Still holds up. A nasty-sounding punk album with plenty of bite. Damn near perfect.

An enjoyable album throughout. It outstays its welcome a little in the middle, but overall it's full of mood, well-crafted songs, and some interesting throwbacks to motifs from classic Bowie tracks.

A great album overall. You can feel Young growing as a songwriter, with songs such as Southern Man being particular standouts. That said, I don't think it can compete with his next album, Harvest, which stands as an outright masterpiece.

A classic. Lauryn Hill's approach to hip hop was as fresh and insightful then as it is now. A great combination of catchy pop songs and deeper musings.

I enjoyed this album a lot more than I expected. The production quality is great, the melodies are wonderful, and there are (obviously) some very catchy songs here. It's not my genre, really, but I had more fun with it than I thought I would.

Not as good as each component. It has some highlights, but I’d rather be listening to just Metallica or just an orchestra.

An absolute classic of the g-funk era. Snoop's debut sounded fresh and was full of creative lyrics and beats. It's held up well and is essential listening for rap fans and non-fans alike.

Very disappointing. I love The Jam, The Style Council, and have enjoyed some of Paul Weller's solo music, but this was so far off the mark for me. Generic, hokey, and somehow appearing ahead of its time only in the fact it sounds like a strange John Mayer acoustic tribute act at times. Genuinely torn between a 1 or a 2 star, but I found it hard to find anything I really enjoyed.

Slightly slow to start, but sensational tracks back-to-back after that. It’s legendary for a reason.

Whilst important at its time, I don’t think that it’s held up particularly well. More a museum piece than essential listening, and that’s coming from someone who was deep into the gangsta rap scene in the ‘90s.

A fantastic album. As a big Tom Waits fan, I was put onto this album a few years ago and really enjoyed it. Interesting sound throughout and well worth the listen.

Harmless enough, but not exactly impactful. Nothing inherently bad, but nothing to get too excited about.

Country folk done fantastically. Lots of wonderful songwriting and production throughout. Thoroughly enjoyed this one.

I thought that we'd consigned Travis to annals of dreary-pop history when the new millennium rolled around. Why on Earth this deserves a place on the list is beyond me. Even something like Elbow would've been acceptable, but not this dross.

The highs of this album are fantastic, but it’s just a little too watered down with filler.

Stunning. I’d never visited Dylan’s work outside of the main albums and was suitably impressed. Excellent delivery and swampy blues lines. Very good.

Fantastic playing and singing throughout, but to say that the songs are one dimensional is an understatement. I'm torn between a 3 and a 4 here. The quality of the musicianship is doing some heavy lifting here, that's for sure.

I started listening to this album on earphones which lack bass response, which was a massive mistake. I put on some decent headphones and it's improved ten fold. Really important in the history of electronic music, but also a great collection of songs and ambient beats. Funnily enough, I've found it helps me concentrate on whatever I'm doing. Worth listening to with an open mind.

A somewhat underwhelming entry. The low parts aren't as introspective as Queen can be, and the highs aren't quite as bombastic as they can be.

I absolutely adore the instrumentation on this album. There's some fantastic '90s grunge and alt-rock vibes throughout. However, the lyrics and vocals are so far off the mark for me that it mars the entire experience. When the female vocalist performs I love it, top-tier stuff, but the main vocalist lets down the side.

A solid album overall. Drags a little at times, but some notable high points that make it worth while.

Very hard work. Moments of beauty but disjointed between that.

A punk classic. Some ska influence throughout. I was surprised to see it pop up on this list, but it was fun to revisit it and feel 16 again.

Well produced pop with a couple of hyper catchy tracks which will get stuck in your head. Really not for me.

Fantastic album throughout. It’s definitely a product of it’s time, but Common has apologised for these lyrics and is always trying to improve himself, so I think it’s important to bear that in mind.

The album is a bit one note, but it's a beautiful note, at least. Not something I'm going to be in the mood for every day, but I can't deny that I enjoyed what I heard.

Joyful new-wave pop. I found myself completely wrapped up in it and enjoyed the entire journey.

A beautiful, and somewhat dreamlike, journey. Really enjoyed my time with it and will definitely be coming back for more.

A fantastic album which has stood up well over the years. The main themes are still salient and are delivered with a suitable amount of venom. Some great beats in there, too. This was never my favourite Ice Cube album when I was regularly listening to rap, but going back to it I think that I may have been too hasty with that judgement. Definitely a classic.

Just a wonderful, and at times weird, journey. Good headphones and setting aside 30 minutes to just listen are highly recommended here.

