What can I say? A fantastic album. A blast from the past. Before relistening, I was expecting to give it 4 stars, but now I’m convinced.

In my home, I have a little stand that says “NOW SPINNING” on it that you put the record cover on that’s currently in the record player. Coincidentally, this is the record that was already in the stand. Am I going to listen to this again even though I just did? Yes. Am I mad about it? No. Did I see Brian Wilson perform this entire album live? Yes. I have a high school memory of listening to Sloop John B over and over again on my Walkman on the bus from a track meet.

I never gave Joan a fair chance, but I get it now. She’s great. This was a wonderful recording of old folks tunes. I like her voice and the arrangements.

Perhaps it’s just the dim aftermath of the events of yesterday that have left me with a disconnected inability to enjoy things, but the numbness I felt while listening to this gave me a pretty “meh” reaction to it. It’s fine.

It’s been awhile since I’ve listened to this one. I was going in thinking I’d give it a three, but listened and was reminded why I always think so fondly of VU.

I was between a one and a two on this one. It’s got some OK grooves. But when I’m pulling my hair out about how the album is still going with three songs left…

I overall like Bob Dylan and a couple of his albums are no doubt, 5 star favorites of mine. He can be hit or miss, though. This album is more hit than miss for me, but not one of my favorites of his.

I like some of The Rolling Stones hits, but am overall not a fan, especially if Mic Jagger. This album was just covers of songs that the originals were better.

Ah, yes. High school. Three stars.

I had no idea what this wa and liked it a lot

Boring.

I didn’t know what this was and found it very enjoyable. Eat your heart out, DJ Shadow. I liked the sound, the beats, the vocals. This was great!

What can I say? A fantastic album. A blast from the past. Before relistening, I was expecting to give it 4 stars, but now I’m convinced.

I own each of these volumes on vinyl. I think it’s technically two albums and this is just them “packaged” together. I enjoy these records and liked this relisten. Ray Charles is one of the all time greats, obviously, and his fantastic singing is especially on display here. I do prefer his more rock and roll piano driven recordings.

Some good beats and he’s obviously very skilled, but an out of this is too much and repetitive.

I really liked a couple of songs and would’ve given them 4 stars. I liked the rest of the album OK. I liked the opening track and the solo in it and the solo a few songs later with a similar guitar tone. A solid three.

I found much of this album enjoyable. Snoop is clearly very skilled. This dragged on for me and got tiresome by the end, though.

I had to listen to this off a playlist on YouTube. A solid 60s record of covers with a Supremes vibe. It felt like when they were putting together this list and we’re adding Dusty in Memphis, they thought they should add another album of hers and panicked.

I thought I gave U2 a fair chance in college and I did not like them. I haven’t actively listened to them since and was not excited when it came up today. I listened and really liked it! I’m surprised to say that I may need to give this band another shot.

I knew the hits off this and knew about the album. I wasn’t excited to listen. Mostly unremarkable/bad, but some cool guitar playing. Not my type of music, and by the end of it, I was ready for it to be over.

I love Stevie Wonder and have several of his albums (including this one) on vinyl. Although I don’t have the same love for this as I do Songs in the Key of Life, this is among his masterpieces.

I’ve never been into heavy metal, but it’s something I’ve been wanting to explore. This was pretty good! I liked the guitar playing. 3

One of the reasons I was excited to do this project was to discover new music, including being exposed to genres I haven’t gotten into, or bands/albums I missed that do types of music I like. This certainly fits in the former. I really liked the first track and I’m a sucker for weird/interesting sounds in my music. However, this didn’t hold my attention and, at times, I felt like I was listening to the opening credits of Beverly Hills Cop, or the music you’d hear in the scene of a movie when they go to a club. Certainly well done, but it didn’t sell me on the genre.

I’ve never liked Jim Morrison and his whole thing. I do not like his lyrics or his singing. I have always like Ray Manzarek and his organ stuff, though. This had some solid music on it.

I love Joni Mitchell and have several of her albums (including this one) on vinyl. Although I don’t have the same love for this as I do Blue, this is among her masterpieces.

I, of course, have been aware of Hole and Courtney Love since the 90s, although I didn’t really ever get into them. I wanted to like this more, but I don’t think I like Courtney’s singing and it all sort of bled together for me.

Fuck yeah. I ate this shit right up. I don’t even care. I liked this a 4/5. I loved the bass.

I wanted to like this more than I did and certainly don’t begrudge people who love this music. I just don’t think it was overall my thing. It has a couple of well known songs that I enjoyed, and I appreciated it overall, but it was too long for me and I didn’t like Trent whispering and/or growling in my ear the entire time. 3/5 - I won’t be buying one of those t-shirts.

This is a beloved album in my household and I was pumped that it came up today. I loved the relisten. You can definitely hear the Beatles in there, which isn’t surprising considering Harry’s association with them. When Moonbeam came up, I had to stop myself from humming along at work. Coconut always gets me too. I know it’s a silly song, but I love its sound and the way it slowly builds on top of itself. But I love all the songs. Just an all around fantastic album that always puts a smile on my face. Did I rabbit hole on Nilsson after this? Yes, I did, and I was glorious. Chef’s kiss.

When I was in high school, I had a Janis Joplin greatest hits album. I enjoyed it until I convinced myself the only reason that I liked her was because I’m supposed to. Turns out that’s a shame, because I really liked this. The band was fantastic and the overall sound and energy was so fun.

What’s purple and lives in the ocean? An old college buddy of mine turned me on to this album. It’s been awhile since I’ve listened to it, mostly because I can’t find it on streaming. I found it on YouTube today and gave it a listen. I’m glad I did, because I quite liked the first half. The second half was not as good and drug this from a 4 to a 3. Reminds me of The Band, but not quite as good. 3/5, but I’ll still snap up that vinyl when I see it.

It was nice to get an album that was more recent and one I was not familiar with. Unfortunately, I don’t typically enjoy this type of music. I’m not sure what you would call it, but it’s a sound I most associate with Pet Shop Boys. It’s just not my thing. I did quite like Supermassive Black Hole, though.

I liked this one better than the other electronica album. They made some great dance music and I can see the value in this. This seemed more melodic and fun to listen to. It was overly long, though.

This was fire. The rhythms, the energy, the instrumentation. I loved it front to back. This is definitely something that Shea’s going to come home from work, walk in on me in the kitchen preparing dinner, and go “What the heck are you listening to?!” And I’m going to be like “Samba, baby!”

I’ve never really been into Alice In Chains, but I’m sure there are songs that I would recognize. I didn’t recognize any on this album, but quite liked it. I might have to explore their music a little more. 4

I had not listened any The Fall, but this was right up my alley. I enjoyed it and already listened to another album of theres. I love this type of hard, punky, weird shit.

For the past year, my musical appetite has been mostly mellow acoustic-ish (I know there’s electric guitars and stuff used too) music, like CSN/Y, Joni, Cat Stevens, Gordon Lightfoot, Willie Nelson, etc. It’s just been my vibe. Lately, I’ve been wanting to break out of that trend and expanding into more types of music and that was a big incentive to do this project. This is one of several CSN/Y and solo albums I have one vinyl. This is probably my favorite one, even though it doesn’t have Suite: Judy Blue Eyes on it, which I’m sure will pop up at some point, so more to come on that song later. Anyway, yeah, I’m a big fan.

George Michael’s resurgence since he passed away is well deserved, I think, not only because he’s obviously a very talented songwriter, musician, and performer, but because he wasn’t treated very fairly when he was alive. It’s a real shame, because the recent stories about him make him sound like a real decent guy. Thanks to this project, I listened to this album when I never would have before, and I liked it a lot.

In my home, I have a little stand that says “NOW SPINNING” on it that you put the record cover on that’s currently in the record player. Coincidentally, this is the record that was already in the stand. Am I going to listen to this again even though I just did? Yes. Am I mad about it? No. Did I see Brian Wilson perform this entire album live? Yes. I have a high school memory of listening to Sloop John B over and over again on my Walkman on the bus from a track meet.

Adele is one of those artists that a lot of people get enjoyment from and that’s great. She’s just never blown me away.

This caught me by surprise and I enjoyed it. It’s a really nice, easy jazz album that you can put on and listen to, or play in the background while you listen to something else.

