Buena Vista Social Club
Buena Vista Social ClubEach song conveys and incredible warmth and depth. Infectious beats, sweet melodies. Absolutely fantastic.
Each song conveys and incredible warmth and depth. Infectious beats, sweet melodies. Absolutely fantastic.
What a monster this album is. Great beats throughout. Would have been absolutely bonkers in the club. For me also great to focus while working.
The title track does a lot of heavy lifting of this record towards "classic" status. It has all the hallmarks of a John Lennon record: strong melodies, folksy sound, one or two honky tonk tunes with a little bit of goofiness, a track about Yoko, you get the picture. Other than "Imagine" I would say its a perfectly average record from the early 70s, but the weight of that track elevates it just a touch.
Overall the album has a very strong first half, the driving funk/electronic grooves are infectious and fun. However the second half gets a bit long in the tooth as the repetitive nature of the tracks leaves the listener fatigued by the 1 hour run time. I can tell this one will grow on me over time.
Faith and Father Figure are decent tracks. I want your sex sounds like it belongs on PBS but instead of being about the virtues of reading it's about sex. Many of the beats have not aged terribly well. A very average 80s pop record. Kissing a fool was a nice way to end the album.
Pretty fun album. Lots of energy.
Each song conveys and incredible warmth and depth. Infectious beats, sweet melodies. Absolutely fantastic.
Felt like a 3 different artist making their own collection of Rumours B-sides, and then those were cobbled together. Not offensive but not great either.
Absolute classic from front to back. Brings me back to my teenage years. Great vocals throughout, powerful if sometimes formulaic songwriting. Seagull is a hidden gem at the end of the album
Very charming and quaint listen. I've always been a fan of the McCartney sound and Junk and Teddy Boy are great examples of it. There's a lot of love and heart in these simple songs.
Aside from Over the Hill and The Man in The Station, very forgettable songwriting. A very soft album, and the various attempt to strike a harder sound (like on I'd Rather Be The Devil) come off as toothless. A style like this relies on catchy, powerful melodies. This does not have that. Many of the songs sound familiar, but not in a good way.
Some great tunes on here. Very much a McCartney record. Doesn't quite have the heart of his self titled solo album and only Band on the Run, Jet, Ret Me Roll It, and 1985 have staying power. Overall a fine record
DOOOOMMMM!!! What a dark, gritty, cataclysmic album. Every track make you want to grow your hair out, bang your head, and yell at the world. So much dark energy. Fantastic
The Doors attempt to make a blues album with this one. The album ends up long overstaying it's welcome. The aside from bright spots in L.A. Woman and Riders on the Storm, the songs are just exhausting and not very memorable. Even those are far too long for the musical ideas they bring. On top of that one of the WORST album covers of all time. Looks like it was designed by an AI whose prompt was "give me the most un-inspired 70s blues rock cover possible."
An amazing look into what is essentially an extended jam session from some of the best to ever do it. Some may criticize for it's long play time but I'm glad they let the songs breath and live for a while. Just some artists living through the music in 78 minutes. The extended versions are worth a look as well.
This one is really tough. On the one hand it is a scathing and pointed satire of the music, politics, and insincere counterculture of the late 60s. The commentary still holds up today. On the other hand it's a pretty uncomfortable listen. It's sort of genius and brave while also being pretty unpalatable. Normally the innovative and jagged parts of the album would cancel each other out. However, it's meant to be divisive. Giving it a 3 is missing the point and would probably make Frank Zappa more disappointed than a purely negative review. No fence-sitting with this one.
Of all the Beatles albums, why is their weakest offering on this list? As far as early 60s pop goes, it's pretty average. Aside from "All I've got to Do" all the other tracks are pretty boilerplate forgettable or written by other people. Nothing offensively bad, but one of the albums you NEED to listen you before you die?