Not even “When I’m 64” can detract from this album.

Fantastic album. "Cinnamon Girl" is an incredibly strong start, whilst "Down By The River" is the true gem. Wonderful, wistful, and melancholy. Essential listening.

It's a solid album and a real nostalgia hit at the same time. They were very popular for a while in the '90s and it does take me back to that. That said, I did find myself wishing that I was just listening to Portishead instead.

I've found this a very difficult album to rate. When it's firing, it's up there with the best. However, there are probably a couple too many tracks which are just "okay" to justify a 5-star rating. The best tracks are almost entirely the ones with Grace Slick on lead vocals. Her vibrato and passion are infectious. A great album, but just not quite a masterpiece.

This album is certainly full on. It sounds as if "Extreme" decided to take a trip through Ska Avenue on their way to the studio. The album is rather all over the place and lacks cohesion, but there are some fun riffs here and there. I can't say that it's something I'll find myself coming back to any time soon, though.

A classic. Not a bad track on here. Not really much else to add.

A very enjoyable jaunt into psychedelia. I can only imagine how it sounded when it was first released as it's still enjoyable now. Worth a listen.

Dreamy.

Lots of great tunes throughout. It's a very influential album which still sounds unique and identifiable after all this time. It was clearly a massive influence on the vapourwave aesthetic, too. A little bit one note, but a great album.

I've never been a fan of Cheap Trick, and live albums are very hit and miss. This album was better than I was expecting, but then again I was expecting a 1/5. In fairness, I'd say that it's between a 2 and a 3, but there's not enough quality here to push it up to a 3 for me.

It’s brilliant, but that’s no real surprise.

Politics aside, this is really a mixed album. The singles are massive and still stand up very well now. However, some of the album tracks really drag down the overall rating. The highs are really high, but the lows really low.

An enjoyable slice of the '90s Britpop scene. At the time I preferred Stereophonics, but in recent years I've come around to the fact that the Manics are the better band. This album is solid throughout and has a few standout tracks. Nothing to take it to a 5 star rating, but definitely worth a 4.

I wanted to like this album, but it just didn't vibe with me at all. Obviously, his voice is divisive at the best of times, but I wanted to look past that. However, I felt that there were too many clunky or childish lyrics, and the music itself seemed juvenile. It really did feel like a "My First Singer Songwriter" type of deal, rather than a definitive album.

Sublime from start to finish. One of my favourite albums of all time, so I was delighted to see it on the list. Sultry, atmospheric, and Intensely stylish. I fully recommend this.

This is an interesting album, but it never quite delivers on its potential. I think that it's a little too "light touch" to full achieve what it could. Not bad in any way, just not moving beyond "pretty good".

I should preface this by saying that I've always loved heavy music and still listen to a lot of metal. That said, I hated this album. The guitar solos sound like they've just been pasted in without any regard to the rest of the song, the drums sound cheap, the vocalist is not a great singer, the lyrics are often childish and shoe-horned in without any consideration to cadence, chromaticism has been used as a substitute for creativity etc. I appreciate that it was important at the time for a number of reasons, but it's really not a good listen now.

Genuinely speaking, I find that live albums fall a bit flat. You don't have the benefit of precise mixing like on the album, and you don't have the energy that you'd get from actually being there in person. That holds true here, too. I do like Thin Lizzy and it was fun hearing a lot of their best songs in one place, but I'd rather be listening to a proper studio production, to be honest.

A pretty inoffensive Britpop outing. I'm not sure why it was deemed interesting or noteworthy enough to appear on this list, to be honest. I found that I'd stopped paying attention to it a couple of times and had to focus on it to even really realise it was there. Not "bad", per se, but certainly not of any particular note or merit.

As this is an album almost entirely of covers, I expected it to be a bit underwhelming and not a touch on some of the original blues tracks on which the songs are based. That wasn't really the case. There's enough personality and unique flavour here, and also hints of what's to come, that it's a thoroughly enjoyable album on its own merits.

Based on the reviews on here, I'd expected a very polarising album. However, that's not my experience. It was silly and sloppy at times, but it was endearing and had its own charm. I'm not going to say it was a transcendental experience or anything, but there were enough moments of interest to keep me hooked. It is silly, though.

Excellent album from start to finish. In fact, the only negative for me is that "Smoke on the Water" is on here and we've all heard that played a million times before. "Highway Star" is an excellent opening track and it just carries on from there.

Whilst this album invokes the sounds of Portishead and Massive Attack, it doesn't approach them fully. It was an enjoyable, if slightly forgettable listen.

