Disappointing. I'm familiar with later Beasties material but hadn't listened to this. I knew Fight for your right and was expecting a broader approach but...yeah, a lot of this is trash. Admittedly it has some charm in the puerility of the lyrics and the roughness of the production, but mostly its just sloppy. The beats and scratching are all over the place and a lot of the lyrics are VERY dated. The beasties were never the most experimental act - they have limited flows, but at least the later material has a psychedelic, cartoonist approach to the lyrics. This is pretty much all just frat-house nonsense. 'Girls' in particular is trash. I know they matured and apologised for this kind of material later in their careers. They were young and dumb and didn't know any better. YOU CAN DO BETTER THAN THIS. This is Brett Kavanagh's "I LIKE BEER" whining stretched out to full album length and performed by Gilbert Gottfried.

Already listened many times. A classic. Only avoiding top score because the next two MA lps are even better

An odd mixture. Some elements sound remarkably modern and varied, some have dated horribly. The distance between good songs (Mrs Robinson, Hazy Shade) and the bad (Punkys Dilemma) are huge. Clearly not a terrible album...but not as good as it thinks it is.

I adored this album at the time and was worried that it wouldn't hold up after all this time and...it kinda does? The lyrics aren't necessarily the deepest, and what at the time sounded futuristic now just sounds very 90s, but I do feel there are decent enough songs underneath it all to keep it together. While the singles (Queer, Stupid Girl, Only happy when it rains) are clearly the most immediate, some of the other tracks are surprisingly good. Downsides - the rhythms, while having multiple layers, are pretty loopy and repetitive, and some lyrics are a little "15 year oldest journal entry". That said, Shirley Manson's whole vibe does elevate it above bands like Republica that were doing similar things. Definitely worth checking out if you're not familiar.

Reasonably varied for what is, effectively, a pretty standard blues-rock album. A nice range of guitar tones and just the right balance of sloppiness/tightness. With that said, after listening I can only really recall one song - La Grange. A good example of the genre, but unlikely to convert you if you're not already a fan.

Having only known Cars, this was an intriguing prospect - also the first non-guitar album I've had. At the time it must have sounded like the future, but in retrospect the sound palette is quite limited, both in terms of the synthetic noises and the melodic structure. Cars is a clear stand out, with Metal and Complex also notable, but I fear the rest ofbthe songwriting just isn't that memorable. When he gets it right though, it's clear why he was so popular at the time.

Disappointing. I'm familiar with later Beasties material but hadn't listened to this. I knew Fight for your right and was expecting a broader approach but...yeah, a lot of this is trash. Admittedly it has some charm in the puerility of the lyrics and the roughness of the production, but mostly its just sloppy. The beats and scratching are all over the place and a lot of the lyrics are VERY dated. The beasties were never the most experimental act - they have limited flows, but at least the later material has a psychedelic, cartoonist approach to the lyrics. This is pretty much all just frat-house nonsense. 'Girls' in particular is trash. I know they matured and apologised for this kind of material later in their careers. They were young and dumb and didn't know any better. YOU CAN DO BETTER THAN THIS. This is Brett Kavanagh's "I LIKE BEER" whining stretched out to full album length and performed by Gilbert Gottfried.

I am, in general, NOT a fan of Iron Maiden. So I was quite surprised at how much I enjoyed this. Usually I dislike the wailing operatic vocals and the pseudo-classical guitar harmonies. This is much rougher and punkier. Parts reminded me of Motorhead, early Metallica, Deep Purple - it feels like a rock band rather than an AI fed a copy of the Simarillion and a Bach symphony. It's not a 5 - if you wanted a great metal album you can find much better options - but as someone who thought he would hate it, it was a pleasant surprise. Lyrics arent the deepest, but hey, what did you expect. Would be 3.5 if this app did half points...

One of those albums I haven't listened to in years because I played it so much in the 90s. Listening back, it absolutely stands up. Music is simplistic, but tightly performed and impactful. Three of the best performers at their respective instruments - this album has no flab, no filler, no instrumental breakdowns that go on too long. The singles may be the most familiar, but every song is strong. I was at a rave earlier this year where one DJ, in the middle of a techno/hard-core set, dropped 'stay away'. Crowd went off. How many 30 year old tracks do you know that could do that? An utterly perfect album.

An interesting combination of folk, country, jazz - even elements of chanson. A very enjoyable listen, although it blended into the background a little. Constant Craving is clearly the standout song, but nothing was appalling or offensive. Then again, nothing particularly grabbed me either. It might be a little bloodless - very much lacked any kind of anger or passion, but then it's not that kind of album. Would probably be a 3.5 - even one better song would push it to a 4. A nice album, but I'm in no rush to put it on again.

