863
Albums Rated
3.82
Average Rating
79%
Complete
226 albums remaining
Featured Review
The Band
The Band • 5/5
not only is this one of my favorite albums, but i would consider this a 'desert island' album for me. truly one of my albums i turn to if i need to listen to something comforting - it's like a warm blanket for me. i prefer this one to the debut 'music from big pink' because although i think 'big pink' has higher highs, this album is a lot more consistent. the production on here is home-y, country, kinda lo-fi. some of robbie robertson's best songwriting is on here. all five members of the band shine here at different parts, whether it's playing or singing. it just feels so homemade and so lovely. the famous songs on here are great but to me the standout has always been the closer, 'king harvest (has surely come)' which, to me, may be the most underrated band song of all time. it's an album i cannot be unbiased about, i think it's nearly perfect.
Rating Distribution
Rating Timeline
Taste Profile
1960s
Favorite Decade
Psychedelic-rock
Favorite Genre
US
Top Origin
Enthusiast
Rater Style ?
262
5-Star Albums
29
1-Star Albums
Breakdown
By Genre
By Decade
By Origin
Albums
You Love More Than Most
| Album | You | Global | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Public Image: First Issue
Public Image Ltd.
|
5 | 2.42 | +2.58 |
|
We're Only In It For The Money
The Mothers Of Invention
|
5 | 2.46 | +2.54 |
|
The Modern Dance
Pere Ubu
|
5 | 2.48 | +2.52 |
|
Pictures At An Exhibition
Emerson, Lake & Palmer
|
5 | 2.64 | +2.36 |
|
Movies
Holger Czukay
|
5 | 2.71 | +2.29 |
|
Group Sex
Circle Jerks
|
5 | 2.74 | +2.26 |
|
Faust IV
Faust
|
5 | 2.78 | +2.22 |
|
Ys
Joanna Newsom
|
5 | 2.8 | +2.2 |
|
Guitar Town
Steve Earle
|
5 | 2.81 | +2.19 |
|
Sweetheart Of The Rodeo
The Byrds
|
5 | 2.83 | +2.17 |
You Love Less Than Most
| Album | You | Global | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Appetite For Destruction
Guns N' Roses
|
1 | 3.74 | -2.74 |
|
Hybrid Theory
Linkin Park
|
1 | 3.39 | -2.39 |
|
The Downward Spiral
Nine Inch Nails
|
1 | 3.35 | -2.35 |
|
The Wall
Pink Floyd
|
2 | 4.14 | -2.14 |
|
Pyromania
Def Leppard
|
1 | 3.13 | -2.13 |
|
I'm Your Man
Leonard Cohen
|
1 | 3.1 | -2.1 |
|
Maxinquaye
Tricky
|
1 | 3.04 | -2.04 |
|
Felt Mountain
Goldfrapp
|
1 | 3 | -2 |
|
The Contino Sessions
Death In Vegas
|
1 | 2.91 | -1.91 |
|
Leftism
Leftfield
|
1 | 2.91 | -1.91 |
Artists
Favorites
| Artist | Albums | Average |
|---|---|---|
| Beatles | 7 | 5 |
| Bob Dylan | 6 | 5 |
| The Byrds | 4 | 5 |
| Bruce Springsteen | 4 | 5 |
| David Bowie | 7 | 4.43 |
| Stevie Wonder | 4 | 4.75 |
| Led Zeppelin | 4 | 4.75 |
| The Kinks | 4 | 4.75 |
| The Who | 4 | 4.75 |
| Joni Mitchell | 4 | 4.75 |
| Kate Bush | 3 | 5 |
| The Velvet Underground | 3 | 5 |
| Creedence Clearwater Revival | 3 | 5 |
| Steely Dan | 3 | 5 |
| Nirvana | 3 | 5 |
| Black Sabbath | 3 | 5 |
| Jimi Hendrix | 3 | 5 |
| Blur | 3 | 5 |
| Tom Waits | 5 | 4.4 |
| The Rolling Stones | 5 | 4.4 |
| Neil Young | 4 | 4.5 |
| Miles Davis | 4 | 4.5 |
| R.E.M. | 3 | 4.67 |
| Queen | 3 | 4.67 |
| PJ Harvey | 3 | 4.67 |
| The Stooges | 3 | 4.67 |
| Yes | 2 | 5 |
| Sly & The Family Stone | 2 | 5 |
| Michael Jackson | 2 | 5 |
| Elliott Smith | 2 | 5 |
| Muddy Waters | 2 | 5 |
| The White Stripes | 2 | 5 |
| Marvin Gaye | 2 | 5 |
| Oasis | 2 | 5 |
| The Mothers Of Invention | 2 | 5 |
| King Crimson | 2 | 5 |
| Aretha Franklin | 2 | 5 |
| Cocteau Twins | 2 | 5 |
| John Lennon | 2 | 5 |
| Fela Kuti | 2 | 5 |
| The Flaming Lips | 2 | 5 |
| The Smiths | 2 | 5 |
| The Beach Boys | 2 | 5 |
| The Band | 2 | 5 |
| Talking Heads | 4 | 4.25 |
| Neil Young & Crazy Horse | 3 | 4.33 |
| Elvis Costello & The Attractions | 3 | 4.33 |
Least Favorites
| Artist | Albums | Average |
|---|---|---|
| Slipknot | 2 | 1 |
| Goldfrapp | 2 | 1.5 |
| Sepultura | 2 | 1.5 |
Controversial
| Artist | Ratings |
|---|---|
| Leonard Cohen | 2, 5, 4, 1 |
| Portishead | 2, 5 |
| Pink Floyd | 5, 4, 2, 3 |
| Metallica | 2, 5, 4, 3 |
5-Star Albums (262)
View Album Wall
Popular Reviews
Arcade Fire
4/5
man there is a part of me that really genuinely likes arcade fire's music. has it become super cliche of this era of indie music? yeah probably. is it insufferably pretentious? yeah probably. idk there's something about it that just draws me to it. but then also, win butler is an asshole. and fuck win butler.
9 likes
Motörhead
5/5
i am pretty new to motorhead, but what i appreciate about this live album is that their sound, their energy translates INCREDIBLY WELL to a live setting. in the studio they are great, but live they are HUGE. this is just a balls to the wall live album, no holds barred. the playing is aggressive yet incredibly well done. and lemmy's vocals are iconic. just a great example of motorhead in their purest form.
8 likes
Rahul Dev Burman
4/5
see this is the exact kind of stuff i love to listen to in this project. an album i otherwise would have never listened to or even known about. is this album mindblowing? no. is it an interesting sample of music from another country? yes, absolutely. what i really liked is that it feels like a 70s spin on traditional indian music. there's some funky stuff here, for sure. does feel like corny 70s music sometimes, but i'm into that. really pleasant to listen to and is definitely relatively unique amongst all the other albums on this list. engaging and really fun to listen to.
7 likes
Soft Cell
4/5
a fun little new wave album. it gets a bit unabashedly horny at times (i'm looking at you 'sex dwarf') but honestly from the title, i don't know how you couldn't expect it. the production is very dated but in a charming way? like it's very silly and of the era, but i found it fun. the big song off here ('tainted love') is clearly the highlight, but there are other fun tracks here. i thought 'chips on my shoulder' was a fun little romp. but yeah, outside of the hit, nothing particularly mind-blowing here, but still fun.
5 likes
5/5
this one gets a lot of hype and to be honest, i agree with the hype. just a well made album overall, great melodies, a fun somewhat aggressive take on the britpop sound. i'd never listened to this one in full but knew a lot of the songs and i can say i will definitely come back to this one in the future.
5 likes
4-Star Albums (306)
1-Star Albums (29)
All Ratings
Carole King
5/5
what can I say, this is one of my favorite albums of all time. foundational. this was an album i fell in love with in college when i was feeling particularly sad and lonely and it really hit the spot. nowadays, i find a lot of comfort in this album. it's been through the bad and good times with me. this album was also one of my gateways to joni, laura nyro, james taylor, and by extension, gordon lightfoot, jim croce, and 70s singer-songwriters as a whole, one of my musical happy places. plus, is there a better 3 track run to open an album? bonus points for cat.
favorite songs:
the whole thing
Bob Marley & The Wailers
3/5
boy howdy i do not get this one. to be clear, i think the album is fine. even well made. i think the appeal of reggae is one i can appreciate as an outsider but it has never really been my thing, and perhaps unfairly, is something i just associate with that one guy in your college dorm who's got a hackeysack collection. i think this one is just too laid back for me. but i will still keep an open mind and hope that something in the genre clicks for me!
favorite song(s): stir it up
Pink Floyd
5/5
even though pink floyd is adjacent to a lot of the "classic rock" music i got into in middle school, they are one band that i really have somehow avoided until now. my parents just weren't really into them, so i never got exposed and i think a lot of what they play on the radio was just so overplayed that i never really gave them a fair shot. despite that, for years i told myself and others that i didn't like them at all. well here is a shot at it for real this time.
i actually did enjoy this album. i can't say i like it as much on the first listen as people seem to rave about it, but i can see myself enjoying it more with repeated listens. i think the quality of songs here are better than the typical radio fare that gets played. just interesting, progressive stuff. it's cool. even the title track, which used to bug me for it's overplay on radio really works well in the sequence of the album and i was able to listen to it with new ears and appreciate the sentiment of it more than i ever have before. fun stuff.
favorite song(s):
Shine On You Crazy Diamond (both)
Have a Cigar
Wish You Were Here
The Last Shadow Puppets
3/5
for an album from a member of a band i like that is an homage to an era of music i like, i really did not care much for this one. it was fine. nothing really stood out to me. it was not aggressive enough for me to like it as arctic monkeys-adjacent, and it didn't grip me enough as much of the music of the era it is an homage to does. really felt middle of the road for me, and not in a good way.
Leonard Cohen
2/5
boy i don't think this should have been my introduction to leonard cohen. i'm not familiar enough with his music, so the whole "released while he was dying" thing does not really hit for me and personally, this was a bit of a slog. god i'm sorry this album is so boring for me. and boy i really can't get past his voice on this one. it feels like he's barely singing at all. look, i know, i know! i think it's just not for me.
Beatles
5/5
this is a foundational album for me. although i love all the beatles' music like my children, i am going to get a little real here. the draw of the beatles is their songwriting and their innovative production - so from that standpoint, this album is one of the lesser beatles albums. it is before they hit their creative stride, and almost half of the album being covers does not really help. the covers are not even bad covers, they're just covers and i don't think anyone really listens to the beatles FOR the covers. but this album is really of it's time, that's just how it was done. that all said, i do still really love this album
Prince
5/5
my first experience with a prince album in its entirety, and to be honest, i am really digging this one. fun and funky and you can tell that he was functioning on a different plane with this one. just very creative and interesting and I feel like this album holds up incredibly well, despite it being 35 years old at this point.
favorite track(s):
housequake
the ballad of dorothy parker
starfish and coffee
if i was your girlfriend
i could never take the place of your man
adore
Beastie Boys
3/5
an fun album for sure. a handful of these tracks are iconic for good reason. that being said, outside of that handful, there's not a lot that i feel is incredible. not bad! just not the upper echelon. obviously a lot of the production of this album sounds like raising hell from run-dmc, and i find myself mentally making that comparison, and i feel like i appreciate run-dmc's flow better. idk there's just something about the party boy rap style that i just can't get past. also boy there are a few references that do not hold up in a modern context and feel pretty immature. still i thought it was a fun listen!
favorite song(s):
rhymin and stealin
girls
fight for your right
slow and low
Beyoncé
3/5
not the biggest fan of this one. not really the target audience for this album, and that's ok. none of the songs really resonated with me all that much and i found it hard to connect with. part of the problem i had was the production, which wasn't bad, but is a lot more clean and shinier than i prefer. overall, i thought it was alright, but really not for me.
5/5
yeah this is a good one. it just all really flows together to tell a narrative. i really enjoyed the quality of the songwriting (catchy hooks) and the style. listening to it really shows why it is a pillar of classic rock. this was the only bowie album i have ever listened to in full, so i am excited to explore more of his back catalog!
favorite song(s):
five years
moonage daydream
star
hang on to yourself
suffragette city
rock n roll suicide
Wilco
5/5
this is such a weird thing to say but this is an album that i love that i haven't really gotten that into. in my opinion, it's a great listen, one of the pinnacles of 00s indie, and yet i haven't really come back to it all that often. but it was an important album to me during my sad boy era. in particular, "jesus, etc." is one of my favorite songs of the last 20 or so years. it was nice to revisit this album, like seeing an old friend.
favorite song(s):
i am trying to break your heart
war on war
jesus, etc.
i'm the man who loves you
Shivkumar Sharma
4/5
pretty cool album. very chill, serene, and calming. not something i would ordinarily listen to but i am glad i did. this is the sort of thing i am participating in this project for, to be exposed to music i ordinarily am not. that being said, i don't necessarily think this one is going to be one i go back to often, but i can see myself listening to this in moments where i need a mental reset.
as this was my real first exposure to hindustani classical music, i'm not sure how to properly rate it - I have listened to a lot of music that was inspired by this kind of music in western music, but not the real deal. so i'm not sure if this is considered an all-timer of the genre, but i think it was a great first listen to a genre i am woefully ill-exposed to.
The Magnetic Fields
4/5
this is an album i have heard of for years and have never dove into. i think a big part of it is the runtime, and boy howdy, yeah... this is a long one. obviously the concept is interesting, especially with the length involved, but i think due to this, the quality is a bit hit or miss. i mean, realistically, how could you write 69 incredible songs in such a time period for one project? and there is some fun stuff on here. there's also a bunch of not so fun stuff on here. mostly it's just an overly long quirky indie album. it's pleasant but boy it is a lot.
Paul Simon
4/5
Death In Vegas
1/5
this was a real nothing album to me. I found this album to be boring and a bit of a slog. a lot of these songs felt like they were just background music with nothing particularly interesting going on. I was expecting maybe something to build or like this album to go somewhere but it really didn't. I don't even hate this kind of music, per se, I just think this felt so uninspired and had no oomph. sorry, can't say I am a fan. I can confidently say I will never listen to this one again.
The War On Drugs
3/5
i think if i had listened to this album around the time it came out, i would have been into it. this was the kind of music i was into at the time, and i'm surprised i missed this one. where i stand now is i appreciate it, but it maybe did not hit as hard as it may have back then. i still enjoyed the sort of atmosphere-y approach to the heartland rock sound, but ultimately i found this album a little dull. there are some nice moments here, but you have to sit through a lot of the atmosphere to get there.
Lauryn Hill
4/5
i found this one to be very enjoyable. definitely understand the hype and why it is so celebrated. very refreshing mix of r&b and hip hop with great production and smart lyrics. personally i could take or leave the classroom "skits" (although i get that it is part of the whole experience/artistic vision) but otherwise it was a great album that i enjoyed a lot.
Bob Marley & The Wailers
4/5
my first bob marley experience left a little to be desired. but we are turning a new page with bob marley experience #2. not sure if i am in a better mood today or what, but i much preferred this album to my first listen, catch a fire. this album is a fun listen! it's got that classic reggae feel but feels a bit funky too, which is something i appreciate. feels a little more upbeat and less lethargic. I can see myself listening to this one again in the future, it feels more in line with what i like stylistically.
5/5
some really great, classic funk grooves here. to be honest, i feel like for a lot of people, this album might be boring, but this really just hits the spot for me. i knew cisco kid and the title track before listening to this album, so I kind of had an idea of what I was getting into, but the album cuts on this one really cemented it for me. just a good, groovy album.
Stevie Wonder
4/5
admittedly i am a pretty big stevie wonder guy so this is not a new album to me. i went through a pretty big stevie phase in college, but i haven't actually listened to this one in full for a long time, so it was nice to revisit. prior to this listen, i think this one ranked, for me, as maybe his least out of his "classic" 4 album stretch from talking book to songs in the key of life - not saying this one is bad, but just what happens when you have a stretch of remarkably high quality music. but on this listen, out of context of that stretch, i actually enjoyed this album a lot more than i think i previously have. i do feel it is a bit more low-key than his other albums of this time period. that being said, i think beyond the two singles off the album, there is a lot of really great stuff, but i don't think it quite gets to the upper echelon of his output. still a really great album.
Yes
5/5
yeah, there's a reason why this is considered a classic. very consistent and interesting throughout, the musicianship on this album is terrific! very complex and coordinated things going on. i am a fan of this era's sound, and this is one of the more iconic bands, to me, in terms of sound. i was never much of a prog rock fan but have been more open to it recently, this is one that i will definitely listen to again.
Sly & The Family Stone
5/5
this is a terrific, influential album. i love the balance it has between radio friendly hits and more "album cuts". the instrumentation is great and at the time, there was not a whole lot that sounded like it. just a great album through and through.
i think a lot of the criticism of this album has to do with the One Song (you know, that ONE song) and you have to remember from a historical perspective, what was going on in the united states in this time period, that song was a pretty provocative political statement. and for that, i think it makes it an important historical "document"
Silver Jews
3/5
this was a real mixed bag for me. i actually liked a lot of the songs and arrangements. the sort of sparse, alt-country vibe is something i really like and appreciate. that being said, i had a really hard time getting over the singer's voice. it was pretty grating and not enjoyable to listen to. i am not opposed to unconventional singing voices, but i felt like the effort in singing was so lackluster, it really took away from the album. so ultimately, i feel like this is a bit middle of the road for me.
Sufjan Stevens
4/5
this album is such a fun listen. such intricate arrangements, you can tell a lot of thought and love was put into the instrumentation. just a very chill, interesting adventure of an album
The Bees
3/5
a perfectly pleasant album, but to me, ultimately, nothing really to write home about. it's a very good vibe album, very chill, but unfortunately just not incredibly interesting songwriting-wise or otherwise. i can't see myself listening to this one again, unless i am really in need of some chill-sounding background music, and even if so, i think there's other stuff i would prefer to listen to.
Bonnie "Prince" Billy
3/5
a nice, sparse, quiet, sad boy alt-country album. not bad, but not my favorite. a lot of really pleasant moments but nothing that stood out to me as being incredible. still a good listen, especially if you're in the right mood.
Van Morrison
4/5
to me, this is THE van morrison album. i've listened to astral weeks before and i have never truly gotten it. but this album is a lot more enjoyable for me. the first side absolutely goes, the second side leaves a little bit to be desired. definitely a front loaded album. but still very enjoyable. the jazz influenced arrangements mixed with the laid back, acoustic feel of the album makes for a pleasant listen.
Daft Punk
2/5
yeah, I didn't quite get this one. i'm not saying it was bad, just really not my cup of tea. the songs can be quite lengthy without much variance (but i guess that's the point). i just think you need some amount of club drug in your system to enjoy this one fully.
Michael Jackson
5/5
yeah this is a pretty great album. of course, the first two tracks are the standouts, but i think even the album cuts are pretty good. i think the quality declines a little bit towards the end of the album, but otherwise, just terrific stuff. he does late 70s paul mccartney better than late 70s paul mccartney!
Metallica
2/5
i'm sure this is fine but this is really my first exposure to metallica in full, and i don't know if i appreciate the symphonic aspect of it considering i know that a lot of these songs just don't have it. so to me, it is, at the same time, unnecessary flourish because i know this isn't how the music usually is, but also the only way i've heard most of these songs. so i'm not really sure what to make of this, as someone who is unfamiliar with the source material. it was fine but really was just lost on me.
A Tribe Called Quest
4/5
yeah this was a great listen, just super high quality beats and lyrics and flow. consistent throughout, never a dull moment on the album. just front to back really really good.
Johnny Cash
2/5
look, i gave this album an honest shot. i think really i just do not get the appeal of the "dying old man sings sad acoustic songs" album. the covers on this album are all steps down from other versions, whether original or other covers. they are mostly slow, quiet, boring. his voice is not great, but i gather that that is "the point". a lot of the covers, i actually wanted to laugh. some of these are absurd. danny boy? yeesh. for a guy who is so known for being cool, this album is the opposite. i honestly do not get why people love it so much. the entire time i listened to this album, i was just thinking, man, just go lie down or something. not for me. sorry!
David Bowie
5/5
this was a great album. terrific grooves and awesome feel. david bowie in his prime was just operating on a whole other level. i particularly loved 'golden years' which has an infectious, really interesting hook that has been in my head ever since. but lots of very cool moments on this one. this is an album i see myself revisiting in the future!
DJ Shadow
3/5
i'm sure there are a lot of important and interesting beatmaking ideas going on here, but i think if there are any, they are lost on me. the beats are nice enough but a whole album of them is a little much for my taste. to me, this works well as background music but not so much as active listening. and that's kinda what it feels like, an album of background music at some trendy clothing store or something. not bad but just doesn't interest me much.
Elliott Smith
5/5
elliott smith and i, i think, are cut from pretty similar cloth. a lot of his musical influences are things that i adore and so his music tends to be pretty compatible with me. i find that he was a great lyricist with a knack for a catchy melody, and overall sort of dour, sad boy type vibe. a bit lo-fi, which i always appreciate. an album that effortlessly balances the line between quiet and intimate & loud and intense.
i think this is the sort of music that you have to have been a bit depressed to listen to and appreciate, and if you found elliott during those times, you have an affinity for his stuff. that goes for me as well.
i've listened to some of his other stuff but never this album in full. i've been meaning to for a long time, but never got around to it and i am so glad i finally did. as i suspected, i really liked it. a great album to curl up and mope around to (and i mean that in the most positive sense)
favorite tracks:
ballad of big nothing
between the bars
say yes
Kings of Leon
3/5
a pretty good mid-00s indie rock album. despite it's relatively short length, there's not a lot of variation here. a lot of the songs sound the same and are sort of the same tempo and feel. it's not bad, but it doesn't make for a super compelling album. i had never listened to one of their albums before, so this was a new experience. i can't say that listening to this one is going to amount to me going out of my way for more, but it wasn't awful. it's in the realm of the music that i liked back then and still like, but it just doesn't fully click for me.
Drive-By Truckers
4/5
A pretty cool album dealing with the tumultuous history of Lynyrd Skynyrd. A good story put to some good tunes. I particularly liked the moments of reflection on the rest of the world's impression and stereotyping of the south, an issue that is quite nuanced and I think paints a good picture well with its example of George Wallace, even though I personally find it a little misplaced. All in all, a good listen, pretty interesting, and a cool rock opera, as the title of the album advertises.
Leonard Cohen
5/5
I had never listened to Leonard Cohen until previously on this journey, I received "You Want It Darker," an album that I don't think should have been my first foray into Cohen's work. Now this, this is the exact kind of album I think should have been my first foray.
I have listened to a lot of Leonard Cohen's contemporaries and loved them, and this definitely feels along the same lines as a work of Bob Dylan or Paul Simon. The album feels so familiar, and I was not surprised to find it was produced by John Simon, who had a hand in Simon and Garfunkel's "Bookends" which I adore, and think feels pretty similar to this album in some respects. He also produced many albums by The Band, so now it's all starting to come full circle.
This album is soft, pensive, dark. Something that maybe does not feel monumental in a contemporary sense, but at the time definitely had to have been. This is an album I think I will come back to, something about it feels so familiar and lovely and I would love to get lost in it again.
The Byrds
5/5
Admittedly, I am extremely biased about this album, as it already is one of my favorites of all time. I love the Byrds as a whole, but this album holds such a special place in history and in my musical journey. I think what is lost about this album on most people is the context of this album, a rock band (who had dabbled in country before) going full country, with one of early country rock's seminal figures, Gram Parsons, joining in and putting forward his most iconic song, Hickory Wind.
Ultimately, is this the most mind blowing album now? Most likely not. In fact, I think at this point, I prefer Parsons' output with the Flying Burrito Brothers more. But it was very groundbreaking at the time, and is one of the most important albums of the genre. I mean, Gram Parsons, Roger McGuinn, and Chris Hillman? It doesn't get much better than that.
Hanoi Rocks
4/5
Obviously not an album that takes itself very seriously, but was still fun all the same. Kinda raucous, kinda dirty minded. But a fun romp throughout. In a weird way, it kind of reminded me of the New York Dolls and the Replacements, very similar energy. I'm not sure I feel like it is a particularly important or influential album, but still fun all the same.
The Undertones
4/5
this was a fun surprise! i had never heard of this band or album so didn't know what to expect. but i found a pretty fun punk record that i felt combined the sensibility of the clash with the hooks of the ramones. it didn't absolutely floor me, but was still a fun listen!
Led Zeppelin
5/5
I am very familiar with the work of Led Zeppelin, they were my favorite band from middle school up through college. I think this is sort of the "cool" pick for peoples' favorite Led Zeppelin album, but it's not mine. It's still good, though. I appreciate it's more country/folk feel as compared to some of their other albums, but I still feel like the track listing ends up being a bit weighed down by "That's the Way" and "Hats off to (Roy) Harper". That being said, it is still a great album.
Dwight Yoakam
3/5
This album was a fun surprise! The songwriting was pretty good and sometimes reminded me of the storytelling of John Prine. Dwight's voice is very nice, you can see that he sort of became the blueprint of sorts for lots of modern country music. The production is VERY 1980s, and it shows. The duet with Buck Owens was nice, sort of bridging the gap between different eras of country music.
That being said, nothing particularly mindblowing for me here, just a pretty alright album.
The Specials
3/5
going to be honest, didn't move me. it was fine, but like i'm not sure, i just kind of assumed a ska album would be more fun? a lot of this is just sort of uninteresting Walter Wanderley-esque lounge music mixed with ska and, although undoubtedly something different, does not make for a particularly interesting album in my estimation. once again, it wasn't bad, it just kinda did nothing for me.
Joy Division
3/5
I guess I am going to add this to the list of "acclaimed records that everyone seems to love that I really do not get"
the songs were fine, albeit a bit boring. you can see how influential this album really is, because so much music after it lifts sounds and feel from this album. the singer's voice i did not find compelling and at times it felt like a bad jim morrison impression. i see people find his vocal delivery to be meaningful and i do not want to detract from that, but it just felt off in a bad way for me. sorry! not for me.
i want to give this album another listen sometime because it is just so acclaimed that there has to be something i am missing. for now, i just sort of shrug, hoping it will click in the future.
Muddy Waters
5/5
yeah, this is it. to be honest, this album felt like one of the purest forms of music. all killer, no filler. just a bunch of dudes playing the blues in its purest form. a blast to listen to!
Everything But The Girl
3/5
this one was a bit middle of the road for me. the production was clean and nice sounding, but overall i felt like the album just doesn't fit my vibe. i found it a bit dull. sort of reminded me of sitting in the waiting room of a therapist's office. not bad but definitely felt like background music to me. ultimately, it's not something i hated, but definitely something i would not ever seek out on my own.
Moby Grape
5/5
so i am a bit biased on this one as i had discovered this album when i was in college and fell in love with it. it's not a "typical" 60s psych rock album but i would say it's adjacent - very similar to contemporaries such as jefferson airplane, the grateful dead, etc.
i love every song on this album. the vibe is fun and the songwriting has hooks for days. just a very catchy counterculture album.
The Verve
4/5
i was pleasantly surprised by this one! obviously i knew bitter sweet symphony before listening to this album, but didn't know what to expect from it. would it be mostly filler and the big track, or something more? well, i think it was something more. and perhaps every song on here is not as lofty as bitter sweet symphony, but it is a very fun of-the-era britpop album. I do feel like the first two-thirds of the album are very good and the last third really grinds the album to a halt, feeling very lethargic, and not in a great way. but overall, i liked this one, and am glad i gave it a listen!
ZZ Top
2/5
obviously i know a lot of these songs from my years and years of listening to classic rock, but i can't say i was really a fan of zz top going into listening to this one. i was hoping that some of the album cuts would change my mind. unfortunately, that was not the case. this album is so same-y, i think if you listen to one song off of it, you've heard the whole album. the production is not my favorite and the songs are just really uninteresting. the kind of vibe you would expect some lame middle aged dude to really get into. i can get past the guitar tone but the underlying synth throughout the whole thing is so bad. but don't worry! on the second side, the seinfeld bass starts! god this album kinda sucks. i can't imagine the type of person this resonates with. sorry. not a fan.
Fugazi
4/5
yeah this album was pretty cool. i've never really listened to this sort of music but it was full of energy and this album was just balls to the wall nonstop. not to mention the musicianship is very good. very fun, very angsty, not generally my cup of tea, but definitely a fun listen.
Nine Inch Nails
1/5
yeah this is not an album for me. i'm sure this album was a very influential album but i think it's influential for a lot of musicians that i am not particularly fond of. i don't mind dissonance and noise, but just the way these songs are laid out just does not do it for me. there's something about the lyrics that i cannot take at face value, like they are so over the top and corny. look i am a sad boy through and through but my sad boy tendencies are not this angry. this is just eye rolling to me. this resonates with people? go take a walk or something. yeah, not my thing.
1/5
the way i would describe this album is finding organization in disorganized noise. unfortunately, my brain is very much not compatible with this. i... uh, had a bad time.
Sleater-Kinney
5/5
i really like this album. i would say this album is pretty abrasive, but i think it's also pretty fun to listen to. the problem i have with a lot of other abrasive albums is that i don't find them fun to listen to, but i appreciate sleater-kinney's approach to songwriting and the apparent meaning behind their songs. i love that their music does not cater to the typical notion that music made by women needs to be soft, elegant, pretty. their music can be harsh, noisy, aggressive, and that doesn't make it any less womanly. good stuff.
Digital Underground
2/5
lol i mean, maybe i should have expected this from the album title and cover, but this album is so horny. like obnoxiously so. i like the beats and the samples and the flow is nice, but also like oh my god. from the first track, i was actually kind of expecting to be really into this one, even if it was a bit corny and sexually charged. i didn't mind it at first but starting at "Gutfest '89" which is the so cringey and obnoxious, that it really started bothering me a little. especially with the length of the album, i'm not sure how you rap about sex this much. there's only so much sampled "oohs" i can take.
The White Stripes
5/5
i am a bit biased when it comes to this album, i like the white stripes a lot and loved this album when it came out. even though i think seven nation army has been played to death at this point, i think the whole album still sounds fresh and as good as i remember it did upon release.
Dagmar Krause
4/5
i found this a fascinating listen. it's clearly something i would have not ever listened to, or even found out about. i could barely even find a copy of this album to listen to, but thanks to youtube, i was able to find it.
i found myself really intrigued by the music. obviously a little challenging but reminds me a lot of other similarly european torch-music-esque stuff, like edith piaf. what i found most fascinating was taking the time to read about the composer of all the songs, hanns eisler, who was exiled from nazi germany to come to the united states, where he was once again facing persecution from HUAC. this music really put this into context for me. seems like a very fascinating person and wrote very interesting music.
will i go out of my way to listen to this one again? probably not. am i happy to have listened to something that exposed me to something i ordinarily would not have with an interesting backstory? absolutely
The Stone Roses
5/5
this is an album that i have been meaning to listen to for years and just haven't gotten around to. based on what i've heard, i figured it would be right up my alley. and, yeah, it pretty much was. this felt like the jangle of REM or the Smiths meets the psychedelic pop of the Beatles or the Zombies. which, if you know me, sounds exactly like music i would enjoy. no surprises there. a fun one!
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
4/5
a pretty cool album. nick cave is a name i've heard for a while and never explored, so my intrigue was high. you can definitely see that this album was really ahead of its time in terms of production and sound. i liked the arrangements more than i cared for the lyrics, which at times felt clunky to me. but overall, i felt this was a good listen.
Mike Oldfield
4/5
I'm not going to sit here and act like I am going to listen to this one all the time, but I had a fun time. kinda goofy, kinda cool. kinda camp, kinda serious. the instrumentation is really cool, but also there is literally a section where he starts calling out specific instruments and they start playing ("tubular bells" hey, that's the name of the album!). Overall, not something I can see myself going back to very often, if at all, but an enjoyable listen.
Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark
5/5
this album is pretty neat. it's got that classic 80s synthpop sound, but is very interestingly sparse sounding. and i don't think that detracts from the music, it gives it more of a pleasant, ethereal feeling. i particularly enjoyed the hooky synth lines and the sound of the singer's voice, i found it particularly calming. enjoyable!
The Fall
2/5
yeah this one was not really my thing. the problem for me is that this album seems like it was made to be unpleasant sounding and i think that's the point. unfortunately for me, unpleasant to listen to is not something that i enjoy listening to. a lot of the music is dissonant. the vocals are a bit nonchalant, but also have a bit of a sneer. that's fine. it just doesn't resonate well with me. not my thing
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
5/5
this was a great album. obviously knew the two big songs off of this one already but didn't know the rest. I mean, it's not like it was out of left field, if you know what tom petty sounds like, then you know what tom petty sounds like. but I appreciate his style and his influences, so overall, I really enjoyed this one
Fugees
4/5
yeah this was pretty great. i'm not a big rap guy but there were several songs on here i already knew before this. the quality of the rapping and the beats/production were great. the skits were kind of corny - we don't have to talk about the restaurant one... but otherwise OK. overall, I really enjoyed my time with this album!
Eric Clapton
3/5
ok i will admit up front that even though at the current place in time, i find eric clapton pretty morally reprehensible, particularly after the last handful of years, not to mention all of the questionable-at-best stuff he's done in his past. but i also was a HUGE cream fan in high school, so even though i dislike him, i do have a little bit of a soft spot for some of his music.
that being said, this album is so blah. it starts off with a bang, with motherless children, as much of a facemelter as eric clapton has ever made, and then immediately gets sedated into the most mind numbing, boring, middle tempo bullshit you've ever heard, including two TERRIBLE non-blues covers - the most limp-dick cover of willie and the hand jive you will ever hear, and i shot the sheriff, which like, just listen to the original. don't go to eric clapton for reggae (to be fair, it is not even closest to the worst clapton reggae song i've ever heard - that award goes to his cover of knockin on heaven's door, which is abysmal). let it grow is the longest song on the album and it sounds like a carpenters song! lmfao. this album has no balls whatsoever
keep in mind, this is his studio follow up to derek and the dominos! apparently this is his first album after kicking a heroin habit. i guess he also kicked making interesting music too. if you want to listen to good clapton, seek it elsewhere. this is not it.
System Of A Down
4/5
i've been aware of system of a down but i've never sat down and listened to them. i didn't know what to really expect, but i came into this one pretty reserved because similar music doesn't really tend to be my thing. however, i was really into this one! fun and loud and aggressive and kinda goofy in the right way. never a dull moment, just a fun thrash throughout. i definitely feel like i could listen to more of them!
Run-D.M.C.
5/5
what can i say, this is a classic. by today's standards, it's a bit antiquated and dated, but in my estimation, this is one of the foundational building blocks of rap. and although i am not a huge fan of rick rubin's production in general, it is undeniable how dynamic his early rap productions were. these songs are bombastic and in your face, and that makes for a really fun listen.
Lou Reed
4/5
the thing i really like about lou reed's music is that is just oozes cool and has a really biting sarcasm that adds to it. i think the production here is fairly plain, but i think that just amplifies his singing delivery and his lyrics. i knew the big song off of this one and a handful of the album tracks, but had never listened to this one in full. i really appreciated this album. i don't know how to describe it fully, but i feel like things lou reed touched just have this inherent coolness, and the combination of lou reed and david bowie just works so well and accentuates this.
Beatles
5/5
what can i say, it's a stone cold classic. it's hard for me to give proper analysis and takes because i've listened to the beatles my whole life and i am extremely biased. but i love this album. lots o tambourine, lots o organ, some of the beatles' most underrated songs are on this. one of my favs!
Nico
4/5
a pretty serene album. the instrumentation is nice, but nothing special. nico's vocals are an acquired taste and i don't mind them, i don't shy away from unique singing voices, but i just feel like her voice gives this album a monotonous feel that might have been manageable, except for the two 7+ minute long songs that did not need to be that long. don't get me wrong, there are some nice moments on this album - the fairest of seasons, these days, i'll keep it with mine - i just think there are better folk albums from the era that are more interesting. in my mind, the only reason this album is relevant at all is her connection to the velvet underground/andy warhol, because i don't think its merit is necessarily based on the quality of the album.
Blondie
5/5
this album is another well travelled album for me. i think pretty much every song on this album is at least solid, i don't think there's a bad song of the bunch. it's still as fresh as i imagine it was when it came out. the famous songs are great, and i think the album cuts are also great. just a fun album from front to back.
Justice
4/5
a pretty fun, danceable album. i knew d.a.n.c.e. beforehand, but nothing else on the album, so i was hoping it would be along the same lines - and it was. was fun, not particularly mindblowing for me, but a fun time overall.
The Zutons
3/5
yeah i mean this was fine. pretty mid. not particularly mindblowing mid-00s indie. not bad, alright to listen to. not something i think is particularly interesting. it's actually so not particularly interesting that i am wondering why it's even on here to begin with. like i said, not awful, but i can't imagine anyone listening to this and thinking this is one of the top 1001 albums of all time.
The Darkness
3/5
based on their big song off this album, i always kind of thought that their style was kind of ironic, distilling the most over the top parts of 80s rock to it's most brash and flamboyant, much like their delivery on 'i believe in a thing called love' with big wailing guitars and soaring falsetto. in listening to the album, this came across less ironic, more like an actual, genuine tribute to this sound. it's a lot less goofy than i was anticipating, something i've always sort of felt about 'thing called love.' that's not necessarily a bad thing, just not what i was expecting. that being said, the big song is the best song on the album by a long shot, the rest are alright but really just come across in a 'get born - jet' kind of way, that early 00s retro fetishism sound. which, as i've said, is fine, but just purely fine in this instance.
Deep Purple
3/5
before listening to this, i knew 'highway star' and obviously 'smoke on the water' - 'highway star' is as killer as ever, i think it's a very good song. but unfortunately, that's where it ends for me. the rest of the album did not do much for me. it's not bad, i just found it fairly uninteresting. i don't mind bluesy hard rock, but this was pretty formulaic to me, not much going on. the organ playing throughout the album, however, was great and fairly unique. but otherwise, i feel like there wasn't of much interest to this one.
Dirty Projectors
4/5
not really sure why this album gets the hate it does. sure, on its face, it is pretty nonstandard, but it's not totally out there and the sounds on it are pleasant and i find the time signatures pleasant and engaging. overall, i found it a pretty alright listen. something i could see myself coming back to in the future. i think to appreciate this album, you need to be willing to be challenged (only just a little bit imo), and i found the challenge to be fairly fulfilling. not my favorite album of all time, but an interesting and fun listen for me.
Devendra Banhart
2/5
yeah so i think this one isn't for me. i am not adverse to folk, or weird voices, in fact, a lot of the music i enjoy fits those categories. there's just something about the songwriting here that does nothing for me. mostly i don't think it's awful, but sometimes the songwriting made me make a (not good) face. just not for me, i think
The Prodigy
3/5
i'm not normally an electronic music person but, yeah, this was pretty fun. i went into this feeling pretty cynical as most electronic albums i've run into so far have been really not my thing, but i was pleasantly surprised by this. engaging throughout and fun to listen to.
Korn
1/5
hey i gave it a shot. did not enjoy my time with this one. this really was not for me. just really the antithesis of music that i like to listen to. the growly noises, the vocals, the instrumentals. mr raggedy man, lmao seriously? i feel like half of this album's lyrics were literally just like "fuck you, you [slur]"
there really is nothing for me here. sorry!
Happy Mondays
3/5
This album was alright, there was something about it that didn't quite move me. Not sure, maybe I just wasn't in the right mood for it today. It was fine enough, good even, but some of the lyrics were kind of vulgar in a childish way - something that rubbed me the wrong way a little bit? Not sure. I'm not a prude, but I felt like it detracted from the music a bit. Still, all and all, an alright time to be had.
Kendrick Lamar
4/5
yeah this was pretty great. his flow is pretty unmatched and you can tell the amount of effort he puts into his craft, it really pays off. the production on this album was also great. dr. dre has still got it. overall, a very enjoyable listen. i can see why this album is so highly regarded.
Marvin Gaye
5/5
i'm a bit biased, i am a huge motown fan, so yeah, i adore this album. it is really the first truly great motown album, its first and marvin's first politically conscious effort. so much of this album is still relevant today, more than 50 years later. and it has aged beautifully. the production sounds timeless, marvin gaye is, of course, one of the greatest singers AND songwriters of all time. the musicianship is incredible. just a great soul record, very jazzy at times. one of those albums that truly gives me goosebumps when i hear it. this is the stuff!!!
Dennis Wilson
5/5
i am a huge beach boys fan, so of course, i was pleased to give this one a listen again, as it had been a while. pacific ocean blue is, in my opinion, one of the pinnacles of the beach boys, and is the climax of dennis wilson's rise to, undoubtedly, the best songwriter in the group. and what's more, it doesn't sound like a beach boys record, it sounds like its own thing, which is something I don't think any of the other beach boys really accomplished on their own. overall, i really love this album.
The La's
5/5
I adore this album. Of course, everyone knows the big one off of this, but I think the rest of it is excellent as well. The songwriting is top notch and catchy. The whole album, to me, is like the Beatles meets the Who, meets the Violent Femmes. Just a great time front to back.
GZA
4/5
Yeah this was pretty nice. Obviously a very talented rapper and had some cool beats and production. I know this is a really highly regarded album, but something about it didn't quite click with me all the way. I would like to revisit it again sometime and maybe it will click for me a bit more next time.
Underworld
2/5
playstation 1 racing game music (derogatory)
this album definitely hits a lot of problems i have with the electronic music i've experienced so far in this project. the really upbeat stuff is very repetitive. the "slow stuff" is very... nonchalant and subdued. like i feel like the music should be more energetic? and it's not downbeat, but it just feels like... a lethargic upbeat. if that makes sense. anyways, the ceiling here for me is "mid background music" and the floor is "really boring music played in the dressing room of the clothing store your mom dragged you to in middle school" - either way, i was quite uninterested by this.
Ella Fitzgerald
5/5
hey look, you've got one of the greatest singers of all time singing some of the best songwriting of all time, arranged by one of the most iconic jazz arrangers of all time. this stuff hits. my only knock is that the entire album is... LONG. it is a COMMITMENT. but it's worth it. you're listening to the best of vocal jazz.
Nick Drake
4/5
this is my first real experience listening to nick drake after i gave his album "pink moon" a listen about a decade ago, and felt pretty lukewarm about it. going into listening to this one, i was weary that i would have a similar experience, but i found myself pleasantly surprised by this one. the main difference to me is the addition of other instruments, which i think enhances his songwriting, and makes it a lot more interesting and listenable for me. cool, pleasantly subdued folk music. it's even jazzy and soulful at times. a really interest combination that works pretty well. this album reminds me a lot of fairport convention meets donovan (which like, fairport convention is obvious as several members contributed to this one). but yeah, overall, i found this one to be pretty enjoyable. i am (cautiously) looking forward to revisiting "pink moon"
Beastie Boys
3/5
my second beastie boys experience, and somehow i managed to get their first two albums in chronological order. i liked this one a bit better than their debut, i felt like it felt less like an obnoxious party and more refined. i thought the beats were better and more clever. their rapping still felt a bit... raucous, we'll say, but that's sort of the point there. but yeah, overall, i felt like i enjoyed my time with this one.