A thoroughly enjoyable album. I was already familiar with the band, having seen them some years ago at a punk all-dayer festival, but this was more new wave than I expected. That said, it was great fun throughout. Not every song is a classic or anything, but the album as a whole has a lot of energy and personality. Well worth a listen.

An absolute classic. "Venus in Furs" is worth the price of entry by itself.

Some good stuff here and there, but it is overly saccharine and simplistic at times. Not awful by any stretch, but nothing that I'll ever return to.

An absolutely seminal album. Waits' earlier offerings were fantastic, but were more standard singer-songwriter style with lots of blues, folk, and jazz influences. This album marks a deviation from that as Waits delves more into the experimental and proto-industrial. Echoing clangs of junkyards, haunting Vaudevillian melodies, and poetic musings all fill a rich and varied soundscape. Waits' ability to craft worlds and characters with his lyrics is second to none and ensures this album is truly memorable.

Not too much to say here that hasn't already been said. It's a fantastic album throughout. There are a few weaker songs here and there, but I think they don't do too much to diminish the overall album.

Muse are not cool. That’s true. But there are some great riffs, tones, and soundscapes here. It’s grandiose, bombastic, over the top, and mostly fun.

It's not bad, but nothing particularly exciting either. It comes across at times like something off a jazz Christmas album. There's something inherently '80s cheese about the sound. Again, it wasn't bad, but nothing to bring me back.

As a snapshot of a moment in time in music, it's certainly interesting. Arriving at the intersection between the fading of psychedelia and the popularity of the country/folk scene, it has a foot in each camps. It's not massively remarkable in terms of the actual songs, but it's pleasant enough. Although, perhaps "pleasant" is an insult, in its own way.

A really solid album throughout. The highlights are obvious and there's not really a poor song amongst them. "Mr Blue Sky", whilst being one of the most overplayed songs of all time, still stands up and sounds wonderful.

There was nothing egregiously wrong with this album, but nothing that really made it stand out, either. It was pleasant enough, but I'm never going to go back to it.

I enjoyed this album far more than I expected. It’s cheesy at times, sure, but it’s like a more distorted take on new wave and New Romantics, and I’m here for that.

An unexpected treat. I was unfamiliar with Calexico and went into the album pretty blind. What a delight it turned out to be! The mariachi infused indie/jazz/folk offerings here are splendid. I found myself listening to not only this, but a whole number of Calexico albums as I got lost in their pretty unique sound. This album was awesome and has turned me onto a band that I apparently really love.

Silly and juvenile, but genuinely fun at times.

As a big Genesis fan, I knew that I was going to enjoy this. Yes, it's very '80s sounding, but the atmosphere that he invokes is wonderful and really pulls you in. There's a melancholy, particularly in the opening track, which really sets the tone well. Very enjoyable.

I'm a fan of Iggy Pop, but I don't think this album holds up anywhere near as well as "Raw Power" and the like. Obviously, "I Want to be your Dog" is a stone-cold classic, and there is stuff to enjoy here, but it's not one that I'll find myself going back to all too often.

There's parts of this album that I really enjoyed, then parts which were really not up to much. "Just One Fix" has an awesome industrial guitar riff that really grabbed me, but much of the rest of the album fell a little flat for me.

Not reaching the heights of any of The Smiths albums, but not terrible. I didn't hate it, but I can't say I fell in love with any of the songs, either.

This is really not my cup of tea. I’m not saying it’s bad, but just not for me.

A decent album with some major high points. The opening track, “Mother’s Little Helper”, does set the bar a little too high as it’s probably the best track on the record. There’s some pretty standard blues rock and a few other crackers. Worthy of four stars.

I guess that was technically an album.

Whilst not delivering as many singles and big "moments" as the follow-up album, "Coming Up", this is a fantastic album. More experimental than you might expect from Suede if you're only familiar with their bigger singles, but it's just a great journey from start to finish.

This isn't my favourite The Prodigy album, but it's still fantastic. I'm more of a fan of "Experience", as it goes. However, I'm a sucker for a bit of industrial, so this ticks that box nicely. I've fond memories of seeing them live as a teenager and this brings them all back.

Obviously, Eric Clapton is an odious human. That said, lets focus on the music. Eric Clapton is obviously capable of making some great music, this is apparent with the Blues Breakers album and his work with Cream. However, this album is not it. It's lacking in genuine punch or emotion, ending up feeling like the white-washed take on blues that it is. It sounds like it was made for bankers to listen to on the boats rather than channelling everything that makes the blues worth listening to. The second half of the album is better than the first, but yeah, not great.

