655
Albums Rated
3.43
Average Rating
60%
Complete
434 albums remaining
Featured Review
Hybrid Theory
Linkin Park • 5/5
Man oh man was i excited to get to this one. Hybrid Theory is my favorite album of all time and after this listen, i have stuck with that opinion. You really can't go wrong with songs like Papercut, One Step Closer, With You, Points Of Authority, Crawling, Runaway, By Myself, In The End, A Place For My Head, Forgotten, Cure For The Itch and Pushing Me Away. That sounds like a lot of songs huh? Well, that's because i listed every song off the album, they are all amazing with sublime instrumentals, incredible vocals from Mike and Chester and lyrics that may sound like typical teenage angst at first but are actually really mature once you look deeper into them. This is probably gonna be the last time i will say this is the best album i have done on this project because i don't think there is an album better than this one. Best Song: In The End Worst Song: Cure For The Itch (Side note: I wish Meteora was here too but i am still happy this one is on this list, also rest in peace Chester)
Rating Distribution
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Taste Profile
1990s
Favorite Decade
Grunge
Favorite Genre
UK
Top Origin
Wordsmith
Rater Style ?
72
5-Star Albums
18
1-Star Albums
Taste Analysis
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Ratings by genre
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Ratings by country
Rating Style
You Love More Than Most
Albums you rated higher than global average
| Album | You | Global | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
| Antichrist Superstar | 5 | 2.48 | +2.52 |
| Penance Soiree | 5 | 2.5 | +2.5 |
| Follow The Leader | 5 | 2.65 | +2.35 |
| All Hope Is Gone | 5 | 2.7 | +2.3 |
| Scream, Dracula, Scream | 5 | 2.77 | +2.23 |
| Roots | 5 | 2.78 | +2.22 |
| Bone Machine | 5 | 2.86 | +2.14 |
| Second Toughest In The Infants | 5 | 2.86 | +2.14 |
| Destroyer | 5 | 2.86 | +2.14 |
| Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes | 5 | 2.93 | +2.07 |
You Love Less Than Most
Albums you rated lower than global average
| Album | You | Global | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hard Again | 1 | 3.62 | -2.62 |
| There's No Place Like America Today | 1 | 3.37 | -2.37 |
| Bitches Brew | 1 | 3.3 | -2.3 |
| The Slim Shady LP | 1 | 3.29 | -2.29 |
| Rubber Soul | 2 | 4.13 | -2.13 |
| Le Tigre | 1 | 3.13 | -2.13 |
| Will The Circle Be Unbroken | 1 | 2.99 | -1.99 |
| Os Mutantes | 1 | 2.98 | -1.98 |
| Call of the Valley | 1 | 2.95 | -1.95 |
| Yeezus | 1 | 2.77 | -1.77 |
Artist Analysis
Favorite Artists
Artists with 2+ albums
| Artist | Albums | Average |
|---|---|---|
| Nirvana | 3 | 5 |
| David Bowie | 6 | 4.33 |
| Stevie Wonder | 4 | 4.5 |
| Tom Waits | 3 | 4.67 |
| Metallica | 3 | 4.67 |
| Siouxsie And The Banshees | 2 | 5 |
| The Smashing Pumpkins | 2 | 5 |
| Motörhead | 2 | 5 |
| Def Leppard | 2 | 5 |
| Green Day | 2 | 5 |
| Prince | 3 | 4.33 |
| Radiohead | 5 | 4 |
Least Favorite Artists
Artists with 2+ albums
| Artist | Albums | Average |
|---|---|---|
| Eminem | 2 | 1.5 |
| The Mothers Of Invention | 2 | 1.5 |
Controversial Artists
Artists you rate inconsistently
| Artist | Ratings |
|---|---|
| Kanye West | 4, 1, 4 |
| Beck | 3, 5, 2 |
5-Star Albums (72)
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Popular Reviews
Joni Mitchell
3/5
Hejira is a pretty good album. This album definitely does have a lot of the typical Joni Mitchell staples that you would expect from her. It has lyrics that are more like poetry and i think that is easily the best part about this album as it really does show what Joni is capable of and she does tell some great stories here. The music here is also alright, some pretty good sounding stuff but i do feel it doesn't go all the way and isn't as memorable due to it just not having enough elements to keep it interesting and to set it apart from it's cotemporaries. Its a good album, i just feel that it is not the best that it could have been.
Best Song: Black Crow
Worst Song: Coyote
2 likes
Radiohead
5/5
I always knew that Radiohead made some good stuff but i was legitimately shocked when i found out just how good The Bends really was. The guitar work was just out of this world as was the work with all the other instruments to the point where these songs nearly moved me to tears due to their amazing instrumentation. Thom's singing was also great as were the lyrics just being about embracing your imperfections and learning that its okay to not be okay. While Amnesiac and Hail To The Thief are good albums in their own right and have arguably more interesting elements. I still feel that The Bends is my favorite Radiohead album so far because of just how good it sounds.
Best Song: Just
Worst Song: My Iron Lung
2 likes
Motörhead
5/5
Ah, Another Motorhead album. The first one i looked at was very good and this one, No Sleep 'Til Hammersmith, is very good too. The songs still had that high energy I expected from Motorhead and the songs were all very high quality being played live. The songs do sound a bit more samey but not enough to ruin the album for me. While its not as good as Ace Of Spades. It is still a very good album
Best Song: Iron Horse/Born to Lose
Worst Song: (We Are) The Road Crew
2 likes
Curtis Mayfield
1/5
Yeah, There's No Place Like America Today is not a good album at all even though it was dealt some decent cards. The instruments used were okay but the composition was so poor that it made the songs feel incredibly disorganized. Curtis's voice would be okay if it were used with better compositions but it was not. Some of the songs also went on for too long so that didn't help the matter either. This is a bad album no doubt but look on the bright side, there is nowhere to go but up from here (unless i get another bad album)
Best Song: Love to the People
Worst Song: Jesus
1 likes
Traffic
3/5
After listening to John Barleycorn Must Die, I don't really have much to say about it. Its a purely fine album that doesn't really stand out in any meaningful way, neither good or bad. The songs were okay and didn't go on for too long which is nice. But beyond that, I don't really have anything else to say.
Best Song: Freedom Rider
Worst Song: Glad
1 likes
1-Star Albums (18)
All Ratings
The Rolling Stones
3/5
Honestly, I thought Let It Bleed was a pretty decent album for what it was, It had good music, cool musical ideas, okay lyrics, and some pretty good vocals (probably my favorite aspect from the album) I felt that some songs did drag themselves out longer than they should have (I'm looking at you, You Can't Always Get What You Want) but all and all, it was a pretty good album for what it was
Best Song: Gimme Shelter
Worst Song: Country Honk
Jeff Buckley
4/5
Yeah, Grace was a pretty great album, It was somber and melodic in all of the best ways but also had some drive whenever it needed it, Jeff's voice really suited this album and made it quite the treat to listen to. I wouldn't say this album is perfect but its still really good
Van Morrison
3/5
Overall, I have pretty lukewarm feelings on Moondance. The music is nothing to write home about, the lyrics are kinda average and the vocals were okay at best. On its own, this album merits nothing more than a 2 star rating but with a bunch of good little things about it, i will bump it up to a three star rating
Best Song: Into the Mystic
Worst Song: Everyone
Bob Dylan
2/5
I'm not really the biggest fan of folk music but if its done well, It can be something I can quite like. Bringing It All Back Home, unfortunately, is not one of those. The songs kinda just blended together and all and all, weren't very interesting for me to listen to. Its by no means a bad album but its not really as good as I want it to be
Best Song: Subterranean Homesick Blues
Worst Song: She Belongs to Me
Yes
3/5
Honestly The Yes Album is pretty interesting, particularly because it reminded me of Animals by Pink Floyd (In song structure mostly) but the songs here just aren't nearly as long. I thought this album was fairly okay, My biggest issue with it is some of the songs felt directionless but other than that simple gripe, the album was fairly okay and didn't have any bad songs on it.
Best Song: Perpetual Change
Worst Song: I've Seen All Good People: a. Your Move, b. All Good People
Siouxsie And The Banshees
5/5
After listening to Juju, It has become my favorite album I reviewed through this project so far. Siouxsie's singing was really great and the music was absolutely top notch for what it was. I didn't think that this album would become my favorite so far (topping Jeff Buckley's Grace) but here we are. My first 5 star album on this project for sure.
Best Song: Monitor
Worst Song: Into The Light
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
3/5
I wasn't really expecting too much from Deja Vu before I heard it. But now that I have, Its definitely better than I expected. I liked quite a bit of the guitar riffs and vocals even if sometimes, I felt the quality of the music sounded like it was coming off of a Game Boy Advance (could just be the quality of the YouTube videos that played these songs because most of them are 13-14 years old but whatever) Overall, while it doesn't really go beyond decent. I still said the word decent so that's what it is.
Best Song: Carry On / Questions
Worst Song: Our House
Sarah Vaughan
4/5
So for my first non-rock album I have done for this project, At Mister Kelly's was a pretty good start for me to start branching out into other genres of music. Sarah's voice was very good and the audio quality was so good that if you were to take out the things that made it a live show, you could genuinely trick me into believing that this album was recorded in a studio. The songs did kinda blend together but other than that, This album was still really solid
Best Song: Just One Of Those Things
Worst Song: Thou Swell
Aretha Franklin
3/5
I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You is an okay album, Aretha Franklin had a good voice, the music generally worked well alongside that voice and none of the songs were bad. The songs could sometimes be a bit boring to listen to but other than that, its an alright album
Best Song: Respect
Worst Song: Do Right Woman, Do Right Man
Beastie Boys
3/5
Overall, Licensed To Ill was a very mixed bag for me, There were some songs that sounded very good and the rapping was pretty cool but on the other hand some songs could get really annoying due to some of the musical choices. I mostly liked the songs that had more rock elements but some of the simple rap songs weren't bad either. It is not a perfect album by any means but I feel the good outweighs the bad
Best Song: No Sleep Till Brooklyn
Worst Song: Girls
Beatles
2/5
After listening to Rubber Soul. I can tell you that while The Beatles do have their fans, I'm certainly not one of them. None of the songs really managed to stand out to me in this album (except for Drive My Car, Norwegian Wood, Girl and I'm Looking Through You). Overall, While it wasn't terrible, It did little to change my impression of the band
Best Song: I'm Looking Through You
Worst Song: Run For Your Life
Coldplay
3/5
So for my First Album (of not many, the book this project is based on came out in 2005) of the new millennium. Parachutes was a pretty solid album and was definitely better than I was expecting. The singing and music was pretty well done and there wasn't a bad song at all. I was initially expecting to give this album a 2 but I will bump it up to a 3.
Best Song: Sparks
Worst Song: Life Is For Living
Frank Zappa
3/5
I would have given Hot Rats a 2.5 but since this site forces me to round up so I'm giving it a 3. This was definitely the most experimental of all the albums I have reviewed up to this point, Some paid off, some did not. The music was cool but i felt that some of the songs went on for too long. I did like the vocals though, too bad they were only used in one of these songs.
Best Song: Willie The Pimp
Worst Song: The Gumbo Variations
Cream
4/5
After listening to it in full, I can safely say that Cream is a great album. The guitar riffs were catchy and really fun to listen to and the vocals fit every song perfectly and on top of that, the album was the perfect length. I guess it seems that Psychedelic Rock has proven itself to me.
Best Song: SWLABR
Worst Song: Strange Brew
Fatboy Slim
4/5
So Before I review You've Come a Long Way Baby, I need to ask myself one simple question "Was I high on drugs during this album?" No? Well in that case, This is the weirdest album i have looked at so far. It felt like every song had something different to deliver. But that doesn't mean this album is bad, in fact, the crazy beats are what kept me engaged because they could just be so catchy. Definitely a pretty great album
Best Song: Gangster Trippin
Worst Song: F*cking In Heaven
The Cramps
3/5
When I saw that Songs The Lord Taught Us had a global rating of only 2.8, I was pretty concerned about the album's quality but after listening to it, It was actually pretty okay. It was weird but it had its catchy moments and could be quite enjoyable at points.
Best Song: Strychnine
Worst Song: Rock On The Moon
Adam & The Ants
4/5
Like I said in the review of my previous album, I was concerned when Kings Of The Wild Frontier had a global rating that was less than a 3. But my oh my, This album is great. It was super catchy and it really did feel like a lot of love was put into it. If there is one thing I have learned today, don't trust the global ratings at all.
Best Song: Press Darlings
Worst Song: Los Rancheros
Booker T. & The MG's
2/5
I don't think I'm that big of a fan of Green Onions. The songs all sounded the same and not a single one really stood out to me (except for You Can't Sit Down). Normally, Instrumental albums can be good but they need to have some kind of way to keep the songs from sounding too similar and this album unfortunately does not have that. It was pleasant to listen to but not very interesting at all.
Best Song: You Can't Sit Down
Worst Song: Stranger on the Shore
The War On Drugs
5/5
Back when i wrote the Yellow review, I thought i wasn't going to get any albums after 2005 since that's when the book came out but i didn't think about the different editions that went up to 2021 so i was surprised to see this album here.
And my oh my is it great, If i could use one word to describe this album, it would be "comfy" since this album is so relaxing especially with the opener (Under The Pressure) and the closer (In Reverse). I feel that some people may be put off by the long length of this album but if you can put that aside, you will be in for one of the most comfy and relaxing albums ever.
Best Song: Under The Pressure
Worst Song: Lost In The Dream
The Smashing Pumpkins
5/5
After listening to Siamese Dream, I can say its an amazing album and probably the best one i have done so far. The guitars were absolutely amazing and sometimes the songs could give me Metallica vibes which i really like. The mood of the songs also was great. I definitely really like this album.
Best Song: Geek U.S.A.
Worst Song: Spaceboy
Paul Simon
3/5
Paul Simon is purely okay, The songs aren't really anything too special but they aren't terrible either. Some times the songs could be relaxing but then the instrumentation becomes too much at points. I believe that this album is decent but nothing more than that
Best Song: Duncan
Worst Song: Paranoia Blues (I wish the unreleased version was the main version of this song because it sounds quite a bit better)
Frank Sinatra
3/5
I think Francis Albert Sinatra & Antonio Carlos John suffers from a very similar problem green onions does, the songs sound too similar to each other. But i think that it does sound better and it does not get nearly as tiring to listen to as green onions did. I would have given this album a 2.5 but its getting a 3 due to the fact that i need to round up.
Best Song: Sinatra/Jobim Medley
Worst Song: I Concentrate On You
Fiona Apple
4/5
After listening to Tidal, I can say its a very solid album. It is really somber throughout the majority of the album but was also groovy and upbeat whenever it needed to be. I also don't think there was a single bad song and the songs all felt distinct enough from each other, It's definitely a pretty great album.
Best Song: Criminal
Worst Song: Slow Like Honey
The Smiths
3/5
When I first saw that I was gonna be doing Meat Is Murder for this project my head just went "Oh boy, its the power anthem for all of the radical vegans out there and not much else.". But it turned out that this album had quite a bit of substance and some enjoyable moments. Its not a bad album in the slightest.
Best Song: Barbarianism Begins at Home
Worst Song: Rusholme Ruffians
Gil Scott-Heron
3/5
Winter In America is an okay album and it definitely has its good moments and i like how one of the songs felt like an improvised comedy section. The music for the most part worked well but could be a bit annoying at times. I think that this album is pretty decent and is definitely worth listening to
Best Song: The Bottle
Worst Song: Peace Go With You, Brother (As-Salaam-Alaikum)
Iggy Pop
4/5
Lust For Life was quite the ride for me in terms of quality. The first 3 songs were great and really groovy but the album fell off at the fourth song and stayed that way until the eighth song which was when it got a bit better. It was quite the mixed bag but the first 3 songs were so good, it gets a 3.5 from me (adjusted to 4 for this website)
Best Song: Lust For Life
Worst Song: Turn Blue
Red Snapper
4/5
After listening to Our Aim Is To Satisfy, did Red Snapper satisfy? I will just start this off by saying that this album felt more like a drug trip than the last electronica album I looked at. But that's not a bad thing, In fact i really enjoy a lot of the beats the songs used and i really liked the fast pace of them too. I guess they did satisfy in the end
Best Song: Shellback
Worst Song: Belladonna
Blur
3/5
Parklife was a pretty good album. It was nothing amazing but none of the songs were bad and the voice and music definitely worked better than i thought they would. Some parts could be pretty weird but it definitely wasn't enough to ruin the album for me so I think it's a decent album
A Tribe Called Quest
3/5
Overall, People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm was okay, most of the rapping and instrumentals worked pretty well and the album as a whole felt pretty pleasant to listen to. It could get a bit tiring with it's length but I don't think that is too much of a major detractor from this album
Best Song: After Hours
Worst Song: Push It Along
Air
3/5
Moon Safari was an okay, if uninteresting album. The songs were pleasant enough to listen to but they didn't really have too much distinction and enough to really set them apart and allow for a more unique listening experience like i would have wished. This is another 2.5 that I'm adjusting to a 3 for this site.
Best Song: La femme d'argent
Worst Song: All I Need
Miriam Makeba
2/5
After listening to Miriam Makeba's self titled album. I have decided that its not really for me. I liked her singing but my main issue with the album was the music or rather, the lack thereof. Some songs were just Miriam singing with no background music which only made the songs feel hollow and empty. I can see why others would like it, but its not for me.
Best Song: One More Dance
Worst Song: Olilili
Eagles
3/5
Eagles is an okay, if nothing special, album. There were not any particularly amazing songs that i will go out of my way to listen to again but none of them were bad and all were pretty pleasant to listen to. It's an unremarkable but solid album.
Best Song: Tryin'
Worst Song: Train Leaves Here This Morning
Curtis Mayfield
1/5
Yeah, There's No Place Like America Today is not a good album at all even though it was dealt some decent cards. The instruments used were okay but the composition was so poor that it made the songs feel incredibly disorganized. Curtis's voice would be okay if it were used with better compositions but it was not. Some of the songs also went on for too long so that didn't help the matter either. This is a bad album no doubt but look on the bright side, there is nowhere to go but up from here (unless i get another bad album)
Best Song: Love to the People
Worst Song: Jesus
Elton John
3/5
Well after that pitiful showing of the last album i did. I am pleased to know that Madman Across The Water is pretty decent. The songs weren't the most memorable and could take some time to get going but when they did get going, they sure did get going. I am glad to have run into a good album again.
Best Song: Indian Sunset
Worst Song: Tiny Dancer
Sepultura
4/5
As a massive metal head, I was really looking forward to doing a metal album and after listening to Arise, I sure was quite satisfied. Unlike most albums, the longer songs on this album are the best ones since that's when they get really experimental and interesting to listen to. This album was really what I hoped for when doing a metal album.
Best Song: Desperate Cry
Worst Song: Infected Voice
Supergrass
4/5
I wasn't expecting all too much from I Should Coco but I'm happy to say I'm pleasantly surprised with how good this album was. It was weird (weirder than most albums i have looked at) but it was high energy, and generally fun to listen to. I really enjoyed my time with this album.
Best Song: Lose It
Worst Song: Sofa (Of My Lethargy)
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
3/5
Abattoir Blues / The Lyre of Orpheus is an album that was quite a ride. It started off quite good but unfortunately fell off towards the end. The songs at the start were well done and fit well with each other and were interesting to listen to but the songs on the back half were quite forgettable. This album is decent but you can do better
Best Song: Hiding All Away
Worst Song: Fable of the Brown Ape
Kendrick Lamar
3/5
After listening to "To Pimp A Butterfly", I can say it's a pretty decent hip-hop album. It may not be perfect due to some of the intermission tracks being a bit annoying and nonsensical but beyond that, It was a good album with some good rapping and beats. I am still nostalgic for King Kunta back when I heard it in 8th grade. This album was a pretty good listen.
Best Song: King Kunta
Worst Song: For Free?
Cat Stevens
3/5
No, Tea for the Tillerman is not a children's picture book like the cover, title, and artist name might have you believe. It's a surprisingly good folk album that made me feel a Lost In The Dream level of relaxedness. While I don't think this album is as good as that one, It's still a chill and relaxing album with some good lyrics.
