think, on the whole, I enjoyed this more than I didn't. There were some parts that were difficult, others where it clicked. It feels like an album that would improve upon repeated listens.

We're Only In It For The Money

The Mothers Of Invention

4/5

There were moments, some bad, some very good. I feel there were more of the latter, so I'm going to give this 4 stars to this jazzy, psychedelic, anti-hippy, weirdness of an album.

Live At The Star Club, Hamburg

Jerry Lee Lewis

5/5

I despise rock and roll music; it makes my ears bleed when I'm forced to endure it as it's just so awful. But this, this is transcendent and forced me to revaluate my feelings about listening to music from a genre I don't usually enjoy. The way Jerry pounds the keyboard and wails with abandon makes this sound feral, but there's an incredible level of showmanship here. Everything is just so tight that it's almost perfect, yet there's enough left loose that it feels raw. Literally brought tears to my eyes it was that good. I think this is probably the best album I've been introduced to by this programme. I would never ever have listened to this if left to choice.

The Queen Is Dead

The Smiths

5/5

Iconic album that served as a template for so many bands that came later. I don't think I ever appreciated how much the Stone Roses took from this for example. There's some very, very high points, where I'm tempted to stick a gladioli down the back of my pants and sway around a bit. There's a few lower points where it doesn't quite work, but this is possibly because the good bits are just so extremely good?

Butterfly

Mariah Carey

1/5

Well I just listened to an hour of syrupy nonsense. Mariah just makes noises and ooohs and aaaws her way through this drivel while some faceless backing band play soulless music. Every now and then some random guy will shout "oh yeah!" or something equally inane in the background. Truly appalling and an affront to musicality in every way. The vocal performance is like she's practising in the shower in an absent-minded way, rather than actually singing on something that would be released to the public.

Shaft

Isaac Hayes

4/5

I would normally have begrudged listening to over an hour of what is mainly soundtrack music. But this was a perfect album to play in the background as it fitted around my morning. First there was the title track, which was also the only track I already had heard before. Then three sides of pretty chill music that wasn't annoying, but did feel a bit strange without much in the way of vocals, or a film to watch. Then side four came round and we were thrown into an almost twenty minute epic journey that had me adding another star to the score, to end up on four stars for the whole album.

Brilliant Corners

Thelonious Monk

4/5

I didn't think I would ever like jazz music, but it seems that now I do.

Crossing the Red Sea With the Adverts

The Adverts

3/5

It was okay, but nothing special.

Truth And Soul

Fishbone

3/5

This wasn't a great album, but the bits I didn't like were relatively short, and it chopped around with different styles a bit, which kept it from getting too stale. It seems like a poor 3 stars.

The White Album

Beatles

4/5

I like the odd listen to the White Album, not too often, as it gets a bit dull, but once in a while it's a bit of fun. I even like "number 9", "number 9". It's not a 5 star album in my opinion, but a pretty strong 4 star one.

Vincebus Eruptum

Blue Cheer

2/5

Proto metal with a missing link between blues and 60s acid rock. Well that sounded interesting. I think it's more accurate to call this 30-40 minutes of three people recording band practice. There's no cohesion or groove here. Every time I started to half like a track, it meandered away into needless guitar antics. Some of the playing was really bad, not in a raw/ live fashion, just bad. I feel like this should have been something I enjoyed, but I didn't - 2 stars.

Juju

Siouxsie And The Banshees

5/5

I tend not to enjoy female vocals and Siouxsie and the Banshees never really clicked with me. Apart from this album of course, which I already know well and love enough to give a 5 star rating straight out of the gates. There's nothing to fault here, the guitars and drums are incredible and the vocals fit the music well. Spellbound is a fantastic track and Arabian Nights is another of my favourites. Having both near the start of the album kicks everything off so well.

At Fillmore East

The Allman Brothers Band

4/5

This was a difficult one to rate, as it's almost exactly a 3.5 for me. It was enjoyable and I felt it deserved another listen, but it wasn't amazing, and some of the songs maybe went on a little too long without really going anywhere. I can't understand how this band is compared to the Grateful Dead, as they don't suck and I've literally never heard anything from the Grateful Dead that didn't suck. I'm going with 4 stars because I'm feeling generous.

Aladdin Sane

David Bowie

3/5

It was okay, in a rather bland, generic way. The epitome of a 3-star album.

Fetch The Bolt Cutters

Fiona Apple

1/5

Oh this was so bad, just horrible. Talentless woman shouting and speaking crap with random noises in the background. Absolutely hated every minute of it. Also, it was far too long and could easily have been 51 and a bit minutes shorter without losing anything of musical value.

Heavy Weather

Weather Report

3/5

I didn't detest this, but it felt like something was missing, like the music was almost too lightweight for its own good. It never really went anywhere, just background music that was pleasing but nothing exciting about it in the slightest. I was thinking 2 stars, but it's not really bad, just bland, so 3 stars it will be.

The Low End Theory

A Tribe Called Quest

3/5

This album feels like one I should like, but I don't, it's dull and the jazz/ hip-hop fusion leaves me cold. I've tried a few times to get into it, as it's consistently hailed as a classic. But nothing stands out as even slightly interesting to me. I love hip-hop, but this is just far too drab to get anything more than 3 stars, and even then I'm being generous.

Hunting High And Low

a-ha

2/5

This was exactly what I expected, dated synth-pop with a strong mid-80s vibe. It wasn't quite as awful as I had imagined, but it wasn't great.

Eliminator

ZZ Top

4/5

I had this album back when it came out and although it was a little generic and didn't get a lot of play, some of the songs got a LOT of play on MTV and in the rock nightclubs that were prevalent in the late 1980s. I think I probably played some of these myself when I was a part-time rock DJ. I didn't think I would enjoy listening to this again as much as I did. I remembered the synth/ keyboards/ drum machine as being far nastier than they actually were. There's a driving sound to every track on here, with pretty heavy production providing a fuller sound than earlier material by ZZ Top. I prefer their earlier albums in some ways, almost like it's two different bands. But this album (and to a lesser degree the next one) were also great in their own way. There's not a bad song here, even the one about meals to be eaten in front of a television set.

Henry's Dream

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds

2/5

I always felt like I should make an effort to listen to Nick Cave, but now I'm starting to realise that I really shouldn't. This is the very definition of overwrought, everything is melodramatic and turned up to ten from start to end. It's a tiny bit like Tom Waits, but if he was shit. I find myself totally uninterested in the subject matter. I'm sure the lyrics are really clever, but they just left me cold. It was an effort to keep up with the constant thematic changes between songs and it rapidly became a chore. I'm going to award a star for not being an absolute misery to listen to, but it's pretty dire. The only high point came at the end, when it suddenly got a whole lot better. I actually got excited, figuring there was one redeemable track near the end. But nope, it was Spotify moving on to Sonic Youth and me not noticing the album was over.

Metallica

4/5

I detested this album when it first came out. It felt like a sell out after the first four albums, a slowed down, radio-friendly album. It didn't help that this was the first proper album that didn't have the influence of Cliff Burton on it. I stopped listening to Metallica for a decade or so after this was released, and with good reason, as they released a series of really bad albums (St Anger I'm looking at you) in this period. It wasn't until 2008 that they released something I considered worth listening to again, 20 years in the wilderness! However, any attempt to avoid this album was doomed to failure, as just about all of it would be played on the radio, in clubs, everywhere I went. I think I might have played the entire album from start to finish once before, but most of the album is on constant rotation somewhere. Hell, I even learned to play the opening of Enter Sandman on guitar when I was learning. In retrospect, it's not a bad album at all, just a disappointment after a run of exceptional early albums. I'm torn between a 3 and a 4 star rating, but I'll give it 4 because I know it's one of my daughter's favourites.

Sheet Music

10cc

2/5

This got boring quick. I was overwhelmed by the general lack of any sort of hook, just noises, some of them pleasant, but nothing catchy. It felt a bit progressive in parts, then more poppy by the end. Nothing special and I can't see any reason for this to be on the list. Two stars for a drab experience.

Kollaps

Einstürzende Neubauten

4/5

Was about as enjoyable as as group of people shouting in German while banging various metal things together could be. My first impression was that it was going to be difficult listening, but it slowly grew on me, peaked with the cover of Je t'aime and the great Kollaps, then faded back to more subdued sounds with no vocals that gradually faded away until the album ended. I felt a lot of different musical vibes here, from The Fall, Bauhaus, NiN, even some electronica. Using my rating system, I'm interested enough to listen to this again, so it gets four stars from me.

(What's The Story) Morning Glory

Oasis

5/5

I still remember the hype when this album dropped. It had already been building for a while, with the first album and concerts starting to make waves, but this was massive when it was released. It's actually held up pretty well, sounding more like a greatest hits album than anything. I mean there's literally not a single bit of filler here, just back to back bangers. Yes, it might sound like the Beatles mixed with the Stone Roses, but it would be rude to not give it 5 stars - very much the high tide for Oasis.

Triangle

The Beau Brummels

3/5

This album made me think of the folk rock parody film, "A Mighty Wind". It sounds very much like either a Bob Dylan rip-off, or a comedy album to start off with. The lyrics are hilarious, but musically it's not bad, a bit like the songs in the aforementioned film. I spent a long time expecting a laugh track, particularly "Magic Hollow".

Scissor Sisters

4/5

I imagined a whole album of Scissor Sisters songs would be a little tiresome and stuffed with filler, but it wasn't.

Inspiration Information

Shuggie Otis

2/5

Pretty poor, sounded like an older version of Jamiroquai, but without any hooks. As the album progressed, it got duller and duller, so I pulled the plug once I got into the bonus tracks.

Hard Again

Muddy Waters

5/5

I figured this would be hard going, but how wrong I was. An absolute delight from start to finish. As I listened, I turned the volume up, and a smile grew across my face. I'd only heard one of the songs before, Mannish Boy, all the rest was new to me. Excellent delivery and fantastic production. I'm left doubting the sense of leaving studio talk in after a couple of the numbers, but this wasn't too invasive I guess, and not enough to lose a star.

Dr. Octagonecologyst

Dr. Octagon

4/5

This could have been a much better album without the constant references to rectums. As it is, it has some great beats and flow, if I wasn't an English language speaker, I feel my enjoyment would be increased, as the lyrics are just dumb.

Slippery When Wet

Bon Jovi

3/5

For one short year, Bon Jovi were just about the biggest thing in the UK. Headliners at Donnington Monsters of Rock festival, on the radio, played in rock clubs, you couldn't get away from them. Then Guns N'Roses turned up and there was a new king of hair metal. I owned this album back in the day, and my feelings now are pretty much the same as they were when it came out. It's very much of the Whitesnake, soft rock/ pop end of the spectrum, but it's also quite enjoyable, just a bit lightweight. It feels very much a 3 star album.

The Joshua Tree

U2

2/5

I'd never heard this album before, which is quite astonishing given the number of people who hailed it as one of the greatest albums of all time back when it came out. It's pretty much as I expected, polished and cinematic, but not my cup of tea at all. I feel mean giving this only 2 stars, but it holds no interest for me at all, even though I can see it's not objectively bad.

Me Against The World

2Pac

2/5

I've never been a massive 2Pac fan, I find his delivery a bit repetitive, too smooth, and I don't have much interest in what he has to say. This album did nothing to change that. Some of the tracks are just plain awful, like the one about his mother. Others aren't too bad, but I wouldn't go out of my way to listen to any of this ever again. Even the backing music kind of sucks, it's just not for me.

Ill Communication

Beastie Boys

4/5

I love the first two Beastie Boys album, but somehow I missed this one and had sort of written them off on the basis of the material that came later, like Intergalactic. Looks like I'd missed a gem.

Morrison Hotel

The Doors

4/5

Not the best Doors album, but still pretty good. If it wasn't for the dip in the middle, this would be a 5 star album, but as it is, it's a strong 4 star one. Somehow, I still love Roadhouse Blues, even if it has been played to death for the last 50 years.

Automatic For The People

R.E.M.

5/5

I knew this album far better than I thought I did. It's a bit slow and depressing in places, so I love it.

Wish You Were Here

Pink Floyd

5/5

It's almost worrying just how good Pink Floyd were for the run of albums that this was in. There were at least two more stone cold classics still to come and their last album was one of the best selling albums of all time. There's nothing overly complex about the music, but it's put together so well and I can't think of any other artist who comes close to this sound. Part of the journey I've been on with 1001 albums has led me a little closer to seeing what music influenced Pink Floyd, but they still stand out as being one of a kind in my opinion. For me, this is the Pink Floyd album I most liked to belt out when walking home drunk, either the title track, or Shine On. Some of the best lyrics I've ever heard. I love the way the entire band come together here to produce such an awesome album, the drums, keyboard, guitars, drums, all come together perfectly, nothing is over or understated. They even have Roy Harper as a guest singer for the icing on the cake.

Straight Outta Compton

N.W.A.

4/5

Although this album has three absolute bangers, the rest of the album just isn't as good. Some of it has aged badly, some of it always felt like filler. It's a very strong 4 star album, but it's not quite good enough for 5 stars. Efil4zaggin is a similar story and I often though that taking the best tracks from each album, putting them together, ditching all the rest of the material, would produce a killer 45 minute beast of an album.

In A Silent Way

Miles Davis

4/5

This was chilled and I enjoyed it more than I figured I would.

Melodrama

Lorde

2/5

Oh man, this was hard going, so samey, awful vocoder noises over a bland electro-pop background. The vocals were just so bad and the whole thing was a mess from start to finish. I think the low point was the awful tom tom drums being played in some sort of demented Phil Collins tribute, maybe, I have no idea what the real intent was here? It was a little too boring to get 1 star, so 2 stars it is.

Cloud Nine

The Temptations

3/5

Kind of enjoyed the chilled out music here, but it wasn't anything remarkable. It's a pretty middle of the road three star album for me.

Smash

The Offspring

3/5

American bands just don't seem to get punk, but never mind. This is kind of pop/ skate punk I guess on some levels. It's punk as much as Avril Lavigne is punk anyway. There wasn't anything that stood out in particular, but it wasn't as annoying as Green Day, so I'm going to give it three stars. If anything, this sounded like Nirvana on a bad day, which isn't an awful thing in some ways I suppose.

Vol. 4

Black Sabbath

5/5

I thought I had quite a good coverage of Black Sabbath, but it seems I had overlooked this album somehow. I had only heard less than half of the tracks, but now I've listened to the whole album I have to say I love it. This is like a primer guide for sludge/ stoner rock in the early 2000s and it's literally quite amazing that it's from 1971. The only weak track is Changes, as I can't help imagining Kelly Osbourne singing it with Ozzy as a duet, and that sucked. It's not a terrible song, but it just doesn't seem to fit here somehow. It's still an easy 5 star album though.

Crazysexycool

TLC

2/5

I remember Waterfalls, it's kind of okay. The rest of the album is a journey of drabness. It's a weak two star effort.

Space Ritual

Hawkwind

5/5

I'm going with 5 stars here, but it's a slightly tactical vote. Hawkwind have put out a lot of albums over the years, we're talking over thirty studio albums alone, with many times that number in live albums, compilations, spin-offs, etc. I stopped buying physical albums in the mid 1990s, but I still managed to acquire around fifty Hawkwind albums, mainly on vinyl. The last album I bought was Electric Tepee, which I think of as one of their more recent albums, but it's actually in the first half of their discography now. The one thing that I think every Hawkwind albums has in common is that they're all imperfect in some way. The generally accepted contenders for the "best" album include Warrior on the Edge of Time, Hall of the Mountain Grill, Levitation, PXR5, and Space Ritual (this album). But none of these are perfect, with the odd dud track showing up here and there. With a band that's been around so very long, it's obvious that there's going to be a lot of shifts in style over the years. Space Ritual was recorded during the promotion of Doremi Fasol Latido, and it's typical space rock fare, so lots of long tracks with meandering saxophone, bass, and drums, with strange electronic ambient noises. It doesn't feel like a live album, as there's not much crowd noise and the quality is on par with the studio albums recorded around this era. The album ticks a lot of "classic Hawkwind" boxes, we have Lemmy on guitar, Dave Brock is obviously here as always, Robert Calvert offers some poetic interludes, and Nik Turner still hadn't fallen out with Mr Brock at this point. It would have been nice if we had some electric violin from Simon House, but he didn't join until 1974. Stacia is dancing, but that doesn't really come over that well on an audio-based medium. Of the twenty-one tracks on this album, I already had eight of them favourited. The good tracks carry the score for me here, as they're just so good that they make up for the slightly duller moments. There's nothing truly awful here, but some of the spoken word tracks get a bit boring after hearing them over and over again. This is great background music, perfect for a long drive, or sitting in the sun, enjoying a beer or two.

Murmur

R.E.M.

3/5

This was a bit dull. I'd heard the album before a few times and it never left much of an impression on me. Having relistened to it for the first time in decades, it's about the same as I remembered.

The Modern Lovers

4/5

I knew Roadrunner from the Sex Pistols cover, but had no idea where it had originally come from. I figured I would detest this album, but it was actually really good. It's like a missing Velvet Underground album, but with some other influences leaking in, like a bit of the Doors here and there. I get that this is a bit of a mash up, rather than a proper album, but it's still entertaining and worthy of four stars. It's not perfect, and there's a few dull moments towards the end, but it's generally on point.

Water From An Ancient Well

Abdullah Ibrahim

2/5

Pretty dull, incredibly light, elevator music jazz. It was pleasant enough to have on in the background and I even searched out the title track as Spotify didn't include it.

Birth Of The Cool

Miles Davis

2/5

This was short and quite pleasant, like listening to the background music to a cartoon from the 50s. It didn't click with me at all and I could happily never listen to it again without feeling I had missed anything.

Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea

PJ Harvey

4/5

This was really good and got better the further I got into it. Going to have to give it another listen, so it's at least a four star rating on my first impression. I somehow always managed to miss PJ Harvey, sort of writing her off as a female Nick Cave, but she's far more than this.

White Light / White Heat

The Velvet Underground

5/5

I remember the first time I heard The Gift, in the early 1980s, drinking cups of tea and listening to every Velvet Underground album back to back. It's the sort of track you should only listen to every decade or so in my opinion. Having said that, this album is a definite and strong five stars, way ahead of its time. Sister Ray is the obvious standout, but there's other strong songs here as well.

Music From The Penguin Cafe

Penguin Cafe Orchestra

4/5

I think the best way to describe this album is quaint. It was a pleasing mix of electric ambient noises with a little bit of strings thrown in. I can see why it would be difficult to classify, but it did remind me of other albums, just ones from at least two decades later. For me, this falls somewhere between a 3 and a 4, but I'm feeling generous as it was just what I needed on a Sunday, so it's getting 4 stars.

Black Holes and Revelations

Muse

5/5

I knew two or three songs from this album, but I'd never heard the rest. It's a great mixture of Queen and Radiohead, but with something special added. I really liked it.

Jack Takes the Floor

Ramblin' Jack Elliott

2/5

Could have done without this, ramblin' and babblin' through 11 short songs by a fake cowboy.

Black Monk Time

The Monks

4/5

I discovered that Spotify only had a couple of tracks available, so I found an alternative version that seemed to have the majority of the album tracks, just in a different order. I got halfway through and started to wonder what all the fuss was about, as it really, really sucked. Then I found the proper album on YouTube and found out what all the fuss was about! This is fantastic, shouty, weird garage rock with an entirely unfettered approach, probably due to the fact that the German record label had no idea what the lyrics were actually about. I enjoyed it enough for a relisten, so it gets four stars. It's not quite enough for five stars though. Also, the cuckoo song is horrible and I would advise avoiding it at all costs - it wasn't even on the original album anyway.

Wild Gift

X

3/5

Got a bit boring by the end, although it wasn't awful and there were some nice Pixies vibes, just too samey and nothing stood out.

Fear Of Music

Talking Heads

2/5

So I was going to give this a 3 star rating, as it's pretty dull stuff, but I'm bumping it up to 4 stars due to Robert Fripp. Unfortunately, I can't stand David Byrne's vocal delivery, so I'm pushing it back down to 3 stars, which was where I came in. Then the second half was so very drab that I'm going down to 2 stars. Some of it sounds a bit like David Bowie, which I guess is the Brian Eno influence. Hated the funky-disco vibe this gave off, but it makes me feel better about not going out of my way to listen to Talking Heads; they suck as much as I figured they would do. I love the fact that I've discovered so much interesting music with this project, but I suppose there has to be the odd journey into garbage along the way.

Low-Life

New Order

4/5

Some of this was really good, especially Sunrise and Elegia. The rest was a mixed bag, the low points felt like generic 80s synth pop, like The Pet Shop Boys or Erasure. Some of it sounded like it was about to launch into Blue Monday, but didn't quite get there. I liked the vocals, even though I could hear that they weren't actually well done, they fitted the music well in my opinion. The guitar/ synth tracks were the highlight for me. I thought this was a 2 or 3 when I was near the start, but then it picked up to a 4 or 5 midway. It ended as a pretty average 4 star album, one I enjoyed listening to, and would listen to some of again, but never the whole album again.

Superunknown

Soundgarden

4/5

I feel like I should like this more than I do, but I don't. I'm going to give it a four star rating, but it feels over-generous in many ways. There's a lot of elements here that should tick boxes, Led Zeppelin style vocals, interesting time signatures, some good guitar work, but it all seems a bit superficial somehow.

Boston

4/5

I used to live in a shared house where the guy in the room next to mine had this album. He loved to wake up early and blast More than a Feeling out at obscene volume. I still love that track, although I didn't really know the rest of the album well at all. The last track really sucks, and prevents this from being a 5 star affair, but the remainder is pleasing and worthy of 4 stars. Yes, it's generic, but I love the guitar sound and it's the epitome of easy listening.

Psychocandy

The Jesus And Mary Chain

5/5

For me, this was the peak for TJAMC, before they toned down the feedback and distortion a little. The simple song structure over a wall of white noise never fails to satisfy. I can hear so many influences, but more importantly, other bands who were in turn influenced by this sound. Spacemen 3 were probably closest for me, with Sound of Confusion coming out just a year later. There was also MBV, and a host of other shoegaze bands that followed on from where this album left off. Obviously it's a 5 star album, it's also a great discriminator, as people giving this album 1 stars obviously have a totally different idea of what music actually is.

Green

R.E.M.

3/5

I'm extremely torn on this album. On one hand it has Orange Crush, by far my favourite REM song ever. On the other hand it has Stand, which makes me feel ill whenever I hear it. The remainder of the album is okay, but there's nothing stand out here, so I'm going to go with 3 stars, which feels awfully low. It's probably a 3.5, but I just can't bring myself to push it up to a 4.

Viva Hate

Morrissey

4/5

This was enjoyable, if a little inconsistent in places. I enjoyed the general ambience and some of the stand out songs, without feeling it was life changing. I'm also kind of surprised that I'd never heard anything from this album before.

People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm

A Tribe Called Quest

5/5

I never really liked the later albums by A Tribe Called Quest, so I was expecting to hate on this one. I had only heard a couple of the tracks from it before, but encouragingly, they were the few tracks I actually liked by this group. Turns out I loved this album, I enjoyed the samples, the flow, the production, the lyrics. It just all felt fresh and much better than anything they did on their later albums. It was good enough for the full 5 stars.

Songs The Lord Taught Us

The Cramps

1/5

Nope, this was awful, plodding horrible drums, nasty rockabilly guitar, dreadful vocals. I can't think of anything I liked about this, so it gets 1 star.

Maggot Brain

Funkadelic

5/5

I uncovered this album a few years ago, loved it then, and love it now. It's worth 5 stars just for the title track alone.

Let's Get It On

Marvin Gaye

3/5

If this had been any longer, it would have received less than 3 stars. As it is, I didn't hate it enough to give it lower than 3 stars, but it was purely background music while it was playing.

The Hangman's Beautiful Daughter

The Incredible String Band

4/5

Whimsical and slightly archaic. I struggled to place what this reminded me, some kind of mixture of Roy Harper and the theme music from Easy Rider, with medieval ballads thrown in. It was certainly odd, but in a good way, and I enjoyed it enough to give it 4 stars.

Ready To Die

The Notorious B.I.G.

5/5

Some of the filler grates, which is probably why I don't listen to this album more than I do. However, the core tracks are just so good that it elevates this to an easy 5 stars. The first side is close to perfection, amazing lyrics and delivery with great beats and production. The second side eases off the gas a little, but it's still a stone cold classic.

Trans Europe Express

Kraftwerk

5/5

I love repetition, so this went down extremely well with me. It's probably the closest you can come to being on a long train journey, without actually leaving your home. For an album that's approaching fifty years old, it sounds remarkably fresh. I struggled to decide between four and five stars, but a relisten convinced me that this was indeed a five star album.

Moondance

Van Morrison

3/5

Very beige. Didn't hate it, but it flowed over me in a background, pleasant enough, but dull as ditchwater way. 3 stars.

A Nod Is As Good As A Wink To A Blind Horse

Faces

3/5

I'm not a massive fan of Rod Stewart, but this was just about bearable. Nothing special though, so 3 stars for it not being too long.

Sail Away

Randy Newman

2/5

I had a feeling that I wouldn't enjoy listening to Randy Newman, and I really wasn't wrong. Yikes! Possibly the most nasal vocals I've ever heard. Drab songs that I guess could be called observations if I were being very kind. Dull enough for 2 stars, but not quite bad enough for 1 star.

Odelay

Beck

4/5

Good, but not quite enough for 5 stars.

Doggystyle

Snoop Dogg

4/5

This was an enjoyable gem, an album I somehow missed from back in the day. Although there's a shortage of big hits, there's a high level of quality here for the entire album. I'm tempted to give this 5 stars, but I'll leave it as a strong 4-star album.

Guitar Town

Steve Earle

3/5

Pretty cheesy, some of it awful, some not too bad. Overall I guess it just about scrapes an average 3 stars.

461 Ocean Boulevard

Eric Clapton

2/5

Didn't enjoy this, other than the first track, which was okay. I figured this would be a bit all over the place, and indeed it was. Very little to hold my interest and I was relieved when it was over.

Cheap Thrills

Big Brother & The Holding Company

4/5

I never knew that Janis Joplin was in a band before she went solo. This was a rare treat, not quite perfection, but pretty close, and definitely worth a repeat listen.

Electric Music For The Mind And Body

Country Joe & The Fish

3/5

I enjoyed roughly half of this and tolerated the rest, so a middling 3 stars it is.

Woodface

Crowded House

2/5

This is the epitome of inoffensive music, the sort of music played for people who don't really like music at events where music is required. I can imagine there's a lot of wedding parties where this gets played. I noticed another reviewer calling out the similarity between this and the music in Spyro. Once my mind had been drawn attention to that fact, it stuck with me throughout the entire album, nudging it up from a snooze fest 1 star, to a tedious and beige 2 star effort.

Liquid Swords

GZA

5/5

I hadn't listened to this album in years and I had forgotten just how good it is. It's easy to think of as the "Wu-Tang spinoff with Shogun Assassin soundtrack", but it's actually a whole lot more than that. Even BIBLE, which I remembered as being a jarring bonus track, was actually fine as well. There's some fantastic beats here, and the electronic intro to 4th Chamber is like nothing else before or after.

Parsley, Sage, Rosemary And Thyme

Simon & Garfunkel

3/5

I figured that I would hate this, but I ended up quite enjoying it somehow. It was also incredibly short, and the songs were so short that they didn't hang around long enough to become annoying. I'm hesitant to give it 4 stars, but it's a strong 3 star album for sure.

Arc Of A Diver

Steve Winwood

1/5

Sometimes when lots of bad things come together, cheesy vocals, awful synths, dreadful arrangements, well... in this case it just ends up a pile of stinking dross. It's hard to single out what I hate about this most. The vocals sound like someone impersonating Phil Collins, who in turn is impersonating Peter Gabriel, badly. I worry about Mr Winwood's nasal passage, as it sounds totally blocked. Maybe he suffers from allergies? The synths are probably the worst, but are actually so very bad that they become "interesting". There's a cheap "farty" sound as if this is being played on a cheap Casio that came out of a Christmas Cracker. The lyrics are just appalling, hitting the "run out of words la la la um um um" level of dreadfulness. But nope, after listening to the whole sorry affair, it's the keyboards that grate the most I feel. The synth-sax squeals like a stuck pig and, although there's an argument that they complement the other awful sounds being emitted here, this is a horror that should have been left where it belongs, back in the early 1980s. Obligatory one star.

Technique

New Order

2/5

Pretty poor offering. The first track sounds like a Happy Mondays tribute band, then it descends into gloomy synth-driven pop with little substance. I quite enjoyed the earlier New Order albums, but this just seems derivative and directionless drivel. 2 stars.

Oedipus Schmoedipus

Barry Adamson

4/5

I quite enjoyed this, once I got past the first track, which I didn't like (mainly due to Jarvis Cocker I think). Very atmospheric, never boring, the 50+ minutes flew by in no time at all. It's somewhere around 3.5, but I'll round it up to 4 stars I feel.

The Piper At The Gates Of Dawn

Pink Floyd

5/5

I prefer the later works of Pink Floyd, but this album is still a standout for me, one of the first albums I ever owned, and released in my birth year. For a period I didn't love this album, finding it too bizarre and put off by the childlike lyrics/ vocals/ strange noises. However, over the years I found that some of the tracks that I thought I hadn't liked had actually taken up residence in my head and had more depth than I had first appreciated. There's actually a lot going on here, not just a jam by some garage band, but some interesting arrangements and a level of musicality missing from similar late 60s psychedelia. Some parts are maybe a little over-indulgent, like the heavy-handed stereo effects, but it's still a lovely piece of music and well deserving of 5 stars. Incidentally, Arthur Brown does a brilliant cover of Lucifer Sam.