The Cure
3/5
i would say i had an alright time listening to this one. it wasn't my favorite, and nothing really stood out to me. i'm not really a fan of all the noise, that was sort of unpleasant. just not really something i would ordinarily listen to and something i'm not sure i'll really come back to.
Bob Dylan
5/5
i've listened to a lot of bob dylan in my day. i don't know if i consider myself a huge fan, i've gone majorly hot and majorly cold on him over the years. i have been majorly cold on him for a long while now. this is the first i've listened to an album of his in a bit. back when i was a lot more into him, this was my favorite bob dylan album. and, after listening, i think it still is. this sort of re-awakened my interest in his music. i know it's kind of cheesy, but he really is a terrific songwriter, there was not a lot of people contemporaneously writing songs like him and he was dragging culture forward. that influence is really felt on this one.
Arcade Fire
4/5
man there is a part of me that really genuinely likes arcade fire's music. has it become super cliche of this era of indie music? yeah probably. is it insufferably pretentious? yeah probably. idk there's something about it that just draws me to it. but then also, win butler is an asshole. and fuck win butler.
XTC
5/5
i fell in love with this album well over a decade ago when i heard "earn enough for us" on the radio. i went out and bought the album immediately. the songwriting is very fun, very beatle-esque at times, and of course, we love a todd rundgren production. to me, the todd production pushes it over the edge and gives it a great energy.
Kate Bush
5/5
of course, kate bush is brilliant. this is a really great album in general, showing off that brilliance. i find it to be a bit more subdued than some of her other earlier stuff, and i am a bit more of a fan of the more off-the-wall stuff she did on earlier albums. that being said, this is still a great album that highlights her songwriting and ability to arrange music.
The Yardbirds
5/5
if you like this album, quite frankly, you know ball
R.E.M.
4/5
i like REM a lot, but this is not my favorite album by them. it's not bad by any stretch, I just think it doesn't quite get there for me. the quality of the songwriting is there, the instrumentation is as good as ever, it's just that for some reason, the total is slightly less than the sum of the parts.
Morrissey
3/5
i've never dug too deep into the smiths and related albums, although what of the smiths i've heard, i've liked. this however, did not move me. it was fine. the quality of the songwriting, to me, was not incredible, although not awful. morrissey's lyrics are as fine as ever. i think this is just a case of me realizing the importance of johnny marr.
JAY Z
4/5
man this album sounds so good. the production is top notch. jay-z is at the height of his game. this is one that has aged really well - it sounds of its era but you can tell how influential it was upon subsequent rappers and producers. good stuff!
CHIC
3/5
man i really wanted to like this one. le freak and i want your love are bops. the rest are alright at best and snooze-fests at worst. at least i am free is SO boring. oh my god. i thought this was supposed to be a disco album but i guess we had to get some slow dance numbers in there. the instrumentation is great and of course they have an iconic sound, but boy this album is really uneven.
The White Stripes
5/5
i am of the age where the white stripes were very popular during my formative years, so of course, i have listened to them a lot in my life, this album included. ultimately, i don't think this is my favorite white stripes album, but it's still pretty great. as fresh as ever, but being nitpicky, i think the songwriting on this one is not as strong as on others. i still love this album a lot!
Thelonious Monk
4/5
what can i say, monk is the man. there's no one like him and there will never be. his playing is a style of its own, and maybe an acquired taste, but i love how off-kilter and nonsensical his solos can be. just really cool. and of course, he has a great band here as well. never listened to this one before and i'm not the world's biggest jazzhead out there, but i really enjoyed my time with this one!
Lorde
4/5
i'd never listened to an album by Lorde, but I have heard several of her singles over the years, some on this album, so this was not a surprise to me. I do really appreciate her songwriting and production style - I think even though this album is 6 or so years old, it still feels fresh and you can tell how influential her songwriting and style is on a lot of modern pop music. definitely a nice listen.
Arcade Fire
4/5
my second arcade fire album in as many weeks. i used to like this album a lot but on this listen, it was not nearly as revelatory to me. i think this album is a quintessential mid-00s indie rock album. i still like it, but maybe not as much as I remember. and i will say it every time I have to review an arcade fire album, fuck win butler.
Penguin Cafe Orchestra
4/5
man, i didn't know what to expect from this one. i'd never heard of the album or the artist, but looked it up on wikipedia and saw brian eno's name. with that all the information i had, i plunged in and, boy, i suspect that this album is not going to be everyone's bag, but i really enjoyed my time with it. very serene and chill, a bit avant-garde at times, some really enjoyable play with dissonance. definitely feels like a small chamber orchestra at times. just a really cool vibes album.
Astor Piazzolla
3/5
some great musicianship here, especially some top-tier vibraphone playing. however, i feel that even though the musicianship is high, the music itself is not quite for me. i felt this one was a bit middle of the road. pleasant and nice enough, but not quite to the level of 'interesting' for me.
Nas
5/5
Another classic hip hop album that I had never listened to. And another album that is deserving of the hype it gets. Great beats and production, great flow. Truly poetry in motion. Good stuff!
Gorillaz
4/5
gorillaz was really big when i was in middle school (showing my age) and for better or worse, gorillaz reminds me of middle school. i think it's a fun evolution of rock music that combines elements of hip hop. is it mind blowing at this point in time? not really. but is it fun? yeah kinda!
Bee Gees
3/5
i suspect this is probably a lot of peoples' first exposure to pre-disco bee gees, which might be a big shock. I actually adore a lot of early bee gees stuff, but i've never really dug into this particular era of their evolution, which is a lot more soft than their early psych-ish stuff (bee gees' 1st, idea, etc). based on already liking their early output, and it being a rainy day, i think this album hit me particularly nicely today. not mind blowing by any stretch, but nice enough.
Love
3/5
man i have listened to this album probably half a dozen times over the years and i truly do not understand why people adore this album so much. i keep coming back because i clearly have to be missing something. this album just does nothing for me. it's even more mindboggling for me because i love so much adjacent music to this. i find myself wondering if i am listening to the same album as everyone else, the way people talk about it. i don't find the songwriting particularly compelling, i don't find the arrangements mind blowing, the vocals and harmonies are subpar to me. just a really middle of the road soft-psych record, that quite honestly, is a bit boring. i really have tried to give this album a shot, i just truly do not get why it is so acclaimed. i hate to use the word but... overrated.
5/5
this one gets a lot of hype and to be honest, i agree with the hype. just a well made album overall, great melodies, a fun somewhat aggressive take on the britpop sound. i'd never listened to this one in full but knew a lot of the songs and i can say i will definitely come back to this one in the future.
The Sensational Alex Harvey Band
2/5
this album kinda sounds like that bar band that a bunch of your friends' dads plays in (derogatory)
not awful but really nothing super interesting for me here. weirdly horny? and not in a fun way. the production is alright until 'last of the teenage idols' in which the entire song just pans hard left??? everything is in your left ear. and then the song picks up panned hard right. and then it evens back out. this feels intentional. and bad.
can't say i am a huge fan
Pulp
3/5
not sure how i feel about this one. i know it is very acclaimed but i am not feeling that very much. i don't think it's bad, but i don't think it rises to the level of quality i expect from something so acclaimed. not very interesting and the songwriting didn't really move me. ultimately, a pretty average listen for me.
Guns N' Roses
1/5
i can't tell if it's because i have been inundated with these songs my entire life or if i genuinely dislike this stuff so much, or both. but i'm sorry, this sucks so bad. i usually do not mind non-conventional singing voices but axl rose's voice is so shrill and awful. the music is so beyond cliche and the production is so flat. the only people who are into this are teenage boys and middle aged men longing to be teenage boys again. no in-between. i can't imagine listening to this and thinking it's awesome. it just is the antithesis of what i like in music. no thanks.
The Mothers Of Invention
5/5
zappa is an acquired taste and i have acquired that taste. this album is really smart, really funny, really wild, and genuinely a fun, frenetic listen. zappa pushed the limits on what rock and roll music was, and is. i suspect that most people will not get this album or will find it annoying and weird, which, fair enough. i appreciate zappa's zanyness, his avant-garde flair, and the point he was trying to make about how society handles social issues, which i think still stands true to today.
A Tribe Called Quest
4/5
yeah this was a pretty fun time. my second tribe album and it did not disappoint. the trademark flow and beats are there, and i really appreciated the sampling on this one. some really fun tidbits here!
David Gray
2/5
this album has divorced parent energy. i can't explain it. this is the type of album my dad would have listened to on trips between his house and my mom's. vaguely sad, vaguely uplifting, vaguely everything. which means that this album does not hit in any particular way. not unlistenable, but insufferably boring.
Frank Ocean
4/5
I didn't know how to feel about this one going in, just because Frank Ocean is a name I've heard but had no association with what his music sounded like. But I actually found myself enjoying this quite a bit. Very chill, cool production. Frank's voice is great! I feel like I remember this album getting a lot of hype at the time, and I think it's deserved. Even a decade later, you can see how much of an impact he had on the course of popular music. I feel like I hear this DNA in a lot of what I hear today in general.
Alexander 'Skip' Spence
3/5
having been obsessed with moby grape's first album in college, and looking online to find more of their stuff, I saw how widely acclaimed this one was, and this was my next venture into the moby grape-verse. that was over a decade ago and I was really disappointed by this album then. no more was the frenetic energy, the harmonies. I didn't get it.
now a decade later, my second listen. I think I appreciate the sound of this one a little bit more than back then but I still find it pretty disappointing. every once in a while you get a glimpse of what I love about moby grape's debut, but it's few and far between. maybe I should be listening to it more like it's outsider art or something but I can't help to still be a bit let down by this one.
Iggy Pop
5/5
just a really fun romp. of course a couple of classics on here but I think the album cuts are just as good. bowie and iggy in berlin, two creative dudes making a really fun album. great stuff!
David Bowie
3/5
this album was alright. it reminds me a lot of the general quality and sound of a lot of this era of musician making music in the modern era, to me it is fairly akin to what Paul McCartney has been doing lately. not so much at the forefront and pushing the limits of culture, but comfortably finding his own niche. as compared to his classic work, i don't think this holds a candle to it, but in its own right, it's pretty solid.
Doves
3/5
pleasant enough record but doesn't really speak to me much. i think if i gave it a few more listens, it would grow on me, as it is similar to the type of stuff i typically like. nice melodies, good musicianship. production is a bit bland. but otherwise, pretty alright.
Turbonegro
2/5
yeah this album didn't really move me. it's fine enough. not my preferred type of music but listenable. but uhh,,, the band name??? i had never heard of them, it seems like it's supposed to be ironic, at least according to wikipedia (based on what their other choice was) but then they made up some dumb story about no it's fast and dark! like our music! and i think that makes it worse somehow. antiracist or not, it feels like maybe not something we should go to the norse for.
Germs
3/5
this was alright. not so much my cup of tea, but not unlistenable either. you can definitely hear the influence of this album on many punk/hardcore artists that would follow it.
Cat Stevens
5/5
this is an album i fell in love with about a decade ago during a bad spat of depression. this album is so cozy to me, and i adore it. it got me through some tough times.
if i can be a little overly critical, a lot of the songs are pretty samey. side one is great, side two is not as great. but! it's still a great album.
Super Furry Animals
3/5
this album has its moments, some really great stuff, but i think ultimately it is balanced by some less interesting stuff. it's highs are high, but its lows are... boring. and that's ok. but ultimately, not my most favorite listen out there.
James Taylor
5/5
this was an album i fell in love with a long time ago during a very difficult period of my life, so i will always have a soft spot for this one. i think nowadays, i am not as into it as i was back then, but there's still a lot of really great stuff on here. i know that james taylor is not everyone's bag, and that's fine, but for me, this album is almost therapeutic. just a really great folk-rock album, with some country twang. and nothing is better than james taylor's voice!
Supergrass
5/5
wow! what a great surprise! i knew the big song off of this one, but nothing else. to me this is like if oasis was primarily influenced by the kinks instead of the beatles. really fun, really eclectic, really frenetic. just an all around great, intense romp. kind of trails off at the end, but i think the rest of the album makes up for it.
American Music Club
3/5
pleasant enough and chill but not really anything remarkable here for me. just okay. nice acoustic country/americana-inspired background music, but nothing more.
Badly Drawn Boy
4/5
this album reminds me a lot of the 90s alt-psych revival stuff that i like from around the same time period. in particular, it reminds me a lot of the stuff from elephant 6, especially the olivia tremor control, which i adore. so yeah, this album is a pretty cool, fun, psych-y time.
The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
4/5
this felt to me like the white stripes' wacky older brother. some pretty good garage rock that takes some kind of insane turns. not my favorite, but a fun time.
Foo Fighters
5/5
what can i say, dave grohl is dave grohl. there's a reason he is a legend these days. this album is a lot more rough around the edges than other foo fighters stuff i've heard, and i really like that about it. of course, i know the backstory of this one and the raw edge it has makes total sense. just a really great album.
Dolly Parton
4/5
look, i mean you have three of the best country singers of the 20th century singing together. it cannot get better than this. this album has the best harmonies you have ever heard. sometimes the material they cover is a little less than desired, but the pure beauty of these three voices together is enough to carry any song.
Dexys Midnight Runners
4/5
this was a pretty cool listen. i, of course, know them from 'come on eileen' but this album is really nothing like that song at all. very horn heavy, very blue-eyed soul. the production is very, very clean, which is not totally my favorite.
King Crimson
5/5
yeah this is the stuff. everyone in king crimson is firing on all cylinders this entire album. really is just a pinnacle of progressive rock. i'm not that big of a prog rock fan, but this is just a truly great album. the only song i am not full throttle all about is moonchild, but i do appreciate its ambiance. just a terrific, complete album.
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
5/5
i am a bit biased in the fact that i already love this album. i will admit, towards the middle section the songs are a bit lesser, but i think on the strength of cinnamon girl and cowgirl in the sand this album is a 5 alone. everyone likes to poke fun at the one note guitar solo but i fear you are not a fun person if you don't think it's sick.
Aretha Franklin
5/5
hey there is nothing better than aretha in her prime. this album is very 1967 soul, so probably not mindblowing for most people, but this album, to me, cemented aretha as the legend that she became. obviously one of the best singers of all time and with classic production and the session musicians from muscle shoals, you really can't go wrong
Isaac Hayes
5/5
there really is no music that just oozes cool more than isaac hayes. his voice, the vibe, the orchestration and production. when i listen to this album, i feel like i am the coolest motherfucker on the planet.
Fleetwood Mac
5/5
look there's a reason that boomers fawn over this album. the production is incredible, there might not be a better sounding album out there. the songwriting is great. everyone in this band is firing on all cylinders. the first side is definitely stronger than the second side. the weak points to me are two of the christine mcvie tracks, songbird and oh daddy. they're not bad, just kind of boring for me. i'd like to be a contrarian about this album, but on the strength of all the other tracks (hell, this album is basically a greatest hits of fleetwood mac on its own) i just simply can't.
Youssou N'Dour
4/5
yeah this was pretty cool! i always appreciate listening to music that is outside of my norm, that challenges my conventional, or in this case, american music sense. this album is pretty listenable for the north american ear. the rhythms are great and the music is really interesting. youssou n'dour's voice is compelling and i felt actually pretty uplifted by listening to this. fun stuff!
Various Artists
5/5
it's a christmas classic for a reason. i am an absolute fan of this era of music and a lot of the girl groups and adjacent groups, especially the work on philles (despite the monster in charge). everything on this album is great, with the exception of when the convicted murderer and serial abuser, phil spector, speaks directly to you at the end. that aside, the sound is iconic, and some of the best sounding music made of all time. i'm not a huge christmas music fan and this is still tops.
Cypress Hill
4/5
i'm finding throughout this whole project, i am really enjoying this era of hip hop. it's not something i ordinarily listen to on a daily basis but i really enjoy the bars and the sampling/beats. this album is no exception, really good beats and bars - not my favorite of the era that i've heard so far, but fine enough
Pere Ubu
5/5
woah. pere ubu is a name i've always seen at record stores but i've never listened to them before. i had no idea what to expect. holy shit does this stuff rock. i'm kind of floored. it's very noisy, a bit unconventional in that sense, a lot of atypical instrumental choices (noise, an instrument i am learning is called the 'musette') but juxtaposed with that is some killer rock. really really cool stuff!
Michael Kiwanuka
4/5
pretty cool, chill album. nice retro soul sound and feel, with some tinges of psych. was a nice pleasant album to have on, although i don't think it was particularly mind blowing.
OutKast
4/5
this album and i go way back. i really do like this album but ultimately, i think it's too long for its own good. what big boi and andre 3000 were able to achieve here absolutely can be great, but there's a lot of chaff they left in here and it could be a lot neater. i understand that was not the "creative vision" or what the situation was when they were making this album, as it is basically two solo albums in one, but this album would easily be in the conversation as their best if it was a little slimmer.
Spiritualized
4/5
to me this album kind of reminds me of like, the beatles' revolution 9 meets the beach boys' pet sounds. really cool, orchestral stuff mixed with a lot of noise. makes for an interesting album. i think if i gave this more listens, i could get into it, but it didn't totally blow me away on first listen. still, pretty cool!
The Byrds
5/5
i'm a huge byrds fan, so no shock that i love this album. although i don't think it is their best effort, it is their first and arguably, their most monumental. although really, the credit goes to the title track, this album shifted the direction of popular (rock) music from british invasion merseybeat style stuff to something brand new, folk rock, taking the songs of folk music and combining them with a then-modern rock sound. in modern contexts, perhaps this album does not sound impressive or is particularly interesting, but within context, this album is a watershed moment in 20th century popular music.
New Order
5/5
wow! i didn't really know what to expect going into this because i didn't quite mesh with the first joy division album, but I really liked this one! just a really great sounding, catchy synthpop album. not sure why i liked this one so much more, but i think it's because a lot of the songs are hookier, catchier, and more bombastic to me. a fun listen!
CHVRCHES
3/5
this album was alright. it had its moments, although i do think it was a bit samey to its detriment. pleasant enough indie synthpop, but not anything to write home about for me.
Haircut 100
5/5
i really didn't know what to make of this album going in, it's not a band i've ever heard of and the album cover didn't really let on to what was going on. I had a really fun time with this one! front to back, really nice, catchy tunes. definitely very 80s in sound. cool stuff!
Todd Rundgren
4/5
to be honest, i'm a todd fan. i haven't dived super deep into his greater discography, but this album is one i have loved for a long time, ever since i heard "I Saw the Light" on the radio one time and was mesmerized. i think you have to be a certain type of person to really enjoy todd and i'm that type of person. he is terrific at crafting catchy melodies and doing lots of studio wizardry. he plays most of the album himself! that is never not an impressive accomplishment, especially because YOU CAN'T TELL BY THE PLAYING. to me, this album is sort of like his version of the beatles' white album. is it overly long? yeah. is it a bit uneven? yeah. does it get kinda weird? yeah. and, like the white album, i appreciate how off kilter it is. although, still not my favorite album of his, and definitely not his most off kilter, but still very much up there for me.
Cyndi Lauper
4/5
nothing mindblowing here, obviously i knew the hits on this one and i felt like the rest of the album was pretty in line. maybe it was a lot more novel at the time, but i think at times it comes off as a generic 80s pop record. overall, it was fun enough. not a deep record, but has its moments.
Koffi Olomide
2/5
i am usually pretty open to "world" music. usually i find it pretty fulfilling to hear music outside of my norms. this album was fine, i have no qualms with it. it didn't wow me
The Velvet Underground
5/5
i have pretty limited exposure to the entire discography of velvet underground - really my entire experience is their first album, so this was an interesting listen. a very subdued, folky album, very different from the other music that i've heard. i really like that it has a different sound and feel than their other stuff. i think i could grow into liking this one a lot, on first listen i definitely appreciated its style.
Green Day
4/5
i've never been a big green day fan, i'm not so much a pop punk person in general, but there's just something about this album that is so damn nostalgic. fun all the way throughout, aggressive, yet tongue in cheek. really well made. just an all-around good time!
Eagles
4/5
i've never been the hugest eagles fan, but this one has always been my favorite of theirs. i much prefer their earlier output to their more radio-friendly later albums. obviously there are some tracks on here that are still played regularly on classic rock radio, so i think a lot of the context is lost for when this was released. starting off as a country rock supergroup of sorts, this album is a bit of a shift of the country rock genre towards the mainstream, away from the gram parsons-esque relative obscurity it started in.
the songs that still get played on the radio ("take it easy" "witchy woman" "peaceful easy feeling") are classics for a reason, they are pretty good songs, although due to the constant overplay, i am pretty much sick of them to death at this point. the rest of the album, however, is a pretty consistent progressive (in terms of evolution, i'm not saying this is prog) take on the country rock formula, although a bit heavier on the rock than the country. my favorite of the bunch is album cut "nightingale" which has that classic eagles sound but is at least not played to death.
overall, it's a solid enough album, not my favorite country rock album, but i think it's the album from the eagles i appreciate most.
The Adverts
4/5
a pretty solid effort from a punk rock band that I had never heard of before this. not my favorite in terms of punk sound, but still fun enough.
Portishead
2/5
this is not usually the type of music that is in my wheelhouse. and also today I am road tripping, so I think this album did not land for me twice over. I don't think it was bad, but I found it to be a little dull, and it does not make for good road trip music. not my thing!
The Kinks
5/5
admittedly, this is one of my favorite albums of all time going into this so i am really biased. this album is perfect from front to back! one of the pinnacles of ray davies' genius :)
Talking Heads
4/5
think this one is a grower and not a shower. i really liked a lot of it but it is a little off the beaten path for me. i think if i listened to this again, i would like it more. as it stands, it's still pretty good!
The Specials
5/5
yeah this album was pretty sick. i really enjoyed listening to it. just some really fun ska. i particularly enjoyed elvis costello's production and the energy that the album had. good stuff!
Creedence Clearwater Revival
5/5
back to front, this album is classic, classic, classic. not a bad track on this thing. great sound, great instrumentation, great songwriting/song choice, and sequencing. one of my favorite albums of all time!!!
Steely Dan
5/5
front to back, this one is a stone cold classic. every song on this slaps and is just a wild jazz rock ride. love it!
Beach House
5/5
there is something about beach house's music that i feel so deeply inside me. i got into a lot of their music in a long bout of depression and there is something i can't place that finds this music so comforting. whatever it is, i just really like this album! very chill, great songwriting.
Little Richard
5/5
full stop, you do not have rock n roll without little richard. bands for decades have been trying to emulate this. from front to back, non-stop energy. this isn't a cornerstone, this isn't a foundation, this is the whole damn building.
Paul Revere & The Raiders
3/5
look i love this era of music, i truly do. and i love paul revere and the raiders. but paul revere and the raiders were not an album band. this album is not BAD but it's not very remarkable. there are a few album cuts here that i think are kind of cool ('all i really need is you' has a '66 psych-tinged stones/beatle-esque feel) and the singles off of this one are great, but really i'm mostly confused as to why this album is listed amongst these other ones. i don't mind it, but i think most people will not enjoy having to listen to this one.
Ray Charles
4/5
ray charles is great, but i sort of swing back and forth on his music. his up-tempo r&b stuff is great and i love that, but the more slow, ballad style of songs he does sort of leaves me a little cold. not that it's bad, but just not my thing. this album is mostly the latter, not the former, so for me it was not the most exciting album, although the quality of the album was high. still an enjoyable listen for a monday morning.
Morrissey
3/5
my second experience with solo morrissey, after listening to 'vauxhall and i' - and i can't say i am any more impressed with it than the first time. here, i find his lyrics are a bit more cringey, maybe not less biting than i've heard him write before, but certainly a lot more bold-faced. once again, even with how i feel about his lyrics, they are better than the music, which is down quite a few pegs from his smiths days (more of a glowing review of johnny marr than anything). so yeah, not very impressed with this. it was fine, but i can't say i would ever seek it out again.
Jimmy Smith
4/5
great grooves, great playing. some cool stuff here. ultimately, maybe not the most interesting record i've ever heard, but still quite cool and a unique combination of its era of jazz and r&b.
Cocteau Twins
5/5
cocteau twins is a name i've heard but i don't know if i've ever experienced their music before this. really cool stuff. very atmospheric and the vocals are haunting. i could see myself absolutely falling in love with this album if i give it another few listens, but as it stands right now, i am extremely impressed. very compelling and stark.
LCD Soundsystem
5/5
a pretty fun spin on the electronic/dance genres. definitely has an indie tinge, which i appreciated. and what's most important to me, it feels human, which i find a lot of electronic music lacks. just a really fun time!
The Cramps
5/5
another group that i have heard the name of but didn't know anything about except that they were "punk" - holy cow I was not expecting this. I absolutely loved everything about this album. it's like a mixture of 60s garage rock, surf rock, and punk. it feels slimey and grungy and just everything it ought to be. excellent stuff!
Christina Aguilera
2/5
i try to go into every album with an open mind. christina aguilera's music is not really in my wheelhouse - even when i was a teen in her hitmaking era and more interested in pop music, her music never quite did it for me. that being said, i was pleasantly surprised by the first disc. like i said, it's not really my type of pop music, but its sound is extremely nostalgic to me. some of these songs i heard on the radio or vh1 at the time, but also this is some of the music that dictated pop music's sound at the time.
her voice is unquestionably great, the "throwback" production of the first side - i.e. sampling of retro instrumentals - is fun, albeit a bit dated sounding at this point. but the peaks of disc one are really fun.
then we hit disc two. starting off with the circus song, it then becomes a hyper-sexualized throwback to old-fashioned cabarets. i can't say i really enjoyed this part. her voice is still great but this part of the album is just too over the top. she's moaning the whole time, saying stuff like "now spank me" - i don't even really care about sexual content in music, but this is so over the top, it almost feels like it is forced by an executive or something. or maybe it's the opposite - the executive forced the normal pop music while she really wanted the over-sexual burlesque schtick. quite simply, it's just really cringey. just very bizarre.
also, because of the two disc format, this album is BLOATED AS HELL. had they split the two discs into their own albums, i think it would be ok. or even if they made a one disc combination of these two concepts, i think it could potentially work. honestly, the two of them together is a chore. i really think the album's length detracts from the overall quality.
she really had me in the first half, not gonna lie.
The Dave Brubeck Quartet
5/5
dave brubeck was a phenomenal pianist. of course, 'take five' transcends jazz music and is one of the most famous jazz compositions of all time. i love 'blue rondo a la turk' - another in the vain of 'take five' that really tickles my receptors with their uncommon time signatures. beyond that, the rest of the album is pleasant, but a lot of time amounts to music that is reminiscent of vince guaraldi's work with charlie brown. not to say that is a bad thing, the album is very good, calming, and pleasant. but ultimately it does not amount to much mind-blowing outside of the non-standard time signatures exhibited, and lacks the grit or edge i normally enjoy or look for when listening to jazz. still, it's an all-timer for a reason!
Jazmine Sullivan
3/5
not generally my cup of tea, but i thought this album was fairly interesting. i felt like the structure of a song being led in by a "tale" was neat and gave the album a pretty good narrative flow. the music, production, and performances were alright, but ultimately this just isn't totally my thing. i still appreciate what it was going for and am happy i got exposed to something outside of my normal bubble.
Taylor Swift
3/5
so full disclosure, i opted to listen to 1989 (taylor's version) - not sure if that is in standing with the spirit of this project or not, but as i understand it, i think taylor swift fans consider the "taylor's versions" canonical now over the original releases. and so i think it's fair to listen to the artist's "preferred" version over the original. and i'm not familiar enough with the original to really know a difference one way or another.
all that aside, this is just a good pop album. taylor swift is not usually my kind of music but it is undeniable that she has a knack for writing a great hook. this whole album is just hooky as hell, from front to back. clearly this music resonates with a significant portion of the population, it doesn't quite with me, but i appreciate the artistry here. there's a reason she is the most famous person in the world.
Sonic Youth
3/5
listening to this album, you can tell sonic youth is cool. they are too cool for me.
Crosby, Stills & Nash
5/5
this one put them on the map. you have three immense talents working together at really a creative pinnacle. to me, what sets them apart from their contemporaries are the harmonies. their voices together just make such a great blend. just a great counterculture folk rock album. i'll admit i am biased because i adore this album to pieces and have for years, but there is a reason i have come back to it countless times in my life.
Baaba Maal
3/5
this was an interesting one. i'm not the hugest world music person, but i definitely keep my mind open. language barriers don't usually dissuade me, and it was the case here. this album was not mind blowing to me, but had some really interesting moments. at times, it kind of felt a little new-wave-y??? which was cool, but otherwise nothing that stood out above anything else I've heard from the continent of Africa so far in this project.
Slipknot
1/5
the best i can say is i gave it a shot. it's not the worst thing i've had to listen to but i can really say it is not my favorite to come across my desk. really, it is just bottled up angst that is reflected in a way that my angst was not. i find it pretty unrelatable, and although i can be convinced on a lot of metal instrumentation, the growl vocals are something that never suit my music preferences. sorry to all my depressed friends from middle school but i didn't get it then and i still don't get it now.
Frank Zappa
5/5
yeah this is extremely my shit. i don't know what it is, but zappa's music just really scratches an itch in my brain. it's complex, yet clearly doesn't take itself seriously. just some really cool stuff here - i especially love the first track, but the standout to me on this listen was the track with captain beefheart singing. just really cool, fun stuff.
Pet Shop Boys
4/5
a pretty fun synthpop album. i liked the juxtaposition of the upbeat instrumentals with the more subdued and dour lyrics at points. the production is not my favorite but i found it still enjoyable!
Butthole Surfers
3/5
this is a pretty crazy punk record. i thought it was pretty fun. obviously a lot of ~noise~ going on on this one - if that's not your thing, i get it. but to me i really enjoyed the chaotic energy of this one. definitely a vibe album.
Bruce Springsteen
5/5
just a great album, front to back. of course, i've listened to this one countless times and know it back to front. the only song on here i am always iffy on is 'meeting across the water' which never has really landed for me. but the rest of the album is just balls to the walls great, that it easily overcomes that one blip. it's a classic for a reason!
R.E.M.
5/5
i am a pretty big REM fan, especially their earlier stuff. this album, to me, is a vibe album. kinda off kilter, really catchy rock music, very smart lyrics. i just really enjoy diving into this one, even though it may not be their most consistent album. i particularly love songs like 'catapult' which is more indicative of their overall sound, and 'we walk' which has some unique instrumentation from them and a slightly more sinister sound. overall, perhaps not my favorite from them, but i do really love it regardless.
Lou Reed
4/5
this was a strange album for me. i think the first half i was sort of adjusting to this album. it's a little off-kilter. by the second half i was really enjoying myself, especially with the songs that had a horn section. not an album i think i would have expected lou reed to make given my previous context on him listening here, but still, a fun time, a little challenging, but i could see myself listening to this album a few more times and really appreciating the quirkiness.
Slipknot
1/5
second slipknot album in a week and my opinion hasn't changed much. i think as a baseline, i appreciate the instrumentation, in particularly the drumming. the guitars are played well too. i just really cannot get past the vocals, and really the lyrics. it really does not resonate with me at all. i've had my fair share of angst in my life, but it's never manifested like *this* so this is pretty unrelatable for me. i have listened to and listen to a lot of musicians with non-standard voices and that doesn't bother me, but for some reason the growling never lands for me. and what makes it all worse for me is this album is an hour long! i could probably stomach this a bit better if they knocked a handful of songs off, but man this thing sort of went on for a while, huh? oh well, i gave it another shot. just not for me.
John Lennon
5/5
so once again, i am totally biased as a life-long beatles fan. last year i listened to every officially released solo beatles album, and this one is definitely near the top of that list. although i am definitely more of a paul guy than a john guy, i still really love this album. to be honest, i find the title track very overplayed and a bit overrated - i don't think it's miles better than anything else on this album. highlights for me include 'jealous guy,' 'gimme some truth,' and 'how do you sleep'
to me, this album is an exercise in growth for john. his previous album is very raw, very emotional, very bitter. that bitterness still seeps through on this one at points (especially in the paul diss track 'how do you sleep'), but this album is overall a lot more thought out, at peace. he was a complex person, both good and bad, and i think this album highlights that conflict pretty decently.
overall, i think this crop of songs is pretty consistently good. as i said, i am a bit biased, but this is one of my favorites!
Richard Hawley
3/5
not sure what to make of this one. i liked parts of it, other parts i found dull. overall it was a decent enough listening experience. i particularly liked the 50s throwback sound - particularly '(wading through) the waters of my time' - i find a lot of this album has a retro feel. sometimes it works well and sometimes i found myself uninterested. was this an album really must hear? probably not. was it alright? yeah!
Roxy Music
5/5
this was a pretty fun album. I had always heard of Roxy Music but have never really given them a shot. the sound of this album has aged really well and has some pretty engaging sounds. i particularly enjoyed 'out of the blue' with the heavy flanging. overall, a pretty cool album that i could see myself getting further into upon additional listening.
EDIT: yeah i listened to this again and it's pretty great!
George Michael
3/5
I had never really listened to George Michael, but am marginally familiar with Wham! so I kind of knew what to expect. this album was pretty pleasant. not something I ordinarily go for, but was nice enough to have on as I went about my business. it didn't resonate with me fully but i enjoyed the sound of it.
Jethro Tull
5/5
this is an album i have known my own life, through my dad. this album hit my dad really hard in his life and has been a constant favorite in his life. so i have learned to love this album through him, and i still do to this day. for me, i just really love the sound of this album. it sounds so great. very soft, yet aggressive at times, with a touch of sinister at times. the bass playing is unreal, as is a lot of the musicianship. another biased review, but yeah, i love this album a lot.
The Cardigans
4/5
a pretty fun album! obviously i knew the big song off of this but didn't know what else to expect. it's a fun, sleek, pop rock album. very clever and the arrangements are great! i loved the sound of this one. the cover of iron man i could have done without, it was goofy and i felt like it didn't fit the rest of the album, but otherwise, i had a pretty good time!
808 State
3/5
so i think my taste in electronic music is very particular. a lot of the stuff i have been presented so far i have not really liked and hasn't really given me a sound that i really like. this album did. i had a lot of fun listening to it, i thought the songs felt dynamic and interesting. i still think it gets relegated to background music, but at least it's kinda fun background music.
Parliament
5/5
yeah this is extremely my shit. not a dull moment on this one. just the most exquisite grooves you've ever heard. wall to wall funky goodness. the rhythm section is on another level, the guitars are funky. just knocks the vibe out of the park. ga ga goo ga, ga ga goo ga, ga ga goo ga ga, indeed!
Lana Del Rey
3/5
this is my second endeavor listening to lana, after hearing people rave about her music for years. my first was her newest, "Did you know that there's a tunnel under Ocean Blvd" that I listened to outside of this project to listen to this past year's Grammy Album of the Year nominees. as compared to that album, i liked this one better, but it has a lot of the same issues that I had with her most recent, which is mainly that her albums just bore me. I don't mind soft, acoustic, ballad-y music, but her music just ends up dragging for me. i like the songwriting on this one better, i actually think it's interesting and catchy at points. i really liked the joni mitchell cover! but that shows me that i think her songwriting isn't for me - when she's covering songwriters i love, it works really well. but overall, i can just say that i'm getting the sense her music isn't for me. i don't find it particularly haunting or beautiful, it just feels very middle of the road to me. it isn't bad, i just find it a bit boring.
Meat Puppets
3/5
i had no idea what to expect when i went into this one. i am actually a bit floored because listening to this album, it sounds like it is from the 90s - contemporaries of bands like pavement or ween, but this album is really ahead of its time. it must have been insanely influential on bands like those.
album is a bit rough around the edges, definitely not your easy listening fare, but i enjoyed the way it weaves between a punk-ish sound and a country twang. were it a little bit more coherent, i think i would have more fallen in love the first go around, but i think this is more of a grower to me. definitely can see myself enjoying this more if get more acquainted with it.
Marianne Faithfull
3/5
i'm only really familiar with marianne faithfull as being related to the rolling stones, with her hit cover of the stones' song "as tears go by" - in a lot of respects she reminds me of nico, in style and not necessarily in relation to a band. that being said, i didn't know what to expect from a new wave album from her. and what i got was not really all that much. her voice is not your stereotypical "nice" voice, which is alright, but the instrumentation here is so middle of the road new wave that her voice does not really carry this album. the songs are ok, nothing special. her john lennon cover is pretty dull and repetitive (although that's a bit on the source material, but maybe a song that is entirely a folk ballad should not be a new wave song).
mostly i just feel like this album doesn't bring anything bombastic or interesting, as i would expect from a new wave album. a lot of her contemporaneous new wave artists were doing very creative, forward thinking things and it just isn't happening here. this album sounds like if you had a really watered down elvis costello album. her vocals are vaguely interesting but not good enough or fascinating enough to make this album worth listening to again. sorry, didn't care for this one.
Hugh Masekela
4/5
a really enjoyable, chill "soft" jazz album. i really enjoyed the vibe of this one. i don't know if i would consider this album mind blowing in any capacity but it was certainly a nice album to listen to at the office on a friday after a long week. i found it to be pretty zen-like. nice stuff
The Who
5/5
yeah i mean i am totally biased when it comes to this album. it's a contender for my favorite album of all time. i fell in love with this album when i discovered it in middle school, and although i know a lot of this album gets played to death on classic rock radio, it has not killed my adoration for this one. the songs are great, the musicianship is top notch, and what puts it over the top for me is the production. this album sounds so fucking good. my god. all timer for me!
Small Faces
4/5
this is an album i have grown to love over the years. i didn't like it at first - it's one of those albums that people rave about but i think the goofy second half really gets to people, me included. i'm still not a fan of the narrator, but if you can get past him, it truly is a great psychedelic rock album that has some really killer songs and sounds great to this day. high energy, great riffs, just an all around great album. not to mention, the title track into 'afterglow' is a truly killer one-two punch to open an album. the small faces really fit my musical sensibility so this one is definitely up there for me.
Rage Against The Machine
4/5
a bold-faced political statement. i thought the first handful of songs were fun and aggressive. not really totally my cup of tea, but i was on board with what they were cooking. for me, sustaining this for the entirety of a 53 minute long album was a bit much. i like what they were going for and i think it works, i just think that it ends up being a little bit too much and too same-y for me. after a certain point, it does feel a little bit like, "yeah, we get it"
that being said, i still think the messages on this album are still relevant today and i did enjoy myself a decent amount.
Bruce Springsteen
5/5
yeah i mean this one is a classic. not a bad song in the bunch. it's not my favorite springsteen album (that would probably ultimately go to Born to Run) but it's close. if i can nitpick a little bit, i would say it ultimately is a bit samey. i tend to like the more upbeat tempo songs than the ballads, but i'm on fire is an all timer. just a great album by a great songwriter.
OutKast
5/5
this album is pretty great. outkast are some of my favorite rappers and i think this album is one of their pinnacles in terms of rap, flow, and beats. the skits i could take or leave, they don't do much for me but i know skits and rap albums go hand in hand so it doesn't bother me much. some of the songs are a little less than stellar, but the really great stuff massively outweighs them.
Lambchop
2/5
this album is interesting insofar as it sounding like an 00s indie version of glen campbell's music - a little like sufjan stevens meets "by the time i get to phoenix"
that's where my interest in this album ends. an interesting idea that i don't think is executed well. the songs are sort of whatever and the vocals are not great. i think they missed the part where what makes glen campbell's music great is the arrangements AND his incredible voice.
the vocals here are your typical 90s/00s alt "slacker" vocals and they really do not work for me when they are juxtaposed with the intricate arrangements. it makes it sound like your quirky uncle is singing karaoke. what the fuck is up with the vocals on "what else could it be?" ???????? it's like instead of lambchop, they channeled porkchop (from the cartoon Doug) to sing this song. lmao really horrid stuff. he should be banned from singing a falsetto. it's not beautiful or charming or nice. it sounds like a bad cartoon character. crazy. once the falsetto hit, that was the moment i could not take this album seriously at all.
the arrangements are nice, but rest of it is lacking and uninteresting at best. sorry, really didn't care for this one.
Stevie Wonder
5/5
I really adore this album. it is one of the greatest songwriters and musicians of all time firing on all cylinders. he's playing most of the instruments on this album himself! it's crazy! my only critique is that I think that we could have trimmed this one a little bit. I don't know if this album needed to be 2 albums and an EP, there are some songs that aren't up to the same quality as a lot of the heavy hitters here (I'm looking at you, 'if it's magic). but overall, this album hits and it hits pretty much the whole stretch.
Siouxsie And The Banshees
5/5
whoa this album was pretty cool. i really enjoyed it. pretty dark sounding, a bit aggressive - but not overly so. i didn't expect to really like this one because i know siouxsie has a tendency to be "goth" and that is not my vibe. but this album was pretty cool. I would definitely love to return to this one in the future!
Cee Lo Green
3/5
not the most mind blowing album i've ever heard, but at least it's fun. i like cee-lo's voice and the vibe he gives off on this one is definitely one of a partier. it's a fun enough romp, but it does not verge into the territory of an all-timer for me
Aretha Franklin
5/5
prime aretha is some of the best music of all time. her voice is unparalleled and the production by jerry wexler is iconic. aretha could have touched any song in this time period and turned it to gold. maybe not even gold, but platinum. unobtanium. whatever. it's fantastic stuff.
Robert Wyatt
2/5
i'm not adverse to weird or avant-garde music but it has to hit me the right way. this one didn't really do it for me. it's pleasant enough at points, but mostly i found it a bit dull. his voice also doesn't do much for me, but i think that matters less on this one. it toes the line between somewhat avant-garde prog and jazz, but i don't think it does anything here particularly interestingly. drab jazz meets drab prog. the culmination is just pure drab. not for me!
Saint Etienne
2/5
album started fairly strong, i enjoyed the unconventional cover of neil young's "only love can break your heart" despite me being slightly offput by how different it is from the original. but that's sort of where my interest in this album stopped. the rest of this album is... fine. but honestly a bit boring for me. i thought i would like the combination of twee sounding oldies inspired music and dance music but for some reason this album just became a practice in lethargy. not my favorite.
Fun Lovin' Criminals
3/5
i had fun with this album at first, a cool combination of a more bluesy/jazzy sound with hip hop. as we got towards the end of the album, i felt like it was kind of one-note. felt like i was just listening to a variation on the same thing for a good portion of the 50 minute runtime. it's not that i thought it was bad, i just got a little tired of it three quarters through the album.