Best Song: Hard Headed Woman
Worst Song: Longer Boats
Billy Joel
3/5
I believe that The Stranger is quite a good album. The songs had a surprising amount of emotion to them and while even though a majority of the album was somber, it also had some fun, rocking songs as well. And there is not a bad song in sight. This album is pretty good for what it is
Best Song: The Stranger
Worst Song: Movin' Out (Anthony's Song)
Lupe Fiasco
4/5
After listening to Food and Liquor, I can say its a really good album, Every song had its own distinction while sounding like they fit well together, the songs themselves sounded really good (probably because one of my favorite musicians helped produce this album (Mike Shinoda)). The lyrics were really good and the rapping was also great, as were the instrumentals. This is definitely the best hip hop album I have done on this project so far.
Best Song: I Gotcha
Worst Song: Intro
Soft Cell
3/5
Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret was so weird and may be the weirdest album i have looked at thus far. However, that does not make it bad, the album was pretty chill with its music at points and at other points it could be really upbeat which i really like. It is no doubt a weird album but it was still one that I enjoyed.
Best Song: Frustration
Worst Song: Sex Dwarf
LCD Soundsystem
3/5
american dream was a really weird album for me. The songs, like every other electronica album i have done, sound like drug trips and are mostly really long. But for whatever reason, I found myself enjoying it. The electronic sounds somehow found a way to actually work really well together and could make for some pretty groovy tracks. It is a tough album to get into but if you can, you will find a pretty good album.
Best Song: how do you sleep?
Worst Song: other voices
Duke Ellington
3/5
Another day, another live jazz album, Ellington at Newport is my first album from the 50s in a while, but unlike that last album where it is difficult to tell that it is live sometimes, with this album, you can easily tell that it's a live recording mostly due to the rough camera sound. I don't think that is a bad thing though, the album was still pretty good and had it's moments. This album is worth a listen.
Best Song: Festival Junction
Worst Song: Blues To Be There
Cyndi Lauper
3/5
She's So Unusual is the most 80s album i think i have ever listened to. With all the synths and Cyndi's general singing voice, you can definitely tell its from 1983. I found this quite charming throughout most of the songs and it helped the album feel fun to listen to. It's not a bad album even if the voice in the later tracks does get a bit annoying.
Best Song: All Through The Night
Worst Song: I'll Kiss You
Aretha Franklin
3/5
Well, after 45 albums, I have finally hit my first repeat artist that being Aretha Franklin with Lady Soul. And i believe it is a step above I Have Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You. The songs had more energy and were a bit more fun to listen to. Aretha's singing has also shown improvement from this album. Yeah, I think this album is pretty good.
Best Song: Come Back Baby
Worst Song: Chain of Fools
Cypress Hill
4/5
Overall, I quite liked Cypress Hill. The songs were funky and upbeat without sounding too annoying (which is more than what some of the other hip hop albums i have looked at can do) and the rapping was pretty cool as well. I also found the usage of audio logs in some of the songs cool as well. This is definitely one of the better hip hop albums i have looked at.
Best Song: How I Could Just Kill a Man
Worst Song: Pigs
Cocteau Twins
3/5
Heaven Or Las Vegas is fine. The main thing I like about this album is Elizabeth Fraser voice because man it is quite good and pretty unique too. The songs were all okay albeit a bit forgettable. The sound choices weren't annoying though so this album didn't make me want it to end really fast.
Best Song: Iceblink Luck
Worst Song: I Wear Your Ring
Funkadelic
4/5
Another day, Another weird album. Maggot Brain was really weird and probably the weirdest album i have looked at so far, especially with that last song (Yes, i know I say this is the weirdest album i have looked at with a lot of these albums but I'm being serious this time) However, It was still a fun listen. It was really funky and had some good usage of all of their instruments. It's a weird but really good album.
Best Song: Hit It And Quit It
Worst Song: Can You Get To That
Stan Getz
3/5
Getz/Gilberto really reminds me of an album I looked at earlier in my 1001 albums journey called Francis Albert Sinatra and Antonio Carlos Jobim (Jobim is on this record so that could be part of the reason why) The way they are so similar is that the songs are generally very pleasant and relaxing but it drags on for too long as every song simply sounds too similar to each other. I will also never forgive corcovado for tricking me into thinking i was gonna get something slightly different but that ended up not being the case. This album is a 2.5 that i have adjusted to a 3 for this site.
Best Song: The Girl From Ipanema
Worst Song: Corcovado (Quiet Nights Of Quiet Stars)
Nas
3/5
This isn't my first rodeo with Illmatic, I did a tier list of albums earlier this year and this was an album my cousin suggested I listen to, I didn't like it too much and I put it in the C tier (average). But how does it hold up now?
Honestly, Its a little bit better than when I first listened to it. The front half was pretty good but it mostly fell off with the back half (aside from represent, that song was pretty good). I think this album is better than when i first listened to it but not by all that much. I would have initially given this a 2 star rating, but now i will bump it up to a 2.5 star rating (obviously adjusted to 3)
Best Song: N.Y. State of Mind
Worst Song: Memory Lane (Sittin' in da Park)
Björk
4/5
After listening to debut, I can say its a really solid album with some pretty high highs and low lows. The songs for the most part had some good beats and Bjork's singing voice was definitely very beautiful to hear. It did get a bit annoying by the end but it was nothing that I disliked too much, All in all this album was definitely quite good
Best Song: Big Time Sensuality
Worst Song: The Anchor Song
Motörhead
5/5
After listening to Ace of Spades. I can safely say that its the best album i have looked at so far. The songs were high energy, intense, and really fun to listen to. The pacing was also perfect by allowing the songs to have enough time to sink in without being too long. The vocals worked very well with the songs too. This was a really great album
Best Song: Live to Win
Worst Song: [We Are] The Roadcrew
Black Sabbath
4/5
Vol.4 was a pretty dang good album. The songs all had that heaviness i really like when it comes to metal. Ozzy's voice was really good and proves just how talented of a singer he is. Not every song was perfect but all and all, This album was a good listen.
Best Song: Under the Sun
Worst Song: FX
Television
3/5
Marquee Moon is a fine album and nothing else. The songs all sound good enough to be listenable but are not necessarily stuff i really want to go back to. There wasn't all too much that really stood out about this album, neither good nor bad. I think that it's an okay album but it doesn't really go beyond that
Best Song: Guiding Light
Worst Song: See No Evil
Various Artists
3/5
Ooh sweet! I get a Christmas gift from Phil Spector. I wonder what it could be! Anyways, all Phil Spector jokes aside, A Christmas Gift For You From Phil Spector is all and all, a pretty good Christmas album. The vocals from every band in this album did a really good job singing. I did feel that the drums were utilized a little too heavily. Aside from that slight blunder. I feel that these songs are really iconic for a reason.
Best Song: Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)
Worst Song: Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
Guns N' Roses
5/5
Appetite for Destruction is the best album i have looked at so far (how many times am i going to keep saying this?). I have had quite a bit of experience with this album from Welcome To The Jungle playing in nearly every trailer, Paradise City being in Burnout Paradise and just Sweet Child O' Mine just being a frequent song on classic radio stations. All three of them are great songs but even most of the regular album tracks are great too. This is most definitely an amazing album.
Best Song: It's So Easy
Worst Song: Rocket Queen
The Young Gods
4/5
After listening to L'Eau Rouge, I am just here questioning why this album isn't considered metal because it had some very heavy moments. I also found that this album felt very experimental with all of the cinematic sounds. And that's what I love about this album. The album was so experimental and crazy it made it fun to listen to as well as having no song sound the same. They each felt like a whole different trip. This album might not be for everyone but i still think its very good
Best Song: Rue des tempetes
Worst Song: La fille de la mort
Tortoise
3/5
From one experimental album to another. Millions Now Living Will Never Die is quite a bit more experimental than the last album i looked at. Especially with the first song. It took so many twists and turns that it felt like it could be split off into many different songs. I was also surprised when the audio got distorted on the first track which made me believe something was broken at first. I still found quite a bit to like about the experimentation even if some songs didn't have too much to them. I still liked this album and think it is worth a listen if this stuff interests you
Best Song: Djed
Worst Song: A Survey
Radiohead
3/5
Yet another experimental album comes my way with Amnesiac. This album is also another really weird one with a majority of the songs sounding like fever dreams and maybe making me fear i took some drugs without noticing. The experimental nature does work pretty well with these songs though. The more weird sounding ones often tended to be the better songs on the album. I feel this album is an acquired taste like all the other experimental albums i have looked at but i can easily see why this album has quite a bit of fans.
Best Song: Packt Like Sardines In a Crushd Tin Box
Worst Song: Hunting Bears
Malcolm McLaren
2/5
Yeah, Duck Rock wasn't the easiest album for me to enjoy. It had quite a lot of interesting ideas with all of its influences from multiple countries (Not Britain surprisingly even though the artist is from there) However, with so many of these influences, they made the album feel incredibly directionless. I was hoping for a better album since all of the ideas were quite cool but that unfortunately refused to happen.
Best Song: World's Famous
Worst Song: Duck For The Oyster
Jerry Lee Lewis
3/5
Live At The Star Club, Hamburg was a pretty decent live album. The songs all sounded quite good whilst live and Jerry Lee Lewis always had an energetic and fun stage presence. The songs were a bit samey sounding to the point of being the same song just with different lyrics but i don't really know if this is the album's fault. Its still a fun live album with some very enjoyable moments
Best Song: Your Cheating Heart
Worst Song: Good Golly, Miss Molly
Simon & Garfunkel
3/5
Ah, Simon and Garfunkel, One of my mom's favorite music artists. While i don't like them nearly as much as her, I'd argue Bookends is a pretty decent album. The songs had a slightly energetic yet relaxed feel which i really liked. The album was also well paced and didn't drag on for too long. Its a pretty decent album for what it is.
Best Song: Fakin' It
Worst Song: Save the Life of My Child
N.E.R.D
4/5
After giving Fly Or Die a good listen. I can say its a really solid rap rock album. I liked how it could get really wacky at points (Jump and She Wants To Move being prime examples of this) The instruments were all utilized very well as were the vocals. Some of the compositions might not have been perfect but all in all, Its still a really solid album
Best Song: Thrasher
Worst Song: Chariot Of Fire
Dinosaur Jr.
4/5
I gotta say, Bug was quite the wild ride. The album started off as a typical grunge album then got a bit more somber with some songs then Don't came and shocked me because I was absolutely not expecting it to be more metal-adjacent. The multitude of styles did help the album feel fun to listen to even if they could have been executed better in some places. This album gets a 3.5 (adjusted to 4)
Best Song: Yeah We Know
Worst Song: Pond Song
Motörhead
5/5
Ah, Another Motorhead album. The first one i looked at was very good and this one, No Sleep 'Til Hammersmith, is very good too. The songs still had that high energy I expected from Motorhead and the songs were all very high quality being played live. The songs do sound a bit more samey but not enough to ruin the album for me. While its not as good as Ace Of Spades. It is still a very good album
Best Song: Iron Horse/Born to Lose
Worst Song: (We Are) The Road Crew
Beatles
3/5
From one repeat artist to another. The Beatles are making their second showing with Abbey Road, And to say they improved over their earlier effort Rubber Soul is an understatement. This album was so much more catchy, memorable, interesting, and more enjoyable to listen to than Rubber Soul. My only real gripe with this album is the fact that some of the songs are separated into multiple songs when they should have been one song (especially during the back half). Having the songs change like that is really distracting but all and all. This was a much better album than i was expecting
Best Song: Oh! Darling
Worst Song: The End
Bruce Springsteen
3/5
Darkness on the Edge of Town is another album i have done through this project that is unremarkable but solid. Bruce's singing, and the music were all pretty good and had some fairly interesting moments but i feel it didn't have enough of them to really warrant being a great album for me. It's an alright album but nothing too amazing.
Best Song: Streets of Fire
Worst Song: The Promised Land
Elis Regina
3/5
Oh hey, its my 69th album, nice.
Anyways Vento De Maio falls into the same category as the Sinatra/Jobim, Getz/Gilberto, and Booker T's Green Onions in a type of album I call "Elevator Albums". I call them this because their music typically has the vibe you would get from being in an elevator. However, Vento De Maio is better than these other albums i mentioned because the songs feel a little more distinguished from each other even if they are a little too quiet at points. Still a pretty alright album.
Best Song: O Medo de Amar e o Medo de Ser Livre
Worst Song: Rebento
Stevie Wonder
4/5
Ah, Stevie Wonder. I was quite a fan of his as a kid, so much so, I even named my hermit crab after him. I may have fallen out of his music as my taste changed but after listening to Fulfillingness' First Finale, It was very good. Everything, from Stevie's singing to the music which had some electronic elements that i was not expecting was handled very well. I guess i should never underestimate the artists i used to listen to.
Best Song: You Haven't Done Nothin'
Worst Song: Smile Please
Traffic
3/5
After listening to John Barleycorn Must Die, I don't really have much to say about it. Its a purely fine album that doesn't really stand out in any meaningful way, neither good or bad. The songs were okay and didn't go on for too long which is nice. But beyond that, I don't really have anything else to say.
Best Song: Freedom Rider
Worst Song: Glad
Dusty Springfield
3/5
After giving Dusty In Memphis a good listen, It is actually a pretty good album. Dusty had a very good voice and the music had a similar style to that of the albums from Elton John or Billy Joel that i heard, which i really like. Some of the songs could be a little forgettable though, However, It was still a good album
Best Song: The Windmills of Your Mind
Worst Song: So Much Love
The Clash
3/5
The Clash was a pretty alright album. The music was pretty good and while the vocals were a bit weird at first, I eventually did get used to them. While the songs did sound a little bit samey, The album cut a quick pace so that wasn't too much of an issue for me.
Best Song: Protex Blue
Worst Song: Janie Jones
Teenage Fanclub
4/5
After listening to Bandwagonesque, an album that Spin called the best album of 1991. I may disagree with that but this is still a really good album. The album has that typical teenage angst rock sound that i like about old 90s rock, but it also had some cool melodies as well. I do find some of the titles of the songs funny though like "Is This Music?" (yes it is). It is a really good album that any connoisseur of 90s rock would enjoy.
Best Song: Alcoholiday
Worst Song: Satan
Shuggie Otis
3/5
Inspiration Information is actually quite a decent album. It definitely is the best of all the elevator albums I have looked at. The music was handled well throughout the songs and didn't get tiring at any point. The vocals were pretty good too if a little underutilized. All and all, Its a pretty good album.
Best Song: Aht Uh Mi Hed
Worst Song: Pling!
Songhoy Blues
4/5
It honestly surprised me just how good Music in Exile was. The songs were very catchy at the start before getting more somber towards the end and actually sounded really good. The vocals were handled rather well too even if i couldn't understand what they were saying (I don't speak the language spoken in these songs) Some of the songs did sound a little similar to each other but not enough to ruin the album. I didn't know what to expect, but it sure wasn't this.
Best Song: Soubour
Worst Song: Al Hassidi Terei
Nirvana
5/5
After giving In Utero a good listen, All i can say is "Wow". This is such an amazing album. I don't think there is one song that i did not find amazing on this album. The guitar work was absolutely amazing and Kurt's voice was the cherry on top. This is definitely one of the best albums I have looked at for this project.
Best Song: Milk It
Worst Song: Dumb
OutKast
3/5
Stankonia is one very weird album that, like some of the electronica albums I have looked at, The songs felt like drug trips since each one had something different to offer. However, That doesn't mean its a bad album, While some songs aren't handled so well, others are handled well and can be real catchy and cool sounding when they want to be. I also love the "BREAK" shout after all the intermission tracks, i found that really charming. It isn't the easiest album to get into (especially with its long length). But if you give it a chance, You will probably find something to like about it.
Best Song: B.O.B. (Bombs Over Baghdad)
Worst Song: I'll Call B4 I Cum
Frankie Goes To Hollywood
4/5
Welcome To The Pleasuredome had no right to be as good as it was. The singing was good but it was mainly the bass, synths, and drums that steal the show for me. I also liked how the songs hopped around between different moods quite a bit from groovy and fun, to mellow and somber. I even liked the longest track in the album because it knew how to remain interesting. This album was quite a good listen.
Best Song: Wish The Lads Were Here
Worst Song: Fury
The Go-Betweens
3/5
16 lovers lane was a fine if nothing special album. Every song at least sounded good but didn't really go beyond that. The songs just didn't feel all too special which kinda made them sound a bit to similar to one another. It got a bit more interesting towards the end but not as much as i would have hoped. It is not a bad album at all but i do wish more interesting things were done to make this album feel more fun to listen to.
Best Song: Was There Anything I Could Do
Worst Song: Quiet Heart
Antony and the Johnsons
4/5
I was going into I Am a Bird Now expecting to hate it. But it turned out to be rather good and really beautiful at points. The music, the lyrics and the singing all managed to work pretty well together and give the album it's genuinely beautiful vibe. It seemed as if all the songs were gonna be samey but thankfully Fistful Of Love was a nice change. I was expecting to give it a pretty low score but its getting a 3.5 (adjusted to 4, obviously).
Best Song: Bird Gerhl
Worst Song: For Today I Am A Boy
Michael Jackson
3/5
Off The Wall is a pretty good album even if it doesn't have what i think are Michael Jackson's best songs. It still was fun listen with some great melodies and a fun, groovy feel. Sometimes, the songs do give off an elevator album vibe (which isn't a bad thing, just so you know) but i wouldn't really consider this album to be one. I don't think it will be my favorite Michael Jackson album i do but its still a pretty good album.
Best Song: Burn This Disco Out
Worst Song: Girlfriend
Iron Maiden
4/5
Its always a delight to hear another album from my favorite genre of music and The Number Of The Beast does not disappoint when it comes to giving a good album. The guitar work is always incredible and Bruce's singing is always a treat to behold. The songs while long, were still good enough to hold my interest throughout the whole thing. This is definitely a good metal album to add to the stockpile.
Best Song: 22 Acacia Avenue
Worst Song: Run To The Hills
Joan Armatrading
3/5
Joan Armatrading's self titled album is a pretty alright album, The first eight songs all were pretty good but the album did kinda fall apart at the last two songs with some overly loud instruments. The other songs though, were handled pretty well, and while they weren't the most interesting things in the world to listen to. They are still pretty decent and don't feel like a waste of time to listen to.
Best Song: Save Me
Worst Song: Tall In The Saddle
New York Dolls
3/5
After listening to New York Dolls' self-titled album. I can safely say that it was unfortunately not as good as i hoped but still not terrible. I was expecting the album to sound a little more full of itself but the songs were handled as well as they could be in this situation. The songs could also have some pretty infectious melodies (some of which i could see getting stuck in my head). Its an okay album but not as good as i was hoping
Best Song: Jet Boy
Worst Song: Personality Crisis
Norah Jones
3/5
The elevator albums strike again with Come Away With Me and to be honest, this album is probably the best of them all. The instruments were all used well and the songs had some noticeable differences between each other but it was mostly Norah's voice that carried the album for me. There is still that elevator album stigma where a majority of the songs sound the same even if there is more of a difference between them. Its still a pretty good album regardless of that.
Best Song: One Flight Down
Worst Song: Seven Years
Electric Light Orchestra
5/5
I was super surprised with Out Of The Blue's quality since at first, all i really knew it for was for being the album with Mr. Blue Sky and very little else. However, it turned out that all the songs on this album (including the one i just mentioned) are all very good. There were quite a bit of surprises for me with the uses of the instruments that i never would have expected. Its albums like these that show why i love doing this project so much because it allows me to see just how good some albums that i never cared all too much about at first really are.
Best Song: Birmingham Blues
Worst Song: Summer And Lightning
Emerson, Lake & Palmer
3/5
I gotta say, Tarkus was a really weird album, another one i can add to the stockpile of weird albums i have done for this project. It felt like every song had something completely different to offer. But that is what makes it pretty good. The songs were all very interesting and used influences from quite a decent bit of genres. It is a weird album but it works pretty decently actually
Best Song: Tarkus (i. Eruption / ii. Stones of Years / iii. Iconoclast / iv. Mass / v. Manticore / vi. Battlefield / vii. Aquatarkus) (I'm counting these all as one song because thats how Spotify and YouTube do it as well)
Worst Song: Jeremy Bender
(Side note: I also like how the armadillo on the cover art kinda looks like a sub-boss from the Mega Man Classic series)
Justin Timberlake
4/5
I wasn't expecting too much from Justified but i just found it so absurd that it was actually pretty fun to listen to. The absurdness of this album comes in many forms from the lyrics, the music videos, and all the way to Justin's vocal scatting (don't know if its that or beatboxing). However, it never really got too annoying. The songs are pretty long with each of them clocking in at above 4 minutes so that is a bit of a drawback for some people. I still loved the absurdity enough for me to give it a 3.5 (You know the drill at this point).