An enjoyable album throughout. Rather poppy, but some lovely melodies. Worth a revisit at a later date.

I totally understand why her sound is divisive, but I found a lot here to love. The folk sound with flecks of Bjork here and there is something I can definitely get behind. You do have to be in the right mood for it, mind.

A great slice of mod. Whilst it doesn't have the singles of some of their other albums, it's solid from start to finish and bristling with energy.

An unexpected treat. When MGMT were new on the scene, I'd somewhat dismissed them for just having a few catchy singles and never paid the album much attention. That was a mistake. Whilst having the aforementioned singles, there's a lot more going on in this album. A kind of faux-pop which deviates into spacey and Bowie-inspired tracks. Absolutely excellent.

Whilst not the greatest Tom Waits album, this record defines the end of Waits' first phase, that of a singer-songwriter channelling the energy of every dive bar in the US in a piano and guitar driven Cab Calloway-esque explosion. It's not the best example of that early sound by any means, but it's still excellent and still worth anyone's time. As someone else so wonderfully said, Tom Waits finds more beauty in the gutter than most could find in the Garden of Eden.

It's pretty much exactly what you'd expect from a '60s Donovan album. Full of folksy guitar and a dash of psychedelia. I don't think it's a masterpiece, but it's a solid album and worth a listen.

This album transports you to a beach-side jazz bar in Cuba, resplendent with mojitos galore. In reality, it was a rainy day in Birmingham. Any album which can paint a scene and transport you there is worthy of praise and I'm sure to listen to this again the next time I'm enjoying a strong rum-based drink.

Fantastic from start to finish.

The album starts off as an old school rock 'n' roll affair, nothing too surprising. It does take a side step into the rockabilly at times, with tracks that would hint at the sound that The Stray Cats would go on to perfect a little later. Nothing too extraordinary here for the modern listener, but enjoyable, nonetheless.

I've enjoyed most of Damon Albarn's projects over the years. This one isn't the most exciting, but it's still a solid album throughout.

Whilst a little long, and god knows that "The Party" should've been cut from this album, this is a massive sounding album full of catchy tracks. Electronica isn't my genre, but I enjoyed this a lot overall. Honestly, just the quality of the production and how big these songs sound is enough to make it a good time.

I love Neil Young, but I thought that this didn't match the heights of his solo collection. Pretty middle of the road for the most part. As a fan of Joni Mitchell, I did enjoy the cover of "Woodstock" as a curio, but that's about it.

It's '80s rock in the same vein as Guns 'n' Roses, so if you're into that then you'll probably enjoy this. The sound reminded me a lot of Danzig, at times, which is odd as I haven't thought about them in many years. Something which I haven't seen other people talking about is the impressive production quality of the whole thing. The guitars sound massive and the drums are powerful, but that's perhaps not too surprising when you consider that Rick Rubin was at the helm.

I'm a massive Tom Waits fan, so it's always nice when an album of his pops up on this list. The atmosphere created in this album is arguably better than the songs themselves, as it's not his best collection in pure music terms. No one can paint a scene quite like Tom Waits, and this holds true here.

Not Springsteen’s most cohesive album, but probably his best collection of great singles.

An interesting album overall. It has its high points, such as "Bucky Done Gun" and "Hombre", but it's not a slam dunk throughout.

Always happy to listen to The Prodigy. This album is a wonderful mix of their dance roots with a mean streak of industrial mixed in. Still sounds awesome to this day.

I think I was already familiar with about half of this album as it's been used in adverts and various forms of media over the last couple of decades. It's solid, good at times, although it does drift into "background music" territory a touch too often.

This was a surprisingly interesting album. It started off as a solid, if slightly unremarkable, rap record. The second half, though, takes on quite a different tone. There's some jazz influence and more than a little Gil Scott-Heron rising to the surface. I'd say the first half is fine, and I'd have been happy giving it a 3/5, but the second half really elevates things. Definitely worth sticking with.

Still holds up. A nasty-sounding punk album with plenty of bite. Damn near perfect.

A great album from a legend in his twilight. Obviously, there's a lot of covers on here, but some of them are so good that they've transcended the genre entirely. There's a pathos to Cash's vocals here which is so powerful.

I was very excited for this, but I really didn’t vibe with it. It sounds incredibly dated. An amazing talent, for sure, but not something I’ll return to in a hurry. Couple of bangers, mind.

Pretty middle of the road throughout. It's not really "bad", but it didn't elicit anything from me, either.