I like Fiona Apple. My high school memories of her were how her album titles caused a societal eye roll, but since then I’ve familiarized myself with the actual music and enjoy it quite a bit. All this came to a climax when she released Fetch the Bolt Cutters and it became one of my all-time favorite albums. This one’s good too.

This was pretty good! I liked the bass playing and the overall vibe and sound. This is another album I had no idea about and would’ve never listened to until this project. If the second half of this album was as good as the first, it would’ve gotten a 4.

More Brazilian music. More jazz. How much can be on this list? All that being said, I really liked this and am giving it a begrudging 4.

Maybe the best album of all time?

Some pretty boring music and the third best version of that song from Shrek.

I’ve done the math. We’re on track for 71.5 electronica albums, 0 country, and 0 blues. When I complained to Mark about another electronica album, he agreed, but mentioned this one had more substance. I wanted to give this a 2 so hard, but he’s right. This deserves at least a 3.

I liked this alright. I don’t like those glam metal type vocals typically, and that opinion stood during this listen, but it didn’t grate on me too much. They had an otherwise really nice sound, but some of their instincts were not to my taste. For example, I was digging the Janis cover at the beginning with the bass, but then when they just had the drummer tapping on the high hat, I was like “Oh, come on.” Overall, I’m not mad I listened and actually enjoyed most things about it, but it couldn’t get over a 3, because it was dragged down by those things I didn’t like.

I do think Marvin’s talented, but I just never could get into this or What’s Going On? There’s just something about his sound that doesn’t catch me right. It all sounds the same to me.

I guess this answers which version of this list the website is using. I’m very pleased that we are going to get stuff this recent (presumably. I can’t wait for all the 2020 electronica albums we’re going to get this week). This is exactly why I signed up for this project. I don’t listen to hip hip or rap, and I liked this a lot.

Hi, we heard you like Talking Heads and we heard you like saxophones. I just couldn’t get past the saxophone. Otherwise, I liked the bass playing especially and probably could have gotten more into this without the saxophone. 3

I thought I knew what to expect on these albums where I can’t tell the difference between the name of the band and the name of the album. Especially with the name of this, the cover, and the time period all compared to yesterday’s album, I was expecting more of the same. When the first track started, I knew I was wrong. This was really nice to listen to and reminded me of old lounge music at times and then turned into weird rap music? Yes, please. I don’t know. It caught me right and I stand by my rating. Come at me, bro.

This was great. I liked the singing and the guitar. I couldn’t understand what was being said, but it made me want to resist and revolt.

I’ve always liked Pink Floyd, but they’ve never been one of my favorites. And I’ve always been very impressed by David Gilmour. Boy is it fun to get blazed and watch lasers shoot at you while their music plays. Dark Side or The Wall might get 4s out of me, but this one has always been a little lackluster. Coincidentally, on Sunday evening an 85 year old family friend brought a box of old records of his to family dinner for me to look at. It was mostly Dean Martin, Barbara Streisand, and Andy Williams. But a first pressing of this album was in there and made me go “Whoa!” as I pulled it out. As soon as I can figure out a fair price to give him for it (It’s looking like upwards of $80), I will be adding it to my collection.

The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down is problematic, but besides that The Band was fantastic and this album is a great example why. So good. I’ve listened to this album many, many times. I was planning on giving it a 4, but changed my mind after re-listening.

I’ve always heard this album described as a masterpiece, and I’m not sure I can disagree. I knew a bunch of songs already, of course, but the ones I didn’t know are also really also blew me away.

Another album I’ve listened to many times, this was a no-brainer 5 stars.

I was a bit worried about this one, then read the review in this site and thought maybe I’m right to be. You know, the first few tracks were cool with the electric rhythm guitars and other arrangements. Then it just sort of coasted after that. Not a bad listen, but it didn’t blow me away.

This was fine.

I’ve always liked REM, but they’ve never been one of my favorites. I’ll throw on an album of theirs every once in a blue moon. This is always an enjoyable listen.

I love me some Neil Young. This is sooo good.

Maybe this just caught me in the right mood, but I liked this better than the last Marvin Gaye. I knew about this album’s history and legend. It’s one of those albums that’s in the “This person made this album bad on purpose to screw some over” pantheon. In this case it’s his ex-wife, who would get the revenue from this album and also goes “…but Marvin Gaye couldn’t make a bad album even if he tried.” Turns out, there’s not a lot of truth to this. Marvin did try on this album and was disappointed at the response to it. I wonder if the legend has helped it gain more acclaim over time? I don’t know. I liked it.

This guy is from Massive Attack and I really liked the Massive Attack album we listened to. And I really liked this! This came out when I was 15 and I would’ve loved to have gotten into it when I was that age. But I enjoyed this listen. Are the editors of this list British?

One of my favorites. My favorite Cat song is Peace Train, but this has a few of his hits on it. And they’re very good. So are the other songs.

Historically, Paul Simon is my favorite band/musician. I know he’s had his controversies, including accusations of plagiarism, not excluding this album. There’s also a story about how he was going to produce the first album of a SNL band member as a favor to Lorne Michaels, that artist gave Paul a tape of African music and said “I’d like to do something with this.” and Paul went “Nope. This is mine now.” All that being said: this album exists. I remember being in high school and buying Paul’s albums on CD based on the list of albums on the jacket of his CDs. I remember getting to Graceland, putting the CD in, hitting play, the opening accordion riff starting, and my head turning as I was like “WTF? Did my speaker break? Oh, wait…this is how it’s supposed to sound??” And then my mother immediately reminding me I needed to mow the lawn. I remember mowing the lawn thinking “I gotta hear the rest of this album!” Anyway, I’m retrospect, if I were to tier Paul’s albums, I don’t think I’d put this one in the top tier. He’s got 4 or 5 better albums. It makes sense that this is on this list, though. I get it. It’s still a 4 and there’s some very good songs on here (Diamonds on the Souls of Her Shoes, Graceland) …and then there’s You Can Call Me Al.

This list loves electronica and samba. I did not like her voice and the album sounded much the same to me. Of the samba albums we’ve listened to, this is my least favorite.

This had a few 4 star songs for me, but not enough of them. Overall, this was a pleasant listen and I’m glad I heard it, but I don’t think I’ll be revisiting.

This album is so much rock ‘n’ roll fun.

Walk This Way can’t fix this mess. This is just bad. Steven Tyler is not good. Joe Perry is decent. These songs are not good. I wanted to give this a 2, but the more I listened, the more I hated it.

I’d never listened to this one before, but I do like Bowie and frequently revisit Ziggy Stardust and Hunky Dory. I’m glad this list is branching out my Bowie listening, because I unsurprisingly enjoyed this very much. This album grew on me as I listened and went from a 4 to a 5 by the end.

The Isley Brothers are good. This album is good. The album cover is good. I’ve been on a bit of a funk/soul kick lately and this album fits right in. The stand out for me was Don’t Let Me Be Lonely Tonight, but I liked them all.

Yeah! I dug it! Never heard of these folks before, but I might have to check out more of their stuff.

Pretty good. I don’t think this is something I’ll revisit often, but it’s the type of thing I’d buy the vinyl of and put on during a game night.

I was glad I got to listen to this and hear Jerry pound the same chord over and over again and then run his finger up and down the piano. It compelled me to Goggle “Was Jerry Lee Lewis a good piano player?” Apparently there’s some strong opinions. There were flashes of him showing better playing (Your Cheating Heart), but I was pretty underwhelmed. I was expecting to love this, and am glad I didn’t. Because he was a bad guy.

I’ve always been a fan of The Temptations and I really enjoyed this. There were a couple of clunkers, and that long version of Runaway Child, Running Wild wasn’t great. But overall? A 4.

I hadn’t heard of this band, but they are apparently influential. I liked this alright.

Nice. Very of its time, but it’s got a good sound. It hit me better than The Jesus and Mary Chain.

When I was in high school, “Give Me One Reason” was everywhere, and I still like that song. This album was a bit before my time, but I knew Fast Car. But maybe I know a cover better? Anyway, I enjoyed this album very much.

Finally a true country album. This album is fine, but I feel like it’s only held in any regard because of the Folsom Prison album, which is far superior. But Johnny Cash is a legend for a reason. And we get A Boy Named Sue. Carl Perkins is on this album and if you listen to the Legacy Version, you can hear a great version of Blue Suede Shoes.

Hot take: Slash is a very good guitar player. Hotter take: this band needed a better front man and better songs. Unlike the Aerosmith album, there was something that redeemed this. Slash pulled this album up to a 2 single handedly.