Best Song: Let's Take A Ride
Worst Song: Still On My Brain
Throwing Muses
3/5
Throwing Muses was a pretty decent album. It was one that was pretty hard to find since Spotify does not have it and you have to rely on fan made videos on YouTube to listen to it (if you don't own the album physically). The album did manage to be pretty good though with some good music and rhythms and the singer's voice was pretty good too even if at points she sounded like a sheep. Its not the most memorable album i have heard but still a pretty good one nonetheless.
Best Song: America (She Can't Say No)
Worst Song: Vicky's Box
The Black Keys
4/5
After giving Brothers a good listen. Its actually a pretty great album. The guitar riffs were raspy and bluesy in all the right ways. The singing also was raspy in all of the best ways as well. The music videos were also pretty funny which while not making the album as great as it is, it definitely added to my enjoyment. There also isn't a bad song in sight. Its a great album that is definitely worth a listen.
Best Song: The Go Getter
Worst Song: Black Mud
Tears For Fears
4/5
Man oh man, Songs From The Big Chair was actually a pretty dang great album. I like how the rock and pop elements melded together to create some massive ear candy. The singing and lyrics were great too. I would complain about the length of some of the songs but they sounded so good that it didn't become too much of an issue for me. Its a great album that will please anyone who listens to it
Best Song: Shout
Worst Song: I Believe
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
1/5
Well, I guess the run of good albums had to end at some point. Will The Circle Be Unbroken was an absolutely miserable experience from start to finish. It feels like the band only had a few ideas and just decided to stretch them out into 42 songs for some reason that i will never find out. And some of the songs are just talking for long stretches of time (like come on, we don't want to hear that). There were some more tolerable songs in the album but even they can't save it from being absolutely horrible. I can only just pray the next album will be bettter.
Best Song: Nashville Blues
Worst Song: I'm Thinking Tonight Of My Blue Eyes
Alice Cooper
4/5
Billion Dollar Babies was quite the good album. I mostly was expecting a typical hard rock, metal-adjacent type album but it did surprise me with all the extra bells and whistles it had. It had everything from more orchestral instruments in some places to more electronic sounding guitar riffs in one of the tracks. No track was all that bad either. Its a fun listen I can easily recommend.
Best Song: Unfinished Sweet
Worst Song: Sick Things
Bad Brains
4/5
I Against I was a pretty good album for what it was. IT has a lot of the typical punk themes you would find in a punk album like H.R.'s voice but you can see quite a lot of thrash metal influences with this album with all the fast guitar work. The vocals did have some interesting bits too like Sacred Love being recorded over a prison phone. It could be a bit forgettable at points but it was still a good album i would give a 3.5
Best Song: Sacred Love
Worst Song: Secret 77
Johnny Cash
3/5
At San Quentin is a pretty alright live album. The quality of the music was fairly high and Johnny Cash's stage presence was always fun and charismatic. My big problems with this album mostly stem from the fact that the songs aren't long enough and in most cases, don't give enough time to really sink in, and most of the other ones stem from the fact that this is a live album and it is at it's best when you were actually there but is kinda wonky when it is turned into an album. These problems are mostly givens when it comes to live albums so this is not an exclusive problem to this album so its not enough to really bring it down.
Best Song: A Boy Named Sue
Worst Song: San Quentin (Reprise)
King Crimson
3/5
In The Court Of The Crimson King is a pretty good and interesting album. The album contained quite a bit of unique elements going beyond just rock with elements like jazz and classical which i really appreciated. I felt that the singing also fit the album quite perfectly. This album might not be for everyone with the long length of the songs and the progressive and experimental elements but it still had enough interesting elements to keep me engaged.
Best Song: 21st Century Schizoid Man
Worst Song: I Talk To The Wind
Ali Farka Touré
3/5
Talking Timbuktu is a fine album for what it is. The melodies worked in a majority of the songs and even thought they didn't work well in some of the others, those ones were the shorter ones. It does feel like another elevator album but i do think its better than the other ones (how many times am i gonna keep saying this?). It is a decent album that is worth listening to
Best Song: Lasidan
Worst Song: Banga
(Side note: I don't know why but i find it so funny that there is a song called Sega as in the game company)
Saint Etienne
4/5
I gotta say, Foxbase Alpha was a pretty darn good album. The songs all had their own uniqueness to them and fit different moods like groovy, relaxing, somber and all of that stuff while still feeling like they fit well together. The voices of the two female vocalists also work well with the songs too (if you don't know, Sarah Cracknell did not sing \"Only Love Can Break Your Heart\" which was sang by Moira Lambert). Its a good album and is definitely worth listening to.
Best Song: Spring
Worst Song: Wilson
Pink Floyd
3/5
100 ALBUMS BABY, LETS GO!
Anyways, The Wall was quite an interesting album to say the least and it managed to be pretty good as well. I did like how the songs seamlessly transitioned into one another and that the album used itself to tell a story (especially towards the end). The best songs were mostly in the the first half while the second half was a bit less memorable. I still think the album is good and is worthy of being my 100th album.
Best Song: Young Lust
Worst Song: Mother
Sly & The Family Stone
3/5
There's A Riot Goin' On is an okay album at best. The songs all sounded fine and the singer did have a cool voice at points but the songs did sound really samey outside of a few tracks. I also don't get why silence needed its own track especially when it was just 4 seconds long. Beyond that, i don't really have too much to say about this album
Best Song: Runnin' Away
Worst Song: Just Like a Baby
Peter Gabriel
5/5
So was definitely a surprise for my ears. I was not expecting this album to be this good but that's what it ended up being. Peter's voice worked very well and the music worked with all kinds of different moods from groovy and upbeat to mellow and moody. The track with Kate Bush also had her doing a very good job on vocals. I honestly didn't know what to expect but it wasn't this but i am sure glad this is what i got
Best Song: Sledgehammer
Worst Song: In Your Eyes
Elliott Smith
4/5
Either Or really is an album that will soothe the soul. Everything about it just feels so relaxing from the simple guitar riffs that kick up only on specific tracks as well as Elliott's voice which almost sounds as if he's trying not to wake his parents up in the next room. The album also isn't too long so that is a plus. I really did like this album, it was so relaxing and it is sure to soothe anyone's soul
Best Song: Cupid's Trick
Worst Song: Ballad Of Big Nothing
Kraftwerk
3/5
After a long break from all the really weird albums, we return to your scheduled broadcast of them with The Man Machine. And in all honesty, this album sounds very ahead of its time considering that it sounds like something that would be from the 80s or 90s yet its from 1978. The general electronic sounds used in the songs worked rather well too even if they could get repetitive but that is what you would expect with electronica albums. It is a bizarre album but that doesn't mean i didn't enjoy it.
Best Song: The Man Machine
Worst Song: Metropolis
Frank Sinatra
3/5
We make two major returns today with one being from Frank Sinatra (an artist i haven't seen since the 22nd album i have done) and the 1950s (a decade i haven't seen since album 44) and it is my first non-live album from that decade, and that album being In The Wee Small Hours. From the last Frank Sinatra album i have done, this one seems to be quite an improvement (or the last one is a downgrade since it came out 12 years later). The songs here have more variation on each other, Sure its not the most diverse album, but at least i can tell differences between the songs and some of them were a little interesting. This album also brought out Frank's style better than the other one did. In general, this is a decent, albeit forgettable album.
Best Song: I Get Along Without You Very Well
Worst Song: Moon Indigo
Minutemen
3/5
When i saw the amount of songs that Double Nickels On The Dime had, i wasn't going in with the highest expectations to say the least. But thankfully, to my surprise, this album was actually fairly decent. Unlike a certain OTHER long album i have done, This one cut a rather quick pace with every song being under 3 minutes. The songs were also fairly interesting in their own right too. This might not be my favorite structure for an album but I'd argue it could have been handled a lot worse.
Best Song: West Germany
Worst Song: Take 5, D.
Steely Dan
3/5
Pretzel Logic is a fine album with a few cool ideas. The general rock sound mixed with some jazz influences is somewhat interesting as were some of the lyrical ideas (especially with songs like With A Gun). The album also never dragged on for more than it should have. This album is rather fine but doesn't really go beyond that
Best Song: Monkey In Your Soul
Worst Song: Any Major Dude Will Tell You
The Offspring
5/5
I gotta say, Smash was an album i really enjoyed from start to finish. The guitar work was easily my favorite part of it but the Nirvana like singing, the quick pace and the neat little melodies in certain songs really added to it. The bonus track didn't really add that much to the album but it was still a harmless little addition. I really like this album and its one that any punk or grunge enjoyer would love.
Best Song: Something To Believe In
Worst Song: What Happened To You
Leonard Cohen
3/5
Contrary to its name, Songs Of Love And Hate is an album i neither love nor hate. It is an okay album that does what it sets out to do well enough. The long length of the songs does get a bit tiring but overall i don't think it hurts the album too much. Also, Diamonds In the Mine was a bit off-putting at first but i began to appreciate it as it went on. The album is fine and was a rather harmless listen for me.
Best Song: Avalanche
Worst Song: Love Calls You By Your Name
The Psychedelic Furs
3/5
After listening to Talk Talk Talk, it was actually pretty good if a bit of a mixed bag in some cases. The songs for the most part all had really cool melodies and just a really groovy and energetic nature but some could get a little much at points. The singing also worked rather well too with the unapologetically British accent that the singer had and i like those in some songs. This album is a rather good listen and the good outweighs the bad here.
Best Song: I Wanna Sleep With You
Worst Song: Dumb Waiters
Hanoi Rocks
4/5
When it came to Back to Mystery City, Initially, i didn't have the best feelings towards it, During the first half, It was alright but the voice and some of the instruments were not exactly the best sounding, They were sometimes annoying and could be a bit too much. Then, the second half came, and my god was it an improvement. Most of the stuff that had made some of the first half annoying was all gone by the second half as well as it showing some great guitar work and interesting musical ideas. This was probably one of the biggest examples of a turn around enough to raise this album from a 2 to a 3.5
Best Song: Back To Mystery City
Worst Song: Tooting Bec Wreck
Bill Evans Trio
2/5
Sunday At The Village Vanguard is about as typical jazz album as typical jazz albums get and that means another elevator album. There is nothing inherently wrong about this album but it is very uninteresting. The songs, while sounding fine and were pretty well recorded, all were generally very similar sounding and didn't really have identities of their own. I can't even think of a single song that stands out as particularly good or bad. I do not hate this album but it failed to interest me in any way.
Best Song: Jade Visions
Worst Song: Alice In Wonderland
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
3/5
This Year's Model is a pretty decent album. It isn't exactly super interesting and it doesn't do anything all too new but the songs are good and catchy in their own right. The songs had some good rhythms and none of them felt too samey or out of place. One of my major complaints with the album is the fact that the song \"Night Rally\" ended far too abruptly but it wasn't a super bad issue. This album isn't amazing but its good at what it does.
Best Song: (I Don't Want To Go To) Chelsea
Worst Song: You Belong To Me
The United States Of America
3/5
The United States Of America was a really weird case for me. The album left off a rather bad first impression with its weird composition ideas which did make it sound like random sounds at random times. But unlike most albums on this project, This album actually benefitted from its length because it allowed me to get used to all the weirdness. And when it was all past me, the album could have a few interesting ideas. It isn't a perfect album but i have done far worse on this project.
Best Song: Cloud Song
Worst Song: The American Metaphysical Circus
Jeff Beck
4/5
After listening to Truth, It showed me just how insane of a guitarist Jeff Beck really is, and that is ultimately one of the reasons this album is so great. The guitar work is just one of the most impressive things about it like how you never know what kind of guitar riff will come next. The bass work and vocals are also really good too. Its also another album where the longer tracks are the better ones since they really get to show just how great the guitar work is. This is a great album that is easily worth a listen if you like a bluesy fusion with your rock music.
Best Song: Blues Deluxe
Worst Song: Shapes of Things
Lambchop
4/5
After hearing Nixon, all i can say is \"Man, this album is so chill\". The songs mostly did follow the same format but that format was really nice to hear. That also made the songs with more of a drive (Grumpus and The Butcher Boy being clear examples of this) really stick out more and made them feel more memorable. My only real complaint with this album is the song Up With People really felt underproduced but other than that, i feel this was a great album that's definitely worth a listen.
Best Song: The Butcher Boy
Worst Song: Up With People
The Avalanches
4/5
Since I Left You really describes what i like about a lot of these electronica albums and that being that you can take any sound or sample and with the right composition, it can be a really catchy and fun song. Initially the album didn't seem like anything too special with the first two songs but then Radio came on and showed just how cool and drug-tripy (for lack of a better word) it is. The album is a bit long at around an hour but with its weirdness, it was more than enough to keep me liking it.
Best Song: Frontier Psychiatrist
Worst Song: Since I Left You
Beck
3/5
From what i can tell, Sea Change was mostly influenced by the time Beck broke up with his longtime girlfriend, And you can tell he is not taking it well in this album because god it sounds so sad. The music is very melancholic and the lyrics are as well. That stuff is what makes the album pretty good. It is relaxing and melancholic at the same time which i really like about it. This is a good album if you don't mind crying a bit throughout.
Best Song: Lonesome Tears
Worst Song: Paper Tiger
The Go-Go's
4/5
After listening to Beauty And The Beat, I gotta say, i was really surprised with how good this album turned out to be. The songs felt very catchy and fun and the singing was good and never really got annoying for me. The songs may have had a bit of a samey feel to them but none of them were bad since they all kept the vibe i liked about this album. This is definitely a great 80s new wave album that anyone who loves that style can easily get into.
Best Song: Our Lips Are Sealed
Worst Song: Tonite
Pink Floyd
4/5
Well, Its my second Pink Floyd album after The Wall and that album is The Dark Side Of The Moon. And i will definitely say, This album is quite a bit better than The Wall. Everything about this album feels more progressive and unique than The Wall was. I'm not saying that The Wall didn't have its progressive and unique moments because it did, I just feel this album has more of them. I also found the songs here to be quite a bit more memorable here (especially when you consider that there is less of them). It is not perfect, some of the song transitions could have been better, but beyond that, This album really is a great album and is currently my favorite Pink Floyd album.
Best Song: Any Colour You Like
Worst Song: Speak To Me
Suede
4/5
Geez, I've been on quite a hot streak lately, and Suede has done little to change that. This album is really good. The guitars feel heavy in all the right places, the album can also have its mellow and somber moments, and the vocals fit well with all of the songs. Some of the lyrics aren't exactly perfect but it doesn't do much to hamper my enjoyment of this album. It truly is britpop at its finest.
Best Song: The Drowners
Worst Song: Pantomime Horse
Red Hot Chili Peppers
4/5
The hot streak continues with Californication. Initially i didn't think too much of it but as i kept listening, it really began to grow on me. The guitar work was great for what it was, as was the singing and the other instruments. The songs also held a good pace so i didn't really get bored listening to them. It is one great album that i can see why many people do love it.
Best Song: Parallel Universe
Worst Song: I Like Dirt
(Side note: I also love the video for Californication, it had that really cool video game aesthetic)
3/5
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band was a fairly alright album. It was clear that here, the Beatles were actually trying some fairly interesting musical ideas including some circus themed musical stylings and for the most part, they worked fairly well. The album obviously was not perfect, the vocals were a bit iffy in some areas but they were mostly handled pretty well. While i don't think this album is better than Abbey Road, I would still easily put it above Rubber Soul.
Best Song: Within You Without You
Worst Song: Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds
Queen
3/5
Queen II was an album that honestly, came so close to being great but just missed the mark. The songs on this album were generally pretty fun and had fast and catchy vibes but some of the songs i feel did need a bit more of work done on them. Though thankfully, even when the songs were long, they still managed to be interesting when they were. It is a good album but it just lacks that small spark for it to be great.
Best Song: The March of The Black Queen
Worst Song: Some Day One Day
The Youngbloods
3/5
Elephant Mountain was a fine if bland album. The music was generally well done with decent rhythms and nice usage of all the instruments but were either rather bland or were missing something they really could have benefitted from. The main song I'm talking about from the latter complaint is On Sir Francis Drake which i feel really could have benefitted from having lyrics so that it wouldn't become so boring. This album isn't bad but it is really boring in a lot of areas which is why it gets a 2.5.
Best Song: Beautiful
Worst Song: Trillium
The Sugarcubes
3/5
Life's Too Good is just a really weird album but it had several rather good aspects. The music is some very good new wave rock and Bjork's voice was also very good too and it is just interesting seeing her do something before her more electronic sound she would do in her solo career. However, While Bjork's voice was great, I really wasn't a fan of the male voice, he just sounds so creepy, And the lyrics were also, lets just say odd. It is a rather decent album but it is really weird in a not good way in a lot of places.
Best Song: Birthday
Worst Song: F***ing in Rhythm & Sorrow
Red Hot Chili Peppers
4/5
I gotta say, Blood Sugar Sex Magik was an album i really enjoyed even more so than Califronication. The songs here were just that slight bit more funky and more full of themselves. The guitar and bass work on this album is just incredible with some of the most wild solos from both instruments. The album is a bit long but that didn't discourage me too much from really having fun with this album. This album is a fun and funky time that i can see why a lot of people really like it.
Best Song: Breaking The Girl
Worst Song: They're Red Hot
The Police
3/5
Reggatta De Blanc is probably one of the most fine albums i have ever done. The album is fine, The music and vocals are alright but don't really do anything all that interesting that other new wave albums i have listened to do. The album did begin to kick up towards the last two songs which actually did sound a bit more fresh and interesting than the rest but that unfortunately made up only a small portion of the album as you might expect. This album is fine, it wasn't boring, just kinda forgettable.
Best Song: No Time This Time
Worst Song: Walking On The Moon
The Fall
3/5
I really did want to like The Infotainment Scan a lot more than i did. Musically, this album is great for the most part even with a few very poor musical choices both composition wise and instrumentation wise. My main problem with this album is the vocals. It feels to me that the vocalist really didn't sound like he wanted to be there as he just felt so monotone and boring and really not that energetic. I would like this album way more if the vocalist had a better voice.
Best Song: I'm Going To Spain
Worst Song: Light / Fireworks
Nina Simone
4/5
Wild Is The Wind was quite a great album for me. The piano playing and vocals were really what stood out here. The piano work was absolutely beautiful in a lot of the tracks and the vocals were incredible unique too with many of them sounding like a man is singing a lot of these tracks which i find kinda amusing but they still sound rather good either way. I feel that some of the songs are a little too minimalist for my liking but that wasn't a huge detractor for this album.
Best Song: Break Down And Let It All Out
Worst Song: Wild Is The Wind
The Notorious B.I.G.
3/5
Honestly, I was pretty surprised with Ready To Die, it turned out to be a bit better than i was expecting. The production of most of these songs was handled super well and it made the songs have some rather cool beats. The lyrics were alright too even if they did involve flexing some of the time, but hey that's probably what you are gonna expect in rap music and the flexing here seemed a little more interesting since it also involved his early life. This album is actually pretty decent and is a welcome album for my return to looking at 90s hip hop after a long absence.
Best Song: Respect
Worst Song: Intro
N.W.A.
3/5
After listening to Straight Outta Compton, I have found it is pretty groovy and fun. In some ways, it kinda feels like an early version of Cypress Hill, another hip hop album i quite like. The lyrics still give the idea that the group doesn't really have a good relationship with the cops and that's the kind of lyrics i like most of this album. The album was also rather well produced with all the samples coming together quite well. It is a rather good hip hop album that i think is perfect for all the gangsters still out there.
Best Song: Straight Outta Compton
Worst Song: Express Yourself
Creedence Clearwater Revival
3/5
Bayou Country was a pretty simple and good album. The songs throughout mostly sounded pretty good and full of energy and the album cut a brisk pace at around 33 minutes so it never really got overly boring. The only song i feel did kinda drag was Graveyard Train which is expected since it is the longest but it also didn't have enough cool musical or lyrical moments to really keep me engaged. This is a perfectly good album that does what it does well enough.