Television
5/5
god this album is so sick. not my first time listening to it, and it won't be the last. there is just something about it that just oozes cool and is exactly my speed. the whole album is great, but i think the pinnacle here is the title track. its length might be off-putting to some, but just great stuff. cool guitar riffs, great instrumentation, all-time production. it's an album that i don't usually associate with my all time favorites, but i really should. i love it that much.
Neil Young
5/5
what can i say about this one? this is already one of my all time favorite albums so i cannot be unbiased here. i love early neil young's songwriting and it is at its best here. i don't think there's a bum song in here, they're all great. the album is mostly stripped down, vulnerable, stark, melancholy. when it is at its loudest it is angry ("southern man") which is probably most peoples' familiarity with anything on this album. but the softer stuff on this album is what makes it shine. i know his voice can be hard to deal with for a lot of people, but his voice has never bothered me and i think gives the music character and uniqueness. it's just an album i adore through and through!
Pavement
5/5
this album was pretty cool. i knew a couple of songs off of this one beforehand, but have never listened to the album in full. pavement is a band i've heard a lot about but never fully experienced, and i can say that i am looking forward to my next experience with them. normally, i am a bit iffy on slacker vocals, but they work really well here, especially in juxtaposition with the more upbeat, raucous sounds. my favorite track on this one was "cut your hair" which is a perfect example of this. i would say the strength of this album is not necessarily in the musicianship, but the crafting of a sound. and i really enjoyed the sound!
Radiohead
4/5
so this is my first real experience listening to radiohead after hearing people rave about them for years. i can't say i really knew what to expect, but i knew that this is not one of the albums i hear people rave about. and... i liked it. it's nice. i like the production on it especially. it can be a bit sparce at points and that's cool. i was not totally blown away, but i got an inkling of why people like radiohead so much.
TLC
4/5
that was a pretty fun time. great 90s r&b. not anything particularly mindblowing for me, but still a fun enough time. i felt the album was consistently good, and the andre 3000 feature on the last track was a pleasant surprise. overall, i enjoyed this one.
Big Brother & The Holding Company
4/5
I'm a big fan of 60s psych, but 'Piece of My Heart' is overplayed to death and it's not nearly my favorite psych track out there. I didn't really know much else about Big Brother and the Holding Company except "Janis Joplin" and I had never listened to this record out of spite because my out of touch boomer parents loved it. well, DAD, i've finally listened to it and... it's alright. I don't think it's anything mindblowing or particularly progressive in the realm of 60s psych, but it is nice enough. there's some good musicianship here and Janis Joplin sure can wail. for some reason, John Simon, whose productions I usually like, decided to make this studio album sound like a live album with fake audience noises and having it sound more "live" and i think it's a kind of bizarre choice to make but whatever.
Aerosmith
3/5
this album and i go way back, in a sense. my mom bought me a used copy of this on CD when i was in elementary school and starting to really get into music. i listened to it back then and was only interested in the two big songs on this one (walk this way, sweet emotion). growing up in massachusetts, this album and band is unavoidable, and i'm not sure if my relative ambivalence is because i have been inundated with these songs for years or if i just simply do not really care for this stuff. it's not /bad/, like i think most of these songs are fine enough. but this album just really comes off as a big meh for me, even with the big songs included. it's just one i do not care for. i don't hate it, it's just whatever to me. there are a million other rock bands putting out stuff in the same time period that is more interesting, more thought out, more worth listening to, in my opinion.
Beatles
5/5
i always like to point out my bias when giving my reviews and there is no other album where my bias shines than this one. i have been a beatles fan since birth (maybe even before birth) and this is maybe my favorite album of all time. this album represents a seismic shift in music, into the experimental, into the unknown. this is a collection of some of my favorite songs, from the trippy and rough around the edges 'i'm only sleeping' to the shining guitar lead on 'and your bird can sing' to the psychedelic freakout of 'tomorrow never knows' this album is just a 5 all the way through for me. yes, even yellow submarine. can't help it, i just adore this one!
The Pogues
4/5
a pretty apt album to listen to in advance of st patricks day. if anything, I would liken this to something of modern Irish folk music. a fun time!
Jack White
4/5
this was an album i was pretty into when it came out but i haven't listened to it in quite a while now. listening to it now, it feels like an old friend, but also not anything crazy here. i think a lot of it just sounds like "music jack white would make" and doesn't stray too far from that - there are some unique flourishes here (some woodwinds etc.) but it still kind of sounds like all the music he's ever made. the standout here for me is "sixteen saltines" but, once again, this feels like a white stripes song. and i'm not complaining, i quite like jack white's style and production/sound, but i don't know if this is anything more special than any of his other work, especially in the sense of "i have to hear this before i die"
Miles Davis
5/5
i'm not a huge jazz guy, i would say i am somewhat jazz inclined, but not widely interested. this is my preferred style of jazz - especially the more uptempo bebop style jazz. obviously the musicianship is phenomenal and i appreciate that nothing goes on for too long (a problem i have with a lot of the longer-form jazz). thumbs up from me!
LTJ Bukem
2/5
once again, my old nemesis, playstation racing game music. look this stuff isn't bad, it just isn't my bag. everything sounds like old video game music and not in a good or fun way. certainly not anything i cared to listen to 20 tracks of. not for me!
Klaxons
3/5
at its best, a decent arctic monkeys soundalike, at its worst, a slightly discordant mess. i much preferred the uptempo stuff than the downtempo stuff. don't think it ends up being as evocative as a lot of their contemporaries' works and i think that lowers its esteem in my eyes. a bit of a crapshoot.
T. Rex
4/5
there is just something about T. Rex's sound that is so fucking cool, man. like this shit just oozes cool. i can't explain it. this was my first time listening to this album in full and i enjoyed it! i think overall, i prefer 'the slider' because i think the sound is more fleshed out and the crop of songs is stronger, but this one is still a fun time.
Fela Kuti
5/5
after hearing the name fela kuti for years, i finally have the opportunity to listen to him, and man this album is fucking cool. great grooves, great vibes. super cool stuff, i would love to hear more from him!!
The Flaming Lips
5/5
i had a pretty good time with this one. i had never listened to the flaming lips in full, but know a handful of their songs, two of them being on this one (yoshimi pt 1 and do you realize) and i adore 'do you realize' so i figured, i would probably enjoy the full album and... yeah, i did. as a fan of a lot of early 00s indie music and as a fan of psychedelic music in general, this combined two of my favorites into one and i had a great time! a great sonic bath of fun music.
The Smashing Pumpkins
2/5
yeah sorry not a fan of this one. it's not bad but lord it should be illegal to have an album this long with not that much going on. everything on it is really middle of the road with the exception of a handful of songs that are sort of interesting. but nothing really grabbed me at all. i just found myself bored for two hours. honestly it felt a little like a waste of two hours for me :( sorry :(
The Allman Brothers Band
5/5
the musicianship here is great. this is, i think, my preferred method of listening to the allman brothers, just because it's raw, it's live, it's the pure distillation of their skill. just an incredible group of musicians firing on all cylinders LIVE. incredible.
The Shamen
1/5
i think this project is actually radicalizing me against electronic music. i like to think i have an open mind, and then i get presented with over an hour of the most mind-numbing static beats with barely anything else going on. this sounds like the soundtrack to an abercrombie and fitch 25 years ago. there's a reason i never shopped at abercrombie.
The Killers
3/5
a really solid album. catchy songs from front to back. i think people who are around my age (read: millennials) overrate 'mr. brightside' to a frustrating degree - it's a catchy, good song, but not as good as people tend to make it out to be. that being said, i still like it and the album as a whole. solid stuff
Bruce Springsteen
5/5
i'm a decent fan of bruce and this one, i think is my favorite of his, at the end of the day. although it doesn't have the same peaks as 'born to run' i think the crop of songs are more consistent, and i love the dark, more aggressive sound he employs on this one. of course, his songwriting on this is top notch, as it almost always is. just a great album through and through
5/5
this is another album i cannot be unbiased about. this album is in my top 10 of all time and it ain't 10. one of the middle points of a stretch of albums by the kinks that i think are perfect albums, this album employs a narrative that the others do not. songs focusing on the affects of war and british society and austerity, all through the lens of the titular character, arthur. ray davies knocks it out of the park with this one! i suspect this isn't everyone's cuppa tea because it is very twee, like much of ray davies' work, but it truly is a brilliant effort and album.
Common
3/5
the beats on this one are really cool. i feel like i can take or leave common's rapping, sometimes it was pretty good, other times clunky as hell. the production really saves this one for me. j cole and questlove really knocked it out of the park. a wicked cool sounding album, just wish that the bars did more for me. and you know, the whole conscious rap thing while saying slurs and having a skit where you hit a woman (?) idk, i don't know how well it's aged as a whole but it at least sounds great.
Ice Cube
4/5
i find i really enjoy this era of rap. the beats and the rapping are bombastic and aggressive, and that really appeals to me for whatever reason. so i did enjoy myself with this album. the only thing is that a lot of the lyrics and verses are pretty dated by today's standards, like 'it's a man's world' - a song based on an argument with ice cube playing (?) a sexist. even if it's for show or to prove a point, it still leaves a little bit of a bad taste in my mouth.
Eagles
2/5
my problem with this album is two-fold:
1) i don't prefer the eagles, but if i am listening to them, i am listening to early period stuff, as i find the blatant country-rock stuff more interesting. this era of eagles does not move me at all
2) the only "compelling" song here is the title track, which i have grown to despise over the years due to excessive overplay and the general populace's insistence that it is a classic. this song genuinely makes me roll my eyes. i hate its shitty reggae beat. i hate its dumb "story". the guitar solo is its only saving grace. it's very overrated.
the rest of the album is so run of the mill. and that's not to say I just outrightly hate the eagles - like I said, i don't prefer them but there are a handful of songs of theirs that i do genuinely like. i am not an "eagles hater" as much as i am an "eagles realist" - i do know them at their best. this is not that. apologies to all the boomer dads out there.
The Go-Go's
4/5
i've wanted to listen to this one for years and have never gotten around to it. i can safely say now that it's sort of exactly how i expected it. no surprises here. really fun, catchy tunes with a surf rock edge to them. there were some fun moments on here that i didn't expect, some really cool non-standard chord changes and some cool time signature moments, but overall, nothing that super blew me away. it still was a lot of fun. good stuff!
Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five
3/5
i know this is a really important album in the history of hip hop, but oh my god this album is so corny and bizarre! i kind of love it a lot for how corny it is, but it's a little hard to take it seriously. especially the excessively saccharine "dreamin'" which is a tribute to stevie wonder (maybe it's ironic? i don't think so... but they're singing about being in love with stevie wonder like they are... actually... in love...). and the strange 'you are' which is a love ballad... to Jesus? I think? this album is confusing.
'the message' is an all-timer and the album opener is a surprisingly cool funk number, but the rest of this album is a little bizarre. not sure how to feel, all things considered. it's quite the eclectic album, and i honestly think that is to its detriment. an unquestionably important album, but a great album? not really.
Ms. Dynamite
2/5
quite frankly, one of the most run-of-the-mill r&b/ rap albums I've ever heard. there's not anything here that is terrible, but there's also not anything here that is worth spending your time listening to it. it sounds like r&b music from a Disney channel movie. if you told me that this was music made by the Cheetah girls, I'd believe you. except somehow, the Cheetah girls have more interesting music than this.
Joni Mitchell
5/5
another album that I, quite simply, cannot be objective about. this is one of my favorite albums of all time, it may even very well be my favorite album of all time. what is remarkable about this album is that it is the progenitor of stripped down, bare bones , hit you right in the damn heart music. I suspect for a lot of people, this album does not sound remarkable but in an age where it is expected for musical artists to be authentic, and where artists get flamed for being too fake , this album Nexus in a time period where it was quite opposite- where a lot of music was superficial and this was one of the first albums to come along where a stark level of authenticity was unexpected. as a grown man, I am not ashamed to say this is one of the albums that gets me crying every single time I listen to it. the starkness met with the beautiful songwriting and The poetry of Joni's lyrics is just absolute perfection. I cannot say enough good things about this album, I truly think it is perfect.
The Young Gods
1/5
there are moments on this album where it kind of sounds like a French version of Tom Waits. The rest of this album it does not jive with me very well. I'm really not a fan of the sound of industrial music, and although there are moments where it sounds like a fucked up French carnival (which, for some reason, I'm fine with), but the rest of it sounds like how my panic attacks feel, so no thanks!
The Soft Boys
5/5
i had never heard of this album or band before, but oh my is this album prescient! this album sounds and feels like an album that swarths of 1980s college rock/alt rock bands listened to. you can hear the blueprint being made for bands like REM. a very cool album. i particularly enjoyed the tinge of psych rock that it had at points, especially the sitar on "positive vibrations"
The Smiths
5/5
I'm not totally well versed in the entire discography of the smiths, but I am familiar enough with the "big songs" - familiar enough to know I like the smiths a lot, but haven't had the chance to dig in on them. needless to say, I enjoyed this one! although I find his modern incarnation a bit insufferable, morrissey's vocals and lyrics in this stage are iconic and the musicianship in general is great, but the smiths would not be the smiths without johnny marr's guitar playing. I can confidently say that I am becoming a smiths guy.
Queen
5/5
this is another heavy hitter from my middle school days, when i first started exploring music more widely. i think this album is brilliant and fun. there's some goofy "old fashioned" sounding stuff ('lazing on a sunday afternoon', 'seaside rendezvous', 'good company') but, like some later beatles, i think it's fun and charming. of course there's the big song on here that everyone knows, but my favorite songs on here have always been the biting 'death on two legs' and the immense 'the prophet's song' with it's amazing "vocal round" middle section leading into one of my favorite queen moments of all time ("god give you the grace to purge this place..."). of course it's widely regarded as an all timer, and i have to agree. to me, this is one of the world's most famous bands firing on all cylinders.
Don McLean
4/5
not bad, not bad. i knew the two singles off of this beforehand, the smash hit title track and 'vincent' both of which i think are great tracks. the rest of the album is a lot more like 'vincent' than 'american pie' - more slow, pensive folk-ish music, as opposed to folk-ish rock. that's not to say that there aren't more rock-y moments on this one, but it definitely is a lot more subdued of an album than the title track would lead you to believe.
Laura Nyro
5/5
what i love about laura nyro is her songwriting. particularly i adore how her songwriting sort of meanders left and right, switching up tempos all the time, almost as if the music is going with the wind. so many of these songs will start off slow, soft, intimate, and then explode into an uptempo soul groove - or vice versa. not only that, but her melodies are incredible and so is her voice. the arrangements on this one are equally spectacular. i understand if you don't dig the brill building vibe of this one, it's definitely a bit dramatic, but to me this is truly one of the pinnacles of songwriting on display. sophistication at its finest!
Janis Joplin
4/5
man i'm sorry, i just don't really jive with this. growing up being forced to listen to these songs in the car will do wonders for not wanting to listen to this album at all. i'm not the hugest fan of janis' voice and i don't really get the appeal of this one. the music is fine, but nothing mindblowing. the production on this is so sterile, it's hard to get any energy from the recordings at all, even ending of the big track "me and bobby mcgee." I understand that she passed away during the recording of this album, so it may not be "finished" but it still gets heaped tons of praise on it anyways. i dunno. nothing remarkable here for me, very middle of the road. dare i toss around the "overrated" word?
Dr. John
5/5
god i'm sorry this album is SO FUCKING COOL MAN. i've known it for a long time now and every time I come back to it, i am continually blown away by the feel of this one. it's an all time vibe album for me, nothing sounds like this album, nothing gives off the vibe of this album. Gris-Gris is a singularity. you're not here for the quality of the lyrics, this album is VIBES ONLY and the vibes of this one are IMMACULATE. it sounds so dark, and so folk-y (in the sense that it's very rough around the edges). to me it perfectly matches the cover of this album, it feels like music being played at some sort of voodoo ceremony.
Grateful Dead
4/5
a perfectly pleasant, laid back album. there's nothing here that's technically bad, it's all copacetic, as they would have said back then. when this album is firing on all cylinders, so to speak, it's a great album. tracks like 'box of rain,' 'friend of the devil,' 'till the morning comes,' and 'truckin'' are all great, blissful hippie fare. where this album has issues is with the album cuts, which tend to drag a lot, like the painfully slow 'attics of my mind.' these tracks are not awful, per se - but they tend to drag the pacing to a slog. otherwise, the musicianship here is very nice and the dead's harmonies are vastly underrated, in my opinion. overall, a good, not great, fairly inconsistent album.
Sex Pistols
4/5
what I think stands strong about the sole sex pistols album to this day is the frenetic energy and the sneering attitude. i don't know if it's the punk album that is technically the best, but it is a lot of peoples' first punk album and it is a great intro to the classic punk sound. every song here is fairly searing and i think it holds up decently well. one thing i will say is that if you are a person who likes variance in their albums, you are probably not going to enjoy this one, especially with the lesser-known album cuts, it gets a little same-y. but i'm not sure if there's a record that captures the energy of the nascence of british punk more than this one.
The Black Keys
4/5
i'm a bit torn about this one. i used to be very into the black keys about a decade ago and this was my absolute favorite by them. nowadays i am not a huge fan of their music, so at this point in time, i don't really feel like giving them a score of what i probably would have a decade ago.
overall, i still think this is a good album. i don't think it's anything mindblowing and i think a lot of their contemporaries make music that i think feels more genuine and sounds better. the album still has a bunch of bops on it - and i can't get tired of 'tighten up' and their cover of jerry butler's 'never give you up' - what i think are highlights of the album.. the production on this one feels a little stale but when they are loose, i think this album can borderline rip. the musicianship on this one is pretty good and i think the songwriting is solid. to me it sounds very early '10s commercial now, which i didn't at the time (but this sound has been co-opted by truck commercials for years). i think at the time it felt a little more novel than it does today. honestly, i still have a little bit of a soft spot for it.
Tom Waits
4/5
my exposure to tom waits is fairly limited - i've listened to his first two albums on my own, but haven't explored him much further. i know his album gets a little more avant garde and challenging to listen to, but i found this one to be a fun listen. it's a fun jazz record with a live audience environment, it really gets the 'jazz club' aesthetic down. the musicianship is great but not very showy. waits' songs are fun and very off-kilter and wacky. probably not everyone's bag, but i appreciate the sort of sleazy vibe he was going for. definitely one i think i could appreciate more with additional listens.
The Triffids
2/5
i usually try to have an open mind, especially when i'm presented with an artist i've never heard before. i was excited to listen to this one based on the genres given on wikipedia, but unfortunately i was a bit disappointed in this one. although i think the songwriting was fairly intriguing and the lead singer's voice was very strong, i can't get past the production on this one. i imagine if this album was produced more like a folk-y album, and not an 80s pop album, i would have liked it more. the production feels dated and not in a fun or good way, and doesn't feel like it fits the songs or the album. it took me several pauses within listening to listen through this one. sorry, not a huge fan!
The Rolling Stones
5/5
i went through a decently big stones phase and i really like this album. it's not my favorite of the stones' 'classic period' but i think it's a really interesting showcase of their transition into roots-focused rock. of course, the two big songs on here are stone-cold classics for a reason, but i've always loved the more country stuff on here - especially 'love in vain' and 'country honk'
if i have any complaint at all, it's that this crop of songs is not as strong as other albums they released in this general time period - but to say this album is not good because it's not 'sticky fingers' or 'exile' seems unfair. those albums are extraordinary in their discography, and although that technically means this album is more ordinary, i still think it's a great album.
Suicide
3/5
when I saw this album influenced bruce springsteen, i was intrigued. but boy i could not hear that influence at all until i listened to the track 'frankie teardrop' which you can tell bruce was directly inspired by for 'state trooper'
that aside, the album is interesting. it's described as a punk album but because of the sparseness of the arrangements (just keyboard and vocals) it doesn't have the unabashed loudness you expect from a punk album, but a more subdued, yet still energetic form of music. from that standpoint, i enjoyed a completely unique take on a genre in it's naissance more than maybe some of their other contemporaries in the punk scene. that being said, the songwriting here is pretty barebones (it is punky after all) and if you don't have the loud, bombastic instrumentation from that, you focus on the songs more and i don't know if i think the songs are strong enough to carry this album otherwise. it's a cool album, but i'm not sure i'll come back to it again.
The Isley Brothers
5/5
I know a pretty decent amount of the isleys' hits from listening to a lot of old pop/r&b music so i figured this would be in line with a lot of my music taste. boy howdy, i think that was an understatement. this is a fantastic album! the big hit off this one, 'that lady' is an all time banger, but all of the album cuts are great too. i especially enjoy the covers on here - in particular, their cover of 'listen to the music' is an awesome funk version of the doobie brothers classic. not a dull moment on this and the musicianship is top notch! excellent stuff!
The Birthday Party
1/5
yeah this was difficult for me. i like challenging myself with music, but not like this. the music is aggressive but i can't get past nick cave's growling and howling on this one. it made it very hard for me to listen to. i actually liked the instrumentation but after a while it felt more and more like "ok, i get it, i get it." if i can give the album artwork some credit, it reminds me of garbage pail kids and the music on this album i think definitely fits the vibe of garbage pail kids. unfortunately, garbage pail kids is not my vibe.
Jefferson Airplane
4/5
i'm a huge fan of 60s psych, and this is a cornerstone album in that genre. i used to have a kneejerk reaction to not like this album because it was forced by my boomer parents down my throat but after falling in love with so many of their contemporaries' music, i have come back around on this one. the songwriting is great and the production sounds great for an album from 1967 - when 'hi-fi' as it currently stands was a distant dream. i still can't believe how good and clean 'embryonic journey' sounds for something recorded in this era - it honestly sounds like it was recorded a decade later. grace slick's vocals on this are iconic. it is a really great package altother. and although i still want to have a kneejerk reaction to this one, i have to admit, it's a classic and important album for a reason.
D'Angelo
3/5
i didn't know what to think going in but have always heard great things about d'angelo. i enjoyed this! super smooth r&b. his voice is incredible and the production is fairly solid. at times, it has a little bit of a jazzy feel - although the jazzy feel of 'when we get by' does, at this point, feel pretty dated and funny due to its use of synthesized jazz instrumentation (it kind of sounds like a nintendo 64 game song lol). i particularly enjoyed his cover of smokey robinson's 'cruisin'' which i think even though it was recorded 15 years prior, fits the sound of this album very well. you can definitely tell that d'angelo and the other producers of this album have a lot of reverence for old school soul music, which i think is what i appreciate about this album the most. it feels like a natural progression from the likes of smokey robinson or perhaps al green. just a solid, chill album.
Motörhead
4/5
i've never listened to motorhead, with the exception of the odd song incidentally over the years (playing rock band, etc). i'm not usually a huge metal guy but i enjoyed myself here. this album whips ass! the album is hard rocking and frenetic, like a huge runaway train barreling down the tracks. i don't know if i'm sold on the lead vocals themselves, but they certainly add to the aggressive nature of the music and i do much prefer them to a lot of the more modern, growly vocals i've heard from more modern metal bands. in particular, i really enjoyed the musicianship exhibited here. the drumming is precise and clean, while having an aggressive, loose feel. the guitar work here soars, and the bass playing holds everything together while managing to be high flying and exciting. you can tell everyone here is in sync with one another and firing on all cylinders. i think i could really start to enjoy this album on multiple listens. good stuff!
Super Furry Animals
3/5
pretty decently fun album. instrumentation and vocal performances are fairly strong. unfortunately, despite there being some moments onto his one that I enjoyed, I felt ultimately it was a pretty middling experience. on the good side of middling, but there wasn't anything here that stood out to me. in particular, I felt the songwriting just did not hook me at all. not a bad album, but not anything that I feel I will go back to
Creedence Clearwater Revival
5/5
another album on this list that i unabashedly adore. ccr's run in the late 60s into the early 70s is pretty unmatched in terms of quality of album, in my opinion, and this one might be my favorite of theirs. short, sweet, to the point, and not a bad track on here. john fogerty's songwriting is top notch as always, with the exception of the album closer, 'the night time is the right time,' a cover of the ray charles classic. the instrumentation here is all great and sonically, the album still sounds great and swampy. it's truly a document of a great band at its peak firing on all cylinders.
Earth, Wind & Fire
3/5
this was a good album but i don't think it reaches the upper echelon for me. the two big songs on here, the title track and 'shining star' are fantastic, great mid-70s r&b songs. the rest of the album is not quite filler but is not equal to those two songs. don't get it twisted, i enjoyed the rest of these songs to a certain extent - particularly enjoyed 'reasons' (which i could swear i have heard before... it doesn't look like that was a single but it sounds so familiar). the rest of the album is ok but feels like it's mostly r&b ballads, which are nice, but not anything special to me. the ending of 'all about love' is a bizarre mishmash of synthesizers which feels out of place. so yeah, not an all timer for me, but decent enough.
The 13th Floor Elevators
4/5
i have a deep fondness for 60's garage rock and psychedelia, and this album is really important in the merging of those genres. the first track, 'you're gonna miss me' is one of my favorite songs of this era. there are lots of great tracks on here like 'reverberation' and 'roller coaster' and it is rightly considered a classic of this era - HOWEVER, i think as many point out, the big "feature" of this album is an "electric jug" which is prominently displayed on every track. i think it's actually a very psychedelic "percussion" instrument choice to include, but its welcome is worn out very quickly. i can handle it in spurts listening to 'you're gonna miss me' but an entire album's worth is a bit much. i don't think it makes this album unlistenable, but is undeniably present and will wear on you.
The Police
4/5
i like the police a lot but i think often they get a little too pithy for their own good. on this album, i think this ring the most true. like all their music, the musicianship and instrumentation is unreal, but at this point in their career, i feel sting is getting a little too full of himself. don't get me wrong, there are some stone cold classics on this one - 'every breath you take,' 'king of pain,' 'wrapped around your finger,' and 'synchronicity i' are masterpieces, but nothing else on here gets close to them. it's not that the rest of the album is bad, it's just the rest of the album feels very... pretentious at points. i do want to like this album a lot more than i do, but i'm not sure i'm ever going to totally see eye to eye with a lot of people about it.
Derek & The Dominos
5/5
i get really torn about this album. if you can separate the art from the artist, this is a really great 12/14ths of an album (i am not a fan of 'i am yours' and 'thorn tree in the garden' at all). that being said, eric clapton is a big ol' pile o' shit (and he continually loves to announce this to the world) and this album's origins are so bizarre (falling in love with george harrison's wife and writing an album about how much you love her, and then subsequently marrying her yourself). patti boyd was not the only thing eric clapton lifted from george harrison, as a very good portion of this album sounds like a hypothetical 'all things must pass 2'
all that said, i still think it's a pretty great album, and even though i am (un)officially part of the Eric Clapton Resistance Force, this one still holds up - i mean 'bell bottom blues' is such a great, emotional track that i can forgive its weird origins.
The Pretty Things
4/5
i think is album is more important for its concept than it is for being a truly great album. don't get me wrong, i did enjoy it and it is up my alley. i think upon multiple listens, i could really get to liking it, but to me upon first listen, it feels like it's more notable for being "the first rock opera" than the actual quality of the music. either way, there were some cool psych-tinged moments on here and there wasn't a bad song in the mix.
The Temptations
3/5
i'm a big fan of motown in general, but it's obvious that, production-wise, the temptations truly were at their best with norman whitfield at the helm. this album is the pinnacle of that. of course, as always, the temptations' vocals and arrangements are top notch, the production, as previously mentioned, is great and although not as groundbreaking as the temptations' 'cloud nine' with this production style, but is a continuation and elevation of that style. whitfield's trademark lush orchestration and funk instrumentation is incredibly important and still great to this day.
i think what prevents this album from going from good to great is the crop of songs. the first side is great and funky - especially with what may be the temptations' magnum opus ('papa was a rollin' stone'). the second side is a lot slower and ballady and, even though i know the temptations were very fond of soft, sensitive ballads, i don't know that i like them as well from them as opposed to their more upbeat fare. their cover of 'the first time ever (i saw your face)' is, quite frankly, kind of boring. i can deal with the rest but it does feel like it kills the pacing of the album.
Willie Nelson
5/5
three things that i love about this album on first listen: 1) willie nelson's voice is so soothing. 2) this album is so chill and calming. 3) this album is 'short and sweet: the album' - 15 tracks and the album isn't even 35 minutes long.
i will say, i am not very well versed in the greater world of country music, only where it seems to touch my other musical interests. i'm not sure what i expected out of this album, but i know it wasn't this. i had no idea this was even a concept album with a story. this is one of the albums i've listened to in this project where i was kind of floored? this is the good stuff, man.
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
4/5
this album was really neat and i loved being exposed to music that i normally do not get exposed to. you could tell how joyful the music was from the singing and from the instrumentals here. just a very chill, jubilant album to kick off a weekend morning. cool stuff!
PJ Harvey
5/5
really cool record! i have heard pj harvey's name forever but have never explored her music. i greatly enjoyed this album. in some respects, it reminds me of sleater-kinney (who would follow) but in other respects, it reminds me of grunge like nirvana. really cutting, biting lyrics, aggressive instrumentation. great songwriting and great musicianship exhibited here. awesome stuff!
Beastie Boys
4/5
i went into this project never having listened to the beastie boys in full. this is my third beastie boys album and what i can say across the board is that my favorite part of their music is their production. this record is no exception, and may be my favorite of theirs from that standpoint. the production on this album is superb - it sounds so damn good. tracks like 'futterman's rule' are funky, groovy, and sound live and loose. just really cool stuff. my issue, like other beastie boys albums is that their vocals don't really do it for me at all. i would say at times they are grating and annoying to me. in fact - i think q-tip on 'get it together' is my favorite part of this record. the production is phenomenal, and i can't help but think if someone else was rapping on the entire rest of the record, it would be a slam dunk 5/5 for me. either way, i still enjoyed it well enough.
Christina Aguilera
3/5
there are some nice songs on here and christina's voice, as always, is incredible. but honestly i found this album a bit boring and same-y. the hits on here are great pop songs, but the rest of it is very generic early 00s pop music that does not stand out in any way. very middle of the road for me.
The Doors
5/5
obviously a classic album, one that is still iconic of its time and still has a presence in culture. i really go back and forth on the doors as a whole, sometimes i really can't stand them and sometimes i do appreciate them. right now, i am feeling more positive towards them. what i appreciate most about this album is the sound - nothing sounded like it before, or really since. what is particularly important to me is ray manzarek's keyboard playing, which is, in my opinion, what makes the doors music special. without him the group does not stand out from the crowd. his playing is proficient and is incredibly important to the sound of this album. of course, jim morrison's vocals are iconic and the guitar playing and drumming on this one are underratedly good. between 'break on through (to the other side),' 'light my fire,' and 'the end,' you have a trio of terrific late 60s psych.
Talvin Singh
1/5
yeah i'm afraid this one wasn't for me. i appreciate the effort here - the combination of electronic music and indian music is an interesting one, but i knew halfway through the first track this was going to be not my thing. i can see how this is music that you can get lost in, but unfortunately i don't really get lost in it - i more just get bored. the repetitive rhythms don't do much for me and to be honest, there's not a whole deal more here besides stilted vocals every so often and some muted trumpets (and such). just not my thing.
The Beach Boys
5/5
another album i cannot be unbiased about. to me, pet sounds is the alpha and the omega. this is brian wilson firing on all cylinders. i think a lot of people miss the fact that what makes this album so special is the time period it was made in. nothing sounded like this in 1966 and nothing ever sounded like this again. it went on to influence countless contemporaries and future musicians. the arrangements are so superb and so complex that you don't even realize how complex they are while listening to the music. the structure of the songs was so progressive for the time. the vocals are impeccable, obviously the strong suit of the beach boys. the one thing you have to keep in mind is that because it's 1966, all of these were done pretty much live and recorded on four tracks, as compared to today where everything can be recorded on infinite tracks. it's just an incredible achievement of recording engineering, production, and songcraft that, in my opinion, has never been matched.
Cornershop
2/5
sorry to say, i didn't really care for this one. i thought the sound they crafter here was interesting and on track for something i could see myself liking, but i think the songwriting here and particularly the vocal performances here were lackluster in an amateurish way. sounds like i'm listening to a local bar band at points, and not in a good way.
The Clash
5/5
another album that's a classic for a reason. the clash here take their punk sound and elevate it to new heights, something that is more progressive than their contemporaries, yet also a little more poppy. the attitude is still here and the musicianship exhibited here is pretty dang good. nitpicking a little bit, but not all of the songs here are amazing songs (i'm looking at you, 'jimmy jazz') but the vast majority of this album slaps hard.
Miles Davis
3/5
from a musicianship standpoint, you do not get better than this. miles, trane, cannonball, and evans all on the same record should rightfully be praised. some of the greatest to ever do it. and as such, the musicianship on this is incredible. my problem with this album is purely a me thing - i really don't like cool jazz. i much prefer miles' bebop stuff. cool jazz just doesn't do it for me. i, quite frankly, find it a bit boring. so despite the classic songs, the incredible playing, and the all-timer status, i actually really didn't enjoy myself listening to this a whole lot. once again, i admit, this is fully a me thing. if you love this, go off kings. it's just not for me.
Tom Tom Club
3/5
i so badly wanted to love this album - i generally like talking heads and, of course, i am very familiar with 'genius of love' (which i adore) and so i was hoping for more of the same. unfortunately a lot of this album did not resonate with me. it still has a lot of the same quirkiness of 'genius of love' but really not to the same level of quality for me. i found myself a bit underwhelmed and disappointed. that being said, 'wordy rappinghood' is a fun romp but outside of that, i didn't really feel a whole lot here.
The Young Rascals
5/5
i think ultimately, this album in the grand scheme of things is not very important, but i adore it a lot. i don't know if it has aged very well - it definitely sounds like a mid-late '60s album and modern listeners may find it mundane, but i was raised on this album and the rascals in general. i think the crop of songs is great, the sound of the rascals, at the time, was fairly groundbreaking, and the musicianship here is extremely underrated, especially the drumming of dino danelli (some of the greatest fills of all time!). is this a monumental album from 1967, in hindsight? maybe not. i still love it a lot.
Paul McCartney and Wings
5/5
look i am biased about this one, this is one of my favorite albums by one of my favorite musicians. in a lot of respects, i think this is mccartney at his greatest as a rock music craftsman. every song on this is hooky and catchy. of course he had been writing iconic hooks and melodies for over a decade at this point, but here it especially feels like music that was made to be as hooky and catchy as possible. songs like 'jet' and the title track 'band on the run' are classics and rightfully so. the musicianship on here is great, but of course the highlights are paul's musicianship (sorry linda). if i could make one nitpick about this album, it's that i love almost all of the songs, but i think if you replaced 'picasso's last words' with almost anything else (i honestly think it overstays its welcome, but hey, it's kitsch, it's paul) it's an even stronger album. but i do unabashedly love this album regardless.
The Doors
3/5
i am perpetually conflicted about the doors. last week, i was given their first album and i love it a lot. this album is always the other side of the coin for me. where their first album feels fresh and energized, this album feels stale, stagnant, depressing (derogatory). jim morrison's nearing death here and he is very obviously riddled with his various vices. his vocal performance is, at points, atrocious. this seems to be a hot take but his vocal performance on the title track is actually borderline unlistenable to me. it's not good. it's not cool. it's not A Vibe. it's just sad. he was never a singer's singer, always fueled by attitude, but on this album it's not attitude as much as an imbibed stupor. the crop of songs here are also not very strong. my favorite of the bunch has always been 'love her madly' which i think is classic doors fare, but not too much more than that. what i think saves this album from being a complete disaster is the musicianship by the rest of the band. and, as always, i will give a special shoutout to ray manzarek, whom without, the doors would be nothing. his keyboard playing is spectacular and iconic on most everything he touched.
Wild Beasts
2/5
not quite my thing. in a lot of respects, this reminds me of arcade fire's music, but seems a little less accessible. the instrumentals here are fine and i liked them, but i had a hard time getting past the vocals. they sort of sound like a cartoon vampire. idk, i know it's supposed to be ~artsy~ but it sort of falls flat to me.
Neil Young
4/5
i like a lot of neil young's stuff and have always enjoyed this album, but it's not quite to the level of some of his other work, particularly the two or three albums that precede this one. half of this album is songs i love (like the title track, 'revolution blues,' and 'vampire blues') but the other half doesn't quite do it for me. just feel like the crop of songs is not as strong as on some of his other efforts. it's not that i think the album is bad, i just think it could have been workshopped a bit more.
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
4/5
despite being a relatively big neil young fan, i have not listened to a breadth of his music, including this one. what i really liked about this is that this album has a nice balance between neil's acoustic side and hard rock side, which culminates in the bookended versions of 'my my, hey hey'
i also enjoyed the fact that it sort of toes the line between live album and studio album. sometimes it feels like it's a studio album, and then the audience noise starts bleeding in. i know neil young can be a bit divisive, but i tend to land on the positive side rather than the negative, and i greatly enjoyed my time with this one.
Liz Phair
4/5
this is one i've been meaning to listen to for a while now. listening to this album, you can tell its dna has been passed on to many modern artists, particularly the women-driven indie rock of the last decade plus. it has a rawness that i think was unique for the time but has been emulated for decades at this point. from a standpoint of production, i did enjoy the slightly raw sound. i thought her lyrics were honest but i did feel like not all of the songs landed with me. that being said, there are a few on here that are fantastic, such as, 'never said' - which i think is an all-timer. all that being said, for me, this one is good, not great. i think with time, i can definitely grow to love it, but as it stands right now, it was not out of the park for me.
Yes
5/5
every yes album i have encountered just has the air of 'coolness' - the production, the musicianship, the performances just sound cool. on this album, they employ a lot more acoustic music than i would normally associate with yes, but it still works well and i love seeing their versatility and having it succeed. of course, the famous track on here ('i've seen all good people') is great, but to me the stars of this album are the bookends ('yours is no disgrace' and 'perpetual change') which are great early prog gems. look, you pretty much know what you're in for with yes, and i am totally on board with it.
Venom
3/5
i'm not really a big metal guy at all, but i appreciate this era of metal a lot more than the more modern sound. i love the rawness of it. particularly the energy of the guitars and the drums. this album does this well, but i don't really care for the overdramatic spin on this one (edgy? not really, maybe for the time). also none of the songs stood out to me in any way. so, ultimately, like the sound, don't really care about the music that's here. not bad, not awful, not great.
Depeche Mode
3/5
pretty solid album but i think it's a little too serious and pretentious for me. i do enjoy this era of synth-driven music, and i greatly enjoyed the sounds on this one, as well as the production, but i found the sounds themselves a bit lacking. still was enjoyable, but not really my favorite.
Deee-Lite
2/5
of course, i knew the big song off of this album before listening, but i kind of wish the whole song was as fun as it. 'groove is in the heart' is so infectious, catchy, and upbeat, it makes the entire rest of the album feel kind of lethargic and uninteresting in comparison. the sampling and production here is cool and i think the vocal performance from lady miss kier is pretty good but the sum of the parts here is just kind of blah. i really was hoping i would like this more.
AC/DC
2/5
i never listened to ac/dc in middle school so this music really hasn't resonated with me. it's funny to me that the only song on this album i knew ahead of time was the title track and, quite frankly, it's the lamest song on here. the rest of the album really doesn't do it for me a whole lot. solid enough hard rock. the sound is better than i feel the songs are. just really makes me feel like music a middle schooler would like. ah well, i gave it a shot.
Deep Purple
4/5
i would say in general, deep purple tends to be music i don't really care about - i first encountered 'machine head' in this project and wasn't wowed by it. it just really isn't my music. so going into this one, i was sort of expecting more of the same, but i think ultimately, i like this one better. to me it's got more of a raw rock energy that machine head doesn't. it feels a little more rough around the edges, which i like. to me, it sounds like if you put the doors on steroids. just very frenetic, and i appreciated it more than what feels like the more premeditated 'machine head'
Ice Cube
4/5
what can i say, cube does it again. i really jive with the production on ice cube's records. really cool, really funky. ice cube's rapping is aggressive and he sounds cool as all hell when he's rapping. i think as with a lot of other rap of this era, it is a little bit dated in terms of "acceptable" terms etc. but the content of his rapping is still on point and still extremely relevant 30+ years later. whereas 'ameriKKKa's most wanted' gets a little too caught up in the whole "ice cube is a sexist" thing, i think this one is a lot more focused on the political statements, etc. which i think makes for a better, harder hitting experience.
Jorge Ben Jor
5/5
oh my god? talk about an album that i never would have been exposed to otherwise that i was absolutely blown away by. every second of this is a fabulously funky fusion of funk and brazilian music. there is not a bad moment on here, it is just dripping in sweat in the best kind of way the entire length of the album. i will definitely return to this one! really awesome stuff.
Marvin Gaye
5/5
marvin may not be at his best here but he is pretty damn close to it. the vast majority of the album is great as hell and the only "bad" parts are okay if you can deal with some prime early-mid-70s explicit moaning. only thing i will say is i'm not sure why 'keep gettin' it on' is so close to the title track, but i guess it bookends the sides, so it's alright. but yeah, front to back this is a classic for a reason. and it's a lot shorter than i remember!
Linkin Park
1/5
yeah sorry, this one just ain't for me. i think it's a case of "you had to be there" - or maybe "you had to be a depressed and angry kid in middle school when this came out." in general, i think the production is pretty solid on this one. the musicianship is definitely there. i'm just not very into the vocals here, either the screaming or the rapping. the scream-singing is technically better and i think evokes a lot more emotion, but the rapping is baffling, since it is not particularly well rapped, written, or, quite frankly, good. then we get to the lyrics which are really, REALLY not my bag. i understand a lot of people are attached to this stuff and it resonates with them, but for me it's the opposite. maybe i am too privileged to have never had my angst manifest in this direction, but to be honest, i find it quite alienating. even at my worst, i don't think i've ever felt quite like the vibe that this album gives off, maybe i'm just lucky, but man it just does not resonate with me.
Mercury Rev
3/5
boy, this is a bit of a mixed bag. sometimes i can't get past the lead vocals, sometimes the instrumentation is a little too avant-garde for my liking, sometimes the songs are really cool. the ending of the final track sounds like a cat is jumping on a keyboard. i still think overall, i liked it, but it is definitely a bit of a mixed bag. maybe it would grow on me with repeated listens or maybe only partially.
Björk
4/5
this was a really fascinating album. obviously a lot of it is voices and altered voices (nearly all of it?) and the music can be a little bit challenging at times, but i found it all fairly compelling. it's an album that sounds cool. although i think at points it's definitely difficult to listen to. i had never listened to bjork before and often i hear her spoken in the same breath as yoko ono, and honestly i do not see the similarity between this and yoko's works (i do enjoy yoko as well) beyond "woman with unconventional voice is making weird music" - all that being said, i did enjoy my time with this one.