Hilarious, well written songs. Infectious melodies. No low points. Fantastic
Overall not a bad album. A bit edgier and bluesier than their contemporaries
Not a bad prog rock album. This was wasn't super compelling for me but I did look through more of ELP discography and found that Trilogy and their self titled album to be a bit better
Compact album with catchy, infectious tunes. I'll probably be coming back to this one
A fine album. Not offensive but didn't strike me in any way. Maybe additional listens will spark something. The Thom York feature was nice
Some absolute gems on this one
Your run-of-the-mill Elvis record which doesn't have the same draw as it likely did in 1960. I can appreciate that this album was probably HYPED when it came out as it was the first since Elvis was in the military, but it's just a standard pop record from the time period.
Incredibly weird and fun. The melodies and grooves are varied and well written. Billericay Dickie is hilarious. Blockheads is a punk banger. His voice is extremely distinctive and doesn't lend itself to everything. Definitely takes a couple listens to get into this one
Better than some of it's contemporaries. A bit of a harder edge. Outside of the title track and "The Kids are Alright" a pretty forgettable album. One wonders if without those songs it would be considered for this list.
A monster album that would live up to it's name and would define hip-hop's sound for the next decade. Bombastic, braggadocious, and bad enough to back it up. The instrumentals on this thing are legendary. The lyrics tight and sharp. A classic from day one. In the context of this list a hip-hop album has to essentially be perfect or earth shaking to be counted. While not perfect, this album rises head and shoulders above table scraps from The Beatles and Bob Dylan. Unlike many on this list, this one is required listening.
This is a strange one for me. It's not bad by any means but it doesn't break ground in any significant way. It didn't capture my attention at any point in my 3 listens. This one will fade into obscurity as time passes
A great swan song to the 80s.
Disco would be dead by the end of 1979 and you can kind of hear why in "We Are Family". While chock full of great danceable hits, you could say the same about the past decade. This album doesn't do anything to rise above its contemporaries and aside from it's title track has not left a huge impression on the music landscape. This album would feel right at home in 1977 or 1973 and is sort of a testament to how stale everything had gotten by the end of the decade. Taken at face value this album is great. Short, sweet, danceable. But then again, so was everything else.
This one is hard to get into. Voice sounds like a white Gil Scott-Heron but with less compelling songwriting. Overall the lyrics are pretty meandering. The backing music saves this album but doesn't do enough to elevate it to something that bears repeated listening.
Creative and catchy. Lots of hits and not many misses. The Police's Reggae infused Pop Rock still sounds good today.
This one is not for me. I like prog rock but it just lacks a compelling melody. Who knew that an album about an armored armadillo fighting a mantacore would be a little self indulgent? I probably won't be coming back to this one. In the context of the era, the early 70s are chock full of great prog rock. Fragile by Yes, Aqualung by Jethro Tull, and Meddle by Pink Floyd are all higher quality and came out THE SAME YEAR.
A fun album with a lot of sick beats. You can hear the influence this would one day have on artists like Ibibio Sound Machine. Connected, Fade Away, and Step it Up are new favs
This feels like a collection of showtunes for a long forgotten musical. The production on most of the songs feels empty. Not my thing
A true country western album from one of the best to ever do it. No frills, no flash, just good old western story telling. The song writing is authentic and charming and sad in just the right way. Absolutely required listening
If you're just listening by yourself 3/5. Not a ton of substance here but the tracks are nice to listen to. Listening with your SO on a rainy Sunday morning 5/5. Norah Jones knows her audience and the context in which they will listen to it. No better album in this context.
I found it to be un-inspired. On songs like "The Christian Life" the performance is almost a mean-spirited parody of Country-Western culture and music. I can see why this record didn't go over well with Country fans when it came out. Given the rest of their catalog it seems insincere.
What a monster this album is. Great beats throughout. Would have been absolutely bonkers in the club. For me also great to focus while working.
Varied and quirky. Doesn't overstay it's welcome. Classic Bowie
Not my favorite songwriting but the album was cohesive and had some interesting ideas.