Best Song: Penthouse Pauper
Worst Song: Graveyard Train
Liz Phair
3/5
Exile In Guyville is a really mixed bag in terms of quality for me. On one hand, there were songs that sounded great, had cool musical ideas, and had some pretty good singing by Liz but on the other hand some of the songs could be really boring, follow basic melodies, or just be way too repetitive and i also did find the pace of the album to be a bit too breakneck at points. The album mostly was good throughout its runtime but the bad parts were rather noticeable.
Best Song: Canary
Worst Song: Girls! Girls! Girls!
Bruce Springsteen
3/5
Bruce Springsteen returns with Born To Run and for me its one of those albums that mostly shines throughout the back half. The songs on the front half were all decent but a bit too similar sounding to each other but the back half did have some genuinely beautiful sounding moments and the songs there felt like they had their own identity and were not all too similar to each other. I think this album is better than Darkness On The Edge Of Town since i feel like i can remember the back half songs here better than all of the songs on that album. This album is quite good
Best Song: Meeting Across the River
Worst Song: Backstreets
Talking Heads
2/5
Fear Of Music was an album that really wasn't great. It mostly suffered from the issue of having music and vocals that didn't really compliment each other and just felt like they were walking on each other. While the music was fine for the most part, the vocals absolutely were not due to sounding way too monotone and being hard to hear due to what i mentioned earlier. This is also an album that just got worse as it went on with it starting out decent at the beginning but falling off hard towards the end. I certainly do have a fear of this music (pun intended).
Best Song: I Zimbra
Worst Song: Drugs
Black Sabbath
4/5
Paranoid is iconic for a reason and that reason is that its really good. The guitar riffs were really cool and unique and almost had a jazzy sort of feel to them. Ozzy was also great at singing this album as all of these songs really fit his voice. I think that the biggest standout tracks to me are probably the most popular ones being Paranoid and Iron Man but that's not to say the other songs aren't great either. This is a really great album that i would even put ahead of Vol. 4.
Best Song: Iron Man
Worst Song: Planet Caravan
GZA
4/5
When it comes to Liquid Swords, there is one thing that i really can't get over and that is just how good the production is on this album. The beats and samples mix with the rapping really well and just are really good when it comes to complimenting each other. The samples are also from a martial arts movie which feels so on brand for a member of the Wu-Tan Clan. At worst, the songs could be a little bit boring but that was very rare when it came to this album. This is definitely a great album I can recommend to any 90s hip hop enjoyer.
Best Song: 4th Chamber
Worst Song: Hell's Wind Staff / Killah Hills 10304
The Lemonheads
3/5
It's A Shame About Ray? More like It's a Shame this album couldn't be more interesting. All jokes aside, its an okay album, just rather generic and safe. There were not many moments that i could go out and say "Yeah, this is something i can remember" and none of those moments really were the songs themselves, just specific moments in them like cool riffs at the beginning of Alison's Starting To Happen, or amusing vocals like at the beginning of Bit Part. I will admit, Frank Mills is a pretty interesting song with some unique lyrics, too bad its so short though. This album is fine, just nothing I would go out of my way to really listen to again.
Best Song: Frank Mills
Worst Song: Rockin' Stroll
Brian Eno
3/5
You know, for being an album called Ambient 1/Music For Airports, The songs didn't really feel like they would fit an airport, more like a beach during a sunset. That aside, This album generally gets its job done and my biggest problems with it are just the problems that come with all ambient albums. Its repetitive sure, but that is what you would expect from these sorts of songs. There is also the fact that this kind of music is very purely situational for me as in i have to be in a very specific mood or situation to really want to listen to this stuff. But for what it is, this album does what it sets out to do pretty well.
Best Song: 2/1
Worst Song: 2/2
Nine Inch Nails
5/5
Man, The Downward Spiral was honestly quite the listening experience and it was one i didn't regret a single second of. Many of the songs just sounded perfectly heavy in the way that they are just fun to rock out to while seamlessly blending in many electronic influences. Throughout the album, there were so many cool moments involving the vocals and the music that made me ask \"How are Trent and the other members of the band doing this?\". This is one heck of an amazing album and is probably the best one i have done so far. Sorry Appetite For Destruction, you have been dethroned.
Best Song: Reptile
Worst Song: Piggy
Oasis
5/5
I gotta say, Definitely Maybe is a legitimately fantastic album that i loved listening to the whole way through. While the vocals and the other instruments are handled super well, Its pretty obvious that the guitars here steal the show. These guitars could be groovy, heavy, and mellow all at the same time. The songs all felt like they complimented each other throughout the album while still having their own identity. Forget Suede, this is britpop at it's finest.
Best Song: Slide Away
Worst Song: Married With Children
Radiohead
4/5
Radiohead has always had this unique style of music that is very difficult to replicate exactly and i feel that Hail To The Thief shows off this style perfectly. The mix of rock and electronic sounds always had some moments that kept me on my toes yet they still sounded cool and coherent for the most part. Thom Yorke's voice also really came out well through these tracks and always helped make these tracks so interesting with the help of the music of course. I do feel like some parts of the music could have been composed a little bit better but beyond that, This is still a great album that feels so fresh and unique and i feel is also a step above Amnesiac.
Best Song: Sit Down Stand Up
Worst Song: Scatterbrain
Sigur Rós
3/5
Agaetis Byrjun is a weird album for me. Its often difficult to tell what genre this album even is due to it flip-flopping around genres like rock, pop, electronic, and shoegaze but i guess i can agree that its an ambient album. That does kind of add to this album's rather interesting nature with it's songs. The songs themselves do sound pretty good for what they were trying to pull off with this sort of music and the problems with it are just the usual ambient album problems. It might not be an amazing album but it definitely is a very interesting one.
Best Song: Staralfur
Worst Song: Ny batteri
The Rolling Stones
3/5
145 albums in and i finally find another album by the band that began my 1001 albums journey, The Rolling Stones, And they are back with Sticky Fingers. It actually is a pretty good album and i think its better than Let It Bleed. Unlike Let It Bleed which went further towards it's country elements, This one goes more towards rock with some of the country elements still intact which is a style i prefer. This album also had some more slower songs which worked well as breaks from the harder stuff. There are songs which i do think are not composed the greatest but this album still managed to be a pretty good album.
Best Song: Bitch
Worst Song: You Gotta Move
Bruce Springsteen
3/5
Born In The U.S.A. is probably my favorite Bruce Springsteen album so far. Unlike Born To Run which only was at it's best during it's last half. This one kept things way more consistent with it's quality throughout the whole album. I also thought the new wave elements added a bit of an interesting quality to this album that the other two albums i did by Springsteen didn't have. It also did have songs that sounded a bit like what i heard in the other two but it was balanced well with the new sound. This album is a pretty good album that i can say is a good anthem for America especially with it's title track.
Best Song: Glory Days
Worst Song: Darlington County
Elliott Smith
4/5
Elliott Smith returns with Figure 8 and it just proves that he really was a musical genius during his career. This album kinda gave a bit of a Simon And Garfunkel vibe with the vocals and the music sounding somewhat similar to the stuff they would make. I also really like how it and Either Or feel pretty different from each other with this one being more pop oriented and Either Or being more acoustic in nature. I still do like Either Or's style a bit more but this style also works really well. This is a great album from a great musician that we unfortunately lost way too soon.
Best Song: Somebody That I Used To Know
Worst Song: Junk Bond Trader
Eminem
1/5
After listening to The Slim Shady LP, all i can say is "Dear god, this album sucks". The lyrics and rapping are very dumb and not in the funny kind of dumb, just the cringey kind of dumb and very offensive to some people and it also lacks a proper structure. The instrumentals are fine and are probably the best part of the album but unfortunately some of the sound effects and samples used are annoying to say the least and can also tend to lack structure at some points. I have a problem with nearly every aspect of this album and there are almost no good things about it. Not a good combination.
Best Song: Rock Bottom
Worst Song: Guilty Conscience
Peter Tosh
3/5
After 148 albums, I finally did a reggae album with Legalize It. Honestly, It is kinda weird that an album about trying to get weed legalized is a reggae album because i would honestly expect that more from a hip hop album (heck, some of the ones i have done already talk about that in some of the lyrics) but i guess it does add to it's interestingness. The album itself is fairly above average even if it does sound a little sloppy. This was just one of those cases where i got used to the sloppiness of the composition and it grew on me. One thing i can't excuse though is that weird noise in Till Your Well Runs Dry which kinda sounds like someone drinking through a straw. This album is for me is a rather light 3.
Best Song: Whatcha Gonna Do
Worst Song: Till Your Well Runs Dry
Public Enemy
3/5
Fear Of A Black Planet was a fairly mixed bag for me. The songs here kept flip flopping in quality. On one hand, some of the songs have weak rapping and annoying samples , But on the other, The other songs have cool rapping, interesting sample usage (including one sounding like it's from Michael Jackson's Thriller). and groovy beats. The lyrics here are also cool at points and are never insanely dumb unlike some other hip hop albums. This is a generally good album overall where most of it's good aspects outweigh it's bad aspects.
Best Song: Brothers Gonna Work It Out
Worst Song: 911 Is A Joke
The Louvin Brothers
2/5
Tragic Songs of Life was an album that i just found average but it did have some good things going for it. The lyrics are generally some of the better lyrics of this genre with them having some fairly serious themes around them which most country albums released after this could not really do. This album also is really short so even if it was less pleasant to listen to, it wouldn't have lasted too long. However, what i can't get over is how samey and uninteresting the actual music is. I actually had trouble picking a favorite and least favorite song because every song sounded so similar. There are some good things about this album but unfortunately, they aren't enough to save this album from being average.
Best Song: I'll Be All Smiles Tonight
Worst Song: Alabama
Dolly Parton
4/5
Honestly, i was just shocked to see just how good Coat Of Many Colors really was since i wasn't expecting so much out of it. Dolly had a great voice throughout and she really showed that she put a large amount of effort and passion into her vocals. The music was handled really well for the most part too and the album cut a pace that was just right. It was long enough for the songs to really sink in but still quick enough for it not to feel tedious. My one issue with the album is some of the timing of certain aspects of certain tracks with examples being Early Morning Breeze ending far too early or Here I Am adding it's instruments too early. Other than that though, this is a great album that really made me know that there was more to Dolly than i had once thought.
Best Song: A Better Place To Live
Worst Song: If I Lose My Mind
Run-D.M.C.
3/5
Raising Hell was a pretty good album all things considered. It reminded me of the Beastie Boys album i looked at a long while back (which makes sense since they both released at around the same time) with both of their mixes of rap and rock. I honestly do think this album is better though. The highs of the album felt higher than anything Licensed To Ill could do and its lows were not nearly as low. This album still did have its fair share of lows here and there but it's highs more than made up for it. This is definitely one quintessential rap rock album.
Best Song: Raising Hell
Worst Song: Perfection (Ironically enough)
Led Zeppelin
4/5
Gotta say, Led Zeppelin III as quite the great album. I had heard the intro to Immigrant Song many times in the past but i never knew that song was by these guys and I like the song quite a bit more now due to hearing it's other parts. The other songs on the album were great too all using their guitar work to their fullest potential. The vocals also were really good even if it is something you hear a lot from early metal albums. Some of the songs did get a bit annoying for occasionally overusing the guitars in ways that didn't sound super good but those parts never detracted from the album too much and because of that, its still great.
Best Song: Tangerine
Worst Song: Hats off To (Roy) Harper
Joni Mitchell
3/5
Court And Spark is an album that i don't have the strongest opinion on but from what i heard, is fairly decent at what it does. The songs at the beginning of the album were not really anything to write home about mostly due to just sounding a little too similar to each other, It handles this better than some other albums but the problem still stands. The back half though really allowed the writers and Mitchell to really flex their creative muscles as the songs here were much more interesting and had quite a lot of jazz elements towards the end which i thought were handled very well. This may not be the greatest album around but its still a solid one.
Best Song: Raised on Robbery
Worst Song: Free Man in Paris
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
3/5
It seems that the Attractions have returned with Blood And Chocolate, and just like This Year's Model, This album is fine. It does have it's moments but isn't really the most interesting thing in the world. The songs generally did have pretty high energy which i liked and i do prefer the production style here more than This Year's Model's production since i just like the more 80s sounding new wave sound present here rather than This Year's Model's more basic one. Beyond that, i really don't have too much more to say about this album. It is fine but nothing all too special.
Best Song: Poor Napoleon
Worst Song: Home Is Anywhere You Hang Your Head
Marty Robbins
3/5
Now Gunfighter Ballads And Trail Songs is how you do country music in the 50s. As you can guess from that statement, this album does what it wants to do as well as it can. The main thing that stuck out to me was the lyrics which just show that Marty Robbins is quite the storyteller with his songs telling stories in some pretty interesting ways. The music is alright albeit nothing special. It can sound good sometimes but other times, it can get pretty forgettable. But even then its not exactly what i would think of as the main selling point of this album. Its the stories that it tells that are and this album does those well.
Best Song: Big Iron
Worst Song: Cool Water
The Who
3/5
I feel like I want to like The Who more than i do (rhyme unintended) but i just mostly think that they are alright and Tommy was what showed me why. The album was a real mixed bag when it came to song quality. Sometimes the songs could be cool, catchy and have interesting guitar riffs, vocals or anything else of that nature. Other times the tracks were either pretty forgettable or have some of the most annoying ideas implemented, especially when it came to vocals. I can't dislike this album at all because there are some stellar tracks here and there but sometimes i just feel like too many things just did not work here.
Best Song: Eyesight To The Blind (The Hawker)
Worst Song: Christmas
T. Rex
3/5
Honestly, i was quite surprised with how good The Slider was. I felt that it mostly flip flopped between two different styles one being a more rock out sort of style (the one i prefer but i still like the other one) and a style that feels like something that Elliott Smith would eventually go on to do but this album still feels like an alpha version of that. . The album also cut a quick pace, almost too quick at points as the songs could go by so fast that they didn't have enough time to really sink into my head. Despite that small blunder, it was still able to be a good album that really inspired a lot of the other albums i liked on this project.
Best Song: The Slider
Worst Song: Main Man
The Auteurs
3/5
New Wave was a pretty good album. Most of the songs did sound fairly similar to each other but was all that indie rock sort of sound that i do like. The album also didn't go on for too long for that style to get repetitive enough. It did get to the point where it (like the Louvin Brothers album i did a while back) was pretty tough to pick out a favorite and least favorite song due to all of them sounding really similar but i was able to pick some for this review. This album is good at what it does, it just has the issue of being a bit too much of the same thing throughout most of it.
Best Song: Starstruck
Worst Song: Bailed Out
My Bloody Valentine
3/5
m b v is another album on this project that i have mixed feelings on. There are some songs on this album that are legitimately stellar even if they are seen as just \"noise\". I honestly feel that i have a bit more of a fondness for these \"noise albums\" than most other people do since i find that while they can sound annoying at first, once they sink their teeth into you, they actually can be quite the ear candy which is benefitted by the fact that here, the songs are long enough to really sink in. Unfortunately, not all the songs here are like this. The others are just kinda boring and, like the good tracks, are pretty long too in some cases. But kinda boring is the worst this album ever really got, I still quite like it.
Best Song: who sees you
Worst Song: is this and yes
Amy Winehouse
4/5
After listening to Back To Black, I can absolutely say it was nothing like what i was expecting. I was expecting a more pop oriented album since that's the kind of vibe Amy Winehouse gave me (prior to seriously listening to any of her music) but it ended up being a more jazzy soul like album and honestly, i think its great for that. The songs here sounded pretty dark at points but managed to stay catchy and fun and also had Amy do some really good singing. The album was also the perfect length, long enough to sink in but not so long that it becomes tedious. This is definitely a great album.
Best Song: Back To Black
Worst Song: Rehab
Fela Kuti
3/5
Zombie is a very interesting album in many ways. First there is the fact that this album technically has only two songs (the other two are from the CD reissue) making it really short for an album. The other way its interesting is in it's lyrical themes basically criticizing the Nigerian government (which resulted in a lot of bad things happening to Kuti). The album itself, while not amazing, is a fairly fun listen for what it is. Every song had quite a lot of energy to it and generally kept introducing new elements in pretty decent ways. My only real gripe with this album is the organ, while unique in idea, sometimes tends to come out of nowhere in some of the songs which can get rather distracting. Other than that though, this was a fairly good listen.
Best Song: Mr. Follow Follow
Worst Song: Zombie
Jorge Ben Jor
4/5
Honestly, Africa Brasil was really good for what it does. The songs are very catchy and upbeat in all the right ways. It also kept introducing new elements as the songs went on in a way that felt natural and not sudden at all. Jorge's singing was also really good too with his voice always managing to fit every song very well even if i can't understand the lyrics due to them being in a language i do not speak. I did feel like there were maybe a few times where i began losing track of what was going on but part of me feels that wasn't really the albums fault and it kinda just being my fault. All in all, its a pretty great album.
Best Song: Africa Brasil (Zumbi)
Worst Song: O Filosofo
The Mothers Of Invention
2/5
What did i even just listen to? I already knew Frank Zappa wrote some pretty weird stuff back when i listened to Hot Rats for this project but Freak Out! just feels like if Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and The United States Of America had a baby (which kinda is weird since those two albums came out 1 and 2 years after this album respectively) and gave that baby a ton of crack and LSD. While the songs in the beginning feel like they might have worked. The later songs definitely didn't due to just being all over the place in terms of music and direction. I also hope you like the sound of laughter because you hear it a lot during the back half. I get that this album is meant to be satire based on pop culture and Los Angeles' freak scene and that's cool and all but being satire doesn't automatically excuse something for being not very good.
Best Song: I Ain't Got No Heart
Worst Song: The Return Of The Son Of Monster Magnet
Dr. Octagon
4/5
God, i was legitimately not expecting Dr. Octagonecologyst to be this good. The beats were just so cool and flowed super well while also having a cool mysterious feel to them. Keith's flows were also really good and mixed in perfectly with the music. The samples were weird but they no doubt added to the charm of this album. Even if the vocals were a bit bland at first, i eventually got used to them as the album progressed. While not every song was great (Hello, Halfsharkalligatorhalfman) the majority of them absolutely were so that makes this album a really solid listen.
Best Song: Earth People
Worst Song: Halfsharkalligatorhalfman
Little Richard
3/5
Here's Little Richard wasn't the greatest album in the world but there was quite a bit of stuff to like about it. Like with all rock and roll albums, it definitely feels like Richard definitely had a lot of fun while writing this because a lot of the songs had a fun tempo and he definitely put quite a bit of effort into his vocals, that i can really appreciate. The songs, admittedly, were a bit samey mostly relying on only two different styles being a slow one and a faster one but thankfully the album was only around 28 minutes long so neither style got too tedious to listen to. This is one album that does it's job quite well.
Best Song: Rip It Up
Worst Song: True Fine Mama
The Zombies
3/5
Odessey And Oracle is a fine album but it is one of those albums that i feel that i don't really have a lot to say about it. The Zombies just feel like one of those bands that feels stranded in a sea of Beatles clones that were incredibly prevalent throughout the 1960s. That's not to say the album is bad though, the songs definitely had their good moments and had some fairly unique sounds to them, the album was a short one that i feel is a perfect length for something like this and there is nothing the album does that's particularly wrong or anything, I just think I'm searching the bottom of the barrel just to find things to really say about this album.
Best Song: Butcher's Tale Western Front 1914
Worst Song: Changes
Elbow
4/5
The Seldom Seen Kid is something i can quite get behind. The album started off okay with the first three songs being pretty good but sometimes not making the best musical decisions but it was when Grounds For Divorce came on when the album truly became something great. The songs past that point could be really groovy and have good rhythms and also had a rather unique idea of having a steel mug be slammed on the table be an instrument (if the Grounds For Divorce video is anything to go off of) other times it could be a smooth and somber ride while sometimes creating whole worlds with music. This album truly is a great one.