The Rolling Stones

1/5

This was truly awful, one of the worst things I've ever heard. Covers done badly with what comes across as incredibly low effort. I feel embarrassed for the group for having such a dreadful album as their debut. Some of it sounded horribly out of tune.

Parallel Lines

Blondie

4/5

Really strong album packed full of memorable hits.

Deserter's Songs

Mercury Rev

2/5

I didn't think I'd ever heard anything from this album before, but it turns out I knew one track a little. Left feeling pretty much the same, as none of it really hit me as memorable in the slightest. Only an hour after listening to it, I couldn't tell you what sort of music it was, other than atmospheric/ cinematic/ dull...

Stardust

Willie Nelson

3/5

Although there were one or two songs on here that I didn't hate, much of it was pop standards from the 40s and 50s that were just awful songs. With this terrible base, it would take a miracle for me to not despise this. Willie did a wonderful job, so I'm going with 3 stars, but it's bland material that I would never want to listen to again.

Destroy Rock & Roll

Mylo

4/5

Funnily enough, Mylo came up in conversation just a week or so before this album showed up on my list. He dropped this, then vanished for an age, some "legal problems" that were possibly related to sample usage on this album. Anyway, this is fine, not worthy of the full 5 stars, but a strong 4 star offering. Some cool samples, some a little bit repetitive, but none of the tracks hang around too long. I always have a soft spot for Drop the Pressure, as I got an early copy of this, a good while before it was a big hit, and played it endlessly at the time.

Loveless

My Bloody Valentine

5/5

One thing I decided to do for this project was stop listening to albums I knew would be on the list that would be in my normal rotation. The theory is that the album would eventually be "released" when its turn came around. Just over 400 albums in and my favourite album of all-time finally came up. I'm actually crying as I type this, my nose is running, and my legs are shaking so much I couldn't stand up without falling over. Tears of joy are running down my face after over a year of being parted from this musical masterpiece. When this album first came out, there were some people who returned their copies, as they couldn't believe that they had been recorded correctly. The unique sound made these people believe their copy had somehow been distorted, maybe left in the sun too long, or an accident during pressing. Surely the strange, almost rhythmic changes in tempo and tone were unintended? Over thirty years later, and the sound isn't as ground-breaking as it was in the very early 1990s, but it's still a jarring experience in some ways. The production is as important as any band member here. It sometimes makes me think of a blindfolded tightrope walker navigating a thin rope above a deep precipice. There's times where you think they're going to tumble down and fall, but they somehow manage to keep going. It's not an album you can easily sing along to. I mean, you could sing along, but seeing as nobody really knows the words, it's kind of up to you to come up with them. Anyway, trying to classify this album is difficult, mainly due to how unique it is. Kevin Shields spent long enough producing this album, and has never managed to quite hit the same form, either before or after. There's obvious Velvet Underground influences, and the artists who were influenced by this are too many to list. If I were forced to pick out what I love most about loveless it would be the guitar sound, or maybe the ethereal vocals, or the song structures, or I don't know - maybe just the whole thing? A perfect five star album.

Daydream Nation

Sonic Youth

5/5

Although I had never heard a single track from this album before, it fitted snugly into a gap in my music that I never even knew existed. Somewhere in between the Velvet Underground, the Pixies, Pavement, and the Wedding Present, there was a little hole that is now neatly and perfectly filled. Listening to this was a rather strange experience, as I felt like I was hearing something I knew really well, instead of having to struggle to come to terms with a fresh sound. It was also fantastic to have not a single duff track, no filler, nothing that failed to hit the mark. Some tracks were definitely stand out on a first listen, particularly TeenAge Riot, but I feel there will be a great reward for future listens.

Gris Gris

Dr. John

3/5

This was fine, not amazing, but short and relatively sweet.

Either Or

Elliott Smith

2/5

This was incredi-dull, I have literally no memory of anything other than half of one chorus that stood out from the rest of the murk a tiny bit.

Talking With the Taxman About Poetry

Billy Bragg

1/5

Possibly the most annoying vocalist I've ever heard. I saw this come up and figured I would hate anything by this condescending, preachy twat - and indeed, it was an absolute horror of an album. I obviously stopped after the original twelve tracks, as any more of this grating bilge would have probably ended me. I think what I hate most about Mr Bragg is his black and white perspective on politics. He has the world view of a poorly informed six year old, "rich people are bad", "unions are good", etc. There's no grey areas, no subtlety whatsoever, just badly sung and boring songs that assume the listeners are already indoctrinated idiots. I'm all for folk-angst-politics in music, but not when it's done as clumsily as it is here. I think I would rather stand next to someone selling Socialist Worker for a couple of hours than have to endure this awful excuse for an album a second time.

The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway

Genesis

5/5

Some people consider this album to almost be the first Peter Gabriel solo album, but it's actually more accurate to think of it as the first Genesis album without Peter Gabriel, seeing as he wrote the lyrics, but then left it very much up to the rest of the band to come up with the music. It's probably the album from the original line up with the most consistent quality - in my opinion anyway. I can also understand the common complaint that it's hard work and doesn't have any stand out tracks. I struggled with this album many times before something clicked and I came to love it. It's very much a concept album, in that it needs to be played from start to finish in one sitting, taking you on a musical journey. It's also my favourite Genesis album by far, and an easy 5 stars. However, there's individual tracks on other albums that in isolation are head-and-shoulders above anything appearing here.

Face to Face

The Kinks

4/5

I have to admit I wasn't looking forward to this, but it turned out to be pretty good stuff. I can imagine hearing this music playing as people walked down the street in the late 1960s. Somewhere between psychedelic pop and rock, not too in your face, interesting vignettes, short songs. Not good enough for 5 stars, but a fine 4 star album.

Power In Numbers

Jurassic 5

5/5

I found this to be very enjoyable. I had only a vague knowledge of this band even existing, so I was pleasantly surprised to discover how much I liked this album. I had to listen a second time to decide for sure, but this is definitely a 5 star album.

Rejoicing In The Hands

Devendra Banhart

2/5

Kind of annoying, but not bad enough for 1 star. Almost bad enough though, like really, really close.

Mr. Tambourine Man

The Byrds

2/5

Not the most awful album in the world, but it comes over as a bit derivative to say the least. Obviously strongly influenced by the Beatles in places, with lots of songs about relationships that seem a bit forced. The more psychedelic tracks save this from a single star rating, but it's not quite enough for 3 stars. We'll Meet Again was an awful end to the album and left a bad taste.

Connected

Stereo MC's

2/5

My opinion of this album hasn't changed since it first came out. It's okay, but it's not something I would choose to listen to. It sits uncomfortably in a little crevice between funk, rave, and dance music, a place that was popular for a short time in the early 1990s and then pretty much faded back away. There's a couple of hits here and they are really all that is needed to appreciate the entirety of what is on offer here. The extra tracks don't bring anything new to the table, just rather dull instrumental passages, and quite inane half-rap. It's not truly dire, but I feel 2 stars is still a little generous.

Phaedra

Tangerine Dream

4/5

It's not my favourite Tangerine Dream album, but it's still great hearing the origins of electronic music. I haven't heard this album in a long time, but it struck me how much I could hear from other artists who ran with these humble beginnings. Not quite enough for 5 stars, but a strong 4 star album.

Meat Is Murder

The Smiths

4/5

I hadn't listened to this album before, but I knew it as the most popular album by The Smiths, so I figured it would be an easy 5 stars. However, it didn't really gel with me as much as I expected, and actually sounded a bit all over the place. There's a couple of stand out tracks, but everything else came over as weaker.

Axis: Bold As Love

Jimi Hendrix

3/5

There's some very good moments here, but the overall experience was really quite bland. I only knew a couple of the tracks from this album before and neither of them are particular favourites of mine. I'm going to be kind and give 3 stars for the flashback to the Easy Rider soundtrack.

Five Leaves Left

Nick Drake

5/5

This is probably the weakest of the three albums Nick Drake put out. It's still incredibly good, just not quite as developed as the later material. I'm loathe to mark it down, especially when it has Fruit Tree and Thoughts of Mary Jane on it, but it feels more like a 4 star album than a 5 star one. But hey, it also has River Man, which is one of my favourite tracks by Nick Drake. Who am I kidding, this is another 5 star album for sure.

Songs In The Key Of Life

Stevie Wonder

4/5

I'm giving this 4 stars. Let's be clear here, this album is from a genre that I despise. I normally can't stand Soul, R&B, Pop, Jazz-Soul, or anything vaguely related to these genres. I'm 425 albums in and my three worst genres are Soul, Pop, and World. This album should be getting a low rating from me based on the genre alone. However, I actually really enjoyed this. There were some tracks I knew, but hadn't know their names, but the majority of this material was new to me. I didn't get bored with the length, as there were enough changes in tempo and style to keep things moving along. It's just a really, really good album. I still couldn't quite bring myself to rate it as a 5 star album, even though I strongly believe that the quality here deserves that top rating. By my own voting standards, it's something I might listen to again, but it's not going on regular rotation, so 4 stars it is.

Guero

Beck

3/5

Very middle of the road, interesting change of style here and there, but ultimately nothing really stuck.

Wonderful Rainbow

Lightning Bolt

3/5

Kind of noisy - it was okay, but by the end it was dragging a bit.

Tracy Chapman

1/5

Well I knew this would probably come up, so I guess I was mentally prepared for it. Snivelling, nasal, beige elevator muzak that's not even slightly hard hitting. This is the sort of fake folk music that I imagine middle class people had in their collection for show, but would never actually play, because let's face facts, it's incredibly lifeless and dull. The lyrics are an exercise in mundanity; how to skirt around issues without actually suggesting any solution or even spelling out what the real problem is. "We're all angry! Why? Because babies die, that's why!". It's like something a four-year old would come up with. I even find it annoying that Wikipedia has this down as the wrong musical genre. This is pop, maybe folk-pop if I'm being generous. It's definitely not folk-rock, contemporary-folk, or roots-rock. There's also some nasty synth sounds thrown in here and there, but let's ignore that, or we'll start categorising this as synth-wave. There might have been a couple of half catchy melodies here, but excessive radio play soon dealt with that. The non-hit songs aren't even filler, they're just plain awful. If I ever had to hear this dross again, it would be too soon.

Rings Around The World

Super Furry Animals

4/5

Definitely worth a second listen. My interest started to fade near the end, but it was eclectic enough to keep me listening. Sort of like a modern take on ELO, with a variety of styles, and some interesting sections.

Run-D.M.C.

4/5

Minimal and sparse hip-hop from the early days. It's of its time, which means it's not something I would go out of my way to listen to again, but it was interesting and I enjoyed it enough to give it 4 stars.

american dream

LCD Soundsystem

2/5

There were a couple of moments when I thought this album wasn't too bad, but it was overall pretty awful. Once I switched it to background music, I managed to endure to the end without it being too intrusive. Probably somewhere between a 2 and a 3, but I'm marking it down for being too long.

Murder Ballads

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds

2/5

This wasn't actually as bad as the other Nick Cave albums I've had. It was still bad though, so 2 stars.

Bert Jansch

4/5

This was lovely, nice and relaxing, perfect for a Sunday morning. It wasn't quite good enough for 5 stars, but it was pretty close.

Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music

Ray Charles

2/5

Ray Charles has a fantastic voice, his keyboard playing is exemplary, and the band are fantastic. However, the songs on this album are just about as awful as anything I've ever heard. Insipid ballads, very much of their time, just dreadful. It seems that roughly nine out of ten of the songs are about someone suffering heartache. Considering this is a long album, it gets tiring very fast, probably about three tracks in and I was done with the theme and wishing it to be over. Ray manages to somehow pull it up to a woeful 2 stars, but only just.

Back to Mystery City

Hanoi Rocks

1/5

So glad I'll never have to listen to this again. Even the band sound like they're dialling this in. Just awful, one star awful.

Seventh Tree

Goldfrapp

3/5

This was a very nice album, dreamy and surreal. It reminded me a little of Lemon Jelly in places. Although it was enjoyable, it was also instantly forgettable.

Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire)

The Kinks

4/5

This was actually really good. The only song I had heard before was Victoria, which I had always believed to have been by The Fall. I was kind of surprised to find it was from a Kinks album back in the 1960s!

Signing Off

UB40

4/5

I saw UB40 and groaned, imagining songs of red wine or sappy duets. Instead, this was a dub/ reggae treat of unimagined quality. The only track I knew was Food for Thought, everything else I'd never heard before by this band.

Heartattack And Vine

Tom Waits

4/5

I once went to see a Tom Waits film. A few minutes in and almost the entire audience had stood up and walked out. Those who were left would probably not have given this a 4-5 star rating. I stayed.

The Real Thing

Faith No More

5/5

Although I loved this album back in the day, the second side rarely got played. I would normally listen to the first four tracks, then switch over to something else. The original album didn't have War Pigs to look forward to either. Listening now, I expected the back half to be awful, but it actually sounded a bit more fresh, seeing as I didn't know it quite as well. The Spotify version sounded wrong though, like it had been remastered really badly by someone who just wanted to mess around with the levels to make the bass stand out more. There are a couple of weaker tracks. There's also some hate because "this was the start of pop-metal" which is kind of weird, as metal bands were regularly in the charts in the 1970s and 1980s. Lastly, there's the unfortunate comparison with the red hot chilli peppers (who I personally despise). However, there's a good variety of music here, with the band forming up to more than just a vehicle for their singer. I'm finding it hard to justify a full five stars, but harder to knock it back to four, so five it is.

All Hail the Queen

Queen Latifah

1/5

Very much of its time and I wish it had stayed there. It was very dull and instantly forgettable.

Get Rich Or Die Tryin'

50 Cent

4/5

At the time this came out, I wasn't keen on 50 cent one bit. He felt a bit like a manufactured product who came along ten years too late. Looking back now, it's actually not that bad after all. You can taste his hunger for success and the production is as good as you might expect. Yes, the "pop" songs are a little annoying as they were overplayed to death, but they actually fit here and aren't as jarring as I might of expected.

Live 1966 (The Royal Albert Hall Concert)

Bob Dylan

4/5

I feel like this project has helped my musical enjoyment to grow greatly in breadth. Before starting this journey, I would have seen a double live album by Bob Dylan as something akin to a punishment. Now, I see it as a remarkable recording of a "bootleg" concert, showing both the acoustic and electric side of a talented poet and musician. There were a few duller parts here and there on each disc, but equally there were moments of bliss. Some of the longer tracks defied their length by staying interesting. Overall a strong four star album.

Pacific Ocean Blue

Dennis Wilson

2/5

Reading the history of Dennis Wilson was ten times more interesting than this album was.

The Next Day

David Bowie

4/5

This was a fascinating album, musically diverse, some nods to earlier Bowie songs, some tracks that I would have never guessed were even by Bowie if I had heard them in isolation. It definitely deserves a second listen, so I'm giving it a tenuous 4 stars.

La Revancha Del Tango

Gotan Project

3/5

Who would have ever imagined accordions and electronica could mix. It mostly worked I think, but it did get a bit samey by the end.

Synchronicity

The Police

3/5

I'm not a great fan of Sting's solo work and this album feels at least 50% made up of songs that sound almost identical to Sting's solo work. There were a few more interesting parts, but mainly this was quite dull.

Youth And Young Manhood

Kings of Leon

3/5

Bit of a mixed bag, found myself liking it, then hating the vocals, then finding it dull, then it got good again. Felt like a weak 3 star album for me.

Haunted Dancehall

The Sabres Of Paradise

3/5

Very sparse, background muzak, ambient techno. I could actually find myself listening to this when I need to concentrate, so I didn't hate it. It wasn't great though, so 3 stars.

Ágætis Byrjun

Sigur Rós

5/5

My first thoughts upon seeing this album come up were ones of dread. I didn't relish the thought of listening to over an hour of music from an album where I couldn't even begin to pronounce the album title. Almost immediately I was proven wrong. This is definitely up there with the "how did I miss this when it first came out" albums. I loved the ambient, prog-rock sounds, a bit like a mix of Pink Floyd and My Bloody Valentine in places. I have a vague idea that this album is some sort of concept, but quite honestly I couldn't care less. I loved the layered sound, never found it too long or boring, it was just perfection. Easy 5 stars.

Heaux Tales

Jazmine Sullivan

2/5

At least it was short.

One Nation Under A Groove

Funkadelic

4/5

This is great, but it's not as good as Maggot Brain was and it's starting to feel just a tiny bit tired.

Street Life

The Crusaders

2/5

Street Life is good, the rest is meandering elevator muzak. It's pleasant enough, but I would never go out of my way to hear it again. Made me feel like I was on hold and waiting for my call to be connected for half an hour.

Pictures At An Exhibition

Emerson, Lake & Palmer

4/5

I was never a big fan of ELP. I tend to find them a bit too much showmanship and theatrics, and light on actual music. I did enjoy this album very much though. It is incredibly overblown and pretentious, but that's almost part of the charm.

Everything Must Go

Manic Street Preachers

3/5

It's a pretty solid album, but at the end of the day, this is simply Britpop that doesn't really offer anything new. Middle of the road 3 stars from me.

Repeater

Fugazi

3/5

I had high hopes, but it rapidly grew duller as I listened.

Hail To the Thief

Radiohead

2/5

This is the last album I bought a physical copy of. I bought it on CD in a garage, then played it once while driving, hated it, stuck it in the glove compartment, forgot about it. I love OK Computer and the albums before that. I detested everything that came after, with this album probably being a low point. It feels like it might be good if I listened to it over and over, but I just don't want to make a chore out of something I should enjoy. Maybe I just need to make more of an effort, or maybe this is just an awful album?

The Wildest!

Louis Prima

2/5

This was fun, but musically it felt lacking. It's not a form of music that I would naturally be drawn to and, although I came away with a smile, there was nothing here to change my mind.

Cee-Lo Green... Is The Soul Machine

Cee Lo Green

2/5

Imagine if a chipmunk inhaled a whole load of helium and then started to sing/rap about "guns and hoes". That's basically what this album is. If this had been a straight up comedy album, then it might have actually worked. However, I have the horrible suspicion that this was done as a serious piece of work, in which case it's a bad joke.

Soul Mining

The The

3/5

Although good in parts, particularly the piano solo by Jools halfway through, there were also some self-indulgent bits, and the 80s synth sound hasn't aged well.

Life's Too Good

The Sugarcubes

4/5

This was excellent and might have even been a five star album if it wasn't for the annoying male vocalist.

Life Thru A Lens

Robbie Williams

2/5

It's a great pop album, without much substance, and not my cup of tea at all.

Born To Be With You

Dion

1/5

Utterly wretched. I think I would have preferred Celine Dion to this.

Horses

Patti Smith

4/5

As a Brit, I always have to remember that the American definition of "punk" is far, far different from what I would consider to be punk. We had an anti-intellectual/ anti-establishment, far younger (late teens), rawer approach to this genre. The American scene was made up of older (late 20s) people who made music that was more "edgy" than "raw", often about subject matter that British punks would openly sneer at. Putting that aside, if I just consider this to be "garage rock", then it makes that slight annoyance easier to bear. It's a great album for sure, interesting to listen to, musically diverse, maybe even seminal. I hadn't heard anything from this album before, which is quite a disgrace I suppose. My one reservation here was that I was constantly being reminded of Nick Cave. But where Mr Cave's albums are often overwrought and lack any form of subtlety, this album was far more measured. I don't think I can quite see my way to rate this 5 stars, but it's an extremely strong 4 star album. I will probably grow to regret this decision on future listens, but my opinion today is 4 stars.

Younger Than Yesterday

The Byrds

2/5

This was kind of dull, soon tired of listening to backwards stuff, or songs about garden walls.

Tarkus

Emerson, Lake & Palmer

4/5

I just can't bring myself to give this 5 stars, mainly due to the awful final track. It's almost as bad as Benny the Bouncer. The rest is certainly overblown and a pale shadow of King Crimson, but it's entertaining enough for 4 stars.

Vespertine

Björk

4/5

I was taken on a musical journey. Maybe not one I would have wanted to go on normally, but a journey nevertheless.

Music From Big Pink

The Band

3/5

The Weight carried this album and there wasn't much else I enjoyed here. But it wasn't awful, just a bit turgid.

Make Yourself

Incubus

4/5

I think I hated some parts of this, but, almost despite myself, enjoyed the majority. It's difficult to be objective about anything related to alt-metal, but I feel this actually deserves 4 stars. It's a blend of other bands, not always the most subtle, or even musical, but it generally works. I can hear just enough System of a Down. Primus, Pearl Jam, etc. for it to feel grounded, without it being a straight copy of one particular band.

Abbey Road

Beatles

4/5

It's a very good album, and I'm glad I listened to it, as I had somehow never heard everything here together, even some tracks I'd never heard at all. It's not quite coherent enough for 5 stars from me. There's a couple of weaker tracks, and the medley isn't as great as I was hoping for.

There's No Place Like America Today

Curtis Mayfield

2/5

Pretty dire squeaky vocals on top of bland music. There was nothing memorable about this in any way, which is probably a good thing.

Eternally Yours

The Saints

4/5

This was fun and I would certainly give it another listen. It did start to get a tiny bit repetitive halfway through, so not the full five stars.

Pyromania

Def Leppard

3/5

It's interesting to hear the template for Hysteria being developed here. Tight production and playing from the band from start to finish makes for about as pleasant experience I could expect from a genre (glam-metal) I'm not overly keen on. Many of these tracks were staples at rock nights back in the day and have aged surprisingly well. I was even tempted to give this 4 stars, but I'll save that for their next album.

The Colour Of Spring

Talk Talk

2/5

This was just a snoozefest I'm afraid, not even the big hit on side A could pull it up above a woeful 2 stars.

The Soft Bulletin

The Flaming Lips

4/5

This was a peculiar album for me. It didn't gel with me much to begin with, but as it went on, I felt more and more that it needed a second listen to appreciate fully. By my own scoring system, that means it gets four stars, but it feels like a shoe in somehow.

Come Find Yourself

Fun Lovin' Criminals

3/5

This is the very definition of a three star album for me. Some good tracks, a bit of filler, not awful, but not interesting enough to listen to again.

Your Arsenal

Morrissey

5/5

I somehow missed this entirely; not only had I never heard of this album, but I didn't know a single song from it. I'm blaming it on my first born coming along the previous year, so I was a bit distracted? It's an extremely good album, well paced, cracking songs, and an interesting sound that's different enough from The Smiths without going off into weird territory. I have to give this 5 stars it seems.

São Paulo Confessions

Suba

1/5

The singer sounded a bit like a Brazilian version of Sade - absolutely terrible. The album itself was at times boring and at others downright unpleasant, the strange clicking sounds were the most annoying. At times I thought someone was knocking on my window - very intrusive. Awful music and a waste of just over an hour of my time. Thankfully I know to never listen to this abject shite ever again.

Go Girl Crazy

The Dictators

3/5

This was a blast. Some of the songs have some peculiar lyrics, but it seems to all be one big joke from start to end, so I chose not to dwell on it. I don't think it deserves more than 3 stars, but it's a particularly strong 3 stars.

Blue

Joni Mitchell

5/5

This was astonishingly good. I'd never heard a single track from this album before and now I have half a dozen new favourites to listen to. There was a period of around 30 seconds or so at the start where I figured I would detest this album, but once I had adapted to the vocals, I was totally on board.

Rip It Up

Orange Juice

1/5

This album takes everything I hated about the 1980s, distils it down into its purest form, then vomits it out over ten appalling tracks. One of the worst albums I've ever heard and fully deserving of a 1 star rating.

Ocean Rain

Echo And The Bunnymen

4/5

Looking back, I think I might have been a little unfair to Echo and the Bunnymen, applying a bit of musical snobbery to them back in the 80s, as they were more pop than alt-rock in my opinion. Listening again, many years later, things aren't as cut and dry as maybe I once thought. There's actually some good tracks here, with plenty of diversity, and notably the "big hit" doesn't stand out as not belonging with the rest of the album. It's not perfection by any means, but worthy of 4 stars.

Cosmo's Factory

Creedence Clearwater Revival

5/5

This brought back memories, most of them good ones. Used to listen to this when on a camping holiday in the Lake District, running around pretending we were in Vietnam. We used to take turns "taking point" from watching Tour of Duty and the like. It's a very good album and an easy five stars, even though it's technically not music I would typically enjoy.

Alien Lanes

Guided By Voices

3/5

I'm on the fence here. Although I did enjoy this album in parts, most of the tracks were done just as I was starting to vibe with them. It actually left me feeling like I needed some better lo-fi and I ended up on a Neutral Milk Hotel binge to fill my needs better than this did. 3 stars, would have been a strong 4 if there were half the songs and they were twice as long.

Oxygène

Jean-Michel Jarre

3/5

This album was ground breaking at the time, and a massive influence on modern electronic music. Trance music in particular has a large debt to pay for the ambient sounds Jean Michel brought to the world. However, it's also a bit dull and the main themes are overplayed. I enjoyed it a lot, but I can't give it more than 3 stars.

The Holy Bible

Manic Street Preachers

5/5

My experience was made ten times better by having the lyrics in front of me, as I couldn't make out more than the odd word otherwise. I had a chance to see the Manics a few years before this album dropped, as they played at my university. But I considered them too mainstream at the time, so gave it a miss, big regrets now. This is a definite five star album for me. I hadn't heard a single track before, although I was aware of this album's existence. I figured it would come up at some point on this project and now it has. Far better than I had even hoped for, an excellent mix of distressing lyrics and musicianship.

(Pronounced 'Leh-'Nérd 'Skin-'Nérd)

Lynyrd Skynyrd

5/5

Such a great album! This got a lot of rotation back in the day when I lived in a student house. The first side is killer, but the second side does dip a little in quality. However, side B redeems itself with Freebird and so this is an easy 5 stars from me.

GREY Area

Little Simz

3/5

Figured I would hate this, but it wasn't bad at all. Nothing ground-breaking, but I liked the jazzy feel and the diversity in music. Some tracks stood out more than others.

Copper Blue

Sugar

3/5

Quite generic 90s alt-rock, with the odd flourish to keep it from dipping to 2 stars, but not something I would hunt out again.

Selected Ambient Works 85-92

Aphex Twin

3/5

There's a few tracks here I'd heard before. Overall, it's pretty chill music, certainly ambient, certainly 80s-90s electronica, just a little bit dull though. 3 stars.

Ten

Pearl Jam

3/5

I probably listened to Ten at some point back when it came out, but it didn't leave any lasting memory. I do like Jeremy and Alive, but they're not enough to carry the whole album, and it all got a bit dull by the end. I thought this would be an easy 5 stars, but it turned out to be a damp squib 3.

Porcupine

Echo And The Bunnymen

4/5

Definitely worthy of a repeat listen, but not amazing enough for 5 stars.

The Only Ones

3/5

This was surprisingly enjoyable, a band I'd never heard of who had an "interesting" singer, and a nice mix of garage rock/ pop. I was reminded of several other bands, most of which came later, like The Libertines. I was also reminded of several other bands who came earlier, like Hawkwind, but on their mid-80s lineup, so still later technically. I was very tempted to give this four stars, but it's a strong 3.

Unknown Pleasures

Joy Division

5/5

I've seen several films about Joy Division, but all of them included live performances of the band, which were far more energetic and loud. Strangely, I never listened to this album before, assuming it would be similar, but it's clearly a very different beast. This sounds like a darker Fall, also a little like early Bauhaus. There's more goth than punk/ new wave, which immediately hit the right buttons for me. After my first listen I felt like a need for a second listen, having found some tracks clicked first time, but there was too much to take in from a single listen. This reinforced my feeling that this is a definite 5 star album. The production stands out here, as there's a sense of some sort of architectural construction in each track that invokes a feeling of depth. Just as the album cover shows how a two dimensional image can give the effect of being in three dimensions, the production makes you feel like you could place each instrument in a three dimensional space. Strangely, there's also something very "danceable" about this album, even with the bleak vocal delivery and subject matter. If I had heard this album back when it first came out, I would probably have been a devoted fan. In some ways I'm actually glad I only stumbled across this album in 2024, as it's so good, it might have had a blinkering effect on me. Okay, fifth time through, this is incredible! This is something special, one of the best albums I've ever heard. This is obsessive stuff; I need to stop listening to this, it's too good.

Songs Of Love And Hate

Leonard Cohen

2/5

I'm sure I should enjoy this more than I did, but I found it all a bit dreary.

The Visitors

ABBA

1/5

Flowery, light, airy music that sounds more like something from a stage production than an actual album of music. Without any hooks and hits, this is Abba stripped down to their basics. I hated it.

Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)

Wu-Tang Clan

5/5

This is an album I was waiting for, as there was no universe where this wouldn't be in the top ten albums list, never mind 1001 albums. I was a little late to the Wu-Tang party, not having listened to this album until the late 90s. However, it's easily one of the best albums ever produced. The beats are special, as are the lyrics and vocal performances. It's also a rare case where there's so many talented artists coming together to form something greater than any one individual. There's particular verses that are probably the strongest performance ever recorded for some of the members of the clan. For example, Inspectah Deck's verse in C.R.E.A.M. Best of all, it sounds like everyone was having fun making this. Interestingly, I listened to the expanded edition on Spotify for the first time for this listen. I must have heard the original version maybe hundreds of times, so the small and not so small differences stood out.

Virgin Suicides

Air

2/5

I've had a few albums where I saw the artist and groaned, only to find I loved the material. This time I figured something by Air had to be good, but this album really sucked hard. It's a soundtrack for a film. I think there's probably only one or two film soundtrack albums I could bear and this isn't one of them. It starts out okay I guess, but it soon gets repetitive and by the end it's just boring.