Boston
4/5
the first three songs are all-timers. there's a reason they get played to death on classic rock radio. the rest of the album, in my opinion, is good, not great. nothing bad here, but nothing as special as the opening three tracks. pretty good album overall, but it feels pretty formulaic after a while. the musicianship here is great, in particular the guitar playing is iconic. the production here is impeccable. brad delp's vocals are incredible. it might be one of the best sounding records of all time. all that said, a very good album front to back, if not a bit cliche.
The Rolling Stones
5/5
this, in my opinion, is the stones at their best. the album has all of the qualities of what makes a great stones album without none of the bloat of some of their (one of their) highly acclaimed albums. the album comes out with a blaze of aggression and keeps the attitude going. 'sway' is one of my secret favorite stones songs, and 'wild horses' is one of my not-secret favorite stones songs. even when the album downturns to the more acoustic "traditional" blues sound, like "you gotta move" the album doesn't quit. what makes the stones the stones is the oomph their albums give, and this is one of the oomphiest albums around. one of my favs!
Jeff Buckley
4/5
a really hit or miss album for me. when this album is at its best, it's really firing on cylinders. when it's not, it's just kind of a bore. i think the performances here are very good but i think especially the slower material bogs this one down a little too much for my liking. the more uptempo stuff is great, i just think the downtempo stuff is too boring. it's pleasant enough but not enough for me to love it entirely.
Sister Sledge
4/5
the highlight of this album is the production - nile rogers and bernard edwards knock it out of the park, as they often did with this era of disco. the title track is iconic, catchy, and still holds up incredibly well. i also enjoy the hit 'he's the greatest dancer' which holds up nearly as well. the album cuts here are not as strong, with the exception of the production (at least they all sound good), but the songs can be a bit repetitive or uninteresting at points (although it IS disco, i would imagine they would play very well in a dance club). overall, a pretty good, not great album.
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
5/5
the greatness of elvis costello on full display. although it is not my favorite album of his, it's pretty damn near the top. from front to back, it's oozing with cool. snide, clever attitude is dripping from this thing. the production is great, the now-iconic sound of the organ on this one holds up quite well. elvis' lyrics and songwriting are top notch and fun, sometimes with a bitter underside. just a great album overall.
The Good, The Bad & The Queen
3/5
man, i didn't know what to expect from this one going in. i wasn't familiar with the name but saw that damon albarn and danger mouse were attached, so i was cautiously optimistic, knowing that both of them have made some quality stuff. i really didn't care for this one. it wasn't bad, i just really found it a bit boring. i felt like the pacing didn't suit my liking and the quality of the songs i didn't care too much for. the musicianship here was good but there were not very many moments that stood out to me. i did enjoy the title track and how it built, but other than that, nothing really stood out to me.
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
4/5
elvis costello's third effort is a little bit more hit or miss than his first two, but i think the highs vastly outweigh the lows here. to be clear, the lows of this album are still very good, i just don't think it's as consistent as some of his other records. still, songs like "accidents will happen" and "oliver's army" are great (man, i should have been keeping track of how many slurs i've run into on this project... a surprise one here!). i also thought the second half of this was at least a little more consistent than the first half - the swing from the first three songs of the first side to the last three sides of the first side is a bit of a swing, quality wise. that all being said, i still greatly enjoyed my time with this album.
Joni Mitchell
5/5
i am a big joni mitchell fan and, on a good day, this may be my favorite joni album. there truly is some brilliance here, as with much of her music. her songwriting is as top notch as ever. clever, funny, emotional, great. this album has her starting to move in a direction she would continue to follow in the later part of the 70s, with it being a little more sophisticated and jazzy at points. we're not at 'Mingus' territory here yet, but it truly is her firing at the pinnacle of her powers. not only does this have great singles, like "help me" and "free man in paris" (all timers, in my opinion), but has incredible album tracks such as 'people's parties' and the title track, as well as the rocker 'raised on robbery.' because of the shift to jazzier music, she includes some fantastic musicians on here. i also love how well curated the sound of this album is. nothing really sounds like this album and it all sounds consistently great.
really, this is a moment of transition for joni, but ultimately, this might be the sweet spot for me.
Kings of Leon
2/5
yeah i can't say i'm a fan of this. i don't know if i can say it's bad but it's pretty uninspiring. there's really nothing interesting here going on. i remember them being a big band but with music as, at best, middle of the road as this, i can't imagine the bland type of person who this resonates with. not for me.
Simon & Garfunkel
4/5
i am a huge simon and garfunkel fan, honestly i think their body of work is some of the strongest of any group. this album is not my favorite of their output, but i still think it is very good. for my money, paul simon is at his best when he is writing quiet, contemplative music, and this album definitely has its fair share of that - "homeward bound," "the 59th street bridge song," and "for emily, whenever i may find her," amongst others. it also has two terrific covers - "scarborough fair/canticle," and "7 o'clock news/silent night" as bookends (get it?) to the album. overall, i think the rest of the album is not quite filler, but still enjoyable. as i said, it's not my favorite of theirs, but in the grand scheme of things, i still love this album a whole lot!
Herbie Hancock
5/5
man this album is pretty much it. so funky, so effortlessly cool. particularly the first side is iconic. the musicianship from herbie, as well as the entire ensemble is so great. the part of chameleon where it goes out of tune is unfathomably cool. the whole thing is just cool. cooler than cool jazz. front to back.
Tangerine Dream
4/5
boy i don't really know how to feel about this one.
it was out of my comfort zone.
it is really beautiful, haunting.
it is out of my comfort zone.
it is also a lot of electronic noise.
it is out of my comfort zone.
i found it very relaxing.
it is out of my comfort zone.
it's not music i would ever seek out.
it is out of my comfort zone.
i really liked it?
it was out of my comfort zone.
but i liked it?
The Smashing Pumpkins
4/5
a bit mixed on this one. there are parts of this album that, for me, verge on unquestionably great. songs like, 'today' and 'geek u.s.a' are fun and definitely the highlights for me. a lot of the album is... fine but not really my thing. especially when the album tends to be quieter. i really like this album more when it's cooking than when it's soft. that being said, there's nothing bad here, just really not totally my thing. ultimately, i liked it, but didn't love it.
Brian Wilson
4/5
i have to preface this by saying that i am a huge beach boys and brian wilson fan and have been my whole life. i've listened to pretty much every album they and their members have ever released. i adore the music of SMiLE, but this is not the best version in my eyes. I remember how revelatory this release was at the time, the mythic album finally coming to life! you can hear the long-lost greatness! and, yeah, it's pretty good! unfortunately for 'brian wilson presents SMiLE,' the recreation of this album on the subsequently released 'the smile sessions' blows this one out of the water. to hear the then contemporary recordings of this music is astonishing to me, and this recreation some 40 years later is very good but not the same thing. as i said, i love the songs here, but unfortunately something that i think plagues brian's later career is the production, which almost always comes off as flat, stale, surgical, cold. i think that the way this album sounds does the source material a disservice, which is why i will always prefer the production of brian at the height of his powers in the 60s over this album. it's still a great time, i think it's brilliant music. just not the best it can be.
Public Enemy
4/5
super bombastic "fun" album - fun in quotation marks because i understand the political nature of the album and the message is not a fun message, but fun to listen to. the rapping is pretty great, although i think chuck d is way better than flavor flav. the beats are great and raw in that late 80s way. in terms of all the rap from this era i've listened to, ultimately, it's not my favorite but i would still say it's pretty consistently good.
Sonic Youth
4/5
sonic youth is a tough one for me because i like a lot of music that is adjacent to them, but for some reason i can't for the life of me get into their music fully. i'm not sure what it is - i think it tends to be a little too noise-y for my taste? that being said, i did enjoy this album. especially songs like 'dirty boots,' 'mary-christ,' and, 'kool thing.' i think i liked this album more when it was raucous and chaotic more than when it was more avant-garde and noise-y. either way, it was a good time. i just wish i liked it a little bit more.
Queen
5/5
on the right day, gun to my head, this is my favorite queen album. it's certainly up there for me. to me, this is the album where queen truly becomes queen. although i think they perfect the queen sound on their next album, 'a night at the opera,' this is really the bridge between the early queen sound and the 'iconic' sound they developed. you do get pieces of it with songs like 'killer queen,' but what i love about this album is the harder rock songs - songs like 'brighton rock,' as well as, 'now i'm here.' i also love the 'in the lap of the gods' duology, and of course, with that classic queen sound, you get a queen granny song like 'bring back that leroy brown.' just a really great album that i adore.
Bob Dylan
5/5
yeah this one is an all timer to me. in my opinion, this is bob dylan at his peak (maybe a controversial take? maybe not). his songwriting here is top notch. i think this may be his best crop of songs on an album. i also like the sound of this album. it's sort of the midway point between 'bringing it all back home' and 'blonde on blonde' - you sort of get a good feel for where he's going but it's still pretty folky at points. my favorite tracks are the standout, 'like a rolling stone,' as well as, 'ballad of a thin man.' overall, just a great record.
a-ha
4/5
obviously there's one really big song on this album and it's pretty great. it holds up. i think the hidden gem on this album is 'the sun always shines on tv' which i think is fairly lost to history (at least here in the states). the rest of the album is pretty solid but fairly unremarkable at times. still, i think the sound is fairly iconic at this point and overall, it's a fun enough listen.
Tim Buckley
4/5
a pretty solid late 60's folk album. i found it to be a bit uneven at points, but really enjoyed songs like, 'no man can find the war,' and, 'pleasant street.' tim buckley has a pleasant voice and clearly is a very solid songwriter. his voice, at times, reminds me of mickey dolenz from the monkees (not an insult). i don't know if this is tim buckley at his best, but i can imagine an album where his talents converge and he created something truly great. i'm not sure this is that album, though.
Simply Red
4/5
i would say strictly a good album, not a great album. the lead singer's voice is very good and i think the songs here are solid enough, but the production is quite dated in a not-so-charming way and nothing here jumps out as an amazing song or performance. it's better than average, but nothing super special either.
Bob Dylan
5/5
although i don't think this is necessarily bob dylan at the height of his powers, this is a terrific album and one that shows essentially where he started from. maybe the most pure folk album he ever released (outside of his debut) and there is some terrific stuff on here. this album really showcases him as a pure folk singer, which i think is very important in his history, but in his relation to the evolution of popular music in the 20th century. if i can nitpick, not all of the songs are 10 out of 10 bangers, but most of them are great and there are some all-timers on here. safe to say, it's one of my favorites of his and an overall great album.
50 Cent
3/5
this wasn't my favorite. i think the production was pretty decent but i think has aged worse than a lot of the older first or second wave rap albums. 50's rapping is alright but just really isn't my thing. there's something about his flow that is a little too singsong-y for me. most of the songs here are fine but in my opinion not very memorable. there are a couple on here that are fun, like 'in da club,' and ,'p.i.m.p.' but other than that, i'm not sure i liked it enough to explore it further.
Nirvana
5/5
although i'm not as familiar with the "greater" nirvana discography, i have listened to 'nevermind' and some select works that dave grohl did afterwards. this was my first time listening to this album in full, and i have to say, i think i like it more than 'nevermind,' - which i'm not sure is a hot take or not. although obviously their breakthrough album is an incredibly important album for the evolution of popular music in the 20th century, i actually find this album more appealing with its more rough-around-the-edges sound and kurt cobain's more personal lyrics dealing with his experiences with fame. outside of the songs that i would consider "famous" from this album, my favorites were, 'serve the servants,' 'frances farmer will have her revenge on seattle,' and, 'radio friendly unit shifter.' to me, this album is one that takes the momentum of their first album and combines it with a more rough around the edges sound that works extremely well.
Violent Femmes
5/5
what always draws me to this album is the folk-punk sound they created. it's biting, it's aggressive, it's... soft? i love that about it. the lyrics and songs remind me a little bit of the modern lovers, another band i like a lot. the whole album is just really fun, and a great take on a genre that can be a bit hit or miss.
Teenage Fanclub
5/5
i really enjoyed my time with this one. i've not explored teenage fanclub's wider material, but it's always been a name that i've heard and have been interested to listen to. it reminds me a lot of the power pop that i love - big star, particularly. big guitars, catchy hooks, a teeny bit of noise. very fun stuff!
Joni Mitchell
4/5
i am a big joni fan, but i have not listened to a lot of her non "big" albums. this was my first time with this album and i really liked it. what i thought was interesting is that clearly it is an evolution on the style from 'court and spark' adding a lot more jazz feel to it than her music before. also included are a few instances of abrasive synthesizers which i was not expecting at all. her songwriting is still great. what i think made this album stand up lesser than her others that i adore is that it feels like a lot of the "pop" joni is gone from this one. in a lot of her earlier music, there is sort of a sing-songy-ness that i didn't realize i was so attached to and i didn't get the same sort of feeling from this one. obviously it is an evolution to a more mature sound, but i'm not sure i particularly enjoy this stage of the evolution in full.
Skepta
1/5
yeah i don't know about this one. i'm not even a rap hater or disliker, i'm just not really a fan of whatever this is. the bars are corny as hell at times (i audibly laughed at a bunch of them and i don't think they were supposed to be funny) although skepta's flow is pretty good. the production here is what kills me though, i don't think it's technically bad, but the beats give me absolutely nothing and sound to me like something someone just threw together in garageband or something. and the skits? like am i supposed to take them seriously? is this supposed to make him sound hard? is it supposed to be corny as shit? who knows. to me, i couldn't take it seriously. it looks like this album is pretty well esteemed but i don't know why, there was so much better stuff coming out at the time of this release. not a fan, sorry.
Buena Vista Social Club
5/5
a really cool foray into cuban music! i don't know if i ever would have gone out of my way to listen to this album, but i'm glad i did. the album is very passionately played and sung. you can tell that a lot of care went into this. i'm not familiar with the group, but it looks like there is a documentary that is sort of in tandem with this album that i may check out. really cool stuff. although i did enjoy myself, i'm not sure it's an album i would really come back to all the time, but it certainly is an album i enjoyed outside of the scope of the music i normally listen to and i really do appreciate it for that.
Tina Turner
3/5
it goes without saying that tina turner has an incredible voice. her voice is the reason you listen to this album. the production is violently mid-1980s and has not held up particularly well. it sounds really clunky and cheesy. there are a handful of old overs on here that i don't think are amazing covers, just sort of whatever. nothing here stood out to me as great, but was solid enough. pretty middle of the road.
k.d. lang
3/5
pretty decent album. i enjoyed k.d.'s voice and the songs were pleasant enough. there was nothing here that really blew me away. the highlight here for me was 'constant craving,' which i thought was far and above the best song here. all in all, good not great.
The Offspring
4/5
really fun punk album. it's energetic, aggressive, obnoxious. everything here works really well, the sound and the instrumentation is classic 90s punk. to me the highlights are the "big" songs - 'come out and play' and 'self esteem'
Justin Timberlake
3/5
so i suspect most people aren't going to enjoy this one. pop music from over 20 years ago from a figure that has ended up a bit divisive and unpopular in the modern context (as of writing this, he notably was arrested for DWI about a month ago). that being said, i was expecting the worst going into this. justin timberlake doesn't tend to be my kind of music but honestly, this album was alright! the two songs i remember off of this - 'rock your body' and 'cry me a river' are honestly two of the more unremarkable songs here for me. i enjoyed the first two tracks 'seniorita' and 'like i love you' and also the incredibly stevie wonder-esque 'nothin' else'
it's not my favorite album ever, but it's better than i expected.
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
4/5
pretty decent 00s indie album. definitely a little on the artsy side, if you're into that. i felt like it started with a bang but quickly sort of fell off. the first third of the album is a lot better than the last two thirds, in my opinion. but the album is pleasant enough and i feel i could grow to like it upon additional listens.
Joanna Newsom
5/5
a starkly beautiful album. i suspect people will not be able to get past her voice, but i think it's quite interesting and love the timbre in contrast with the harp and orchestrated instrumentals. very fun, playful music. calming. really great!
Beatles
5/5
cannot be unbiased about this one. been one of my favorite albums for most of my life. the production on this one is immaculate, to this day it still sounds amazing. the songwriting is incredible - john, paul, george, and EVEN ringo firing on all cylinders. this album is really the pinnacle and the perfect ending for the beatles as a group. just a tremendous accomplishment of an album, despite the fact that the band was perhaps at its most splintering.
Green Day
4/5
honestly i probably haven't listened to this one since it came out. it was huge then, at least at school and so i heard most of it from my friends. it's a pretty solid album! a lot of fun, some dated lyrics, not just a straight punk album which i wasn't totally expecting. it's still green day and it still sounds like green day, but it sounds like an evolution of where they were in the 90s - or perhaps a de-evolution (it does feel a bit more 'classic rock' at points than punk). either way, it's a fun enough time and i enjoyed it.
Living Colour
3/5
decent enough album. i felt my interest in this one waned as the album went on. nothing here was bad, just strictly down the middle for me. i'm not sure i totally enjoyed the sound of what they were going here for - funk-metal? i guess? sounds pretty corny and not totally for me. but that being said, still listenable.
Fiona Apple
4/5
pretty good album here. the highs were certainly high - i particularly enjoyed 'sleep to dream' and 'criminal.' the production on this one is still pretty sharp. i thought particularly towards the middle of the album it got a little dull. i know that fiona apple's music is widely acclaimed, especially after this one, so i am eager to listen to more of her music because i could definitely see moments of brilliance on this one. it was just a bit uneven at points for my taste.
The Beau Brummels
4/5
an interesting album. proto-gram parsons, in a way - country folk mixed with psychedelic pop. in terms of the album, i think it works better when it's leaning more into the country sound than the psychedelic sound. the country sound was novel for the time and feels a bit more adventurous than the somewhat milquetoast psych sounds here. it's not a bad album, but leaves a little more to be desired. there is something interesting about the album, though, that was pretty progressive for the time.
Japan
3/5
listening to the first two tracks of this album, i was actually pretty excited. a proto-new wave album? awesome! track three is where this thing kinda grinds to a halt. the fun new wave sounds end and are replaced by boring to middling songs that go on for too long. the production is nice and the rest of the album is fine, not awful, but i don't know if i've felt more teased by a beginning of an album before.
Scott Walker
4/5
an interesting one for sure. scott walker's voice is underratedly great in general, and that definitely applies here. it's a 60s pop album but has a little bit of sophistication to it. pleasant production with a bit of grandiose 60s baroque-ish inspiration. definitely has its dull spots but i don't think there's a truly bad song in the bunch. for me, this was good, not great.
Stevie Wonder
5/5
honestly i think this one is my favorite album of his. it's not as bloated and i think all the songs here are, at a minimum, really good. really every song here is great, my least favorite being the final track. what boggles my mind about stevie wonder in this period is that he is 1) 23 years old and 2) playing the majority of the instruments on this album. so not only is he writing, singing, but he is almost the entirety of the album. it is all him. at age 23. insane. guaranteed you were not pulling off anything this great at age 23.
5/5
a really fun, off kilter, energetic romp of an album. this is definitely not everyone's bag, but if you know 'whip it' you may have an idea of what you are in store for. it's an album that definitely goes against the grain, and that's kind of what i love it for. 'uncontrollable urge' is one of the best album openers of all time, and i also adore 'jocko homo' and 'gut feeling/(slap your mammy)' - not to mention their odd cover of the rolling stones' 'satisfaction.' the production is great and it sounds as bombastic today as it probably did in 1978.
Little Simz
4/5
i am always a little bit on the hesitant side when an album shows up on one of these lists that was made in the last 5-10 years because i feel like it's not fair to the new albums as they have not had as many years of esteem as the other ones. a lot of them seem like they are "hot takes." i didn't know what to expect from this one, but i was pleasantly surprised. a really fun modern rap album, but the star for me here was the production. feels modern but is definitely heavily influenced by old soul music. i think it's a great pairing between old school and new school. lil simz' verses are pretty great and there are some highlights here for sure - 'offence' and 'flowers' being my favorites of the bunch, but it's all really solid and sounds great.
Beck
4/5
cool album. beck is an artist that i've obviously heard about for years but haven't delved into, so this was an interesting experience. i loved how eclectic the influences of this album was. a touch of hip hop, 60s rock, even some fun noise here and there. song-wise, i enjoyed the entire tracklist, but nothing here totally stood out as incredible. just a really solid, well made album.
The Cars
5/5
man i love this album front to back. not only is it, in my mind, basically a perfect debut album, it still holds up. i have to echo what my parents and people of my parents' generation said about this album, which is, "it's basically a cars greatest hits!" which... it is. the whole album is great and i have not gotten sick of it yet. it's got some of their iconic songs and the album cuts are pretty great too. great stuff!
Motörhead
5/5
i am pretty new to motorhead, but what i appreciate about this live album is that their sound, their energy translates INCREDIBLY WELL to a live setting. in the studio they are great, but live they are HUGE. this is just a balls to the wall live album, no holds barred. the playing is aggressive yet incredibly well done. and lemmy's vocals are iconic. just a great example of motorhead in their purest form.
The Cure
4/5
solid album with a great soundscape. the production was cool and you can tell a lot of craft went into creating it. on the other hand, i felt like a lot of the songs dragged on and some of them had the tendency to drift into dull territory. that being said, i can see myself relistening in the future and having this one grow on me. as it stands right now, i felt it was good, but not great.
The Doors
3/5
another doors album, another real mixed bag here. there are great songs on this record that i like a lot, 'roadhouse blues' and 'queen of the highway,' there are some decent, pretty good songs here as well, 'waiting for the sun' and 'peace frog,' and there are songs that are, quite frankly, kind of dull, 'indian summer' and 'ship of fools.' just imo a pretty uneven album from a band i can never decide where i stand on them. sometimes they are great, sometimes they are not. as always, the musicianship here is great. the songwriting and the vocals have the biggest sway in quality. the more i listen to the doors, the more i land in the middle on them, which is where i feel this one lands as well.
The Electric Prunes
4/5
A pretty solid 60s garage rock album heavily lifted by the two singles off of it - 'i had too much to dream (last night)' and 'get me to the world on time.' i'm a fan of this era of music so i enjoyed myself, but really in the grand scheme of things this is a pretty forgettable album. still, it's not bad and is one of the more solid, less hit-or-miss garage band albums of the era.
Ray Price
4/5
a pretty decent country and western album from the early sixties. this one starts off with a goofy introduction from mr. price thanking everyone for how much they loved their last record and how much he hopes they will love this one - should more records start off with a personal plea to fans? maybe, maybe not. it is kind of an awkward way to start the album. sir, i just met you.
anyways, i enjoyed myself with this one. a lot of songs about honky tonks and falling in love and drinking, fairly common tropes for the time period, but i don't think there's a bum song here. mr. price's voice isn't the best country voice i've ever heard but it is charming and the musicianship here is pretty good. it's not an album i see myself coming back to, really, but it's one that i was pleasantly surprised by.
Wu-Tang Clan
5/5
i've never listened to wu-tang before but i wish i had sooner! this album was great. i am finding myself a big fan of this era of rap and this is one of the best complete albums i have heard. the production and beats on this one are so great and the verses here are witty, fun, and their flow is excellent. obviously wu-tang gets a lot of hype (we've all seen the t-shirts from hot topic and the posters in college dorms) which, i think steered me away, thinking they were somehow overrated. nope. this is great stuff!
4/5
a pretty good album. my second foray into ms. harvey's music, and i definitely would like to hear more. her songwriting is great - i just wish this album was a little more abrasive and less slow and ballady. I didn't really care that much for the two songs with thom yorke (hot take?) but nothing here is bad at all. just felt like it could have been more for me. still a good album!
Rush
4/5
i've never been the hugest rush fan, but i had a good time listening to this one. the big songs on here are the highlights to me 'tom sawyer' 'yyz' and 'limelight.' the more album cuts were fine but i felt they were nothing to write home about. as i said before, rush has never been my favorite flavor of prog, but it's serviceable enough. not great, not bad. good.
Black Sabbath
5/5
i've never listened to black sabbath in full, and am really only familiar with the staples they play on classic rock radio. i am pretty blown away by this one! i was a led zeppelin kid and listening to this, it is shocking how i never got into this. all the stuff i love about early led zeppelin is here and is even bigger and darker. the attitude and the sinister feel is great, mixed with the rock production of an era that i adore. this is one i will definitely come back to. i sort of always wrote off black sabbath as something i would never be into, and i was sorely wrong!
Amy Winehouse
4/5
really enjoyed my time with this one. obviously amy winehouse was a terrific vocalist and she is putting on quite the performance here. i really loved the throwback soul sound that the production employs here - one of the songs even interpolates marvin gaye and tammi terrell's 'ain't no mountain high enough.' for me, i think what keeps this album in the good-not-great territory is the crop of songs here. there are two songs i think i would consider great - 'rehab' and the title track. the rest of the songs are somewhere between fine enough and good. nothing really stands out from the pack. that isn't to say the songs are bad, i just didn't find them interesting enough to bump them up to the great territory.
Elliott Smith
5/5
i'm a big elliott smith fan, and this album is no exception. he shares a lot of influences with music that i adore, and also i love his songwriting. often i find even though his music is laced with sadness, i find it quite comforting. i don't think there's a bad tune in the bunch here, but my favorites are 'son of sam,' 'somebody that i used to know,' 'stupidity tries,' and, 'easy way out.' just a great album from a great songwriter.
Anthrax
4/5
i am a metal newbie, but i enjoyed my time with this one. it's aggressive, bombastic, and pretty listenable. the musicianship here is pretty great and the lyrics i enjoyed. pretty cool!
Bill Evans Trio
4/5
very pleasant album. bill evans was a terrific jazz pianist, and it is highlighted here. his phrasing and chord structure is second to none - i would say, even, iconic. when you're listening to a jazz record, you know when bill evans is playing piano. the rhythm section here does its part and never gets in the way of the star of the show here (the piano). that being said, although it was good and pleasant, it never got truly incredible for me. the highs were not high and the lows were not low, it was just good. musicianship is pretty good, songs are fine.
Goldie
1/5
i really do try to go into every album with an open mind but man, i am so sorry, this was like mind-numbingly boring to me. overly long electronic tracks that don't really go anywhere. it's just tedious. it's like i'm trapped in the menus of a playstation 1 racing game. help me! get me out!
Pixies
4/5
pretty solid album. i like the pixies well enough but haven't explored their music beyond listening to doolittle. i enjoyed the evolution shown here but i felt like although the songs were pretty consistent, they were a little bit of a step down from doolittle. but overall, a good album with great production.
Deerhunter
4/5
a really neat indie album. from the first little bit, i wasn't sure i was going to fully enjoy this one, but the second half of the album really picked it up for me. good instrumentation and nice songs. the sound sometimes borders on cliche indie from the time period, but never overdoes it. just a pretty nice album from front to back.
Happy Mondays
4/5
pretty solid album here. in my opinion, it sort of starts off slow but does pick up towards and through the second half. at times it reminds me a little bit of REM and similar bands from that era. definitely has a college rock feel to it. solid production and solid instrumentation. i sort of wish i was wowed by it a bit more but i can see it as an album i would be interested in returning to at some point.
Astrud Gilberto
3/5
most of this album is a pretty pleasant samba album from the late 60s. astrud gilberto's voice is iconic and the album, for the most part, is really calming and chill.
there are two big exceptions to this: one is 'a banda (parade)' which is an old fashioned marching band song??? and sounds like a song more fit for the soundtrack of the musical, 'the music man' than a samba album. the second exception is a bizarre cover of the lovin' spoonful's 'you didn't have to be so nice' that is a duet with her young son. i guess it would be nice and sweet but the kid cannot hold a note like his mother can, and you can REALLY tell. it is pretty god-awful to listen to. i'm sure it was a nice moment for them. the rest of the album is pretty decent to good and fun to listen to, but those two tracks drag it down some.
Dr. Dre
5/5
yep, this is one that gets a lot of hype and i can say it is deserved. dr. dre's verses are great and his flow is iconic. the combination of him and snoop dogg creates a great tandem that stands above a lot of the music that was coming out in this era. what pushes this album over the top for me is the production, of which dr. dre is famous for. every song here sounds great, sounds of the era, but does not sound dated (a distinction that i think needs to be made). iconic beats, iconic verses, iconic album.
Elvis Costello
5/5
sincerely one of my favorite albums of all time. i like a lot of elvis costello's stuff but i can't say i am a super fan. but this one always stands the test of time for me. every song here, to me, is like an exercise in writing short, great, hooky power pop tunes. every song has a hook and they have all gotten stuck in my head at one point or another. of course, it wouldn't be elvis costello without his signature lyricism style, and i really do love the production here from nick lowe.
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
4/5
although i have not listened to his complete discography (nowhere even close), i consider myself to be a fan of neil young. i'd never listened to this one and so i didn't know what to expect because most of my neil young experience is in the 60s and 70s, not the 90s. at first i felt a little underwhelmed by the songs, but as the album went on, i found myself liking this one a bit more. it's interesting because it sounds like neil young is almost trying to find his footing in the grunge era (although, you know, he is the godfather of grunge). it's got all the hallmarks of a neil young album, abrasive guitar, lyrics with attitude. i could see myself enjoying it more on subsequent listens, i think it could really grow on me.
The Stooges
5/5
a really great, aggressive hard rock album. i haven't had much exposure to the stooges, but know they are held in very high regard in terms of being the bridge between 1960s garage rock and 1970s punk. lots of attitude, lots of fun. my only gripe here is the production, which is extremely flat and it looses some of the frenetic energy (although doing some reading it seems like remixes have been controversial). despite that, i had a really great time listening to this one.
Bob Dylan
5/5
historically, i am much more of a 60s dylan person than a 70s dylan person. this album in particular i've had no interest in since it was sort of force-fed to me growing up while being told it's great. that being said, i've been in a bob dylan mood lately and so i listened to this album for the first time with an open mind and, i really enjoyed it. even though his music and songwriting had evolved over the previous decade-plus, at his core, he still is dylan and his lyrics are terrific and evoke great imagery. although i think the crop of songs here may not be as iconic as some of his 60s albums, i think they are all at least pretty good, my favorites being, 'tangled up in blue,' 'idiot wind,' 'if you see her, say hello,' and, 'shelter from the storm.' i may not have been a fan going in, but i truly enjoyed it all.
Talking Heads
4/5
i'm a talking heads newbie so i'm not familiar with their album cuts, really. this was my first time with this album and i enjoyed it! the thing that i have come to appreciate about the talking heads is that they were bringing in a unique style in an era that i think was fairly homogenous. my only qualm is that i find a lot of the deeper cut talking heads songs are a little too rough around the edges (read: dissonant) for my taste. it is interesting, but i would have to dive in on repeated listens to appreciate it more, i think. overall, a cool album!
Pentangle
4/5
a really cool late 60s folk album. in a lot of respects, this reminded me of fairport convention, who were one of their contemporaries in this space. very delicate folk music, very beautiful. what i liked about this one is that there is a full band aspect to it, you have drums and bass (although not used all the time) which allows for a greater range of dynamics. big moments can be big and soft moments can be soft. definitely an album i will come back to!
The Flaming Lips
5/5
I think I'm becoming a fan of the flaming lips, and I really enjoyed my time with this album. fun, cookie, all around solid psychedelic Rock. I can see myself enjoying this album a lot more on subsequent listens, but as it stands right now, a lot of good songs but nothing here that totally blew me away. the two instrumental tracks were fine, but not totally my thing. and I could have done without the songs about bugs. but otherwise, a good time!
Buddy Holly & The Crickets
5/5
buddy holly is monumentally important in the advent of rock and roll and that is on display here. in a modern context, this is a quaint, bare bones form of rock and roll, but at the time, buddy holly changed the landscape. his songs are catchy, hooky, and fun. my only qualm with this album is that the strength of material is not totally there. the first side is a lot better than the second side. that being said, still an incredibly important album in the history of music
The Band
5/5
not only is this one of my favorite albums, but i would consider this a 'desert island' album for me. truly one of my albums i turn to if i need to listen to something comforting - it's like a warm blanket for me. i prefer this one to the debut 'music from big pink' because although i think 'big pink' has higher highs, this album is a lot more consistent. the production on here is home-y, country, kinda lo-fi. some of robbie robertson's best songwriting is on here. all five members of the band shine here at different parts, whether it's playing or singing. it just feels so homemade and so lovely. the famous songs on here are great but to me the standout has always been the closer, 'king harvest (has surely come)' which, to me, may be the most underrated band song of all time. it's an album i cannot be unbiased about, i think it's nearly perfect.
Steely Dan
5/5
'can't buy a thrill' is an interesting first step for steely dan. of course you have the two big hits on here, which are great, but you can see the more humble beginnings at play here, with some hints of the future. i would say this album feels less unabashedly jazzy than their follow-ups would. it's still jazzy to a point, but it feels more like an early 70s rock album with some tastes of jazz. i don't think there's a truly bad track on here (minus the closer, "turn that heartbeat over again" - a song that i legitimately did not remember being on this album at all, it's that forgettable). some of the album cuts i love on here are 'dirty work,' 'kings,' midnite cruiser,' and 'brooklyn (owes the charmer under me).' just a really solid album and a great debut from one of the 1970s premiere bands.
Meat Loaf
4/5
i've never really listened to meat loaf outside of random exposures on classic rock radio. i had always automatically put it into the bucket of 'classic rock that i don't like' despite not ever really having listened to his music or being exposed to it much beyond whenever a DJ would play him on the radio.
i have to say, i was actually surprised that i enjoyed this album. even though it makes a lot of sense based on the songs that i know from meat loaf, the album is really springsteen adjacent. i wouldn't say it is directly inspired by springsteen, but it definitely sounds like it is cut from the same cloth. it doesn't help that two members of the e street band play on this record, which helps give it that springsteen-esque feel. i also really like todd rundgren's production on this one (shocker, i am a fan of todd rundgren's production in general). the songs here are fun and corny, but it kind of leans into it, something that always irked me, but i didn't mind once i listened to this with an open mind.
Traffic
3/5
not a bad album, but i feel like traffic has better and more interesting music to offer down the line. not yet to their progressive phase, this album comes off more as a second-rate psych-blues band with not a ton to offer in terms of interesting songs or soundscapes. the highlight here is the original version of 'feelin alright' which is not as good or as interesting as the more famous cover by joe cocker. really, this is a look at a band who has yet to find their footing and doesn't offer a whole lot in terms of novel music, as compared to their contemporaries.
The The
4/5
a pretty solid new wave album. i had always seen this band's name in the cd racks at my local music store but never really gave them a thought beyond, "oh that's an amusing band name." I did enjoy what I heard here, although I felt like nothing here was super remarkable. not that there wasn't quality here, it just did not leave a huge impression on me. good, not great.
Jean-Michel Jarre
4/5
a solid enough early electronic album. i enjoyed the soundscape here, but really i don't have a lot to say here. it was pleasant, it sounded nice, it really gave me nothing beyond that.
Iron Maiden
3/5
i still consider myself a newbie when it comes to metal, classic or otherwise, but i enjoyed this one. it's not my favorite metal album i've ever listened to in my limited time exploring the genre, but it's solid enough. for my taste, it's not as rough around the edges as i would like but the musicianship here is good and the production sounds pretty great. overall, i just sort of wish it had a little bit more oomph to the sound, which is what i tend to like in metal. but overall, solid!
My Bloody Valentine
4/5
my first experience with my bloody valentine and i can say i am definitely intruigued. there's a bit of noise on this one but the music was interesting and i enjoyed the songwriting here. i felt like i liked the more rock-ier songs here rather than the more noisy ballads. but definitely an album i could see myself listening to again.
Steve Winwood
3/5
a pretty nothing album. nothing here really stands out and the production here has aged pretty poorly - a lot of 80s music still sounds great, this... does not. i've never really understood the mass appeal of steve winwood and this just falls into that bucket. let me be clear, this is not bad. it's not unlistenable. i would even venture to say that some of the songs are a tiny bit catchy. it just sounds like you are in a dressing room, circa 1980. in the most unappealing way possible.
The Temptations
5/5
this album is a pretty great encapsulation of why i love the temptations. their vocals are great and the production here from norman whitfield was absolutely groundbreaking for soul music of the time. although i would say that the two singles off of this are the most consequential (the title track and 'runaway child (running wild)' because of their great production and catchy, funky beats, the rest of this album is incredibly solid and really highlights the songwriting of barrett strong and norman whitfield. really, for me, the only blemish here is the somewhat pedestrian cover of 'i heard it through the grapevine' which is, unfortunately, sandwiched between two all time great temptations songs for me. but otherwise, i really love this album, and it is one of the temptations' greatest.
Soft Cell
4/5
a fun little new wave album. it gets a bit unabashedly horny at times (i'm looking at you 'sex dwarf') but honestly from the title, i don't know how you couldn't expect it. the production is very dated but in a charming way? like it's very silly and of the era, but i found it fun. the big song off here ('tainted love') is clearly the highlight, but there are other fun tracks here. i thought 'chips on my shoulder' was a fun little romp. but yeah, outside of the hit, nothing particularly mind-blowing here, but still fun.
Bonnie Raitt
3/5
i really want to like bonnie raitt's music but every time i've listened to this album i have been absolutely middled by it. despite its wide acclaim, really outside of a handful of songs, this album is just really not a whole lot to me. bonnie's songwriting is pretty good at times and her voice is iconic. but, quite frankly, some of the stuff here is just boring. the highlights to me are the first three tracks (the title track, 'thing called love,' and, 'love letter') and i could take or leave the rest. it's not bad, it's just really middle of the road for me. i'm always a little perplexed why it has such a huge reputation.
Pere Ubu
4/5
interesting album. very quirky, rough around the edges, noisy in a way that tickles my brain. i did enjoy my time with this one, although i felt a little bit less impressed with it than their debut album, which i loved. still, i enjoyed moments like 'caligari's mirror' and the weird, but fun, '(pa) ubu dance party.' i definitely suspect this is not going to be everyone's bag, but i find pere ubu's music to be challenging enough while not being completely obtuse, which is a nice middle ground for me.
Rush
3/5
a decent enough prog album. for me, the highlight was clearly the 2112 suite, but for me that was a little bit hit or miss. some "movements" were kind of corny and others were pretty cool. the rest of the album didn't really leave much of an impression on me. as always, with rush, the musicianship is really great and geddy lee's voice is as iconic as ever. but overall, an album that didn't really move me one way or the other.
James Brown
5/5
what makes this record phenomenal is that it captures in a bottle what makes james brown special. his studio recordings are great, but what sets him apart from everyone else is his high octane performances, his charisma, his vocal chops. he is wailing all over this thing and it is so damn impressive. i don't know how you could listen to this and not be floored. a live album of the greatest stage performer of all time, what could it be other than pure, distilled energy?
Amy Winehouse
2/5
my second of two amy winehouse releases while she was alive. i enjoyed her album 'back to black' well enough so i was anticipating enjoying this one too. well, not so much. her voice is still very good but the songs and production here leave a lot to be desired. in particular, the production has not aged well and sounds really dated. a lot of the songs, i thought, were not particularly well written. it sounded like they left a few bum notes from amy on this one too, and some tardiness on the rhythms. maybe it was supposed to be more laid back but to me, it came off as sloppy. really disappointed in this one, not going to lie.
The Notorious B.I.G.
4/5
really solid album. biggie's flow is pretty damn great and always makes for an interesting listen. i also enjoyed the production on this one. it definitely sounds a lot more modern than a lot of albums that were released contemporaneously. in terms of the songs, i enjoyed the majority of them, but not too many of them gripped me immediately, but i feel like i would continue to enjoy the songs and grow to love them if upon subsequent listens.
Kate Bush
5/5
kate bush is brilliant and to me, this is one of the biggest pieces of evidence. every song on here is dramatic as fuck and i love every second of it. her vocal range is great, as usual. everything about this album is so creative and out there, and yet, not really inaccessible (although admittedly, it's not her most accessible album). the production on here is pretty dated (full of of-the-era synth sounds that have not aged particularly well) but if you can get past most of this album sounding like an old video game, it is truly great. it's definitely an album that i'm sure most people think sounds like a cat getting its tail stepped on, but to me, that's part of the charm of kate bush. she's out of left field and unabashedly so.
The Divine Comedy
2/5
to be honest, I didn't really care for this one. what I really didn't like was the production which was so bright that it felt disjointed. the songwriting here did nothing for me and overall I felt like it was a slog, even for how short the album was. not my thing!
Method Man
4/5
really solid album from method man. it started a little slow for me, but after the first 1/3 of the album, it really picked up for me. consistent through this release is strong rapping with great flow, really solid production, and a dark, almost low-key feel. it's not the most in your face bombastic album, but it still has energy, even though it feels more subdued than other rap albums of the time. i particularly enjoyed 'bring the pain' and 'method man (remix)'.
U2
4/5
i'm really not a fan of u2 in general, partially because it was force-fed to me growing up and also because i find their typical output to be pretentious and, quite frankly, uninteresting (yeah, even their good stuff). this album is a bit of an exception for me. this album has an aggressiveness and rawness that i find a lot of their other music lacks. it has energy and doesn't bore me to pieces. is it my favorite album of all time? no. but as far as a band i am generally uninterested in goes, it's pretty good.
Pet Shop Boys
3/5
a decent enough synth-pop album. this one did not really resonate with me a whole lot. like the production was fine, the instrumentation here is fine. the lyrics didn't really land with me and for my second foray into pet shop boys' music, i can't say i super love the style of the vocalist. that's not to say the sum of all this album's parts are bad, but just really unremarkable to me.
G. Love & Special Sauce
1/5
genuinely one of the most obnoxious albums i've ever heard. this brand of blues-rap gen x whatever the hell this is, is such a pain to listen to. the only saving grace here is the musicianship, which is pretty alright, but yeesh man. this sounds like if the mediocre-at-best busker in the subway station got a record deal. it sounds like an alley cat getting its tail run over by a bicycle. it feels like it has to be ironic but i do think it is quite genuine. pretty awful.
AC/DC
2/5
on one hand, i am realizing i find ac/dc to be really boring. back in black, my second ac/dc album generated, is really middle of the road in terms of the instrumentation side. nothing here stands out. this is maybe the most generic sounding hard rock in existence. scientists have been working for years to create the most "rock and roll" sound ever, and this is it.
on the other hand, i find ac/dc to be kind of obnoxious. part of it is the generic hard rock sound that doesn't offer much. the other part of it is the screeching singing that is beyond grating. not awesome. the music here is pretty horny. i dunno, i found it a bit exhausting. it gives the energy of a middle schooler or a person who never grew out of being a middle schooler.
Jah Wobble's Invaders Of The Heart
1/5
usually i try to listen to albums with an open mind, but boy howdy, from the first track, i knew i was going to not enjoy my time with this album. the production is so badly dated and cheesy, it sounds like music from a second-tier straight-to-vhs-and-only-sold-to-libraries educational program. the world music influence added here only compounds on that, especially when it is talk-sung over by a bored sounding english man who sounds like rowan atkinson's zazu from the lion king. this really is my trifecta of dread - boring electronic music meets white dude doing world music meets woefully dated production.