Best Song: Grounds For Divorce
Worst Song: Starlings
Radiohead
5/5
I always knew that Radiohead made some good stuff but i was legitimately shocked when i found out just how good The Bends really was. The guitar work was just out of this world as was the work with all the other instruments to the point where these songs nearly moved me to tears due to their amazing instrumentation. Thom's singing was also great as were the lyrics just being about embracing your imperfections and learning that its okay to not be okay. While Amnesiac and Hail To The Thief are good albums in their own right and have arguably more interesting elements. I still feel that The Bends is my favorite Radiohead album so far because of just how good it sounds.
Best Song: Just
Worst Song: My Iron Lung
Pentangle
3/5
Basket of Light was a fairly interesting album. This album seems to be mostly focused on telling stories which i think is cool and it does a fairly good job at it. It kinda reminds me of that Marty Robbins album i did a while back, though i do like this album more due to having superior sounding music. The instrumentation did sound a bit weird at first but over time, i did get used to it and found it pretty interesting. I also do like how there are two singers with both of them sounding pretty good. I definitely think that this album is a good storytelling album even if it did take a while for me to get used to it.
Best Song: Train Song
Worst Song: Once I Had a Sweetheart
Parliament
4/5
Mothership Connection was honestly a really cool and funky album with a ton of personality. Apparently, this band had a lot (if not all) of the same members of Funkadelic in it. I can see this a lot since they do sound very similar. I do like this album more though since it feels slightly more coherent with less randomness. I also do like that this album had a few little touches including that whole section at the beginning which i thought was really cool. I do have quite the fondness for this album
Best Song: Mothership Connection (Star Child)
Worst Song: Supergroovalisticprosifunkstication (The Bumps Bump)
Brian Eno
3/5
I'll give Another Green World credit, I liked it more than i thought i would have. This generally does seem to give off some of the same vibes that the other Brian Eno album i looked at (the music for airports one) but it seems that here he tried a few more things that album did not try. Although, these new ideas could sometimes make it feel like Eno was in over his head sometimes. The majority of the songs were tolerable and were pretty decent at best though. I do prefer Brian Eno's airport album though since it feels more consistent in terms of quality as opposed to hopping all over the place.
Best Song: In Dark Trees
Worst Song: Sky Saw
Primal Scream
5/5
God, Screamadelica was genuinely one of the craziest albums i have ever listened to. It would generally tend to flip flop between a 60s psychedelic rock album or it would be a drug induced electronica album. And i absolutely love it for that. The electronic bits managed to find that balance between weird and cool and the choir parts were also a really cool addition. Due to it's nature, it was also an album that really kept me on my toes with every song managing to provide some new element. This album is just super weird and that's why i love it.
Best Song: Come Together
Worst Song: Inner Flight
Dennis Wilson
3/5
Pacific Ocean Blue is yet another album i am rather mixed over. On one hand, There were some legitimately excellent tracks in this album with instrumentation and singing that could almost be enough to bring someone to tears. On the other hand i do feel like the way the tracks were composed was not exactly the greatest, Not horrible, just a bit messy in places, and i do have an issue with one of the instruments that especially played in Dreamer which i believe are a weird trumpet sound but i just do not know. But beyond those two issues, this is a pretty decent album that i would say was worth my time.
Best Song: Thoughts of You
Worst Song: Dreamer
The Mamas & The Papas
4/5
Geez, If You Can Believe Your Eyes & Ears was quite a bit better than i was expecting so as you can guess i can't believe my ears, i can believe my eyes though. Anyways, all jokes aside, These songs were surprisingly groovy and fun while still having good melodies and rhythms. I also like that effect in California Dreamin' (i know its in this song, it might have been in the others and i wasn't paying attention) where the male vocals are on one side of the headphones and the female vocals are on the other side, I actually did think that was a pretty cool idea. The vocals are great too, of course. I was expecting this to be a typical 60s album but these guys did quite a lot to set themselves apart and this album shows.
Best Song: Somebody Groovy
Worst Song: I Call Your Name
Queens of the Stone Age
5/5
Now Queens of the Stone Age is my kind of jam. It had all sorts of great guitar riffs through out all of the songs from more simple rock out faster riffs and also more technical and slow-moving riffs. The album also got really bizarre towards the end by introducing a lot of electronic elements with all different sorts of sounds, and more Primus-style guitar playing both of which i also really enjoyed. The album could get a little repetitive but far from enough to make me not love it. It is one of the most weird yet wonderful albums i have done on this project.
Best Song: If Only
Worst Song: Hispanic Impressions
Ali Farka Touré
2/5
I can see quite a lot of potential in Savane, unfortunately it is bogged down by quite a few issues. First, the good, Ali's voice actually fit very well with the songs and i can see quite a few cool music ideas in place which could have been good if the album didn't suffer from these three issues. One, The album's composition is very messy and feels more like random sounds at random times rather than proper, coherent music. Two, The album is a fairly long one at 58 minutes which would be okay if it weren't for this last issue. Three, The songs sound too similar to each other, I had this problem with quite a few albums on this project but with messy composition and a long length, this issue is really brought out in the open. There is a good album hiding inside this one, its just too bad that these issues prevent it from coming out.
Best Song: Beto
Worst Song: Savane
Kanye West
4/5
Regardless of what you think about him as a person, Kanye West has always been quite the genius when it comes to rap music and The College Dropout shows this, even from the very start. The lyrics could range from quite a lot of different topics from religion to education and many of the lyrics in all of these songs were really smart and cool sounding like he wasn't afraid to talk about what he wanted to talk about. The production here was also really good and even the skit tracks fit really well. This one might be along one at a 76 minute runtime but it did more than enough to keep me interested. This truly is a great one.
Best Song: Two Words
Worst Song: Breathe In Breathe Out
ABBA
3/5
Arrival was a fairly good album. This is mostly the one with a lot of ABBA's biggest songs including stuff like Dancing Queen, Knowing Me, Knowing You and Money, Money, Money and all of those tracks are pretty good. The regular album tracks were a bit more of a mixed bag with high points like Tiger and low points like Dum Dum Diddle. The album did move at just the right length for an album like this. This one is certainly a solid one.
Best Song: Money, Money, Money
Worst Song: Dum Dum Diddle
Tom Waits
5/5
Here we have another album returning from my tier list project with Bone Machine. I have a friend who is a huge fan of Tom Waits and with an album like this, i can absolutely see why. Tom Waits has one of the most unique and original styles of music and singing that i have ever heard and this album truly brings it all out. The songs could go from a haunting show with some crazy instrumentation to a somber and mellow piano ballad which can really move you. Tom also really knew how to adjust his voice to each and every style and made it fit very well with every song. This is truly one of the greatest albums i have done for this project.
Best Song: Goin' Out West
Worst Song: A Little Rain
Alice In Chains
5/5
Geez, We have two amazing albums back to back with first Bone Machine and now Dirt. This album genuinely had some of the greatest guitar riffs i have ever heard in any album ever. The lyrics were also great, touching on themes like addiction and depression with Layne really bringing out the massive emotion in these tracks through his singing. There was also no song on this album that was not amazing since they carried over what made this album great over to each other. This is a really amazing album and one of the best i have done for this project.
Best Song: Them Bones
Worst Song: Untitled
Side note: I also really like that Them Bones inspired a track from the original Doom
Meat Loaf
4/5
Bat Out Of Hell was nothing like what i was expecting. From the album art, i just assumed it was likely gonna be a heavy or power metal album and while this album does have some metal elements, it isn't a metal album by nature. It was really good though. It switched between many different styles like the (kinda) power metal sounding songs like bat Out Of Hell to Tearjerker ballads like Heaven Can Wait and even a more rock and roll style with Paradise By The Dashboard Light. All of these styles were great, as were the vocals and lyrics. This one is definitely a really good one.
Best Song: Heaven Can Wait
Worst Song: All Revved Up with No Place to Go
The Yardbirds
3/5
Roger the Engineer is a case of an album that has good ideas but falls a bit short due to poor mixing. I learned that Jeff Beck worked on this album and his guitar work absolutely shines here. Many of the songs also tried unique things like all sorts of different sounds that fit surprisingly well together. The album is also a short one too at around only 30 minutes so it never feels like its dragging. The main issue i have is, like i said, the poor mixing making it sound more like a live album rather than a studio album and it can feel like the music drowns out the vocals and vice versa. This is still a decent album, it just needed some better audio mixing.
Best Song: Hot House of Omagararshid
Worst Song: Ever Since the World Began
The Dictators
4/5
You know, for being one of the first punk albums ever, Go Girl Crazy does its job very well. The instruments and rhythm were all fun and lively and the album also cut a pretty fast pace which i really like in a punk album. Granted the lyrics are really stupid throughout a majority of the album but it is a punk album so you really shouldn't expect Shakespeare like lyrics from music like this. I really don't have too much left to say about the album, Its just a fun and good one that is worthy of a 3.5
Best Song: Master Race Rock
Worst Song: Two Tub Man
Venom
4/5
I'm always in the mood for a good old metal album and Black Metal helped satiate my thirst for one. The guitar riffs are those heavy, crunchy sounds that i really like. I also think the kinda muffled sounding audio works really well for an album like this and just makes it that much more heavy. I also really like the cool introductions that Buried Alive, Teacher's Pet, and i guess At War With Satan (if that track even counts as being on this album) they really add a lot of character to the songs. This is a great album that any heavy metal fan can enjoy.
Best Song: Sacrifice
Worst Song: Black Metal
Queen
5/5
Sheer Heart Attack is a much better album than Queen II i feel since it seems to have the spark the other album lacked. Like always in a Queen album, the rhythms and melodies are fun, the lyrics are great, and the album cuts a quick pace. The instrumentation here is amazing too with some great guitar riffs and drum beats and Freddie's vocals were the icing on the cake. This album is a really excellent one and just proves how good Queen is.
Best Song: Now I'm Here
Worst Song: Killer Queen
Genesis
3/5
Selling England By The Pound is a very interesting album. I always expected a bit more of a new wave sound from Genesis (If Peter Gabriel's So was anything to go off of) but while there are elements of that here, there is more focus on the prog rock elements. The album structure is also pretty unique where it goes short song, long song, short song, long song etc. In general, this album is pretty good, the melodies and instrumentals are well done and the whole album just feels pretty interesting to listen to. I feel that this album is something you really gotta get into if you want to enjoy it to the fullest but if you can do that, you'll find a pretty good album here.
Best Song: The Battle Of Epping Forest
Worst Song: I Know What I Like (In Your Wardrobe)
The Damned
3/5
Machine Gun Etiquette is an album that isn't exactly the most remarkable but it is still pretty solid. The album had some generally good basslines and some pretty good vocals to go along with it. The album also moves at a pretty fast pace the majority of the time but it is a bit too fast sometimes not allowing the songs to sink in enough. I don't exactly know how the cover of that MC5 song is compared to the original since i haven't heard the original (heck, i haven't even heard of that band until i did this album). Either way, this album isn't the best one i have done but it is still pretty good.
Best Song: Smash It Up (Pts. 1 & 2)
Worst Song: Love Song
Beck
5/5
Wow, so we go from a sad ballad album with Sea Change to a more sample heavy album with Guero, Beck has quite a lot of range. And yes, i do love this album. The samples here give this album an unbelievable amount of personality but that's not to undermine Beck's singing and his work on the regular instruments because those are all great too. Its just the sampling and the great use of it that really steal the show for me. This really is the best Beck album i have done so far beating out Sea Change.
Best Song: Rental Car
Worst Song: Missing
Side note: The music videos are also incredibly surreal and I love it.
Terence Trent D'Arby
3/5
Terence Trent D'Arby (or his real name Sananda Maitryea) definitely shows that he has a lot of talent with Introducing The Hardline According To Terence Trent D'Arby. The music here is super relaxing and soothing but can get more energetic when the time calls for it. I also liked Terence's singing which kinda gave me Michael Jackson vibes (they look pretty similar too so that probably adds to it). My only real gripe with this album is the second to last song which has no real music which would be fine if it was a short song but it was 5 and a half minutes long. Other than that though, this was a pretty good album.
Best Song: If You All Get To Heaven
Worst Song: As Yet Untitled
The Flaming Lips
3/5
The Soft Bulletin isn't the greatest album in the world but what it does, it does well. Most of the first half of the album, while fine, wasn't all too interesting with that part probably being the most forgettable one but the second half did one-up it with more interesting songs. The music could actually be pretty sad sounding at times as it fit with some of the lyrics and that i can appreciate in an album like this. There also are not any egregiously bad songs in this album so that's cool. I don't really know what else to say about this album so all I'll say is its good.
Best Song: What Is The Light?
Worst Song: The Spark That Bled
2Pac
4/5
Me Against The World was actually a very good album. The production here was legitimately amazing with the instrumentals incorporating quite a bit of R&B elements which i really do like. 2Pac's rapping was also really smart and also really fit well with the flow of every song. None of the songs here were bad either even if the album was around 1 hour long. This is definitely a really great album.
Best Song: Me Against The World
Worst Song: So Many Tears
The Black Crowes
4/5
Shake Your Money Maker was quite the fun album if i do say so myself. The best part of this album to me was easily the melodies, Chris Robinson really brought them all to life with his singing as did all the music but it was mostly the vocal melodies that stole the show. The album also did not have a bad song or get boring like most other albums did. I'm honestly unsure of what else I'm supposed to say about this album so all i will say about it is that it is a great fun album that i really enjoyed the whole way through.
Best Song: Could I've Been So Blind
Worst Song: She Talks To Angels
Michael Jackson
4/5
Contrary to it's name, Bad is not a bad album, in fact its a really darn good one. This one had quite a lot of energy just like Off The Wall did but this one feels like it just has a little bit more magic than that one. The Sega Genesis sounding guitars and bass were also great and gave this album a whole lot of personality. Jackson's vocals also were great here too. It was also cool how this album could go from a somber soul album, to a dance banger, all the way to a rock-out style. Not every song here was great but the songs that were really were. This is definitely one of Michael Jackson's best works.
Best Song: Smooth Criminal
Worst Song: The Way You Make Me Feel
Britney Spears
3/5
...Baby One More Time feels like an album which is capable of doing something good but does it so much that it starts to become not so good. The vocals and guitar segments were solid as well as the lyrics but it does tend to feel like the songs were overusing the same formula at points. A majority of the songs used the same drum beat over and over again and the songs that did deviate from it were some of the worse ones as they could be repetitive in their own way. This album is alright (the songs that use the same formula all were of the title track and that is a good song so it doesn't affect me too bad) but there is no doubt that it can become a repetitive and boring one.
Best Song: ...Baby One More Time
Worst Song: Soda Pop
Hookworms
5/5
Microshift feels like a mix of The War On Drugs' indie sound mixed with an organ and some arcade/slot machine sounding sound effects. And boy do i love it for that. While this might be considered a noise album which a lot of people don't seem to like very much, this album managed to find a way to make the noise come together extremely well and make it sound absolutely beautiful at times. It also does help that the album is on the longer side when it comes to most of it songs which allows the album to grow on you a lot. Tracks 7 and 8 might have dropped the ball a bit when it comes to quality but they were the shortest songs making that not much of an issue. I think that this is a really great album that is really underrated.
Best Song: Negative Space
Worst Song: Boxing Day
Janis Joplin
3/5
Pearl is quite a good album that i feel i won't have too much to say about. The songs had that bluesy sound i like in a lot of these albums and Joplin's raspy voice was something i really liked in this album. The lyrics were also cool throughout all the songs. I don't really like the fact that there is a song without any actual music in this album since I'm not a fan of those types of songs because they just feel so uninteresting, at least the lyrics were interesting. This album is fairly solid even if it isn't too much to write home about
Best Song: Trust Me
Worst Song: Mercedes Benz
Simon & Garfunkel
3/5
Parsley, Sage, Rosemary And Thyme is a pretty decent album for what it is. The songs had that generally relaxing yet somewhat energetic feel that Simon And Garfunkel were known for. Some of the songs also had some genuinely really unique ideas like a cover of Silent Night being played right next to a news broadcast which is an idea i genuinely love. This album unfortunately does sound rough in some spots which the duo's later albums would rectify. I also did find the vocals in one track to be a little creepy but that wasn't really a huge issue or anything. This album is good, just not very refined.
Best Song: A Simple Desultory Philippic
Worst Song: The 59th Street Bridge Song
Everything But The Girl
3/5
Idlewild is just like a lot of the other albums i have looked at for this project when it comes to quality, Its not a very remarkable album but it is still fairly solid for what it is. The songs were all generally good sounding and never really felt annoying or super boring but there isn't really anything interesting i can really say about the majority of them. The saxophone and trumpet solos were cool and some of the songs did have that Super Nintendo sounding keyboard which i just like about it. This album is a fine listen, especially on valentines day with your significant other but it doesn't really do anything that other new wave albums from this time period haven't done.
Best Song: Goodbye Sunday
Worst Song: I Don't Want To Talk About It
The Stooges
4/5
Raw Power is an instance of an album which is great but suffers from poor production. Writing-wise and instrumentally, this album is great, The guitars are really cool sounding in a lot of the tracks and Iggy's singing, while silly at times, was actually pretty well done and provided something new for every track. This albums only real problem is the production, David Bowie's production sounded really poorly done and kinda feels like this album was being recorded in a dumpster. It also just doesn't really sound like a studio album. If you added crowd cheers and some pre-song banter, you could probably trick me into thinking this is a live album. I still really like this album, it just needed a better production job which is why it gets a 3.5
Best Song: Search And Destroy
Worst Song: I Need Somebody
Stevie Wonder
4/5
Stevie Wonder does it again and this time with Innervisions. This album is just really great. The instrumentals are great and all but the main thing that steals the show is Stevie's voice. His voice has so much range, is like heaven to the ears and also tried tons of unique things. I also did think that part in Living For The City where it was basically an audiolog from a crime taking place alongside that one n-bomb really caught me off guard since i really was not expecting that from an album like this. I think this album beats out Fulfillingness' First Finale due to this one just being far more unique and interesting but they are both great albums.
Best Song: Living For The City
Worst Song: All In Love Is Fair
Side note: I also think that its crazy that this was his 16th album and he wasn't even 25 yet.
Dexys Midnight Runners
3/5
Dexys Midnight Runners is just one of those bands that has some pretty good musicians but a not very good singer and Searching For The Young Soul Rebels shows this. The music for the most part was pretty solid with some good work on the trumpets, that is when they weren't doing the whole sudden instrument introduction thing (seriously, i hate when songs do that). The first track had a pretty cool intro though. But the vocals just weren't really something i liked. The singer just doesn't really sound like he's hitting notes right and his voice got a little bit grating at times. He did sound good in the Poem near the end of the album which really makes me think he should be something like a comedian or a motivational speaker as opposed to a singer. All in all, this album is okay, just kinda ruined by the vocals.
Best Song: The Teams That Meet In Caffs
Worst Song: I'm Just Looking
Dusty Springfield
4/5
I gotta say, I was legitimately not expecting A Girl Called Dusty to be this good. When i was first exposed to Dusty Springfield with Dusty In Memphis, she seemed pretty good but this album truly brought out what she is capable of. The music was very good for a lot of these tracks and of course, the vocals and lyrics were incredibly top notch, the album also ran at a good pace so it never got tedious at all. I guess some of the ideas that Dusty tried didn't always pay off but for the most part, the album succeeded in what it was trying to do.
Best Song: Twenty Four Hours From Tulsa
Worst Song: Wishin' And Hopin'
Adele
4/5
Adele is an artist that i am very familiar with since a lot of her stuff played on the radio when i was a kid but i still wasn't expecting 25 to be this good. I have heard all the singles quite a lot on the radio and they are all good songs but here i found that even the regular album tracks were fantastic. Adele's singing combined with the instrumentals were absolutely great and could even be enough to nearly bring me to tears especially with the sadder lyrics. Even Send My Love (To Your New Lover) while feeling distracting at first, is a pretty nice break from the sadder stuff. The album may have dipped in quality a bit with the last 3 songs but other than that, this is an absolutely great album.
Best Song: River Lea
Worst Song: All I Ask
Deep Purple
4/5
Machine Head was definitely a fun album. The album had remained good throughout the whole thing but i think the album shined the brightest during the last 3 songs. Smoke On The Water was initially that one song i knew from that old arcade game Primal Rage where it played a lot but it was a really good song due to that great guitar hook. Lazy was also a really good one with that really cool sounding intro and had the ideas of that intro spread throughout the entire song. Space Truckin' was also cool too with it's hooks as well. The first 4 songs are good too but i still stan by what i said in the second sentence. The album is still great throughout the whole thing though.