Thoroughly enjoyable album. Starts with "Never Let Me Down Again", which is probably the best song on the album. That said, it's not as if there's a sharp dip in quality. Great album.

Yeaaaaa boiiiiiii! It holds up pretty well after all these years for the most part. the "yeah boi" does get a little tedious about half way through the album, but overall it's still fantastic. Lyrically wonderful and some great beats throughout. I'm kind of on the fence between 4 and 5. Either would be fair, I think. ... "YEA BOIIIIII" ... Yeah, four stars it is.

This is tough to rate. I love John Lee Hooker, he’s an absolute legend. That said, most of this album suffers from the same thing a lot of ‘80s blues albums suffer from: it’s massively overproduced and has too much going on. All the extra guitars and horns etc just don’t need to be there. The last couple of tracks, though, are much more stripped down and sound far better for it.

Technically very impressive, but I'm not sure that I had that much fun listening to it. I do enjoy some jazz, but this didn't hit right for me. I'm sure I would feel differently if I'd been listening to it in a whisky bar with a cigar, but I wasn't. I was sat at my desk working.

The joke wore thin quite quickly for me.

Some great tracks. It can be a little ponderous at times, but overall a great album.

A good album. Limited themes overall, but decent.

Eminently important and full of impressive soundscapes for the time, but it's definitely something of a museum piece for the modern listener. It's worth checking out, along with some of their other work, just so that you can get a feel for their influence and the impact it had on what was to come. That said, it's not terribly exciting in and of itself to listeners who have become accustomed to the more sonically impactful bands that followed.

Some absolute classics on here, of course. The album still sounds great as a whole and, considering the high points, is a must-listen for anyone into rock or rock-adjacent genres.

I'm not sure what I was expecting, but this was better than that. Often dreamy, often with a little edge, it's an interesting listen. You can hear a lot of Joy Division in parts of this album, which I found particularly interesting.

I like a lot of the songs on here, but not as an album. I think it can become grating after a few songs, but individually they’re a lot of fun.

Timeless, accessible, full of hits, and somehow not cheesy.

A very interesting album. At its best it combines poetry with jazz, and at its worst it's swinging wildly without a target. The positives outweigh the negatives, and it's definitely something that any rap fan should check out.

It's certainly limited and showing its age, but I enjoyed it a lot more than I expected. It's rather one-dimensional with its lyrical content, but the beats are catchy and it has a charm.

A unique and enjoyable soundscape. I didn't expect to hear Jarvis Cocker on there, so that was a nice surprise. Was also a bit surprised to actually recognise bits and pieces from throughout the album. Interesting, at the very least.

I don't like The Police. I respect their place in music history and respect their song writing, but I've never actually enjoyed their music. This album didn't change that, but the track "Synchronicity II" was bloody good.

It was like Joy Division, but replace everything good about Joy Division with something much, much worse.

Decent enough, but not Bowie's best showing.

It's not my cup of tea, but it's certainly a sound of the time. "Crazy Love" was everywhere for a while back then.

An absolute masterpiece of an album. "Carpet Crawlers" is an all-time great.

It's a shame that Kanye West has become such a deranged tool as the music he used to make was top tier. This album is fuckin' incredible and has to be enjoyed outside of the scope of West himself.

The album still sounds as fantastic now as when it released. Sure, it's a touch long, but when the only real criticism I have is that there's a bit too much of something I start sounding like my missus.

Sweet and twee, certainly a product of its time in that respect. It's well crafted, though, and the instrumentation is suitably delicate throughout. It's too long, that's for sure, but there's a lot to love about this.

Fantastic from start to finish. A chilled out and funky album with plenty of surprisingly cool guitar solos on it. A must listen.

“You ain’t a beauty, but yeah, you’re alright”.

This really grew on me as I listened to it. It's just a fantastic album. Kind of a missing link in English music, in a way.

Sensational album. I've been aware of Dinosaur Jr. for a long time, even catching a bit of their set at Download Festival many years ago, but I've never actually sat down and listened to their stuff. Turns out it's excellent. Who knew?

Wonderfully technically impressive with moments of true genius, but it's a long time to listen to a solo piano.

This grew on me as I went through the album. It's rough and unrefined at times, but there is a sincerity that shines through.

A work of genius.

I listened to a lot of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs when they first hit the scene, but I was living abroad when this album released and never really listened to it. Shame, because it's fucking excellent.

Stunning.

Legendary.

It's hard to imagine a more mainstream focused rock album.

A wonderful album which swells into life and surges forward with honesty, complexity, and sincerity.