3 Years, 5 Months And 2 Days In The Life Of...

Arrested Development

1/5

This is only very loosely related to hip-hop, more pop music really. It was incredibly dull apart from the big hits, which were just quite dull. I never liked Arrested Development back in the 90s, when they were in the charts. This album was simply confirming the fact that I wasn't missing out on anything. I hated the lyrics and particularly the constant preaching enough to give this 1 star.

Chris

Christine and the Queens

1/5

Retro electro-pop that's so authentic that it sounds like it really was recorded back in the mid-80s. What's not to like? All of it; it sucked so bad. I hated this sort of music when it actually WAS the 1980s, so to dredge it back up and try to breathe life into it was like some cruel torment for me. Throw some bilingual songs and appalling lyrics into the mix and you have an absolute stinker of an album. Those synths and drum machine beats should be crimes against humanity. I guess the singer is channelling their inner Janet Jackson, or something, no idea why anyone thought it was a good idea to put this garbage album together? Money? This was as close to not completing an album that I've come so far, and I'm over halfway through the full list now. It really was a terrible chore to get through and there was no way I was going back to listen to the same awful songs a second time in a different language. I would rate this as negative stars if I could, as 1 star seems generous.

Movies

Holger Czukay

3/5

I really didn't like "cool in the pool", but the rest of the tracks were quite nice. Not something I would listen to again though.

The Köln Concert

Keith Jarrett

4/5

I found this incredibly difficult to rate. Some parts were outstanding, while others were just pleasant background music.

Songs From A Room

Leonard Cohen

3/5

One thing that I thought I had learned from this project was that I wasn't a fan of Leonard Cohen. Although this holds true, I didn't hate this album as much as I thought I would, in fact it was quite pleasant, in a melancholic way.

Qui sème le vent récolte le tempo

MC Solaar

2/5

It would have been more enjoyable if it wasn't performed in French.

Violator

Depeche Mode

3/5

The electro-pop kills it for me, but I can see there's a little bit of something here that led me to a neutral 3 stars. It was a bit of an effort to endure though, like a talentless copy of Joy Division in parts, mixed with other material "borrowed" from better bands.

Like Water For Chocolate

Common

2/5

This could have been a four star album if it had been around half as long. It started to drag around the halfway point for me, and that drag just went on and on, until I really got sick and tired of listening to this.

Talking Book

Stevie Wonder

3/5

Superstition is the high point, but that's not to say there's any particular low point on this album. It's a little too middle of the road for my liking, but I'm going to give it 3 stars as I didn't hate it.

Risque

CHIC

4/5

Good times carries this album hard, all the way up to 4 stars, but not quite enough for a full 5.

Van Halen

4/5

The first side is great, but by the end of the second side the steam has just about run out. It's hard to mark this album down, particularly because it's about as close to a live album as you can get based on the limited production. I'm going with a 4.

It's A Shame About Ray

The Lemonheads

2/5

Vacuous, beige, and vanilla are words that come to mind listening to this album. There's no particular stand out tracks, just a slush of dull music that is mercifully short (not listening to any demos or rehashes of songs that were crap to begin with). This is jangle-pop that is so formulaic that I could switch in one of a dozen similar bands and not even tell anything had changed. It's so dull it doesn't even deserve 1 star, so I'm giving it 2.

Permission to Land

The Darkness

3/5

It's a little scary that this album came out over 20 years ago now, when I still think of it as being relatively recent. Ignoring the fact that it belongs a further 20 years into the past, it's a fairly generic hard rock sound that I would expect to find a decent pub band performing.

Licensed To Ill

Beastie Boys

4/5

It's difficult to rate this album fairly, knowing that there were so many better albums yet to come. There's some standout tracks that have lasted the test of time, and others that are just not great. I eagerly bought this album when it first came out, but it ended up getting relatively little play, to the point where I couldn't even remember half of the first side. When I first listened to this I was much more interested in the rock part. I think I only had any interest due to the Slayer links (Rick Rubin and Kerry King). In hindsight, it's also a great hip-hop album in it's own right. I'm going with 4 stars.

Siembra

Willie Colón & Rubén Blades

3/5

Somehow made salsa sort of acceptable. The very start of the very first track, where it sounded like it was going to be a disco/ salsa blend set me up for a bit of a disappointment when this wasn't followed up in the rest of the album, but it wasn't too big.

Like A Prayer

Madonna

2/5

Other than the two big hits that I knew, this was a chore to get through. I didn't discern anything worthy here, just dated pop music from the late 1980s that mainly fell flat.

Solid Air

John Martyn

4/5

I struggled to rate this, although I definitely did enjoy it. There were many reasons to not give it the full 5 stars, the mumbling/ weird vocals in some parts and there were weaker songs near the end. However, it still felt like it should be a five star album somehow.

Giant Steps

The Boo Radleys

2/5

There's three things that kill this album for me. First is the awful memory of the band's one big hit, "Wake up Boo!", which I remember being everywhere at the time, and is truly a dreadful song. Second is the syrupy, harmonising vocals, which I detest. Third is the length, it's over an hour long, which was pure misery. I actually think I could have enjoyed this if it had been shorter, with a different vocalist, and a different band.

Warehouse: Songs And Stories

Hüsker Dü

3/5

Sounded pretty much as I expected, like REM but less pop and more rock. It was far too long and many of the tracks sounded far too similar. The production was tinny and annoying, but I guess I got used to it. There were still good bits here and there, so I'm not going with 2 stars and will elevate this to 3 stars, which feels a bit over-generous.

I See A Darkness

Bonnie "Prince" Billy

4/5

As soon as the album cover came up, I knew I would love this album. Apart from I didn't. The first track was awkward and repetitive, almost to the point of being annoying. I felt a little let down; were my expectations too high maybe? The rest of the album was pleasant enough, but not great by any standard. I tried a relisten when I had more time to concentrate and this went a little better. But I found this very hard to rate. I feel it's somewhere between 2 and 4 stars, as it wasn't awful, but it wasn't perfection. On the basis that I will almost certainly attempt a relisten again in the future, it gets 4 stars.

The Sensual World

Kate Bush

2/5

With Kate Bush's ethereal singing, 80s synths, and backing singers that sound like children singing in the playground, this is something I knew I would hate from the first couple of tracks. I struggled to find anything to enjoy here; it seems like mood music for a film that I wouldn't like. All the "songs" sounded the same, to the point where I had to check to see if we were actually still on the first track when I was halfway through. A desultory 2 stars.

Lazer Guided Melodies

Spiritualized

4/5

Back in 1992, I remember running home with this CD, eager to play what I assumed would be some sort of continuation of the Spacemen 3 legacy. I was bitterly disappointed, to the point where I only played the album through a couple of times before putting it into a pile to never be played again. When I saw this come up today, I remembered those bad memories of being let down, so was a little salty about having to listen to this again. For the first few tracks it was as I remembered, like someone had turned up the dial to 11 on the parts of Spacemen 3 I didn't like, while suppressing the parts I did like. I've always been an "OD Catastrophe" enjoyer and a "Walking With Jesus" despiser. However, by the end, I was finding this far more enjoyable than I had expected. I would still have preferred something with more of a psych/ garage sound, and less floaty/ dreamy/ gospel sound. I still think Sonic Boom is necessary to counterpoint Jason's sound. But I did enjoy it, particularly the second half.

16 Lovers Lane

The Go-Betweens

2/5

Inoffensive jangle pop that peaks with the one single I knew, and gets 2 stars due to that.

Here Come The Warm Jets

Brian Eno

5/5

This is that very rare thing, a 5 star album that I'd never heard before that clicked on the first listen. I despise glam rock, but the lush and quirky production here ascends to the point where the music defies genre. If I wasn't already going to give this 5 stars, I would have added an extra star for having most of King Crimson, Simon House, and other diverse artists making guest appearances. I can't believe this album was made over 50 years ago, as it sounds so fresh that it could have come out last year.

The Pleasure Principle

Gary Numan

4/5

Narrowly avoiding the 80s, this sounds almost as fresh today as it did when it first came out. I loved the fact that the one track I knew (Cars) didn't sound at all out of place when listening to the entire album. The bonus tracks on Spotify didn't do much for me, but I'm only judging the original 10 tracks, which deserve a definite 4 stars.

Winter In America

Gil Scott-Heron

3/5

I generally enjoyed this, but I doubt I would listen to the entire album again. Some tracks stood out, but others seemed to be filler. Also, there was nothing about the revolution being televised, so I'm docking a point, giving this 3 stars.

Court And Spark

Joni Mitchell

4/5

I didn't like Joni Mitchell before starting this journey, but now I've discovered that my dislike was based on only hearing her "hits" and that her albums have all been superb. I enjoyed this enough for 4 stars, but it didn't quite hit me as being worthy of a full 5 star rating. It was very easy listening, maybe too easy?

Femi Kuti

2/5

Although I can appreciate that some talent went into this album, it really left me cold. I guess it made me think about what the purpose of music actually is. I can think of many reasons to listen to music, to relax, to dance, to make you contemplate the deep lyrics, to enjoy "the chills" from a particular musical arrangement, appreciation of an artist mastering an instrument, etc. This album just doesn't do anything for me. It's generic afrobeat music that could serve as background music in a film maybe, or a brief snippet in a carnival. I couldn't imagine taking the 70 minutes plus test of endurance ever again, as this was just too long and repetitive. Once I'd heard the first couple of minutes, I felt like I'd basically heard everything the album had to offer me, and then the remaining hour or so was just hammering home how much I dislike this form of music. I like long tracks, but this was relentless with almost every track going on and on and on, way longer than felt right. For the first half an hour or so, it almost felt like time had slowed down to a crawl, and I was horrified to find I wasn't even halfway through. I was tempted to give this 1 star, and I feel it's hovering very close between 1 and 2 stars, but it's not quite awful enough for a single star rating. I found that playing it in the background while I worked allowed me to get through to the end.

Pornography

The Cure

5/5

There were a few early songs by The Cure that I used to enjoy, like "A Forest" for example, which used to get a lot of play in goth clubs back in the 80s. But I never really clicked with their albums, and by the time they were singing about "Love Cats" I had totally lost any interest I might have once had. But I always has a sneaky suspicion I was missing out on something, and when I got "Disintegration" a while back, I actually quite enjoyed it. But it still didn't click with me. I think I gave it 4 stars and planned to listen to it again, but never got around to it. I wish I had listened to this album first, as this was finally the missing piece of the puzzle. After playing this through twice back-to-back, I went and listened to Disintegration again, and this time everything fell into place. Seems this is a 5-star album for me, even though it's derivative in places, and the start feels a bit weaker than the end.

Hybrid Theory

Linkin Park

3/5

I actually considered giving this 4 stars, for a short while, then my senses came back to me (and this album doesn't have "Numb" on it).

Gorillaz

1/5

It's just Blur, but with sad comic book characters thrown in. I actually figured that maybe, just maybe, the Gorillaz album might have some interesting stuff on it. I've heard the big hits before, and found them wanting. Seems the album is just the hits with filler added, bad filler, to go with the sad comic stuff. There's only so much I can listen to Damon singing in a strange squeaky voice over a generic dub background. One star.

Damaged

Black Flag

4/5

Seminal hardcore punk album, with a couple of stand out tracks.

69 Love Songs

The Magnetic Fields

1/5

This was a rollercoaster ride... I knew this album was coming up and figured I would hate it. But my first impressions weren't too bad. Maybe this was going to be okay? That lasted maybe five or six tracks in, then the rather weak jokes started to get tiring and fall flatter and flatter each time. By the end of the first disc I realised this was going to be an endurance test. By the end of the second disc I realised this sucked. By the end of the third disc... I wasn't sure what to even think anymore. I would say it dips in quality at the end, but it's already so bad, that a dip doesn't even make sense anymore. New words would need inventing to describe how awful this experience was. It's the kind of "good idea" that should only ever exist in someone's head, as trying to pull off feels like a massive mistake. There's very little in the way of music here, just lame jokes. The attempts at different genres are almost insulting in their childishness. The lyrics are just dumb, becoming more and more inane the further in you get. I get that it's all supposed to be quirky and amusing, but it really isn't, just ham-fisted wordplay that a nine-year old would be ashamed of. There was a bit of a "Mighty Wind" vibe early on, but where that works as a parody by being actually funny (and having some decent songs), this is just the same small set of jokes recycled ad nauseum. I think when I hit "Love is Like Jazz" (disc 2 track 2, probably one of the most annoying tracks) I had heard enough to have literally no surprises left for the (long) remainder of the album. The only positive I could find is that most of the songs are mercifully short, and there was always the hope that the next one might be better. That, and the fact that getting to the end of this was a relief beyond what I would have previously considered to be possible. Some reviewers have suggested a single album could have been salvaged from this mess; I disagree, there's nothing of any real merit here. One star.

Liege And Lief

Fairport Convention

5/5

I don't really know why I liked this as much as I did. I figured it was either a high 4 or a 5 star album, even though it doesn't feel "perfect". I went and listened to some other Fairport Convention albums, and this does indeed seem to be the sweet spot between their American-tinged folk, and the pop-folk they ended up playing. I'm going with a slightly confounded 5 stars.

Elephant

The White Stripes

4/5

Some of the softer songs didn't click with me, but the rest did. Definitely a lot of 60s/70s influences, but nothing too obvious to spoil the songs. Feels like a four star effort.

Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This)

Eurythmics

2/5

Eighties synth-pop with a couple of hits making up the filling, sandwiched between some more experimental tracks that mainly fall flat. I can't bear the title track, but I know mostly because it has been played to death for the last forty years. I think 2 stars is fair here, as there's not really much I like about this album, but it does have a tiny bit of artistic merit, and it wasn't too long.

Rio

Duran Duran

5/5

By far the most striking thing about Rio is the fact that it's a 1980s synth pop album that somehow still sounds fresh today. The bass is obviously the stand out, but there's various interesting things going on from all the band members. Yes, there's some big hits here, but none of them have been overplayed to the point of being stale somehow. Near the end of the 80s I started dating a girl who was a big Duran Duran fan, and she tried to convince me that they were more art-rock than synth-pop. I still don't agree, but this is good stuff, and it brings back happy memories of listening to this album back then. I also remember the slightly dodgy videos that were hard to find, some of them passed around as VHS copies from late night airings on MTV. There's not a single bad track here, and I enjoyed it so much I'm giving it the full five stars.

Illinois

Sufjan Stevens

4/5

This was extremely enjoyable, with a sense of familiarity, even though this was the first time I've heard the album, or even anything by this artist. Touches of Neil Young in places, with some parts reminding me of early Genesis for some reason. It wasn't quite enough for 5 stars, particularly the last quarter, which sort of peters out and keeps going much longer than needed. But it's a fine 4 star album.

...The Dandy Warhols Come Down

The Dandy Warhols

4/5

I figured this would be awful, based on the one big hit that is my only reference for the Dandy Warhols. But it turns out that this was actually right up my street and I didn't hate it in the slightest. Definitely the pop-end of Shoegaze, but it was experimental enough to keep my interest from start to finish. I can't bring myself to award the full five stars, so four stars it is.

Machine Gun Etiquette

The Damned

2/5

I've never really liked the Damned, writing them off as pop-punk, too polished, too successful. Although this wasn't awful, there was nothing here to change my opinion I'm afraid. 2 stars.

Billion Dollar Babies

Alice Cooper

3/5

I find Alice Cooper hard to pin down to a specific genre. Wikipedia suggests three options for this album, but none of them seem appropriate. It's not really Glam Rock, although this is probably the closest. Hard Rock doesn't really mean anything other than "has guitars and drums", and it's really not Heavy Metal in my opinion. I'm going to go with a different genre, one that doesn't exist, "Cabaret Rock". This would be defined as rock music that has a theatrical slant and was written with a stage performance in mind. Maybe with a small orchestra in the pit, and a lot of makeup involved. Also music that's designed for "stage antics", "shlock horror", etc. Alex Harvey is similar in some ways, but also falls more into the traditional rock genre than the Alice Cooper band does. Musically, there's not much here, just some very basic rock with goofy lyrics about often macabre subject matter. Anyway, I don't really like this album, but I'm giving it three stars anyway. If it didn't have "Elected" on it, then it would probably have ended up as a one or two star album, but that track alone elevates it. I also don't hate a few of the other big hits here as much as I thought I did.

So Much For The City

The Thrills

1/5

I guess the only good thing that came out of listening to this album was that now I finally know who was responsible for that annoying song that got a lot of airplay in the early 2000s. Utter trash, this is a nasty album in every regard. It sounds like some sort of weird amalgam of christian rock, retro american, and bluegrass. Like a squeaky clean version of the Flaming Lips, with everything interesting sucked out and drowned in a bath of blandness. I was astounded and saddened to learn the band are actually Irish. The singer deserves a jail sentence for crimes against humanity for this drivel.

The Modern Dance

Pere Ubu

4/5

I really enjoyed this, like Talking Heads without being boring, also a little like Hawkwind in places. I enjoyed the weirdness and actually wish it had been a little bit longer.

Here's Little Richard

Little Richard

3/5

Based purely on my actual enjoyment of this album, it would be a 2 star serving. But considering the history, I added a bonus star to make this 3.

My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts

Brian Eno

4/5

I saw David Byrne and was dreading this, but it actually wasn't too bad at all. I think a large part of that was because Mr Byrne doesn't sing on any of the songs? Funky, electro-something with a lot of weirdness. I think I could grow to hate some of the repetitiveness, but it was fine for one listen, and I was interested enough to seek out the track not on Spotify. 4 stars.

Since I Left You

The Avalanches

4/5

Loved this, very chill, never boring, can't believe I'd never heard of the album or even the artist before! Frontier Psychiatrist stood out as an absolute banger. I guess my luck must have been in this week, as I got two samplephonic albums back to back, with Eno/ Byrne My Life in the Bush of Ghosts yesterday and Entroducing wasn't too long back.

A Walk Across The Rooftops

The Blue Nile

2/5

I knew Tinseltown in the Rain, but I had always thought it was by Prefab Sprout. Listening to this album, I could well believe it was indeed churned out by Prefab Sprout, as it's just as appalling as their album on this list was. I can't get behind the vocals, they really drag everything down. The rest of the music isn't great either. I'm giving it two stars, because it doesn't quite cross the line into being painful to listen to, but it gets close at times.

Fun House

The Stooges

5/5

I actually prefer this to Raw Power. The production is way better, and there's more of an edge to the songs. There's a diverse mix of blues, rock, psychedelia, and garage rock without it ever getting out of control, until maybe right at the end, which is a great way to finish up. Second listen, and this ticks so many boxes for me. I bet the Stooges were amazing to see live back when I was a toddler. TV Eye is basically the same song as OD Catastrophe by Spacemen 3, which I had never realised and made me even surer that this was a 5 star album.

If You Can Believe Your Eyes & Ears

The Mamas & The Papas

2/5

Love California Dreaming, but the rest is twee and bland. The vocal separation to different channels is understandable for the time, but it really sucks. It's well sung I suppose, but the material and musical arrangements are nothing special. I'm going with 2 stars, as I didn't hate it, there were one or two good tracks, but I'm never going to listen to this again if I can help it, and the remaining 10 tracks were just an instantly forgettable blur of saccharine nonsense. Some of it felt like it would belong on a parody album, which I think I would have given a higher score to, maybe a 3.

90

808 State

3/5

Hasn't aged too well, but I'll throw it 3 stars for the nostalgia value.

The Blueprint

JAY Z

3/5

I found this surprisingly bland. The beats are okay, but I just don't like Jay Z as a rapper, his voice is dull, and his lyrics aren't fantastic. Most of the songs are about how rich Jay Z, how much he doesn't care about the industry, and the other usual subject matter from a 90s hip-hop album. The problem is that this is an early 2000s hip-hop album, so it's all a bit stale.

Killing Joke

3/5

I hadn't heard many of the tracks from this album before, but I knew The Wait really well and already love that track. Everything else just didn't click for me. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't great. I felt a bit bad giving this album 3 stars, as it seems almost good enough for 4, but never quite gets there. I prefer their later material I feel.

Raw Like Sushi

Neneh Cherry

1/5

This aged like, well like raw sushi that's been sat on the shelf for over 30 years I guess. Neneh Cherry sucked in the 80s, somehow managing to put out an album that felt dated even when it first dropped. I guess the only silver lining is that we were about to go into a period of some truly great music, music that actually was innovative and not just awful pop music constructed to a formula. This is truly awful, soulless, bland, and deserving of the 1 star rating I'm giving it.

Spy Vs. Spy: The Music Of Ornette Coleman

John Zorn

3/5

I really enjoyed this, which was odd as I'm not usually a fan of avant-garde jazz. Maybe it was the hardcore/ thrash approach to the compositions. The first few tracks were great, then it started to get a bit less intense, but came back near the end. I probably wouldn't go out of my way to listen to this again, so a strong 3 stars is my rating.

Boy In Da Corner

Dizzee Rascal

2/5

I was expecting to enjoy this a lot more than I actually did. I think what killed it for me was the terrible beep and boop synths that were layered over everything and turned up to eleven. I've heard far better from Mr Rascal than anything on here. Not bad enough for 1 star, but certainly unworthy of 3.

Dance Mania

Tito Puente

2/5

Well I listened to this from start to finish. I would never want to hear it again, enough Mambo to last me a lifetime. It started off okay, but I rapidly realised this was just one very long 30 minute song with a few breaks for no reason, as nothing really changed from one track to the next. It wasn't horrid enough for 1 star, but there's no way I would consider this deserving more than 2 stars.

The Poet

Bobby Womack

1/5

Manages to bring just about everything I despise musically together for this album. We have obnoxious synths, cheesy lyrics, plastic-funk, limited diversity, too smooth and safe. Okay, some of the tracks have lyrics so bad that they're hilarious. But this isn't enough to save this album from the single star I'm awarding it.

McCartney

Paul McCartney

4/5

This was interesting. Quite an eclectic mix of songs, some of them very short, a few instrumentals, some nice guitar and melodies here and there, some nasty drumming. It wasn't too long and overall I enjoyed it enough for 4 stars, which was a surprise. I liked the lo-fi feel and the fact it sounded more like a demo tape than a fully realised album.

Honky Tonk Masquerade

Joe Ely

2/5

Turns out I don't like honky tonk music. I guess it was short and a couple of the tracks weren't too awful, so I'm going with 2 stars.

American Gothic

David Ackles

1/5

Just awful! This is the sort of music that feels like a punishment to listen to. The compositions are heavy-handed, like show music with a singer who's trying to copy Neil Diamond, but missing the mark. I detest Neil Diamond with a passion, but it turns out I hate a second-rate Neil Diamond clone even more, which I would never have found out if it wasn't for this turd of an album. I got a little bit of Nick Cave on some of the later tracks, but only if he lost half his range, became tone deaf, and sang deliberately flat. There's a terrible, staggering inevitability about these songs, with the singer trying to brute force each song, failing to admit he has literally no talent in singing whatsoever as he lurches from one badly sung verse to the next. I see Elvis Costello is a fan, which explains a lot. There's nothing here I liked, the lyrics were simple stories, with no meat to cling onto, the music was annoying, and the singing is just dreadful. One of the worst albums I've heard so far on this list and fully deserving of only 1 star.

John Barleycorn Must Die

Traffic

4/5

I quite enjoyed this for what it was, simple bluesy-jazzy-folky music that was easy to listen to and reminded me a lot of early Genesis. I would definitely listen to it again, but it wasn't ground-breaking, so it gets 4 stars from me.

Californication

Red Hot Chili Peppers

3/5

I fully expected to despise this, but somehow I didn't. It wasn't great, but it wasn't quite as bad as I was expecting. The vocalist is awful, but I somehow managed to put that aside and found enough enjoyment for a bland 3 stars.

Back to Basics

Christina Aguilera

2/5

This felt like two different albums to me, only slightly related. The first album started off okay, but it rapidly became obvious that it wasn't going to go anywhere interesting, and by the end it felt like a one star effort. I particularly detested the last few songs, which seem desperate in the extreme, and made me feel a little bit queasy. The second album was more diverse, maybe a weak three star album. Putting them together, I'm going with two stars for something I'll thankfully never have to listen to again, but wasn't quite annoying enough to justify a single star.

Live At The Harlem Square Club

Sam Cooke

2/5

I think I could see myself getting behind a Sam Cooke studio album, but this was too muddy and muffled to rate higher than 2 stars.

Olympia 64

Jacques Brel

1/5

Belgian guy singing (chansonging?) in French. Very dramatic, dramatically awful. One star for the longest 28 minutes of my life.

The Infotainment Scan

The Fall

5/5

There are other albums by The Fall that are better than this, but I'm still going with five stars. Just like a stopped clock is right twice a day, there came a time where the music scene and The Fall were aligned for a short while. It didn't last long, it probably wasn't intentional, but, for a short time, it was almost hip to profess an interest in The Fall's back catalogue. For me, there's few albums by The Fall where I actually love every single track. This is one of them. The cover of Lost in Music is up there on my personal list of the best tracks of all time and I could listen to Mark say "Glam Rac-ket-uh" maybe one hundred more times than he actually does.

Da Capo

Love

3/5

This wasn't as awe inspiring as the third album, but it wasn't bad. Probably 3 stars, as it did tend to meander quite a bit and the last track wasn't as tight as the rest of the album.

The Fat Of The Land

The Prodigy

4/5

This was difficult to review. I had this album when it first dropped and played the hell out of it. The bass is fantastic and there's four incredible tracks that are all five star quality. However, there's also a lot of material here that's not as great. Some of it definitely feels more like filler than it should do. I feel four stars is harsh but fair in this situation.

Pearl

Janis Joplin

4/5

This was about as close to a five star album as I can imagine without quite getting there. I enjoyed the musicianship and I can imagine listening to this again in the future. But it just wasn't quite enough for five stars somehow.

A Date With The Everly Brothers

The Everly Brothers

1/5

This was short, to the point where most of the tracks seem to be faded out halfway through, which actually isn't a bad thing. It's not bad because literally every track on this album is appalling. We have incredibly creepy lyrics, sickly-sweet vocal delivery, and awful rock and roll music. This is a nasty album from start to finish, but hits a low point in the cover of Lucille; wow, that is such an awful, sanitised version of Little Richard's classic. I read a little about the Everly Brothers, already sure that their tale would involve drug abuse, and indeed it does. Seems that their drug of choice was speed, which figures; they even managed to find a seedy drug to be addicted to. This is a clear one star album, painful to listen to, no talent to display. Instead, I felt slightly unclean at the end of my listen. If I walked into a bar and I heard this music being played, I would do an immediate U-turn and exit.

Shalimar

Rahul Dev Burman

3/5

This started out zany and funky, but soon took a backslide into soppy and generic. I think 3 stars is fair.

Suicide

4/5

Very strange, but also very good. Not quite enough for 5 stars, but a solid 4 from me. I really liked the keyboards, but the vocals took a lot of getting used to. By the end I was enjoying the whole package, but some of the 50s styling left me cold. Very interesting to finally hear a band that I knew of because they influenced Spacemen 3.

Faust IV

Faust

5/5

This was a rare treat. I loved the longer, instrumental, drone-adjacent tracks. The simpler tracks were okay, but not anywhere near as awe inspiring. There's a lot of bands I like that have obviously borrowed heavily from Faust, like Spacemen 3 for example. I also felt like some of the more space rock tracks sounded a little bit like early Hawkwind, who released in Search of Space a couple of years before this came out. Overall, it felt like four stars wasn't quite enough, so this album gets the full five stars.

Here Are the Sonics

The Sonics

2/5

Terrible production, lots of covers of rock and roll songs, lots of screaming, most of it unnecessary. The screaming is probably what killed it for me, it made my throat feel sore, and the singer seemed to be suffering too, as he sounded a bit hoarse. I didn't loathe it, but it's not getting more than 2 stars.

Are You Experienced

Jimi Hendrix

5/5

The American release is way superior to the UK release. However, there's a few great tracks missing that were only on the UK release originally. Spotify has this covered with the extended American version that pretty much has everything in one place. It's a fantastic album from start to finish. Even though some of the songs here have been played to death, they still retain their original sparkle. It has to be a full five stars for this amazing debut.

Pieces Of The Sky

Emmylou Harris

1/5

I had to concentrate really hard with this album, because as soon as it started playing, my brain tried desperately to tune it out for me. It's the sort of music I would expect to hear when walking around a supermarket, innocuous, vacuous, sappy, and bland. I figured there might be something special here, to justify its inclusion on the list, but I was soon proven incorrect. It was so vanilla that I didn't even stop it playing when Spotify gave me two bonus tracks. I kind of noticed it was still going, but at this point I had let my brain filter it out, and had stopped caring. One star for something so dull that it hardly even counts as music.

Home Is Where The Music Is

Hugh Masekela

2/5

Couple of bits stuck out, but this was mainly background music for me. It was pleasant enough, but it didn't move me in any way, shape, or form. It was also way too long, which is why I feel somewhat justified in awarding it only 2 stars.

Brown Sugar

D'Angelo

1/5

Awful, generic mush. There was literally no reason to listen beyond the first few minutes, as there was no variety whatsoever. Every song involves lots of "wooing" and "oohing", with some bland instruments playing in the background. The singer sounds like someone has a tight hold of his testicles and is squeezing hard on them. I was expecting (and I quote) "earnest lyrics about love and romance", but what I got was "oohh, wahh, oohh, wahh, baby, oooh, yeaah, oohh, whoooo, waah, oohh, fly away, oooh, baby, ohh, oooh, oww!". It's drivel so bad that it goes through the stage of being so bad it's good, then back to being just bad again. It's so extremely bad, at times I thought this was some sort of parody, but sadly it's just fifty minutes of utter shite. One star.