Best Song: Lazy
Worst Song: Highway Star
Paul Weller
3/5
Wild Wood is an album that's pretty solid for what it is but doesn't seem to noteworthy. The album did start off with it's fairly weird moments but then transitioned into a far more normal album. Weller's singing is fairly good and the actual music also had its good moments but sometimes, the songs felt like they were dragging on and not adding much onto themselves especially when you consider that this album is a fairly long one. The album is pretty decent but i just feel like i don't really have mush else to add to this review other than that.
Best Song: Can You Heal Us (Holy Man)
Worst Song: Has My Fire Really Gone Out?
Neil Young
3/5
Harvest is quite the good album if i do say so myself. The album mostly either had songs that heavily utilized a soft acoustic guitar, ones that used a somewhat heavier guitar (those ones were my favorites by the way), and ones with a more whimsical sounding style. Young's vocals were solid as well, with me remembering the vocals from Old Man being sampled in a Redlight King song with the same name (even if they aren't sampled there, they still sound eerily similar). The album also never really had a bad song which is a major plus. This is a pretty solid album that's well worth a listen.
Best Song: Alabama
Worst Song: There's a World
The Velvet Underground
3/5
The Velvet Underground & Nico is an album that suffers from the exact opposite problem of The Fall's The Infotainment Scan (an album i did earlier in this project) whilst the latter album was pretty good musically (with the occasional hiccups) but lacking when it came to vocals. This album is pretty good vocally throughout the majority of the album but is lacking musically. The instruments have the issue of sounding very poorly recorded and that often tends to make them get annoying after a while. This album deserves a 2.5.
Best Song: Sunday Morning
Worst Song: European Son
Side note: I do think the album art having the banana be peelable is a pretty neat idea.
The Clash
3/5
London Calling was nothing like i was expecting. From it's album art, i expected a much heavier album out of this (Like come on, there is an electric bass being destroyed there, what screams heavy album more than that?) But it seems that this one is pretty unique with all of it's influences. There is everything from some fast rock-out sort of stuff to some more i guess British sounding music (I can't think of a better word for it) and also some Mexican Fiesta sounding music. These all worked pretty well and help this album be better than this band's self titled album. This album isn't the greatest thing ever but it does it's job as well as it can.
Best Song: Train in Vain (Stand By Me)
Worst Song: Jimmy Jazz
Funkadelic
4/5
While One Nation Under A Groove might be the worst of all the Funkadelic/Parliament albums i have looked at, That still doesn't mean its not great. This album was still an immensely fun and funky ride throughout the whole thing. There were quite a bit of the rock elements that i came to know from these two acts and they were handled greatly here. The vocals were also outstanding just adding to the already funky nature of this album. Some of the songs could get a little bit repetitive with their long lengths and all but the best parts of the album more than made up for it. This album still shows why i love Funkadelic/Parliament so much.
Best Song: Who Says A Funk Band Can't Play Rock?!
Worst Song: Promentalshitbackwashpsychosis Enema Squad (The Doo Doo Chasers)
The Smiths
4/5
I know everyone on this site likes to hate on Morrissey but there is no denying that he can make a good album when he wants to and The Queen Is Dead is absolutely no exception. The guitar and bass work were absolutely great here as well as the vocals. The lyrics could also be pretty great at points but pretty dumb at others. I will say that this album is quite a bit better than Meat Is Murder since while that album had it's good moments too, it also had some fairly iffy songs, a problem which this album seems to rectify. This is actually a really good album that is more than deserving of a 3.5
Best Song: Bigmouth Strikes Again
Worst Song: Frankly, Mr. Shankly
William Orbit
3/5
Strange Cargo III is one of those albums that is really good at what it does but unfortunately lacks that small spark to be great. The album was very trippy, very unique, and in some places, very funky. The beats were really well done in the songs that utilized them more making for some really cool tracks but some of the songs were a bit too ambient for their own good causing them to be pretty repetitive and forgettable. This album is a very acquired taste that is difficult to get into if you are just a casual listener but if you are really into this sort of stuff, then this album is really good for providing a weird yet interesting listen.
Best Song: Into The Paradise
Worst Song: Deus Ex Machina
Les Rythmes Digitales
4/5
Good god, I was not expecting Darkdancer to be this good considering it's not great reputation on the site (only has 2.6 average as of writing this) but this album was surprisingly really solid. The songs, while repetitive, made use of their repetition really well and just were funky, interesting, and really, really catchy. The guest vocalists were great too as were all the main vocalists
but the main star of the show is obviously the beats. Few of the songs were annoying with a majority of them being a catchy, fun time. This is easily a great electronic album which shows just how good the 90s can do with electronica
Best Song: Hypnotise
Worst Song: Disco II Disco
Richard Hawley
2/5
Coles Corner is one of those albums that just kinda exists. The music sounds okay, the vocals work with the songs well enough, and the lyrics are there but this album simply plays it far too safe. All the songs (except for the last one) use pretty much the same formula of acoustic guitar, sad melancholy lyrics, with maybe some background ambiance here and there. That's kinda it for this album, it never tries anything interesting or all that different, it just follows an overly safe and bland formula all the way throughout. It is definitely something when i like the ambient song of an album the most simply because it sounds the most different. This album is just there.
Best Song: Last Orders
Worst Song: Darlin' Wait For Me
(Side note: The worst song here is kinda just interchangeable since all these songs sound virtually identical)
Simon & Garfunkel
4/5
Honestly, It's a shame Simon & Garfunkel broke up after this album because they brought their A game with Bridge Over Troubled Water. Everything in this album is absolutely sublime from the vocals, the music, and the lyrics being absolutely great. This album never lost the signature Simon & Garfunkel sound but made all the necessary improvements to make it the great album it is. This album also runs at the perfect pace being fast-paced and fun throughout. This album might not be perfect but it is clear that Simon & Garfunkel went out with a bang.
Best Song: Bridge Over Troubled Water
Worst Song: The Boxer
(Side note: As another reviewer pointed out, yes, you can give Simon a beard by covering Garfunkel's face and yes, it is funny)
(Second Side Note: Since this is my last Simon & Garfunkel, I thought it would be necessary to rank all of their albums so here you go,
1. Bridge Over Troubled Water
2. Bookends
3. Parsley, Sage, Rosemary And Thyme)
Dr. John
3/5
Gris Gris is definitely one of the more bizarre albums that i have looked at in this project. That is what helps it to be a really interesting album. It is spooky and kinda sounds like something cavemen or cultists would sing and at some points, sound like an early Tom Waits which i think is actually pretty interesting. The album itself is not a bad listen. Sure, it is a really weird and out of the ordinary album but somehow Dr. John really managed to make things work even with all the weirdness, they also managed to make a sound that i find annoying in most albums sound pretty tolerable (i guess it could just be because i expected it). This might not be the best album to listen to on a normal day but i can still easily recommend it as a curiosity.
Best Song: Croker Courtbullion
Worst Song: Danse Fambeaux
Incubus
5/5
I probably expected this from my favorite genre but Make Yourself is a legitimately fantastic album. Nearly every song sounded really great on this album with absolutely outstanding vocals, music, and lyrics but also managed to each have their own identity while still sounding like they fit together. The diversions this album had (Drive and Battlestar Scralatchtica) also managed to feel like nice breaks from the album's typical structure without being too annoying or jarring. This is easily among the best albums i have ever looked at for this project.
Best Song: Out from Under
Worst Song: Battlestar Scralatchtica
AC/DC
4/5
Back In Black is an album that i do quite like. For some reason, i remember some songs from this album sounding different like the title track feeling a bit softer than i remember, it is still a good song regardless. The other tracks here are also pretty solid and are often staples of classic rock radio stations that i listen to on occasion with none of them being ones i don't really want to listen to at that given time. Apparently, here is also where i learned that this band is Australian because prior to knowing this, i just thought they were from the United States, at least their music kinda gave me that vibe. This is still a pretty great album that i will always be more than happy to listen to
Best Song: Have A Drink On Me
Worst Song: Shoot To Thrill
George Jones
3/5
The Grand Tour is a perfectly fine album. The music and vocals all sound pleasant enough to the ears but don't really do anything super interesting. The album also runs at a quick pace too which is something i have fairly mixed feelings about. I do like that the songs don't ever get tedious because i bet they would if they went on for too long. But at the same time, the songs are too short to have enough time to really sink in causing a lot of the transitions from song to song feel very jarring and awkward. This isn't really the best album out there but i have listened to far worse.
Best Song: The Weatherman
Worst Song: Borrowed Angel
Le Tigre
1/5
I'm really not a fan of Le Tigre. The vocals just feel like the singer wasn't even hitting notes properly and that was mostly what helped it get so annoying. The lyrics are also non-sensical in a majority of the songs (especially on What's Yr Take on Cassavetes and Dude, Yr So Crazy!) They really need to know that saying random words at random times are not proper song lyrics. The music is actually fine throughout the majority of the album and probably the best part but there were songs that tanked in that regard too. The album thankfully is mercifully short at around only 2 or 3 minutes for every song. This album might not be as bad as the other 1 star albums i have looked at but it is still far from good.
Best Song: Slideshow At Free University
Worst Song: Les and Ray
The Beau Brummels
3/5
Triangle isn't an album that will blow anyone away but it is solid at what it does. This album mostly seems to rely on a country sound while sounding a bit whimsical which is a fairly cool idea almost as if it's being played alongside a fairy tale being told. The music also does it's job quite well for this type of sound, the vocals all fit perfectly well, and the lyrics are kinda like this with the story being told and it all fits well. I'm unsure of what else to say about this album because i just said everything i really can say about it. Its a fine album just not gonna take the world by storm or anything.
Best Song: Painter Of Women
Worst Song: Old Kentucky Home
ZZ Top
3/5
Tres Hombres is an album that is pretty basic but still good. The album does get the vibe of a southern sound to a T. There are songs that had a hard rock sound (which dominated most of the album) but they also did have some ones that had more of a country style which i think is quite cool. Unfortunately this album is a bit basic which is to be expected since it seems to be an earlier hard rock album but i still would have liked to see some more interesting ideas and elements. This album is a good one, i just wish it had some more things going for it.
Best Song: La Grange
Worst Song: Sheik
3/5
The World is a Ghetto is quite a crazy album if i do say so myself. It generally has some very odd instrument usage and some of the lyrics also feel pretty crazy to actually hear. But this is chaos that i kinda enjoy. This actually helps it to be a pretty original sounding funk album especially with all the keyboard usage (i think that's what that instrument is). Even with all the chaos, it never became too overbearing and was reasonably fun to listen to. This isn't an album that i would want to come back to all the time but with it's craziness, its still a good listen.
Best Song: Where Was You At
Worst Song: City, Country, City
The Undertones
3/5
Hypnotised is an album that has quite a lot for me to like about it. The music is solid, the lyrics are fine, and the vocals fit the songs well too. The pace was also fast without feeling too fast and i was generally just enjoying my time with the album. But there is just something that i don't like about this album. I don't even know what it is but i just feel if that thing was gone or was fixed in some way, shape or form, I'd like this album quite a bit more. But as it stands this album is a good one that i did enjoy listening to but something is keeping me from saying that its a great one.
Best Song: Hard Luck
Worst Song: Boys Will Be Boys
Miles Davis
3/5
Birth Of The Cool really shows that its a really early album on this list. The recording quality isn't really the greatest and the album really does give off the vibes of the 50s. I still somewhat enjoyed this album (it mostly helped that i was doing college homework while listening to this). The album was just generally very relaxing even when it had a faster tempo. The songs are a bit samey but this is probably expected of an album like this. I will admit that the vocals in track 12 were a pretty nice touch and definitely added something. There are better jazz albums that i have listened to but this is still an alright listen.
Best Song: Godchild
Worst Song: Rouge
Abdullah Ibrahim
3/5
Water From An Ancient Well is a pretty decent jazz album that does have some flaws. The music is generally pretty relaxing and even beautiful when it wants to be (The Mountain is a big example of this) and generally is something i like when it comes to a jazz album. The album did go on for pretty long which could cause the melodies to get a little repetitive and the song transitions could also use some work but other than that, it is a fine and good jazz album that i liked the whole way through.
Best Song: The Mountain
Worst Song: Manenberg Revisited
Barry Adamson
4/5
Moss Side Story is one of the most interesting albums i have ever heard. It was apparently a concept album for a crime movie that never existed and i do kinda wish this film existed because i would have liked to see the context for all of these songs. This album is still really good on its own though, it was dark, morbid and creepy in all the right spots. This is also an album that had songs that were different sounding enough to keep me on my toes but still felt like they all were connected mostly due to having that crime movie style sound. I really like this album for what it is but i feel like i would have liked it more if this film had actually existed.
Best Song: Auto Destruction
Worst Song: Central Control
Elvis Costello
3/5
Brutal Youth is just about the same quality as all of Elvis Costello's other albums, as in its an alright album but its nothing that will blow anyone away. This one seems to be more in line with This Year's Model music-wise rather than Blood And Chocolate which is kinda a shame since i did like the latter album more. This one is still a pretty fine album with it having quite a few solid songs with some pretty decent musical ideas. Despite all of that, the album isn't really too much to write home about. It is alright but you can do quite a bit better than this.
Best Song: Still Too Soon To Know
Worst Song: All the Rage
Dire Straits
3/5
Dire Straits is an album that doesn't do anything super special but is still a really solid album. The southern sound gave it somewhat of a country rock sort of vibe going on and that i did actually like the sound of despite not being the biggest fan of country music. The vocals were solid and the songs flowed pretty smoothly. Part of me does feel a little disappointed with Sultans Of Swing because i kind of wanted it to have more swing elements due to it's name though it was still a pretty decent song. The only thing i can really say would be reiterating what i said at the start of the review. Its not an incredibly special album but it does it's job very well.
Best Song: Down to the Waterline
Worst Song: Lions
The White Stripes
4/5
White Blood Cells was a pretty enjoyable album. I always love a rough guitar sound in indie rock albums and this album had it in spades really having that fun little garage rock style. Also, some of the songs just went far harder than i was expecting from their names. Like I Think I Smell a Rat had such a goofy title yet ended up going so hard which i just find so funny and the fact that the song, of course, sounds really good. My only real issue with this album is the fact that some of the songs don't go on for long enough in some cases but other than that, this is a fun album i can easily recommend.
Best Song: The Union Forever
Worst Song: Little Room
Suicide
1/5
To all the fans of this album, i have a question. So, to all of you, What did you see in this album? Because whatever it is you saw, i didn't see it. This album was just pure agony to listen to. The songs all use the same basic melody for pretty much their whole runtime and they barely add anything. This would have been a little more tolerable if they were short, which most of them are, but Frankie Teardrop is 10 MINUTES LONG so that made that unbearable. The vocals also make me feel really uncomfortable (and not in a good way), and while the lyrics might be the best part of the album, they are not great. How this album became considered a classic is beyond me, Hard Pass.
Best Song: Che
Worst Song: Frankie Teardrop
The Killers
5/5
Wow, Hot Fuss was such an excellent album and i was never expecting it to be this good. The songs here all sounded incredibly sublime and melodic with some great work with the guitars, bass, and synths. The vocals also fit the music to a T and even the lyrics were really good for most of the album. And again, like i said, there is not a bad song in sight because every single one of them just sounded so good. If this is an apology for being forced to endure Suicide, then apology accepted.
Best Song: Smile Like You Mean It
Worst Song: Believe Me Natalie
Spacemen 3
3/5
Playing With Fire is another mixed bag for me. The album most definitely is a really noisy one mostly with the My Bloody Valentine like guitars in a lot of the songs and typically those are cool with me as long as they give the songs enough time to sink in. While this album did indeed do that, it just didn't exactly hit the same as something like m b v as the noise here got more repetitive. There are some pretty good songs here though like Come Down Softly To My Soul and Revolution. Even the worst songs here were tolerable. This is an okay album but its a very acquired taste.
Best Song: Come Down Softly To My Soul
Worst Song: I Believe It
The Mothers Of Invention
1/5
Geez, I already said Freak Out kinda sounded like a child of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (which this current album is parodying) But it was still a shock to see that they had pretty much recreated it's album art for We're Only In It For The Money. As for the album itself, I hate it. While Freak Out! had some good moments at the start, this one had no good moments at all. Every weird or unique thing it tries to do always comes across as jarring, annoying or both. And of course, you can't have a Mothers Of Invention album without the obligatory track of just nothing but laughing and random noises and this album has it. I like some weird albums but this one just proves the point i made in my Freak Out! review, Just because it's satire, doesn't mean it gets an excuse for being bad.
Best Song: Lovely Little Girl
Worst Song: The Chrome Plated Megaphone Of Destiny
The Rolling Stones
3/5
Beggars Banquet is a pretty decent album just like what i would expect from The Rolling Stones. This album relies more on the country elements of this band rather than the harder rock elements (they are still here) This might be the reason why i don't like it as much as Let It Bleed or Sticky Fingers. Those two albums had more memorable songs than this one. There still were some pretty good songs here, Sympathy For The Devil, Street Fighting Man, Prodigal Son and Stray Cat Blues were all some pretty good songs and definitely helped this album immensely. This album is good just like the other Rolling Stones albums i have done but its not as good as them.
Best Song: Street Fighting Man
Worst Song: Dear Doctor
Gorillaz
4/5
Gorillaz was definitely a really weird one. This album just had that acid sort of rock and rap all mixed into one and each song sounded like another kind of this stuff. And, this album is great for that. Many of the beats were really catchy and just had that kind of flow that i really love from these types of albums. I also do like how Albarn (AKA 2-D) was changing his voice to play into his character rather than just rip his voice from Blur which was his old band. Some of the songs could be repetitive or could feel very out of place or jarring but all in all, i still really enjoyed this one.
Best Song: Clint Eastwood
Worst Song: Punk
Led Zeppelin
4/5
As much as i like weird and experimental albums (if they are done right). Sometimes, all i need is a good traditional rock out album to be happy in life and Physical Graffiti did fill that void. Every song felt fun enough to just rock out while driving or heck, doing any activity. The guitar riffs also felt really technical and interesting with many songs having cool and unique sounds to them all. Granted, the album was a long one at around 83 minutes and i did begin to lose track of the songs that were being played but i still had fun listening to this one.
Best Song: Kashmir
Worst Song: In the Light
Milton Nascimento
3/5
Clube Da Esquina is another album that does unique things that i do like but is kinda forgettable. The songs here could sound absolutely beautiful sometimes and are good for just relaxing down at the beach on a hot summer day or night. The Portuguese singing while not mind-blowing or anything, fit the songs pretty well. This album is a long one with quite a lot of songs which unfortunately, made some of them blend together (mostly when it comes to the shorter ones). Despite all that, This album is still a good one that is just perfect relaxation music.
Best Song: Trem De Doido
Worst Song: Dos Cruces
David Bowie
4/5
It's actually crazy that David Bowie has among the most albums on this project yet i am only doing an album of his when I'm 240 albums into this project. And yes, Aladdin Sane was a great start for my journey through all of his albums. This album had a fun jazzy, swingy rock like sound which always felt fun to listen to and Bowie's presence also really added to the fun factor to this album. It also felt like this album got the length just right unlike the last two albums i did which felt too long so here every song feels way more memorable. Yep, i really do like this one.
Best Song: Cracked Actor
Worst Song: Drive-In Saturday
Paul Simon
3/5
Hearts And Bones is a pretty decent album for what it is. You can still easily tell that Paul Simon brought everything he learned from his career with Art Garfunkel and while it might not be as well executed here, what's here is still pretty good. The songs had a very pleasant feel to them even if they could be about some pretty dark topics. Simon's voice also helped make the songs feel alive too. The songs here could be forgettable due to following fairly similar formulas but i didn't find a single one to be all that bad. This is just a solid album through and through.
Best Song: Rene and Georgette Magritte with Their Dog After the War
Worst Song: Allergies
Mike Ladd
2/5
Man, what a disappointment. I really wanted to like Welcome To The Afterfuture but unfortunately, due to many factors i will list out, i just can't. This album just suffered from really inconsistent production quality. Sometimes the songs could sound decently mixed, other times they sounded poorly. The lyrics are also stupid and in general, the album just lacks direction and just kinda goes all over the place. Its honestly a shame these issues are present because i do legitimately really like some of the musical ideas and i would really like to see them in a better album, But alas, we have them in this album where they can't shine to their full glory.