The Waterboys
4/5
a really cool folk-rock album. it starts off with a bang with the title track, which i knew before listening to this album. the rest of the album is really interesting and pretty good, but there's not a whole lot here that meets the title track for me, at least after this listen. just a really solid, enjoyable, evocative folk record.
PJ Harvey
5/5
my third pj harvey album and i have to say, i think this one is my favorite. loud, aggressive, biting. high energy. just really great through and through. i've heard a lot about pj harvey over the years and never delved into it and i can definitely say i am coming back to this one.
Alanis Morissette
4/5
solid album. out of all the songs, i think the big songs on here are probably the best ones - the album cuts weren't bad, but i think they just did not leave a huge impression on me. to me, what's more important here is the attitude and impression this one left on people. starkly personal, biting. a turning point for music.
Elvis Presley
4/5
i will say that going into this, i'm not the hugest fan of elvis, but i don't hate his music either. generally speaking, i think there are better and more interesting artists that were his contemporaries, but still, you cannot argue his influence and importance in 20th century music.
i haven't listened to this album in particular in a long, long time, so it was a nice refresher. it starts off with a bang with what may be his most iconic song. the rest of the album is solid enough, but in my opinion, the rockers are better than the ballads. nothing here is bad, but most of the album ranges from pretty good to somewhat dull. i do enjoy early elvis the most because of his raw energy, and this album is a pretty good example of that.
The Stooges
4/5
neat little album. you can tell that this is just the beginning for them. some really solid garage rock here, the highlight being the classic 'i wanna be your dog.' the two lowlights here for me were the unremarkable 'ann' and the incessant 'we will fall.' it definitely has the beginnings of the punk attitude, but doesn't totally bash you over the head with it. it's good, not great.
The Thrills
3/5
not a mind blowing 00s indie rock album, but a fun one nevertheless. very referential to a lot of 60s and 70s pop rock. the songs here are upbeat and catchy. in a lot of respects, it feels in the same vein as the flaming lips, neutral milk hotel, stuff akin to that, but i think those contemporaries have more compelling and essential music. the album comes off as a little bland but this is not anywhere near bad. pleasant.
Public Enemy
4/5
what i'm finding i really like about public enemy is that their production is always bombastic and frenetic. between the beats, chuck d's strong voice and flavor flav's hypeman energy, there's just something about the music that there's nothing like it. i also especially appreciate how focused on social commentary their music is, especially when so much of it still feels relevant today. this one surprised me a little, because it's not one of theirs that i had heard of going into it, so i wasn't sure what to expect. but the entire album is a good listen. and i did love the anthrax cover/remix of 'bring tha noize.' solid album.
The Sugarcubes
5/5
really cool album. part of my journey in this project is being exposed to bjork, whom i had only heard of beforehand. i had no idea she was even in a band before her solo career, so this was a terrific surprise. she is a great singer and has a quality to her voice that i am finding i adore. this album is less avant-garde than her solo output, but that doesn't mean i like it less. really great late 80s alternative album with great vocals on top. it really is the best of both worlds for me - a singer i am finding i like a lot singing a genre of music i find i adore a lot.
Tortoise
4/5
from the beginning of track one, i felt like i was going to be in for a miserable time. over the course of the first track, this really turned around on me. no longer did i feel like someone was cleaning out my ears, but more was intrigued about the cool soundscape that was being crafted here. usually ambient music is not really my jam, but this one grew on me a bit. i don't know if i would go out of my way to listen to it again, but i did find what was created here to be interesting and calming, in a way. i appreciate this album in the context of this list because it is decently different from a lot of what is on the list - instrumental and not totally cookie cutter, yet very listenable.
Leonard Cohen
4/5
solid album. leonard cohen's songwriting is pretty great (not a hot take) and in general, this album has a very purist folk production style. i liked the songs and the production, but i felt like the mostly bare bones production didn't do much for me. it adds to the vibe and focuses on the songwriting but i don't know if i enjoyed this crop of songs enough for me to fully appreciate the focus on them. i'm fairly new to leonard cohen in general and do like what i've heard so far. i could see this one growing on me with time.
Pink Floyd
4/5
going into this project, i was not a big fan of pink floyd, but i had never really gotten the chance. early on on this journey, i was given 'wish you were here' and was a little bit blown away. this album, however, is one that i was already a little familiar with - and how could you not be? it's one of the most famous albums of all time. but because of its notoriety, i had written it off and was always annoyed by the songs from it as they came up on the radio. well, what did i think about it this go-around?
i liked it. i don't know that i think it is as good as it's always made out to be, but it's good. it gets a little proggy (like, Yes proggy) at points, but is a pretty fun, straightforward album. hands down my favorite moment of the album is the closing combo of 'brain damage' into 'eclipse' but there's nothing truly bad here either. one thing i will say is that i'm not entirely fond of roger waters' melody style and that's true here too. a lot of times his melodies are sort of sing-songy in a way that i find a little incessant. but yeah, good, solid album.
The Crusaders
3/5
not a bad album. fairly nice to listen to. i am a fan of this era of r&b and disco, but had never heard of this album or group before. while it's not bad, it's not really my cup of tea. it's definitely a "fusion" album insofar as it's a pleasant combination of jazz and r&b/disco. but because of that, it is a little bit more smooth than i tend to like my r&b. at times it feels like the music from the smooth jazz radio station that played in my childhood dentist's office. i think it's better than waiting room music, but it does have that feel to it. the musicianship displayed here is very good and extremely competent. overall, it was decent, but it's just not quite my taste.
Basement Jaxx
3/5
i will give this one credit where credit's due:
i'm not the biggest electronic/dance music guy out there, but i try to go into every album with an open mind. most of the time it's too ambient or too trance-y for my taste. going into this album, i was expecting a little bit more of the same, but this album is pretty fun to listen to. in my experience, it's a little hit or miss, flip-flopping between 'fun' and 'annoying' but i would rather bounce between those two options than consistently boring.
and boring this album is not. it's not totally my cup of tea, but i at least appreciated it for the slightly out-of-left-field party that it brought. it's not generic, it's not boring, it is definitely its own thing, and i appreciated it for that.
Primal Scream
3/5
a fairly interesting album. it was an unexpected combination of 90s psychedelic rock revival and 90s house music. i thought it was a pretty novel combination of sounds that i hadn't really heard much of. that being said, the songs here were a bit hit or miss, some of which were neat and some of which were a bit dreadful. but nevertheless, an interesting listen.
Cream
5/5
***DISCLAIMER***: i hate eric clapton as a person as much as everyone else and i do not endorse nor condone his personal beliefs and statements
that being said, this album was extremely formative for me. while everyone else was listening to angsty numetal at school, i was listening to this. so from that respect, i will always have a soft spot in my heart for this album. on the other hand, i'm not 14 anymore and i'm years removed from that, so this album has become a lot less important to me, and due to the transgressions of a band member named above, it's put a little bit of a sour taste in my mouth here. and yeah, it's a bunch of white dudes from england co-opting a historically black form of music, which, you know, clapton made an entire legacy off of.
all that aside, it's a great blues-psych album that has a huge importance in the evolution of rock and roll music in the 1960s, bridging the gap between the rock and roll boy bands of the early 60s to the advent of hard rock and heavy metal later in the decade. 'blue condition' and 'mother's lament' are detriments to an otherwise strong album. 'tales of brave ulysses' and 'SWLABR' are all-timers for me.
Dusty Springfield
4/5
dusty springfield has one of my favorite voices of all time. and here, it is employed at its best. gone are her days of banal pop music and given a more sophisticated avenue. this album is soulful, jazzy, catchy. of course, 'son of a preacher man' is the big tune off of this one, but to me there are several other highlights, including 'just a little lovin,' and her version of the french song 'the windmills of your mind.' just a really great album with a classic sound that i really enjoy.
Ice T
5/5
a pretty great album that is sadly still relevant today. a lot of important subjects covered here. and ice-t's flow is great - sometimes it's hard to remember he was even a rapper and not just some fresh-mouthed actor. my only gripe here is that there are a handful of songs here that are not as energetic as the others and they aren't as fun. and the rock song is ... interesting. but as a whole, I enjoyed it!
Tito Puente
5/5
such a fun album. it really is a dance party from front to back. every song is danceable and catchy and you can definitely feel the joy involved in the music making. I had heard of Tito puente before listening to this, but I don't know if I had ever actually listened to any of his music, but I can definitively say this was one of my favorite surprises I've encountered in this entire project. classic fun, front to back.
Soul II Soul
2/5
this one was a bit rough for me. ordinarily, my interest in dance music almost entirely hinges on the beat, and unfortunately here I felt like most of the beats and production were pretty middling. this meant that a lot of the songs for me hinged on the vocals, which unfortunately for the most part were not good. what saved this album for me was the final two tracks, ' back to life' into, 'jazzie's groove' which had the album's best vocals into the album's best production. but as a whole, sorry, really not a huge fan.
Screaming Trees
4/5
a pretty cool combination of psychedelic rock and grunge. sometimes it works really well and sometimes it's a little towards middling. i still appreciated its ability to thread between the loud and the ornate. not my favorite in terms of execution, but overall a neat sound concept that i really enjoyed at points.
Girls Against Boys
3/5
solid album. it's a little bit too noisey and ugly sounding for my tastes but i enjoyed how bombastic and aggressive the sound was. i found this album much more appealing than other contemporaries in its space. not really my type of music, but i appreciate that it uses the aggressiveness and rough-around-the-edges sound as a compliment to the music and not the focus.
Aphex Twin
3/5
i try to go into every album with an open mind, but i find a lot of electronic music, particularly ambient electronic music, doesn't do much for me. but still, i've heard a lot of people rave about aphex twin so i was optimistic that maybe this would be the album that would make it all click for me.
i can't say i disliked this one. i also can't say i greatly enjoyed it either. for me, at best, a lot of the music was interesting but didn't grip me. at worst, it was boring. nothing here was bad, by any stretch. i did think that a lot of the music was interesting and the soundscape crafted here was very well made. it's a great sounding album, when a lot of electronic albums of 25+ years ago may sound a bit dated. but even so, still not totally my thing. i can appreciate the artistry here, but it didn't do much for me.
Led Zeppelin
5/5
i was a big led zeppelin fan in my formative years and this one was my favorite album of theirs, so unfortunately, i am going to be a bit biased here. i think this album is great. it probably still is my favorite of theirs. the songs here are top notch. the playing is, as always with led zeppelin, great. robert plant's vocals are iconic. but what sets this album apart for me is the production. this album has such a low-end oomph that i do not get on other led zeppelin albums. the bass and drums sound SO good and punchy. everything here is great, but to me, that's my favorite part.
Faust
5/5
a really cool record. never have ever heard of faust before this but i was blown away by how creative i found this record. very noisey, but not offputtingly so. but it ebbs and flows, sometimes there is a lot of noise, and sometimes it subsides so that you can hear a really great 70s rock record. very neat. sounds great. i'm so glad i got to hear this one!
Holger Czukay
5/5
really interesting album. it's a bit goofy at times (get used to canned sound effects, etc.) but the musicianship here is great and the songs are so interesting to me. none of them are boring and take you every which way, which is what i loved about it.
Orbital
2/5
not awful, but pretty boring. not a lot here that goes above and beyond the typical trance playbook for me. was nice as background music, but that's about it. the first couple of tracks were a bit rough but the rest of it is ok.
Megadeth
4/5
a pretty solid metal album. i'm pretty new to metal and i'm still trying to figure out what i like and what i don't like in the genre. what i do know is that i enjoyed the musicianship here. the music sounds pretty good, fun, and aggressive, but the clean production left something to be desired for me. the songs were alright but sometimes were a little on the light side for me. really don't know how i feel about the cover of the blues classic 'i ain't superstitious.' i also can't help but feel like i would have liked this album better with a different singer. he's not bad, but i think his voice just isn't totally my cup of tea.
The B-52's
4/5
a really solid new wave classic. the b-52's are always off kilter and corny and they're probably not for everyone, but i enjoy their schtick. very unique sound that is beyond referential to early 60s music. the vocals are atypical and odd but to me, that's what makes them charming. the instrumentation here is really solid. nothing flashy, but good all around. the songs here are what limit this from being a 5 for me. very clearly, 'rock lobster' (their most famous song) is far and away the best song here. there's nothing bad here, but just wish more songs were as catchy as their big song. overall, it's a cool album that i enjoyed, just wish it got to more higher highs.
Pantera
3/5
solid metal album. the instrumentation is aggressive in a way that i enjoyed and i didn't mind the screaming vocals, even though i tend to find i don't enjoy that style of singing. it is definitely a loud album with attitude. unfortunately, i guess the singer for pantera has a penchant for saying edgy racist things so i do have to make the distinction that i do not agree with him and it did mar my enjoyment of this album a little bit.
Sade
4/5
really solid album. catchy tunes, slow and smooth. the production sounds as bit dated at this point but the songs are decent enough to carry it past that. a good time, but not a great time.
Guided By Voices
4/5
super cool album. very much my aesthetic. love the lofi production and love the format - basically an album of little graces of power pop perfection. nothing stays longer than it has to, a lot of it goes before you want it to. super catchy. i'd heard of them before but never explored their music. i'm definitely returning to this one!
Santana
4/5
really great album. i enjoyed it a lot. carlos santana's prowess for guitar is chiefly on display here, which i'm sure might surprise people who only know him as the 'smooth' guy. there are some classics on here that still get a lot of play today - and i think because of their omnipresence, i am less enthused by those songs. songs like 'black magic woman' and 'oye como va' are great, but overplayed and are not my favorite anymore. to me the star of the album is, 'hope you're feeling better.' it's like nothing else on the album - face melting, aggressive in a way that stand out. the rest of the album is at least good but there are some more dull instrumental moments on here.
Fiona Apple
5/5
really neat album. totally against the grain at times but completely listenable. fiona apple's songwriting is on a different plane from everyone else. very uniquely and singularly her. from front to back, i really enjoyed this one!
Queen
4/5
so i consider myself a queen fan - not a huge superfan, but i like their music a lot. i'm slightly baffled by the inclusion of this one on the list. there are some shining moments on queen ii, but mostly, with the context of where the band would be headed over the next few years, this album feels a bit underwhelming. that's not to say i think it's a bad album, but just that i know queen can be and will be better and more consistent than this. they really have not hit their stride yet on this one, which i would not consider them having done consistently until perhaps their next album. what really makes this album is side two, which almost feels like it could be a mini rock opera. the first side is a lot more hit and miss, but there is nary a bad moment on side two. an iconic band progressing and approaching their timeless sound? yes. a must-hear album? not totally.
Big Star
5/5
another album that i cannot be unbiased about. i adore this record. the pinnacle of power pop songwriting. every song has an incredible hook. it's just so well written, so well performed. i love the shit out of this one. but to be a little critical, there are a couple of songs here that are a little more inessential - in particular, the closing track - that perhaps i could do without. but man, the first side of this record is pretty much perfect in my eyes.
The Residents
3/5
man i truly don't know how to feel about this one. on one hand, what a bizarre album to listen to. on the other hand, i was definitely amused by it. like, it's really goofy and off-kilter and reminds me a lot of some zappa stuff. i also don't know if i would ever come back to this album again. it almost feels like a disservice to this album to rate it, because i don't think its intention is to be rated, or acclaimed. it just sort of is. weird, wonky, and bizarre, sure. but i don't know that i would even put it on the same scale as a "normal" album because it doesn't feel like it applies to the scale. either way, even though i don't know what to do with this album, i am glad i listened to it. so i am converting that gladness into a rating.
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
5/5
a pretty great 00s indie record. i liked the moments where it was more garage rock-y than the more artsy stuff, but i felt like the entire album was pretty consistent. of course, the big song off of this, 'maps' is great but i think it's pretty unique amongst all the other songs. it definitely stands out in that way. really liked it!
Paul Weller
3/5
a bit conflicted about this one. on one hand, i think paul weller has a knack for catchy songwriting. i felt like a lot of the songs here were well written and catchy enough. i thought the production felt a bit dated in a not-charming way, but it wasn't awful. somehow this album feels like paul weller was just trying to sound like steve winwood and i can't pinpoint why, just that i can imagine steve winwood putting this album out. it's not bad, it just feels like a lot of the albums of rock musicians from the 70s put out at this period in time. not really anything special for me here.
Booker T. & The MG's
3/5
this is an album i have always been perplexed by. i've always seen this album regarded in the highest standard. to be sure, the musicianship on here is great and it was a monumental moment for r&b and stax records. but, quite frankly, this album is really one note. the title track is by far the stand out song here. the rest of it is kind of whatever, even boring at times. does this album get the praise off of one song? i think so? i mean the one song is great and iconic. the rest of the album sounds like "let's make 11 other worse versions of green onions." a lot of of-the-era covers here. perhaps a lot more monumental for 1962, for modern listeners, i can't imagine there's a whole lot here for them.
The Velvet Underground
5/5
honestly i had a lot of fun with this album. it's really noisey and definitely rough around the edges, but i love the way it sounds. it's a bit avant-garde, but not offputtingly so. really, it mostly feels like you took "black angel's death song" from their first album and made it an entire album. as with every velvet underground album, it just oozes cool to me. great stuff!
Harry Nilsson
5/5
i just really adore this album. harry nilsson is one of my favorites and i think this is him at his most commercial and probably pound for pound his most consistent album. he's a really clever and funny songwriter, which i adore about him. he never takes himself too seriously, although this definitely is not the silliest album he has. the sound and production is similar to a lot of early 70s solo beatles stuff, which makes sense because he was close pals with john and ringo, especially in this time period. just a really great album from a musician i adore.
Frank Sinatra
5/5
i was never a huge sinatra guy, but i've listened to a decent amount of his albums recently and have started enjoying his music. i will say, i tend to like the more upbeat swingy stuff he does rather than the more downbeat ballads he is famous for, which is great for me here. no only is everything here for swingin' Lovers, it's for Swingin' lovers as well. and it does not disappoint. everything here is really great, the orchestration is iconic and his voice is terrific. there are a handful of songs on here i would call classics ('you make me feel so young' 'love is here to stay' 'i've got you under my skin' 'makin' whoopee') but even the album cuts are great and catchy. it's a classic for a reason!
The Auteurs
2/5
it's a shame because this sounds like music i would otherwise like. but i really felt like the songs were not very strong and the vocals were pretty bad. at times it sounds like the vocalist's voice is cracking. reminiscent of 90s slacker vocals, but without the coolness. it mostly makes it sound very limp. not a vibe i enjoy from music.
Frank Sinatra
3/5
my second sinatra in 3 days. coincidentally I listened to this album outside of this project earlier this year so i'm giving it a re-evaluation. although i like both sinatra and jobim's work in general, the combination of them is a little lackluster. sinatra is great but his voice doesn't really work with bossa nova. it's not bad, but it's not great either. very middle of the road.
Aimee Mann
4/5
i've known about aimee mann for a while now but i've never sat down and listened to any of her albums, so this was a nice treat for me. i've often found her music to be nice and pleasant to listen to and i really like her voice so i expected to enjoy this one. and i was right. i got exactly what i wished for. a pleasant, well-sung album. perhaps my only complaint is that i'm not sure i found this one quite so memorable. it was nice, for sure, but i don't know if it had enough for me to come back to it.
The Fall
4/5
a fun enough listen but a bit rough around the edges for my liking. the instrumentals here are great and i particularly liked them, but the vocals left me a bit cold at times. a bit too nonchalant for my taste. the big example for me was 'i'm going to spain' where the track itself i loved, and the vocals with the voice cracking and meandering really killed it for me. still, despite that, i enjoyed the album. just think i would have liked it a bit more if the vocal performance was a bit different.
Kings of Leon
3/5
my third foray into kings of leon during this project and i still do not really get it. every once in a while there is a song i enjoy, like the first track, 'red morning light' but mostly i am nonplussed by their music. i think out of the three i've listened to so far, this one is the most consistent and the one i like the best. felt more garage rock than the other ones, which is more up my alley than the more generic 00s rock they got into. still, not really my thing.
The Zombies
5/5
i can't say anything bad about this album. it's one of my favorites of all time. the songwriting and production are very late 60's which is maybe my favorite time period of music of all time. every song on here is catchy and lovely. of course, there's one big song on here that is a classic - 'time of the season' but i think most of these songs should be held as classics in the same vein. in particular, i adore 'this will be our year' which i think is one of the best songs of the decade. there's no world i would give this one under a 5.
Coldcut
2/5
part of the reason i love this project is listening to albums i ordinarily would never have. a lot of the electronic music i've run into is just that. i always go into them with an open mind, even though it's not my favorite type of music. i'm still waiting to find the album that will sway me. this was not that album. i actually enjoyed the first track, but the rest of the album did nothing for me at best, and at worst, was monotonous and annoying. i appreciate cool sampling and there were some neat samples here, but none that i felt were used in a mindblowing way. really just wasn't for me, unfortunately.
Prefab Sprout
4/5
what i found interesting is that almost every song i started off thinking "wow, this one seems a bit underwhelming" but once the chorus hit, i was a bit blown away. great catchy choruses. really clean, pleasant production. vocals are pretty great. just a really nice sounding piece of music. it doesn't approach the level of a favorite, but i still enjoyed the twists and turns and the stellar production.
Jeru The Damaja
4/5
really good 90s rap album. i really liked the production here and jeru's flow is pretty good. it's a bit dated, but it is a 30 year old album. is it the best rap album i've heard of this era ever? no. is it pretty decent and a great example of 90s rap from new york? i think so
The Roots
5/5
this is one of the coolest sounding albums of all time. like the sound is just so cool. it oozes cool. the beats here are infectious, the verses are great. listening to this genuinely makes me sad that the roots are just jimmy fallon's house band now. we could have had it all.
The Byrds
5/5
to me, this is THE byrds album. i know 'mr. tambourine man' gets all the attention, justifiably so, for its groundbreaking, but this album to me is the most authentically byrdsy. chris hillman has stepped into the void that was left by gene clark's depature and has stepped up brilliantly - providing some of the best songs on this record, but really what may be my favorite byrds song of all time, 'have you seen her face.' roger (jim?) mcguinn sort of takes the backseat here and it feels mostly like a david crosby and chris hillman record. and gary usher's production holds up really well in terms of albums that came out this year - a surprisingly important and underrated producer of the era. really what this album is is the byrds at a crossroads, halfway between folk rock bob dylan cover band and country rock. it's an album i adore and have adored and this listen was no exception.
John Coltrane
5/5
look, i mean there is a reason why this album is regarded as the greatest work in jazz. the musicianship is off the chain, the music is stunningly recorded and is downright beautiful and epic (in the classical sense of the word). it is jazz at its final form. expertly sculpted, crafted, performed. complex but extremely listenable. it gets a lot of hype, and it truly deserves it.
Barry Adamson
2/5
yeah not really my thing at all. the more hip-hop-esque sections were not very stellar and the jazz-ier, lounge-ier sections were also not stellar. maybe it's because the album i had generated before this one was Coltrane, but the jazzy stuff on here feels so stale. in fact, the whole album kind of feels stale. it's like i'm listening to the soundtrack of a d-tier movie. it sounds dated in a very not charming way. and there are some unlistenable and oddly horny stretches here. but the worst sin of all is that, quite frankly, it's pretty boring.
Sabu
4/5
after listening to this album, i was a bit surprised to find that it seems to be pretty unliked. not just here but on other websites, etc. i was a percussionist in a past life, so i am not afraid of a drum-forward and rhythm-forward album. this was pretty cool. the conga playing was top notch and the songs here were very fun. it felt like a party at times. the one gripe i think i have with this album is that there wasn't anything that really gripped me. there was a lot of cool stuff, but not really anything i think i would come back for more than this listen. still, i appreciated this album - this is the kind of stuff i love this project for!
Red Snapper
2/5
i hate to say it, but this was one of the most bland electronic albums i've ever heard. there was not really anything here that enticed me or i found interesting. it just sort of went on for almost an hour. sort of the epitome of background music in a bad clothing store.
Country Joe & The Fish
4/5
i love 60s psych music and of course know country joe and the fish from their iconic performance at woodstock, but i had never actually sat down and listened to this album. there is some very cool, very 1967 psych rock here. in particular, 'not so sweet martha lorraine' is a classic of the genre and still sounds great. unfortunately with the good is a whole lot of very uninteresting, more sparce psychedelic 'jams' that really drag this album down. what could be a fun psych album just gets too in the weeds with tracks like 'section 43' and 'grace.' still, there's nothing here that i would call bad, it's just i think it could be better.
Black Sabbath
5/5
i'm pretty new to sabbath but the two albums i've experienced have been great! this one is obviously no exception. metal in the purest form, just loud guitars, moody riffs and ozzy's iconic vocals. the only song that lacked for me here was 'planet caravan' but other than that, this album is pretty much perfect. and now i'm bummed i never got into black sabbath until now!
Scissor Sisters
4/5
fun enough album. not anything bad on here, but not anything super stellar either. the highlight for me was 'take your mama' which is a fun elton john style romp. the rest of it was alright, but did not elevate to the level of a favorite.
The Who
5/5
this album is really goofy but i really love the concept. and really it was one of the first concept albums in rock music. if you can ignore (or enjoy!) the goofy mid-60s style ads interspersed between all the tracks here, there are some gems. this is a real turning point for the who and you can definitely feel them rounding that corner towards 'tommy' on this one (sometimes even literally). pretty much every song on here is catchy as all hell and has a goofy sense of humor (songs about stinky girls and getting abused by your parents for a tattoo) but you could tell that from the cover, now couldn't you?
The Sonics
5/5
!!! HATERS OF THE 1-4-5 CHORD PROGRESSION BEWARE !!!
but in all seriousness, i do love this album. this era of garage rock is near and dear to my heart and this is a classic of the genre. looking through the reviews here though, you wouldn't know it! contextless, there's not a lot here. there's harder and more interesting music on this list and in general. but in 1965, this was pretty damn aggressive. and to me, what's important about this album is not the covers, but the originals. between 'the witch,' 'psycho,' and 'strychnine,' this is sort of rock music's first baby steps into a darker sort of vibe - taking the goofy paranormal vibe of 'love potion number nine' and taking it a little darker. there are some pretty decent, even good covers on here, but they are definitely not what is notable about this album.
Fela Kuti
5/5
yeah, this album is really funky and great. really fun and groovy, and there's never a dull moment. i love the improvisation on here. fela kuti strikes again!
Fatboy Slim
4/5
perhaps a lot of the repetitive beats and crazy loud noises should bother me here, but they really didn't a whole lot. maybe a little. but the album is pretty fun and doesn't take itself seriously, which i appreciated. i wasn't expecting much out of this one but it was pretty enjoyable!
Public Image Ltd.
5/5
cool record. you can definitely feel how it is like an evolution of the sex pistols. definitely still has that johnny rotten attitude, but it's a little more subdued and a lot more sleeker. i didn't know what to expect out of this one but was really surprised! definitely one i am going to revisit.
Robbie Williams
3/5
a pretty nothing album. not bad, not great. it's fine. it's completely listenable. it's about as middle of the road as you can get. sometimes there's a little hint of something interesting - maybe a harder britpop edge, or something a little beatles-y - but most of the time this is just very plain.
Queen Latifah
4/5
i was pleasantly surprised by this one. of course, i kind of forgot that queen latifah started off as a rapper but her flow is pretty decent and the beats here are super fun. it's not anything high brow or mind blowing, but it's extremely listenable. the highlight here for me was 'mama gave birth to the soul children' which features de la soul and is a killer track. but there's nothing here that's truly bad. it's pretty fun and a solid album.
The Dandy Warhols
4/5
some solid late 90s rock music that is totally bogged down by impressively long and vacant noise tracks. there is some pretty decent stuff on here that is not quite memorable, but will be overshadowed in my mind by having to listen to long stretches of shoegaze noise. if the noise had been trimmed a little bit to cut the length of the album down, this would've gone up a bit more in my esteem.
Animal Collective
5/5
a really fun, a little bit off the wall album. there are some really fun sounds and songs on here. some really fun play with time signatures. in my opinion, this is one of the epitomes of 00s indie music. fun, sideways, unique. the album cover hurts my eyes. my love of this album cemented the fact that, deep down, i am a late 00s hipster.
Gil Scott-Heron
5/5
i'm not too familiar with gil scott-heron's work outside of a few select tracks, so i had an idea what to expect, but not the full picture. i am a bit blown away by this one! very jazzy, very smooth, very soulful. some of these tracks are a little funkier and some are a bit more balladic. the poetry was quite nice and the vocals were really nice. the electric piano on here sounds so great. just a really cool, pleasant album that has great feel and soul.
Public Enemy
4/5
just based on the content, i'm not going to go my usual "fun album" route, but this is my third (of three?) public enemy albums in this project and i think this one is my favorite. i thought the tracks here were more consistent than the other albums i've listened to and, of course, the a lot of the messages on this record are still relevant today, even almost 35 years later. the beats here are great and pull from a lot of eclectic sources. chuck d's rapping is strong as ever and, of course flavor flav adds a lot of, well, flavor. now is this a contender for my favorite rap albums of all time? no, not really. but it was a good listen. closer to a 5 than a 3.
Gillian Welch
5/5
really great americana/bluegrass album. soft and the quality of songwriting is quite stunning. gillian's voice is quite stark and authentic. i suspect this one's not for everyone, but as someone who has had an interest in this style of music, i can say i definitely loved this one a lot.
Tom Waits
5/5
if there's one thing you can't say about tom waits it's that he makes boring music. is his voice beyond rough around the edges? yes. does he have a kind of zany approach to the lounge music aesthetic? yes. but I think that's what makes his music great and truly him. the highlight here is 'jersey girl's but I really enjoyed everything on here. tom waits is singular, 1 of 1, and that's what makes this album special.
Maxwell
2/5
I came into listening to this one not knowing what I would expect. the first half, it wasn't really my thing but it was listenable enough and didn't mind it. the second half was slower and was even less my thing. if you like sensual r&b, you'll probably love this. for me, it felt more like I was a background character in a porno.
Ash
3/5
decent enough album but nothing in the realm of greatness. solid rock numbers and some decent, but kind of shaky vocals at times. some of these tracks are really loud and a romp ('i'd give you anything,' 'darkside lightside') and some i felt were a bit unremarkable ('gone the dream,' 'angel interceptor'). at the end of the day, I felt like it could have been so much more and didn't really blow me away. it's not bad, but ultimately a bit unremarkable.
Cheap Trick
4/5
this one is a stone cold classic. i'm not the hugest cheap trick fan but i enjoy some of their stuff. i've tried to listen to some of their studio output and in my opinion it pales in comparison to this one. the energy here is high, it's fun, it's raucous. the highlight here for me has always been the rhythm section. bun e carlos knocks it out of the park here and tom petersson holds down the low end in a satisfying manor. rick nielsen's lead guitar is off the rails and fun. at one point, in one of his solos, he even pays tribute to the beatles, referencing the lick from 'please please me.' that being said, although fun, the track listing here is a bit uneven. there are some absolute great live tracks here in my opinion: 'come on, come on,' 'ain't that a shame,' and, of course, the omnipresent 'i want you to want me,' but everything else here comes off a little more middling. nothing else here is awful, to be clear, but i find it leaves a little to be desired. still, all in all, this is a fun album that i have always really enjoyed listening to.
The Human League
3/5
there are some songs here approaching 'gems in the rough' territory, but nothing here, outside of the big song, is really compelling or interesting. the sound is sparse, but the synth sounds can be quite cool and a little dated. overall, it's a decent album, but nothing to write home about.
Buzzcocks
4/5
pretty solid punk album. definitely in the era of that first wave of british punk acts, but decidedly different than contemporaries like the sex pistols. the energy is fun, but the song mix here wasn't totally my favorite. don't get me wrong, there's some good stuff. it just didn't totally blow me away. also the weird bleep bloop scale at the end of "moving away from the pulsebeat." bleep bloop bleep bloop bleep bloop bleep bloop. odd. but mostly enjoyable.
Drive Like Jehu
4/5
at first, my kneejerk reaction was that i dislike this. but once i let myself be openminded about this, i actually found i enjoyed this album. it's super aggressive without being over the top, it has some fun time signature moments, some dissonance, and is a lot more adjacent to music i like from the era than i wanted to admit up front. it's not an all timer for me at this point in time, but i can see myself warming up to this one a bit more as time goes on.
Elvis Presley
3/5
as a lover of oldies music, i'm actually not the hugest elvis fan but i've listened to quite a bit of his music. unfortunately, this one is pretty unremarkable, in my opinion. at least with his early stuff, there is a semblance of being "groundbreaking" (whether or not he actually was is another story) or at least a trendsetter. elvis in 1969, quite frankly, is a little bit of a has-been. don't get me wrong, there's nothing here that i would consider bad. in fact, it's a little interesting to hear elvis turning into a country-soul singer. some songs are a bit more country, some are a bit more soul. but most of this album is just kind of stale and uninteresting. as with most of elvis' career, none of this is self penned, but there are a couple of contemporary pop hit covers on here ('only the strong survive' and 'gentle on my mind') and boy they are not really anything. many apologies to the king, but this is a pretty nothing album.
Michael Jackson
5/5
it's a classic for a reason. the production here is top notch and holds up extremely well to this day. michael is at his pinnacle and his vocal performances are excellent. what makes this a light 5 for me is the track listing. there are some absolute bangers on here, but there are also some lesser tracks ('the girl is mine' - the lesser of the two paul mccartney and michael jackson collaboration songs - and 'the lady in my life' in particular drag this album a bit down). but look, it's one of the greatest pop stars of all time doing what he does best. it's pretty great!
Hawkwind
4/5
a pretty cool album when all's said and done. a fun iteration of early 70s psych rock, a bit harder edged at times and bordering on prog. when it really goes, it's a blast. the poetic interludes are a bit generic, of the time, and dated, but i think that adds to the charm of this one. i enjoyed it a lot, and it's one i think i could come back to in the future.
Talking Heads
5/5
a really fun album. it's not as out there as the other talking heads albums i've listened to over the course of this project and felt a little more mainstream, so i liked it a bit better. it's still off kilter and still very much talking heads, but it felt a lot more accessible to me than some of the other stuff i listened to. what can i say, i really really liked it!
Arrested Development
4/5
what i really loved about this album is that it feels like the hip hop sequel to sly and the family stone - not just in the breadth of sly samples on this album, but in tone as well. the beats here are pretty fun and the flow is pretty decent. i generally have found i really like this era of conscious rap, but this isn't my favorite. it's good, not great. some of the production hasn't aged terribly well and it ends up feeling very middle of the road at times. i still liked it, but it did leave a little to be desired at the same time.
Frankie Goes To Hollywood
3/5
a decent enough album that was weighed down by a slew of bizarre covers. there's some decent stuff here otherwise, especially the big song 'relax' but nothing that takes it completely out of the very middling albums zone
The Cult
5/5
a really fun straight rock album. it's raucous in all the right ways. the only thing I wish was that the production was a little more rough around the edges to match the energy, but otherwise a great surprise!
Iron Butterfly
4/5
the "album tracks" here (read: not the title track) are fairly decent and fun deep cuts if you're into the realm of 60s psych but fairly inessential. what makes this album quintessential is the title track, which while mostly only famous for being obnoxiously long and repetitive, is a mainstay of the genre. I love it, but I suspect most people will find this superfluous.
Sly & The Family Stone
5/5
what I really love about this album is how it takes the funky sound of earlier sly and makes it more subdued. where "everyday people" had a sense of optimism, this album has an air of depression. the sound here is awesome and I love the employment if the early drum machine here. the grooves are as funky as ever, mixed with a bit of subdued darkness. I really love this album, even if the tracklist can be a bit uneven at times.
Anita Baker
3/5
yeah this one really wasn't for me. anita baker has a nice enough voice but the incredibly dated production here comes off ass beyond cheesy and the strength of the songs is not there to make up for it. without the dated production, this album is a pretty middling one anyways. yeah, not really exciting and not really my thing.
Portishead
5/5
really not a fan of the whole trip-hop thing so the other portishead album i encountered on this journey really did not do anything for me. i groaned when i got this album because i was expecting the same. boy was i wrong. i really dig this one! it definitely has electronic aspects to it for sure, but what i really love is the dissonant, ethereal feel to this one, mixed with a lot of the indie-retro sound. in a lot of respects, it sounds like it was made in 2008, but a lot of spots on the record, you might think it was made in a different era. one of the highlights for me was how the track 'the rip' built into a cacophony of electronic noise. really cool, really interesting, really glad i listened to this one and gave it a shot!
Genesis
5/5
I'm pretty new to prog as a whole, but this one I really adore. there's tons of great stuff, but the first two tracks here are near and dear to me - especially 'dancing with the moonlit knight' which I have fallen in love with outside of this project. the thing I love about this album is how expertly it switches gears from one movement to the next. I really adore the rhythm section on this one, particularly the bass playing. just a great album that is becoming one of my favorites!
Pink Floyd
2/5
i try to go into every album with an open mind, but this is a real tough one for me. of course i know some of these tracks from their extensive play on classic rock radio, but the album in its entirety is new to me. i've liked other pink floyd i've gotten in this project despite for most of my life thinking i hated them so i was cautiously optimistic. that was until i realized i think the reason i was convinced i hated pink floyd is because of the tracks here that get play on the radio ('another brick in the wall pt. 2', 'mother', 'comfortably numb'), which i still am not fond of. the rest of the album is of varying quality, some decent, some really questionably bad, but still nothing i am really fond of or interested in at all. roger waters' songwriting is always a bit hit or miss for me (i find his singsong-y melodies to be a bit annoying and eye-roll-worthy a lot of the time) and the production here is really flat and uninteresting. the instrumentation here is in service of the plot of the concept album, but doesn't give me a lot there either. and the plot... it's pretty whiny and self-serving. if you don't wanna be a rock star, you can just go live on a farm or something. boo hoo. and the worst sin of all, quite frankly, it's long and boring. i don't know what people see in this one. guess it's just not my thing.
Joni Mitchell
5/5
over the past couple of years I have really fallen in love with Joni Mitchell's music and although this is the first time I've listened to this record, in particular, I can say this falls right in line with everything else. this album lives at the crossroads of folk, country, and jazz, and it is such a comfortable position there. this album is so cozy even though at the same time it feels like a road trip album. there's a longing that exists in a lot of Joni's music that is also ever present. here. her songwriting and her melodies are top notch as always, and I love the expanded jazziness exhibited here. just a great album through and through!
Van Morrison
3/5
i'm not the hugest van morrison fan (music and the person) but there is a handful of his stuff that i like, particularly the sort of horn-based blue eyed soul that he got into in the early 70s. there is a decent amount of that here - i particularly enjoyed the versions of 'domino' and 'caravan' here. the rest of the songs i could kind of take or leave, it wasn't bad but it wasn't really my taste or interested me particularly. the musicianship here is pretty great, especially the horns. but yeah, decent, but not totally my bag.
David Bowie
5/5
wow, i was really blown away by the first side of this one. i love the way it sounds! really rough around the edges and quirky but in a really fun and unique way that i haven't really heard before. very uniquely him. really great. the second side is also pretty good but starkly different. very ambient and electronic. i found it pretty soothing and although not something i typically listen to, i enjoyed it. really great stuff!
Simple Minds
3/5
pretty ho hum album. the highlight for me was 'promised you a miracle' which was a pretty fun number. the rest of it was a bit boring and had not a lot going for it. the production was fine but unremarkable. it was fine.
1/5
they combined discordant electronic music with bossa nova but no one asked if they really should.
in all seriousness, this takes the fun, calm, and smooth sounds of brazilian music and makes it feel like a panic attack. really really not my thing.
Orbital
2/5
i'm not huge on electronic music but this one was ok for me. it was pretty chill and i liked that about it. some songs were a little annoyingly repetitive, some were a little more subdued and interesting. it feels a lot like background music, not something that i think is particularly interesting to actively listen to, but something i wouldn't be offended if it was playing out in the world. just because it could be a bit dull at times, it feels a bit closer to a 2 than a 3 for me.
Incredible Bongo Band
4/5
surprisingly fun album. not shocking that it is very bongo forward. feels like a bit of a joke, but it's also fun as hell to listen to. it's not incredible and has a bizarre cover of 'in a gadda da vida'
Buck Owens
4/5
so as a beatles fan and as a casual enjoyer of old country music i found this an interesting listen. the beatles were big fans of buck owens' music (they even covered one of his songs) and so it was interesting to listen to it from that perspective, but also because it's an interesting album for the evolution of country music.
buck owens' sound is very much his own and it is really highlighted here. it's all pretty pleasant and fun, but the tracklist is a bit hit or miss. the title track is probably the highlight here, but the big contrast, to me, bookends the album with his cover of chuck berry's 'memphis' which is fine but an unremarkable version. ultimately, it's pretty good, but a bit uneven.
Jimi Hendrix
5/5
when i first discovered jimi hendrix for myself in middle school, this was the album that really drew me in. i wasn't a fan of the long jams but was really fond of the wailing acid rock guitars. not only is jimi's guitar playing here incredible (of course), the songwriting is great too. songs like 'crosstown traffic,' 'little miss strange,' and 'house burning down' have incredible hooks and get stuck in your head. of course, the bass and drums here are incredible too. as i've gotten older, i've developed a greater appreciation for the longer jammier stuff on here (particularly '1983...'). and of course the big songs - his cover of bob dylan's 'all along the watchtower' is a classic, as well as the ever-present 'voodoo child (slight return)' are heavy hitters that get repeated ad nauseum for a good reason. not only is it one of the best albums of its era, it's just a blast to listen to from front to back.
Neil Young
4/5
I consider myself in general a Neil fan but I'd never really listened to this one. I skew more towards early Neil so I was excited to give this one a listen. it was a little bit of a mixed bag, but overall I enjoyed it. I tend to like the more aggressive Neil songs and the quieter stuff has to hit me just right. a lot of the songs here were on the quiet side but they didn't really grip me a while lot. it was still good, but not in my top tier of his albums.
Taylor Swift
3/5
i'm not a taylor swift hater by any means (ultimately, i think i am pretty agnostic) and although this is not near the worst album of hers (her recent albums have been particularly dull and miserable to listen to, in my opinion) this one doesn't really do a whole lot for me. there are some nicer moments ('willow,' 'no body, no crime,' and 'dorothea') but unfortunately this album is bogged down by 'aesthetic' middle of the road acoustic pop music masquerading as 'folk music.' i always contend, taylor has a knack for writing catchy tunes, especially hooks, but unfortunately the style and production here just dull this thing into oblivion.
Gotan Project
2/5
definitely a lot less 'electronic' sounding than most electronic music i've ever heard and an interesting spin on the formula that is very tango-forward. that being said, i was a bit bored out of my mind with the repetitive nature of most of these tracks, even with the added bonus of jazz improvisation over it. just not my thing, really.