A surprisingly good album. I never heard it at the time and was surprised by the depth and variety. Even After All and Sunday Shining are the standouts, but there are so many great little moments - the use of the Amen break in Ride on, the sweet little rock n roll rhythm in Your Love Gets Sweeter, the trip-hop atmosphere on Supreme... The lyrics are quite stream-of-consciousness - sometimes this works really well, sometimes it's a little repetitive, but as an album to put on for a laid back Sunday evening, you couldn't do better. So close to being 5 star, but the lyrics (and a couple of filler tracks in I Need A Lover and Red Rolled and Seen) drop it to a 4. Well worth a listen though.

Meh. The only Big Star song I knew was Jeff Buckley's cover of Kangaroo - a beautiful, wistful lullaby of a song. Wasn't sure what to expect of this album and...it's fine? I guess? There's elements of Bowie, Folk, AC/DC style rock and some pleasant guitar parts, but it doesn't really add up to much. It may well have been a great example of the style at the time, but other than a pleasant melody on Give Me Another Chance, nothing really sticks with me.

Great stuff - musically intricate and funky, and to me, surprisingly cynical. These are not all happy upbeat songs. Great psychedelic lead guitar, warm 70s production, beautiful use of melody. Only a four as some of the lyrics left a bit of a sour taste.

This was a real surprise. Despite their 'nutty boy' reputation, I knew some of their songs had a surprising depth - Our House is a classic, and I knew Tomorrow's just another day before listening - but this is closer to Ghost Town by The Specials, or even some Cardiacs stuff in terms of depth and complexity. It still has its slightly silly moments, and I'm not sure a track like New Delhi would get played much any more, but I'll definitely be listening again. Madness are much more than just Baggy Trousers and silly walks.

A dear friend of mine is an obsessive Springsteen fan, so it saddens me to o ly give this a 3, but I think the whole idea just doesn't do much for me. Born To Run is a fantastic pop song, Meeting across the river was interesting and foreboding, tenth avenue freeze out has a nice groove...but it almost feels like a clichéd parody of what people imagine Springsteen to be. I understand why people love him - and I think some of his later stuff is incredible - but this just doesn't do much for me.

Brilliant. I'm 50-50 on REM, loving some songs and finding others either twee or meandering, but this album was flawless. A few songs I knew well (Man on the Moon, Sidewinder) and others I didn't. Drive, in particular, is an incredible opener and totally sets the mood. Each track is unique emotionally and musically. Faultless.

"I don't believe in an interventionist god" is one of the great opening lines in modern music, and I love so much of Nick Cave's work...so why did this leave me somewhat cold? This came after a really strong, varied album, and it was just a little monotonous. 'Into My Arms' is a gorgeous ballad, but songs like People Ain't No Good or West Country Girl just felt empty. The melodies and piano are uneventful, and some lyrics just feel like they've been taken from a diary entry unedited. What might seem to some like heart-rending honesty just felt a little teenage. I was waiting for a 'Mercy Seat' or 'Henry Lee' or 'Red right hand' - stories with dark, intelligent lyrics and intriguing jnstrumentation, but apart from a few nice violin parts from Warren Ellis, little stuck with me. Maybe will reward repeated listens?

YES. I listened to this album a lot in the 90s and I think it stands up. Admittedly the production is a little 80s in places, and some tracks are a little loop-centric, but when it hits, it hits. Almost the whole album works brilliantly. In terms of aggressive industrial metal, Just One Fix, NWO, Jesus built my hotrod and TV II are absolutely standards. The only thing keeping it from a 5 is the fact that the impact is lessened by the mixdown, and that some of the later tracks are relatively weaker. Would love to hear this properly remastered.

An incredibly unusual album. Needs further listens, but like a combination of the strangest ends of 80s pop - like Scritti Pollitti doing Kate Bush covers, or Duran Duran produced by Robert Smith. I honestly don't know of I like it or not - which usually means I'll love it in about 6 months.

3 is unfair - this is either a 1 or a 5 depending on your preferences. 5 - you really feel like you're there, in a small venue with everyone going crazy. At its greatest, these are some of the purest, most intense representations of rock and roll in existence. 1 - it's rough as hell. You regularly can't make out the guitar or bass,seeing as it's a live album, and every single song is just a variant of 12 bar blues, so it's very repetitive. But still...