Writing this before I listen: these guys are some punk/alt-rock group from Northamptonshire or something like that. They are generally unhappy and the album is lauded for speaking to a disaffected British youth. Lead vocals will either sound like the singer is drunk or is Cockney personified. How'd I do? Update: I was completely wrong!! They're from South London not Northamptonshire. Perrett's vocals leave a lot to be desired and sour what are otherwise great tracks. Like a worse Lou Reed. If this album were released without vocals this would be a 4/5
It's nice to hear something new... or rather old on this list. Taken at face value, the album isn't incredibly special but I suspect it's included on this list as a bridge between Woody Guthrie and Bob Dylan. Overall a collection of nice folk tunes. It's clear Jack walked so Bob could run.
I won't be able to say anything that hasn't already been said. Certainly required listening
This one really feels like a parody of itself. It's so over the top. Kinda love it kinda hate it. Probably won't come back to it very often
Singing is the uncanny valley of Thom York. Might not be Rufus fault but with Radiohead at the height of their powers here it's just too similar. Otherwise some nice tunes on the album. I may come back to this in a couple years and really like it
Not quite as good as their sophomore album but still quite good
At one point a song came on and I started jammin'! Took a couple seconds to realize the Devo album was over and something else had started auto-playing. This is album is pretty hit or miss; and aside from Gut Feeling and Uncontrollable Urge, it's mostly miss. The production just feels so empty and raw.
Steely Dan's 3rd best album. Still solid, smooth, and tight.
Overall not my sound, but I can understand why they are so popular. The lyrics are sharp, the guitar work is interesting and varied. Really seems like an evolution from a lot of the punk in the 70s
Very meh in a lot of ways. I really like the first track La femme d'argent but otherwise not super notable. Too engaging to be ambient music, too mellow to be electronica, not catchy enough for pop.
First I need to clarify the length of this thing. The eye-watering 2hr 5min version on Spotify is the 2014 Remaster which includes 20 minutes of bonus material. So take that out. Also the album was originally released with a 28 minute bonus album "Apple Jam". So if you don't like jam-music, think of it as skippable. I think of it as a bonus. What remains is 1hr 17min of sweet tunes and gentle melodies. Consistent quality throughout. In my opinion, the best of The Beatles after The Beatles. If you don't like the fab four, this won't be for you.
Sounds like a female Tom Petty
Very much a tale of two albums. The first half incredibly good. The second half incredibly forgettable
Liked Jilted Generation a bit better but this is still a great album and will probably make it's way into my regular rotation
Definitely an interesting listen. Probably won't make it into my regular rotation but I liked the jagged grooves
Ice Cube what is you doing on this thing!!! Turns out it was just a phase. Made it to All In the Family and couldn't go any further.
A fine album but not quite up to the quality of Radiohead's classics. Doesn't do much that the other albums aren't already doing better
Never heard of these folks before but truly a delightful album. Great songwriting, great melodies.
Short and sweet
Taken at face value a solid blues record. Great solo work by Clapton and would give a glimpse of what was to come. Very well produced for '66. Little Girl is quite a dud and the album suffers from it.
Kind of a weird one. Not really my thing but it wouldn't surprise me if this went on to influence many other artists throughout the 80s
Sounds like Trent wrote the lyrics for these songs after getting stood up at the freshmen high school dance, sat on them for 15 years and said "Nah, this is perfect" and then made this album.
Just reviewed More Songs About Buildings and Food yesterday. I liked this one better somehow. You can definitely tell where a lot of Talking Heads sound comes from. Not afraid to let the tracks breathe a little bit.
A mixed bag this one. Tom Waits is known for his weirdness and his creativity. If you like songs written by a drunken carney then this is for you. For me it's just alright
You can hear the origins of grunge lurking just below the surface
Above average but they don't do anything that Pixies wasn't already doing better at the time
A very strong 3. The album has some great disco pop rock but is dragged down by its bloat. There is a really great album hiding in there.
Short, sweet, fun