The Kinks
5/5
I am a really big Kinks fan and I love this album but I can also recognize that I don't think they are firing on all cylinders quite yet on this one. It's still great and I love the very baroque-y harpsichord on here. There are some great tunes and some that are a little out of character for them, which I appreciate them trying different things. Of course, the highlight here is 'Waterloo Sunset' but I also really love 'David Watts' and 'Death of a Clown' as well. I don't think there's a bad song on here, but I also don't think it's perfect either. I still love it to pieces though.
Tim Buckley
3/5
really cool instrumentals here with totally bizarre vocals on top. i just don't think that tim's voice really fits this album at all. if you took this album and removed tim buckley's vocals and put a soul singer on top, i think this album would be pretty good, but with him singing, it's a bit rough to listen to. a lot of times it sounds like a cartoon character singing. not soulful, just kind of goofy. the album, beyond that, is not bad. it's just kind of awkward to listen to.
The Streets
1/5
i am not a rap or a hip hop hater. i respect game regardless of genre. but is this a joke? this album sounds like a mixtape that some kid in middle school recorded thinking he was the next big name in rap. the beats are really lame, dull, and flat. the rapping on here is dismal. i would love for someone to change my mind but every british rapper i have ever heard has dogshit flow and sounds like the american stereotype of a british person. 'oi i'm right chuffed' type beat. come the fuck on. he's sing rapping and can't even hold a tune. it sounds like when white youtubers did a rap song in the advent of youtube. once again, is this a joke? i can't believe this album was even considered to be held in the same esteem as 99% of the rap on this list. it's an insult to actual rappers. i think this is what rap sounds like to people who hate rap. god this is awful.
Dexys Midnight Runners
4/5
a neat album. my second dexys album of the project and i find i really like their style. they are very unapologetically british but their hooks are great and the music is quite sensible. this album i enjoyed a lot but there were some artsier and slower sections that i didn't care for as much. but when the horns and the fiddle hit on this, it's pretty great (like in the climax of 'the waltz'). i also really liked the title track, which has a fun interpolation of the piano riff from 'werewolves of london.' it's not my favorite album of all time, but i enjoyed it!
5/5
i'm not super familiar with blur's output beyond a handful of songs and obviously what damon albarn went onto with his next musical endeavor. so i didn't know totally what to expect with this one. wow! i was totally blown away. really fun, really great record with a bit of a sneer. what i really adored is that this album is so obviously influenced in a lot of the late 60s british music that i adore - in particular, i hear a lot of Kinks influence here which definitely endeared this album to me. i can say i will definitely be back to this album and i look forward to exploring blur's discography in the future!
The Coral
3/5
a decent enough 00s indie album but not a lot really caught my ear. the highlight here clearly is 'dreaming of you' and the rest i could really take or leave. the production wasn't my favorite, but wasn't awful. the vocalist's voice seems like it often gets compared to jim morrison or eric burdon, but for some reason is not as compelling a voice as either of theirs. it's not awful, but mostly it's pretty unremarkable.
Steely Dan
5/5
i'm a fairly big steely dan fan and i have to say, this is probably my dark horse pick for favorite steely dan album. i think it fits a nice balance between the more catchy rock music and jazzy side without going overboard either way. all the songs here are really great - 'bodhisattva,' 'the boston rag,' 'show biz kids,' 'my old school,' and 'king of the world,' are all all-timers for me and i think compete with the best of what steely dan had to offer. of course, with any steely dan, the musicianship is great and the songs are smooth but can be bitingly bitter ('show business kids making movies of themselves, you know they don't give a fuck about anybody else'). just an all time great record, in my opinion.
Def Leppard
1/5
i really don't like being a negative nancy but really this is music that i genuinely hate listening to. for years boomers have told me that 1970s pop music like the carpenters or barry manilow was schlocky, cheesy, drivel that was not worth listening to. and yet, i find that music more compelling and genuine than this. this era of pop metal has dominated classic rock radio for the last couple of decades and really killed my love for the radio format that had an absolute grip on me as a teenager. this shit is so corny and so uncool to me and always has been. it doesn't sound cool, it doesn't give a compelling reason to listen to it. it just assumes you will think it is cool by listening to it. well i don't subscribe to that. hard pass
The National
3/5
as an 00s indie music enjoyer, i'm a little particular about what i enjoy and what i don't. even though at the time, i liked a lot of music that was similar to the national, i never actually listened to them until now. the album wasn't bad, but was also not really my thing. it was pleasant enough but really didn't leave much of an impression. to me, it felt like standard indie fare for the time. not an all timer for me, but acceptable. but really, that's all it is to me, acceptable.
Wilco
4/5
i'm decently well-versed in wilco's discography but i had never encountered this one before. i really liked how 'country' this album is. i know that jeff tweedy was originally in a country band before wilco, so it feels pretty natural and i enjoy the involvement of banjo and other more country instruments here. the album has the same jeff tweedy attitude that you get on most other wilco albums. my only gripe with this album is that the crop of songs is a bit hit or miss and i think honestly this album would have been better if it had been distilled to a single disc.
Minor Threat
4/5
cool punk record. didn't really do anything to compel me to love it but it's short and sweet and full of attitude. it was a fun ride, I almost wish it was longer!
Thundercat
4/5
cool album and definitely unique. thundercat's bass playing is, of course, the highlight here. it's fun and funky and he is showing off a lot of his technical prowess here. a lot of the songs here are fun too, the highlights for me being, 'them changes,' and 'friend zone.' that being said, there's not really anything here that takes it from purely good to great. it's an interesting album and i don't think it ever gets boring, but it also doesn't blow me away either.
The Charlatans
4/5
nice 90s britpop album. nothing mindblowing here. i'm american so i was unfamiliar with this one but it sounds like they were at least pretty popular in the uk at the time. it's very reminiscent of a lot of what oasis and blur were doing at the time period, but i definitely felt it was a step down from what i've heard from those two groups. not bad! just not the pinnacle of music either.
Peter Gabriel
5/5
pretty new to prog as a whole and before this, i was really only familiar with peter gabriel's hits so i was interested to see what i was going to get out of this one. i was kind of blown away! there are some great prog moments on here, some poppier moments, some really big swings that don't really land (i'm looking at you, 'excuse me.'). it's not a perfect album but i was really blown away by the highs. of course, 'solisbury hill' is the big one here and i was familiar with that, but i really adored 'moribund the burgermeister,' 'modern love,' and the really thrashy-disco-y track 'down the dolce vita.' overall, really artistic, really confident in being weird and non-standard.
David Bowie
5/5
i've been getting more into david bowie's music lately and especially after the handful of albums i've already gotten in this project, so i was really eager to listen to another. and... it was good. i've heard some great bowie and this one, to me, does not get quite up to those highs. don't get me wrong, there are some great tracks on here - i love 'queen bitch,' 'oh! you pretty things,' and 'life on mars?' - but a lot of the rest of this album is just not the pinnacle of bowie. there's a lot of softer stuff here, which isn't bad, but i found myself wanting more of the aggressive, glam-type stuff that i love bowie for around this era. that being said, i still think it's pretty great - but not to the immense heights that bowie can get to.
Rahul Dev Burman
4/5
see this is the exact kind of stuff i love to listen to in this project. an album i otherwise would have never listened to or even known about. is this album mindblowing? no. is it an interesting sample of music from another country? yes, absolutely. what i really liked is that it feels like a 70s spin on traditional indian music. there's some funky stuff here, for sure. does feel like corny 70s music sometimes, but i'm into that. really pleasant to listen to and is definitely relatively unique amongst all the other albums on this list. engaging and really fun to listen to.
The Stooges
5/5
as is with other stooges albums, this is a really raucous and fun time. very noisey at times, especially the last track which is mostly just noise. fun, aggressive, everything you would want out of a stooges album. i am new to the stooges and i am learning that i do appreciate their music, especially as an influence on more aggressive music afterwards. neat!
LL Cool J
4/5
a solid enough rap album. it's a little corny at times but the title track is a classic for a reason. the rest of it is pretty decent, but at the end of the day, not a whole lot to remark about.
Primal Scream
2/5
almost the definition of a hit or miss album for me. some of the songs were kind of cool psychy throwbacks and some were incredibly dull electronic-music-adjacent tracks that a dude is whining over. unfortunately the latter is most of the album and the former are only glimpses. so ultimately, not really my thing.
Elvis Presley
3/5
I have a strange relationship with Elvis' music. he is the alpha to a lot of my favorite artist's omega. without him, they would not be. most musical artists in the 20th and 21st century would not be. and yet, I am rarely impressed by his music. it's alright. it's not bad. there was nothing here that was bad. and yet, there was not a lot that I felt very strongly about either. the highlight for me, by a long shot, is 'such a night.' but the rest I could take or leave.
Goldfrapp
1/5
kinda dramatic, kinda cinematic, really kinda boring. if I had a nickel for every time this list gave me demented circus music!
Miles Davis
5/5
really cool, really chill side A and a chill and evolving side B. miles' trumpet playing is, of course, top notch, and it is cool to see this stop on his evolution from jazz icon to fusion innovator. the moment side B builds to that funky rock-ish groove is great! neat stuff.
Bob Dylan
5/5
a classic for a reason. this is bob dylan at his (first?) peak and it truly is a great album. front to back, it just is a pinnacle of its era. great songwriting, great musicianship. lots of highlights here but my favorite has always been 'one of us must know (sooner or later)' and lately i've particularly grown fond of 'sad-eyed lady of the lowlands'
Miriam Makeba
5/5
really cool album. miriam makeba's voice is incredible and this is such a nice and sweet version of african music that has been made for a western audience. this is the exact sort of stuff that i wish there was more of on this list. the only thing on here that i think spoils the album a little bit is the track 'one more dance' which sounds like she is duetting with ed wynn's character from mary poppins. but otherwise, this is pretty stellar!
Black Flag
4/5
gonna be honest. this one really grew on me. i'm not a huge punk guy, but i appreciate the genre for what it is. i have heard the name black flag a million times and have, of course, seen the logo in countless hot topic stores on the t-shirt wall, but have never actually listened to them until now. really fun, really frenetic, really aggressive. i liked the second half of the album more than the first half.
Metallica
5/5
fairly new to metallica but this is the first metal album i have listened to where i actually see why people call this one a classic. every song on this is full of thrashy goodness and the musicianship is really great. the highlight for me was the title track, which is thrashy and has a lot of great "change-up" moments.
Rocket From The Crypt
3/5
the inclusion of horns here is pretty interesting and unique for a punk-ish (non-ska) band but really most of this album i could take or leave. there are some really interesting callbacks to 60s rock here, like in 'used' and 'misbeaten,' but really i find this album is trying to do too much in too many directions for me to really appreciate any of it. one minute it's a bashy punk song, the next minute it's a 60s sunshine pop song. don't know what the vision was here. feels too incoherent. still, it's a fine enough album, but i wasn't into it too much.
The Jesus And Mary Chain
3/5
there are some pretty decent moments on here, but overall, i was pretty unimpressed. to be clear, there was nothing truly awful here. mostly just too dull for me. no real highs, no real lows. very in the middle. the highlight to me was 'down on me' which i thought was a fun song that reminded me a little bit of the replacements. but otherwise, not much going on here for me.
Jamiroquai
4/5
pretty cool modern funk album. there was a lot of catchy and dancable stuff on here and enjoyed it! it was fairly consistently good and i did really enjoy listening to it. for me, it didn't really rise to the occasion of "truly great" but it is definitely fun!
Django Django
4/5
cool album. really teeters on the warbly indie psychedelic music i personally really like. that being said, although i liked the sound and the production, none of the songs really left too much of an impression on me. i did enjoy the intro into 'hail bop' 'waveforms' and 'life's a beach' and also found interesting the more egyptian inspired cut 'skies over cairo' but the rest of the album was strictly good, not great.
Richard Thompson
4/5
i'm not too familiar with richard and linda thompson outside of i know they are big names in the folk scene of the 70s (-ish). this album is very english folk forward, which is not typically my preferred style of folk, but the album is very pleasant to listen to. i do have to say, though, my favorite tracks were the tracks that had the full band on them, which provided a much more interesting energy to me than the straighter fare. i also particularly liked linda's voice, which is so nice to listen to.
TV On The Radio
3/5
alright, i don't think this one was quite for me. there were moments on here that i really liked, but this one is a bit too dissonant and unpleasant for me to really enjoy. mostly this is from the vocals, which often are group vocals doing dissonant harmonies, which was a bit hard for me to get down with (especially when the one guy is hitting the falsetto, my lord). the instrumentation was pretty alright, but i had trouble with the vocals. to be clear, i don't think this album is supposed to be easily consumed, it is definitely an album that is trying to be challenging. and it achieves that pretty decently well. but i'm not sure i really enjoyed the challenge here.
Traffic
5/5
i'm a little biased because i grew up with this one. this is one of my dad's favorite albums and i have loved this album for a long time. what's crazy to me about this album is that steve winwood is in his early 20s! anyways, this album is terrific. the first side, in particular, is almost perfect to me. i adore all three songs. the second side i have learned to love more recently, but on this listen, i really liked it as well. the album is jazzy, rocky, and even folky, and is a pretty good mix and is never dull. to be honest, i feel like this one gets underrated a bit. but then again, i'm a bit biased.
Marty Robbins
4/5
maybe the most classic of all classic western albums. this album puts the western in country and western music. the songs are short, sweet, and catchy. marty robbins' voice is so great and pleasant to listen to. to be honest, i think marty robbins was the vocalist early elvis was most trying to be when he sang ballads. just a really solid album.
The Everly Brothers
4/5
reading through reviews of this album, i think a lot of the importance of the everly brothers is lost on modern audiences. yeah, this music is juvenile and a bit eye-rollingly too much about love, but it's also music for teenagers of the era. you can tie a direct line from this stuff to a lot of modern pop music. but what makes the everly brothers the most special to me is their harmonies, which are unmatched for the era and were immediately influential on a lot of their successors (the beatles, et al.).
all that said, this isn't my favorite crop of songs from the everlys. but i do adore their sound and there are some Stone Cold Classics on here ('love hurts,' 'cathy's clown')
Milton Nascimento
4/5
really cool, really chill album. the exact sort of thing i love to come across in this project. something completely different. it's pretty refreshing. the musicianship is really nice and i really loved the full band moments (especially when the fuzz guitar comes in). just a super neat album!
Megadeth
4/5
really solid album. fun thrashy metal. i'm learning to love metal but i did enjoy this one. my only gripe here is that i don't know that i really like dave mustaine's singing. sometimes he sounds like a cartoon character, and not in a cool fun way. but overall, i would say i enjoyed this one!
The Clash
4/5
look, it's a pretty good album. i like the clash. there are some really good tracks on here (i particularly like 'white riot' and 'remote control'). but we all know this is not the pinnacle of the clash. it's good! it's not great.
David Ackles
3/5
an interesting album. i've never heard of it or david ackles before, but seeing that it's a singer-songwriter album from the early 70s, i figured it had a pretty good chance of being up my alley, since i enjoy a lot of that kind of music from that era. i'm not really sure how to feel about this one. it wasn't bad! it reminded me a lot of randy newman or van dyke parks (definitely more van dyke parks in terms of song style and production style). it's interesting and it definitely feels like the concept of 'american gothic' is ever present. it feels like it's trying to rise to the occasion of an aaron copland. i just wish i enjoyed listening to it more because it is a fairly fascinating album.
Dizzee Rascal
2/5
this project often makes me feel like i dislike uk hiphop but i don't really know why i like it less than american hiphop. genuinely i think a lot of it is the beats and the flows of the rappers, which i find lackluster. that being said, this album was a bit different from the others i've heard on this list. i was a bit conflicted about this one. sometimes i think it's pretty cool. the beats are really unconventional and dizzee's rapping is off kilter. it definitely feels different. that being said, the uniqueness and unconventionality often approaches the level of annoying to me. it's kind of neat, but it also makes me cringe a lot. i'm not sure what to make of this. it's interesting but i don't know if i really like it.
Blur
5/5
one of my favorite "new" discoveries in this project strikes again with a winner for me. i tangentially knew blur and a few of their songs, but listening to their albums has opened up a whole world for me. really quintessentially british and clever in a way that is reminiscent of classic british bands (yes, such as the kinks). my favorite songs here were the title track, 'boys and girls,' and 'trouble in the message centre' - but there really isn't a bad track here. it gets a little goofy with the instrumental retro-lounge tracks, but i think that just adds to the vibe of the record. really enjoyed it!
5/5
an incredible artifact and the pure distillation of bob dylan, i fear if you don't like this, then you don't like bob dylan. this is a recording of one of the turning points of bob dylan's career - where he "goes electric" and a member of the audience loudly proclaims him 'judas' of the folk community. to have a recording of this concert is incredible to begin with, but it's a damn great concert too. the first acoustic set is brilliant and beautiful, and the electric set rocks like hell too. his backing band, the hawks (to become 'the band' in the future) are great and really hold it down. it really is one of my favorite concert recordings of all time, even if just for the music. probably one of the best and most important albums you will hear in this entire project.
Count Basie & His Orchestra
5/5
a really great big band swing record. it's upbeat moments are sleek and grand and full of energy. the ballads are quiet and sweet. i was in my high school's jazz band, and so i have a real soft spot for this type of music. i know some basie here and there, but never listened to one of his albums in full before. this was really great! i will definitely come back to it.
Paul McCartney
5/5
OK, I will admit, I am really biased about this album. I grew up with it and paul mccartney may be my favorite musician of all time. it's not the best solo beatles album. it's not even the best solo paul album. but it does a really great job of capturing the whimsy side of paul that none of his other albums really capture. this album is really uneven. a lot of instrumentals. a lot of goofy, unserious stuff. but what i love about this album is the diy nature of the album, but also just how great of a melody songwriter paul is. the example i always point to is 'every night,' which has a killer hook of a chorus that doesn't have any lyrics. it's just a hum. and it's catchy as hell. of course, you have the certifiably stone cold classic 'maybe i'm amazed' on here, which, is the no-brainer best song here. but i do genuinely adore this album front to back (probably more than i should).
The Police
4/5
generally, i like the police, but i mostly max out at a like. they have some terrific songs but often i find that their albums get marred down by their pretension. their highs are high, their lows are... boring and eye-rolling. this album is no exception. the two smash hits off of this, 'message in a bottle,' and 'walking on the moon,' are great. most of the album tracks are fine. good even. but did we need stewart copeland's off-kilter, off-tune singing on this one? did we? eh. anyways. it's a solid enough album. there's nothing here that is even close to horrendous, but it's not my favorite police album and it ends up firmly in the 'good, not great' camp for me.
FKA twigs
3/5
i can see why this album was/is highly acclaimed, but it really wasn't for me. it's not really in a style of pop music that i particularly enjoy. i found it kind of dull and nothing really gripped me here. although i can see that it is of high quality, unfortunately, i didn't feel like it did much for me. sorry!
Slint
4/5
really cool album. really dissonant. i had a lot of fun listening to it. i love the time signature play, i like the play with dynamics. it is genuine a cool album. it's also not an album i feel like i could listen to a lot, even if it is fascinating and interesting to listen to. i can't see myself going out of my way to listen to it again. but it is very neat.
Neil Young
5/5
i am a neil young fan and this is one of my favorites (not a hot take). although i don't think it's his strongest endeavor, it has some of his best songs on here ('heart of gold,' 'old man,' 'alabama,' 'needle and the damage done,' and 'words'). there are a couple of tracks on here that are sort of misses (specifically the two orchestral tracks that don't really fit in and are two of the lesser songs on the album). that all said, when all's said and done, it's a pretty great album, and an album that i do adore at the end of the day. a formative album, for sure, and one i will listen to for a long, long time.
David Bowie
4/5
didn't really know what to expect with this one. i like david bowie but i tend not to like these sort of dour, "end of life" albums that other artists have put out. but this one didn't feel like the others. this one felt uplifting, interesting, and nice. the vibe here is pleasant and feels hopeful. it's not depressing, it just sort of is. and i appreciate that about it.
Björk
4/5
when i listen to bjork, i do genuinely appreciate her music. it's really cool and, although challenging to listen to, it's a bit fulfilling to listen to for me. that being said, i don't know if i would really listen to this album on repeat. it's cool, no doubt, but the replay value here for me is very minimal. i rode the ride. it was neat. that's about all.
Ghostface Killah
4/5
really solid rap album. has a lot of old school soul samples that it wears on its sleeves, which i really liked. ghostface killah has great flow and it really shines here. a lot of skits, which like, definitely of the era, but maybe could have cut a few. but whatever. it's a good album.
Crowded House
3/5
didn't know much of these guys outside of their big hit 'don't dream it's over' and so i was pretty optimistic. this album is not really that at all. it's not... bad. it's pretty nothing, to be honest. a lot of it reminds me of the band squeeze, but this album is not as fun or interesting as stuff that squeeze put out. quite frankly, it's kind of boring. it's so MOR, i don't think you could get more middle on that road. it's here, we've achieved pure mid. a lot of this sounds like a dentist's waiting room. the most boring guy you know listens to this to get in touch with his "sensitive side." bleh
Bee Gees
4/5
i am a bee gees fan, and i do really like their early stuff (as well as their disco stuff) and so i was excited to listen to this one, as i'd never heard it but have always heard good things. and it was good. a bit uneven. this album has one of my favorite bee gees songs of all time, 'lamplight' and there are a handful of other songs on here that are great, but there's a lot of mid here too. don't get me wrong, there is some beautiful orchestration on here and some other great moments, but as a whole, it was a little bit disappointing for me.
Finley Quaye
2/5
it's not the worst album i've ever heard but it's also not very good. here we've managed to turn a very vibrant genre with a lot of feel into the most nothing album i've ever heard. there's nothing here unlistenable, but it's not very good. this album is the progenitor of jason mraz. i must listen to this before i die?? surely there's a more authentic reggae album out there that deserves to be on this list more.
The Style Council
3/5
when i saw paul weller's name attached to this one, i was pretty optimistic. i like his other work. oh my god, what the hell is this. sometimes it's a swing album. sometimes it's the most boring 80s pop album you've ever heard. sometimes it's a terrible rap album. sometimes it's a knock-off of a knock-off of a raydio album. genuinely a bizarre album that has no idea what its identity is. sure, let's throw everything at the wall and see if it sticks! well, nothing sticks. it's all not great. what the hell
John Grant
4/5
didn't know what to expect from this one but was pleasantly surprised! the album reminds me a lot of what father john misty would put out after. fairly compelling and interesting and pleasant to listen to. if i had a nickel for every instance of a slur during this project, i would have many many nickels, but there's one song on here that contributes a lot to that total (although i understand it's aimed at the sort of people who would use the slurs, but hey, they're still there).
Einstürzende Neubauten
3/5
fascinating album. it is genuinely so cool to listen to. it's really hard to listen to. it is about as industrial sounding as you can get. literally. a lot of this album sounds like it was recorded in a manufacturing plant or something. i don't know that i ever would have sought out this album or will ever seek it out again, but i do think it's cool and fascinating. how do you rate something like this? one of the most interesting sounding albums you've ever heard, but also one you never want to listen to again? i don't think i properly can but the closest approximation i can give it is a 3.
The Velvet Underground
5/5
i really love this album. it's really rough around the edges and i'm sure not everyone likes it. nico's voice is not for everyone, the musicianship is kinda sloppy. it kinda sounds like shit. there's droning stuff. it's not for everyone. but it's for me. i don't think it's a perfect album, some of these songs aren't my absolute favorite in the world, but some of them are. either way, the album is a vibe, and it's my vibe. just a really cool album.
The Mars Volta
5/5
mars volta was a name i've heard for a while but i had no idea what their music was like and never looked into it. man i was a little blown away by this one! really fun, aggressive modern prog rock. really great to listen to. at times this album almost sounds like a progged out santana, which is a fucking cool as hell sound. maybe an unfair comparison, but to me this sounds like what i wish muse sounded like. but what makes this album for me is the production. this album sounds fantastic. so bombastic. it feels like it should be chaotic but it is so meticulous. just really cool stuff. i'm glad i listened to this one.
The Band
5/5
another album that i cannot be unbiased about. i adore this album. not only was it extremely groundbreaking at the time, the songwriting and the musicianship here is great. i don't expect everyone will like this. the vocals here are a bit rough around the edges, the sound is very laid back. but i love it. robbie robertson's songwriting is great, but also all of them are great and underrated musicians in their own right. it doesn't get much better than this!
Louis Prima
4/5
i really liked this one! it's a good new orleans swing record. really fun and energetic. you can tell it would have been a great party record in the 1950s. louis' energy here is infectious and the entire band follows suit. some songs are sung by keely smith, who also does a good job but i feel like her solo songs are the more ballady, less fun songs. regardless, the album is a really joyful listen.
Arctic Monkeys
4/5
really solid album. i was really into this album a decade plus ago, so it was nice to revisit it after some time. it's really aggressive but also has this beautiful sneering attitude that i love. listening to it makes me feel like i am some english dickhead even though i am american. it's like i'm some douche in the corner of a party sneering at all the people having a good time. it's a beautiful feeling. it's not my favorite album of theirs, but it's a romp of a time.
ZZ Top
3/5
i've always felt a bit indifferent to zz top and through this project, i think indifference is where i top out with them. this album was fine. perfectly bluesy. a little rough around the edges. nothing super remarkable. the highlight here by a wide margin is radio staple 'la grange.' nothing here was bad but to me it was a bit of a nothing album otherwise.
Bobby Womack
3/5
i can't say i've listened to a lot of bobby womack's stuff but i am familiar with some of his 70s output. this album is obviously a little bit different from 'across 110th street' but it's interesting to see how his music has evolved. it's pretty nice to listen to, very smooth, but honestly very middle of the road. the opening track, 'so many sides of you' sounds like a knock-off of stevie wonder's 'master blaster.' the rest of the album feels a bit run of the mill. this sort of 80s smooth r&b is not really my thing, but i can see why people liked it.
The Rolling Stones
3/5
i'm a little confused about this one being on the list. i am a big stones fan but i have to admit, this one is one of their most unremarkable albums. and i can't blame them! they're kids! they're playing covers of their favorite r&b and blues songs. a lot of early british invasion albums are like this (even the beatles). that being said, outside of the fact that it is the first album by one of the most famous rock bands of all time, it really is a nothing album. a lot of the covers are fine, some of them are even good! some of them are not so good. there are a few originals but they pale in comparison to the songs they would be writing in a year's time. it's interesting to see where they started from as compared to where i know they will be in a handful of years from this album, but that doesn't mean this is a very compelling listen. important for one of the premiere rock bands, sure, but an album you must hear before you die? probably not
Bad Brains
3/5
kinda fun but kinda amateurish in sound. i liked the instrumentation better than the vocals, which left something to be desired. even the instrumentals i felt i would have liked better if they had more oomph. the album threads the needle between punk and metal and i think that's an interesting area to explore, but i feel like the execution of doing so was not my favorite.
The Smiths
5/5
this is such a great album. from front to back, it's melodramatic. it's fun music for depressed people. this album holds a really special place in my heart and to me is a showcase of the smiths at their best. of course, morrissey is morrissey, for better or worse. but the rest of the band is so great on here as well.
Garbage
4/5
there's something about garbage that is fun in a nostalgic way. their music is very quintessentially 90s and i kind of love that about it. that being said, there wasn't a ton here that stood out to me. there's nothing bad, but nothing that elevated it to the level of amazing for me either. good, not great.
Lucinda Williams
4/5
fun rootsy album. lucinda has a compelling voice and her songwriting is very evocative. everything here is very nice to listen to. i did enjoy it, however, there wasn't anything here that i was absolutely over the moon for. it's a good album, but didn't really give me anything that made me feel it was a great album.
Afrika Bambaataa
4/5
solid early rap album. there's something about this era of rap that i really enjoy, the beats are antiquated, yet punchy and fun. the rapping is also pretty solid, although nothing out of the ordinary for the time. i especially enjoyed the title track, but also the track 'renegades of funk' as well.
Bert Jansch
5/5
really nice mid-60s folk album. i had known of bert jansch, but never listened to an album from him, so i'm very glad i finally had the chance to. a little reminiscent of his contemporaries (bob dylan, paul simon, donovan) but very much his own thing. the production is very classically a folk production - just a man and his guitar - and the songwriting and guitar playing is really nice. my favorite song was 'needle of death' but i really think you can't go wrong with anything on here if you're into 60s folk. i also really liked his version of 'angie' which I knew from the Simon and Garfunkel version. perhaps it's not a mind-blowing album, but i enjoyed it and would like to explore his music further.
Raekwon
4/5
solid album. i am a fan of this era of rap and i thought that raekwon was really good on this one, as well as all of the guest rappers. you can definitely feel how this one influenced a lot of rap music that came after it. i liked the production, but thought that maybe it could have been a little bit more. a lot of times it felt a bit subdued for the bombastic rapping that was happening over the beats, but i enjoyed this one well enough despite that.
Sam Cooke
5/5
sam cooke is one of my all time favorite singers but i had never heard this recording before, or really any live recording of his. he has such a great, iconic voice and i love his songs. the energy on this one was fantastic and live his voice has a gruffness that his studio recordings do not have, which i really liked. the selection of songs here is really great and it was a blast to listen to!
Britney Spears
3/5
i really thought i was gonna have a hot take on this album here. this album really comes out swinging with the first two tracks and i was like "there's no way this album gets as bad as people on here are rating it." well, i don't think it's as bad as people make it out to be, but it's definitely a really middling late 90s pop album. it's nostalgic as hell and pretty fun to listen to for that reason, but i don't think i would say it's great. britney is one of the tragic figures of the pop music industry and her importance should not be understated - on top of that, she has a great singing voice and max martin's stuff on here is pretty good. but really most of this feels like filler.
Beck
4/5
solid album. i really like beck's style and here it's got a nice sort of mid-00s indie feel with a teeny bit of hip hop mixed in at points. he makes interesting music and i do appreciate it, but here the bulk of the songs were good, not great. the highlights for me were 'e-pro,' 'girl,' and 'go it alone.'
Circle Jerks
5/5
really fun punk album. fast, aggressive, the purest example of raucous. it ends just as soon as it starts, which i love. hard to say a lot about an album with so little, but it is really great and a nice little hit of punk aggression. would ride this ride again.
Suzanne Vega
3/5
not my favorite, but not my least favorite. suzanne vega has a nice voice and i think she is a pretty alright songwriter, but the album really did not leave a big impression on me. there's nothing bad here, but there's nothing that was very remarkable to me. pleasant, but only so. yeah, not totally my thing.
The Youngbloods
4/5
didn't know what to expect from this one. my dad is a fan of theirs since the 60s but i really only was aware of them from their big song 'get together' (not present on this album). this album is really all over the place. i kind of loved that about it, it's very eclectic. partially psych rock, partially country rock, partially jazz rock? really interesting combination. sometimes this album really cooks. it almost sounds like a moby grape or another band in that sort of psych-country realm from the time. other times this album sort of drags (particularly in the jazzier sections. although an intriguing twist, the jazz-ish sections here are not particularly great and are just sort of... there). i still think the better parts of the album outweigh the more boring parts, but only barely so.
The Hives
4/5
a bit presumptuous title for an album, especially something that is not particularly mindblowing, even at the time. that being said, it is a fun enough album and, although a bit samey throughout, doesn't ever get boring. if you like that brand of early 00s garage rock revival, you'll probably have a decent enough time.
Alice Cooper
4/5
fun 70s hard rock album. it obviously does not take itself very seriously, although maybe you could have gleaned that from the title track. i really wasn't expecting the album to full on start referencing west side story. bizarre. but fun. maybe not a mind blowing album, but i enjoyed it and appreciate the sort of goofy sneer that i imagine on alice cooper's face while he was cooking this one up.
Cocteau Twins
5/5
really great album. cocteau twins is one of the groups i am really glad i discovered through this project. this album is so cool, so dreamy, from start to finish.
Elis Regina
3/5
some really cool brazillian funk tracks here with some really nice vocals over. i was not as much into the ballads on this one, and not everything on here is totally my thing, but when this album is firing, it is really fun to listen to. makes me feel like i am partying in sao paolo or something. unfortunately i felt like half of this album was sick and half of it was a little boring so it's a bit down the middle for me.
The Teardrop Explodes
4/5
pretty decent record. really adjacent to a lot of music that i like from that era. it's kinda psychedelic, kinda college-rock-y. it's pretty fun. my only two gripes are that the production is not great, even for a record of the time. it feels kinda flat at points. also although i enjoyed the record, there's not a lot on it that really stood out to me as truly great. a lot of good, but nothing that pushes it to the upper eschelon to me. still, it was a fun listen!
Sarah Vaughan
4/5
really pleasant vocal jazz album. sarah vaughan's voice is incredible and underrated as a name from this era that should be brought up in the same vain as ella fitzgerald, et al. this really is a live recording - there are some ad libs here that are pretty funny and goofy and definitely live. the band here is pretty solid and never detracts from sarah's voice. it's a super chill album, and i liked it a lot.
King Crimson
5/5
really cool prog album. i've never really listened to anything by king crimson outside of 'in the court of the crimson king' so i was really excited to listen to this one when it came up. luckily, i really loved this one too. some really interesting sounds tonally but it still has that great 70s prog sound and the production is great. i especially loved the inclusion of bill bruford here, who does a great job on the drums (as always). yeah, really great stuff!
Ministry
2/5
yeah this one really is not my thing. i'm already not a big metal guy and i am finding i'm specifically not really an industrial guy. there are parts of this album that salvage it a bit from being an album i really don't like, but most of what goes wrong here for me is the production. sometimes the vocals here have weird effects on them that sound more akin to being on a novelty record. sometimes the vocals are really... wet... sounding. sometimes it's just really distorted screaming. either way, not really something i'm into. sometimes the production is really clean. sometimes it's really crunchy. i just can't say i'm really into either direction this album seems to go in, and i didn't have a fun time. when it's at its most basic bitch metal, i don't mind it, but most of the time it very much is not that.
Jane Weaver
4/5
yeah i would have really been into this one about 5 years ago. i really loved the sonic landscape that was built here, a lot of great neo-psychedelic textures that sound great. jane's voice is really pretty and the songs here, at points, have some really compelling melodies that i really enjoyed. unfortunately, for me, there was not enough greatness here (as opposed to goodness) to get it over the hump to a 5. still, a strong 4, and an enjoyable listen.
Throwing Muses
4/5
pretty cool album. a lot of times this album feels like it's R.E.M.-meets-Go-Gos-meets-Sleater-Kinney. it's got that 80s college rock feel but feels like the blueprint for a lot of female-centered rock that would come in the years following it. it was all pretty cool, and i think i would grow to like it a lot more on subsequent listens. it was a little bit uneven, which is why it doesn't quite make it to a 5 for me, but even still, i had a fun time listening to it.
Bauhaus
4/5
cool album. i really liked the dark vibes this one gave. sometimes it got a little growly and aggressive, and sometimes it was sort of softer and dour. i could definitely see myself getting more into this on subsequent listens.
The Incredible String Band
3/5
normally, i really enjoy music from this time period. the late 60s were a great period of experimentation, especially musically, and i love a lot of the general output from then. this is an album i've always heard of but never got around to listen to until now. and i can safely say, this is not really my thing. it's kind of interesting but really rough to listen to at points. it's a bit "experimental" in the sense that it feels very free form. a lot of the songs only have a handful of instruments and a vocal. it is interesting, but i don't know if it's one i really care to listen to again.
Mudhoney
4/5
cool grunge album. reminds me a little bit of pavement in the way that this one sounds and less like "classic" grunge bands like nirvana and soundgarden. a lot of fuzzy distorted guitar and bombastic drums. although i enjoyed my time with this one, it didn't really do enough to get it in the realm of a 5. it's a nice album, but it wasn't really mindblowing. still, i could see myself getting into this one more.
Sheryl Crow
3/5
decent album with some fun moments. it's pretty laid back, as you might expect from a sheryl crow album. the best song, by far here is "all i wanna do" which isn't surprising. there are some fun moments otherwise, but it doesn't get very remarkable.
The Who
4/5
look, when you're dealing with a relatively early british invasion album, you're gonna get the following: a handful of r&b covers, a couple of hits, and some filler. although the who is a little bit later on the british invasion timeline, this one pretty much fits that standard. the highlight, of course, is the bombastic title track, which thumps forward like nothing else on the scene at the time. it's iconic. also on this album is 'the kids are alright' which is another great tune. they cover a couple of james brown tunes (which are pretty decent covers) and also the bo diddley standard 'i'm a man' (which is less decent, but still fine). the rest of the album are originals but nothing particularly mindblowing. still, they're not bad. overall, it's definitely not the best thing the who would eventually offer, but it's a nice enough start.
Solomon Burke
4/5
solid mid 60s soul album. solomon burke has a great voice and it is definitely showcased here. the highlights to me were "cry to me" "if you need me" and "goodbye baby" - all great soul songs. the lowlight for me was "just out of reach" which was a bizarre early 60s style pop song that does not fit the rest of the album. anyways, it's fun, it's pretty quick. it's nothing mindblowing, but it's good!
Lupe Fiasco
4/5
really fun mid 00s hip hop album. the beats here are really fun and i appreciate lupe's flow and messages. the highlight here for me was 'kick, push' which is an all time classic, but i also really loved songs like 'daydreamin' and 'i gotcha.' just a fun album through and through.
Radiohead
4/5
i kind of struggle listening to this album because it is so widely esteemed. i'm not a huge radiohead guy, i've never really listened to them outside of this project, but i know how highly regarded they are. for that reason, it's always a little hard to listen to them because their music is held to such high standards. there are parts of this album where i totally see where people are coming from. absolutely fantastic stuff. there's also stuff here that, while not bad, is a little on the boring side and i think people excuse it because of the peaks. for me, my favorite parts are the parts where this album builds to an explosion, a cacophony. the more quiet parts are a lot more forgettable. don't get me wrong, i still had a nice time listening to this one! but i don't know if i get it like most people seem to.
Dinosaur Jr.
4/5
nice, really rough around the edges album. i'm shocked this album is from the late 80s because it sounds so ahead of its time. this album came out the same year as appetite for destruction! crazy. anyways, you get with dinosaur jr some awesome fuzzy guitar and quintessential slacker vocals from j mascis. the songs are fierce but lo-fi in a fun way. could have done without the 5 minute musique-concrete song, but other than that, i enjoyed this one!
The Blue Nile
3/5
some interesting sonic textures that i really liked here. it's a really nice sounding album. i really appreciated the production here. super clean. that being said, a lot of the songs are, quite frankly, kind of boring. it's not unbearable, but not something i would really come back for. which is a shame, because i did really like the production.
The Jesus And Mary Chain
4/5
i didn't know how what to expect going into this one, as my other experience with tjamc was fairly middling. i'm sure because of the amount of noise on this one, it's not very widely popular, but what i was really taken by upon listening to this one is the songwriting. really catchy stuff, reminiscent of a lot of pop-rock that has come before it. hooky and fun! like i said, i suspect the sound here is going to be something that most people dislike, but i liked it here. i would definitely listen again!
Belle & Sebastian
4/5
man i feel like such a hipster piece of shit every time i listen to belle and sebastian because god damn i do really like their music. this album reminds me a lot (in more ways than one) of a twee 90s version of donovan, which feels very much up my alley. they're just really pleasant, charming songs with solid production. a nice time to listen to. is it my favorite music of all time? no. but do i like it? yeah...
Orange Juice
4/5
really solid album. the title track is the most fun here, but there's a lot of pretty decent stuff here. edwyn collins' voice is very reminiscent of david bowie and a lot of the music here doesn't feel out of place in that way - particularly 'rip it up' which feels like an early 80s funk-new wave bowie song. nothing particularly mindblowing here, but all in all, a fun enough time.
Kraftwerk
3/5
it's a fun and an interesting album to listen to, but i can't really say i enjoyed it a whole lot. it's kinda goofy, but kinda artsy. i can't tell if i actually think it's cool or if i really think i just ought to think it's cool. feels like i should either be a pretentious asshole about it or a stick in the mud. i don't feel like being either about it.
N.E.R.D
3/5
i was a bit surprised by this one. obviously i am aware of pharrell and his production and was kind of expecting more of a rap style album. this is what i would say is more of a funk-pop album? it's kind of fun and, obviously, the neptunes' production is pretty much always great. i felt like the songs on here were a little lacking, though. there was not a lot that really kept me hooked.
M.I.A.
3/5
my gut reaction here was sort of like "holy shit this album is kind of annoying" but it's also pretty cool. the beats are a bit out of left field and unconventional, but they are pretty cool. m.i.a.'s flow is fun and very sing-song-y. it does kind of get annoying sometimes. but it is a super unique album and sound. i kind of like it, i kind of hate it. but the one thing you can't say is that it's boring!
Gang Of Four
5/5
really fun post punk record. really rough around the edges and ugly at times. fairly aggressive. sounds great. i really appreciated the attitude and the message here. i think given time, i could grow to love this one.
White Denim
5/5
honestly i was a little blown away by this one! i didn't know what to expect from this one, never having heard of the album or the band. but this is a really neat indie album! it's proggy, it's bluesy, it's indie-y. to me, at times it feels like if the black keys could play in a time signature other than 4. but that's not doing this album justice. there are some really cool odd-metered passages here, really fascinating stuff. in fact, the parts of this album i was not so hot on are the more conventional stuff on here. but when this album is at its most unique, that's when it's at its best.
Les Rythmes Digitales
4/5
i am not really electronic music predisposed, but man this one really surprised me! a lot of the tracks here are fun, danceable, and groovy. i was genuinely floored listening to the first handful of tracks because it does feel unlike most electronic music i have heard. this album does run into a common problem i have with a lot of electronic music, where it does fall back on some repetitive and more boring motifs, but when this album is really cooking, it is a blast to listen to.
The Pharcyde
4/5
when this album is at it's best, it's pretty great. the production is fun and the performances are engaging. for me, this one is solidly in the 'good, not great' camp. it's a fun listen, but never gets to the level of an all-timer.
Calexico
3/5
there's some really interesting and unique stuff here - indie rock with a bit of a south of the border flair, but unfortunately is it marred down by, quite frankly, a lot of kind of boring stuff. there's potential here, but i don't think it meets it.
Fever Ray
3/5
interesting music that i found to be a little reminiscent of bjork. i don't think it ends up being as compelling, but there are some interesting sonic passages here. mostly i found it to be somewhere in the middle, not weird enough to be interesting, but not dull enough to be unlistenable.
Elton John
4/5
pretty solid album. obviously, it opens with an all-timer and i am also very fond of 'levon' and the title track. the rest of the album is good, not great. not to the same level as those three tracks. there's nothing here that's bad, just not anything that's overly impressive. still, it's fun, it's not boring. it's elton john really finding his footing for a pretty great album streatch.