Germfree Adolescents

X-Ray Spex

4/5

This was difficult to rate, it felt like it fell somewhere between 3 and 4 stars, but I'm going with 4, as I particularly enjoyed a few of the tracks.

Dirty

Sonic Youth

5/5

I didn't expect this to be anywhere near as good as Daydream Nation, but it actually seemed slightly better. Musically diverse, everyone taking a turn at singing, interesting guitar sounds, I just wish I had discovered this album when it first came out.

Songs For Swingin' Lovers!

Frank Sinatra

3/5

Great voice, but a bit samey. Could have done with a more diverse selection of songs.

This Is Fats Domino

Fats Domino

2/5

Really not my sort of music, but not quite bad enough for a solitary star. I might have even gone up to 3 stars if it hadn't been such a chore to find a version of this album that played from start to finish; Spotify only had the first half.

Take Me Apart

Kelela

1/5

The production and backing music was a little interesting, just enough to scrape 2 stars if the generic singer had been better. But she wasn't, she was awful, so only one star from me.

Rattlesnakes

Lloyd Cole And The Commotions

1/5

Horrible jangly, affected sophisto-pop from the 1980s that I would rather have forgotten about to be honest. There's literally nothing here that stands out, other than the first track, that was a big hit for some reason. The lyrics sound like something a twelve year old might think were clever, but then look back and wonder at how cringe they were a year or two later. The best part of this experience was realising that only the first ten tracks were on the original release, so I could stop listening earlier than I had first thought.

What's That Noise?

Coldcut

2/5

Difficult to find, but I finally managed to hunt down the US Release and then listened to the tracks that were missing to finish the job. It wasn't really worth all that bother to be honest. There were a few okay tracks, but I honestly knew them better from remixes that were superior. The rest of the album was just a mess. Two stars feels generous.

Crime Of The Century

Supertramp

3/5

This was hard to dislike, and it had all the right parts, but something is just slightly "off" with all of the songs here somehow. It's like the band has taken the best parts of other contemporary bands, then mashed them together in some way that just doesn't sound right to my ear. I'm going with 3 stars, as there wasn't anything awful here, but there was also nothing that really stood out, not even the only track I already knew.

Nick Of Time

Bonnie Raitt

1/5

This was definitely an album that was hard to get through for me. Each song sunk to new lows, ones I would have hitherto thought impossible to reach. A putrid mixture of country and pop, terrible lyrics, nasty slide guitar, and crappy 80s synth. This is music for people who like line dancing. It doesn't even deserve a single star, but I need to click to rate it and move on with my life.

Don't Come Home A Drinkin' (With Lovin' On Your Mind)

Loretta Lynn

1/5

This is exactly the music that people talk about when they say how much they despise country music, it's truly awful. I feel like someone needs therapy after listening to this, hopefully it's not me. At times it seemed that the music and singing were entirely disconnected, with no attempt to even sing on key. Initially I figured that this was less than thirty minutes long, so just how bad could it be? Turns out that those thirty minutes felt more like thirty hours and songs that only lasted around two minutes felt like they dragged on forever. I actually found this a bit depressing, maybe the lyrics, possibly the absurd lack of talent on display, it could even be knowing that Loretta was a Trump supporter. Anyway, one star for this dated and quite repulsive offering.

Haut de gamme / Koweït, rive gauche

Koffi Olomide

1/5

I seem to be having a run of duds at the moment on this project, so hopefully the new year will bring me back to some good stuff. This feels like it's such a low point, that literally whatever I get next is going to be an improvement in some way. It's almost an hour of someone moaning in French over a generic World/ Elevator muzak background. It's the sort of music I would expect to hear in an African-themed restaurant, where the owners were playing it safe and wanted the most bland music possible. It's not joyful in any way, and realising I'm listening to a guy who sexually assaulted a 15 year old just makes it all the more easy to give this only one star.

G. Love And Special Sauce

G. Love & Special Sauce

3/5

I liked some aspects of this album, but the sloppy singing/ playing style began to grate before the end was reached. I feel like it might be worth 3 stars, but only barely.

The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan

4/5

This must have been ground breaking when it came out. It's still not at all bad, and I feel obliged to award it 4 stars. Dylan's voice is a bit nasal, and I prefer his later material, but there's a number of standout tracks here that would make anything less than 4 stars seem churlish.

Good Old Boys

Randy Newman

2/5

I don't really like Randy Newman. I don't like his voice, his lyrics, or the musical accompaniment to his songs. However, there was a spark of something here, in this easy listening collection of songs about a part of the world I couldn't care less about. I was also kind of surprised when the first song made liberal use of the n-word, with mixed feelings. On balance, this was never going to reach the lofty heights of 3 stars, but I feel 2 stars is appropriate for the short length, inoffensive middle-of-the-road music, and the slight amusement from the lyrics.

Highly Evolved

The Vines

3/5

Inoffensive, but a little bland. It's like Oasis met Nirvana and the Beatles and they came up with an album together, but it didn't quite feel right. Most of it was just background music, with a couple of bits that were more interesting. I'm going with a very generous 3 stars.

Thriller

Michael Jackson

4/5

It's a fantastic album, but I can't quite bring myself to give it 5 stars. It feels slightly churlish giving MJ 4 stars, as I can see this actually brings the average score down a bit, but I'm sure the balance won't be too badly affected. Half of the album is out of this world, the other half is a little duller/ more generic, but still good.

Something Else By The Kinks

The Kinks

3/5

Waterloo Sunset drags this up to 3 stars, but it all sounds a little dated to be honest.

Elvis Is Back

Elvis Presley

2/5

Very middle of the road Elvis, instantly forgettable and the few songs I knew had better versions by other artists in my opinion. It wasn't very long and it wasn't bad, just nothing special. I'm going with a strong 2 stars.

It's Blitz!

Yeah Yeah Yeahs

2/5

I listened to the first song and thought this might be okay. The second track rolled on and I actually knew it, but only from a remix (not the official one), like heard it dozens of times. This was looking good! Then it dissolved into a soppy mess of blandness and angst, leaving me more than a little conflicted. It started out so well, but ended up sounding a bit like Coldplay (and I mean that in a bad way).

Eagles

3/5

The three good tracks that resulted in singles are easily 5 star in quality, but the rest of the album drags this back down to 3 stars I'm afraid.

Red Dirt Girl

Emmylou Harris

2/5

Very bland and inoffensive, almost comforting as it's so well produced. It washed over me without making any impact whatsoever, in an almost pleasant way. I was almost impressed by how I listened to something that was almost an hour long without feeling anything whatsoever. It's music I could imagine being played in a dentists waiting room. I could see myself listening to this if I wanted to go to sleep. It's not music I would go out of my way to ever hear again though, unless I was really, really tired and had insomnia I guess? Two stars.

Swordfishtrombones

Tom Waits

4/5

This isn't an album I particularly enjoy from start to finish, but it certainly knows how to entertain, and there's several stand out parts to it. I think it comes in somewhere between a 3 and 4 star album for me, but I'll move it up a rung, partly because it's a breath of fresh air after a run of insipid albums for me on this journey.

L'Eau Rouge

The Young Gods

3/5

Considering their singing in French, this wasn't at all bad. I wasn't quite sure what it was about, but the lack of understanding didn't seem to be a deal breaker here. I'm going with 3 stars.

Lam Toro

Baaba Maal

2/5

I'll never listen to this again, but it wasn't totally irredeemable I suppose. I'll give it 2 stars.

Goo

Sonic Youth

5/5

I seem to have gotten what are arguably the three greatest Sonic Youth albums in descending quality order. So I had Daydream Nation first, then Dirty second, and now Goo third. Although it's by far the most commercial/ weakest of the three, it's still an easy five star album. Funnily enough, I was listening to this album just a week ago, but I relistened anyway, just to keep to the programme. I always feel like there's a little bit of The Fall mixed in here somehow, also a bit of The Pixies maybe? The Karen Carpenter song alone is enough to carry the entire album, but there's no need for that, as it is full of quality tracks from start to finish.

Sincere

Mj Cole

3/5

So the only thing I knew about this artist was that he had a hit with "Sincere" the single, and that I quite liked it when it dropped in the late 90s. That set me up to think this would be a good album. Then I saw the runtime, over 2 hours long. Then I saw how many remixes of "Sincere" there were, which I guess is why the album is called "Sincere". Finally, I noted that the original (good) mix of "Sincere" wasn't anywhere to be seen. Okay, so you had a hit, made an album to capitalise on the hit, even going with the exact same name, but then you don't put the hit on the album in its original form, instead you put on three remixes of varying quality. Listening to the album, it was generic garage with very synthetic instruments, not much in the way of hooks, just "mood music", two hours of the same, rather beige mood. It was actually decent background music, as it was too generic to grate really, apart from a few places where guest vocalists were a little too jarring. I would normally have gone with 3 stars, but I'm deducting 1 star for the extreme length, and repetitiveness, particularly because there's a few tracks that appear multiple times as remixes, which seems excessive. But then I checked Wikipedia and discovered, to my horror, that the album I listened to on Spotify bears little resemblance to the actual album as it was released. What a time wasting experience this has been. I'm going back to my original 3 star rating, as the playtime halved, and most of the remixes went away. It's still generic garage, but it's half-decent in a few places I suppose, and generic garage is still quite enjoyable.

The Yes Album

Yes

4/5

I was a big fan of Yes in the late 1980s, so getting on for two decades after this album dropped. I have to admit that this album didn't get a lot of play compared to some others. Starship Trooper, particularly the end section, is the highlight, but the rest of the album is great. The follow up album is better in almost every way, but this is still an easy 4 stars for me.

Debut

Björk

4/5

Oh how I despised Bjork when this album came out. It was annoying, dinner party muzak to my ears back then, plundering from dance music, adding nothing but "quirky" vocals that sounded forced. You couldn't get away from the big hits, and they really grated badly. Now, I must have somehow refined my tastes, as I actually really enjoyed this. There were moments of annoyance, but these were tempered with moments of appreciation for the ambient music and diversity. I still couldn't bring myself to go with 5 stars, but it's definitely good enough for 4, and I plan to listen to it again, this time a bit sooner than thirty years.

Kick Out The Jams (Live)

MC5

3/5

The sound quality isn't the best, so this isn't getting 5 stars from me. It sounds like a prototype of Kiss, a band I never really liked that much. Some of it was great, but a lot of it was just a mess. I'm going with 3 stars.

Honky Tonk Heroes

Waylon Jennings

2/5

It started swell, but by the end, even though it wasn't that long, I was growing tired of this album. I'm giving it 2 stars, as I didn't enjoy much of what I heard.

Spiderland

Slint

5/5

I'd never really considered the influences that Slint had when putting this album together, always being more interested in the bands that had been influence by this seminal album. With a little effort, I guess I can see some Sonic Youth here, also Television, Crazy Horse, and even a little bit of King Crimson. The similarity to Crazy Horse is an interesting one. I'd never heard Slint's cover of Cortez the Killer until today, and it's very faithful to the original by Neil Young (and Crazy Horse). Anyway, this is one of my favourite albums of all time, so it was going to get 5 stars as soon as I saw the name come up. It really does have a "spidery" sound to it, multiple layers of webs, soft in places, loud in others. Although I've heard this album many, many times, I could never tell you the names of any of the tracks without checking first. For me, it's truly an album where the music starts and ends without needing to worry about what name was given to each individual part.

LP1

FKA twigs

1/5

Whispery, mumble-lyrics, with maybe one word in ten actually clear enough to hear. Which is fine with me, as I looked up some of the lyrics, and they're inane enough to not deserve hearing clearly. In the background, we have some glitchy electronic noises, pretty much the same noises throughout the entire album, no hooks and lots of annoying "tapping" sounds. The only thing this made me think of was the theme tune to the last season of Skins, which is probably a poor comparison, as that actually has a dynamic and diverse sound. Maybe the aim of this album is to invoke a feeling of low effort, minimal, sparse music? Anyway, it certainly succeeds in this aim. The "singing" is usually ignorable, but from time to time there will be a squeaky section, like the noise a small, excitable dog might make, almost painful to my ears. I actually felt drained listening to this; if I could give it zero stars I would, it's truly awful.

Marcus Garvey

Burning Spear

3/5

This was quite pleasant, but not ground-breaking in any shape or form. I can imagine playing this while sitting around a campfire, cracking open a beer and smoking a joint or three. It's not an album I would seek out to replay though, so it gets three stars from me.

Welcome To The Pleasuredome

Frankie Goes To Hollywood

3/5

I remember queuing up to buy this album on CD when it first came out, standing outside HMV, anticipating the "once in a lifetime" hype. It was a bit of a surprise to find half of the album was full of pretty wretched cover versions. It's basically a vehicle for the band (Holly Johnson and Trevor Horn) to showcase a number of musical styles, from show songs to synth pop. I think a few hangers on turned up to dance, vibe, or add backing vocals; they certainly don't feature on the album in any significant way. I always get a Christmas feel from this album, probably because it came out just in time for Christmas 1984, and the Power of Love was a Christmas hit. I'm going with three stars, as the good parts are very good, and the rest isn't truly awful, just a bit boring.

Larks' Tongues In Aspic

King Crimson

5/5

This is not my favourite King Crimson album, not even in my top three. However, it's still an easy five stars. There's moments of brilliance from everyone involved, and it's exciting to know that this line up would go on to create even greater music. I have to give a particular mention to Bill Bruford, fresh out of Yes, and inserting some incredible drumming here. Also, I didn't know this album as well as I thought. I didn't enjoy listening to it on Spotify, so I went and listened to my offline copy four times on the trot, noting how much more dynamic it sounded. Particularly the percussion, which is exemplary here, not that the guitar, bass, and vocals are lacking in any way whatsoever. I always thought of this album as a practice run for Red, but having spent a day with it, I've vastly elevated my opinion, and it really does stand up on its own right. Each replay has yielded more than the one before, the sign of a truly great album.

Tubular Bells

Mike Oldfield

3/5

It's okay I suppose, but a little too light and new-worldy for my tastes. I would give it 3.5, but rounded down to 3 stars.

The Good, The Bad & The Queen

2/5

I can't stand Damon's whinny voice, or the whistling, or the sheer blandness of this. The tracks seemed to blur into each other due to the lack of any real change in tempo. Jangly keyboards and strange hooting sounds in the mix did nothing for me I'm afraid. It's a sad 2 stars from me, for something I didn't enjoy and won't ever listen to again hopefully.

Ambient 1/Music For Airports

Brian Eno

3/5

It wasn't unpleasant to listen to, and it did what it was supposed to, sink into the background and be ambient. But I can't give this more than 3 stars, as it didn't do anything other than not annoy me.

Hot Buttered Soul

Isaac Hayes

4/5

The fourth and final track is a little self-indulgent, but there's a lot here that I enjoyed. Wikipedia tells me that this is progressive soul, which I'm going to use as my excuse for giving this 4 stars, when I usually despise anything related to soul music. There's so many places where I half recognise a sample. The combination of the band and Issac Hayes' voice is irresistible.

Teenager Of The Year

Frank Black

3/5

This sounds like the natural extension of where the Pixies were headed before they disbanded. That's not a compliment by the way. For me, each Pixies album was slightly worse than the one before it. They started at an extreme high, with Surfa Rosa, Dolittle was also superb, Bossanova wasn't so great, and Trompe le Monde was a bit shit. Having said that, even though this album is twice as long as it needs to be, and half of it could be cut with no loss whatsoever, the other half isn't bad at all. I'm going with 3 stars.

Ctrl

SZA

2/5

I read up a little about SZA, and I really, really didn't want to like this album, as she just seems like a horrible person. Turns out I didn't have much to fear, as it was a mess of auto-tune, tinny trap sounds, and inane lyrics. If this album is supposed to be this generation's "Miseducation", then god help us all. There were a couple of places where I appreciated the guest vocalist, so I'm going with 2 stars, but it's a low 2. Pretty tacky and derivative R&B.

Frampton Comes Alive

Peter Frampton

2/5

Insipid and bland AOR that's best left forgotten. I was aware of Peter Frampton, but had never dug into his back catalogue. Now I can tick that job off as not worth contemplating. The version of Jumping Jack Flash is horrible, really bad. But in the context of a mixture of forgettable songs and awful cover versions, it doesn't stand out like the atrocity it is. There's some generic guitar that's not completely unpleasant. Hence 2 stars, but only just.

I See You

The xx

2/5

At least it wasn't too long. I think there was one bit I quite liked, near the end, but it only lasted a few seconds. The rest was pap.

White Blood Cells

The White Stripes

4/5

Short songs, sparse production, garage rock retro sound. I enjoyed this quite a bit, just about enough for 4 stars, but nowhere near 5. No one song stood out as being incredible, but similarly, none of them were bad. I feel it deserves a relisten.

My Aim Is True

Elvis Costello

1/5

This is where the rot began. If people hadn't bought this record, let it be the abject failure it should have been, then maybe, just maybe, we wouldn't have been cursed with more content by Mr Costello. This is the saddest, retro-pop from one of the most exciting times in music. It's like Billy Joel and Buddy Holly got together and produced the blandest collection of awful music, pretending the last twenty years hadn't happened. The Wikipedia article has punk as one of the genres for this, but I couldn't hear anything remotely punk about it, just fake. There was a Rockabilly revival coming round the corner, with Shakin' Stevens and The Stray Cats among other bands who jumped on the bandwagon in the early 80s. I remember how truly awful they all were, but I still hold Elvis Costello as one of the originals, exhuming something that should have remained dead.

The Black Saint And The Sinner Lady

Charles Mingus

5/5

So I had a day in the oh so pleasant company of Charles Mingus. I started with this album, which I had never heard before, and adored it. It's going to get 5 stars. I had to listen to it a few times to let it all sink in properly. Then I went to try out "MIngus Ah Um", as many people had said it was more accessible. I liked it, but nowhere near as much as "The Black Saint...". It was a little too light for my liking. I would have probably given it 4 stars. I used to hate jazz, seeing it as pretentious music with a lot of gatekeeping and a bad reputation. I gave a few albums a try when I was in my early 20s and found them all annoying to listen to. Something must have changed over the years, as now I find myself drawn to jazz that I would have despised in my youth.

Beggars Banquet

The Rolling Stones

3/5

The music is well strung together, even if it's a bit basic and derivative. I'm inclined to ignore the muse and just listen to the music, so I suppose 3 stars seems fair here.

Heroes to Zeros

The Beta Band

2/5

I think what killed this for me was the vocals, bland and insipid, hardly changing throughout the entire album. I was left with a slightly sour taste of something bad, like Maroon 5 levels of badness. The musical accompaniment was nice, sounding like the Stone Roses in places, if they were making an album of B-sides. The production was awful, murky and badly mixed. There's a bit of a high point mid-album, then it sort of gives up and shuffles off in an understated, mumbly way. This hovers between 2 and 3 stars for me, but the boring end lingers.

Street Signs

Ozomatli

3/5

After getting over halfway through the list of 1001 albums, this is the first one I didn't manage to play from start to finish. Why? Because I literally couldn't find anywhere to listen to it. Spotify has the first track only. YouTube has it all unavailable. It's not on any other music streaming services I use. I struggled but managed to listen to all of the tracks in different formats, some of them live versions, others from "diverse sources". For "Santiago", the best I could do was find a drum cover, so the track being played in the background with some random person drumming over the top. At times I wasn't even sure I was listening to the correct track, but I persevered to the bitter end. I'm going to give it 3 stars because I'm kind of annoyed about how inaccessible this album was in the UK and it wasn't amazing anyway, kind of a mix of good tracks and bland ones.

I Against I

Bad Brains

3/5

It came out the gates fighting, but by the end of this short album, it had become a far more subdued affair. Not as ground breaking as I was hoping for, but not a bad album. A high 3 stars from me.

Nighthawks At The Diner

Tom Waits

4/5

Although I ended up enjoying this album for the most part, the beginning filled me with dread, with the extended monologues. I would have much preferred a shorter album with the majority of the jokes and spoken introductions removed. I imagine that they would grow tiring on repeat listens. I'm still going with 4 stars, because the atmosphere was compelling.

Superfly

Curtis Mayfield

4/5

Much better than I thought it was going to be. There were bits and pieces that have been sampled by later artists and were fun to hear in their original form.

Crooked Rain Crooked Rain

Pavement

5/5

Had to listen to this twice, as it came up on a day when I was very distracted with work, etc. I didn't like it as much as the first Pavement album, but it's still an easy 5 stars from me. I liked the easy to listen to vocal delivery and the general cosy feeling I got from listening to this. I can imagine enjoying this even more on repeat listens. It's like a dialled-down Pixies/ Sonic Youth experience, with some influences from The Fall here and there. Maybe a little bit of early R.E.M., but without the slightly grating vocals.

Jazz Samba

Stan Getz

4/5

"Jazz" and "Samba" are two words put together that gave me some cause for concern. But it turns out this concern was unjustified, as this album was sublime. It didn't quite tip me over the edge for a full 5 stars, as nothing in particular stood out. However, it's relaxing, smooth, mellow music that I could imagine having on in the background.

To Pimp A Butterfly

Kendrick Lamar

5/5

Well, Kendrick's second album, or this, his third album, which is better? I mean they're both obvious 5 star albums, and I guess it doesn't matter what the answer is, as it's such fun listening to either album. The sheer talent on display here is quite honestly astounding. I can't think of anything I would fault about this. It makes me happy that somehow someone is putting out music that stands up against "golden age" hip-hop and doesn't come away bruised and beaten to a pulp. But it's also worth noting that this isn't just a homage to the great albums from three decades back. This is far more than that, truly ground breaking.

Rubber Soul

Beatles

3/5

It's difficult to judge this album without remembering that it's The Beatles and considering where they went after this. I'm going with 3 stars, as there's some really good tracks, there's a whole load that were just okay, and a few that were pretty lame. I love seeing the difference in Wikipedia between this album, with a literal essay about each track, and one that's a little bit more obscure, with a track listing and a "listed on 1001 albums" and that's about it.

2112

Rush

5/5

Was waiting for this album to come along. I would give it 5 stars for just the overture, even if the band pissed in a bucket for the rest of the album. But they don't. The second side doesn't quite stand up to the awesomeness of the first, but then that would be just about impossible. I hate to admit it, but usually when I play this album, I listen as far as the end of Passage to Bangkok and then stop. So it was fun to listen to the other tracks for once. They were actually better than I remembered.

Moss Side Story

Barry Adamson

2/5

I have this secret musical that I've been arranging in my head for the last twenty years. I have the first hour or so mapped out, with a mixture of show tunes and a little bit of dialogue. The only difference here is that this guy decided to share his inner musical soundtrack, to mixed results. I didn't hate this really, so it should get 3 stars just for being entertaining from time to time, but I'm knocking it down to 2 stars, mainly because it out stayed its welcome by about 30 minutes or so. It never really goes anywhere, and there's a lot of "incidental" music that I could have done without.

Lady Soul

Aretha Franklin

4/5

Although I didn't love this enough for 5 stars, it's still incredible that Aretha can make me like music that would usually have me running for the door.

Only By The Night

Kings of Leon

2/5

There's singing and people playing instruments, but it all sounds very bland and over produced. It's safe, middle-of-the-road stadium rock for people who would have done better listening to bands who did this all before in the 70s, but weren't around in the early 2000s to perform live I guess. The first couple of tracks showed some promise, maybe this would just be generic soft rock, but it slowed down to a painful crawl by the end. I'm not sure why the band thought it would be a good idea to put so many turgid tracks on the second side of the album, but it dragged it down to 2 stars for me. Weirdly, I got some Duran Duran vibes from some of the tracks, but not in a good way.

Nowhere

Ride

5/5

This is an album I already knew well, and had even played relatively recently, so it was an instant 5 stars from me. I can see why not everyone would like this music, it's superficially similar to the Stone Roses and the Cure, but there's far more shoegaze elements, and a murky, full sound throughout. From the wall of white noise the guitar and particularly the drums stand out. The main vocals are fitting, giving a pleasing drone-like sound that matches the melancholy songs. Perfect for me when this came out, when I was only slightly older than the band (early 20s). I listened to the album, then the four bonus tracks that Spotify had, ones I'd never listened to before. I was expecting there to be a jar from the tracks I knew so well to the "new" (to me) ones, but it was almost imperceptible. It's a bit of a shame that Ride never really matched their debut album. The fact that they're still doing tours where they perform the entire Nowhere album instead of promoting newer material is telling.

Ritual De Lo Habitual

Jane's Addiction

2/5

It's definitely the vocals that killed this for me. Every time they were gone, or in the background, I was enjoying this album, but when they were to the fore, it was pretty awful. The beginning was generic to the point of being instantly forgettable. There was a good bit in the middle, with some of the longer songs, but then it just tailed off into dullness. I'm going with 2 stars for this one.

Medúlla

Björk

2/5

I love the fact that my journey with Bjork so far on this project has been in order. First with the Sugarcubes, then to her first solo album, then a later solo album, and now this. Each album has been slightly worse than the one before I'm afraid; I started with 5 stars, but I'm finishing with 2 stars. This reminded me a lot of why I don't like Kate Bush's later albums. It just doesn't do anything for me and I don't see any reason to listen to it.

Country Life

Roxy Music

4/5

Not what I was expecting and I actually quite enjoyed this. Very easy to listen to with a nice variety, with almost everything being chucked at some of the tracks. I love the vocal style. It's somewhere between 3 and 4 stars I felt, but I'm marking it up, as I did go back and listen to half of it again.

Fire Of Love

The Gun Club

3/5

This might be a missing link between Punk and Blues, but it's not very interesting in itself. I feel 3 stars is fair.

Cross

Justice

4/5

Got to love some electro house, so this gets stars just for existing. It's nicely put together, with lots of micro-samples, and a throwback beat. I liked this enough for 4 stars, as a late to the party Daft Punk clone. It wasn't enough for 5 stars though, that would require some more originality.

Dry

PJ Harvey

4/5

Although I'd never heard anything of this album before, it seemed "comfortable" to listen to, like an old friend somehow. The muddy production was a shame, but I got used to it after a couple of listens. Seems like a strong 4 star album, possibly higher, but the murky sound was a little offputting.

Microshift

Hookworms

2/5

Started well, but soon devolved into blandness.

Tago Mago

Can

4/5

I enjoyed the first three quarters or so of this very much, but the weird shouting and yelling on the "Peking O" track drove the score down from a 5 to a 4. It sounded like someone having some sort of drug induced meltdown, which I guess was the desired effect, but it just made me feel a bit nauseous. I listened to the entire album twice, which is always a good sign. There's some very good bits, where the strange vocals aren't fully dialled up, and don't detract from the music. I would even suggest that they are fine in this context. where the band are German, so I wouldn't expect to understand what they're singing about. But the final third is where everything else takes a back seat, and we just have strange gargling sounds.

Something/Anything?

Todd Rundgren

2/5

Bloated and self-indulgent pop/ rock. The decision here was whether this was bad enough for 1 star, or if there was just about enough to scrape 2 stars. There was certainly a lot of padding, annoying interruptions to lecture about how to produce music, some comedy songs that fell flat, a little light rock. It felt like someone trying to rip off the Beatles, but ending up sounding more like Elton John. Not great, but the relief of finishing this made me decide to go for a low 2 stars.

Born To Run

Bruce Springsteen

2/5

Mumbly and dull. It sounded like Meatloaf and U2 got together to make an album to be played at wedding parties. Didn't do anything for me, 2 stars.

Antichrist Superstar

Marilyn Manson

4/5

I really, really didn't expect to like this at all. But then, on reflection, the only music I've ever heard from Marilyn Manson is their cover of Tainted Love. For obvious reasons this sounds like a Nine Inch Nails album. It's far from perfect, and maybe outstayed its welcome slightly, but it was still enough for a strong 4 stars.

Live Through This

Hole

5/5

Started incredibly well, considering that I didn't really know a single Hole song and doubt I'd even listened to one before, as I had a mental block about Courtney Love, as many people seem to have. So that first track was over and done, and I was afraid it was going to never live up to the first track, but I ended up listening to this entire album three times, and it does indeed live up to the first track. I can't find anything to fault, the vocals were great, the band were tight, the songs had hooks. I feel almost guilty giving this 5 stars, but so it goes.

Stephen Stills

2/5

There were some okay parts, like Hendrix, not so much Clapton. Lots of choral arrangements that left me cold. No real stand out songs, just a bit of a damp squib overall. I feel 2 stars is a little low, but it's not quite enough for 3.

Shleep

Robert Wyatt

3/5

I got really heavy Hawkwind vibes from this, all the way through, from the vocal delivery, to the slight psych edge to some of the music, and the understated and sometimes peculiar songs. I didn't love it, but it was certainly interesting enough for 3 stars.

Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle

Bill Callahan

4/5

This is definitely not alt-country. It feels more like indie/ lo-fi electronica. Faith/ Void is a definite 5 stars. The rest of the album is soothing and calming in a way I wouldn't have imagined possible. I didn't like it enough for 5 stars, but it's definitely worthy of 4.

Off The Wall

Michael Jackson

3/5

A few stand out songs, but also a whole truck load of instantly forgettable ones. Three stars for the first couple of tracks and historical legacy I guess.

The Dreaming

Kate Bush

3/5

This is the third Kate Bush album I've had so far on this project, and it's the first one I didn't hate. Although that goes a long way, I didn't love it either.

The Hissing Of Summer Lawns

Joni Mitchell

3/5

Maybe I wasn't on top form when I listened to this, but it didn't sound as good as the other Joni Mitchell albums I've heard so far.