I would like to thank this list for the respite we had on electronica albums we’ve listened to, and acknowledged that, yes, it is important we listen to more. So many more. Bring it on.

I went to YouTube to listen to this. When it started, I liked the weirdness and the energy. By the end, I was very over it. I’m glad I listened to it, though, because I had never heard of it before.

Nice. I, of course, knew about this, but I had never listened. It’s pleasant and fun to listen to, but too mellow for my taste. It could’ve used a few more energetic songs mixed in there.

I’ve heard the criticism before that Frank was better before he realized how good he was at guitar. He’s good at guitar! I’ve always liked Frank and this sounds just like him. I’m luke warm on some (not all) of his lyrics and vocals, so that was actually a plus for me on this one.

A classic. I love much of this album, and it’s all the stuff I hear without having to listen to the entire album. Listening to the entire thing feels like a chore. That, and some of the sensibilities in this (I don’t know what that trend was with dystopian rock operas, but it sure feels like there were a LOT. I’m not sure this counts as dystopian? But my brain lumps this in with it). It feels a little hokey in places. The Wikipedia article says that critics thought this was overblown and pretentious. Yeah….I can’t disagree. Overall, a great album, but it has its flaws.

I remember the hype when this came out and I remember liking this, but not being blown away. I hadn’t listened in maybe 20 years. It’s good, but all sounds the same to me and Julian refuses to do anything interesting vocally.

I’m bracing myself for this after looking at some reviews. I’m wondering where it will fall on my spectrum between “interesting experimental noise music that I love” and “shitty music that’s just a bunch of noise” spectrum. Track 1 - loved it -5 stars Track 2 - also 5 stars - is this the best album I’ve ever heard? Track 3 - maybe this isn’t the best album I’ve ever heard, but this looks like a 4 star song. I don’t like the vocal thing they are doing, which sounds like they were messing with tape speed? I did like the music, though, and liked the 2nd half when they stopped the tape thing. Wait - was the first half of this song the second half backwards? I Googled it. It is backwards, but different stuff. This is blowing my mind. FIVE STARS now. THIS IS THE BEST ALBUM I EVER HEARD. TRACK 4, let’s go - chuga chuga chug. Dootle dootle do. Chuga chuga- 5 stars. What is happening to me? Am I transforming into a whole new person? Track 5- …the hell? This isn’t what I fell in love with. Can, you’ve betrayed me. Track 6- Better than the last one! But I still miss the first half of the album. Track 7- better still. This feels like two different albums to me, and maybe it would’ve been nice if they released it as such? The first album is now one of my favorite albums of all time. And I’ll listen to it again and again. If I get the vinyl, I don’t know if the other record will ever come out of the sleeve. It sounded like the music you’d hear at an art museum with one of those long movies playing on a loop with images of weird eyeballs and smashing rocks and then you wonder why they didn’t just use this space for more cool paintings. Ultimately, my new true love of the first half is so pure, that nothing the second half did could have pulled my rating down past a 4 from the, like, 12 I would’ve given it. So, no, I’m not a whole new person. And I didn’t actually hate the second half. I just…you know… it tainted it.

Pleasant enough, but ultimately pretty unremarkable and boring.

Very nice. A solid Bowie. I liked the first half with vocal more than the instrumental songs, but I enjoyed it all.

This and Yoshimi are Flaming Lips at their peak and I sometimes regret I didn’t see them at 80/35. Both of the albums sit solidly at a 4 for me and sometimes bump up to a 5. The first two songs on this are great. And of course, Waitin’ for Superman.

Not my thing. I’m not a fan of glam rock vocals, usually, and this wasn’t the exception. Nothing else about this made me overlook that, but this wasn’t bad.

This ripped.

I thought this was cool to listen to, and I liked one person playing an instrument in one ear and a different person playing the same instrument in the other ear, and them playing off each other. I liked this album when it was more melodic, as opposed to not.

Not one of my favorite Dylan albums, but very good. It’s got some 5-star songs, but I hate Bob’s stream of consciousness/joke songs. This album is a bit uneven. I recently saw the terrible musical The Girl From The North Country, and have been on a Dylan kick lately, because I wanted to remember that he’s actually good. I’ve enjoyed it and have listened to this album in the past couple of weeks, but I listened again.

Very well performed, nice Christmas tunes expertly produced by a monster. Minus one star for murder.

I love Parliment.

I like it and understand how great it is. It’s just too much non-melodic sing-talking for me.

Nick Drake’s life story saddens me. This is a good album.

I got into this album in the early 2000s, but haven’t listened since. I very much enjoyed this relisten, but this album drops off in quality after Get It On. There are some overall flaws, and some of the lyrics are repetitive. But overall, a lot of fun and I loved the guitars.

I probably listen to this album two or three times a year. It’s no doubt five stars.

I liked the first few songs alright. The quality dropped off after that, and this just drug on. Not my cup of tea.

I’ve always liked Elvis Costello, but am far from a completist regarding his discography. I think it’s because some of his music bores me. I had never heard this album before. I liked it, and there’s some strong songs here, but a lot of the album sums up my feelings about most of Elvis’ work: I like it, but a little boring. There are exceptions regarding my engagement with his work, and I’m going to assume they’ll pop up on this list at some point.

Ooooooof, LL. How do you feel about some of these lyrics looking back? This wasn’t great. Even the inoffensive lines were …bad. This seemed pretty generic

You know. This is our second Janis showing in this list and I liked it a lot.

RIP Chris. When this album came up, I heard the sound of it in my head, and I have to admit that I wasn’t excited. Like Eddie Vedder, Chris Cornell is one of those singers you can imitate by just going “Hrrrraaa” from the back of your throat. Listening to this album, I was spot on with the sound I heard in my head, but I was hoping to like it more than I thought I would. I didn’t. I thought I’d like it a 3, and I liked it a 3. Not bad. The entire band (including Chris) is very talented. It just didn’t hit for me.

I’ve dug into Elliott Smith’s music every once in awhile throughout the years, but I never latched on to it. I never made it to this album, and I really enjoyed it. I might have to go back through some of his earlier work.

It’s easy to hate on The Black Keys. They often get compared unfavorably to The White Stripes. People say that they aren’t as interesting as The White Stripes and that this album is too long and repetitive. They also don’t like that singer’s singing. They also think there’s some cool sounding tracks with cool guitar player. They also give this a 3.

This was a nice listen, but a little long and boring.

Leonard Sceonard can suck a bag of 14 poops. I once made a personal goal to never hear the song Sweet Home Alabama again. I’m very happy it’s not on this album, but am realizing that’ll probably be on one in the future. That being said: that guy can play the heck out of a guitar. I like Tuesday’s Gone, Gimme Three Steps, and of course, Free Bird. I generally felt 2 stars about the rest. I haaaaaaaate Simple Man. The three tracks I liked, the guitar playing, and the fact that so much of this album was actually a kick ass solo from Free Bird, was actually enough to pull this up to a begrudging 3.

Talking Heads have always been a favorite of mine. Since they rereleased Stop Making Sense and we went to see them, they’ve been top of mind in the house and I gifted a first pressing of that vinyl to Shea for Christmas. Remain in Light hasn’t ever been my favorite of theirs and this is my first time listening to it in awhile. I was pleasantly surprised at my enjoyment of it!

I liked this OK and can see why GZA is held in such high regard. This just didn’t catch me in the way some other rap albums we’ve listened to have.

I used to think I didn’t like LCD Soundsystem and now I know I’m OK with LCD Soundsystem

That’s a three from me, dawg.

I can’t help but like La Grange. The rest of this album was pretty cool too, but it had peaks and valleys. Evens out to a sold three.

Oh, nice. This wasn’t remotely on my radar, and I enjoyed it a lot. I couldn’t help compare it to Jorge Ben while listening. I loved the Jorge Ben, and this had a lot of the great things in it that I enjoyed about that. The instrumentation and the guitar tones were so sweet. This didn’t quite meet Jorge Ben standards for me, but I enjoyed it very much and it was nice that this project gave it to me, especially after the last week or so of things I’ve been listening to.

Pretty good! This type of music is my jam. This album started and ended strong, but the middle drug my rating down a star.

I would’ve given this four stars twenty years ago.

Some really beautiful music. Please don’t make me listen anymore.