Best Song: The Animist
Worst Song: Bladerunners
Rufus Wainwright
3/5
Honestly, Want One actually was fairly solid and a fair bit better than i was expecting. I feel that a majority of the songs on this album would probably feel right at home in a romance movie or in some cases, even a musical (i would have expected to fit a medieval movie especially considering the album art but that apparently refused to happen). The theatrical instruments did sound pretty alright here and fit the themes of the songs pretty well. Rufus' voice was also pretty good as well. I do feel that the songs do sound a bit samey but other than that, this album does it's job and then some.
Best Song: Movies Of Myself
Worst Song: I Don't Know What It Is
Massive Attack
3/5
Blue Lines is decent. The songs here are mostly a mixture of hip hop and electronica which is a style that i have liked for quite a few of these albums but here it doesn't really sound worse or better than a lot of the other trip hop albums that i have heard through this project. The beats here could have their funky moments but aren't exactly the most memorable. I do like that there are a lot of different vocalists on a lot of these tracks which does make some of them more unique. This album isn't anything that's gonna light the world on fire but for what it is, its pretty good.
Best Song: Five Man Army
Worst Song: One Love
Alexander 'Skip' Spence
2/5
Oar is just a really weird one to me. Its one of those albums that has fairly decent music but the vocals leave something to be desired. There were quite a bit of good musical beats in this album especially towards the end. The main problem with this album though is that the vocals just feel very inconsistent. The album would often just flip flop around two different vocal styles which feels jarring when they change since they change at random points in the album. And neither vocal style is really all that good since they are both just really tough to hear. It nearly hits the margin of being okay but still remains mediocre.
Best Song: Grey/Afro
Worst Song: Diana
R.E.M.
3/5
Murmur was yet another album that doesn't do anything insanely amazing but for what it is, its really solid. The album was a bit slow at the beginning but picked up by track 3. The tracks during that period of time were not exactly anything extraordinary but they were still solid fun tracks that i did enjoy. The vocals were not super special either but fit the music pretty well. This is a solid album but i genuinely don't really know what else to say about it other than just calling it a good album.
Best Song: We Walk
Worst Song: Radio Free Europe
Rage Against The Machine
5/5
I probably saw this coming when i went into this album but I love Rage Against The Machine. I only really had experience with two of this albums singles being Killing In The Name and Bombtrack (mostly the Stone Sour cover) and they are great songs but the other songs in the album are no slouches either. The guitar riffs were some of the most creative i have ever heard and really prove how good of a guitarist Tom Morello really is. The vocals are also the perfect kind of aggressive for this album. This is most definitely one of the best albums i have done for this project and is very deserving of it's global review score.
Best Song: Take The Power Back
Worst Song: Know Your Enemy
Marvin Gaye
4/5
Let's Get It On was actually really great for what it was. I know this album is primarily known for it's title track and that track's meme status but it is still a really good track and the other tracks here are great as well. The actual music here was really beautiful in places and features what probably will be the closest that we will ever get to having classical music on this list. Marvin's voice also was the perfect kind of voice for this album as it provided the romantic feel that the album needed. And none of the songs are bad either so it is a great album all around.
Best Song: If I Should Die Tonight
Worst Song: Keep Gettin' It On
Echo And The Bunnymen
3/5
Ocean Rain is probably one of the most fine albums i have looked at on this project. This album does sound good and it does have a few cool moments but i just don't think its really all that special. This album is just another album in the sea of new wave/post punk albums of the 80s along with the rest of them. While i do kinda like the sound of this sort of stuff, they often sound very similar to each other and don't bring much new to the table. Just like a lot of those albums, this album is alright, just i don't have much to really say about it.
Best Song: Ocean Rain
Worst Song: Silver
Amy Winehouse
4/5
Frank is an album that i really like, even more than Amy Winehouse's second album and that album was great too. While Back To Black was more serious in nature, Frank was definitely more humorous, snarky, and it really just seemed like Amy had a lot of fun creating this album which gives me some of the same vibes as a lot of the rock and roll artists from the 50s and 60s. And in general the music, Amy's vocals, and the lyrics were all seriously great. My only real flaw with this album is the double tracks which are not handled as well as they could be handled but other than that, this album is great.
Best Song: In My Bed
Worst Song: Amy Amy Amy
Pixies
4/5
Bossanova was an album that came so unbelievably close to being a 5 star album but it just barely missed the mark. The majority of this album consisted of nothing but pure, full on bliss. The guitars were heavy enough to easily make it an album that you can easily rock out to while the melodies were prolific enough to make the album always move me no matter what it tried. My only issue is that some of the songs were not as great as they could be and should have either been cut or improved. If that slight blunder was fixed, then i would have easily given this album 5 stars but as it stands, it sits at a very high 4 stars
Best Song: Velouria
Worst Song: Is She Weird
Crosby, Stills & Nash
3/5
Crosby, Stills & Nash is a pretty good album. A lot of the time while i was listening to this album, I felt like these guys had a very similar vocals to the ones of Simon & Garfunkel (they really did influence a lot, huh). In fact, this album really did feel like a Simon & Garfunkel album just with more country influences that those guys ever really had. The vocals, music and lyrics were all pretty solid here and there isn't even a single bad song on this album. This album was generally a pretty solid run but i do think that this group would be at their best when Neil Young got involved.
Best Song: Wooden Ships
Worst Song: Suite: Judy Blue Eyes
Rush
5/5
2112 was an absolute beast of an album. It was always hard, heavy, fast and melodic throughout all 6 of it's songs (the first track is three tracks combined into one, just so you know). The vocals and lyrics were very great parts of the album but for me, it was the music that stole the show with it being everything i described above. And there isn't a single song that's not great because the greatness carried over from each and every song all the way to the very end. In fact, i don't think there really is a flaw i can even mention, this album is genuinely excellent.
Best Song: Tears
Worst Song: The Twilight Zone
Franz Ferdinand
4/5
Franz Ferdinand was most definitely a fun one. It is one of those albums that takes a little bit of time for it to get going but when it does, it really does. I was just shocked seeing just how many of these songs were bangers and have some super catchy rhythms. It was mainly the singles that stuck out to me but many of the regular album tracks still had that fast, fun vibe that i liked about the singles. And there isn't one bad song, sure, the first two songs weren't amazing but they weren't bad, the rest were absolute bangers though and just show how great this album really is.
Best Song: Take Me Out
Worst Song: Jacqueline
Air
3/5
We have a another movie soundtrack and this time, one that actually exists with Virgin Suicides. I have never actually seen this movie (mostly because I'm not really into watching movies, video games and obviously music have been my preferred media) but from reading the films plot synopsis and listening to this score, It seems to fit this kind of film really well and it sounds pretty good to boot. In fact, i like this one more than the last Air album i looked at since this one just sounds far more interesting and is just more memorable. Some of the songs are just kinda background noise but i can understand that mostly since this was made to be listened to alongside a movie. This album is pretty good for what it is.
Best Song: Empty House
Worst Song: Dark Messages
Jethro Tull
4/5
Aqualung was actually a really great album. This generally felt like a super cool and original album for the time. The guitars were great and had some very inventive and cool sounding riffs that rival stuff like Jeff Beck's riffs and the flute sections were also great too as they could also be really creative with how that instrument was used throughout the tracks especially the hard stop which felt like it could replicate a drum. I do think this album occasionally suffers from the issue of making songs end to early as to where they can't really sink in but that was a rare issue and does not stop this album from being as great as it is.
Best Song: Cross-Eyed Mary
Worst Song: Slipstream
Donovan
3/5
Sunshine Superman was an album that was quite a bit better than i was expecting. At first, i was kinda expecting a rather mediocre psychedelic folk rock album but this one did quite a few things to get itself into my good graces. The music on this album was pretty good and could frequently change it's mood to sound either more upbeat and catchy to more mellow and somber. The vocals and the music were also pretty decent here too. This album isn't really anything super special but for what it does, it does a pretty fine job.
Best Song: Sunshine Superman
Worst Song: Three King Fishers
Blur
5/5
I don't think i was expecting this much out of Blur, i was just expecting a good album just like the previous album i did by them but this was more than just a good album, it was great! The instrumentals were actually really great here especially the guitars because those could be the right amount of both rough and refined. While there were some songs where they mostly sounded like noise, the noise just somehow managed to blend well together and click with me to the point that it didn't really hamper my enjoyment of this album. It might not be perfect but it is a really great album that's more than worthy of a 4.5
Best Song: You're so Great
Worst Song: Theme from Retro
Miles Davis
3/5
After listening to In A Silent Way, it is a pretty decent jazz album and a pretty decent step above the last Miles Davis album i looked at. This one, like i already said, seems to take a different approach from Birth Of The Cool (The previous Miles Davis album i did). While that previous album had a bunch of different songs which sounded generally similar to each other, this one had two songs split up into 3 sections each with the third one being a continuation of the first. I do like this style more since it allows the songs to be stand out much more from each other and the songs in general feel pretty darn relaxing. This album isn't exactly anything amazing but its still a pretty solid effort.
Best Song: In A Silent Way / It's About That Time
Worst Song: Shhh / Peaceful
(Side note: Honestly, i don't even know why i'm picking a best and worst song for this album since there is just two songs but i guess i can just say i liked the second song more than the first one)
XTC
3/5
Skylarking is a fine album. The album honestly does feel like a new wave album even though that genre was not listed in this album's list of genres. The songs here are generally all pretty well done with some decent melodies throughout all of them. The sound of them did sound a little bit jarring at first but i got more used to it as the album progressed. My main issue is the seamless song transitions which would sound fine if done through an actual record/cassette/CD player but when I'm here listening to them on YouTube through the album's official playlist, it becomes fairly awkward. This album is a pretty decent addition to the library.
Best Song: Season Cycle
Worst Song: Grass
Linkin Park
5/5
Man oh man was i excited to get to this one. Hybrid Theory is my favorite album of all time and after this listen, i have stuck with that opinion. You really can't go wrong with songs like Papercut, One Step Closer, With You, Points Of Authority, Crawling, Runaway, By Myself, In The End, A Place For My Head, Forgotten, Cure For The Itch and Pushing Me Away. That sounds like a lot of songs huh? Well, that's because i listed every song off the album, they are all amazing with sublime instrumentals, incredible vocals from Mike and Chester and lyrics that may sound like typical teenage angst at first but are actually really mature once you look deeper into them. This is probably gonna be the last time i will say this is the best album i have done on this project because i don't think there is an album better than this one.
Best Song: In The End
Worst Song: Cure For The Itch
(Side note: I wish Meteora was here too but i am still happy this one is on this list, also rest in peace Chester)
The Who
3/5
My Generation is a pretty good album. This album seems to take a lot of inspiration from The Beatles just like a lot of the other psychedelic rock bands from this time period did but this album sounds quite a bit better than all of the Beatles albums i have currently listened to since this sound just happens to click with me a decent bit more. I also like this more than the other Who album i did due to just having less iffy songs on it's track list. The recording quality is a bit off but other than that, this album is a solid one even if it isn't doing anything that revolutionary.
Best Song: My Generation
Worst Song: The Good's Gone
Buddy Holly & The Crickets
2/5
Chirping Crickets just doesn't really do it for me. I think that this album just has songs that just sound overly similar and while they sound pleasant, they definitely aren't super unique or original. The album did go by at quite a brisk pace though which allows me to cut it a little more slack since it never was able to get super annoying or repetitive. This album does lack a decent bit of the passion that Here's Little Richard and Live At The Star Club, Hamburg did though. It also turns out that I'm Looking For Someone To Love ripped off Elvis Presley's Jailhouse Rock so that's something i don't think is cool. This album may have been fine for the time but now, i don't think it holds up very well.
Best Song: You've Got Love
Worst Song: I'm Looking For Someone To Love
Manic Street Preachers
4/5
The Holy Bible was a really good album. The first few songs weren't exactly the greatest to me, either that or i just wasn't in the groove yet. But it was by track 4 that it really started to grow on me. The tracks could either be fast, frenetic and fun, or they could be much more villainous with some pretty haunting melodies especially with those bass lines. I still do not think that any of the songs from this album are bad either, sure the first 3 might have been a little forgettable but they still were good. Geez, why do so many britpop albums go this hard?
Best Song: The Intense Humming of Evil
Worst Song: Yes
De La Soul
3/5
Oh come on! Did i take psychedelic drugs without realizing it again? No? Well in that case, this album is genuinely one of the most bizarre albums i have ever listened to. Every song had some kind of different sound to it and used very different sounding samples to make their beats. While some of the songs are so weird that they fail to really hit, other songs however, do hit and are incredibly groovy and fun to listen to and you can just tell that these guys enjoyed making this album. However, i do feel that this album is another album to add to the list of hit or miss hip hop albums from the 1980s.
Best Song: Eye Know
Worst Song: Can U Keep a Secret
Christine and the Queens
3/5
I didn't have very high expectations when it came to reviewing Chris but i can safely say I'm pleasantly surprised at how solid this album turned out. First things first, this album is really weird and sounds like an 80s new wave album, except it was released 30 years late. However, this album did still manage to sound good and all the synths managed to sound melodic and unique. The album did feel a little long despite what it's 44 minute runtime states but i remained pretty interested for the most part. This is a pretty solid album that just happened to release at the wrong time.
Best Song: The stranger
Worst Song: Feel so good
Ghostface Killah
3/5
Another day, another Wu-tang clan album. Fishscale is my second album by a member in this hip-hop group the first being Liquid Swords by GZA and unfortunately, this album doesn't hit the highs that one hit. The production, like the last album, was actually pretty good for the most part with some pretty funky beats and samples that were well put together even if they weren't as interesting as Liquid Swords'. The main thing that holds this one back though is the lyrics which are often the same format of racial slurs and sexual references. There are some smart lyrics but there are way more dumb ones which make the 60 minute runtime seem a little long. This album is not bad but not up to the standard of the other Wu-tang clan member album i have looked at.
Best Song: Be Easy
Worst Song: Whip You With A Strap
Garbage
5/5
Honestly, I don't think that Garbage is the right title for this album, I think that a much better name for this album would be Pure Gold because that's exactly what this album is. I don't think i was expecting a whole lot from this album, just maybe a 3 star worthy rock album but this album blew all my expectations away from it's first song. The guitars are the right balance of heavy and melodic and Manson's vocals seriously added a lot to this album too as well as all the cool production quirks. Also, every song on this album is a banger and there is not even a bit of garbage which is ironic since it's the band's name. I've got nothing left to say, this album is just amazing.
Best Song: As Heaven Is Wide
Worst Song: Queer
Quicksilver Messenger Service
3/5
Happy Trails is a decent little album. This album does seem to go for a country sound for some of it despite the album mainly being psych rock and i think it sounds good here. The guitars themselves were really well handled and generally had some cool riffs and leads. However, the main issue with this album is one word, repetition. This album mostly consists of the same type of sound throughout and while it does sound good, with it's 50 minute runtime, it could get pretty tiring to listen to after a while. Despite that, this album is still a decent one that i don't regret listening to.
Best Song: Who Do You Love
Worst Song: Where You Love
The Only Ones
3/5
The Only Ones was definitely a mixed bag album for me. All of the songs seem to follow similar formulas to each other but the results would often vary. On one hand, there were some songs with some pretty decent energy and the singer's voice did seem to fit well with them. On the other hand, the other songs were kinda slow and boring and just ruined by the singer's voice in some instances. The album did seem to move at a fairly fast pace and there were more good songs than bad songs so those two facts helped this album but not enough for me to give it more than 3 stars.
Best Song: Language Problem
Worst Song: Breaking Down
3/5
Twelve Dreams Of Dr. Sardonicus was definitely a really unique album on this list. The first three songs of the album may sound like your typical late 60s, early 70s rock album but when track 4 kicks in, that's when things really start to get crazy. Most of the songs at this point seem to be more like drug trips as they all have parts that i never expected to come next and always subvert my expectations. And this is what i like about this album. I enjoyed the erratic nature of these songs and there is the fact that the majority of them did manage to sound good regardless of how weird they were. This is a pretty solid addition to the list.
Best Song: When I Touch You
Worst Song: Why Can't I Be Free
Miles Davis
3/5
Kind Of Blue isn't the best jazz album out there but it's still a decent one. This one seems to greatly reduce the amount of songs from Birth Of The Cool to this and in exchange, makes the songs longer. I personally like this style more since it allows the songs to do a better job at sinking in as well as being able to mask the lack of differentiation in this album better. While i don't think that the songs here are as memorable as the ones in In A Silent Way, i do still think these songs are pretty decent and definitely are better than the ones in Birth Of The Cool. This album is definitely a good one but i feel it would get topped 10 years later.
Best Song: So What
Worst Song: Blue In Green
Germs
4/5
GI is definitely a guilty pleasure album of mine. It is often regarded as one of the first hardcore punk albums to ever come out and it is pretty good for holding that honor. The music definitely is chaotic but is also fun to listen to and never got very annoying even with the final song's piano work. The lyrics and vocals also are incredibly stupid but its not the cringy kind of stupid but rather, the fun and endearing kind of stupid and they fit the rhythm of the songs well. I really liked the fast pace of the album too which always made sure to keep me on my toes. This is a fun album that is pretty deserving of a 3.5
Best Song: Media Blitz
Worst Song: Our Way
Beastie Boys
4/5
Ill Communication is my second Beastie Boys album i have done for this project following Licensed To Ill and i really like this album more. This album seems to be a bit more consistent with it's quality compared to Licensed To Ill, Where that album had pretty high highs and pretty low lows, Ill Communication seems to have higher lows and highs that are around the same level. Some of the songs do feel like they are just here to pad out the length of this album but they were never super annoying and didn't take away from the best tracks which were some pretty great ones. This album is a really good album and a decent step above Licensed To Ill.
Best Song: Sabotage
Worst Song: Bobo On The Corner
The Who
4/5
Who's Next is the album where The Who fully proved their worth to me. It does seem to be another concept album from them but this one actually seems to have a lot more structure to it. The songs here don't have any iffy sounding moments like some the ones from Tommy did but here they do have their own sound here and don't seem to be ripping anything off unlike My Generation which was a clear Beatles rip off. This album did feel like a bit of a drag but it never got too much. There were quite a couple of great songs on this album so that easily makes up for it anyway. This is actually a pretty great album and the best Who album i have done so far.
Best Song: Bargain
Worst Song: Love Ain't For Keeping
Throbbing Gristle
1/5
D.O.A. the Third and Final Report of Throbbing Gristle? More like D.O.A. the Torture Method of Throbbing Gristle because this album was genuine torture. Somehow this album managed to commit every no-no in music history. Horrible music that's overly repetitive and has start-and-stop loud moments? Check! Grainy and muffled vocals that make it impossible for me to decipher what they even are? Check! Terrible lyrics? I don't know since i couldn't even tell what they were. Even at 42 minutes, this album felt like it was dragging on and on. This may genuinely be the worst album i have ever done for this project. Sure, Will The Circle Be Unbroken was an overly long and repetitive country album but at least i can consider that music. Calling this album music though, is a MASSIVE stretch because this is just noise, Awful, awful noise.
Best Song: AB/7A
Worst Song: Walls of Sound
Depeche Mode
3/5
Music for the Masses wasn't as good as i was hoping for it to be but it is still a solid album. I have heard plenty of things about Depeche Mode but never really sat down to listen to an album by them and their sound was generally what i was expecting. Half of the album was a pretty typical 80s new wave album with all the bells and whistles you'd expect to see. The other half though, was really orchestral and cinematic which i don't find to be a really good or bad thing. i just find it kinda funny. The album, like a lot of others like it, did have a few forgettable tracks but the good tracks were still pretty good so this album is a good one.
Best Song: Little 15
Worst Song: To Have and to Hold
Leonard Cohen
4/5
I was not expecting You Want It Darker to be this good. It seems pretty different from the last Leonard Cohen album i did way back (Songs Of Love And Hate if you don't know) and i do think that this one is better. The music could have either a really cool mysterious vibe or could be so beautiful that it could nearly move me to tears. Leonard's voice was also really great here and the lyrics were really well done too. It goes to show that even at 82, Leonard Cohen is still more than capable of making a really great album though sadly just one month before his death.