Kind Of Blue

Miles Davis

4/5

This sort of passed me by. It wasn't unpleasant, I just found it hard to concentrate on it enough for a proper review. It felt like 3 stars, but I'm going with 4 stars as I do plan to listen to it again.

Dear Science

TV On The Radio

2/5

The vocals killed this for me. It sounded like someone trying to copy the Red Hot Chilli Peppers, a band I despise anyway, but extremely forced. This tension of "the vocalist literally can't sing" lasted the entire album, making it a pretty traumatic experience. This album is almost perfect for describing to people what I don't like in music; generic, cheesy, nothingness, talentless, bland, hipster music. I was petting my dog when "Love Dog" was playing, which gave me just enough of a smile to lift this up from 1 to 2 stars.

At Budokan

Cheap Trick

2/5

This album encapsulates the 70s for me, when there was a thin dividing line between hard rock and power pop music, bands were expected to throw in guitar solos, and lyrics were questionable at best. The songs are pretty bland, with some awful drumming, generic guitar, annoying vocals. There were a couple of songs around the two-thirds mark that I didn't outright hate, so I'm going with 2 stars.

Arrival

ABBA

3/5

This was incredibly difficult to rate. On one hand I was reminded of cringe office parties in the early 200s, where Abba seemed to be de rigueur. On the other hand, I remember some of these hits being played on the radio when I was very little, and quite enjoying them. I'm going with 3 stars, for the nostalgia, and the fact that none of the songs are truly awful, which is what I was expecting to find.

Gentlemen

The Afghan Whigs

3/5

Kind of mediocre, some good bits, but I grew a bit bored by the end. I'm going with 3 stars, as if it weren't for all the other bands who did this better, then I guess I might have liked this more.

The Healer

John Lee Hooker

2/5

I was a little bit excited for this, but it turned out to be a clunker. Horrible production and too many guests.

Melody A.M.

Röyksopp

3/5

Didn't think I knew this one, but it turns out I had heard three of the tracks before. The music varies a little between Portishead and Moby. I think 3 stars?

Peter Gabriel

3/5

I think I enjoyed this more than some of Peter Gabriel's later works. It was a little too eclectic though. My memories of the not so great parts dragged down the score from a 4 to a 3.

#1 Record

Big Star

3/5

I remember this album from way back when one of my friends got hold of a copy. He was a massive R.E.M. fan, and he'd obviously heard that Big Star were an influence, so he played this to death for a few weeks. Strangely, I was excited to see this come up, but it turns out I didn't remember a single track from it. I also never appreciated that it was from the early 70s, and not from the 80s, as I had always imagined. It fizzles out by the second half and managed to outstay its welcome a little. I also found myself feeling that the fantastic production couldn't hide the fact that this is basically a Beatles Tribute album, albeit in a slightly more soft rock style. The lack of anything that truly stood out means this is delegated 3 stars from me.

Legalize It

Peter Tosh

3/5

I'm probably a little guilty of letting this one flow over me a bit. It was okay I guess, but very much background music. I could imagine playing this round a campfire, but not so much on general rotation. Three stars for a pretty average album.

Punishing Kiss

Ute Lemper

1/5

This was utter butchery of music. Awful lyrics, dreadful over-dramatic singing that somehow managed to remain bland throughout. Wretched backing music that sounded like it came from the bargain bin of B movies. I was actually surprised by how this somehow managed to get even worse as time dragged on, even though it already seemed to be setting the standard for the worst music possible. Turns out there are extra levels of badness that I had never thought possible. Why is it that everything touched by Elvis Costello sounds like utter shite? I feel zero regrets in awarding this 1 star, as it truly is awful.

Shadowland

k.d. lang

2/5

Her voice was just enough to push this to 2 stars, but only by a sliver.

Basket of Light

Pentangle

5/5

I'm starting to come round to the fact that I actually seem to like British folk music. I wasn't one hundred percent sold on the vocals to begin with, but they grew on me by the time the album was done. The acoustic instrumentation is glorious throughout. The first track, Light Flight, sets a high standard, and the rest of the album is a magical journey through various styles.

Follow The Leader

Korn

4/5

This reminded me of music from a heavy metal parody film, the sort that's supposed to be over the top, and just a joke, but you actually also enjoy it a little bit. With my brain disengaged from listening to the lyrics, this was kind of fun. Really all over the place, with no sense of any reason or structure. I would listen to it again, so it gets 4 from me.

Buffalo Springfield Again

Buffalo Springfield

4/5

The great tracks were from Neil Young, the good tracks were from Stills, and it's probably best not to linger on the remainder. I couldn't see this deserving 5 stars, but it's good enough for 4.

Out of Step

Minor Threat

4/5

Short and shouty, perfect to set me up for a day's hiking.

Bright Flight

Silver Jews

5/5

Well I couldn't find anything to dislike about this, it had good lyrics/ vocals, interesting music, veering from country to indie and back again. Definitely getting the Pavement vibes. So this was definitely going to be a 4 or a 5, but I'm going with 5.

Otis Blue/Otis Redding Sings Soul

Otis Redding

3/5

Some classics here, and the tracks I hadn't heard before were fine. It wasn't my cup of tea musically, but I enjoyed it enough for a strong 3 star rating.

Hot Fuss

The Killers

4/5

I hadn't heard this album before, just some of the big hits. I enjoyed it a lot, but it didn't quite have the edge to push it all the way to 5 stars.

Kings Of The Wild Frontier

Adam & The Ants

2/5

I actually liked Adam Ant, when I was like 12 or so, when this came out. Even the rose-tinged ears of nostalgia couldn't save this from being pretty weak. I don't like the throwback Rock N'Roll sound, or the strange backing vocals, or the double drummers giving tribal beats, it's all just a bit lame. 2 stars because some of the hits are passable I guess.

D.O.A. the Third and Final Report of Throbbing Gristle

Throbbing Gristle

4/5

I'd heard a few of these tracks before, but never the whole album. Some of it is actually quite traditionally musical, while other parts are less so. I actually preferred the second half of the album to the first for some reason. I was expecting to find this a challenge, based on other reviews, but it turned out to be far more enjoyable than I would have thought. I don't think it's quite enough for 5 stars, but it's definitely thought-provoking and influential enough for 4.

Sunshine Superman

Donovan

3/5

I figured I would hate this, but it wasn't as bad as I was expecting. I even found myself enjoying it a little here and there. It's very much at the pop end of psychedelia, but that isn't the end of the world. I'm going with a strong 3 stars.

Miriam Makeba

1/5

Been a while, so I guess I was due a 1 star album. Oh this was so awful! I hated the "clicking" sounds, to the point where they made me feel like vomiting. I can't think of anything good to say about this album, it just kept getting worse and worse the longer I listened to it. Inane songs about fleas, songs like you might find on a children's music album from the 1950s, more of the obnoxious clicking sounds. Truly awful, and almost painful to endure. The "laughing track" right near the end is the stuff of nightmares!

Picture Book

Simply Red

1/5

Well I feel I gave this a fair chance, but it's just awful, cheesy and nasty from start to finish. The only good thing was that there were five "bonus" tracks on Spotify so my initial horror of having over an hour of this pap was unfounded. I honestly would put Mick Hucknall on a list of people who should have had their vocal cords surgically removed when they were born, along with Chris Rhea and James Blunt.

Deep Purple In Rock

Deep Purple

5/5

Although I knew of this album, I'd never sat down and listened to it before. In fact, scanning the tracks on it, I only knew two, Speed King and Child in Time. I mean, those two tracks on their own would justify a 5 star rating, but I was doubtful that there would be anything else other than filler. Seems that I was wrong, and this really is a good album from start to finish. I love the "full" sound with organ and guitar. I think that we hit a period where having a Hammond organ playing in metal fell way out of fashion, but this is barely out of the 60s, so it was probably cutting edge back then.

Tical

Method Man

4/5

I think I've listened to Tical before, and it had the same effect each time, good, but nothing stood out, and I ended up forgetting just about every track by the time it was done. I'm going for 4 stars anyway, but only because I know I will listen to this again in the future.

The Idiot

Iggy Pop

5/5

Although my first impression was that this was simply a David Bowie album, as the album progressed I was happily proven wrong. In fact, I was surprised to find that the tracks I'd heard before weren't the high point, and the ones that were new to me were the ones that stood out. The last track in particular, all nine minutes (almost) of it, was so good I had to replay it three times.

Aftermath

The Rolling Stones

2/5

The US version has Paint it Black, which would have bumped this up slightly. But I listened to the UK version, which was longer and had far more clunkers than stand out songs. I liked Lady Jane and a few of the hits, but the rest dragged this down to a 2. For an album that came out in the mid-60s to be judged as a little bit nasty about women by contemporary media is quite an achievement. Indeed, some of these songs have not aged well at all.

Third

Soft Machine

5/5

This was good, but was it 5-star good? I feel like I might be inclined to give this the benefit of the doubt. I loved the fourth track, and a replay went down great as well. There's a lot to unpack here, so I feel like I will need to come back to this again.

Gasoline Alley

Rod Stewart

2/5

Very dull, nothing special, 2 stars. It was a pretty average cover band doing a strange mixture of songs from a variety of styles, all of them bad.

All Hope Is Gone

Slipknot

5/5

You're kidding?! No "Iowa" and instead this "All Hope is Gone" makes the list; shockingly bad choice. In my opinion, this is probably the fourth best Slipknot album. It still gets 5 stars, as it's good, but it's nowhere near as good as the first two albums. I'm probably rounding this up from a 4.5, whereas the first two albums are "full fives". I hadn't listened to this album in years, but playing it today didn't really change my opinion. About a third of it is really good, another third is fine, and the final third is okay, but just doesn't seem to fit the rest of the album in tone, sounding more like Corey brought some of his Stone Sour work in to work on.

Rising Above Bedlam

Jah Wobble's Invaders Of The Heart

3/5

I figured I wouldn't like this, but it wasn't too bad at all. I almost, almost gave it 4 stars on the basis of the first half. The second half wasn't quite as good, so it's a strong 3 stars I guess. I expected the bass guitar to be decent, and it was. I hadn't expected to like much else, but I did. It was actually quite relaxing to listen to.

Bad Company

4/5

If someone had told me that this was an album by Free, then I wouldn't have been surprised in the slightest. In fact, for the entire album, I was half-expecting them to break into "Wishing Well" or "Alright Now". It's not perfect by any means, and there's not much diversity of subject matter, but I feel 4 stars is fair.

Be

Common

3/5

Started well, but a little too much R&B for my liking, and I was bored by the end. 3 stars.

This Year's Model

Elvis Costello & The Attractions

1/5

I really don't like Elvis Costello, from the whiny, nasal vocals to the boring musical compositions. This is just another 1 star album that wasted my listening time I'm afraid.

Heroes

David Bowie

4/5

Well this was a bit of a strange one. I listened to the album, noted the one track I already knew, got to halfway through side B, and quite liked an instrumental piece, but the next thing I knew it was over. I played the album a second time, and it was pretty much the same as the first time; the album was playing and then it was suddenly over without any sense of time passing. I didn't feel any particular strong connection to the music I was hearing, but I played it twice, and I'm giving it 4 stars based on, well I don't know what to be honest. Maybe I need to try one last time?

Underwater Moonlight

The Soft Boys

4/5

This really didn't sound like an album released in 1980 that was mainly recorded in the late 1970s. It's a glorious combination of psych-rock with pop sensibilities, always entertaining, without overstaying its welcome. The guitar playing was particularly good, and the lyrics were suitably "odd" without being cringe. I would have liked this if I had heard it back in the day, before so many other bands came along with a similar style.

Devil Without A Cause

Kid Rock

1/5

I knew this album was overdue to turn up, but I was still dreading it. I figured I'd never heard any Kid Rock tracks before, but it turns out I did know the very first track, and it wasn't actually as bad as I was expecting. Although my hatred for Kid Rock largely stems from his support for the orange-faced Nazi who he loves to appear on stage with, I wanted to try and listen to this without prejudice. It's difficult, when the artist is such a terrible person, but I managed to do this for Kanye West, so I made a similar effort here. The rest of the album more than made up for the first track. Awful sampling, auto-tune, dreadful lyrics, even Eminem couldn't save this garbage. There's various styles here that reminded me of other (far better) artists. I was feeling an ICP vibe for a while, but without the comedic lyrics, or the fact that the ICP members are genuinely nice people. Later, there was a section that felt a bit more Rage Against the Machine, but like a master mix of their greatest hits with dumb lyrics. There was even a bit that felt like early Beastie Boys, but with only one singer, and again, those awful lyrics that grated more and more. I think the lyrics were what killed any enjoyment for me by the end. The last track is just so bad, unnecessary, and embarrassing that it should never have been recorded. Every time Mr Rock raps about being a "pimp" it just made me feel a bit sorry for his attempts to sound like something he obviously isn't. Also, slapping a rehash of an earlier track on the end of an already overfull album, is just a weird decision. This really is an album that didn't need to exist in my opinion. It offers nothing new, and yes, I'm including country-rap-metal in that. I don't think this was as ground breaking as some people think.

Live At Leeds

The Who

3/5

I figured that, if this was amazing, I would go back and listen to the extended play version. I didn't listen to the extended play version.

Searching For The Young Soul Rebels

Dexys Midnight Runners

2/5

I had high hopes for this album, as I had heard a rumour that it was really good, far better than the one big hit everyone knows. I liked Geno, I didn't like the vocals, they sounded like the singer was underwater or something. I didn't like the horns by the end of the album. 2 stars, mainly for Geno.

Nebraska

Bruce Springsteen

4/5

Well I'd never heard a single track off this album before, and I came to it with dread, as I hated everything I've heard previously by Bruce Springsteen. But I liked this quite a bit, not enough for 5 stars, but enough for 4. It's melancholy, simplistic music with good lyrics and I could see myself listening to it again. No one song stood out to me, although the story about the cop who pursued his own brother to the border to ultimately let him go free was a fun ride. Similarly, no songs felt like they didn't belong here, and, although the material was all of a similar mood, it didn't become boring or repetitive at any point.

Duck Stab/Buster & Glen

The Residents

4/5

Short and fun, but maybe a bit strange in parts. I think it might be a grower on a second listen, and it reminded me a little of the Country Teasers.

Architecture And Morality

Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark

3/5

Just a little bit too much pop/ new wave, and not enough experimental for my liking. Still a decent 3 star album.

Master Of Puppets

Metallica

5/5

So this is an easy 5 star album for me, but when it first came out I felt slightly disappointed with the direction Metallica were taking. This felt like they had let their foot off the gas pedal a little, slower songs, even keyboards here and there. To my teenage self, the first two albums were classics, and this was the beginning of the rot. Looking back, I can see just how wrong I was. Maybe it's because of the truly awful albums that were yet to come, or maybe my musical tastes have expanded somewhat over the last 40 years. Whatever it is, this album ticks all the boxes now.

The Slim Shady LP

Eminem

5/5

So I'm well aware that this is Eminem's second album, but as far as I was concerned in the early 2000s, it might as well have been his debut. Over a summer where I was working across various parts of Africa, all I had was this and his next album to listen to. Although I probably prefer the Marshall Mathers album, there's still a lot to like here, and the first few tracks are really strong. I like the horror-core humour, and I love the beats and delivery. I would probably give this around 4.5, but I'm going to round it up to 5 stars.

NEU! 75

Neu!

5/5

This was fantastic. I read some reviews that said the second side let down the first, but I had the opposite experience. There was an enticing blend of space rock and proto-punk that shifted gears as the album progressed. I got some heavy Hawkwind vibes from some of the tracks, particularly Hero, which was the high point for me. This will go on rotation for me now, and it's an easy 5 star album. I was so impressed that I went and listened to Neu! 72, which I also liked, but not quite as much (would have been 4 stars I feel). So many influences from both albums that it felt like this was the missing part of a puzzle for me.

Arise

Sepultura

5/5

It's fascinating to hear the influences from other bands who were releasing albums at the same time as this dropped. I can hear the odd Metallica guitar sound from their late 80s material, also some similarities with Human, Death's progressive death metal opus. Although I feel that Roots is a slightly better album, and to my regret, I only awarded that album 4 stars, this is getting 5 stars. I hope this partly makes up for just about my only rating-regret so far.

Back In Black

AC/DC

5/5

I once paid for the privilege to deliver Brian Johnson's newspaper, around a year after this album had dropped. I can't remember exactly how much it cost, but it was definitely money well spent. The lyrics on this album haven't aged particularly well, but I'm still going to give it 5 stars. The way I see it, about half of the songs are stone cold classics, the remaining half are best listened to without dwelling on what's actually being sung. The band's playing is tight, and this blues-driven/ rock and roll/ heavy metal hybrid is a perfect template for other bands to follow. It's maybe simplistic, even formulaic, but this is also part of the charm.

Maxwell's Urban Hang Suite

Maxwell

1/5

I guess I was overdue a bad album, but wow, this was just so bad. Syrupy-sweet saccharine noises for almost an hour. I started to feel a bit queasy five minutes in, and by the halfway point I was just holding on for the bitter end. Awful 1 star album.

Trafalgar

Bee Gees

1/5

Well this was pretty awful. I could have maybe got behind a later album, but this is just dreadful. Warbly vocals, cheesy lyrics, with slow, predictable, and boring music backing it all. Some of it was almost comedically bad. Most of it was just bad.

Throwing Muses

2/5

Sounded very muddy, to the point where it was hard to tell if this was intentional, or just bad production. Not bad, but not great. I felt that I should like this more than I did, but I'm going with a meagre 2 stars.

Dusty In Memphis

Dusty Springfield

1/5

Insipid blue-eyed soul from a singer performing songs written by other people and performed better by other artists. The silver lining was that a little research saved me from listening to the entire offering on Spotify, as the original album was only a shade over 30 minutes long, not the closer to an hour endurance test that Spotify offered up to me. There's a peculiar mix, from southern soul to straight up pop music, all of it bland and the musical equivalent of cold and well-used dirty dishwater. Dusty does this thing where she goes all breathy, which I assume is to cover up for the fact that she doesn't have a very powerful voice. The backing singers are more interesting vocally than she is herself. The epitome of a one star album.

Third

Portishead

3/5

This kind of lost me about halfway through. I don't think the vocals were great, although I did like some of the directions the musical accompaniment took.

A Grand Don't Come For Free

The Streets

3/5

I must have gone through a period of really liking The Streets, as there are green ticks all over their first couple of albums. However, this hasn't aged too well, and there's a lot of dips between the bangers. It's still a strong 3 star album, but not quite enough for 4.

Teenage Head

Flamin' Groovies

3/5

This was fun, so much fun I listened to the extra half an hour or so of bonus tracks. I even enjoyed the quite awful dips into rockabilly music, as it seemed tongue in cheek. At the same time, it wasn't amazing in any way, so 3 stars seems fair.

First Band On The Moon

The Cardigans

2/5

I knew Lovefool, and the rest of the album played out as expected, breathy, slightly sickly vocals over bland music. The cover of Iron Man was pretty awful, but was also one of the high points of the album for me. This barely scrapes 2 stars.

Band On The Run

Paul McCartney and Wings

3/5

There's a few places where the arrangements are interesting enough to warrant 3 stars, and the first two tracks are great. But there's a huge chasm in the middle where it's just twaddle.

Rock 'N Soul

Solomon Burke

2/5

Mercifully short, as this is exactly the sort of music that I despise. I hated the backing vocals, the badly-dated lyrics, the awful production, and the musical arrangements. The singer kept this from 1 star, but honestly it was close.

Fifth Dimension

The Byrds

3/5

Eight Miles High is a banger, but the album is all over the place, lurching from covers of contemporary songs to resurrecting old folk songs, with the band also writing some of their own material. I'm going with 3 stars, because it's largely inoffensive stuff.

Grace

Jeff Buckley

3/5

I knew of Jeff Buckley, but I hadn't ever heard anything by him before. It was good to listen to this album, and pretty mind blowing how it serves as a prototype for Thom Yorke's vocal style. I won't be listening to it again though, as it was just too dreary and depressing and I didn't really enjoy it enough for more than 3 stars. Every time I felt I was starting to warm to the album, I was assaulted by something I really didn't enjoy, like Corpus Christi Carol, that was just painful to listen to.

Caetano Veloso

3/5

Better than I would have expected, based on the cover, the era, and the fact that it's sung in Portuguese. It felt a bit exotic-lite. Many of the songs were simply someone's name repeated quite a few times, which might as well have been in English. Although there were flashes of what I would think of as Latin America music, there were also a whole load of obviously western influences too. For me, that was actually a good thing, as I generally don't like world music. On that basis, this gets 3 stars, but a strong 3 stars.

Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables

Dead Kennedys

5/5

Short, punchy, diverse, this was always going to be a 5 star score. It almost feels like a greatest hits album rather than a debut, but then many of the songs had already been released as singles, and the album versions are almost identical.

OK Computer

Radiohead

5/5

I love this album so much, to me it's the perfect blend of guitar and electronica. Every track fits perfectly where it needs to be, and there's not a single dud across the entire runtime. I used to drive back home after working away all week, and I would time this album to start around an hour from getting home every Friday. Never tired of listening to it, never fast-forwarded a single track. If I made good time, then I'd sit outside my house and listen to the end of the album before going in. I've struggled to connect with later Radiohead albums, but this one never fails to reward repeat listens. I love the sparse, airy feeling on many of the tracks, even though the subject matter is largely depressing. Actually, who am I kidding, the depressing subject matter seals the deal for me! Five stars for an almost perfect album.

Feast of Wire

Calexico

4/5

Got better and better the more I listened to it. Kind of surprised with 4 stars for this, as it felt like it should have been a 2 on paper.

The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars

David Bowie

5/5

I'm not a massive fan of 1970s Bowie, and glam rock leaves me cold. Having said that, this album is pure perfection, lean and perfectly crafted with so many standout lyrics, musical excellence, texturing, story-telling all crammed into a relatively short album. There's no way I could ever consider giving this less than five full stars.

Dirt

Alice In Chains

4/5

I'd heard of AiC, but couldn't name a single track by them, not even a hit. They sort of passed me by somehow. I feel this album went the same way. It started quick, real quick, no messing about with a fade-in, straight in your face with the one track I think I might have heard before. But nothing really stood out, and it felt just a little too much on the pop side for my tastes. Harmonising vocals, a little more like glam-metal than grunge in places. I tried a second and then a third lesson, mainly for the guitar, as it's a nice sound. I feel like I'm being over-generous with 4 stars, but it did grow on me a bit, and I did like the guitar.

Vauxhall And I

Morrissey

5/5

One of my favourite surprises from this project was discovering just how prolific Morrissey has been since he left The Smiths, and how high quality some of his solo albums have been, including this one incidentally. I loved The Smiths, but lost interest in Morrissey as all I had heard from him solo had been a bit weak. Looking back, this was a big oversight, as his solo material ticks many boxes for me. Good lyrics, wry humour, excellent delivery, interesting music. This feels like another 5 star album.

KIWANUKA

Michael Kiwanuka

5/5

The cover and the name made me shudder in preparation for a 1 star review. It looked like this was going to be some awful world music album from the early 70s and I would hate every minute. I loaded it into Spotify and groaned at the 50 minute plus playtime. Maybe there were some extra tracks I could skip if they weren't on the original album release? Checking Wikipedia; oh no! even worse, this was from 2019, it's going to be awful, and it's Psych-Soul *shudder. Well at least I could get it out the way as quickly as possible and move on with the rest of my day. Or so I thought. Turns out that this was fantastic from start to finish and one of the easiest five star scores an album has earned from me. I found that every single song clicked with me the first time I heard it, and make no mistake, this was the first time I'd heard any of this before. It felt good, like comfort music that I just wanted to go on and on forever. Nothing jarring, nothing even slightly out of place, just perfection. My second listen cemented the fact that this was going on my rotation list. It's a skilful blend of so many different styles, put together to form a cohesive whole.

Heartbreaker

Ryan Adams

2/5

Honestly, this didn't do much for me at all, just background noise that wasn't awful, but certainly was nowhere close to pleasant. Two stars seems plenty.

Groovin'

The Young Rascals

2/5

Possibly the worst album cover I've ever seen. I would have been embarrassed to have had to pick this up and walk over to the cashier in a record store. I think I would have had to have hidden it under another album or something. The music isn't quite as bad, but was lacklustre. There's one big hit, which last all of two and a half minutes, and everything else sounds like a cross between The Beatles and The Stones. Tawdry two points.

Can't Buy A Thrill

Steely Dan

2/5

Excessively beige, to the point where the second half just blew straight past me. Two stars.

Walking Wounded

Everything But The Girl

1/5

Superficial and vacuous album, made for people who don't like drum n'bass but want to say that they have a drum n'bass album in their collection. This is coffee table drum n'bass music, tied down, neutered, then dressed in sophisticated clothing, and forced to perform. The milquetoast music continues, dipping briefly into house (light) and even a bit of trip-hop (light). This is mild and minimal music, made to be played in the background, like in a shopping mall or as hold music when ringing your utility supplier. Offensive by the nature of the fact that it's so deliberately inoffensive. It's like vermin pretending to be cute, just to get into your house, where it can hide in the skirting boards and breed, eating you out of house and home. The fact that we're forced to endure remixes of two of the songs is a bad thing, particularly when the songs are so awful.

Siamese Dream

The Smashing Pumpkins

5/5

Despite Billy's voice, I can't see myself giving this any score other than five. Strangely, and possibly due to the vocals, this reminded me strongly of Hole's second album, particularly "Disarm", which could have been sung by Courtney Love and I wouldn't be able to tell. There's a staggering journey through different styles, grunge to shoegaze and back again, with some progressive inclinations, ballads with sweeping strings and then back to layered guitars over drums. I still can't shake the thought of Eric Cartman providing vocal duties here, but maybe that image injects a sense of humour to what could be an overly depressing album otherwise.

Autobahn

Kraftwerk

4/5

I enjoyed this, but the second side felt a little bit disconnected in places, particularly the final track, which sounded like the theme music for a children's TV show from the 1970s.

Public Image: First Issue

Public Image Ltd.

5/5

I remember reading that many people bought this album off the back of the single (Public Image), expecting the whole album to sound the same, then got a nasty shock. To be fair, when listening to the album in one sitting, there's definitely continuity here, no jarring effect when the single rolls along. I love Religion, the way Lydon manages to make something that almost sounds like a hymn, with just the right words to truly encapsulate the evil of organised religion. I also appreciate that the band (except Jah Wobble) felt this was an important enough message to give a spoken-word summary before they launch into an actual song. The glimpses of genius come thick and fast, setting out the rules for post punk. There's no way I could give this less than five stars.

Ace of Spades

Motörhead

4/5

Two really great tracks plus a load of filler. Enjoyable filler, but still filler. I'm going with four stars.

Clube Da Esquina

Milton Nascimento

2/5

Should probably have been a three, but it went on too long and got a bit annoying by the end. I just wanted it to end, as it felt like there was nothing new to hear. A mostly-pleasant two stars.

Maxinquaye

Tricky

3/5

The first half is good, but then it drags on and on until the end comes as a relief. Three stars seems fair.

Mott

Mott The Hoople

2/5

They sound like a Bowie tribute band, which isn't the end of the world, but there's no way this gets more than two stars from me.

Bug

Dinosaur Jr.

4/5

This was the only Dinosaur Jr album I ever owned, bought because someone mentioned they were a bit like the Pixies. I really only ever played the first track, Freak Scene, then flipped it to listen to Don't. The rest of the album was okay, but only got played rarely. Having not listened to this album in over 30 years, it's pretty much as I remembered, two great songs and a sack full of meh. The guitarist sounds like the Bevis Frond, which is kind of cool, so I'm giving it four stars.

The Age Of The Understatement

The Last Shadow Puppets

2/5

Interesting concept, but rather dull execution. I didn't enjoy the vocals, and there was a distinct absence of hooks. Two stars.

Le Tigre

4/5

I generally enjoyed this, full of energy, witty and provocative without being preachy. The music was pretty basic, but that was part of the appeal. It felt like somewhere between a 3 and a 4, but I'm going with a 4 as the first track was dope.

Homework

Daft Punk

3/5

Dragged on a bit, but it was quite enjoyable, with a few high spots on the journey to the end.

Yank Crime

Drive Like Jehu

4/5

Sounded a bit like Slint in places, and, strangely, like Mastodon in others. I felt I didn't give this the attention it deserved due to a mild hangover, but it's still an easy four stars.

Call of the Valley

Shivkumar Sharma

3/5

Very pleasant and relaxing, so relaxing I couldn't tell you a single thing about it now. Three stars seems fair.

Club Classics Vol. One

Soul II Soul

1/5

Dire. The two big hits are both musical annoyances, and the rest of the album was just a constant drab noise. Very glad to find that everything after the first ten tracks is a "bonus" so I could skip it.

Safe As Milk

Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band

4/5

Starts strong, goes even stronger, but then fizzles slightly near the end of side 2. I actually preferred some of the demo tracks to the last few tracks of the album. An extremely strong four stars.

1977

Ash

3/5

I knew all of the hits off this album from when it was first released. The rest was new to me, and surprised me a bit as it matched the quality of the releases rather than just being filler. It's not a great piece of music, but it would feel churlish to give it less than 3 stars.

A Rush Of Blood To The Head

Coldplay

3/5

I remember listening to this album quite a lot when it came out, so I was slightly alarmed to find that the second half felt totally fresh to me. I think that there's a degree of blandness here, that's hidden in the immaculately crafted music. This is extremely easy listening, so I'm going with 3 stars, as it's well done, but ultimately, not anything truly special. I also feel that this Coldplay's high water mark.