I’ve never been more on the fence between a 4 and a 5. For the first time during this project, I relistened to the album. It was a 4, but I don’t think there’s a single song on here that is less than a 4 star song. There’s one or two 5 star songs, but not enough to pull the entire album up there. I feel like I’m pretty well versed in Bruce and it wasn’t my first time hearing this album, but it’s been awhile.

Really good and really long. I feel like, if you cut this album in half and just took the best half: 5 stars easy.

I’ve never really listened to TV on the Radio. It was weird. It hit me juuuuuust right.

Another solid showing from Eliot Smith.

Back in the aughts, I went to see Bob Dylan and Willie Nelson. I went in wanting to see Bob, I came out a Willie Nelson fan. His set was one of my favorite concerts I’d been to. He took me so pleasantly by surprise, as I had no interest in him to that point. Anyway, I love Willie and I love this album.

What a good week from the list generator. The Smiths is one of those bands that I feel like I should like, so every once in awhile, I’ll put on one of their albums. This time, I got it. A very enjoyable listen.

You ever get excited to see what today’s album is, pull it up, and then get really disappointed? That happened to me on this one. Then, for the first time in a few years, I listened to this and remembered how great it is. I’m not sure why I was disappointed at first, because I’ve listened to this album quite a bit in my past. I think I lumped them in with The Killers in my brain. This was better. Favorite tack: Michael - a million stars

I wanted to like this more, but it was all pretty uninteresting. I enjoyed it at first, but by the end, I was over it. I don’t like the vocals, especially the yelps and growls. The rest of the music just didn’t seem to have the energy to fit that. Either did the rest of the singer’s performance. This got real close to getting a two.

My favorite Beatles album, an easy five stars. The top rated on here for a reason, I don’t know what else to say.

I think the drumming sold this for me. Or maybe the piano. Or the bass. Or, you know what. John Coltrane put together a really great ensemble and recorded a really cool album. I have a complicated relationship with jazz. Especially the Miles Davis/John Coltrane end of the spectrum. But this was really great.

Holy fuck. It was ok, but over two hours long. I didn’t want to listen to this, I listened to it, it took all morning, it gets a 2.

This started out five stars and dropped off in quality after the third song. The rest of the album was great too, though. I overall greatly enjoyed this.

Solsbury Hill is a nice song. The rest of the album was pleasant enough, but a little too weird without being interesting. Also, too much echo in the vocals.

I liked it and there were some songs that were very good. This grated on me, though.

I’ve never sat down and listened to this one, but turns out I’ve heard a lot of it anyway. You know…it was pretty good. The band played well together and did some cool arrangements. I think all the hits are 4 star songs. The rest was good, but not at that level. Although, not enough to drag it down.

Really, really great. Wow.

The most 3 album I ever heard in my life.

Now I know what they mean when they say music is smooth. This went down really easy. It was an hour of nothing, but I didn’t hate it.

I wasn’t familiar with Traffic, and I dug their sound. There’s some four and five star songs on here. Cut out the fat, and you’ve got a four star album.

Is that an ALIEN? With an umbilical cord?! Blew my mind, man. I liked this. It didn’t blow me away, but it was pleasant to listen to with earbuds while working.

I was so not looking forward to this, but it was one of the better electronicas we’ve heard so far. There’s some repetition, but you can tell that they put a lot of effort into coming up with cool riffs and sounds to put it together as a composition. I think they did a really nice job and I felt mostly like I was listening to an actual song or musical piece, rather than dunchicdunchicboboombom.

A great voice, a great album. This starts out with three 4 and 5 star songs, and then settles in to finish out with 3 and 4 star songs the rest of the way. A really nice listen.

Hot take: Jimmy Page is a fantastic guitar player. I could listen to him play guitar all day. Hotter take: Robert Plant grates on me at times and the band’s final product can, at times, leave me wanting. You know who Robert Plant reminds me of? Janis Joplin. This project sparked a new fondness for Janis in me. For Robert? Not yet, at least. Don’t get me wrong, there’s some 5 star songs from them, including the one on this album that starts it out. But Jimmy carries this band.

Coincidentally, the past few month, I’ve started dipping my toes in Gram Parson’s tragically smaller-than-it-should-be discography. I hadn’t listened to this one yet. I loved it. I used to hear about The Flying Burrito Brothers and I think the name made me feel like they were a novelty country group more akin to Homer and Jethro. No shade on Homer and Jethro, as I have a particular fondness of especially Jethro from his association with Steve Goodman. But it prevented me from checking out the Burrito Bros. A shame, as I’ve been learning how good they were.

Ooooo, shit. I’ve listened to this in the past few months, but this hit so good today. The tones, the arrangements, everything. So, so good.

My favorite album from one of my all time favorite bands. This is one that I try to imagine it’s the first time I’m hearing it whenever I listen. This band is greater than the sum of their parts. Every member is essential to what they made.

I’ve never really liked Fleetwood Mac, especially Stevie Nicks. However, because I am not the only one curating my growing vinyl collection, there are several of their albums included. I recently listened to Rumors on vinyl and begrudgingly loved it. So, I had mixed hopes about this one. I liked it and admit that they ar ever talented. Good musicianship and well produced/made. Some of the songs didn’t hit for me, though, and it was overly long. All in all, I’m coming around on them, but I think this just isn’t one of my favorites of theirs.

Ry Cooder is always great and this had flashes of what I’ve liked so much about other World music we’ve heard in this list, but Thais didn’t grab me like the others. Still pretty good, though.

Boy, was I not excited to listened to this. It started out that I might actually at least be OK with it, and there were one or two or three songs I liked throughout. But, overall, what a mediocre album by an awful person.

Nice and easy to listen to. Cool in the background while I worked, but didn’t blow me away. If another album by this band came up on the list, I wouldn’t be mad.

I love, love, love this album. It’s my favorite from Willie and if I ever ranked my top 10 all time favorite albums, it’d at least be in consideration for the list. This is great to put on the record player while you’re doing things around the house, or playing board games, or, like today, in the morning easing into the day. I love Willie’s singing and guitar. Especially the solos and the guitar tone on the solos. Willie is a national treasure.

I’ve tried in the past, and I tried again today. I just can’t get into it.

Noisy. Cool. I liked it OK, but not enough to seek out more.

Actually. I kind of liked it. Is this project indoctrinating me? I was expecting to hate it and was so not looking forward to listening. But I thought the sounds were really interesting and they did a cool job. At one point during my listen, I considered giving this a four.

Not sure what to say. I just might have been in a bad mood for this listen, but I feel like I just listened to an entire album because White Rabbit is on it.

One or two four star songs, but an overall three of an album.

I can’t help but compare Little Richard to Jerry Lee Lewis, as they were both old, piano rockers. I know Richard is held in higher regard, and his influence on music has been vast. I like his music, but hearing it now, it doesn’t have the same oomph as it would have back then. I honestly think I prefer some music of other old R&B and rock acts. But I like this OK.

This had some old school hip hop vibes. I enjoyed it, and it definitely had its peaks, but it didn’t blow me away.

Pretty OK

I had never heard of this band and legit looked up.if David Byrne somehow had a side project I inexplicably didn’t know about. This is the shit I signed up for. I liked it a lot.

One thing that I appreciate about this project is that it is making me realize how much I like REM.

For some reason, I didn’t want to give this a five. Maybe because CCR is played out and I knew all the big songs on here already? And because there were songs on here I wasn’t as familiar with and I thought therefore they must not be very good? Anyway. Dang. This is a five that caught me by surprise. The five star songs are five star songs. The others are also very good. The tones and the sound of this was fantastic and JF’s vocals are top notch.

You know Rory Gilmore is cool because she likes PJ Harvey, and the guy who teases Rory because he likes her is lame because he doesn’t even know who PJ Harvey is. Also, he was an asshole and should’ve just been nice to Rory whether or not Rory was “into” him.

I recently have a new setup for my record player and have really been enjoying listening to records and how good they sound. Since then, this is the first album to come up that I’ve had on vinyl, it being one of my father’s old records that doesn’t get any play from me. So, I threw it on the record player. And I was a little disappointed.

For some reason, it feels like I’ve heard about this album in the past few months, but it was by someone else? At first I thought I it might that another band had an album called that, but it doesn’t look like it. I have to be conflating it with something. Pretty uneven, but I kind of dug it. When it was just noise, not so much, but when they had a groove going and some lyrics…yeah! I can listen to that. I agree with some of the other reviews on here. Despite my rating, I question as to why this was on the list at all?

