1001 Albums Summary

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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".

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

Bit whiney...

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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-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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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,

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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).

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.

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.

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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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).

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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.

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.

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

It was okay, but nothing special.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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".

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

Good, but not quite enough for 5 stars.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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.