T. Rex
5/5
this album just oozes cool. the guitar, the swagger. it just chugs along and pretty much every song on here rips. top tier stuff
Manic Street Preachers
5/5
really surprised by this one! really fun britpop. the influence here is pretty laid bare, very beatle-y at points. it feels like a disservice to compare every britpop album to the two big britpop bands, and I wouldn't say this gets to that level, but it's only a half step below.
Red Hot Chili Peppers
4/5
this album kinda slaps (literally). this album is also pretty ubiquitous (especially the big tracks), so much so that this was the first time I've listened to this album and yet I feel like I've listened to it before. this album also is, unfortunately, kind of annoying lmao. like it's good. it's fairly high quality. it also makes me cringe out of my mind at points. I liked it but not everything was for me here.
Ride
5/5
really cool album. it's noisey in all the right ways and catchy in a way that is really referential to a lot of rock that came before it. super fun listen and i would love to come back to this!
5/5
i am an unabashed beatles lover and i've listened to this album probably a million times over so, yeah. i love it. that being said, there are other albums of theirs that i think are ultimately more influential and more important and other albums that, quite frankly, i enjoy listening to more. that's not to say i don't love this album (i do) but i just don't think it's their best and i don't agree with the common boomer sentiment that this is the greatest album ever. i think a lot of it has to do with the context in which it was released, which very much predates my birth, so unfortunately greatness based on "you had to be there" is going to be infinitely increasingly rare.
but all that being said, i do think this album has some great songwriting on here, songs that have held the test of time as "all timers" ('with a little help from my friends,' 'lucy in the sky with diamonds,' 'when i'm sixty four,' and 'a day in the life') and has some really interesting dabbling in sonic textures (i particularly love 'being for the benefit of mr kite' for this, but also the expansion of their classical-influenced side with 'she's leaving home' and george harrison's continued dabbling with indian classical music). ultimately, it's an all timer for a reason, and i do love it a lot.
The Black Crowes
4/5
it's not a bad album, it's actually pretty nice to listen to. but it also feels like the trope-iest of tropey rock music. it is really derivative of a lot of hard rock and it is really samey in a not so satisfying way. if you've heard 'hard to handle' on classic rock radio, you've heard the whole album, basically. but all that said, it's not bad, it's quite listenable. i just don't know if i appreciate it greatly.
Pulp
4/5
my second pulp album and, if i can be quite honest, i don't know if i quite get the appeal. there's some pretty decent stuff on here but nothing really blows me away. i was generally not a huge fan of the vocals and a lot of the songs didn't do a lot for me. not sure what i'm missing, but i am very clearly missing it.
Aerosmith
4/5
not a huge fan of aerosmith so i wasn't thrilled to get this one, but i was actually pleasantly surprised! this is a fun hard rock album. it's got some teeth but not overly so. steven tyler gets a little screamy and screechy and his vocals almost border on some sort of metal vocal. the instrumentation is pretty good as well. solid album!
Tom Waits
4/5
as expected with tom waits, this album is a bit bonkers. i would venture to say most people would probably hate this. but there is something about this quirky music that does something for me. even though they are draped in ugly and off-kilter sounds and tom waits' growly wailing, the melodies here are pretty great and if you can get into the vibe, it's a really solid album. it's easy to listen to this album and think "wow this sounds like shit i hate this" but if you are willing to crack past the ugly exterior, there is some cool shit in this nut.
Madonna
2/5
man i truly do not get this one. it's not that i don't like madonna. it's not that i can't appreciate electronic music. i just feel like this album is so flat and uninteresting. quite frankly, it's boring! the highs here are so mid and the lows are low. who the hell is going to madonna for eastern influenced music anyways? not only that, the production sounds so lifeless and dated in a bad way. madonna's vocals are not great and do not stand out at all. this could have been anyone singing these songs. if you played me most of this album out of context, i don't even think i would recognize that this is madonna's voice. i genuinely do not know what i'm missing. maybe you just had to be there. i'm glad she tried to branch out. it doesn't work for me. a lot of this album feels like it should be played at a clothing store circa 2002. the gap chic
The United States Of America
4/5
i'd heard a lot of people rave about this album over the years, but never got around to it myself until now. i can see why people like this album. i also don't know that i really get it fully. it's good, at points. there's some cool stuff here, but there's also a lot of carnival music. i wish there was more of the cool stuff and less of the carnival music. it does feel ahead of its time, but also i don't know if i think it's all that great ultimately.
Common
5/5
kind of blown away by this one. common's flow is terrific and he is lifted even further up here from the production of kanye west and j dilla here. every song on here is great and common's sensibility really lands with me. it's a shame that a lot of the people involved here have subsequently fallen out of peoples' good graces (kanye, john mayer, a random appearance from dave chappelle) because this is a truly great record!
Bruce Springsteen
5/5
this is a springsteen album that i've always heard raved about but historically i couldn't quite get it. hadn't listened to it in a long time, so i was excited to give it another spin. maybe i am older, a bit wiser, a bit more amenable to the sparse sound here, but i really liked it this time. it is very sparse. just bruce and his guitar. the spotlight is entirely on the songwriting. luckily, he is a great songwriter. the highlight to me is always going to be 'atlantic city' but i also have to give a shoutout to the title track, 'state trooper,' 'open all night,' and 'reason to believe' as highlights here. although i don't think there's a bad song on here. it's raw, it's sparse. it stands alone in bruce springsteen's discography as its own thing.
SZA
3/5
decent enough album. sza has a nice voice and the production is nice. i'm not going to be a boomer and complain about the content, it doesn't offend me. that being said, it's not really an album for me. it's alright, but a lot of the songs here don't really interest me a whole lot. it's not bad, it's just not really my thing.
Dire Straits
3/5
no matter how much classic rock radio wants me to like dire straits, i will never find them interesting. the instrumentation is good, the production sounds nice. the songs are so MOR. quite frankly, it's a bit boring of an album. there's one song on here worth listening to, and it's the song they overplay on the radio. not for me
Grant Lee Buffalo
4/5
not a bad album, but not anything that blew me away. often times the vocalist here sounds like robert plant, which is a compliment. in terms of the time period it was released, i think there are more novel and more interesting albums.
Public Image Ltd.
3/5
some parts of this album are kind of neat. some parts are unlistenable. the instrumentation is pretty cool but the vocals are really hit or miss. i gather that's sort of the point. obviously john lydon doesn't give a shit whether or not something is listenable. it was definitely interesting, but not something i'm particularly keen on listening to again. a one and done type of deal.
Kendrick Lamar
5/5
this album is considered an all-timer for a reason. kendrick's flow is unmatched and the production here is so great. it's got influence from all over the place, from jazz to boom bap to funk. there is not a dull moment on here. from the jump, it's firing on all cylinders. so creative, so fascinating, just really, truly great.
The Monkees
4/5
i love getting albums like this because it means i get to be nitpicky for nitpicky's sake. i love the monkees and am very familiar with their albums. this one is not my favorite of theirs. there's some good, even great stuff on here ('randy scouse git,' 'for pete's sake,' and i really adore the mike nesmith track 'you just may be the one') but it's a really uneven album. there's some psychedelic goofiness here (a product of its time) which is kinda whatever and doesn't add to the album ('zilch,' 'band 6') and there are songs that are, quite frankly, just kinda not great ('forget that girl,' and 'mr. webster'). i love the monkees when they are at their best - fun and bubblegum - but this is not really that.
The Rolling Stones
5/5
i'm a big rolling stones fan but i hadn't listened to this one in full for a while so it was nice to listen to it again. i really like this album. it's not my favorite of theirs, but it's really great. obviously, the big song is batting lead-off here, and yeah, there's a reason it gets played all the time on the radio still, almost 60 years later. the other big song here is maybe my favorite which is 'street fighting man' which i think is a great bridge between the first 'era' of the stones and this new era they were entering. you can really see the dawn of the new era in full force in the album cuts - a bluesier, rootsier, back to basics sound that they would evolve and grow with over the next few years. for that reason, it's not my favorite of their albums, because where they are headed is a terrific peak, but it's still an album i hold near and dear to my heart.
MC Solaar
5/5
this one was really great! mc solaar's flow is really great and and the production and beats were energetic and fun to listen to. i wish i could understand french better than i do (minimal) but i don't think that even necessarily matters. it's an enjoyable album even if you don't understand the lyrics.
Lloyd Cole And The Commotions
3/5
i wish i liked this album more. it was definitely up my alley and i liked the sound of the record, but the songwriting was good-at-best and often times didn't get to that level, and i wasn't all that fond of the vocalist and his singing style, which felt a bit weak at times.
4/5
nice stuff. definitely one of the better albums that i've gotten under the genre of "sophisti-pop" in this saga. the songs were nice and i found the production to be very pleasing. it's obviously very "new wave-ish" but has some more funk inspired notes, mainly from the rhythm section. it's not mind-blowing by any stretch, but it was still pretty fun, all in all.
Stephen Stills
3/5
i'm a pretty big csny fan. unfortunately, stephen stills might be 4th out of 4 on my CSNY power rankings. it's not that this album is bad. it's just that, quite frankly, it's kind of nothing. there's one song on it (the one stephen stills solo song anyone knows) and the rest of it is... fine. it's not great. it's not bad. just fine. in the direct aftermath of 'deja vu,' all of his bandmates were doing more interesting, compelling things. this has almost no flavor. the styrofoam of albums.
The Kinks
4/5
i'm a big kinks fan but although i think this is a good album, i don't think it's a great one. it's nearly there and they would get to that level with their next large handful of albums, but this one has always been a bit below the other "classic" kinks albums. that's not to say that there aren't songs i love on here - particularly 'sunny afternoon' but also i really like 'rainy day in june,' 'dandy,' and 'rosie won't you please come home' - but the album cuts here don't get to the highest level. it's not a bad album! i just know it gets better than this.
Lynyrd Skynyrd
4/5
good album. it's got pretty much all you would ever want from skynyrd. there's a handful of good-to-great songs on here which is what you need. the more album cuts off of here don't really do a whole lot for me. side a is way more loaded than side b (free bird notwithstanding). but ultimately, it's a fun enough listen. good, not great.
The Beta Band
3/5
there are some neat moments on here, some stuff that i liked, but ultimately, i found this to be a bit boring. it's not that there's anything bad here, it's just that it feels like this album doesn't go anywhere. there are interesting ideas, nice moments, cool production, but quite frankly, it feels a bit stagnant most of the time. i wished i liked it more, because i feel like it is up my alley.
Elbow
4/5
solid indie album. sounds a lot like stuff i would have listened to at the time, but i was not familiar with this one. this was also an album that was recommended to me by a friend and i liked it! for me, it's not quite my thing, but i still enjoyed it a decent amount.
Björk
4/5
i think it's really easy to hate bjork because her music is unconventional. i actually think it's quite fascinating. her production is always top notch, and this album is no exception. her voice is as faeish and haunting as usual. i think out of all of her albums i've heard so far, this one feels maybe the most accessible? all that said, a continuing problem i have with bjork is the replayability. i think her music is quite interesting, but also i don't know that i would ever go out of my way to actively listen to this stuff on my own time.
Echo And The Bunnymen
4/5
pretty good album. i really enjoyed the production and the songwriting here. the best song for me was clearly 'the killing moon' but there were a handful of songs i also liked almost as much and nothing on here was even remotely bad. that being said, i wish that i liked the vocalist's voice a bit more. but overall, pretty good.
Coldplay
3/5
i so badly wanted to like this more than i did. the production is nice and clean. very straightforward, but nothing wrong with that. there is some pretty good stuff on here! 'yellow,' 'don't panic,' and 'trouble,' are all pretty great! unfortunately a lot of the album is mind-numbingly boring. unfortunately, i do think coldplay is often unfairly shit on, which ends up making their output a bit underrated, ultimately, but after listening to this album, i can kind of understand why they have the reputation they have in popular culture. nothing here is bad, but boy, can it be a bit dull.
Charles Mingus
5/5
man, sometimes you listen to an album and you are just blown away. this is one of them. i'm not a huge jazz guy but i have a light appreciation for the genre at large. this is unlike most jazz i've ever heard. obviously it's got a bit of a big band feel but it is off the rails and fun. it is chaotic, and yet, extremely organized in its chaos. if you're looking at the "machine" from afar, it may seem chaotic, but if you take a closer look, you can see all the pieces working together and executing perfectly. this thing never gets boring. it ebbs and flows in such a fascinating way. slow, fast, soft, loud. everything just works so fell. simply a well-crafted, incredibly interesting and fascinating piece. music is art, but this, to me, is art as music.
Hole
4/5
really good album. i am not going to mention her significant other, because i think this album stands on its own without bringing him up. she's earned it, and i don't think she should consistently be in his shadow. as for the album, it's aggressive, biting, and a great listen. courtney love really came into her own here and you can tell that she really was putting all she had into this one. it's a pretty good effort!
Stevie Wonder
5/5
this is maybe my favorite stevie album? is that crazy? extremely great from front to back. the singles ('you are the sunshine of my life' and 'superstition') of course are timeless, but the album cuts are really terrific too, from the subdued and sweet 'you and i' to the funkier cuts 'maybe your baby' and 'tuesday heartbreak' to the album closer 'i believe (when i fall in love it will be forever' which combines the two into a great ending. as with most everything stevie, the musicianship is great and the production sounds nice. and as always, with stevie, i feel it important to point out HE WAS 22 WHEN HE MADE THIS. crazy. incredible. think about what you were doing when you were 22. not this, i'll tell you.
Prince
4/5
i'm not a huge prince fan and i'm fairly new to listening to him as a whole (i know, i know, it's crazy). i'm kind of two minds about this one. it's a pretty fun album. it's a bit zany and very synth heavy. it's really horny (i don't really give a shit, plus it's prince, of course it's horny). i also felt like the album was too long. although i don't think there's much chaff here to separate from the wheat, it does feel like i would have liked it more if it had been streamlined a bit. i don't think it was bad but the length did end up diminishing my interest in it. especially since a lot of the synths can be a little grating at times (normally not an issue for me, but the more it goes on, the less i want to deal with it). overall, i still liked it, but it wasn't my favorite prince output i've heard.
Everything But The Girl
2/5
second album from these folks and, man, i hate to say it. this really does nothing for me. the best songs on here are fine, i guess. the worst songs are pretty boring. the music is one part subdued techno, one part subdued pop, and is entirely subdued. i just wish one of the facets here was more interesting, it would have held my interest a lot longer. on a pure technical scale, there's nothing wrong here, i guess. it just feels like the music the clothing stores my mom would drag me to when i was a kid. i just don't really appreciate the vibe a whole lot.
Kanye West
4/5
what to do with this one in the year 2025, huh. in my past, i was a mild kanye fan and i think he can be brilliant. lately i want absolutely nothing to do with him, and if you're paying anywhere close to attention, you'll understand why. but when this album came out, i liked it. not as much as everyone else seemed to, as this is always in contention for "greatest album of all time." i've never been quite there. there is some good stuff on here but i am more of a fan of his earlier production and songs. there are definitely some high points here for me ('power,' 'all of the lights,' and 'runaway') but a lot of the album cuts don't do a whole lot for me. his rapping is generally pretty great on here. the jay-z verse on 'monster' is genuinely terrible. did we really have to listen to several minutes of chris rock talking about reupholstering pussies? i haven't listened to this album in well over a decade because i liked his earlier stuff better in general, so upon relistening, i'm still sort of in the same place. musically, this was never a 5/5 for me, and for the express purposes of this project, i try to remove the art from the artist, even though who he is currently is pretty deplorable.
Talk Talk
2/5
I'm road tripping today and I can definitely say this is not a great road trip album. it wouldn't be my thing really anyways. at best, the album is pretty mid and at worst it's pretty fuckin boring! thisv album had almost nothing for me. the only thing keeping this from the gutter for me is that it's at least listenable
Blood, Sweat & Tears
5/5
i do really love this album. i was introduced to it as a teenager and i think it really is a great fusion of late 60s-ish rock and jazz. especially the middle of the album is my favorite with 'spinning wheel,' 'and when i die,' and 'god bless the child' but you can't really go wrong with any of this, even the more classical stuff. the band is pretty tight and although this feels pretty mundane by modern standards, this album was a fairly big trailblazer. i especially love david clayton-thomas' gruff and strong vocals. one of the most underrated singers in rock history.
John Lennon
5/5
sincerely one of my favorite albums of all time. this album came at a really fascinating period of john lennon's life - he just got married to yoko ono, his band just broke up, he's going through experimental therapy to deal with the tragic passing of his mother when he was younger. you get all of that here: a raw, bluesy romp with biting passages, as well as sweet and introspective. to me, this album encapsulates one of music's most famous and sometimes controversial musicians. he is a screwed up mess and complex and this album is him baring all. it's such a great listen and truly it is one of my favorite albums of all time.
Al Green
4/5
really fun stuff. obviously the title track is a classic and is terrific. the rest of the album is also pretty great too, but does fall prey to being a bit same-y throughout. there's not a bad song in the bunch, but it does come off a bit one note. still, al green is a great vocalist and his smooth and sultry delivery is what you're here for. i would be remiss in not mentioning the arrangement and production of the album is so classic and still sounds great. the horns on here are iconic!
The Slits
4/5
really fun punk record. this one is nearly all attitude. it's maybe not the most pleasant record to listen to but man it fuckin sounds cool. and you can trace a direct line to several bands that would come immediately after and until today. i liked it! i will definitely come back to it.
Nirvana
5/5
look, there's a reason this album is held in such high esteem. not only was it a groundbreaking album for rock music that shifted the genre, but man, every song on here is really great. obviously cobain had more talent in his pinky than most people on this planet ever have and had such a way of crafting great music intertwined with pain, but i also have to shout out both krist novoselic and dave grohl both for their excellence on this album too. i feel like often they become footnotes to their bandmate on this one and they are integral to this album. i mean what can i say about this one that hasn't already been said?
The Go-Betweens
3/5
decent album. in some respects, it reminds me of other 80s college rock staples like the smiths or the replacements, but feels like ultimately it is rather toothless in comparison. there's nothing bad here - at worst, just dull - but i think some of their contemporaries are more thrilling to listen to. still, it's a pleasant listen and there are most certainly some highlights here.
Snoop Dogg
5/5
really great rap album. snoop's flow is iconic and here there are no misses. just great track after great track. the production on here is pretty great too, employing that classic g-funk sound. i really thoroughly enjoyed my time with this one!
The Beach Boys
5/5
a band i can't really be unbiased about. i grew up on the beach boys and brian wilson's music and i will always have a soft spot for the pre-pet sounds era of the beach boys, and this album in particular. for me, this is really the first big step towards the complexity of pet sounds in terms of songwriting and production for brian and the beach boys. the added complexities here over songs like "fun fun fun" are great, but still below where brian wilson would take the group in the upcoming years. that's not to say that there aren't more "poppy" pop songs here - "do you wanna dance" and "dance, dance, dance" are beach boys classics in their own right - but what i always come to this album for are tracks like "when i grow up to be a man," "she knows me too well," "in the back of my mind," and especially the constantly criminally underrated "please let me wonder." the only dings i will give this album are the inferior version of "help me, r(h)onda" and "bull session with the big daddy" which is a skit track that is sort of an expected "feature" of their previous albums. but the harmonies here are as good as ever and the production is, of course, fantastic. to me, this is the pinnacle of the first "era" of the beach boys. better things to come, for sure, but a great album in its own right.
Jane's Addiction
3/5
in some ways i wish i liked this one better than i did. the instrumentals are nice and can be pretty good sometimes. i'm used to unique, unconventional voices, but i am really not a fan of perry farrell's voice and that makes it a pretty mixed bag for me to listen to. but i think the worst sin of all is that, quite frankly, the back half of this album is pretty overloaded and boring. the first half i liked, the second half was a slog.
Metallica
4/5
i'm still a bit new to metal as a whole and still finding my footing in an appreciation for the genre. i am finding i like metallica (hot take, i know) but i think between this album and my previous listens, this one ends up more in the middle. the musicianship is great and i like the vocals well enough, but the songs here did not grip me as much as others. i still enjoyed it to a certain extent, but it didn't wow me as much as 'master of puppets' did, for example. not bad! just not my favorite either.
Lenny Kravitz
4/5
kinda funky at points, kinda classic rock-y at points. a little sly and the family stone, a little beatles. does it feel kind of like a knock-off of prince at points? yeah, kinda. does that make it a bad album? no, not really. it's pretty enjoyable and there are some fun moments on here. still, there's nothing that totally blew me away - the best thing here is probably the title track and, although good, nothing particularly mind blowing. still, it was a fun listen.
Laibach
2/5
part auditory hell, part kitchy goofy european rock. sometimes it's too corny sounding for words, sometimes it's really difficult to listen to. a challenging listen but not in the right way for me. i don't know how to describe it really but it's not challenging in a fun way, the harder to listen to parts are just really ugly and dissonant and the easier to listen to parts are kind of dorky and annoying. i dunno. it sounds like a marching band had a baby with a bunch of mechanical noise. not my thing.
Jimi Hendrix
5/5
not my favorite Jimi but still a great album. obviously, he's a great guitarist, and the songs are pretty good. there are some all timers here. underrated are the drums and bass here - really the ensemble of the three of them together were incredible and groundbreaking. it's pretty great!
Scott Walker
4/5
neat album. it is very crooner-ish and i appreciate that about it. very atypical for a "pop star" of the time period to go in such a direction. scott walker's voice is so great. it's got a nice huskiness that i adore. there's some good stuff on here and the arrangements are pretty lush. my only complaint is that in terms of the song quality, there's not a lot here that i would say is above "good" - it's not bad, just wish it was a bit more. either way, i enjoyed listening to it!
Mike Ladd
1/5
man i really don't know what to do with this one. sometimes the tracks are really mediocre. sounds amateurish. sometimes it is genuinely unlistenable. awful to listen to. and then, there are moments where it hits pretty well (my favorite moment is 'red eye to jupiter' which is really great production-wise and flow wise). just a really confusing album when the vast majority of it is really not great at best, and genuinely awful to listen to at worst.
Donald Fagen
4/5
pretty decent album. definitely in the vein of steely dan, but I think i prefer fagen's output with steely dan over this. this album feels less traditional rock-y than his band's output. pretty jazzy, very "yacht rock." it's an interesting album, but it feels like it's lacking something to me. if it was an album by an unrelated artist, i maybe have less to compare it to, but as it stands, i can't help but compare it to steely dan, and this would be towards the bottom of steely dan's albums for me. that being said, i love a lot of steely dan, so despite all that, i still had a good time listening to this one.
Black Sabbath
5/5
yeah this is a great record! everything i've heard from sabbath has been really great. it's a wonder i never got into them ever, and i'm really sad i hadn't until this project! the guitars are fuzzy and loud as ever, ozzy's vocals are great. there's even some variety on this one with the great piano ballad 'changes.' now that being said, it's not my favorite sabbath, BUT i still had an absolute blast listening to this one!
John Cale
5/5
gonna guess this is not everyone's cup of tea, but i particularly adore this sort of genre of music. very orchestral singer-songwriter stuff. it reminds me of a lot of van dyke parks' work from years prior, a bit artsy and heady, but also reminds me of procol harum, which makes sense, considering their producer produced this! there's a lot of great stuff on here, but the highlight to me is the title track, which is wonderful! glad i got to listen to this one.
Kate Bush
5/5
definitely a good entry point, 'hounds of love' is one of the more accessible kate bush records, in my opinion. but even with a more poppier approach, this album isn't any less brilliant. there is some truly excellent stuff on here, and all uniquely her. nothing sounds like her music, and nothing ever will. of course, 'running up that hill (a deal with god)' is fantastic, but i also adore the title track and 'cloudbusting' as well. but really, there's nothing bad here. it's all excellent.
Oasis
5/5
it's not oasis' best, but it's pretty great in its own right. lots of good stuff on here, but my favorite may be 'shakermaker.' it's bold, it's brash, oasis don't give a shit what you think. it's exactly them.
David Crosby
3/5
i have a real love-hate relationship with david crosby.
the love: he had a phenomenal knack for vocal harmonies. some of the greatest vocal harmonies put to tape were under his direction. some of them are even on this album!
the hate: my god, his pompous ass writes some of the most droning, boring shit i've ever heard. it's not bad, i guess. it's not unlistenable. it's just so goddamn boring. this is no exception.
really what you're getting a lot of is CSNY lite. a lot of the characteristics of great music with not a lot of the payoff. unfortunately, david needs a bit of help and guidance to make interesting music. for a guy who loaded his entire body with drugs for 25 straight years, you would think his music would be a little more interesting.
Steve Earle
5/5
steve earle's debut is an album i grew up on, and so i perhaps have some disproportionate feelings for it. for me, it's one of my favorite country albums from this era. this album lives somewhere in the middle of early 80s springsteen, john cougar, dwight yoakam, and marshall crenshaw. the one thing that always strikes me is how catchy all these songs are. steve earle has a knack for writing a great hook. the one thing i will knock it for is that the production is a little too mid-80s for my liking, but the songwriting and earle's performance are good enough to outweigh it for me.
Soundgarden
4/5
solid album. moody, kind of aggressive, fun to listen to. definitely on the metal side of grunge but still enjoyable to me, although i'm not huge into metal or grunge.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
2/5
going to be honest, I don't really get this one. nick cave is dark and brooding and kinda droney. a bit much for me. it's not low quality but it was a bit of a slog for me to get through. not really for me.
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
4/5
i am pretty lightly positive towards elvis costello but i had never listened to this one before. it was pretty decent. it's not as fun to listen to as some of his other albums and nothing really stood out to me as great, but still i felt it was solidly good. is it an album i had to listen to before i died? i dunno, probably not. was it solid? yeah, i think so.
Mott The Hoople
4/5
pretty decent album. definitely takes the glammy stuff they did with bowie and runs with it. there's not anything here that is particularly mindblowing, but it is a pretty fun glam record all in all.
Mariah Carey
3/5
look, mariah carey is undoubtedly an extremely talented vocalist and this is on full display here. the problem is that i find a lot of mariah carey's music to be incredibly dull. the more uptempo stuff here is fine enough, but the ballads kill it. maybe i'm not a love-making romantic enough to appreciate the subtleties of her whispery voice over sensual backing tracks, but it's just not for me. there are some decent tracks here ('honey,' 'the roof (back in time)' and 'babydoll') but it does not outweigh the majority of this album being mind-numbingly boring ballads. sorry, not really for me.
X-Ray Spex
5/5
Cowboy Junkies
3/5
wasn't very familiar with cowboy junkies but had heard their name. it's tough because i think their influences are a lot of music that i like a lot. they cover a velvet underground song, they cover a patsy cline song, they cover a hank williams song. that's neat. what's not neat to me is that this album is so godawfully boring. my god. it was a bit of a chore to get through this one. i don't mind subdued music, but this is a bit much for even me. i didn't really find this haunting or beautiful, i mostly found it dull and droning. i wish i liked it better because i can see their similarities with my own taste in music, but man this one wasn't for me.
k.d. lang
4/5
from the first notes of this one, i didn't know if i was going to like it. i'm not really a fan of the production on this one (it's very 1988 and clean). but as i listened to this, i kind of fell in love with k.d. lang's voice? her voice is GORGEOUS. this album reminds me of something like patsy cline reincarnated or something. i love the 50s style backing vocals on this (she even got the jordanaires???). like i said, i still have qualms with the production, but i was pleasantly surprised by this one.
Manu Chao
2/5
i wish i liked this one more. i think it's an interesting concept. a fusion of many different musics from all around the world, in a handful of different languages. unfortunately for me, most of the songs were kind of boring at best, and annoying to me at worst. manu chao's voice is a bit nasally and starts to be grating sometimes for me. also some of these sounds sound like weird carnival music, at times, which is not my vibe! i really do wish i liked this one better, as i think the concept is cool. but unfortunately, not my thing.
Tricky
1/5
not for me. the singing here felt off beat a lot of the time and disjointed. the rapping felt like it was from a 5th grader. it seems this album is held in high regard but I'm not seeing the vision. a lot of times it sounded like how my anxiety dreams feel. sorry!
Jacques Brel
4/5
cool album. jacques brel has an iconic voice and this is a pretty decent performance of his classic chanson style. the album is tres francais, so if you're not into classic french music, you're probably in for a bad time. i still think it's a nice album, even if you consider it background music. but to me, it's more than background music. it's a classic example of what french music can be.
Emmylou Harris
4/5
I won't say I am biased, but I grew up around a lot of Emmylou Harris' music growing up as my mom was a huge fan of hers. Emmylou's voice is really great and there's a solid selection of songs here. My only complaint is that I think she has better track listings in her career, and it's not my favorite mix of songs. That being said, she still is a great singer and this is a fairly enjoyable listen.
The Sabres Of Paradise
1/5
i'm sure there's more to the artistry here but this genuinely just sounds like a guy fucking around with garageband for an hour. there is nothing interesting here. at best it's the most barely-middling electronic music you've ever heard, but at worst it's the most boring, sparce beats with a bunch of reverb. a lot of these are barely songs. quite frankly, at times, it feels like it's barely music. is this a joke?
Beatles
5/5
can't be unbiased about this one. i adore this album, even with all of its quirks and bizarre choices and its notorious musique concrete behemoth. as a huge beatles fan, this album has always fascinated me. it is a fascinating look at a band that is starting to fracture. john and paul aren't really working with one another anymore and it's plain to see here: there's not a lot of co-mingling in their songwriting and there's a lot of "solo" work here, production and performance-wise too. ringo quits the band. george martin leaves abruptly on vacation. john is like, doing heroin and stuff. yoko is here and the other beatles don't really like it. they just got back from a crazy meditation trip to india. this album is hell for the beatles and it sounds like it. but that's why i love it. it's not a perfect album. it's quirky. it's weird. but that's what makes it great to me. the world's best band making a fractured all over the place album. there is no other album like it.
Brian Eno
5/5
i'm a real newbie when it comes to ambient music, but as i understand it, this is sort of where it officially starts (at least in terms of a name). i've listened to other ambient music and enjoyed it, and i definitely enjoyed this. it's really sparse and calming and well, ambient. it's not something i would ever really listen to on repeat or anything like that, but for what it does, it does really well. it has a real calming effect that i think is neat.
Ali Farka Touré
4/5
really neat melding of music from all over the world. feels like it's one part mississippi delta blues, one part western african rock. i'm really impressed by the musicianship here. some really fun riffs and grooves here. this is the sort of stuff i love to get in this project - something fun, something unique, something i'm glad i listened to before i died.
Billy Bragg
5/5
yeah this is my shit. a british folk musician loudly singing about how great unions are. this album felt like i was listening to the british woody guthrie. aesthetically feels like the progenitor of frank turner. not only do i vibe with the tunes on that level, but he has a knack for a catchy hook too. definitely adding this to my rotation!
The Mothers Of Invention
5/5
i love this album. it's obviously not going to be everyone's tea, but i do think this is probably the most accessible zappa/mothers album. it was my first exposure to them years ago and i kind of fell in love with it. it's a bit goofy and zany and there's lots of quirky shit on here, but when push comes to shove, it's really fun and really strong musically. to me, 'trouble every day' and 'any way the wind blows' are terrific. true to the album's name, there are some really fun 'freak out' sections on here, but also it's a freaky album (in a 1960s sense, an album for Freaks). yeah man, this is the good stuff.
Serge Gainsbourg
3/5
i've heard great things about this one for years but never listened to it. i have to say, it's really not my thing. i took french in high school but have lost most of it so the narrative is a little lost on me (admittedly). musically, it's interesting and there are some really cool segments ('en melody' is particularly funky and cool) but a lot of it just didn't really grab me. all of the 'melody' vocals are kind of jarring every time they pop up. the plot, as i understand it (once again, not getting this firsthand) seems kind of creepy and in a modern context i'm not sure how to take it. at the end of the day, i think it probably just isn't for me.
Fairport Convention
5/5
really enjoyed this! i've liked other stuff i've heard by fairport convention, so i knew i would probably like this too, but i think this may be my favorite that i've heard. it's definitely got that folky feel but it's a little more rock-y at points, something that i really liked. sandy denny's voice is one of my favorites so that was also a plus. really great album that i am definitely coming back to!
Todd Rundgren
5/5
genuinely one of my favorite albums of all time. it's very strange, it's very fragmented, sometimes it's a little rough to listen to. but todd rundgren has a knack for a melody and, here, is unabashedly himself. goofy, awkward, and on a lot of drugs. a lot of times it feels kind of zappa-ish, but to me this album is a lot more "poppy" than zappa usually is. the production can be a bit insane, but also extremely ahead of its time. there's nothing else that really sounds like this album. don't let studio fuckery like 'dog fight giggle' become your lasting memory of this album. 'when the shit hits the fan/sunset boulevard' 'zen archer' and 'just one victory' are all what this album can be and should be remembered for.
Thin Lizzy
5/5
yeah this one kind of slaps. thin lizzy has one of my favorite sounds of a band of all time and it really holds up in a live format. the band has a lot of energy and the setlist is pretty killer. it's probably not all that mind-blowing, but it's a hell of a lot of fun to listen to. my only qualm is that huey lewis was somehow involved in the making of this album, which feels illegal.
Tori Amos
4/5
nice album. i don't have a lot of experience with tori's music, but i found this album to live in a comfortable place between kate bush and ben folds. her voice is quite nice and i love that the production feels sparse, yet big at times. the songs here are pretty good, with a lot of seemingly personal lyrics about some tough subjects. i think overall, the package is pretty good and i could see it growing on me with subsequent listens.
3/5
man this one is going to occupy a weird place. i actually kind of enjoyed this, in a weird way. not the first time i've been exposed to ornette coleman's music so i kind of knew what to expect. the music is chaotic but fun and fascinating to listen to. the intensely wet production here definitely adds to the chaos. lots of squeaks and screaming (almost literally) saxophones here. but also at the same time, i kept checking to see how close i was to being done listening to this one. it's fun but as an entire listen, it does sort of begin to feel like a chore.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
2/5
i'm sorry, this is now my 3rd nick cave album (4th if you count birthday party) and i am really starting to think i really do not understand this at all. i don't really find his music to be compelling or haunting, i just mostly find it incredibly dull and a bore. a pretentious dude droning on for over an hour. not for me.
Grizzly Bear
4/5
this one takes me back a little. 'two weeks' was a heavy hitter for me at the time, so it was nice to come back to it. i bought this album at the time on the strength of my love of 'two weeks' and i remember liking it but not having very strong feelings about it. upon relistening to it now, i kind of mostly feel the same. there is clearly one track that is above all the others. there's nothing bad here. it's an interesting album that feels akin to perhaps a fleet foxes at points, but also has its own identity. there are some really interesting, creative passages here. but the bulk of this album is good, not great. i still like it!
Ramones
5/5
i'll start off by saying, i don't really associate the ramones with punk entirely. the fact that it seems like they have a mid-60s pop song on every one of their albums makes it seem to me like they are aggressive pop rock. that being said, this shit rules, man. every song is short, sweet, and to the point. maybe the point is about sniffing glue or hitting someone with a baseball bat or kids losing their minds. but the album is fun as hell to listen to. the hooks are great and it just sort of oozes cool to me. i also sort of reject the idea of this album being "repetitive" because oh my god it's 29 minutes long. if you can't stomach this for less than a half hour, i don't know how you can stomach anything.
Franz Ferdinand
4/5
a nice surprise! i obviously knew the one big song off of this and still adore it from when i first saw it on VH1 when i was in middle school. the rest of the album was brand new to me and i enjoyed it! i think if you know 'take me out' you're not going to be surprised by the rest of the album, but it's really solid and catchy.
Ravi Shankar
4/5
pretty neat album. obviously i know ravi from his adjacency to the beatles, and in particular, george harrison. but this album predates the beatles by many years. but what's neat here is that you can definitely see the influence on george and the beatles. there are even passages that sound remarkably close to beatles songs. you have to wonder if this album in particular was a huge influence on george. but beatles aside, this is a really neat album! hindustani music has such a wealth of interesting sounds and rhythms. what i found particularly interesting is this album is clearly made with the intent for western audiences to listen to it, so ravi does a lot of explanations of how the music works and is constructed. very neat!
Emerson, Lake & Palmer
4/5
fun album. obviously, the highlight is the epic title track, but there's some other great stuff on here to. now i have come to expect that every emerson, lake and palmer album is going to have some weird kitschy song on it that sounds like a ragtime. but i mean talk about three dudes firing on all cylinders. the musicianship is insane.
Pixies
5/5
i really love this album. it's a lot of the dna of modern indie music and you can really tell. there's some really great stuff on here. it's a little bit all over the place. there's some really noisy stuff, there's some kind of poppy stuff, but really most of it is great. it's a vibe album, for sure. i dunno, listening to it makes me feel so cool. it's a cool album. the coolest.
Love
3/5
i love (no pun intended) this era of music and adore a lot of Love's contemporaries, and yet somehow their appeal seems to allude me a bit. most of this is pretty good, but mostly feels like a good, but unremarkable late 60s garage album. half of the album is dedicated to an 18 minute jam (which i guess was truncated from a 45 minute jam) that kind of is what it is, but isn't very interesting ultimately. there are some nuggets (no pun intended) on here ('7 and 7 Is' and 'Stephanie Knows Who') but most of it, to me ends up firmly in the "good, not great" camp. there are some interesting instruments used here that I wish were used more, mainly the flute and saxophone. arthur lee's songwriting often leaves me wanting more, and not in a good way. once again, i liked it, but i just wish it appealed to me more.
David Bowie
4/5
pretty good album. feels similar to 'low' in the sense that there is a more rock-ish half and then a more ambient half. the title track is great, and there are some other great tracks - really i like the entire first side of this one. the second side can be a bit dull in comparison. still interesting in its own right, but not something i would go out of my way for, unlike the first side. because of this dichotomy, it feels like it lives somewhere in-between a great first side and an alright second side.
Led Zeppelin
4/5
i really love led zeppelin. even though they are my parents' generation of music, my parents weren't the hugest fans of theirs, and so when i discovered them in middle school, they felt like my band. all that said, i've never really gotten the hype on this one. there's some great stuff on here! don't get me wrong. i think you could've cut a lot of this album and made a killer single disc and you probably wouldn't have missed a lot of the stuff. i just don't view this one as highly as other people do or as highly as other people rate it. and like, i get it. robert plant is a great as always, john paul jones, john bonham, and jimmy page all have terrific performances here. i just think it's a little bit uneven of a record. maybe led zeppelin's white album. i dunno. i like it, it's just not one of my favorites of theirs.
Dion
3/5
this isn't terribly bad, but it also isn't a very remarkable album. in a way, it reminds me a lot of john lennon's 'rock n roll' album, but maybe that's because it's a spector-produced legacy act singing oldies tracks from the mid-70s. the production is a little all over the place on this one, even for one of the all time great producers (even if he is evil). dion's voice is nice but listening to this makes you feel like you'd rather listen to 'runaround sue' instead.
Fatboy Slim
3/5
i'm not huge on electronic music in general, but at the very least, fatboy slim seems to make some of the most fun to listen to stuff i've heard out of this project. the songs are upbeat and the beats here are enjoyable to listen to. the unfortunate thing is that i have a bit of a short fuse when it comes to electronic music, so the runtime for me was the real killer here. if it was 20 minutes shorter, i probably would have liked this a lot more.
Fats Domino
4/5
fats domino is one of the building blocks of modern music. he influenced countless artists, who influenced countless artists, who... you get the point. his smash hit "blueberry hill" is here, which is great. the rest of the album is a little bit more uneven. there's some good stuff, some decent stuff. nothing here is bad, in my opinion, but some stuff is just less interesting. it's still a nice enough listen, especially with the historical context.
3/5
definitely a bit punky but i especially like the more rockabilly moments on here. i just wish i liked the middle part of the album more. sometimes the album does feel a bit samey, but i don't think it's valid to complain about repetitiveness when an album is a half hour long. it does never get boring. but i do wish i liked it more. it feels like it has all the parts of an album i would love, but i just wasn't thrilled with a lot of the songs. i could see it as an album that would grow on me though
Shack
2/5
oh boy. what a miss here. i'm a bit surprised because this album clearly lives in a relative zone of music that i would enjoy, but man it is really underwhelming. REALLY underwhelming. the songs here are not interesting in the slightest, the instrumentation is bland and lacking oomph. the vocals are pretty rough and wobbly in stretches! it mostly sounds like a local band who is not long for this world. an album i had to hear before i died? you could have fooled me.
Creedence Clearwater Revival
5/5
it's not my favorite CCR album, but it's definitely not my least favorite. i am a big CCR fan, so, shocker, i do love this album anyways. for me, the tracklist is not as strong as some of their next few, but this is the first REAL CCR album. of course, there are some stone cold classics here that still get radio play. some of the album tracks here are a little forgettable, but still have that great sound. this is john fogerty and co. coming into their own. it's not the most consistent, but it is them becoming the rock staples that they are now.
Culture Club
3/5
there's not a lot here outside of the big track, and that's the opening song. it's fine, but really nothing mind-blowing here. the sound is fun and a bit of the time. but really it's kind of an unremarkable album.
The Replacements
5/5
i love this album a lot. it's maybe not my favorite replacements album, but it's close. it was the first one i ever listened to, and so for that it has perhaps some added esteem in my view. but this album has it all, a snarling attitude, witty lyrics, and great songwriting. paul westerberg is vastly underrated in the music scene and on here are some of my favorite songs of his. of course, the classic 'i will dare' is great, but my favorite on here are the very ahead of its time 'androgynous' and the longing 'unsatisfied' which may sneakily be one of my favorite songs of all time. yeah there's some less serious stuff here ('tommy gets his tonsils out' and 'gary's got a boner') and their cover of kiss' 'black diamond' leaves a little to be desired, but i think all of that adds to the charm.
Carpenters
3/5
two opposites about the carpenters that can be true at the same time:
1) they are vastly overhated for what the music is. of course, karen carpenter's voice is terrific, they have some of the best studio musicians playing on their records, their music is well produced. it's not everyone's bag, but for years and years, this was regarded as some of the worst of the worst pop music to ever be released and it just simply is not even close to that.
2) i feel like there is a cultural correction on the carpenters going on recently and i do feel like it is a vast overcorrection. yeah, their music isn't bad and is over-hated! listen to this album and genuinely tell me this is a great album. there are some great tracks on here, don't get me wrong! 'we've only just begun' and '(they long to be) close to you' are terrific early 70s pop songs! let's not pretend that the rest of this album is mind-blowing! the soft, sleek covers of bacharach and beatles are fine but i wouldn't say an album of soft, toothless wonder bread makes this a terrific listening experience either.