I hadn’t heard this before. I liked it and may give it another listen sometime.

Not as good as our last Smiths. Better than the last Morrisey. I think I’m good on both. How much more could possibly be on this list?

Not their best album, but still a great album. There are several five star songs, several four star, and one or two three star. I don’t think the balance was enough to give this album a 5, and a lot of this all sounded the same, but I very much like it and I love Talking Heads! I recently saw Stop Making Sense during its theater run and it was glorious.

A serviceable funk album. Didn’t blow me away.

Ooof. Like a lot of the reviews on here, this band has always been on my periphery, but I’ve never checked them out. It wasn’t what I was expecting. I was expecting a band that I’ve always thought I’d like if I checked them out. I got a whiney guy that didn’t sound fun.

Muddy was a legend and a pioneer. One of a small group of folks that, if they never existed, music would sound COMPLETELY different today. That he got the right group of people around him and turned out this gem in the 70s is extraordinary. I think he’s always worth a listen and this is great, but does not reach the same level he did as a younger man.

Slick, easy listening. I sometimes think The Eagles unfairly get shit on. Sure, they’re not doing anything exciting or innovative, but they were one of the best at what they did do and made some songs that I like. Hotel California is played out, like a lot of their songs. I think they’re a 3 band that made a 3 album. If other people love it, that’s cool.

You knooooooooow……….not great. I was not excited when this came up, but figured I’d give it at least a three. But it didn’t earn it, and instead just had a bunch of weird, lamenting with bad rhymes.

I took a course on Elvis Presley in college. No kidding. I wrote a 30 page paper on Elvis’ relationship to John Lennon. For real! I got an A! Best research ever. That being said, I’m something of an Elvisologist myself. I do prefer early Elvis, his Sun Records stuff is fantastic. I like him most when he’s crooning. But, I think “Don’t” is my favorite of his, because of his vocal performance. BUT we cannot overlook Late 60s Elvis! He did some good stuff during this time period, and this album has some good, and some iffy (Power of My Love is pretty rapey), songs. And, at times, that crooning came through. This is a solid album, and I give it a 4.

I’ve always been fascinated by Björk. I listen to an album of hers every now and again, but I wouldn’t consider myself an active fan. I dig her whole vibe, though. And I enjoyed this a lot. Very beautiful music. Another instance where I’m thankful this project made me listen to an album.

I was excited for this one, but it left me wanting.

Another Björk, another 4

While, I prefer Velvet Underground, I do like some Lou Reed solo stuff. This didn’t do it for me, but was pretty good.

This is a big contrast to the types of albums we’ve listened to so far. I’m, of course, familiar with all the hits in this, as I was in high school when it came out. I came in with an open mind, but once I got to Soda Pop, I knew: I do not like this. This is not surprising, but I also wouldn’t have been surprised to come out of it thinking “Actually, that’s a really good album!” It feels a little mean to give this a 1, but the last half of this is so, so, so bad.

This was fine. Not as good as some other British rap we’ve listened to for this project, and pretty indicative of the tastes/geographical location of the editor of this list.

Out of 174 albums so far, this is the 15th electronica album! Last time I did the math, we were on track for 74 electronica albums. Now we are on track for 86. I can assure the creators of this list: I do not need to hear a single. other. electronica album before I die. I get it. Please. I’m begging.

I didn’t love it. Too much disco, but there was some funky guitar. There were some three star songs on here, but too much of the rest grated on me. Also, I had to listen to We Are Family while not at a wedding reception.

I liked this. I had never heard of the artist before.

I hadn’t heard this before and really liked it.

This was alright. It had Good Day on it. Also, it’s pretty frustrating to hear some music from so long ago and realize how little progress we’ve made as a society since then.

Really great. I didn’t know this artist and enjoyed this a lot but didn’t quite reach five stars, but I’d listen to more of this guy.

I listen to this album every few months. It’s an all-time favorite of mine, and not even my favorite Dylan album. I just bought this on vinyl and it sounds greeeeeeat. I will admit, sometimes this album feels like Bob bought a harmonica right before recording and was super excited about it. So much harmonica! Despite that, this is a masterpiece.

This slapped.

The Kinks are uneven through their career. But this is great. It’s not my first time listening to this, and it won’t be my last It is, however, the first time I’ve rated it. I bounced back and forth between a four and a five on it. During Animal Farm, I was thinking it’s a 4. By the end of the same song, I was back at a 5. I think there overall sound of this album and the strength of the songs get it a five, despite there being a few three and four star songs.

I enjoyed this way more than I thought I would. It was great. I went back and forth about how I feel about the vocals, but I like them!

Although, I inexplicably love Fernando, it couldn’t save te rest of this for me.

Man, this band hit when I was in college. I loved them. And I still do.

This was great.

This was fine. I’ve had a complicated relationship with electronica during this project, but I think I’ve found that I’m OK with actual songs with electronica backing (Bjork). I didn’t hate this, but it had very little impact on me. So, little in fact that I was listening to this on my earbuds while cleaning the kitchen and almost asked Alexa to play something until I remembered I already was.

I had never heard of this band and really enjoyed this. I might check out more, although I know the singer leaves the band and tragically dies.

What a great album. I used to not like the Nico tracks, but have come around on them since watching the VU doc.

Sultans of Swing is a five star song. The rest? Pretty meh.

How many Bowie’s does this make for us? This generator seems as though it’s got certain genres or artists bunched up in it. Either that, or there are TONS of Bowie and Bjork and electronica and British hip hop in this. And hardly any Rolling Stones or Beatles. Anyway. Pretty good, but not my favorite of his we’ve listened to. It feels like we all just sort of decided that Golden Years is a good song, even though it’s not great.

This was great, except for the typical 90s rap problematic lyrics.

I’ve always really liked Rod Stewart’s hits, but not enough to seek out his other stuff, or listen to him past what I hear on the radio. This was fine, but Maggie Mae is the standout. The rest, at times, creeps towards the cringy/eye-rolly Rod Stewart that society (perhaps unfairly) sometimes chalks his music up to.

This is another one I heard the sound of in my head when it came up. It really takes me back. It’s great, but doesn’t quite get up to a 5, though.

As a recovering White Stripes fan, I remember when this came out. And I remember being disappointed. It’s fine, and there’s one or two four star songs on here, but this is the start of Jack White’s decline. I didn’t like the next album much, either. I wouldn’t put this one on this list, but wouldn’t argue with putting any of their previous albums on there.

This has a vibe that I would usually be into. But it’s boring. I don’t get why this was so huge. It’s fine, but I’d listen to Stardust over this any day of the week.

Another boring album, but this time one I hadn’t heard of by someone I haven’t heard of. This was OK, but didn’t really do anything for me. It could be the type of thing that I end up loving after a few listens, but more likely is something I will never think about again after today.

The Stones can be hit or miss for me and I never got the hype. The notion that they could be as good as The Beatles is ludicrous. I liked this album alright, but for a lot of it, there was something off about it. The first and last songs are 5 star, though.

Holy fuck, this caught me by surprise. We had that other Adele album that was just OK, so when this came up, I expected it to be more of the same. Then Rolling in the Deep came up, and I was like “Well, this is a fantastic song, but we all knew that. The rest of the album, surely, is just going to be meh.” Boy, was I wrong. I got blindsided by an album that I did NOT want to give a 5 to, but I can’t do anything else. I loved it.

A nice mixture of four and five star songs. It hits some pretty high highs. I find myself revisiting Nevermind more often, but we’ll see where it compares to this one. I would’ve loved to see where Kurt’s music went after this.

My least favorite part of Graceland. Ladysmith Black Mambazo are clearly very talented, but just not my thing. This album displays the boring, whateverness I get from the group. I kept waiting for the music to kick in like Diamonds on the Souls of He Shoes. Instead, I want to skip the whole thing like I do for Homeless every time I listen to Graceland.

This one displays Ray’s great talent and vocal ability. He really could do it all. But what he did here was a little boring. I hope we get some of his rockers on this list.

Yep. This is that album. Still really good. Still sounds like it was made when it was.

It’s 1999. By Prince.

Really good and really sad. It’s a shame that she didn’t come out the other side of what she was going through. This had a bunch of great music on it, but couldn’t quite get to a five for me, for whatever reason. She deserves all the accolades and recognition she got.