As a man in his 40s, I'd be fascinated to hear a younger person's opinion of this. In places, it's great. Faith and Father Figure are two of the greatest pop hits of all time, and it has a variety lacking from a lot of pop albums of the era. George's voice is always incredible too. And yet... Some of the work that was so daring at the time now just sounds silly to me. I Want Your Sex is laughable. Equally, some of the lyrics have a very different edge since he came out. What had previously sounded innocent feels a little predatory. On top of that, the production feels massively dated, and not in a cool, retro way. As a person, I hugely admire George Michael. As a musician, I prefer his later work.

I've never really been a fan of Elvis, and this hasn't changed my opinion one bit. In The Ghetto is a lovely piece of music, albeit dated, and Power Of My Love at least has some pep to it. The rest is mawkish, clichéd saccharine gloop. I know, rationally, why Elvis was copied and idolised so much, but this feels like watching a drunk tribute act.

As someone with a passing interest in Dylan, I was surprised that this album had almost all of my favourite songs by him. Homesick blues, Maggie's farm and baby blue are absolute perfection, and there's several other great tracks. Also lovely to hear the laughter at the start of one of the takes, showing him as an actual person. With that said, the instrumentation is a little repetitive in places, and as good as it is, it falls just short of perfection.

This was an unusual listen. For an album that was held up as an example of society going wrong in the 90s, it's somewhat innocent in places. It's easy to forget that this was a 19yo Snoop. With all the developments in rap over the next 30 years, it's almost sweet to hear him rap about how 'his momma ain't home', and how the most degrading thing a woman could do is 'lick his balls'. Despite this, it's obviously misogynist in a lot of places, and also incredibly repetitive. Almost every track has him explaining how he 'don't love them ho's'. When it works, it works brilliantly, and the production is absolute peak Dre...but once you've heard Gin and Juice and Murder Was The Case, do you really need the other tracks?

Cohen is such a difficult one for me. Much like MF Doom or the Beastie Boys, he only really has one flow, one poetic structure. Most of the time it's so good, and paired with that amazing gravelly voice, that you don't really mind. Musically, the songs are also incredibly simple. There's no real development or variety. It's kind of like brickwork - just one block after another on loop. All of which sounds like I didn't like this, which is unfair - the track You Want It Darker is a brilliant opener, and the whole mood of the thing is impressive. It's just that when you compare it to something like Bowie's Blackstar, it's a bit...dull? I gave it a second listen, and there are some nice rhyming couplets, but apart from the title track nothing really sticks in the memory.

Honestly, hard to be objective with this as it's something I've listened to so many times in the past, but I do think it's as close to a perfect album as you can get. Every track deserves its place - yes, even Fitter Happier - the variety of moods and sounds is unparalleled, and I don't think the quality drops anywhere. Even tracks I didn't love at the time have grown on me to the point where they feel like they've always been there. One addition - if you've listened to it so many times you feel bored, try to find the remastered 'OKNOTOK' version from a couple of years ago. The remaster brought out some parts of tracks I hadn't noticed before and gave it a new sheen, and the bsides from that era are also definitely worth a listen.

I used to joke that Motorhead only had one song. Listening to this album, that's totally unfair. They have two. However, when they're good, they're VERY good. Ace of Spades is a classic, and a lot of other tracks have a really fun swing to them missing from a lot of metal. Unfortunately, they really don't have many tricks up their sleeve. Almost every song has the same key change going up a major 2nd. Eddie Clarke uses the same guitar lick in at least three of his solos, and some of the lyrics (especially 'Jailbait') REALLY don't stand up. Still, what an opening track eh?

It must be quite painful to be known for other people's versions of your songs. I didn't recognise the name, so looked him up after listening. He seems to have been an important, influential figure. So it was a shame I found this so dull. 'Everybody's talking' is clearly the standout song, but even that is nowhere near as good as the Nilsson version. It also sounds really rough - not in a 'it captures the raw essence' way, but in a 'sounds like he messed up that guitar take and couldn't be bothered to do it again. Compared to his contemporaries, everything felt very pedestrian and dull. With other albums I've not liked, I've at least understood why they were on the list. This one? I'm at a loss.

When they get it right, U2 are one of the few bands that can do epic stadium rock correctly. Beautiful Day is a perfect example and a great opener. Stuck in a moment is a pleasant enough ballad type. After that it gets really, really bad. The songs are bland and inoffensive, but Bono's lyrics are truly awful. They've done so many better albums than this that to have this appear on a top 1000 list is genuinely insulting.