Oracular Spectacular

MGMT

2/5

I remembered the big hits, but never really liked them back in the day. The rest of the album veered between annoying and background advert muzak. There was a tiny hint of something better early on, but by the end it was just a slog to get through. Pretty dull 2 star fare.

Now I Got Worry

The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion

4/5

This was great, jarring, noisy, diverse. Not quite enough for 5 stars, but a fine 4 star album.

Apocalypse Dudes

Turbonegro

4/5

I was really hoping for the album with "All My Friends are Dead" on it, but this will do I guess. Hovers between a 3 and a 4, but I'll round up as it's fun in places.

Screamadelica

Primal Scream

4/5

I remember everyone raving about this acid-house album back when it first dropped, but something about it made me steer clear. I think I was a little put off by the two big hits, as they sounded a bit formulaic. Somehow, I never got around to listening to the entire album, so this was almost all new material for me. It instantly reminded me of a few other bands, Happy Mondays in parts, some of the more gospel-inspired tracks by Spacemen 3 in others. It feels like the sort of album that would be good to have on in the background, as it's inoffensive and never in your face. It's better than I expected, but not great enough for 5 stars.

Get Behind Me Satan

The White Stripes

2/5

This album felt a bit like one extremely long song that meandered around until it finally ended. I didn't really enjoy it, so it gets 2 stars.

The Beach Boys Today!

The Beach Boys

1/5

Archaic and awful in equal measures.

Rum Sodomy & The Lash

The Pogues

4/5

The version on Spotify really sucked, volume changes between tracks, some barely listenable due to the poor quality. So, when I finished listening, I went over to YouTube and listened to the whole album again, this time with the ability to actually hear the whole album. More traditional folk than punk to my ears, although I imagine back in the day this would be seen otherwise. It's a very solid album, no real low points, a few high points, particularly the last track. I don't think it's quite enough for five stars, but it's a strong 4 stars.

Pump

Aerosmith

2/5

Over-produced hair metal crap. Two stars.

Sweet Baby James

James Taylor

3/5

I expected to like this a lot more than I actually did. It was kind of quirky, so I'm giving it 3 stars, but I was expecting 5 to be honest.

Teen Dream

Beach House

2/5

Dull and soulless Dream Pop. The only reason I can see to think this is remotely Shoegaze is the half-hearted attempts to play some strange guitar parts halfway through. I'm actually amazed that something so mediocre is on the list, 2 stars.

A Wizard, A True Star

Todd Rundgren

3/5

I'm going with 3 stars, because this was very easy to listen to. But I'm not going with more than 3 stars, because this was probably too far along the spectrum to pop than I would have liked. There was a constant feeling that something was slightly superficial about the entire experience, like someone having fun in the production studio, rather than composing something musically interesting.

Kenya

Machito

4/5

This is one of the rare cases where I felt an album was actually too short, and would have benefited from being a little bit longer.

There's A Riot Goin' On

Sly & The Family Stone

2/5

It wasn't unpleasant, but it was kind of boring. I feel 2 stars is fair.

Every Picture Tells A Story

Rod Stewart

2/5

Comfortable and middle of the road music. But that's not what I'm here for, so it gets two stars for showing up.

Trio

Dolly Parton

1/5

Was the longest 39 minutes in recent memory. There's nothing "wrong" about this album, the arrangements are pleasant, the harmonies are lovely, but the songs are just awful. Depressing country, but middle-of-the-road, generic country music with a slight 80s twang to drag it even further down. It's bad enough for 1 star.

Bat Out Of Hell

Meat Loaf

4/5

This is the first time I've heard the entire album in a single play through. It's a force of nature and so I'm going for 4 stars. The music falls somewhere between Grease and the Rocky Horror Picture Show, bombastic and with everything turned up to eleven. It's a shame that Meatloaf never really surpassed his debut album.

Halcyon Digest

Deerhunter

2/5

I had to listen to this twice for any of it to sink in. Not much sunk in. Very derivative music, that felt like more of a "spot the influence" exercise than actual fun. Two stars.

Reign In Blood

Slayer

5/5

It's difficult to look back and remember just how ground-breaking this was when it was first released. It sounds a little slower now than it did when it dropped, but at the time it was almost shocking how short and fast the majority of the tracks were. I bought this album on CD, and actually felt slightly cheated that the band "left half the CD blank" by releasing an album with a running time under 30 minutes. It's also a massive style switch from Slayer's first couple of albums, undoubtedly due to Rick Rubin. Dave Lombardo's drumming is second to none. The lyrics are hilariously over the top, almost sounding like something generated by bad AI. The guitar work also stands out as superb. It's an easy five stars from me. I saw the band on this tour, and they performed the material live with aggressive perfection.

Merriweather Post Pavilion

Animal Collective

1/5

The coolest thing about this album was the cover, which did impress me with the weird, shifting leaf motif. That was it. The music sounds like a Beach Boys tribute band, but without any soul, no hooks, nothing but repetitive and boring rounds of singing with stuff going on in the background. This is the kind of album I would imagine playing to clear the room, as it seems to set itself out to deliberately be annoying. One dismal star I'm afraid.

The Lexicon Of Love

ABC

2/5

Extremely easy to date this to the early 1980s, which means it's not the most pleasing listening experience. It just about squeaks out two stars, as it's not actually painful to listen to, but I wouldn't go out of my way to ever listen to this again, and I would certainly be encouraged to leave a shop playing this music over the speaker system.

Time (The Revelator)

Gillian Welch

2/5

Started strong, but got a little bland and ran out of steam by the end. More folk-rock than country in my opinion, which is a good thing I feel. I quite enjoyed some parts, but ultimately I feel it didn't do quite enough to rise above 2 stars.

Chemtrails Over The Country Club

Lana Del Rey

1/5

I imagine the vocals are meant to sound breathy and dreamy, but they come off as bored and inconsequential. The same can be applied to the entire album, eleven tracks of plodding and sparse instrumentation with dull vocals that go straight to the "background music" part of my brain. As this car crash of an album continues, what was once just annoying becomes pure torture. Hence one star from me; this was just awful.

New Gold Dream (81/82/83/84)

Simple Minds

1/5

This was a chore to get through, a long and unrewarding drudge, drowning in 80s synth and instantly forgettable lyrics. I'm not a fan of 1980s pop music and this isn't even a particularly good example of the genre.

Timeless

Goldie

3/5

On paper this should be a solid 5 star album for me. I love DnB and particularly adore breakbeat, but there's something that causes this album to fail to click with me. Maybe it's the vocals, or the fact that every track is just too slow? There's moments where I expect everything to start kicking off, but it just slows down and then fades away without ever really hitting whatever it is I'm expecting here. It's possible that I also might be slightly put off by Goldie himself, seeing as he's always come over as a bit of a dick, with a big chip on his shoulders for never making it big. Maybe this is an album made for other producers? I have a similar problem with other "golden age of DnB" artists, like Roni Size , it's all a bit ambient and tame compared to what was coming just around the corner in the late 90s and early 00s.

The Sun Rises In The East

Jeru The Damaja

4/5

Funnily enough I listened to this album just a couple of weeks ago, as Jeru was playing near me and I almost ended up going to see him. It's an album I know reasonably well, but it's eclipsed by other albums from the same era. It's still a fine album, but slightly derivative and doesn't bring much new to the table. Four stars seems fair.

Catch A Fire

Bob Marley & The Wailers

3/5

Reggae music is never going to get an amazing score from me, but this wasn't bad at all, so it deserves three stars I guess. It's really nice music to play in the background around a campfire, but I would never go out of my way to listen to it while working, driving, or just wanting some music to listen to.

The Hour Of Bewilderbeast

Badly Drawn Boy

2/5

I didn't expect to enjoy this, but the reviews made me feel that maybe I was in for a treat. I wasn't in for a treat, and indeed, I did not enjoy this. It hung around far too long, didn't really go anywhere, or do anything. It's definitely not a "pop version of Nick Drake", just a rather dull album that's mainly harmless. 2 stars.

Pink Flag

Wire

5/5

I was aware of the existence of Wire, but I had them down as some sort of alt-rock band from the 90s, totally unaware that they started out back in the late 70s and were punk/ post punk. I was slightly daunted by the track listing of 21 tracks, but then I saw this is a short (35 minutes) album. Some of the songs barely get started before ending, but the band somehow manage to make just about every track have a start, middle, and ending of sorts. By the halfway point, I was getting used to this and had basically given up trying to keep up with the rapidly shifting "now playing" game. If someone wanted to know what crunchy guitar sounded like, then this album would be a great reference point. There's so many reference points that it makes my head spin a little. I had to listen through once just to feel that I could start trying to unpick things a little. I can hear sounds that have obviously influenced many bands that I liked from the 80s and 90s, even into the early 2000s. Some are such short snippets that it's easy to miss them. I feel that this is an album that would really reward repeat listening. Similarly, reading what music influenced Wire is almost like reading a shopping list for the best bands from the 60s and early 70s. It's often difficult trying to pigeon hole music into a specific genre, but this is so obviously more than punk, earlier than PiL by one year, not quite post punk. I'm not sure what it is to be honest, but I liked it enough for 5 stars. One final thought that came to me listening to this. I used to have a mix tape of punk music back in the early 1980s, Crass, Sex Pistols, etc. and this is how I remember all that music from back in the day, even though some of it is far rougher to listen to. It's possibly down to the remastered edition I listened to, but production values seem sky high here.

Rattus Norvegicus

The Stranglers

3/5

I really liked some of this, other parts were pretty dire. It's not often that I find lyrics truly cringeworthy, but this album managed to tick that box. Some of the tracks reminded me (weirdly) of early Genesis. The song about going into the sewers could have maybe been part of the Lamb Lies Down for example. Maybe I'm way off the mark with this. Four stars for some art-rock-adjacent, doors-esque sounds, but reduced to 3 stars for the truly awful lyrics.

The Grand Tour

George Jones

1/5

So this is the country music that I was expecting to find at some point, traditional, and truly awful. Thankfully, this is a short album, but it's also a real stinker.

Kala

M.I.A.

1/5

I know an album that will get on your nerves... I know an album that will get on your nerves... I know an album that will get on your nerves... I know an album that will get on your nerves... I know an album that will get on your nerves... I know an album that will get on your nerves... I know an album that will get on your nerves... I know an album that will get on your nerves... I know an album that will get on your nerves... 1 star

Close To You

Carpenters

1/5

This was about as bad as I thought it would be, which was very bad indeed, truly awful. This music requires the equivalent of an emetic for the brain, something to purge the memory of the sickly-sweet sounds that it left. There's a dark undercurrent throughout the entire album. Behind the harmonies and (let's be fair) weak singing there's a feeling of helplessness almost akin to drowning miles out from the shore in a deep, but calm, ocean. I hope I never have to listen to this again in my lifetime. One star.

Peggy Suicide

Julian Cope

3/5

This was a very tricky album to rate. There were some very good parts, but also a whole load of not so good parts, so 3 stars seems about right.

Ananda Shankar

2/5

Well, who would have thought that sitar would blend well with western pop music? Certainly not me. Turns out I was proven right, as this is a real stinker. It gets a little better once we've been through the torturous renditions of Rolling Stones and the Doors classics. It doesn't get a lot better though to be fair. I'm going with two stars, which feels a little generous.

Dire Straits

3/5

This is a very strange debut album, sounding more like something that would appear late on in an artists career. It's not a bad album, and I'm going to give it three stars, because it was so finely polished and easy to listen to. I'm not going higher though, because it wasn't a great album.

Leftism

Leftfield

2/5

This was one of the rare cases where I got an album that I thought I would really like, but it turned out to be a bit of a dud. "Open Up" is fantastic, but everything else was a chore to listen to. Much of the music on this album has aged like old milk.

The Specials

3/5

It was okay, but nothing to get excited about, and hence a three star rating from me. The last few songs and the start were probably my high points, with it getting a bit muddled at the halfway spot.

The Chronic

Dr. Dre

4/5

This isn't one of my favourite hip-hop albums. In fact, it sometimes sounds a bit like the stuff NWA put out as filler towards the end of a couple of their later albums. There's just a little too many mentions of bitches and dicks for my liking. At the same time, this was the album that introduced Snoop Dogg to the world, and a new direction in west coast hip-hop that can't be ignored.

Africa Brasil

Jorge Ben Jor

3/5

Although this wasn't a chore to get through, it didn't do much for me, and the cover is appalling. 3 stars.

Done By The Forces Of Nature

Jungle Brothers

2/5

This is a relic from a bygone age, a hip-hop album with jazz/ house beats, very little swearing, and uplifting lyrics. It's not awful by any means, but my god it's boring. It reminds me of other artists from the same era, kind of dull and not my kind of music to be honest. I know lots of people hate the introduction of "gangsta rap", but for my money, this was a dying genre that needed some fresh life blowing into it, or it would have unravelled into nothing. I'm going with 2 stars for this one.

Brutal Youth

Elvis Costello

1/5

If one of my friends told me that they liked this album, I would have to reconsider our friendship I'm afraid. Heck, if one of my family members owned up to liking this slop, then I would probably end up disowning them. I listened to the end, but it was like listening to the same song over and over, a bad song at that. I hate Mr Costello's voice, his lyrics, the musical accompaniment, and everything about this album. I think even the fact that Wikipedia classifies this as Punk Rock annoyed me. This doesn't even deserve one star, but leaving no review score feels bad. But not as bad as the thought of being forced to listen to this drivel again.

The ArchAndroid

Janelle Monáe

5/5

My first thoughts were that this was a Janet Jackson album, but the decade was all wrong somehow. Turns out it was something far more interesting, maybe even a 5 star album.

Smokers Delight

Nightmares On Wax

3/5

Pleasant background music, but gets a bit dull by the end. Three stars.

Emergency On Planet Earth

Jamiroquai

2/5

It's honestly quite amazing how much this sounds like Stevie Wonder.

Songs Of Leonard Cohen

Leonard Cohen

2/5

Kind of dull, and not really music, more poems set to very minimal acoustic guitar and a tiny bit of instrumentation.

Modern Kosmology

Jane Weaver

3/5

Her voice is a bit weak, but I enjoyed the music generally, a nice blend of genres that never grated and sometimes got a little interesting. Three stars, but almost four. I actually think I would have liked a slightly longer album, with maybe a couple of longer tracks.

Black Sabbath

5/5

Truly an iconic album that fully deserves five stars, even though it has one clunker (Evil Woman) and meanders just a little bit on the second side. Black Sabbath followed by The Wizard is just an insanely good opening ten minutes, and enough to secure this five stars even if the rest of the album was just silence. This album set the template for everything from doom/ sludge/ stoner metal, to... well heavy metal full stop. It's difficult to pick out any one element that makes this so good, but if I really had to, I would pick the bass guitar.

Chore of Enchantment

Giant Sand

2/5

Inoffensive but extremely dull; it was indeed a chore to get through this. Two stars.

Hysteria

Def Leppard

2/5

Although I never owned a copy of this album, it was pretty much unavoidable in the late 1980s. It did bring back some memories, like "Rice and Peas" (Love Bites) and the other big hits. It's also awful, commercial, over-produced hair-metal, so the memories weren't great to be fair. Two stars.

Chicago Transit Authority

Chicago

4/5

I'm not so sure about the guitar noises at the halfway point, but the rest of this was quite nice to listen to. Definitely better than the rather syrupy light rock hits that Chicago are more well known for.

Hearts And Bones

Paul Simon

2/5

This is an extremely dull album, that veers between annoying songs ("Allergies", "Cars are Cars") and others that are simply instantly forgettable. I guess Paul Simon's voice gets a star, so two stars seems fair.

Sheer Heart Attack

Queen

3/5

Generally good fun, but a little too pop/ glam for my liking.

The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill

Lauryn Hill

2/5

I had some high hopes for this album, but as it dragged on and on, I came to the realisation that not only was it not very good, but not even average, just plain bad. Two stars for generic R&B that doesn't know when to stop.

Tanto Tempo

Bebel Gilberto

2/5

Spotify only had 7 of the 11 tracks making up this album, so I had to hunt around YouTube for the missing 4. A task made more annoying because I was hunting up music I didn't really have any particular desire to listen to. This isn't an awful album, just a dull one, which in some ways is a worse crime. Two stars.

High Violet

The National

2/5

Reminded me a bit of Coldplay, but without any hooks, and I'm not a fan of Coldplay. Pretty dismal and atonal. Two stars. I was tempted to knock this down to one star, as the Wikipedia article about the band said they sounded a bit like Joy Division, and I took great umbrage at this, but I guess it's not the band's fault that their weak output has been compared to greatness.

The La's

3/5

When I was at University in the late 1980s we had this guy who came to stay with us for a few months who said he was in The La's. It turned out that he was supposedly their equivalent of Bez, i.e. he wasn't in the band, but he was friends with some of them, and used to hang out. The guy also claimed that he played tambourine on one of the tracks on the album, but it might have been mixed out. Coming from Liverpool, he was an amazing shoplifter. He slept on one of my friends floor and made lot of cups of tea. Strangely, I'd only ever heard the single from this album before, having had little inclination to listen to it before. I'm not a massive fan of the retro-60s sound, but it's not as irksome as it may have been, so I'm going with 2 stars plus one extra star for the memories.

The Madcap Laughs

Syd Barrett

2/5

More of a curio than an actual piece of music. It's whimsical enough to just about scrape more than one star.

Car Wheels On A Gravel Road

Lucinda Williams

2/5

Uninspiring and dull. I didn't like her voice, although some of the music wasn't too awful. Two stars.

Before And After Science

Brian Eno

3/5

This one slipped past me a little as I listened to it. There was a mix of styles, with it becoming more ambient on the second half. Three stars.

En-Tact

The Shamen

2/5

It's not a bad album, just of its time and aged like milk. I'm struggling to justify giving it more than two stars, so there we go.

Sunday At The Village Vanguard

Bill Evans Trio

4/5

I enjoyed this enough to listen to the bonus tracks as well as the original album, not once, but three times in the end. I struggled to understand why I enjoyed this though, it's out of my musical comfort zone, but I felt there was something special about it, so I'm giving it four stars.

C'est Chic

CHIC

3/5

Not an album I would go out of my way to listen to again, but it was fun to hear from start to finish once. Like many other people said already, it's great background music, but not something that rewards detailed study. The guitar is nice and Le Freak is a banger, so three stars from me

Highway 61 Revisited

Bob Dylan

5/5

I was really torn between giving this four or five stars, which is something I would never have imagined twenty years ago, when I professed an intense dislike of Bob Dylan. How times have changed? The lyrics are the main attraction here, but I seem to have developed an enjoyment of the almost monotone vocals and slightly offkey instrumentation. Maybe these slight failings make the music more approachable in some way? Anyway, the fact I listened to this right through three times is always a sign of a good album for me, so five stars it is.

Lupe Fiasco's Food & Liquor

Lupe Fiasco

3/5

Very smooth, easy to listen to, maybe a little too long, but there was fun along the way. Three stars, but almost four.

Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret

Soft Cell

2/5

Well the main thing tainted here is my Spotify history, now that I've listened to this album from start to finish. I imagine I'll start getting emails telling me about concerts and similar bands who I'll also not enjoy. I was going to leave this a one star rating, but Sex Dwarf bumped it up to two stars. I think my main complaint is that none of the songs really go anywhere. There's some synth and a few hooks spread quite thinly, but no real substance. Even Sex Dwarf ultimately fails to get going, although there are signs of it having a driving beat for half the song, it just never peaks.

Fly Or Die

N.E.R.D

2/5

I was forgetting this faster than I could listen to it. I'd already forgotten the last track before I'd even got to the second half of this astonishingly unremarkable album. I'm going with an unremarkable score of two stars.

Paul's Boutique

Beastie Boys

5/5

Was pumped to see this come up today, a stone cold classic that I could never tire of. The entire album is a masterclass in sampling, the lyrics are on point, and even the shouty "call-response" delivery gets a pass from me. You could spend an age digging into the samples used and uncovering the old B-sides and minor hits that they were dragged from (some less minor than others I guess, like The Beatles for example). I always find it astounding that this is the Beastie Boys second album and that, although there are some hangovers from their debut, it's largely a huge change in direction from "frat-rock" to "hip-hop". Anyway, a clear five star album.

Veckatimest

Grizzly Bear

2/5

Less Grizzly Bear, more Whiney the Poo. Hated the vocals and the general lacklustre, background music sound of this. I guess there's the odd brief sections where it sounds like things are going to pick up, but then it just goes back to mumbly, whiny stuff again. If there were such a thing as an album for betas, well this would be it. I didn't think an album that would evoke this response existed until today, so the sheer fact I had this (awful) experience is worth one extra star I suppose. Two stars still feels very generous though.

Different Class

Pulp

2/5

I listened to this album dozens upon dozens of times when it first came out. It wasn't because I enjoyed the album so much, more the headspace I was in at that time. This is definitely an album that has been on my list to not listen to again for many years. Having listened from start to finish for the first time in over twenty years, I have mixed feelings. Some of the songs are quite well put together, sounding like a mashup between The Beatles and Arctic Monkeys. However, the lyrics are downright nasty, sick and twisted from start to finish. It's a warped world view that makes me consider that Mr Cocker probably has some mental illness. It's so extremely unpleasant in parts (rape fantasies are probably the low point) that it leaves me feeling a little bit sick. Many of these songs attempt to turn things I enjoyed around this time, like illegal raves, and dwell entirely on the negative aspects. The whole experience leaves me feeling tainted. There's no bright points in this listening experience. Finally, I think what I hate most about this entire album is the entirely fake "class" part of the title. There's nothing revolutionary about the theme, it reduces the class struggle to "us versus them", with "them" not being the people who actually deserve bringing down. Instead, it's a petty attack on people who are only slightly higher up the ladder. I think the constant theme is one of jealousy and revenge, often leading to degradation of women and sexual abuse, which is really just abhorrent. I can imagine Mr Cocker listened to people talking about class struggle and totally misunderstood the entire concept, seeing it as simply debased "common" people versus clueless "posh" people. Four stars for the music, bumped down to two because of how depressing it is to listen to the lyrics. I won't be listening to this again I feel.

Led Zeppelin IV

Led Zeppelin

5/5

So this is obviously a five star album, no question about it, and maybe I should stop there. But... Maybe I've listened to this too many times now, but I rarely, if ever feel the need to listen to any of the songs from this album. This is definitely a good thing, as even Stairway to Heaven sounded relatively fresh when I played it today. However, it leaves me wondering why none of these tracks are ever on rotation. This is also that rare thing, an album with no filler, all eight tracks are superb played individually, and sit well next to each other without sounding too alike. But, for some reason, I wouldn't consider this as an album in my top ten, or even my top twenty for that matter.

Let's Stay Together

Al Green

3/5

Easy listening I guess and short as a bonus. I didn't enjoy it after the first track was done, but it wasn't awful, just a bit generic. Low 3 stars, almost 2.

L.A. Woman

The Doors

5/5

Two of my top three favourite tracks by The Doors on the same album. I couldn't give this less than five stars, even though some of the other songs aren't as perfect as Riders and the title track. I enjoyed listening to this from start to finish for the first time in a long time. Even the weaker songs were like old friends.

The Atomic Mr Basie

Count Basie & His Orchestra

4/5

Not quite as explosive as I was expecting, but it got two listens and I enjoyed it enough for four stars.

Coat Of Many Colors

Dolly Parton

3/5

Well I'm giving this classic country album my top rating (which is three stars, as I can't see how anyone could like country music enough to give more than three stars to it). I particularly liked the song about the travelling man who went off with the mother. I may have even heard the coat of many colours song before!

Kenza

Khaled

2/5

Outstayed its welcome by an hour or so, but made for unexciting background music by the end. It went through several styles, all of them a bit mid. I guess two stars feels fair.

Closer

Joy Division

5/5

This was great, and definitely a five star album, but I did prefer Unknown Pleasures. I actually found myself wanting to listen to their debut album quite often on my three play throughs their final album. I feel there's less variation here, and the second half is way stronger than the first. It's still exemplary, but not quite perfection.

Venus Luxure No. 1 Baby

Girls Against Boys

4/5

This is generic post-hardcore ick from the early 1990s. Pretty shallow and probably won't reward relistens, but I found myself liking it quite a bit. I even ended up playing it through twice and found a few keepers. There's loads of other bands from this era with a similar sound, but this is quite solid, in that there's nothing that stands out as truly grating. Four stars, but only just.

The Boatman's Call

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds

1/5

Dire, depressing, dirge-like music that went on far too long. I had a moment when I felt the album must be near the end, only to find there was still over twenty minutes left, and wondered if I would make it there. The last song is probably one of the most awful things I've ever heard. One star.

Two Dancers

Wild Beasts

1/5

Almost painful to listen to. Some of the backing music wasn't too bad, but the caterwauling sounds from the two vocalists were just embarrassing to listen to. Either it toned down a little by the end, or I managed to push this to the back of my mind, but the shrieking and wailing on the first few tracks was astonishingly awful. "Hooting and Howling" is how the entire album sounded to me. One star.

The Last Broadcast

Doves

2/5

It was okay I guess, just a little too safe and I got the impression that I would tire of this music quickly. Very jangle-pop, a low three or a high two stars and I'm not feeling generous.

Come Away With Me

Norah Jones

1/5

"Blues-pop", a genre I didn't even think would exist, and now I know it does. This is some sort of throwback monstrosity, no substance, just a bland crooner crooning out some pap. If this were playing in Starbucks, I would turn around and walk out. If this were playing on a telephone hold, I would hang up. This really is utter and unremitting shite, 1 star.

Scott 4

Scott Walker

2/5

This should have definitely remained deleted I feel. It's not awful, just depressingly conventional. It's a bloke singing in what sounds like a pretty half-hearted way with lyrics that sound like they were written by an angsty school kid. Some of the orchestral arrangements sound a bit like movie music from the same era. This isn't necessarily a good thing, but it made the bad words more bearable I guess. Two stars.

I’m a Lonesome Fugitive

Merle Haggard

2/5

If I were in a bar and the band was playing this album, well I wouldn't leave, but I also wouldn't go back to that bar again. Two stars.

Close To The Edge

Yes

4/5

I like progressive rock, and I like Yes, not a whole load, but their first eight or so albums got a lot of listening when I was younger. I know this is seen by many as a classic, but I've never really liked it that much. It's not bad, and I'll give it a four, but it just never seems to go anywhere; too much noodling and not enough happening. The melodies that repeat start annoying me just a little, as they repeat just a bit too often. In theory, this should tick every box for me, especially with Bruford drumming, but it just falls a little flat. I might pick out Jon Anderson's voice as being annoying, but that doesn't seem fair, as I don't mind it on other albums, and I love Rush.

Nilsson Schmilsson

Harry Nilsson

3/5

Sounded like the missing link between The Beatles and ELO. It was definitely a two star album, but I'm bumping it to three stars as it was short and mostly fun. The Coconut song was awful, a reason to never play this album again, without being ready to insta-skip it.

Trout Mask Replica

Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band

5/5

Well this brightened my day, one of my top ten albums of all time. Did I love it the first time I heard it? Hell no! I think, like most people, I gravitated to the "simpler" tracks like Moonlight on Vermont, and tried my best to endure some of the more "complex" tracks in between. After maybe six playthroughs (not the eight I was expecting), everything had clicked for me. There's humour, there's hooks, there's an unrelenting number of hooks, often two or more being played at once. Never a dull moment, with some tracks pivoting multiple times with little repetition. For me, there's many high points, the way the Cap'n says "Dig it", stumbles over "lipstick", instructions on how to do a "Fast and Bulbous" skit properly, "That's right!", "Tra La, tra la, tra la!", "Sitting with my girl called Bimbo", too many to list. One of the easiest five stars I've ever given.

Whatever

Aimee Mann

2/5

This album was really, really dull. It might have been produced well, but god it was boring. It brought to mind a female version of Elvis Costello, dreadful lyrics, shallow music, annoying voice. Even the track length is a snooze-fest, with just about every song the same length. It grew really difficult to identify when one ended and a new one began. I'm going with two stars, but only just.

Revolver

Beatles

5/5

I have the first two and last two tracks of this album liked. That pretty much sums up the album for me, a strong start and end, with a bit of "interesting" filler. I would rarely, if ever, go out of my way to listen to this album by choice. However, I'm still giving it five stars. Although this is too basic for my tastes, it has to be said that much of the "more sophisticated" music I adore would probably never have existed without this album being produced. The filler also is very interesting indeed, not really something I enjoyed hearing, it's too short and raw, but they chuck everything at this album and almost all of it sticks. There's reverse guitar, sitar, trippy electronic effects, some standout drumming, and yes, there's "Yellow Submarine".

Back At The Chicken Shack

Jimmy Smith

3/5

This was very pleasant, chill music, from before I was even born. I found nothing to dislike about it, but it didn't feel like something I would ever listen to again. Three stars seems about right.

Central Reservation

Beth Orton

3/5

Started strong, but the trip-hop elements sucked the score down from a four to a three. By the end, I was getting a little bored with the sameness.

Tigermilk

Belle & Sebastian

4/5

I wasn't quite sure what to expect with this album based on the cover and band name. I felt I should probably know Belle and Sebastian, but I think I confused them with a different set of artists, as this was very different to what I thought it would be. It sounded a tiny bit like Neutral Milk Hotel (definite "milk theme" there?), and on that basis alone, I'm going with four stars. Maybe the milk was a little more watery than I would have liked, but "milk is milk" as the saying goes. I found the album never really goes anywhere; there's a slight change midway, then back to gentle indie with mumbly vocals. It's a pleasant journey nevertheless.

Mask

Bauhaus

4/5

Definitely solid, but not outstanding. Four stars.