Not every Stevie Wonder is five stars. However, he had an era in his career where he churned them out, and this is one of them. He’ll always be one of my favorites because of this output.

I liked the first song, I just didn’t need to listen to it for an hour. Turned out to be a loooooong, boring lump that all sounded the same.

I like country more than the average person. This was good.

This album never goes below a 4, and spends some time at 5, but I think it all comes out to a very solid four stars. There’s not much to say about this that hasn’t been said so many times already. It’s great, and I’ve always loved Paradise By The Dashboard Light (I remember the first time I heard it.) I passed on buying this vinyl recently, and listening now, I kind of regret it.

This displays how fantastic of a performer Elvis was. There’s some great songs and some not great songs, but, man, it’s fun to imagine that guy singing all sorts of different types of music. Can you imagine him fronting, like, Aerosmith?

I texted Mark and told him it should be illegal to make me listen to 90 minutes of this. I actually thought it was OK, but not great. Way too long. Why he didn’t just split this into two albums is beyond me.

I had never heard of this and was excited to listen. I was disappointed. I’ve heard way better psychedelic music from the 60s. This reminded me of Velvet Underground and Jefferson Airplane, but worse.

This was great! It got noticeably better when Ginger Baker joined.

Not great. They sounded like a generic, local hard rock band. Nothing particularly special about their lazy riffs, mediocre guitar playing, or weak vocals.

I never got into The Cure, but I liked this a lot. I might have to check out more.

I love soul and funk music, especially 60s/70s era. This was very good, but Mr. Mayfield’s falsetto didn’t hit my ear right at times, so it couldn’t get up to a five.

I remember when this came out and Bowie died. A pretty interesting entry in the “This is my mortality album” genre, as nobody knew he was dying. Along those lines, I’d like to impartially recommend Seven Psalms by Paul Simon. It’s a 30 minute song about how he’s scared to die. And it’s great.

I liked this quite a bit. It had some fun R&B and some interesting arrangements.

This was good. I started out at a 3, but I thought it ended very strong.

I liked it a lot. I agree with REM that Stand is a dumb song. But it’s great. This had some Michael Stipe droning in that I don’t typically like, so it got drug down to a 4. All in all, I think REM was a fantastic band.

I had never given this band a chance, which is a shame, because I quite liked this.

So fucking cool. These guys did this better than anyone.

I’ve always liked this band. Dang, the generator kind of killed it while I was on vacation, huh? It’s been fun catching up.

This was pretty bad.

Some really cool songs. A few five star-ers. A very solid overall 4. I liked it a lot.

This had cool tracks and samples. I enjoyed it a lot. I don’t know if being able to understand him would have hurt or helped, because I don’t know what he was saying.

Yeeeeeeesh. Some of those lyrics didn’t age well.

I liked this alright. Wouldn’t be mad if another of theirs came up.

Oh, yeah. That’s the shit. *chef’s kiss*

Very Kinsky, very good. I had never listened to this one before and I think I might have loved it.

This wasn’t bad at all. I enjoyed it, but caught myself tuning out by the end.

Jesus Christ, is Bowie’s entire discography on this list? We’re 250 in and this is, like, the 10th album of his to show up. I initially enjoyed it to the point that I started checking him out more independently. I don’t think he earned this type of representation over a lot of other musicians. Anyway….this is a 4.

Listen, I’m by no means a metal guy. And I can’t dispute that this should be on this list. Buuuuuut….. This was pretty meh for me, and at times, I found myself rolling my eyes at it. I’ve heard metal that I like much more.

Eminem is so talented and this album is a masterpiece. He’s a fantastic song writer and performer. I still listen to his albums every once in a while. That being said: I can’t get behind his whole “I’m just saying it. I don’t mean it or condone it” thing while pointing at the media and parents as the villains. A lot of his content is reprehensible. So that all drags this down a star.

This album has a bunch of under 3 star songs, maybe some three star songs, and Layla (which is a song I never really liked anyway). It sits pretty consistently at a 2, and that’s what I’m going to give it. And it’s so damn long.

It’s been a long time since I’ve given Bob Marley a chance. I’ve only ever really gotten into one or two of his hits. I think that’s a shame, because I really enjoyed this all the way through. I know it’s not a hot take to say that, but there you go.

I had never heard of this band or album. I liked it quite a bit.

This had some powerful, well written messages. Musically, though, it was too same-y all the way through without being something I really enjoy listening to. A good album for sure, but perhaps just not for me.

It is what it is. No big surprises.

I was very not excited for this and it turned out to be my favorite Metallica so far.

Look, I like Leonard Cohen. But I feel like for a stretch there, he was a little too Leonard Cohen-y. And this isn’t even the best album during that stretch.

I like noise in my music, and I like some industrial, “experimental” noise rock. Kraftwerk. Can. This, though, was too far on the noise end of the spectrum. I guess all the noises count as music because there’s a steady pulse? This was unlistenable. Not for me.

I saw my mom yesterday after listening to this and told her “Satan” and now I’m grounded and not allowed to listen to The Butthole Surfers anymore. I’m OK with that.

I like Beck and I liked this.

Fats is good and Blueberry Hill is top notch, but the rest of this was pretty just OK.

My favorite Dylan album. I used to not like it, but it’s grown on me and now I love every song. Lilly, Rosemary, and The Jack of Hearts? Banger. Idiot Wind? Banger. Tangled up in Blue? Simple Twist of Fate? Buckets of Rain? Banger. Banger. Banger. I will admit, at times on this album, and on others, his attitude towards women in questionable. But you know what? FIVE STARS.

A lot of fun, a great album, absolutely deserving to be in this list. These guys were so good. All the samples and production was done really well, and their personalities really come through.

This album has always just been OK for me. I’ve never been super into James Taylor. Acoustic or Acoustic/Electric folksy music is usually my thing, but this guy seems so docile. Reading other reviews, I think the “sappy” and “sugary” criticisms are fair and probably the biggest knock against it for me. Don’t get me wrong, this is still a three, but if Cat Stevens did this album, it probably would’ve gotten a five.

I’m very familiar with this album. This was my sister’s favorite back then, and it gets listened to in my household to this day. Usually just a song or two, but I’ve listened to it all the way through within the past couple years. Its highs are VERY high. Its lows are …pretty high. I came into this knowing I’d give it higher than a 3, but like “What’s The Story Morning Glory “ this listen reminded me: Even though this “sounds like the 90s,” it’s a goddamn masterpiece.

One of the better (maybe the best?) electronica albums we’ve heard so far. This was much more fun and interesting than previous ones, and I didn’t mind listening to this at all. He did a lot of cool effects, and beats, and variations. But, it was still too long and repetitive for me, and I’m sure that’s just personal taste and, ultimately, maybe this genre just isn’t overall for me.

I liked this less than I thought I would. I think it’s wrong to give us an entire album just because one song is in it, but here we are. This album ranged from “I don’t really like this” to “This is OK” to “Oh, shit. Come on Eileen is a banger!” Evens out to a three, but without the last song, it could’ve gotten a 2.

I didn’t hate it, I didn’t love it. A nice, quick album with some decent vibes. I’m not mad I listened.

Eeeeeh. It had some OK songs, especially on the first half. But overall, I didn’t like this much. I can see where people like his music, but there’s just some quality about it that I’m not liking. Maybe it’s because he’s an abusive douchebag.

Oh, this was great. I had the day off, so I got high and listened to this and loved it. It didn’t used to be, but it’s now in the pantheon with Blonde on Blonde and Blood on the Tracks.

This one caught me by surprise. I liked it more than I thought. There were songs I didn’t know that were legit bops. I liked the instrumentation and the vocals. Overall, a fun listen.

Pretty Beatles-y. Pretty good.

I’ve always been a big Aretha fan. This is an easy 5, and would probably come in the top 3 if I were to rank her albums. My favorite album of hers is “I Never Loved a Man…”

This was OK. I didn’t like the vocalist much, but the band was pretty good. This was long, harmless, and fine.

I legit think Kanye is a creative genius. I disagree with just about everything about him as a person, though. This album is very good, but I don’t think it’s his peak. I think some of the features in the middle and near the end drug it down for me.

I have the same perspective as last time: Jimmy Page is a fantastic guitar player Robert Plant’s vocal aren’t my thing It can sound pretty same-y and I don’t dig the sound enough to not care. However, this album had much higher peaks for me. I freaking loved “You Shook Me.”