Peter Gabriel
4/5
i'm pretty new to peter gabriel outside of the big hits they play on the radio all the time, and i enjoyed his solo debut earlier on in this project, so i was excited to get to listen to this one. this album feels a little more subdued than his first, but a little more pop oriented. don't get me wrong, it's not sledgehammer-era peter gabriel, but there is some (admittedly great) hooky stuff on here like kate bush's contribution on 'games without frontiers' and i really enjoyed the album closer 'biko' as well, a song that feels specifically cemented to a point and time in history, but the message is still very relevant today. all that said, i just wish it had a little more oomph for me. it's a nice album and i could see myself falling in love with it upon multiple listens, but as it stands right now, i feel like it doesn't quite reach that upper echelon.
Adele
3/5
i try not to be overly negative when it comes to modern pop music because i do know it's a 'it's not you, it's me' sort of thing. i just find a lot of it to be toothless and not fun to listen to. this album kinda falls into that category for me. adele has a great voice! do not get it twisted. i'm not really a fan of the songs here. maybe it's partially because of how pervasive a lot of these songs were when this album came out, maybe it's because the music just isn't for me, maybe it's because i do genuinely find the songwriting to be lackluster. the arrangement and production is fine enough. but ultimately, i think this one isn't for me.
Mylo
3/5
i appreciated the sampling and it was a decent time to listen to, but ultimately, i found this to be a bit dull. i wish it was more exciting. i saw a lot of people raving about this one online, about how it's one of the best electronic music albums of all time, but i couldn't help but feel like it was lacking a lot for me to enjoy it.
The Libertines
3/5
boy, i really don't know what to make of this one. parts of it are pretty fun! parts of it are dreadful to listen to. this album is a little all over the place. clearly the attitude is the number one thing here, so it makes it a little hard to criticize, since i reckon the point wasn't to make beautiful music. they clearly don't give a shit. that doesn't mean that the rough-around-the-edges are great to listen to.
Billie Holiday
3/5
decent album. the production and arrangements are nice enough. you can tell ms. holiday has the vocal chops, even though her voice had seen better days at this point. but ultimately, this is another (maybe the first?) example of what i am finding is one of my least favorite genres of album: "musical artist makes a sad album when they are dying"
i'm familiar enough with billie's other work to know there's a big difference between her heyday and this album and much like other similar "last album" entries on this list, it doesn't mean anything profound to me that a gruff sounding singer is singing sad songs. not my thing. it's not bad, but i'm just disinterested in this type of album at this point.
The Rolling Stones
4/5
i'm a decently big stones fan and love their output after a certain point, but aftermath is sort of that vague certain point. i find a lot of the first couple of years of their output to be pretty hit or miss and very rough around the edges in not a charming or nice way. a lot of it sounds like they haven't quite found their footing yet. aftermath is no exception (for the record, i listened to the UK version as from a tiny bit of research, this was the version referenced in the 1001 albums books. so no paint it black, which would honestly help this album a lot). there are some great early stones tracks on here, such as 'mothers little helper' and 'under my thumb' but the rest of the album is really just a lot of decent to middling blues tracks that aren't bad, but aren't really interesting or mindblowing. ultimately, i like this album, but it's clear listening to the album that the band had a lot more growing to do in the coming years.
Massive Attack
2/5
really not for me. a lot of the beats felt stale and disjointed to me. the songs were fine at best. just really not my thing.
Doves
3/5
nice enough album. too many dull sections to consider it good. heavily has the sleek veneer of genericism, which cheapens the britpop-esque sound they were going for. if this album had a little bit more bite, i'd probably bump it up a star in my esteem.
10cc
4/5
quirky album. kind of fun. i wish it was either more quirky (a la Sparks) or less quirky (a la most of their contemporaries) because I feel like it would've been more remarkable in either direction. it's quirky enough that it's a little offputting, but not quirky enough to be a super fun niche album. i still liked it and there are nice moments, but I just wish there was more to make this memorable.
Ute Lemper
2/5
very dramatic and orchestrated, but genuinely feels like you're listening to the soundtrack of an off-off-broadway musical. lemper's voice is nice enough but the entire album has the veneer of a sideshow act. get ready for some carnival music! there's accordion and sometimes it feels like a calliope in a bad way. artsy for artsy's sake. and the last track! oh my god. 11 minutes of boring, yet dissonant nonsense! not my thing.
Nick Drake
4/5
Morrissey
4/5
Chicago
4/5
way before they became a soft rock, easy listening radio staple, chicago was actually a pretty progressive band with a hard edge. nothing exhibits this more than this album. i always have loved the juxtaposition of the smooth horn section with terry kath's scorching guitar. there are some all timer chicago tracks on here, although i think ultimately, the track listing is a bit hit or miss (do we need 7 minutes of guitar noise? probably not. it was 1969, so i guess it was de rigueur). but man, the first two sides of this album are killer.
Willie Colón & Rubén Blades
4/5
very fun album! sometimes it's funky, sometimes it's got a classic salsa feel. this is the kind of stuff i love this project for. i will definitely come back to this one!
The Byrds
5/5
although they are not a band i consider one of my favorite bands, i really do love the byrds. i think probably most people don't understand the context and the influence they had at the time, which is fine. this album finds them at a critical point in their history. one of the original members of the band, gene clark, who was one of their lead vocalists and primary songwriters, has left the band. at this point, their iconic folk rock sound is starting to transform. sometimes it's towards psych-rock and even jazz ('eight miles high'), sometimes it's towards country ('wild mountain thyme' and 'mr. spaceman'). it's sort of the canary in the coalmine for what's to come in music, and for them as a band. that being said, it's not my favorite byrds album. it's a bit uneven (i think the first side is way stronger than the second, even if the second side does lead off with what is the most important song here, 'eight miles high'). but listening to it, i sort of fell back in love with it, warts and all.
Peter Gabriel
3/5
man, i wish i liked this one more. there are some fun hits that obviously get a lot of airplay. i wish this album had more of that. when it's not those handful of songs, it's a very soft, delicate album. but I don't really have a lot of fun listening to it. it's a little bit of a drag. i don't find it interesting, i find it boring. there's other peter gabriel that i really like! but this mostly is not it.
Machito
5/5
man this was a really fun album! high energy, very dancable, super classic sound. this is the sort of stuff i love to get in this project, something i probably would never have gone out of my way to listen to, but something that is just a really great, fun to listen to album.
New Order
3/5
pretty decent album, but ultimately did not move me a whole lot. there were nice moments and i enjoyed the production and overall sound here. just wish i felt like the songs had more to sink my teeth into. mostly it felt like an alright, but unremarkable synth-pop album from an outfit that I mostly identify with being more than that.
Van Morrison
3/5
i listened to this album about a decade ago because it is held in so high esteem and really was not fond of it. i haven't touched it since, so i was eager to give it a revisit. unfortunately, i still really do not get this album. i am not a huge fan of van morrison's music in the first place (and to be honest, not a fan of the person either) so i guess i am just not predisposed to like it. but quite frankly, i find this album boring. i don't find it beautiful, i don't find it enthralling. it makes me want to fall asleep. at the same time, it's not awful or anything, but i don't think it's the pinnacle of music like some people and publications make it out to be. oh well!
Janelle Monáe
3/5
i wanted to like this so badly. it starts of quite nicely and is reminiscent of prince in terms of the funkiness. there's a lot of fun stuff in the first two thirds! the last third of this album is a lot more dramatic and orchestral and i found it a bit less interesting and not as fun to listen to. it's definitely not a bad album, but i think overall it does end up feeling a little bloated.
The Who
5/5
front to back, this album is great. one of my favorite live albums of all time. one of the best live bands of all time recorded in their prime. keith moon is frenetic, townshend soars, daltrey wails, and entwistle glues it all together. there may not really be any hits on here (if you're listening to the original track listing) but it is packed wall to wall with attitude and, boy, do i love it.
Joan Baez
4/5
one thing will always remain true, joan baez has one of the most beautiful singing voices of all time. god, it is gorgeous. and here, in its most youthful form, it is not different. the one thing i will slightly gripe about here is that it is a folk album from 1960. so it's not really curated beyond "here's a handful of songs i know" and that's fine, but it makes for a bit of a hit or miss experience listening to this album. some cuts, she knocks out of the park, some she strikes out. is what it is. but god, her voice.
Dr. Octagon
2/5
what a wholly perverted album, lmao. god this was so unpleasant to listen to. i'm not a prude but also i don't really want to listen to an hour of a dude talking about sexually assaulting people. why is the word rectum mentioned so many times? this whole album is about jamming your dick in girls asses without consent the album. it sucks because the beats are actually pretty sick and i wish each song wasn't about buttholes and stuff. the beats are really the only thing barely keeping this from a 1 for me.
Terence Trent D'Arby
3/5
solid album. terence trent d'arby has a really nice, soulful voice and it is definitely highlighted here. it does get a bit slow in the middle for my taste, which does drag it down a bit. but there's also some nice stuff on here too. i really liked the classic soul cover of 'who's loving you.' a mixed bag but ultimately i lean a little more positively over true neutral on this one.
Dusty Springfield
3/5
look, i love dusty springfield. i think she has an incredible voice and her songs are some of my favorites of the era. this album is what i would consider inessential. as is par for the course for the era, all of these songs are mostly covers and/or songs written by professional songwriters. i'm not going to knock the album for that, it's just how the music industry was in 1965. what i will knock is that nearly every version on this album is worse than the original hit version. for instance, dusty's version of 'you don't own me' does not hold a candle to lesley gore's, her version of 'mockingbird' does not stand up to inez and charlie foxx's, her version of 'anyone who had a heart' does not compete with dionne warwick's. the only song here that i feel is worth listening to is her hit version of 'wishin and hopin' which i also don't think warrants the entire album being on this list. she has a great voice! but not sure that justifies the inclusion of this one.
Ali Farka Touré
3/5
this one has the potential to be an interesting fusion of african and western blues music but ultimately it falls a little flat for me. there are some decent moments and it is definitely an interesting concept that works, but i found a lot of it to be overly long. it's very laid back and relaxing, almost to a fault. it kind of ends up being a bit boring for my taste. can something be interesting and boring at the same time? not sure. but this sort of is.
Frank Sinatra
3/5
so over the course of this project, i am realizing there are two frank sinatras: one makes jaunty swing records and the other makes moody, slow records. this is the moody frank sinatra, which i still enjoy, but less so that the more upbeat frank sinatra. i guess i'm more used to listening to a more mature version of sinatra, because his voice sounds noticeably younger and softer here. he's covering a lot of really classic tracks. the arrangements are nice. i just didn't really get a huge thrill out of listening to this one. it's a bit too subdued for my taste. it's not bad! just not really for me.
Antony and the Johnsons
3/5
interesting album. very sparse at times. the subject matter seems very personal to the singer. i also found the singer's voice interesting, almost like a nina simone type of singer. at the same time, this album really wasn't for me. it tended to be a little more artsy than i like and i can't see myself picking this one up again. however, it was an interesting listen!
John Prine
5/5
john prine is one of my favorite songwriters of all time and although he had a lot of gems over the course of his career, his self-titled debut to me is his best and most consistent release. this album showcases everything great about john. his songs can have a sense of humor, or they can gut punch you. they can be political, slice of life, or over the top, but what they all are is human. from 'angel from montgomery' to 'sam stone,' from 'hello in there' to 'paradise,' there is such an overwhelming focus on people and their circumstances. one of my all time favorites from one of my all time favorites.
Pink Floyd
3/5
not a huge pink floyd fan but i was holding out hope that maybe this one would land better for me because i am a huge 60s psych guy. unfortunately, this album didn't really land for me. the pure psych stuff here didn't really excite me (i would've much preferred a lot of stuff along the lines of 'see emily play' than most of the stuff on here) and it had a lot of whimsical gobbledygook that i now know to expect from british psych music (gnomes and such). unfortunately not really for me.
The Associates
3/5
a bit avant-garde and strange in places, but ultimately, a kind of boring synthpop album. not as bad as people are making it out to be, but also not really remarkable at all. weird, but not enjoyably so.
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band
5/5
Skunk Anansie
3/5
the vocalist has a very nice voice. at times it verges on tina turner, particularly on the slower stuff. I liked the slower stuff on here better than the harder stuff, but ultimately found this pretty middling.
Jimi Hendrix
5/5
maybe my least favorite of the three "canonical" experience albums, but it's still a great album. the highs are so high and the lows are still pretty good. of course, jimi's guitar playing is incredible, as is noel redding's and mitch mitchell's. just a great ensemble album with transcendent guitar.
Radiohead
4/5
solid album. i particularly liked the track, 'just.' radiohead tends to not really be my bag and this album didn't totally bowl me over but it was still an overall enjoyable album.
5/5
based based based based based based based based based based based based based based based based based based based based based based based based based based based based based based based based based based based based based based based based based based based based based based
Metallica
3/5
i've found i kind of fall all over the place with metallica. this album falls somewhere in the middle. i find i tend to like their earlier more energetic stuff, and this is kind of not that. of course, they're metallica, but this album does feel a bit more subdued and melodic, with ballads such as 'nothing else matters.' of course, 'enter sandman' is a classic and there's nothing on here that's truly bad or unlistenable, but i'm not sure i really vibed with it outside of maybe a handful of tracks.
Minutemen
4/5
Fred Neil
4/5
i've always wanted to listen to this album ever since i fell in love with 'everybody's talkin' as performed by harry nilsson, but never got around to it until now. it's a nice folky album. fred neil's voice is very unique in the space, it's quite low but kind of beautiful, in a way. not all the songs here are my favorite, but it's still a pretty solid album.
Pet Shop Boys
4/5
nice album. it's a pretty good listen and never gets dull. i wish the production was a little more lively, as is more my style. pet shop boys tend to be a bit subdued for my liking a lot of the time. but a pretty solid album nonetheless
Tom Waits
4/5
feeling like i am becoming a well seasoned tom waits listener. i liked this one! i feel like it strikes a good balance between the really demented, zany tom waits and the more jazzy sultry tom waits. is it weird i kind of wish it was more off kilter?
Ian Dury
2/5
have you ever wanted to listen to the bloke at the end of the bar sing-rap over some 70s pub rock? yeah, me neither.
The Psychedelic Furs
4/5
fun album. kinda psych-y (i would hope, based on the band name), kinda punk-y, kinda new wave-y. the highlight for me was 'pretty in pink' but i did enjoy the rest and think i will come back to this one in the future.
William Orbit
2/5
some interesting beats here, and it's certainly well produced, but an hour of this very much overstays its welcome. i'm not particularly fond of this brand of music, but it's fine in normal quantities. had this had... two? three? more tracks left on the cutting room floor, this might've been up a star for me.
Brian Eno
4/5
interesting album and definitely has its moments, but ultimately it's a light like for me, and not a love. i was more enamored with the heavier moments on here than the more ambient stuff, which i found a bit dull in comparison. it's definitely a mixed bag of an album, but i found i didn't really appreciate the full mix.
Sonic Youth
3/5
i'm finding i'm not really a sonic youth fan. it's not that i can't appreciate harsh or rough around the edges music, it's just that somehow i find their music just that hard to listen to and just that boring. there's a sparseness here that i am just not fond of that made this a little bit of a chore to listen to. i just wish this had more energy. i guess, just chalk it up to them not being for me.
Neneh Cherry
3/5
decent enough r&b album. reminds me a lot of her contemporaries, similarly to the janet jacksons and paula abduls of the world. not anything here that's particularly awful, but also nothing here that's mindblowing. decent. middle of the road.
Brian Eno
4/5
enjoyable album. i really liked the quirkier moments on this. there's some rockin stuff here too, which i enjoyed. the full package is a little off kilter, but not so much so that it's inaccessible. i had a good time listening to this one.
Ray Charles
4/5
with ray charles, you're getting iconic singing, and fantastic musicianship from him and his band. this album is no exception. it's got that classic sound from yesteryear. i just wish i liked the selection of songs better. they're not bad, but i find i tend to like ray charles' stuff when it's more r&b and this is way more standards focused. like i said, it's not bad, just not totally my thing. still, it's a solid listen.
Waylon Jennings
3/5
decent enough country album. i'm not averse to country music at all, but this one felt a little lacking in both the song department and also for a first experience of waylon jennings, i kind of wanted more from his vocal performance. on the more upbeat tracks, it works well, but on the country ballads, i find his voice to be a little weak. not a bad album, but ultimately felt a little underwhelming.
Slade
4/5
i know slade from a handful of their hits, so i vaguely knew what i was in for here. pretty fun glammy stuff here. it's not super mindblowing, but it's fun. their janis joplin cover on here is kind of rad? it almost verges on punk. the second side of this album goes kind of crazy. super fun. but yeah, you've got big power chords and shrieking vocals. exactly what you'd want from slade.
Nightmares On Wax
2/5
talk about an album that has basically nothing for me. the most generic sounding beats for an hour and a quarter. there's nothing interesting here. it is just beats. for a group called 'nightmares on wax' i was expecting something a little more nightmarish. i guess the true nightmare is listening to hold music for 77 minutes
Nina Simone
4/5
i really really really want to like nina simone's music. i really do. i'm not sure why but a lot of it does not jump out at me. i love her voice and wish i liked the more sultry ballads she does a lot more. it's less her and more the song choice, i think. that being said, i liked this well enough. better than average, but didn't blow me away.
Led Zeppelin
5/5
is this my favorite led zeppelin album? maybe, probably not, but maybe. is it the best led zeppelin album? yeah. i love led zeppelin, their music means a hell of a lot to me, and this is their pinnacle. i could be pretentious, but goddamn, this album is running on all cylinders. all 4 of them are churning unlike they ever have or ever will. the songs are killer. it's just a fucking great album. i mean the worst thing you could say is 3/8ths of this album is merely great, but not amazing. but the other 5/8ths are some of the best rock music put to tape.
Kraftwerk
4/5
very bloopy. very bloppy. a fun enough album but nothing here super enthuses me. i did like the retro synth sound and the production, but the songs here don't do a whole lot for me. it was still an enjoyable listen, but not something i think i would regularly come back to.
The Lemonheads
5/5
was really impressed by this one. i have been on a 90s alt kick lately and this one really hit for me in that regard. it's a fun album to listen to and i especially liked the title track and 'confetti' which are certified bangers, in my opinion. it's fun, hooky, catchy, and an underrated entry into 90s alternative.
Jungle Brothers
3/5
solid album in the same vein as a tribe called quest and de la soul. i think this one is probably a step down from those, but i really do like this era of hip hop and its beats and samples. it's a fun and engaging listen, i just wish i liked most of the songs better.
LCD Soundsystem
4/5
was pretty surprised by this one. i don't know what i was expecting, but i wasn't expecting a talking heads/bowie-esque electronic album. it's pretty neat and has some really cool moments on it. it's an album i could see myself coming back to in the future.
Dead Kennedys
5/5
i've, of course, heard the name, but outside of 'holiday in cambodia' being in guitar hero 3, i have no experience with them. man this kind of blew me away. really fun punk album. really biting lyrics. politically conscious and still relevant after all these years. will definitely come back to this one.
Fishbone
2/5
a very eclectic album, and although i think the songs are not too bad, the production here is pretty horrid. it's so clean and wet, i kind of hate it. although, you know, maybe because their name is fishbone, it should be wet. who knows. but the production really soured me on what i felt was otherwise a pretty middling album.
George Harrison
5/5
look, the album's incredible. one of the best solo beatles albums. i adore it. let's not talk about it like there's 3 discs worth of gold here. it's an all-time double album with a whatever 3rd disc. but the greatness of the first two makes up for the mediocrity of the third one.
Hot Chip
3/5
I wanted to like this one a lot more but it is pretty generic 2010s indie electronic. it has its moments but is mostly unremarkable.
Otis Redding
5/5
probably otis' most consistently great album. i think he has higher highs than are on here, but it's still terrific. come for his soulful, heartwrenching vocals, stay for the terrific musicianship and arrangements behind him!
Paul Simon
5/5
i adore this album. not the best thing paul simon put out in his career, but it holds a special place in my heart. the singles off of here bang and there are some amazing album cuts here too (shout out 'duncan'). it's not going to be everyone's bag, but it most certainly is mine
Robert Wyatt
2/5
i think maybe i do not get the appeal of robert wyatt's music. the album is technically proficient, it is a bit mindbending, but it's also kind of a bore and a chore to listen to. it's not very fun. feels artsy for art's sake, which is my least favorite feeling while listening to artsy music. i can see why people enjoy this album, but for me it's a pretty big swing and a miss.
The Cure
3/5
i wish i liked it more. there are some cool moments on here that i could see myself really getting into over time. there are also lots of moments of dissonance that i don't think works well for me and that is not very fun to listen to. very subdued and dour album and i can see why people enjoy listening to it, but i think it's not really for me.
B.B. King
4/5
really solid album. there's a reason bb king is in the inner circle of electric blues musicians. to hear him live in his element is really cool. i just wish the crop of tracks here interested me more. they're not bad! they're good! i just wish i my socks were blown off a lot more than they actually were.
Rod Stewart
3/5
i like rod stewart's music but this one has never really been it for me. it gets a lot better with his subsequent albums. this is headed in the right direction, but it mostly feels like a beta version of what makes early rod great. really the most interesting pieces here are covers and are mostly good but uninteresting. boy howdy, the cover of elton john's 'country comfort' is bland as hell.
R.E.M.
5/5
a really great album. this is r.e.m. at one of their peaks. it's dour, a little obtuse, but really catchy and a fun listen. it's got hits on it to draw people in, but the album cuts are equally great. i especially love 'finest worksong.' ultimately, is it my favorite r.e.m. album? probably not. is it one of my favorite r.e.m. albums? yeah
The Verve
3/5
some brief moments of britpop brilliance, but mostly a bit of a bore. it's not bad, but compared to their contemporaries, this one feels a bit underwhelming. the lead singer's voice is a little bit off in places that make this one a little bit rough to listen to at points.
Jerry Lee Lewis
3/5
two things can be true at once: jerry lee lewis is one of the most important figures in early rock and roll (fairly or unfairly), and jerry lee lewis is one of the most despicable figures in rock and roll history. this is a great encapsulation of his high energy stage show, the very thing that made him a pioneer in rock and roll. unfortunately, it is really hard to remove the art from the artist when the artist so infamously did horrific shit his whole life.
M.I.A.
3/5
i want to like this album and m.i.a. a lot more than i actually do in practice. the beats can be so innovative and cool, and her flow and presence is really unique. but a lot of times i find her music to be a bit of a slog, this album included. it has all the potential in the world! but does not meet it for me, unfortunately.
Beck
3/5
i normally enjoy beck's music from what i've heard but i didn't really jibe with this one. it has its moments, but mostly it is very subdued and acoustic, and quite frankly, a bit boring for my taste. i'm used to beck being very progressive with his production and this feels very regressive to me. it's not bad, but i didn't find it very interesting, and quite frankly, a little disappointing.
Blur
5/5
really fun britpop album. i find i have quite the liking for blur's output so far, although i do find them to be firmly my #2 britpop band. this one is a really good, fun record, especially with the incredibly nostalgic and bash-you-over-the-head "song 2" which definitely buoys this album a little bit. the rest of the album is pretty solid and satisfyingly sneering, but, hey, it is predominantly defined by its most famous song.
KISS
4/5
i hear what everyone is saying. this album is kind of corny, kind of uncool, kind of lame. this album is also so quintessentially 70s rock. much more flash than substance, but still pretty entertaining. there's not a lot of depth here, but goddamn are 'shout it out loud' 'detroit rock city' and 'god of thunder' not just an unabashedly fun listen. it has its duller moments and, although i like 'beth,' it does feel like a bizarre song for kiss to have released, as it sounds more like a song from a coffee commercial than from the band whose bassist sticks his tongue out and breathes fire. it's best not to take this album so seriously. the schtick is kind of what makes it what it is.
Miles Davis
5/5
man, this album is so sick. listening to it, you feel like the coolest motherfucker on the face of the earth. the playing here is incredible. it can be all over the place, but it all still feels like a cohesive unit. the way this album sounds is incredible. there's nothing like it. truly a unique 1 of 1 album.
Flamin' Groovies
4/5
this album to me feels like somewhere between early 70s stones and early alice cooper. it's got this bluesy rock feel that almost feels like t. rex at points. it's fun to listen to. i really liked the cover of randy newman's 'have you seen my baby' and also i have adored 'whiskey woman' for years, both of which i felt were a great romp. it's not mindblowing, but it's a good time.
Mudhoney
3/5
noisey but not in a super satisfying way for me. it's not bad, but not really an album i can see myself coming back to. i have liked other mudhoney releases, so i'm thinking this one may just not be for me.
ABBA
4/5
a solid album, but it can be a bit uneven at times. there are two, maybe three great songs on here (one all-timer) but the album cuts are what make this a little bit more of a rocky road. with ABBA, of course, you're getting their iconic vocals and arrangements, which are a joy to listen to. the songwriting here is what makes this album a little bit of a teeter-totter. going from 'when i kissed the teacher' to 'dancing queen' is some of the greatest whiplash i've gotten in this project. that being said, it is extremely listenable and quite the opposite of a slog, even though the songwriting could be more.
Ananda Shankar
4/5
pretty interesting album. the more "traditional" stuff on here is really great, and the less "traditional" stuff is interesting but kind of goofy. i never thought of the combination of sitar, moog, and classic rock. it's an interesting concept but i don't know how well it pulls it off. it is a bit dated and clunky sounding, and while i think a lot of applications of moog from this time period can sound cool or charming, it does sound a bit out of place here. still, it was an interesting listen, and i did enjoy listening to it, even though i think it somewhat misses the mark here.
Kacey Musgraves
3/5
i'm not a huge fan of hers, but have heard a bit of her music through osmosis with people in my life. i think her music can be quite charming, but ends up not being quite my thing. i like her voice, which has a certain sweetness to it, but sometimes her songs fall flat for me. on a scale, i would say this is a light 'good' to me, solid but somewhat uninteresting.
Emerson, Lake & Palmer
5/5
wow, i'm a little blown away by this one. i am familiar enough with ELP, but haven't listened to anything beyond a couple of albums and a compilation here and there. this album rules! the live energy adds something great to this recording, and everything on here is super cool. i love the prog treatment of some classical classics. the musicianship is incredible, but that goes without saying. hidden gem!
Joe Ely
4/5
pretty fun country romp. i wasn't sure what to expect, but it's a really enjoyable, high energy album. there's some fuzz guitar on here which was a little wild to hear. some of it's more rock n roll, and some of it's more fiddly, but either way, it's a pretty nice surprise of an album.
Tim Buckley
3/5
not really my thing. i tend to like late 60s folk and folk adjacent stuff, but i find tim buckley's music tends to be a bit obtuse and dull for my liking. clearly there's artistry here, but it's really not my cup of tea. not something i think i would come back to.
fIREHOSE
3/5
interesting album. there are some moments on here that are really great power-poppy tracks and there are lots of more noise-y, harsher tracks. i appreciated the power pop stuff more than the more rough around the edges stuff. the vocals here are kind of all over the place. sometimes they're nice and sometimes it's like they can't hold a tune. a real mixed bag.
The Louvin Brothers
4/5
cool album. i don't know that it's particularly mindblowing, but the louvin brothers are extremely foundational and groundbreaking in terms of their use of close harmony, something you can immediately see in the following years and decades to come. the songs are quite charming and a bit quaint, but still fun to listen to. always nice to hear a mandolin!
Sepultura
1/5
i really wish i liked this style of music, because this one is really unique amongst the metal i've heard. the use of brazilian instruments and styles at points on here is really neat and i think it works well. this is a me problem, but i am not a fan of the growly metal vocals (in general) and so despite the interesting spin on the metal formula, this one was a bit of a tough listen for me. pretty neutral on the instrumentals overall, but the vocals bring it down for me a lot.
Genesis
4/5
i find i am becoming a mild fan of genesis' work, and i had never listened to this one. it was a fun listen, but i felt it was a bit overly long and bloated for my taste. i still liked it at parts, and it still has that nice genesis charm, and all the great musicianship associated. just felt like it was less satisfying to listen to than their other albums. maybe something i will enjoy more down the line. still, i liked it enough!
Dexys Midnight Runners
4/5
a pretty fun album. obviously there's the one big hit on here, which i adore, but the rest of the album is pretty damn solid. if you like the feel of 'come on eileen' then the rest of the album is certainly for you. i also really liked their cover of van morrison's 'jackie wilson said'
Blue Cheer
4/5
the highlight here for me is the leadoff track 'summertime blues' which is a great heavy psych-blues track from the era. the rest of the album is fine enough, nothing super mindblowing. what makes this album special is that you can definitely see it as a bridge from the psych-blues of cream to the early heavy metal of black sabbath. it's got that psych tinge and it's not super heavy, but it is definitely fuzzed out and all in all decently fun to listen to.
Beatles
5/5
i adore the beatles and i cannot be anything other than unabashedly positive about them, so this album is no exception. this is probably my favorite "early" period beatles album. the songwriting is great and you still get the high energy feel of their early recordings. songs like the title track, 'i should have known better,' 'tell me why,' 'can't buy me love,' are all stellar. even the more ballady stuff here is pretty great. i know it's not going to be for everyone and it's not going to be as trendsetting and influential as some of their later work, but to me, this album is the pinnacle of what made the beatles special in the first place.
Kid Rock
1/5
you know, seems to be an infamous entry in the 1001 albums project. i've seen many a post and many a review of this album as if it's an affront to music. "it can't be that bad," i said to myself the day i got this generated, "i mean it has to have some amount of merit to be included on this list." well, i can safely say that i fall in line with the people, why the fuck did i have to listen to this? it's not a good rap album, it's not a good numetal album, it's not a good album. at best it's annoying, at its worst it's borderline unlistenable. this is the biggest dirtbag you know's favorite album. this album smells like a combination of black and milds and cough syrup. even if the vocal performance and lyrics don't make you want to throw up, the production here is not great either. the album kind of sounds like shit all the way through. let this one rot at the bottom of the landfill, where it should be
The Mamas & The Papas
4/5
i have an immense nostalgia for the mamas and the papas, growing up listening to oldies radio in the back seat of my parents' car. the number one thing for me about them is their harmonies, which are top notch. i mean just michelle and cass harmonizing is incredible. of course, cass is an incredible vocalist in her own right, but michelle is underrated. the album here is a great showcase of their prowess. it's a little rough around the edges. the biggest fault here for me is that the track listing, particularly on side 2, is pretty meh. a lot of phoned in, contemporary covers, which is sort of par for the course for most artists' albums in this era. of course, 'monday, monday' and 'california dreamin' are great, and i also love 'straight shooter' and their cover of the beatles' 'i call your name.' but i could go without a lot of the lesser covers on here. that being said, i still like this one!
Iron Maiden
4/5
as a metal newbie, i've yet to find a niche that i truly enjoy. but the iron maiden i've experienced has been somewhat close to that. this album is pretty fun from front to back. never a dull moment. the musicianship is nice and the vocals are pretty good. although, my one gripe is that it does feel a little too... theater kid... for my liking at times (the vocals on 'run to the hills' are very over the top and not totally my thing).
Willie Nelson
3/5
i am of two minds about this album. as always, willie provides a chilled out, laid back album that is really pleasant to listen to. this album goes down like butter. although it is comprised of mostly ballads, it is not really all that dull. a nice rainy day album. that being said, the album genre of "established artist from another genre does an album of pop standards" does not really do much for me. the songs are nice and are classics for a reason, but i don't know that i'm really looking for willie nelson's take on 1930s swing. because of this dichotomy, i felt the end result to be a bit middling. it's pleasant, but that's about it.
solid album. rod stewart is pretty great on here, it's a pretty good selection of songs. the musicianship is good, particularly ronnie wood's guitar playing and the underrated ronnie lane's bass playing. 'stay with me' is an all timer, and although there are several other good songs on here, nothing else really strikes me better than good here. some of the songs are honestly pretty forgettable, and their cover of chuck berry's 'memphis' is pretty mid. all in all though, it's a solid enough listen.
Depeche Mode
3/5
not really my thing. very moody, stark at points. the sound is somewhat compelling, but the songs here are just ok, the highlight being 'personal jesus.' it's an album that i can see why people enjoy it and revere it, but it just didn't land for me, for whatever reason.
Echo And The Bunnymen
4/5
Muddy Waters
5/5
some of the most pure blues music you'll hear. muddy sings some of his "biggest" songs here, but really all of it is pretty cool. it's short, sweet, and to the point. he is a legend for a reason!
The Chemical Brothers
3/5
i'm of two minds about this album. first off, the beats are really well made and pretty cool. but i found them to be a bit overstimulating and a bit annoying at times. something grating about them. i think that's the industrial influence talking, which i am not particularly fond of. so a little bit of a mixed bag. it wasn't quite unlistenable, but i can't say i would go out of my way for it again.
Sepultura
2/5
i had a preconceived notion about this album because of my experience with the other sepultura album on this list, but to my surprise, i actually didn't mind this one. definitely more of a straight forward thrash album, which i have the tendency to like more than death metal stuff. the instrumentals are pretty energetic and sufficiently thrashy. the vocals are still not quite my thing, but are not as over the top growly as a lot of metal tends to be, which i am not a fan of - but here it's not egregious and works fairly well. it's not quite my cup of tea, but it wasn't the worst way to spend 45 minutes.
Deep Purple
4/5
solid album. what i really like about this one, as opposed to other entries from deep purple, is you get some nice added live energy to the songs that you normally don't really get from their studio recordings. they're not my favorite band in the world, but the live recording made it super fun to listen to.
Tears For Fears
5/5
man i really love this album. the production is unreal and holds up so well. it sounds fucking fantastic. the songs for the most part are really catchy and terrifically written. of course, the big hits 'shout' and 'everybody wants to rule the world' are great, but i also love 'mothers talk' and 'head over heels' which are equivalently great. my only qualm with this album is that there are a few slower numbers that take a little away from the peaks, but other than that, it's a really great album.
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
5/5
a really awesome overview of early country music with some of the most important people in the genre participating. this is really a greatest hits of all the tunes of that era with some of the biggest, most important players in the space paying tribute to from whence they came. it's all really great, but the tunes that Mother Maybelle Carter sings on here are Capital S Special.
Khaled
3/5
interesting album. this is the exact thing i love this project for. an artist i've never heard of singing a genre of music i am unfamiliar with in a language i can't speak. so fascinating. this one is fun to listen to for most of its runtime, and definitely pays deference to a lot of western music in the process. there are even musical nods to western songs (did i hear a reference to funkadelic at one point?). but because the album has a wide swatch of influence, it unfortunately is a bit of a mixed bag. sometimes it ends up working really well, and sometimes it sounds a bit awkward. khaled's cover of john lennon's imagine is a bit laughable. it's interesting and it's certainly not bad, but i almost wish it was more on its face algerian than it actually is.
Malcolm McLaren
2/5
boy. there's some real potential here. some really great instrumentals. and then this dumb asshole opens his mouth and starts sing rapping. the world music here should in all rights be pretty good, but having this guy who has the affect of an obnoxious white guy who can't take anything seriously makes this whole album feel like he's spitting in your face. at least paul simon seems like he appreciates the international music he regurgitates. i don't even know what the point of this album is when most of the time it makes you feel like you're witnessing a huge asshole being a quirky annoying british guy over what is some talented backing tracks. it actually pisses me off. if it wasn't for the quality of the music he is leeching this entire album, this would easily be a 1.
Femi Kuti
4/5
a really cool album. femi kuti is really a chip off the old block, so to speak. he really took on the feel and sound of his father's music and this is a really fun listen. it has the same looseness and authentic feel of fela's music and the second half of this album really cooks. just a genuinely fun listen, i had a smile on my face the whole time.
The Jam
5/5
i am cut from the same cloth as the jam, with a very loud and pronounced love of 60s british rock music. this album is a really great time, and i'm kind of shocked i'd never actually sat down and listened to it, because i've been aware of it and them for a while now. it's got a bit of that late 70s - early 80s sneering british affect but clearly is reverent to "british invasion" acts throughout, most notably, the song 'start!' which directly lifts elements from the beatles' 'taxman' - which i think is brilliant and so fun. i also love 'that's entertainment' which is a more of-the-era acoustic guitar tune. the rest of the album is equally enthralling, although most of it is new to me. i will definitely come back to this one!
Sparks
5/5
i fell in love with this album a few years ago. it's a little bit off kilter, but still very fun and super rockin'. this is not going to be everyone's cup of tea, but songs like 'this town ain't big enough for the both of us,' 'amateur hour,' and 'talent is an asset' are so fun and really unique for the time period. to me, it's like if power pop went slightly off. it's got that pop-rock sensibility, but mixed with a level of artsyness that keeps you on your toes.
David Holmes
2/5
the production is nice enough and it's not a bad sounding album, but i found myself quite bored listening to this one. felt like i got the picture in the first track. not my thing.
Gene Clark
4/5
Gene Clark was maybe my favorite member of the Byrds during his tenure in the band, and although I am not super well versed into his solo career, I had heard this one in the past, so it was nice to revist it. this one lives somewhere in between early country rock, folk rock, and singer-songwriter. there is some great stuff on here and gene's voice is great as ever. and although the original songs here are pretty great, my favorite is his version of 'tears of rage' which gives a completely different feel than the band's version a few years prior. my only qualm with this album is that some of the ballads here drag on a little too long or don't have a lot of meat on the bone. but the album as a whole is an underrated entry in early 70s singer-songwriterdom.
Radiohead
3/5
Lightning Bolt
3/5
super frenetic and abrasive, but really neat and has really good musicianship. it kind of blew my mind that this was a duo of a drummer and a bassist? there's stuff on here that doesn't even sound like bass, which i love. it's definitely not a pleasant listen and i don't blame anyone for listening to this and hating it, but there's something in the noise that i found appealing. on the other hand, it is wholly difficult to listen to. it's not something i would go out of my way to listen to ever again, but the noise is cathartic, in a way.
Funkadelic
4/5
as always, with funkadelic, the groove is front and center. this is a funky-ass album. it does not quit. fun listen. off kilter and corny, but that's the name of the game. the music is pure fun. if you are not grooving in your seat, listening to this, then you're doing something wrong. all that said, there was something about it that did not push it into my upper echelon. it's a party of a time, but not enough of a party? i kind of wanted it to be more energetic, more frenetic, more crazy. it feels kind of too subdued. don't get me wrong, i enjoyed it a lot, i just wish it felt more like a rager.
The The
4/5
Goldfrapp
2/5
really middling retro pastiche that doesn't really go anywhere. has the veneer of a soundtrack for an early 2000s disney channel original movie. if you took the creativity from the great 1960s pop rock artists (beatles, beach boys, etc.) and distilled it to just its sound, and applied that to the most middle of the road music ever made, you'd get this. and yet somehow, it even feels less than the sum of its parts. not unlistenable, but not great.
Leftfield
1/5
Baaba Maal
3/5
Nirvana
5/5
kind of the opposite of what you think of when you think nirvana, this album is acoustic, fragile, depressed. especially poignant because it was released after kurt's death, which i think gives it an added layer of melancholy. but it is a great performance, and it's nice to hear how versatile nirvana was as a band, as they take the "unplugged" format and really make it work with their music.
Sonic Youth
3/5
Napalm Death
1/5
The Only Ones
3/5
i was looking forward to this one based on the descriptors i had seen for it, but ultimately found it to be a bit disappointing. second side of the album is stronger than the first side. tonally i don't find it dissimilar to television's 'marquee moon' or perhaps the modern lovers, but the songwriting just doesn't really grip me. obviously the vocals here are going to be the most controversial for people, but i didn't mind them. to me, they've got that post-punk-y apathy. it's not a bad album at all, but i don't know that i found it particularly compelling.
Roni Size
1/5
Destiny's Child
4/5
i wasn't expecting a whole lot out of this one, but it's a surprisingly fun listen. the first three tracks on here go pretty stupid crazy. the rest of the album is pretty good as well. of course, beyonce is beyonce, but the other two have great voices too and the songs are fun and danceable. even the slow jams here are pretty nice. the production is really solid. i had a good time with this one!
Norah Jones
3/5
norah has a really pleasant voice and the album is not bad to listen to, but this album has really never done anything for me. this was in heavy rotation in my parents' car when i was a kid and outside of 'don't know why,' this album is so MOR that i can't help but feel apathetic about it. it's nice and pleasant, but that's about it. it's not mindblowing or innovative in any way. it's inoffensive. that's really all i can say.
Jurassic 5
4/5
Kelela
4/5
didn't know what to expect from this one and was pleasantly surprised. the production is pretty cool and has an appealing lo-fi electronic style at points. kelela's voice is very nice. for me, my one complaint is that the album felt like it was a little bit front loaded, as it felt a little weaker and less interesting towards the end. but other than that, i love a nice surprise.
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
5/5
i grew up with this album, so i am a bit biased. with CSNY, you get the terrific harmonies, you get the excellent songwriting (now with the inclusion of neil young, who is probably the best songwriter out of the four), and you get a slightly harder edge than CSN's debut. to me, this one is almost perfect. the heavier stuff is great, the softer stuff is a nice reprieve, and this has some of my favorite songs from all four members on here. and for a 55 year old album, it still sounds great. gosh i love this one.
Tom Waits
5/5
really fun, really quirky album. obviously i know that tom waits gets even more off-kilter and quirky on subsequent albums, but this one threads a nice line between the craziness and the more conventional, while still being pretty listenable and accessible. this album does make me out to be a hypocrite, with the amount of times on here that i have complained about demented circus music, which this definitely is. but for some reason, it really works for me with tom waits. the sleazy, smoke filled cabaret vibe he likes to give off really really works well for him and his voice and it just makes more sense for me here.
Patti Smith
4/5
CHIC
3/5
Iggy Pop
4/5
Queens of the Stone Age
4/5
Jane's Addiction
3/5
Dire Straits
2/5
an album I have never understood the hype about and I don't think I ever will. starts off with three good songs (strictly good, not great) and the rest of the album is boring as sin. musicianship is good, but good lord is this a slog and a half.
Songhoy Blues
4/5
Grateful Dead
3/5
there's some decent stuff on here but i am too sober for this album, i think. could have done without the combined 30 minutes of feedback and slow ethereal "jams"
Leonard Cohen
1/5
leonard cohen goes synth pop. who asked for this? his voice clashes so badly with the clean and precise 80s production. it's laughably bad sounding. the songwriting is decent but a far cry from the days of 'suzanne'. 'jazz police' is genuinely one of the worst tracks I've heard in this entire project. feels like an equivalent misstep to dylan's 'empire burlesque' which is not the company you want to keep. why is this on the list exactly?
The Chemical Brothers
3/5
My Bloody Valentine
5/5
Missy Elliott
3/5
Talking Heads
4/5
The Undertones
4/5
SAULT
3/5
4/5
Brian Eno
3/5
The Strokes
4/5