Sound of Silver

LCD Soundsystem

4/5

Listened to this in the morning when I was in a bit of a rush and it was pleasant enough, but passed me by a little. Listened again in the evening, in a far more relaxed mood, and it was loads better. Definitely some aggregation of parts going on, but I'm on the fence as to whether it all works, or if it's greater than the sum. I would probably go with 3.5, but I'm rounding up to 4.

Iron Maiden

5/5

The remaster of this album pushes it up to five stars for me. I always liked the material, but the production on my original tape copy was just a little bit too rough around the edges. Actually being able to hear the instruments properly makes a huge difference. Also, there's more classics here than I remembered. Nicely spread out over the album, with the tracks that aren't played in concert as much, but are still quality. Paul Di'Annos vocals aren't quite as good as Bruce Dickinson's in my opinion, but they come close.

1989

Taylor Swift

4/5

I actually liked this quite a bit. I liked the retro synth pop feel, the vocal delivery was spot on, the songs were just catchy enough, without being syrupy. I think I'll go with a 4 star rating.

Rage Against The Machine

5/5

Even better than I remembered, and I remembered this as being a classic album. Sadly, the only thing that's gotten old about this album is that it's still as relevant today as it was when it came out over 30 years ago. We still have forces burning crosses in America, it might even be worse over there now than it was in 1992. Easy five stars.

Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes

TV On The Radio

3/5

I liked about half of this a lot, but some of the ideas lingered just a bit too long and grew annoying. Probably going to go with 3 stars.

The Rising

Bruce Springsteen

2/5

Slowly drifted from being tolerable background music into becoming slightly annoying and over-long. 2 stars.

Electric Ladyland

Jimi Hendrix

4/5

This is a great album, almost worthy of 5 stars, but it's just a little bit too long and unfocused for me.

Music For The Jilted Generation

The Prodigy

5/5

Not my favourite Prodigy album, and maybe a little overlong, but it still gets an easy five stars.

Beach Samba

Astrud Gilberto

2/5

Inconsequential 2 star album.

Calenture

The Triffids

1/5

This was truly awful, a crime against music. The only purpose I can see for this album is to identify people I won't get on with, as anyone who rated this a four or a five is lost to me I'm afraid. Yeah, you heard it here, you have awful taste in music if you like this. It's like someone took all of the pretentious awfulness of the 80s and managed to make a whole album of this distilled down with not even a single catchy song to break the dullness. One star.

Let England Shake

PJ Harvey

3/5

This album left me feeling a need to listen to some 90s PJ Harvey. It didn't make me want to listen to "Let England Shake" again, in fact I found it a little disturbing, with the strange vocal delivery and the autoharp. I'm not sure whether I even liked it or not, so I'm going with a three star rating.

Dub Housing

Pere Ubu

4/5

The singing was weird, but then I guess that's the point. Had some good parts and some not so good parts. I'm on the fence a little, but I'm going to go with four stars, as I feel I would want to hear this again.

You Want It Darker

Leonard Cohen

4/5

I didn't get on well with the earlier, classic-period Cohen albums, so when this came up my heart sank. However, it turned out to be way better than I was expecting, enough to grab four stars. I then went on a journey of similar "old man about to die" albums, from Bowie's Blackstar to Cash's American IV. Quite a depressing morning.

Tank Battles

Dagmar Krause

1/5

This was a pain to find and it really wasn't worth the effort; truly awful. One star seems fair for clunky show tunes in broken English. Actually painful to listen to.

Stand!

Sly & The Family Stone

4/5

I spent most of this album with a large smile on my face. Very funky and some excellent guitar playing. It all adds up to a well-deserved four stars.

Unhalfbricking

Fairport Convention

5/5

The cover had me a little worried, but this album was sublime, even better than the other Fairport Convention album I had listened to earlier on the list. I played it through at least three times, including dipping out for the bonus tracks at one point. It's a warm and comfortable feeling listening to this music, lovely vocals, excellent guitar, everything is just so nicely put together and understated. I had several favourite tracks, but kept finding new things to love about the tracks that didn't stand out on the first play through. Five stars.

Opus Dei

Laibach

1/5

The cover and description made me feel this would be enjoyable; it wasn't. Just lots of shouting over awful music with too many brass instruments. One star.

Another Green World

Brian Eno

3/5

I feel I had more of a connection with Eno's earlier work, and this ambient music, well it does what it says, and it slips away into the background. I enjoyed this album the first time playing it, but the second spin didn't do much for me, enough to drop it to 3 stars. Strangely, the song about shoelaces became annoying, as it stood out above the crowd and wasn't ambient enough to fit in.

...Baby One More Time

Britney Spears

1/5

I can't think of any alternate reality where I would listen to this album and not give it one star for being cheesy pop-pap.

Ogden's Nut Gone Flake

Small Faces

4/5

Very weird, but weirder still is the fact that this album got to number one in the charts in the UK. Even more extraordinary this was back in the days where it actually took some effort to have a number one album, as it was based on physical sales. I enjoyed the first half a little more than the second. Stanley Unwin's Unwinese grates a little, but it's maybe a little more restrained than normal here, and slips into the background after the first listen. Four stars for keeping me entertained.

A Northern Soul

The Verve

2/5

This was a little bit depressing to listen to, and proved I'm not a fan of The Verve, which I already thought was the case, but now I know for sure.

Rain Dogs

Tom Waits

3/5

I didn't click with this one I'm afraid, it seemed a little light weight for a Tom Waits album.

Sex Packets

Digital Underground

2/5

Yeah, this is the kind of hip-hop I don't like one bit. Lazy, dreadful lyrics, and a chore to get through. Two stars.

Cypress Hill

3/5

Very middle of the road album, not bad, but not great either. It started to drag by the end.

Casanova

The Divine Comedy

2/5

I didn't get the joke; 2 stars.

Blood, Sweat & Tears

3/5

Hovering somewhere between a two and three star for me, a bit generic and meandering in parts. The band don't seem to be able to decide what genre they want to play, which actually saved this from two stars, as my interest was slightly held simply wondering which genre they would pivot to next.

GI

Germs

2/5

I liked the background story about this album more than the music itself, which was maybe just a little too raw. The fact that the fans had never heard the vocalist sing before, as he did his best to avoid doing so, makes a lot of sense now. Two stars.

Innervisions

Stevie Wonder

3/5

Really hammers home how much of a Stevie Wonder rip-off Jamiroquai is. It was okay, but nothing stood out to make me want to listen to this a second time. Three stars for pleasant background sounds.

Chelsea Girl

Nico

3/5

I didn't hate it, and I wasn't hoping for it to end. In fact, I somehow could have done with another couple of tracks possibly. I agree about the flutes though, and they prevent this from becoming a 4 star album.

Aja

Steely Dan

2/5

One of the blandest records I've ever heard, I literally have nothing to say about it. Two stars as the production was good.

With The Beatles

Beatles

2/5

The weird stereo mix was actually a bonus in some ways, as it made these rather tired songs sound a little bit more interesting than they really were. Two stars for being short.

Myths Of The Near Future

Klaxons

2/5

Rapidly lost interest in this, two stars.

All That You Can't Leave Behind

U2

1/5

This album is how I imagine AI music sounds, clinically perfect, but lacking any soul and sucked dry from any purpose other than to sell records. Music that's perfect for elevators or when you're on hold to the bank. 1 star.

Darkness on the Edge of Town

Bruce Springsteen

2/5

Of the Bruce Springsteen albums I've heard, this was one of the better ones. Fully deserving of 2 stars for not being quite as awful as some of the others I've heard. The music isn't actually that bad, it's the mumble vocals that kill it for me.

Tapestry

Carole King

4/5

The songs are great, well worthy of five stars, but there's just something missing in the delivery for me. Most of these songs I know from other people singing them, and quite honestly doing a better job. I'm going with four stars, as I enjoyed the album, but it eluded the full five stars.

Blood On The Tracks

Bob Dylan

5/5

From someone who used to detest Bob Dylan, I've come to the conclusion that he's actually one of my favourite artists. He brings authenticity to his albums in a way that I appreciate. I've also discovered that most of his material doesn't connect with me until it's been heard a few times. I think this realisation began when listening to Fairport Convention, as they covered many Dylan songs in their earlier albums. I tended to skip over these tracks in disgust, but then I began to appreciate them more and more, until I found myself adding them in Spotify to my amazement. The lyrics are as important as the music, but there's also some depth that I can't quite identify. Once a few tracks began to click, it was like a rolling stone, and before long I was spending all day listening to Dylan albums on repeat. I really like this album, but I'm still not sure why. I've played it from start to finish four times today and nothing grates. There's also no one track that I like more than the rest, all of them have their own charms. I'm going with a slightly confused five stars.

Pretzel Logic

Steely Dan

2/5

Just awful, as in mediocre yacht-rock garbage that wasn't unlistenable, but held little merit. Two stars.

Tragic Songs of Life

The Louvin Brothers

3/5

I figured this would be awful, with two ghoul-like figures peering from the album cover, who knew what atrocities awaited. It turned out to be bad, but also comical, not comically bad, but what seemed like dark humour. I quickly forgave the nasal whine of the two brothers, even the fact that every song sounds just about identical. By the end of the album I was almost enjoying this music, so much so that I let the four "bonus" tracks Spotify gave me play through too. I'm going with three stars.

Odessey And Oracle

The Zombies

4/5

This was light but fun, four stars.

Our Aim Is To Satisfy

Red Snapper

2/5

Some of this was interesting, some of it was very background music. There was a lot of variation, maybe too much. I liked the vibe, but it could have been half an hour shorter and distilled the good bits into a much better album. It's somewhere between a 2 and a 3 for me, but it dragged just enough for me to knock it down to 2 stars.

A Seat at the Table

Solange

1/5

Relentless drivel, one star. This sounded like an average, horrendous R&B album, but sung by someone with literally no talent for singing whatsoever.

Maverick A Strike

Finley Quaye

1/5

A couple of half-decent songs near the start, but nothing special. Then any goodwill from a cover song was soon squandered by the rest of the album. By the end, I was extremely glad to see the back of this, and even gladder that I'll never have to listen to it again. One star.

Skylarking

XTC

4/5

I vaguely remember XTC as a pop band who were of minimal interest when I was at school. They had a few hits, the one about Nigel, Sergeant Rock, and Senses working overtime. Then they faded into obscurity as far as I was concerned. Then I discovered the Dukes of the Stratosphere, the XTC spin-off band. I loved the first album, and the second album was also good. This invigorated a fresh interest in XTC, but they had a lot of albums, and streaming wasn't a possibility in the 1980s. I never really had enough interest to invest in buying an album, and people consistently told me that they were a bit crap. This album didn't cause a major shift in my preconceptions, but I did listen to it all the way through twice. I remembered Dear God as a good song, and indeed it is. The rest is a bit light, but it was pleasant and there were some interesting melodies. I'm feeling generous, so I'm going to give this four stars, but it's really a 3.5 I think.

Back To Black

Amy Winehouse

4/5

I had heard many of the tracks from this album before, but never listened to it from start to finish. It's a genre I'm not keen on, so forcing a four star rating out of me is actually a good thing. I think plenty has been said about how this is retro/ nostalgia/ comfort music, which it is a bit I guess, but before everyone started doing it and it became a bit lame.

Quiet Life

Japan

4/5

Technically an 80s album, well in the UK anyway, which is all that counts. I had maybe heard a couple of later hits by Japan back in the day, but I never realised how similar to Duran to Duran they used to sound. The first track is almost a blueprint for Rio, same synth effects, same drums in parts, it's like Duran Duran sampled it it's so close. The rest of the album is similar, slightly edgy new-wave/ synth-pop. I liked it, enough for four stars anyway.

Roger the Engineer

The Yardbirds

3/5

Not unpleasing, but I won't be listening to this again. The guitar playing was good, but the vocals weren't great. Three stars seems fair.

Mama Said Knock You Out

LL Cool J

3/5

Fine in parts, but some of it veers too far into pop for my liking. Three stars for a decent effort.

Led Zeppelin III

Led Zeppelin

5/5

Probably not their best album, but still well deserving of five stars. This one starts strong, before changing tempo, throwing in a few different sounds, but ultimately having the same epic vibe and delivery as the first two albums. Strangely, I always imagined that Led Zeppelin only put out a few more albums, but Wikipedia tells me that they went on to push out five more studio albums after this one, eight in total!

Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers

Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers

3/5

Not the Tom Petty album I would have picked for this list, and definitely unremarkable compared to his later work. I toyed with four stars, but a relisten led me to believe that this is only worthy of three stars, partly because it's just so short; there's no meat to get stuck into, as it ends just as it starts to get going.

Celebrity Skin

Hole

4/5

When I first heard Celebrity Skin I had written it off as far inferior to Live Through This, almost unlistenable, I think I ditched listening to it halfway through. Funnily enough, purely by chance the last thing I listened to yesterday before going to bed was Live Through This, from start to finish, a perfect five star album. Giving this a fresh play through, it's actually not a bad album at all. It's just not anywhere near as good as their previous album. There's moments where it all comes together, but they're mixed in with moments where it sounds too much like the Smashing Pumpkins, too much pop and polish. I'm going with a low four stars, which surprises me, as I figured this would be a two star album when I saw it come up today.

Doolittle

Pixies

5/5

This album was my introduction to The Pixies and I instantly loved it when it came out. I actually prefer Surfer Rosa, their debut album, probably because it sounds just a little bit more raw, and it's almost literally perfect. But I didn't get around to listening to that album for at least a few years after it was released. Doolittle has a few weak spots, very minor, but it's not perfect. It's just a little over-produced here and there maybe, a hint of what was to come as the band moved to a more commercial sound? I hadn't listened to this album in decades, unlike Surfer Rosa, which I listen to at least once or twice a year. I never realised just how short the tracks are, with few longer than three minutes. Owning this on vinyl, I tended to blur the various songs together in my head when playing it through, seeing it more as a musical experience than a selection of tracks that could be played in a different order. I didn't even know the names of half of the songs! Anyway, great album, obviously a massive influence on 1990s alt-rock, and very much holds up today. Easy five stars.

The Last Of The True Believers

Nanci Griffith

2/5

Our university cat was named Nanci after Ms Griffith. I still hated this I'm afraid, it was one of my co-tenants that was a fan. Two stars because it wasn't unremittingly awful, just far too pop-country for me.

Kid A

Radiohead

4/5

I really loved OK Computer, so when Kid A came out I rejected it halfway through the first side of the album. Listening to it again, for the second time ever, and actually making it all the way to the end this time, it's not as bad as I first thought. In fact I'm going to give this four stars as I feel it deserves a relisten.

Immigrés

Youssou N'Dour

1/5

Thank goodness this was short. It definitely wasn't sweet to my ears. 1 star. I was constantly imagining cats being tortured as I listened to this album.

Palo Congo

Sabu

1/5

I was taught by adverts, "Um Bongo, the drink it in the Congo". Sounds simple, but today I realised things may be more complex. It seems that just about everyone on this album is playing a "Conga", an instrument that originated in the "Congo", where "Um Bongo" is allegedly drunk. However, one performer also plays the "Bongo". I believe the main artists are from Cuba, nowhere near Africa. From some quick research, it seems Bongos are smaller than Congas. I'm confused. Just how many Conga/ Bongo players are needed on one album? It seems that they spent all of their money on Conga/ Bongo kit and forgot to have singers, or any other musical accompaniment. So they had to let the poor Conga players double up by shouting random stuff and twiddling on guitars here and there. Maybe they told them that this noise would be fixed in the production, but then they forgot to do this? I can't believe it was intentional to release this album in this form. Actually, it sounds like the only production was to randomly pick conga drums and assign them to the right or left channel. One star, maybe if they had brought in a few singers it could rise to the dizzy heights of two stars.

Fuzzy

Grant Lee Buffalo

2/5

It's just a little bit basic and begins to plod after the first few tracks. For a brief moment it sounded like it might be an interesting alt-country Pixies-esque band, but they rapidly lost any goodwill I had by the end of the first half, then it was all downhill from there. Two stars.

If I Should Fall From Grace With God

The Pogues

3/5

Some good parts, but overlong, and I felt that Rum, Sodomy was a far better album with much less fat. Three stars.

Black Metal

Venom

5/5

Venom were a bit of an embarrassment to people from Newcastle in the early 1980s, seen as a talentless trio of musicians who brought shame upon their birth town. However, they redeemed themselves by sticking at it, doing loads of gigging, appearing on Metro Radio, even mock-assaulting Alan Robson (the North East's DJ for metal music) in one memorable interview. This album falls somewhere between Punk and early Speed Metal, similar to Motorhead, but with more amusing lyrics. I hope they weren't taking themselves seriously when they put this album together, as it's only fun if it's meant to be funny. I had a copy of Buried Alive and Countess Bathory, taped from the radio when I was a young teenager. I listened to them many times, associating them with horror books I read at the same time in my life, "Manitou" stands out in my mind, kind of similar to "Mantis" I guess? Both of these tracks stand up today, particularly Buried Alive, which is genuinely disturbing. Teacher's Pet falls more into the Punk/ Metal crossover category, and really shows its age. I always used to skip this track when I finally got a copy of this album in the 1990s. However, everything else here is great, good fun with hilarious satanic imagery, and some actually quite decent music, better than I remembered to be honest. Yes, it sounds like it was recorded in someone's bathroom, but so did many other albums from this time in this scene. It doesn't detract from the album for me, giving it an almost live performance type atmosphere. I imagine that early Venom concerts were great fun to go to, and it's a shame I was too young for this experience. One thing that surprised me on a relisten was how similar to Celtic Frost some of this sounds, and I see they list Venom as a band that influenced them. I'm kind of reluctant to give this five stars, but I feel it's somewhere between four and five, partly because this was such a genre-defining album, even the name of the album, "Black Metal", was important in the development of more great music into the 80s and 90s.

evermore

Taylor Swift

4/5

I enjoyed this far more than I expected, almost enough to give it a full five stars. I felt it was a very strong four star album, well produced, well sung, and great lyrics. It's not the sort of music I would typically enjoy listen to, and I felt I'm definitely not the target audience in the slightest. Even so, I felt an "emotional swell" throughout listening and I will almost certainly give this a few more plays. It never felt jarring, annoying, sickly-sweet, vacuous, or any of the other vibes I was expecting based on other reviews. I feel there must be a deal of snobbery out there, with people downvoting a popular artist to "make a point". I also struggled slightly to not award Ms Swift an extra point or two simply because she's anti Trump. I don't think music and politics is a good mix, but it's sometimes difficult to separate the two.

Darkdancer

Les Rythmes Digitales

3/5

So a fake French electro-disco album, probably hasn't aged too well? Indeed, it does sound a bit creaky in parts, like Daft Punk/ Cassius without the hooks, or any one of the other euro pop outfits from the late 90s to be fair, which I guess was the aim of the artist. It's actually quite well produced, so I'm going with three stars, but it's a low three.

I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got

Sinead O'Connor

3/5

Definitely on the stronger side of three stars, but three stars nevertheless. One big hit and the rest was pleasant enough, but it just kind of flowed past me in a, I wish this album wasn't so "floaty" way.

O.G. Original Gangster

Ice T

4/5

Although I much prefer Ice T in Body Count, this is probably his best album that isn't a rock/ hip-hop blend. Four stars.

Pet Sounds

The Beach Boys

3/5

Some half-decent pop songs, sandwiched with some pretty cheesy and dated songs. The production is interesting, lots of sounds in the background that make the listening experience more enjoyable. Based on the songs alone this would be somewhere between a two and a three, but I'm bumping it up to a three due to the slightly kooky production and the exuberance of the Wikipedia article. I remember watching a documentary about Brian Wilson and how he produced this album many years ago, and I always felt the story was more interesting than the music itself, which was partly due to the era this came from, still suffering from the legacy of fifties slop. I had literally zero interest in extending my listening enjoyment beyond the stated 35 minutes of the original album. I noted Spotify would have more than doubled the listening time if I had kept going.

Sea Change

Beck

4/5

Pretty morose, but I enjoyed it for the most. Some songs brought to mind Nick Drake, which alone is enough to push this to four stars.

Yankee Hotel Foxtrot

Wilco

2/5

Listening to this, I felt like it hovered between two and three stars. Sometimes the beeps and boops were annoying, sometimes they were all that kept me going. It hit a good spot halfway through, but then dragged a bit towards the end. I feel that this is truly a 2.5 star album, but I'm rounding down, as I rounded up the last Wilko album I had.

Paris 1919

John Cale

2/5

I've often wondered what John Cale's output sounded like post VU. I found this a little disappointing, too accessible, too normal even. It was pleasant to listen to, but I won't be replaying it I feel. Two stars.

Hypocrisy Is The Greatest Luxury

The Disposable Heroes Of Hiphoprisy

5/5

I figured I would hate this album, not liking the look of the cover, and expecting something bad. But then I noticed a green tick against one of the tracks. so I knew I had heard this artist before and liked them. Turns out that I liked everything on this album. It was very good and deserves five stars. Lots of variety, nice delivery, clear lyrics that were slightly chilling when I realised how the subjects being sung about here are probably even worse almost 30 years later.

A Little Deeper

Ms. Dynamite

2/5

Maybe if this album had been half as long it wouldn't have become so turgid and boring by the time it got to the end. There were a couple of half-decent tracks at the start, but then it descended into generic and dated R&B. Two stars seems slightly generous.

The Contino Sessions

Death In Vegas

4/5

I love that a band with no vocalist has to bring in several guest vocalists to put out an electronic/ shoegaze album with vocals. But what talent did they manage to gather? Iggy Pop and half of the Jesus and Mary Chain alone is enough to lock this into a solid four stars. Aisha is the stand-out track, but there's plenty more on offer, with Dirge being the rare case of an instrumental track that I could swear has vocals on it. The first half sounds like something Blur might have put out, if they actually made music that was any good that is.

Isn't Anything

My Bloody Valentine

4/5

I was very surprised to see this album on the list, pleasantly surprised, but I came in expecting to see low scores. I do like this album a lot, and I'm giving it four stars, but it's extremely uneven. There's maybe three or four very good tracks, and a similar number that just seem to miss the mark. Once I got to the end, I felt the need to go and listen to Loveless again, and it's almost jarring how much better the production is. While Loveless is close to perfection, Isn't Anything just feels out of focus slightly. It's like you're tuning into an obscure radio channel and it keeps going out of tune a little, you retune and it gets better for a bit, but then it shifts again, and before you know it, you're listening to static.

AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted

Ice Cube

4/5

Lots of on point humour and some very well-produced beats to sit behind the lyrical delivery. It gets just a little repetitive, and some of the lyrics maybe haven't aged too well. Ice Cube is practically an entire industry on his own, acting and producing many films, also making many more solo albums. It's interesting to hear what was essentially his second notable album, back near the start of his career. I would think four stars is fair, but a strong four.

Oar

Alexander 'Skip' Spence

3/5

I think this is another album where the story behind it is more interesting than the music itself. It's also worth mentioning that the album should end at track 12, as everything beyond this is a "bonus" of questionable merit. Definitely unsettling, with a few places where it sounded like something was going to start up that might go somewhere, but ultimately it kind of didn't. The faux country noodles brought to mind "Country Teasers", who have the same rather unsettling edge to their music. Quite a bit sounded very much like this was a demo tape, which it basically was I guess. I'm going with three stars, as I quite enjoyed it once, it had some parts that were great, but I doubt I'll ever listen to it again.

Apocalypse 91… The Enemy Strikes Black

Public Enemy

4/5

This was probably the last truly great album put out by Public Enemy, and it's slightly imperfect. I never realised that they had their music data stolen, which explains the slightly sparse sound. It has some fantastic tracks, but the second half isn't quite as good. I actually dislike the Anthrax collaboration for some reason; even though I loved seeing Anthrax perform this live, the version here just seems a bit lacking somehow. Four stars.

Vivid

Living Colour

1/5

Just horrible, like the Red Hot Chilli Peppers but somehow even worse. One star.

Sign 'O' The Times

Prince

1/5

Over long, indulgent, boring, and only deserving a single star.

Lust For Life

Iggy Pop

3/5

Oddly, I went into this expecting to enjoy it but I preferred the earlier Iggy Pop albums it seems.

Let's Get Killed

David Holmes

1/5

Even as background music this is utter shite. It sounds like the sort of experimentation that would normally be abandoned on the way to producing a decent track, but for some reason, this is the entirety of this album. Dull beats, dull tracks that go nowhere, a random James Bond bit that adds nothing, just boring doodles slung together in some early DAW. I can see the "artist" went on to churn out dozens of movie soundtracks for what look to be pretty crappy movies. Seems like a good fit. I'm amazed that this was even released, it's just so bad. One star.

Live!

Fela Kuti

4/5

This looked like a recipe for disaster, but turned out to be the start of a wild and wonderful journey into Fela Kuti's back catalogue. I'm left a little surprised why this album made the list and others didn't, but I'm not bitter about it. Very enjoyable tracks that go places and never outstay their welcome. To my ears, this feels more jazz than soul, and all the better for it. Four stars.

Surf's Up

The Beach Boys

2/5

I'm not sure if this was quirky or downright disturbing. It's a pretty lacklustre album either way. Two stars, with one star for the absurdity of some of the songs, otherwise it would be a one.

Neon Bible

Arcade Fire

4/5

Enjoyable enough for two plays, but not remarkable enough for five stars.

Dookie

Green Day

2/5

Shortish pop album that seemed to last a lot longer than the 38 minutes and 22 seconds that Spotify told me. One big hit halfway through, then back to rather dull fake pop punk. The singer sounds like he has nasal issues. Two stars.

Bluesbreakers

John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers

3/5

Technically fine, but sounded like a band doing the numbers, instead of anything that really stood out. Three stars, because it was pleasant in the background.

Suede

2/5

One half-decent hit does not make an album, and this is definitely not a great album by any metric. I was done after listening to half of it, and killed it as soon as Spotify took me into bonus tracks. Two stars.

Fever Ray

4/5

Dark, strange, and quite interesting ambient electronic pop music. The first half brought to mind Celtic Frost's more experimental work for some reason. Although I'm going with four stars, it felt a bit like this album never really went anywhere, but I enjoyed it nevertheless.

Elvis Presley

2/5

Just about what I expected, but only one hit that I remembered as being Elvis' and a few that I didn't even associate with him at all. Not long, not good, two points.

Remain In Light

Talking Heads

2/5

I guess this is what Fela Kuti would sound like if he was a bit crap. Don't get me wrong, this was pleasant enough to listen to, and the Brian Eno touches could be heard throughout. But it wasn't a patch on Fela Kuti, and I would never go out of my way to listen to this again. The big hit was overplayed to the point of becoming annoying, so there's that too I guess. Pleasant in parts, but aimless, and grew tiresome by the end. I'm kind of glad that I got a chance to listen to some Talking Heads, as I've often been told that they're amazing. But if this is their magnus opus, then they're definitely not for me. Two stars.

Drunk

Thundercat

1/5

For the first few seconds I thought I would engage with this. Surely the guy was putting on a silly singing style for the intro and... but no, it was this all the way through, to the point where it grew tiring quickly. By the halfway point I was just waiting for the torture to end. It sounded like the same song over and over, squeaky vocals and background music like someone had just been given a DAW and was trying out every function. The "funky noodling" in the background never seemed to match the singing part, like someone was randomly putting two pieces of muzak together to make a terrible whole. So now it was an exercise in deciding between one and two stars. I mean this album is dogshit, but is it un-redeeming dogshit? Songs that go nowhere, wasted guest appearances, awful cover, overlong, yup, one star it is.

Kimono My House

Sparks

1/5

Well I really hated this. I've often wondered if I was missing out on Sparks, as I've head people mention that their albums are better than their big hits might lead you to believe. Well maybe for some people, but this did nothing for me. Horrible vocals and everything just sounded nasty. I struggled to get to the end, but somehow managed. One star.

A Love Supreme

John Coltrane

5/5

This was a delight from start to finish. The drums drew me in, but the sax made me stay. Five stars.

New York Dolls

3/5

This was surprisingly a pretty solid album. It brought together many things I normally hate, added a touch of proto-punk, and was good enough for three stars.

Fred Neil

2/5

I feel a little bit cheated, as I read somewhere that the singer sounds a little bit like Nick Cave, and this was enough for me to form an initial poor impression. Nothing came along to change my mind, so two stars.

Snivilisation

Orbital

3/5

Kind of chill, but none of it really stood out as anything special. By the one hour mark I was done, but the album just kept going. Somewhere between two and three stars, but I'll round it up to three I guess.

A Short Album About Love

The Divine Comedy

1/5

I suppose someone must enjoy this kind of music, but it's certainly not me. Unrelentingly awful from start to finish. I had low hopes and even they were dashed. It's simply a waste of my time, the lyrics are stupid and unamusing, the orchestration is just woefully bad, there's nothing but lame crooning. I was literally horrified to learn that this band is still churning out albums to this day. For a moment I was going to sample their latest works, but if this album is considered their high point then I shuddered to think how awful their current output could be. One star.

New Forms

Roni Size

2/5

I remember this album well, downloading a copy of it when it first came out, listening to half of it, feeling I had wasted a CDR. I never listened to it all the way through, so here's my chance. Early D&B is just a bit sparse, slow, and lame. This is the Goldie-type of D&B, the type I don't like because it's atmospheric with no actual beats to hook you in. Lots of tapping, jazzy sounds, stretched out so that each track hangs around forever, tapping and beeping/ booping from time to time. In the background we have some synths, also doing very little. The vocals are just awful. Just when I'm starting to push the music into the background, along come some grating vocals to remind me how long this album actually is. I came to the end, feeling my experience justified my initial rejection of this album. I love D&B, to the point where it's definitely one of my top three genres, but this is not the D&B I love in the slightest. Two stars.