I had mixed feelings about this. I didn’t think the song writing was very strong, and his vocals weren’t great. But, overall, this was fine and I didn’t dislike it enough to give it a 2.

[Liverpool 2005 - four men in tweed jackets sit around a table] Man 1: So, what albums should go on this list? Man 2: Well, first of all, every Blur album. All: Ah, yes. Very British. Very British. (They pour tea)

This one caught me by surprise. I thought it was very good!

I’ve never been a big Who fan, but there’s been songs of there’s that I’ve really enjoyed. I really liked this album, though. The hits are great and the rest of it was decent too. I’m not sure it’s a 5 star, but it’s a solid four star.

This was alright. Never really been into Rush, but I won’t be mad when they inevitably come up again.

I never gave Joan a fair chance, but I get it now. She’s great. This was a wonderful recording of old folks tunes. I like her voice and the arrangements.

There were one or two songs on this I liked, but the rest I really did not.

I was shocked that a second album by Dexys Midnight Runners was on this list. And yet PUSA isn’t?! Anyway, I actually like this more than the last one, but not by much.

I’d consider myself a fan of George Clinton and all of the projects he’s led. I’m pretty familiar with this album, having listened to it on several occasions, the last time being within the past year or so. It’s great! I really enjoy the playing on this, especially the guitars. And I think this has a lot of really fun, interesting percussive sounds in it.

I was familiar with the big songs on this, but not the rest. I didn’t expect I’d give this a 5, but here we are. I’m not sure how I could not after hearing that.

I’ve done a deep dive or two on The Beach Boys, and I saw Brian Wilson live when he did his Pets Sounds tour. It was an OK concert. I remember when this came out and all the hub bub. I have a good friend that was particularly interested in it. I’ve heard different versions of several of these songs, as well as this album before. I think this is a solid album, but does not capture the magic Brian Wilson used to be capable of. Still, a nice enough listen.

Dolly’s gotten a lot of love in recent years, and she’s very likable and does a lot of good things. She also works HARD and is a fantastic song writer and performer. This album puts that on display.

I never really listened to KD Lang. I enjoyed this a lot.

Hey, you know what, list? My opinion of this band is changing with the inexplicable volume of their albums you make me listen to. They all sound the same. What is this? 1001 artist whose complete discography you need to hear before you die?

This fucking guy. I know The Beatles wouldn’t have been half as good without him, but I like Paul’s contributions better. Also, every other Beatle released at least one solo album that was better than any of John’s solo stuff. This album was OK. I never liked the title track.

Yes? More like FUCK YEAH.

Pretty good! I’d never heard it, and I’m not mad at all.

Nah. I didn’t need to hear this one before I die. I mean, it’s fine, but I wouldn’t be like “Awwww, man!” when, in the afterlife, I listen to every album I’ve never heard.

Fine. I’ve 180ed on this band in the past year or two. I used to not like them, but then the vinyl of this album entered our collection and I listened to it a few months ago and was like “Well, damn.” I begrudgingly give this five stars. But on the LOWER end of the five star spectrum, don’t get me wrong. Fuck Fleetwood Mac.

I don’t like Irish punk bands with banjos and accordions. (I see you, Dropkick Murphys) It all sounds the same to me and I don’t like how it sounds. Also, I have been forced to see so many Dropkick concerts, that I’m done with it.

I liked this more than I thought I would, although I feel like these interpretations of the lyrics were a bit on the nose. How cool would it be to do something more rock ‘n’ roll, punk, or heavy metal with these lyrics?

I didn’t expect to like this as much as I did. Admittedly, I know very little about Portishead, though. Not a 5, but a solid 4.

Hell yeah. I’ve never heard this but I can see why it’s on the list and why this band and Iggy are so well regarded.

Damn. Maybe I was just in the right mood for this one, but I loved it. Fantastic.

I’ve heard a lot of Bowie in my time. Some awful, some fantastic. This falls somewhere between the two. I wonder if I’d give this another star if this list weren’t making me so sick of his music.

This guy had some cool 50s/60s crooner vibes. I also heard some Glenn Campbell and some Harry Nilsson in there. I’m fond of all three of these things! This albums was really good!

Boy, did I not like the opening track. The rest of the album was run of the mill electric blues. Nothing remarkable. I know Hooker can get up to 4 and 5 stars, but he didn’t in this album. The rest of it was at a 3, though.

I loved it. Even the Iron Man cover.

A classic for a reason. Folsom Prison Blues is five star, and there’s some other top notch songs on here. I’m not sure this quite gets to five star for me.

I love Joni and this is my favorite of her albums. I know, not really that hot of a take. I remember back, just when I got out of college, I decided to check out this album, because I was unfamiliar with Joni’s music and always heard it was good. I was so blown away, I took it to my roommates and played it for them. One walked away after a couple songs, and the other called it “boring” and I shut it off. I couldn’t believe it. Anyway, I think this might be my third five star rating in a row, and this was the first one there was no debate in my head about it.

Pretty Leonard Cohen-y.

The B-52s are so much more than Love Shack, and I’ve like them for awhile. I have this album on vinyl. This isn’t all 4 and 5 star songs, it’s got some 3s on here. And a couple fives: Planet Claire and, my favorite of their songs, of course, the legendary Rock Lobster. What a top notch song. If I went back, I might give some more songs 5? Even a three star song like Dance This Mess Around ends so weird and wonderful, I can’t really NOT like it. This is a solid four stars. Very weird, very rocking, very fun.

Another good one, another one I have on vinyl. I’ve already stated my love for Muddy in my last album review for him.

Pretty good! I liked it more than I thought I would.

This was a nice enough listen, but different than the other stuff of his I’ve enjoyed more. I know he had different phases of his career and his musicianship evolved. I didn’t hear anything special in this that would give it above a three, but I didn’t not like it.

Dang! When this came up, I rolled my eyes and was not excited. We just listened to an album by Cohen and I gave that one a 4. This album started out a five for me. His aged voice, I think, is where I was taken aback. I still stand by the first few songs being five stars. The rest of the album settled in to his Cohen-ness. I get the myth behind this and Bowie’s Darkstar. Two old legends releasing an album about death and then immediately dying. This one is better.

Yeah, you know. I get why people make fun of this band, and I also can see why people like them. I’ve never really actively listened to them, but knew the hits. Unsurprisingly, I didn’t like this. But, I don’t begrudge people that like/love Coldplay. Good for them! And I’m not going to hate on a band who puts out music that brings so many people joy.

This was fine. I didn’t not like it, I guess.

When this came up, I immediately wrote it off as another unimpressive British band that the editor remembers fondly from their youth in the UK. That might be true, but I actually quite liked it. It’s goofy and a bit hokey, but a lot of fun and I can’t deny I enjoyed listening to it more than a 3 album.

This was great. I think the organ tone sold me on it. One I’ll definitely pick up if I see the vinyl for sale.

I enjoyed this more than I thought I would. Waaaaaaaay too long, though. Body Count was cool. The whole thing was cool. The track where he just talks about other rappers and how much he likes and respects them is an interesting contrast to today’s rap landscape. Overall, I don’t think this being shorter would’ve helped it or the length hurt it. It’s just a solid four, and I’m surprised because we’ve gotten this era of rap album before and they haven’t been this good and I was not initially excited about it. Also, he predicts that he will never win a Grammy and that Mandela will never win a Nobel prize. Both these things were wrong, and I think within in the next year or two. Did Ice use reverse psychology?

Oh, yeah. That’s the shit. I’ve heard it before. I’ll listen again. Linda shines through on this one.

A solid 4. A lot of fun beats and instrumentation going on. I could see me putting this on in the kitchen while I’m cooking.

Some reviews on here complain about “Why does Ella Fitzgerald get a box set?” “Why is this so long?” From what I can tell, these songs were recorded for this release, so I can accept it as being considered an album in the way we think about what an album is. That being said, this is THREE HOURS and someone can’t be expected to listen to the entire thing in one sitting. But I did. Ella is fantastic. These songs are great. The sound is good. But, I don’t think you can expect anything to maintain 5 stars for three hours. In the past, an album length alone has dragged some albums down a star. I think here the length causes there to be songs that took this down a peg. That this album is so long and still gets a four from me says a lot. You could make one or two five star albums out of this by selecting the best tracks. The rest is still very good. She’s a legend for a reason. I’d love to have this in my vinyl collection just to listen to a random side of record every now and again.