I went straight from an 8 track disco album to this sprawling 40+ track monster. A very, very strange album. Biting funk guitar, punk-country vibes, an unexpected appearance of the Jackass theme music. It feels like the roughness of the tracks is a deliberate choice, but there's enough variety and depth that I'll want to come back to it. I've a feeling I've just scratched the surface with this one...

I can't claim to be objective about this - this was one of the albums that hugely influenced me as a teen and I still know practically every note. It's not *completely* perfect - one or two songs might go on a little longer than needed, but it's so close as to make no difference. The great songs are flawless, and the majority are really, REALLY good. Incredible vocals and lead guitar, brilliant variety in songs, huge production. Black Hole Sun and the other singles are quite well known, but 4th of July, Limo Wreck and Fresh Tendrils are also some of my favourite songs ever. I mean, OK, 'Half' is still awful, but you've gotta let the bassist sing one. Right?

Growing up, my father loved Paul Weller, and I really loved The Jam and his combination of spiky but well written lyrics and punky guitars with a funky edge. So this was an odd listen. It's not that it's 'bad' per se. You're the best think and My ever changing mood are gorgeous songs. It's just that it doesn't seem to know what it is. Some of the instrumentals sound like they're designed to be background music on a mid-afternoon property development TV show, but the 'A Gospel' is like very early hip-hop, which is pretty far stylistically from any of Weller's other stuff. I admire musicians who think outside of the box, and it's only the variety that makes this a 3 rather than a 2. Unusual, but not in a way that makes me want to go back to it...

I have a love-hate relationship with disco. I admire it for its history in gay and black scenes and enjoy the beautiful use of harmony, but on the other hand, I don't do cocaine, and it feels like everyone involved in this album did. You can't deny le Freak and I Want Your Love are classic tunes, but nothing else on the album reaches that height. I'm used to 8m long dance tracks, but usually they have some level of progression and variety, and some of these just go on and on. Again, as a collection of songs this is fine. Does it really work as an album? Not sure.

80s hip hop just sounds so naive and pleasant in retrospect. This feels like that got halfway through making a concept album about designer drugs and addiction, and then decided to stick a couple of party tunes at the front. It's messy and odd, bit most of the lyrics hold up, and Dowhatchulike and The Humpty Dance are still solid gold bangers. Am I likely to play anything else off here again? Probably not. Still...never looking at a Burger King the same way again.

I forget sometimes that Pretenders were basically a punk band. This album has some great songs - I never knew Private Life was a Pretenders song - and you can hear bits of so many bands rather followed afterwards. It's not perfect and is quite scrappy in places, but makes perfect sense for a list like this. If, like me, you assumed they were much more of a pop band, the rawness of some of the tracks will be a pleasant surprise.

I really like the idea of the Velvet Underground, and some of their other work (white light white heat, Venus in furs) is inspirational. This? Less so. I've heard that the first Velvets album only sold 10,000 copies,but that everyone who bought a copy formed a band.on the basis of this, they were all the kind of pseudo lo-fi, feckless, boring indie bands I despise. It's not all bad. Candy Says,Pale Blue Eyes and beginning to see the light are nice enough. I just can't get away from the conceited indie boys that inevitably followed

Compared to the perfect arrangements of the beatles, this is somewhat of a primal scream. There's a genuine anger and angst in places. Unfortunately, as songs, most of them aren't that good. Working Class Hero is particularly biting, and Well Well Well is almost punk in places, but beyond that, nothing much appeals. You can hear his emotion in songs like Mother, but it drifts towards self pity - and to be honest, 'Love is Real and Real is Love' is one of the worst opening lyrics I've heard. Ironically, I found myself wishing Ringo had been involved, as some of the rhythms were so turgid, his ingenuity would have been a great help. Even letting Yoko go crazy would at least have made it more interesting...

A definite step up from some of the rap albums I've had so far. This has a variety of flows, some interesting lyrical concepts, and a couple of absolute classics in Can I Kick It and Bonita Applebum. Unfortunately, some of it just didn't seem to land, and I kept thinking of it as a great stepping stone to future stuff. Useful as a historical great, but not something I'll be going back to compared to, say Low End Theory. A high 3/ low 4

Pretty much a perfect album, although I probably err in favour of the later Ultra due to Mark Bell's production. All the tracks are great, with a perfect balance of strange experimental noises and perfectly written, arranged songs. In particular, World in my Eyes and Enjoy the Silence are two of the greatest synth-pop songs ever written. Definitely one people should experience for themselves.