Shake Your Money Maker

The Black Crowes

2/5

Remarkably unremarkable. Two stars.

Want One

Rufus Wainwright

1/5

Like Radiohead, but if they were forced to release a Disney movie soundtrack. Rufus has an annoying habit of slurring his words, not too bad to begin with, but by the halfway mark it was killing me. I think if this album had ended eight tracks in, I might have considered two stars, but it kept going and going, so one star it is.

Dog Man Star

Suede

2/5

I think this is actually marginally better than the first Suede album, maybe a 2.1, but I'll have to round it down to two stars I feel.

Cut

The Slits

2/5

Who would have thought that reggae and punk would go together? Certainly not me; turns out I was actually right. Not terribly awful, but run of the mill awful. Two stars.

Among The Living

Anthrax

5/5

Probably the most consistent Anthrax album. At the time, I got sick of hearing "I am the Law" and "Indians" being played everywhere I went, but time has healed that wound. The start is strong, the middle is also strong, but it tails off a bit by the end. I'm also not a huge fan of Joey's screeching vocal style, but the band sound tight and I saw them touring this album twice, so something must have been right. Hovering somewhere around four stars, but I'll upgrade it to a full five stars as I'm feeling generous.

Destroyer

KISS

1/5

Sounded exactly how I expected a Kiss album to sound, like some sort of Alice Cooper castoff. I'm not a big fan of Alice Cooper's brand of glam rock, so his castoffs are not going to be great. Indeed, this is a pretty awful collection of boring and predictable tracks. I was half hoping Beth might be good, seeing as it was some sort of breakout single, but it was slushy awfulness. The band sound like they turned up under duress and were forced to half-heartedly perform. Is it unredeemable? Yes, absolutely, one star.

Moby Grape

2/5

Fairly bland and forgettable. Some of the tracks were too short to really get started. Not quite enough for three stars, so a high two it is.

The Village Green Preservation Society

The Kinks

3/5

Pleasant, although none of the tracks really stood out as great. Three stars for being short and relatively sweet.

Chocolate Starfish And The Hot Dog Flavored Water

Limp Bizkit

3/5

Although this is actually awful in many ways, it's also quite a mixed bag of styles and sounds. I feel that if half an hour was removed this could easily be a four, but in its actual form, it's a slightly bloated three.

Moving Pictures

Rush

5/5

Sumptuous and refined. I saw Rush touring this album, and they were at the top of their game I feel. Five stars.

For Your Pleasure

Roxy Music

4/5

I was surprised how much I enjoyed this. Four stars for some talented musicianship and a bit of swagger.

Introducing The Hardline According To Terence Trent D'Arby

Terence Trent D'Arby

2/5

Even if it was really well done, I wouldn't enjoy this much, as it's just not my sort of music. Also the 80s production is hard to ignore, making itself known by its sheer awfulness. I was surprised how many songs I knew from this album, but none of them were ones I looked back on fondly. Terence seems like a mix between Michael Jackson and Prince in places, but fails to excel. I'm going with two stars, slightly stingy, as much of it is workable, but it doesn't feel worthy of a full three stars from me.

Apple Venus Volume 1

XTC

2/5

Pretty grim. It's nonsensical and whimsical, but in a slightly annoying way. Two stars.

Jagged Little Pill

Alanis Morissette

3/5

I figured this would be awful, but what do you know, it was actually quite decent. Alanis still annoys with her lack of understanding of the meaning of the word "irony". Rain on your wedding day isn't ironic, it's just bad luck. Someone should have sat her down and explained this and it's honestly going to make me deduct a star. So I'm going with three stars, mainly because that's "ironic" (it isn't).

Rust In Peace

Megadeth

4/5

This is a good album, technically fine, great start, no midpoint dip. However, I never really gelled with Megadeth apart from Peace Sells. Relistening decades later, I'm left feeling there's still something missing from this album to make it worthy of a full five stars. Four stars seems fair.

Rocks

Aerosmith

4/5

This was actually quite a solid album. Very much like a template for Guns and Roses. No standout tracks, but no duds either. I actually feel that this is strong enough for four stars, which quite honestly surprised me.

Happy Trails

Quicksilver Messenger Service

3/5

Not the country music I expected, but some pleasant psychedelic rock. It wasn't outstanding, but I listened to it twice, so it can't have been too bad. This definitely felt like a live performance, as it seemed to be only very loosely structured, with the first side being a jam over one song, split into sections, and the second half being dominated by a load of tracks that ran on into each other. Three stars.

No Sleep 'Til Hammersmith (Live)

Motörhead

5/5

Is this the best live album ever? Probably not, but it's certainly very, very good indeed. The band are tight, with arguably a better sound than some of their early studio recordings. There's the "every song sounds the same" issue, but it's a good song, so it's forgivable. I saw Motorhead a few times live. They were okay in a large, sitting only venue, but OMG they were SO good in a smaller standing (moshing) only venue. I have a fond memory of them playing "Killed By Death" and one of my friend's shoes fell off. We had to form a circle around him while he retrieved it and tried to get it back on, as the crowd were going crazy. Good times. Five stars.

Private Dancer

Tina Turner

2/5

The songs and Tina Turner's voice are somewhere around four or five stars in quality. However, the backing "music" is awful, really bad, so terrible that it's hard to believe anyone signed this off. But then this was the mid-80s I guess, where tinny drum machines, Casio keyboard beeps/ boops/ stabs, "dreamy" saxophone, and "squeaky" guitar were the norm. My listening experience was tainted by the thought of session musicians wearing baggy pastel-coloured sports jackets, with their sleeves rolled up to their elbows, while they performed their crimes against music. I wonder if there might be a way to extract Tina's performance from this and add in a proper backing band, rather than this atrocity against music? Sadly, the final score needs to reflect the lack of artistry in the music, and I feel two stars is fair.

London Calling

The Clash

4/5

I listened to this three times, so I enjoyed it, and I'm going to go with four stars. However, I feel like I'm maybe missing something, as this is supposed to be one of the greatest albums ever made. It's good, but the Ska influences leave me a little cold I'm afraid. I just can't bring myself to see this as anything other than a very good album with no bad tracks on it, but also very few standouts. "The Guns of Brixton" is the only track I green-ticked in Spotify.

Pretenders

4/5

My ears didn't hear anything even slightly punk about this album. However, it was a nice mixture of new wave and pop/ rock that kept me interested from start to finish. When I was young I remembered Brass in Pocket playing on the radio, and never knew what Ms Hynde was threating to use in the chorus. Sure, some words were clear, but "gonna use my sassy"? Turns out it was "sidestep" all along. Thank goodness for the internet! Four stars.

The Nightfly

Donald Fagen

1/5

This album takes everything I could possibly hate about music and distils it down into a concentrated and vile concoction of smooth jazz/ pop cheese. I found each track painful to listen to, and I will never revisit. One star.

The Marshall Mathers LP

Eminem

5/5

This album is where Eminem hit his peak, everything coming together just perfectly. Some of the lyrical content hasn't aged too well, but I'm definitely not going to mark it down because of that. There's a diverse range from humour to horror, all beautifully delivered. It's one of those rare albums where there's not a single dud track. I listened to this loads when it first came out, and relistening now reminded me just how good the production, beats, and delivery are. Easy five star album.

Sound Affects

The Jam

2/5

Hailed as the best album by the Jam, but all I heard was a couple of songs I remembered from the 80s and a lot of fluff. Like crossing the Beatles with ska and ending up with something that's not really very pleasant. Two stars.

Bandwagonesque

Teenage Fanclub

3/5

I saw a review that suggested listening to this album twice, which was good advice I felt. I did indeed enjoy the album a lot more on a second play through, probably because I knew what to expect. The first couple of tracks start strong, but it devolves into power-pop rapidly. Kind of like a watered-down Sonic Youth meets Oasis. I think if the harmonies had been ditched, the guitar ramped up just a little, and the pop elements turned down just a little, then this could have been a really great album. But none of that happened, so I'm going with three stars.

The Man Machine

Kraftwerk

4/5

For me, this is where Kraftwerk were coming down from the peak they had reached with Trans Europe Express. It's still very, very good, but the extra use of vocals and pop sensibilities prevent me from judging it as a five star album. Model is a love/ hate thing for me. I vaguely remember this being a thing (I was under ten when this was a hit), but I also remember detesting it at the time. Even now it grates a little, although I feel I've grown to appreciate it more than I did at the time. There's still plenty of angular, robotic, atmospheric electronic music, preceding Gary Numan and other artists who took the baton and ran with it into full synth-pop music. Four stars.

Your New Favourite Band

The Hives

2/5

When I saw this was a compilation album I felt a little cheated, but garage rock, couldn't be too bad could it? My initially high expectations were shattered pretty quickly. These guys have a formula, it's simple, they use it on just about every track, and it gets boring quickly. I was amazed that a sub-thirty-minute album could drag on so long. Two stars.

War

U2

4/5

Somehow I'd forgotten the days when U2 were actually good. For the hits alone, this has to be a better than average album. I know they ended up bloated and rotten, like a long-dead fish that has floated to the surface full of corpse gases, but this is before any of that happened. New Year's Day has been sampled so heavily that it hurts, and Sunday Bloody Sunday is probably my favourite U2 song. I'm going with four stars.

Rid Of Me

PJ Harvey

4/5

Crunchy and noisy. Very much enjoyed this, but not quite enough for five stars. Four it is.

Exile On Main Street

The Rolling Stones

3/5

Very generic, pleasant to listen to, but came and went without leaving any great impression. Three stars.

Time Out Of Mind

Bob Dylan

3/5

Sounds a bit run down and dull, not awful, but nothing special. I don't think I would ever want to hear any material from this album again. Three stars.

I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You

Aretha Franklin

3/5

It's okay and I respect the first track. But even Aretha's voice can't save the fact that this is a one trick pony. I'm not really interested in Aretha's romantic longings, so three stars feels appropriate.

Will The Circle Be Unbroken

Nitty Gritty Dirt Band

4/5

I'm not sure how I feel on the inter-track chat. The odd few seconds here and there is probably atmospheric, but the near ten minutes of tuning up chat at the end drags on and on and I would skip this if I were replaying this album. Other than that, bluegrass/ american folk is not a style I love, and I feel that if this was a 30-40 minute album by any one of the artists involved, I would loathe it by the end. However, the variety of voices and styles was compelling. I was expecting to burn out at the halfway mark, but that only came when I got to the last three tracks, where it devolves into something that was probably added to pad out the last side? Reminded me of watching the Dukes of Hazzard, or Deliverance, or indeed many shows from that era. I think in the grand scheme of things, I hate traditional american country music with a passion, but Duelling Banjos is something I could listen to over and over again. This album was like that but dragged out to over two hours. Scrapes four stars I guess.

The New Tango

Astor Piazzolla

2/5

It was a pleasant enough hour I guess, but it never seemed to go anywhere in particular. Two stars.

Untitled (Black Is)

SAULT

2/5

This was an album of two styles: House/ Disco which I loved, and R&B/ Gospel which was just awful. I liked a few tracks and would have enjoyed an entire album that was along those lines. Monsters and Bow fell into this category. However, most of the album wasn't in this style and was just plain bad. Two stars.

New Boots And Panties

Ian Dury

2/5

Jumps between styles from start to finish, which kept me from getting bored. I really didn't like the first track and some of the others weren't great. When it was all working, it wasn't too bad, but never outstanding. 2 stars seems fair, almost a 3, but not quite.

Bubble And Scrape

Sebadoh

3/5

Raucous, but in a good way. It seemed to hit a groove about halfway through and kept it going until the end. Three stars.

Playing With Fire

Spacemen 3

5/5

I queued up to buy this album when it first came out, having been a big fan of Spacemen 3 for many years. It was a little bit of a disappointment at the time, with two bangers (Revolution and Suicide) sandwiched between more ambient, almost spiritual tracks. Looking back, this is the direction that would lead to Spiritualized eventually, and to be fair, the more ambient tracks had always been there, but usually in the minority. I would probably give five stars to anything on this list by Spacemen 3, including Dreamweapon, one of my favourite EPs of all time. Listening to it today, it's still slightly disappointing, with Sound of Confusion or Perfect Prescription being better albums in my opinion, but at the same time, several times better than the best work by other artists. Easy five stars.

Getz/Gilberto

Stan Getz

2/5

Bossa-no-no. Bit of a snooze-fest. Two stars.

Sister

Sonic Youth

5/5

Glistening, angular, noisy, a rawer version of what was going to come with Daydream Nation I guess. If I could send one message back to myself when I was a teenager, it would be to get into Sonic Youth. I played this through four times: - first listen, not much stuck - but it went fast, so I figured I had enjoyed it - second listen, similar experience - third listen, the first half of the album started to click, along with a couple of tracks near the end - fourth listen, the second half also clicked this time round Five stars.

Orbital 2

Orbital

1/5

So I should love this; ambient techno from the early 90s brings me back to the height of the rave scene. But it doesn't, it's actually pretty awful. I was never a big Orbital fan to begin with, but I figured they would have some deep cuts on their albums that were worth a listen. At the very least, I would find the music pleasing to have on in the background. Having listened to first one and now two of their albums from start to finish, I'm thinking they're actually a bit overrated. It's very dull, badly constructed telephone waiting music. I can't even forgive them for being "ground breakers" as other artists had already done this over a decade earlier, with far better results. If there's anything cleverer than just stacking up and layering samples going on, then it's way over my head. My overall feeling was that this was what it sounds like when someone uses all the built-in samples in a new DAW and randomly adds them to see what they all sound like, i.e. disposable garbage-music. "Little Fluffy Clouds" was kind of epic back in the day, and I assumed that this was an album by the guys who made that. It's not, that was "the Orb", similar name I guess. So after that blunder, what was Orbital's most famous track I wonder? Well it seems that was "Halcyon", so I held off my judgement in case that was amazing; it wasn't, it sucked just as bad as the rest of this album! There's very little mainstream music that sounds quite like this in the 2020s, and to be honest, I feel that's a good thing. We've moved on from repetitive, poorly made ambient techno and I hope it never comes back into fashion again. One star.

Odessa

Bee Gees

2/5

Well this was not what I was expecting at all from the Bee Gees, a band known for their disco offerings. I think my first impressions remained pretty much accurate for the entire album, a Beatles cover band made up of sheep. I wouldn't have been surprised to see a cartoon made with this as the soundtrack, where the main characters were all said sheep. This is the only explanation I can see for the singers impersonating sheep when they're not impersonating members of the Beatles. O(baa)de(baa)saaaa(baa)(baa)(baaaaaa)! Some of it is painfully bad, Edison is just so awful for example. Some of it is actually quite melodic, in a Beatles/ farmyard animals way of course. I would never listen to this again, but it's probably deserving of two stars.

Yeezus

Kanye West

3/5

Somewhat awful lyrically, but sonically it was more interesting. I feel three stars is a good score for something I won't listen to again, but was glad to hear once.

American Pie

Don McLean

3/5

Largely carried by the two songs I already knew, the ones I hadn't heard before have already been forgotten, and I don't think I would bother to revisit. Two stars, but raised to three for the hits.

Southern Rock Opera

Drive-By Truckers

2/5

These guys are obviously really big fans of 70s southern rock music. They're just not very good at copying that music themselves. For all this went on for over 90 minutes, there was very little of interest to be found, no stand out solos or catchy tunes, just plodding and redundant songs. It's too dull to give any more than two stars I feel.

Fear and Whiskey

Mekons

2/5

This sounds just a little bit like The Pogues, but if they couldn't write decent songs, and the vocals were a lot worse. After a terrible opening track, it started to pick up a little, before devolving into boring punk/ country nothingness. Two stars.

Here, My Dear

Marvin Gaye

2/5

Definitely a bit weird, and very long. It wasn't too bad, but nothing jumped out and made me think this was anything other than an incredibly long and salty diss-album. Two stars.

Behaviour

Pet Shop Boys

2/5

I think I've found something new to listen to when I can't sleep. Two stars for synthpop blandness.

Too Rye Ay

Dexys Midnight Runners

1/5

I wasn't looking forward to this, but I hadn't expected it to be quite as bad as it was. It really captures that "people with day jobs who play in a band at the weekend and annoy people trying to enjoy a quiet drink" vibe. It's really terrible from start to finish, to the point where every time I thought it couldn't get worse, it got worse. The "farty horns" in "I'll Show You" will haunt me for days. The icing on the cake is the overplayed hit that ruined so many nights out in the 80s, "Come on Eileen". My top tip to anyone listening to this on Spotify is to stop after ten tracks, as that's when the original album ended. Save yourself some misery. One star.

Heaven Or Las Vegas

Cocteau Twins

3/5

Ticks the boxes for ethereal dream pop, but it was just a little bit same-y for me. Three stars.

Colour By Numbers

Culture Club

1/5

Somehow even worse than I thought it would be, and I set the bar low. One star.

Francis Albert Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim

Frank Sinatra

2/5

Rather dull and samey, nothing really stood out from start to finish. Two stars.

1999

Prince

2/5

I never was a big fan of Prince, but I know plenty of people who are. I always thought that maybe there was something I was missing out on, but nope, everything I've heard by him sucks. Two stars, mainly for the first two tracks, as the rest is one star filler material.

Cupid & Psyche 85

Scritti Politti

1/5

Truly one of the worst albums I've ever heard. It left a bad taste in my mouth that will take some time to go away. So sickly saccharin and bland, so commercial at the expense of any artistry, just a pop vehicle for someone with negative talent. I read the Wikipedia article, and it seems this guy had a post punk band with a vision, but his vision changed so that he wanted to make safe pop-pap music for the masses and that's exactly what he did. It felt like this chap sold his soul for limited and short-term success. The one song I remembered was the "Aretha Franklin" track, and that was just awful, exactly as bad as it was when I first heard it. That was also the high point of the album, which speaks volumes. I actually dug out an early Scritti Politti session from the late 70s and it wasn't at all bad, far more interesting than this dogshit. One star.

Dare!

The Human League

4/5

This was far more solid and full of tunes than I had expected. It's not perfect, but if it hadn't taken a slight dip in the middle, I would have considered five stars. I'm somewhat in amazement that I enjoyed a full album of 80s synthpop, but it was just so well done. Even the annoying hit that has been played to death holds up here, and having it at the end of the album is a nice bookend. Four stars.

Suzanne Vega

4/5

I was astonished at how many of these tracks I had forgotten, seeing as this was on constant play for a long while in my student house. I think we even saw her tour before she made it big with her second album. I actually prefer her debut in some ways, as I think it's more consistent. Very chill, nice lyrics, nice delivery, and pleasing to listen to. There's a nice variety of styles within the style of the album, which kept my interest. Four stars.

Freak Out!

The Mothers Of Invention

3/5

Steadily got better as it progressed, but it wasn't something I would go out of my way to listen to again. I think Zappa sometimes takes his musical jokes just a little too far, and it stops being enjoyable at some point.

Green River

Creedence Clearwater Revival

4/5

Very good, almost five star worthy, but the last track was a little bit jarring. Four strong stars.

This Is Hardcore

Pulp

2/5

I was surprised to find that this wasn't quite as awful as I was expecting. I mean it was appalling, but not abysmal I guess. Talentless meanderings by a long past their sell by date band. Two stars.

Superfuzz Bigmuff

Mudhoney

4/5

Even though the EP was only just over 20 minutes long, Spotify played me 2 hours and 15 minutes of album, adding in singles, B-sides, and live performances. I kept listening because it was good, but it never got quite great enough for five stars, so four it is.

Arular

M.I.A.

1/5

I'm impressed! Impressed that an artist can keep such an annoying sing-song/ playground voice going for an entire (over-long) album. It shows a level of dedication indeed. The closest thing I can think of to this is Missy Elliot. I'm not a big fan of Missy, and I'm definitely not a fan in the slightest of MIA. There's little distinction between tracks, other than some strange gaps with a few seconds of total silence, randomly inserted here and there. It's almost like the first track is just extended and ran for the entire 41 minutes. Even the skits sound like they merge into one continuous and awful song. Boom, bap, annoying sing-song vocals, it just keeps going, almost like this was designed to wear me down with its awfulness. The only positive I can see is that anyone listening to this can see how easy it is to make music, even if you have zero musical talent. I don't mark artists down for being trashy people, but once I saw this artist was an anti-vax, Trump supporter I had to briefly reflect on my one star review. But nope, this would be one star even if MIA didn't have awful political views. Total dogshit album.

Live And Dangerous

Thin Lizzy

4/5

When I used to hunt out records, back in the 80s, this was one of the albums most likely to be in a bargain bucket for 50p. I was tempted many time to buy a copy, as many of my favourite albums came from bargain buckets. In fact an album appearing there didn't necessarily mean it was a bad album, maybe just too many copies were pressed. Thin Lizzy were similar to UFO, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, and even Motorhead, hard rock, but not part of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, more of an influence upon this movement. I wonder if they had persisted longer, if they would have moved to more of a heavy metal sound, or stuck to their blues/ hard rock/ soul origins. Anyway, this is a fine studio album with a few background crowd noises to make it sound like a live album. There's a rawness to the sound that is compelling, and the material never gets boring. It's a basic two-lead guitar, bass, drums, vocals sound from this era, but I'm impressed that almost every song was written by the band themselves. Four stars.

Broken English

Marianne Faithfull

3/5

Some of the backing music is a bit lame. I guess there wasn't a global decision on 1st Jan 1980 to start using Casio keyboards and drum machines for every form of music, so even though this is from the 70s, this sounds very 80s to me. Marianne's voice is certainly cracked, almost to the point of being distracting, but it just about holds up I suppose. The lyrics are a mixed bag, some banal, some interesting. The first and last track lift this from two stars to three.

Real Life

Magazine

5/5

Although I'd heard of Magazine before, it seems I've never heard anything by them before, apart from "Shot by Both Sides", which I had somehow green-ticked on Spotify years ago, and what a track it is! The vocals take a little time to get used to, but I was loving them by the end. Everything else clicked immediately, like a breath of fresh air, a wonderful mix of styles that on paper might not sound like they would mesh, but they do, and it's wonderful. The keyboards should sound jarring, as should the saxophone, but it just all fits together somehow. I have to give a special shout out to John McGeoch, as the guitar is simply stellar. I'm going with five stars, as this album is just fantastic. I can't believe I'm almost fifty years late to the party though.

I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight

Richard Thompson

4/5

I always liked Richard Thompson in Fairport Convention. This isn't quite as good, and Linda's voice isn't a patch on Sandy Denny. I like the slightly-depressing lyrics and music, an interesting take on neo-folk music. Four stars.

Aha Shake Heartbreak

Kings of Leon

1/5

The singer sounds similar to how I imagine a wounded moose might sound. It's almost painful to hear the way he contorts his vocal apparatus to make such agonising noises. Add some generic indie/rock early 2000s guitar sounds and you have something fit for elevator or telephone on-hold music. One star.

On The Beach

Neil Young

5/5

No big hits, but a variety of styles, mainly slightly maudlin. I liked it, not as much as other albums by Neil Young, but enough to give it four stars for sure. After three play throughs this short album, I figured I liked all of it, but no one track really stood out, apart from possibly the title track. I then boosted the score to a full five stars after reading about "Honey Sliders".

Talking Timbuktu

Ali Farka Touré

2/5

Inoffensive but it sounded like one hour long jam with little distinction between the various tracks. This would make great background music for a game or played in a restaurant maybe. It's music that fits the purpose of being so background that it washes over you and can easily be ignored. Mood music maybe? Two stars for something that was really not special in any way at all.

Blood And Chocolate

Elvis Costello & The Attractions

1/5

Without the awful vocal delivery, this might have clawed its way to two stars. But it didn't, it's awful, it actually made me cringe a few times due to just how dreadful it was. I think the low point was the Battered Old Bird song, which made my skin crawl. Music evoking a strong emotional response is something I look for, but my response to this was simply a case of, "how could these people make such slop and then have the lack of shame to release it upon the world". Droning, on, and on, and on, awful lyrics, awful backing music. One star.

Actually

Pet Shop Boys

3/5

I didn't hate this, and some of it I actually liked a bit. I remembered the big hits with a touch of nostalgia. There's a "big room" sound here and the vocals stand out in particular as being very well delivered. This is 80s pop music, but done well, so I feel three stars is fair.

Infected

The The

1/5

I'd seen the cover of this album a few times before, but had no idea what to expect. I went in with high hopes, but they were dashed quickly. Slow, tedious, and just awful from start to finish. This was one of the most punishing listens I can recall for some time. It really was a chore to get through. I'm not sure what was worst, the music was bad, the vocals were dreadful, the lyrics were pure cringe. About halfway through, I began to wonder if this was some sort of sick joke. The guy singing was sounding more and more like a third-rate Elvis impersonator, the compositions were so bad, that surely this must be intentional? But nope, it's just a bad album. One star.

Ys

Joanna Newsom

3/5

My first impressions were the "little girl who inhaled too much helium" vocals and the assault of words, too many rambling and random words. The harp was nice, but the music was barely there, mainly just plinks and plonks and the odd orchestral bit. I did warm to it a little by the end, once I gave up on trying to make any sense of the strange noises being sung. Three stars.

Greetings From L.A.

Tim Buckley

3/5

Genuinely disturbing lyrics and assorted moaning sounds frequent this album. It wasn't what I was expecting in the slightest, and it was a peculiar and unsettling experience. Some of it has aged really badly, like incredibly badly to be honest. However, I'm going with a three star rating, as the backing music isn't too bad, and it's just so weird that it made me think.

Vulnicura

Björk

4/5

This was a hard one to rate. I let it flow over me and it didn't annoy, but it didn't really hit me with anything really. I had a strange feeling that this was a softer version of Celtic's Frost masterpiece, Monotheist, similar depressive vibe, but obviously very different music. I quite enjoyed the ambient techno sounds, but the lyrics passed over my head I'm afraid. It deserves a relisten I feel, so I'm going with four stars.

Planet Rock: The Album

Afrika Bambaataa

2/5

I adore early breakbeat, but this was just far too dull. Someone rapping over an electro beat that never really goes anywhere. Looks like this album was some sort of compilation from back before hip hop "got good". It reminds me of just how bad hip-hop was before it underwent a transformation and came back strong in the "golden age". Two stars.

In The Wee Small Hours

Frank Sinatra

2/5

Maybe if this was half the length and had some more upbeat songs... well it wouldn't be the same album then I guess? I'll leave the last words to Frank, "goes on and on...". Two stars.

Protection

Massive Attack

4/5

Sumptuous and bass-heavy music that entertained from start to finish. Even the presence of Tracy Thorn wasn't enough to spoil this experience, although she almost ruined two tracks with her annoying voice. Interesting variety of styles, seamlessly joined together, apart from the last track, which was obviously live, but a bit of a jarring change of vibe. Glad they put the live track on the end. Four stars.

School's Out

Alice Cooper

3/5

I don't know what I was expecting to hear, but this wasn't it. It was okay I guess, but nothing amazing. The title track is a banger, but nothing else really stood out. Three stars.

Bayou Country

Creedence Clearwater Revival

4/5

Some very good songs sandwiched with some more forgettable ones. Four stars seems low for an album with Proud Mary and Born in the Bayou on it, but it is what it is.

The Wall

Pink Floyd

5/5

There's a theory that whatever you were listening to when you were fourteen will stick with you the rest of your life. Well this is the album I was listening to when I was fourteen, in fact one of the small handful of albums I owned, so I probably played it hundreds of times when I was a teenager. Has it stuck with me? Hell yes! Although The Wall doesn't tick every single box for what I'm looking for in an album, it ticks so many that it's about as close as I imagine an album can get to perfection. In fact, I worry slightly that I'm holding this two hour plus monster up to being something that it isn't. I've listened to this so many times that I've been through the point where it almost slips into being unlistenable, back to it being impactful again. I can appreciate that this kind of album isn't for everyone, and there are definitely excesses in the running time and the "fourth side". There's also an argument that some of the songs here don't all stand up in their own right. I personally think that they do, and everything is just in the perfect place from start to finish. Every keyboard stroke, drum beat, guitar string being hit, even Roger's vocal delivery is spot on from start to finish. From the big hit (Another Brick in the Wall the single), to the fan favourite Comfortably Numb, to the film, to the numerous live performances, there's just so much to absorb to properly get the full impact of such a momentous piece of music. I guess, above all, there's nothing that really sounds like The Wall, other than The Wall. The closest is probably The Final Cut, as some of this was the leftovers from this album. However, the sumptuous production, the lyrics, the delivery, the musicality, everything is far superior on The Wall. It also has arguably the best Pink Floyd song on it in Comfortably Numb. When I was fourteen, I didn't really follow the story too closely, as it didn't hold any special meaning for me. Now in my fifties, it has much greater impact than it did previously. Another thing that helped, is getting hold of a copy of the lyrics, as I had my "own version" when I first got this album in a cassette double album format. As an example, "Fat and psychopathic wives" was "Parents like a traffic light" for many years, with other mishearings becoming part of the whole experience for me. I listened to the remaster for the first time, always avoiding it in the past. It was a little jarring in places, hearing different instruments that didn't come through in the original mix. But it was still the same album underneath, flawed, imperfect, but probably one of the most important albums of all time for me. An easy five stars.

Rating Distribution

Rating Timeline

Taste Profile

Breakdown

By Genre

Top Styles

By Decade

By Origin

Albums

You Love More Than Most

You Love Less Than Most

Artists

Favorites

Least Favorites

Controversial

5-Star Albums (145)

Popular Reviews

1-Star Albums (103)

All Ratings

Wordsmith