This one didn’t hit me the same as his others we’ve listened to. Maybe I’ll rate it higher upon another listen.

It wasn’t greeeeeat, and The Na-Na Song got this a 2. This sounds like it’s time, and I like All I Wanna do (and her later hits), but this filler just did not do it for me.

Pretty good, and it would’ve been amazing to be there in person. Sam’s voice seems a little more rough than studio recordings, which I guess I prefer. But still a solid 4!

It’s Rain Dogs. Rain Dogs? THE Rain Dogs? Its’s weird and sometimes abrasive, and I’m sure I’m lucky that I first heard it as a young hipster 25 years ago. If I heard it for the first time now, would it be 5 stars? You know…. maybe so. It’s incredible.

Historically, rap and hip hop has been a big gap in my musical consumption. This is a shame, because I know there’s a lot of worthwhile art in those genres. I do consciously try to rectify that, including listening to albums by this group, as they are so well regarded. I had not lost to this one yet. It’s fantastic! An easy 5.

Another live album where it would have been cool to be there. I overall like The Who. I bet I could make a one or two hour playlist of their songs and have a blast listening to it. Some of their stuff, though, is not for me. This was fine, but I didn’t need to hear it.

Sometimes I feel like if you’ve heard one not very well know folk artist from the London scene or the Greenwich Village scene in the 60s, you've heard them all.

This might have just caught me in the right mood, but this was great.

I thought we were done with electronica.

I’ve always liked Tom Petty just fine and I agree there probably should be at least an album of his on here. But shouldn’t that album be Wildflowers? (I bet that’s on here too) Listening to this album, I thought to myself. “Are there 1001 albums I’d rather listen to than this?” That hard to actually answer, but this is a three album if I ever heard one.

Whelp, I just listened to this a couple weeks ago and even thought to myself, “You know if you listen to this it’s going to come up on that album generator real fast.” I was right. I wouldn’t mind so much, if this weren’t so long. But I listened again. I’ve heard of this album as the one that George made with all the songs John and Paul wouldn’t let him do. And isn’t it a shame? Look at all these great songs! This is a great album. There is a sentiment that it’d be five stars if you trim the fat. There’s a lot of filler, but the filler is all REALLY good. The peaks of this are amazing. Before I listened to this the second time, I thought it’d be a four. But a second listen after a couple of weeks and I’m over here like, “I meeeeeaaaan….. it’s a 5!”

As those of you reading this may be unsurprised to hear: I really liked this. It’s not my first listen, it won’t be my last.

Perhaps it’s just the dim aftermath of the events of yesterday that have left me with a disconnected inability to enjoy things, but the numbness I felt while listening to this gave me a pretty “meh” reaction to it. It’s fine.

Bert Janch, you sneaky SOB. You did it. Here’s your four stars. I was fully expecting this to be a three, but it had enough very good songs on it, and I liked the musicians enough.

Whatever, list generator. No way this was random. Anyway…this album is really good.

This has always been a favorite of mine and this listen was great.

This is the type of album that makes me happy about doing this project. I had never heard of this musician, want excited about it, and was pleasantly surprised.

I did NOT need to hear that. I hated it.

I loved Pannonica. The rest was pretty good too.

I’ve long stood by the opinion that there a lot of songs in here that are better than Smells Like Teen Spirit, including tracks 2 and 3. But, this is a no doubt five star album no matter how you rank the songs. Da doi.

This was fine. Pretty familiar, even the songs I hadn’t heard. Carlos is a good guitar player, but there’s always been something about Santana that I’ve been unexcited by. Maybe Supernatural ruined it for me.

This guy recorded this when he was 19? Pretty impressive.

Yo, album generator, Led Zeppelin is a 3 band for me. How many times do I have to tell you?

Fucking Can! I, of course, was comparing this to Tago Mago. Tago Mago had the half that blew me away, and then the half that was very noisy and I did not like. This didn’t have the second half to it, so I just compared it to the first half of Tago Mago. The first half of that album was 5+ stars. This wasn’t as good, but I still enjoyed it as good. As I listened, I was between 4 and 5 stars…but Moonshake and Bel Air got it the 5. I listened to this two times in a row.

We appear to be entering the Elvis Costello phase of the generator. This is very good, but does not have that same something that My Aim Is True has. I wonder if this album is suffering from us listening to them both so close together and my comparison between the two. Would this get a 5 if it were first? No way to tell. (Probably not)

Oh, dang. I can’t remember the last time I listened to this entire thing. It starts out STRONG. The quality drops off a bit, but not enough to drag this down to a four for me. What a nice surprise. I thought this would be a 3, maybe a 4.

It was fine. I didn’t hate it, it just didn’t grab me.

I’m glad that I read the reviews for this and figured out it’s not actually the album in streaming. I went to YouTube to listen. It was enjoyable, but I don’t think I’ll revisit.

It was indeed long. It was indeed fantastic. Several five star songs.

I always thought that this was one of Elton’s least well regarded albums and his least personal favorite. But it’s got Tiny Dancer on it, so I guess it goes on the list. I was surprised to see this on here, and surprised it’s so highly rated. That being said, this was fine. Tony Dancer and a bunch of unremarkable songs that were all threes.

I had high hopes for this, but it fell flat for me. I enjoy funk and soul a lot, but this was just OK funk and soul.

I can’t argue against more than one Bjork album being on here, but I am starting to suspect she is one of the artists that also has too many. This was a chore.

Pretty good!

I think that’s a project wrap on Bjork already. One thing I learned: I really like Bjork. Here’s to never listening to her again.

There’s no denying that these guys were on a whole other level when making music. Some of the best musicians and songwriters of all time. That doesn’t mean all their albums are five stars. I can’t argue with this being on the list, it’s just not my favorite of theirs.

Suite Judy Blue Eyes is a 5+ Star song. I used to hate it, but now it’s a favorite. The rest of this album is very good, but too same-y for 5 stars. Deja Vu blows this overall album out of the water.

I really want to pretend that I’m not impressed with Nick Drake and over it, but this was another one I can’t deny I liked.

I’m realizing the major flaw of this list is that it over represents well known artists. The fuck is this doing here? Trying to figure out how to rationalize putting as many Bowie, Bruce Springsteen, and Elvis Costello albums as you can on here doesn’t seem like the way to go about making this list. Anyway, I’m sure Bruce doesn’t have more than two or three 2 star albums and there’s no way this is one of them. So, here’s a 3 for it. Congratu-fucking-laciouns.

I mean. I can see how it’s a cool movie soundtrack?

I liked this more than I thought I would. I still think Jim Morrison is a pretentious, untalented nob that an otherwise good band let force them make not great music.

You can’t argue with the “first” heavy metal album being on this list. Especially such a good one. The next two albums of theirs are better, and I prefer Master of Reality. But this band was great. Did they have a three album run of five stars?!

Stephen Stills is a very talented songwriter and musician. ….but. He’s just not as good as when he made so much 5 star music with Buffalo Springfield and CSNY. This album is pretty good-ish. It’s got some cool parts. I’ve heard it before and it’s in my vinyl collection. By the end, it had drug down from a 4 to a 3.5 for me. And if I’m going to give it a 4, it’s gotta earn it.

We’ve got to be done with Cohen by now, right? It’s odd that so many artists are front loaded on this generator.

It’s been awhile since I’ve had to listen to one on YouTube. I’m glad I listened to this. I really liked the song Tradition and the album peaked for me right around there. I also like the horns throughout. It didn’t all add up to more than a 3, but that’s OK. I’d probably even snag this if I ever saw it in a record store. For the vibes.

When The Stones are good, they’re very good. When they’re not …they aren’t. Here, The Stones are good! I enjoyed this a lot. I’m sure we’ll get one or two 5 stars from them at some point? I’m generally lukewarm on Mic Jagger, but I think Keith Richards is a great musician. “Mediocre frontman, fantastic musician” seems to be a theme for me: Zeppelin, Guns ‘n’ Roses, The Doors. But Mic is better than those guys.

If this came out of the blue from a different band I had never heard of, it’s hard to tell what I’d give it. It’s really good. Would it be 5 stars in that context? It’s hard to be objective. But, this suffers from the impossible task of being compared to The Beatles’ later work, which blows this album away. So, this is a 4 because it’s not as good as Abbey Road. Even though it might be as good or better than some albums I’ve already given 5 stars to.