Best Song: It Seemed the Better Way
Worst Song: Leaving the Table
Side note: Knowing that this was Leonard Cohen's last album before his death honestly makes the last song much sadder as it is more or less a send off from Cohen even though one more album came out after his death.
Ray Charles
3/5
Honestly, I have no idea why this album is called Modern Sounds in Country and Western Music since i did not hear a single influence from country music like the title would have implied but I'm not here to complain about the title, I'm just here to say that this album is a pretty good one. I found that the best parts of the album were the opening song and closing song since they had the fun jazz sound i like. The other songs went for more of a Frank Sinatra sort of sound which is fine but nothing i liked more than the really jazzy stuff. This album is a pretty solid one, just had a little too much of the stuff i liked less.
Best Song: Bye Bye Love
Worst Song: I Love You So Much It Hurts
Side note: I find the first song kind of funny since the lyrical subject matter is so sad and serious yet the music is so jazzy and groovy
4/5
Modern Life Is Rubbish, along with Parklife, is the most British album i think i have ever heard. Everything about this album just screamed England from the title to Damon's voice to a lot of the musical ideas and i really like this album for that. The album generally sounds great with some well done guitars and fun musical offshoots which don't get distracting which really helped this album in the long run. I like this album more than Parklife since there was never a point in the album which was distractingly different from the rest of the album. The self-titled album may still be better but i still think this album is really good.
Best Song: Turn It Up
Worst Song: Miss America
Side note: Since i reviewed every Blur album on this project, I'm gonna do what i did with Simon & Garfunkel and rank all their albums on this project so, here goes
1. Blur
2. Modern Life Is Rubbish
3. Parklife
Harry Nilsson
3/5
Nilsson Schmilsson was actually a pretty solid album with some really good songs in there. For this album, i like how a lot of the songs do not sound similar to each other and have something new and unique from each other to add to this album. Of course, my favorites were all the really groovy, jazzy, and just fun and fast-paced songs. Some of the slow songs were alright too with them still being pretty unique from each other but sometimes, they did have a tendency to just meander along without really doing anything special. Other than that, this album is a pretty darn good one.
Best Song: Gotta Get Up
Worst Song: Early in the Morning
Willie Nelson
2/5
Red Headed Stranger is just another country album with all the quirks and flaws that come with most albums of the genre in my eyes. The album itself sounded pleasant enough and never really got unbearably bad to listen to (aside from that weird horn noise that most country albums use that i just don't like hearing all that much). But the album just hardly deviates from it's own formula or tries enough different things with each song which causes nearly all of them to sound the same. I also think that the songs end too quickly and unnaturally to the point where i have to check the tab the song was playing on in order to see if i was on a new song or not. This album isn't bad but it's not very great either.
Best Song: Down Yonder
Worst Song: O'er the Waves
Paul McCartney
3/5
McCartney honestly was not really what i was expecting it to be. After listening to 3 Beatles albums so far, i was expecting Paul's solo effort to sound a lot like his work with them but my expectations were very subverted. Not only was the music a lot more experimental feeling in nature, but his voice didn't sound like what it sounded like in The Beatles and i can give this album credit for being something i didn't expect. While the first part of the album was pretty forgettable, It was when Oo You hit when i really started to find things to like about this album. This album isn't perfect but it is still one i enjoyed a decent amount.
Best Song: Momma Miss America
Worst Song: The Lovely Linda
Leonard Cohen
3/5
Considering the last two Leonard Cohen albums i have listened to (those being Songs of Love and Hate and You Want it Darker) If you were to tell me that I'm Your Man had a lot of 80s new wave sounding songs throughout the whole thing, I probably would not have believed you prior to listening this album but now that i have, i have no choice but to believe you now. Honestly, this album actually worked pretty well with it's sound considering that this is not the kind of sound that Cohen typically does. It was still very easy to recognize that this was a Leonard Cohen album too due to his voice and some folkish elements. This album isn't the greatest thing ever but for what it does, it does well.
Best Song: Everybody Knows
Worst Song: Tower of Song
David Holmes
4/5
Well, time for another weird electronica album that i had never heard of until now with Let's Get Killed. Honestly, i wasn't really going in with the highest expectations but man oh man this album really grew on me. The actual songs here were actually really catchy when i could remember them due to their length making only one song stay in my head for that time and the intermission tracks did manage to fit well with the album's theme. There is even a reworking of the 007 theme here which i thought was interesting. Granted the album is long and repetitive but i still enjoyed it enough to give it a 3.5.
Best Song: Let's Get Killed
Worst Song: Head Rush On Lafayette
The Band
3/5
Music From Big Pink was an album that did take a little while for me to really start to get used to it but when it did, the album did do it's job pretty well. Most of the songs generally sounded pretty good and were also pretty good at making some beautiful stuff at points. It did occasionally have parts where i can say that they weren't really the most pleasant to listen to such as the instrumentation getting to be a little too much but thankfully, those parts were pretty rare. This album is not a bad one and had some pretty good sounding parts but that's probably what you would expect from a band with the most generic name ever.
Best Song: This Wheel's on Fire
Worst Song: Tears of Rage
Shivkumar Sharma
1/5
I don't know if many people will agree with me on this (this album has a review average of less than a 3 so they might) but i am gonna be clear, Call of the Valley sucks. This was just one of those albums where my opinion of it deteriorated over time. At first, i thought this album sounded interesting but then it just kept going and going without much variation or good songs and i my opinion of this album started to get more and more sour. I think if just one of the songs released as a single, then i my original opinion would have stayed but as it stands, This is an album that i can understand it's place on the list but that still doesn't make it a good album in the slightest.
Best Song: Dhun-Mishra Kirwani
Worst Song: Bageshwari
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
3/5
Armed Forces, just like all of Elvis Costello's album is a decent album but doesn't exactly go all the way. This one seems to be much closer in line to how i remember This Year's Model sounding (which makes sense considering the two albums only came out a year apart). This album also really makes me remember how cheesy a lot of Costello's lyrics are and i do think that they can be pretty charming at point and do work well with the music that's being played by The Attractions which i also think sounds pretty good. I don't believe that this album made a huge impression on me but it still remains a decent listen.
Best Song: Goon Squad
Worst Song: Accidents Will Happen
Elvis Costello
3/5
Okay, so this is a shock, to receive two Elvis Costello albums back to back (One was an attractions album so i guess there is kinda a difference but i still see it as the same) Now with My Aim Is True. And to be honest, it is probably my favorite album that Elvis Costello worked on. It has all the elements from all the attractions albums that i liked but here the guitars are far more prevalent and do sound really good. The melodies here were also great and that Elvis Costello cheesiness is still there but a bit toned back. This album actually turned out to be a really solid one and definitely my favorite Elvis Costello album.
Best Song: Waiting For The End Of The World
Worst Song: Mystery Dance
The Byrds
3/5
Sweetheart Of The Rodeo is an okay album but is not one i would say does anything all that interesting. From what i have read about this one, it was originally supposed to be a history of 20th century American popular music which would have had country, jazz, and R&B but was just made to be country which is unfortunate because i would have liked the album more if it went with it's original vision. As it stands though, the songs here are pleasant enough and don't seem to do anything egregiously terrible and it moves at a fairly brisk pace which is nice. I think that this album is worthy of a 2.5.
Best Song: Nothing Was Delivered
Worst Song: Blue Canadian Rockies
Serge Gainsbourg
2/5
OH COME ON SERGE GAINSBOURG! Histoire De Melody Nelson would have been a good album with good background music which consisted of interesting guitar playing, some well done basslines and interesting orchestral elements but then you just had to ruin it by making the lyrical material about this 40 year old man falling in love and trying to seduce a 14-15 year old girl. Legit, everything about this subject matter is absolutely disgusting and just sours my taste of this album. The only thing saving this album from a full blown 1 star review is the fact that the lyrics are in French meaning i can't understand them. If the lyrics were in a language i could understand(English and some Spanish), then regardless of how good the music sounds, it would get a 1 but because they are not, this album is getting a 1.5
Best Song: En Melody
Worst Song: L'Hotel particulier
David Bowie
5/5
After listening to Aladdin Sane, i did think that David Bowie definitely did have a lot of talent when it came to making music but Low showed that way more. This was just one of those albums that always would do something that i would not have expected and yet, handles it so well that it just clicks so well with me. Nearly every sound here from the regular instruments used in nearly all the tracks, to the more one-off sounds are all handled absolutely amazingly. This album was also just a really beautiful sounding one making me feel like I'm getting one of the greatest views of my life while being at a high surface. This album is a genuinely amazing one that i never expected would be this good.
Best Song: Speed Of Life
Worst Song: Weeping Wall
Radiohead
4/5
I gotta say, of all the Radiohead albums i have listened to for this project (and in general) In Rainbows has easily got to be the most chill album of them all. Every sound here felt very minimalist and ambient all the way from the guitars to the pianos to the electronic sounds. And i really do like it, it fits into Radiohead's style of music really well and these songs were just perfect for relaxation. It might not be my favorite Radiohead album and the last song did go on for a little longer than it should have but it is still a really good album that i don't regret listening to.
Best Song: All I Need
Worst Song: Videotape
Erykah Badu
4/5
I honestly really liked Mama's Gun. With it's album art, i thought that this was going to be an album with a ton of Mexican influences but most of the world influences here seemed as if they were Malian or Indian rather than Mexican. I really did like most of the beats here with many of them feeling very jazzy. Erykah's voice though, was the main selling point even if the lyrics she sang were a mixed bag of smart and dumb. I also found the song transitions to also be a mixed bag with them either being cool or me being like \"Just make it one song at this point\". Regardless, this album kept me interested even with a 71 minute runtime and i really can see how many female Hip Hop/R&B artists today got their sound from this album.
Best Song: Orange Moon
Worst Song: Booty
Joni Mitchell
4/5
Blue is an absolutely beautiful album from start to finish. I mostly was expecting some of the sound from Court And Spark from which i knew Joni Mitchell for but for some reason, this feels different and better(probably because this album is fresh in my memory) The lyrics are just beautiful and can tell some wonderful stories and of course, they are all amplified by Joni's beautiful voice and the backing music, I honestly do not know if i can really think of that many glaring issues for this album because it really did it's job perfectly. This album may not always be my cup of tea but i still really liked it.
Best Song: This Flight Tonight
Worst Song: California
Al Green
3/5
Let's Stay Together is okay at best. It is just another album in the sea of 60s/70s soul albums and while it does sound good in a lot of places, it never really changes things up. I do think that Al's voice was definitely good but not much that i haven't heard in other voices of this kind of music like Marvin Gaye or Stevie Wonder. The few shake-ups in the music were ones i really did appreciate because the rest of the album just blended together so hard that i started zoning out during the album which made me forget a lot of it. This album isn't bad, it's just pretty samey and forgettable and you can do quite a bit better with this kind of music.
Best Song: Judy
Worst Song: It Ain't No Fun To Me
Stephen Stills
3/5
Manassas was a pretty good album. Considering a lot of the people that Stephen Stills worked with, it came as no surprise to hear this album have a country rock sort of sound like the works of those other artists. The songs themselves were pretty all over the place when it came to how good they were seeing as the album was very long. The good songs did overpower the bad ones and the bad ones weren't really that bad, just not really up to snuff with the other songs. I don't really think i can say all too much else about this album so I'll just say it's a pretty good album that's well worth a listen.
Best Song: Right Now
Worst Song: Fallen Eagle
R.E.M.
3/5
Automatic for the people was actually a really solid album. The songs here definitely left quite the impression on me especially the last few songs which could be legitimate tearjerkers at times. The sound of this album isn't really anything too special, different or unique but for what it does sound like, it manages to sound pretty good. The songs here were a bit similar sounding to each other but i didn't find that a huge issue since the style was all still good. This album is one that doesn't break new grounds but still manages to be a solid listen.
Best Song: The Sidewinder Sleeps Tonite
Worst Song: Sweetness Follows
Aerosmith
4/5
I really enjoyed Toys In The Attic. I honestly never made the connection of Aerosmith having blues elements in their music but i find that they mesh so well with the traditional hard rock they are known for. I also thought every song here was at least good if not great and they also managed to be very different from each other despite being relatively the same genre. I honestly don't know if i can think of any flaws that this album has since this album did everything it tried to do right. This is one great album in my opinion and is well deserving of a spot on this list.
Best Song: Sweet Emotion
Worst Song: Uncle Salty
The Prodigy
5/5
My god, The Fat Of The Land was such an awesome album. Never have i heard an electronic album be so of it's time and timeless and versatile at the same time. Not only that but every song was extraordinarily catchy, dark in all the right places while remaining so cool, and always interesting and just blowing me away with how unique every song here is. And did i mention that this album is so versatile as it can fit in so many situations from working out, to having a fun dance party, to even racing in cars. Even the long songs didn't bug me in the slightest as they were all still bangers. This is an absolutely incredible album that i have virtually zero complaints with.
Best Song: Fuel My Fire
Worst Song: Diesel Power
Side note: If i were to make a racing game, Fuel My Fire would absolutely be in it's soundtrack (if i were to have the rights)
Weather Report
3/5
Heavy Weather was a pretty good album. This album apparently is a fusion of jazz and rock (i have heard other albums on this project like that) but i feel that for this one, the jazz elements take center stage and make the rock elements fell like a bit of an afterthought and it stays that way for the whole album (except for that one track that sounds like street drumming). My only issue with this album is the fact that one of the songs did get a little too quiet for no good reason but other than that, this album was a good listen and definitely better than the average jazz album.
Best Song: The Juggler
Worst Song: Harlequin
Stevie Wonder
5/5
Wow, Songs In The Key Of Life was an album that i absolutely loved. Stevie Wonder was always capable of greatness throughout his career but this is where he truly brought out his A game. Sure, it was a long one at an hour and 25 minutes but it was an hour and 25 minutes of some of the most sublime soul music out there that always managed to stand out from each other despite the long length yet still heavily being products from this album. I also do find it interesting that the original version of Coolio's \"Gangster's Paradise\" came from this album, a place i was not expecting at all. Sure, this album does have problems but none of them are enough for me to give this album any lower than 5 stars.
Best Song: Sir Duke
Worst Song: Love's In Need Of Love Today
Radiohead
4/5
Is it just me or have the Radiohead albums i have been doing lately been getting really relaxing. Just like In Rainbows, OK Computer is a really relaxing one with more of a focus on guitars and other instruments as opposed to the electronic sounds from In Rainbows. And i have to say, this style does sound really good and is executed very well here. I also like how the typical Radiohead weirdness actually got it's start here when it came to the music by incorporating quite a bit more electronic sounds. There are Radiohead albums i like more than this one but this is still a really good album.
Best Song: Electioneering
Worst Song: Let Down
The Pretty Things
4/5
Honestly, S.F. Sorrow was actually a really good album and quite a bit better than i was expecting. From what i have heard, The Who allegedly was influenced by this album when they made Tommy (Something which Pete Townshend denies). I can see how that album could have been influenced by this one considering that the two hit fairly similar music beats however i like this album more due to it having less iffy songs and being generally produced better. I was going into this album not expecting to like it very much but now that i listened to it, i do like it very much.
Best Song: Baron Saturday
Worst Song: Death
John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers
3/5
Bluesbreakers is one of those albums that has good ideas and is generally good to listen to but ultimately suffers from it's poor production quality. A majority of the songs here did sound really good and used instruments that generally complimented the low production quality but some songs (I'm looking at you, Another Man) are just ruined by the poor production with the track i mentioned in particular having a terrible sounding harmonica which can't even keep it's volume consistent, and even that's not consistent as the harmonica in some later tracks sounds slightly better but not good enough to be considered good. I know this album is from 1966 so i shouldn't expect crystal clear quality (i think that would ruin some of the songs too) but there were other albums released that same year with better sound quality. But as it stands, this album is decent, it just suffers from it's poor production quality.
Best Song: Key To love
Worst Song: Another Man
Creedence Clearwater Revival
4/5
Cosmo's Factory was an album i liked a bit more than i thought i would have. I already listened to Bayou Country prior to this and i was expecting something similar to that album where it is good but not very great but this album though did manage to be great. I felt that the music and vocals were much more memorable and did more interesting things than Bayou Country did. I especially have a soft spot for I Heard It Through The Grapevine as that song just managed to be way more dark sounding that i thought it would be. This album managed to be a pretty pleasant surprise to me.
Best Song: I Heard It Through The Grapevine
Worst Song: Ooby Dooby
Beatles
3/5
Honestly, i thought Revolver was pretty good. It didn't exactly do anything all too special or original but for the things it does do, it does them pretty well. I was never all too familiar with The Beatles discography but i have heard some covers of some of their songs prior to doing this project which include Eleanor Rigby (the Letters From The Fire cover to be specific) and i do like the song's original incarnation. The other songs here all managed to sound pretty good here too. I don't know if i can say much else about this album so I'll say it's a good album and my favorite Beatles album so far (Yes, even beating out Abbey Road).
Best Song: Eleanor Rigby
Worst Song: Love You To
Sam Cooke
3/5
Live At The Harlem Square Club was an album that i quite enjoyed. At first the album did sound a bit messy and noisy at the beginning but either that was just in the intro song (which is exclusive to the 2005 edition by the way) or i just got used to it but either way i started enjoying the album from the second song onward. Whether it was the fun and jazzy songs or it was Cooke's energetic stage presence, this album was always a fun time through nearly all of it's runtime whether the songs were fast and fun or slow and romantic. This is one live album i thought was pretty good.
Best Song: Nothing Can Change This Love
Worst Song: Soul Twist / Introduction
Astrud Gilberto
3/5
Beach Samba was a pretty good album for what it was. It does feel like an elevator album (It's been a long time since i used that term) but i do feel like it does a good job at being one by being a pleasant and relaxing listen. The times that the album does divert are kinda all over the place when it comes to how good they are. Sometimes they can be cool, like Gilberto having her son sing on track 11 but they can be off-putting at points like that one parade song which did sound rather jarring. However, i still think that this is a good album and one that you should listen to when you want to relax on a beach or something.
Best Song: Misty Roses
Worst Song: Parade (A Banda)
The Temptations
3/5
Cloud Nine is an okay album but is one that didn't really leave much of an impression on me. In every aspect in nearly every song, they were all handled well enough but didn't exactly do anything all that memorable or even interesting, this causes this album to lack it's own identity as it just falls in the sea of late 60s early 70s R&B albums that were more than prevalent during those times. Track 3 was probably the most interesting, helped by the fact that it was the longest but it was mainly that one song with all the interesting stuff. This isn't a bad album, just one i probably won't think about that much ever again.
Best Song: Runaway Child, Running Wild
Worst Song: I Gotta Find A Way (To Get You Back)
Public Enemy
4/5
Apocalypse 91... The Enemy Strikes Black is an album which i really enjoyed. My impressions on the first Public Enemy album i did (Fear Of A Black Planet) and technically what i think of most hip-hop albums especially on this project seemed like they were going to carry over here with the album having really good moments and really bad moments but i was pleasantly surprised to see that this album was actually consistently good throughout. With cool instrumentals, some really good social commentary and the songs sounding really distinct from each other (especially with Bring The Noise). This album did quite a lot to make me like it
Best Song: Bring The Noise
Worst Song: Rebirth
Astor Piazzolla
3/5
The New Tango had a sound that i feel is very unique and because of that, i think this album is pretty good. This album only really made use of three different instruments being an bandoneon, a xylophone, and a violin with maybe a double bass or cello being used but i don't quite know. These instruments somehow managed to blend together perfectly and give this album the sound a mystery movie or play would have and i think that's really cool. There were points where i did feel that the album was starting to get a little bit too long but i still enjoyed this album regardless.
Best Song: Nuevo Tango
Worst Song: Little Italy
Badly Drawn Boy
3/5
The Hour Of Bewilderbeast is what i expected from an album that's at least 1 hour long. Basically, its an album that has it's really high highs but also has it's really low lows too. Typically, the songs were of the high variety with them often having an Elliott Smith like sound with a lot of it's strengths and as someone who likes his stuff, it's a major plus. But in some cases, there were songs that were annoying or just tried things that clearly didn't work and even some of the good songs could go off the rails when it was completely unnecessary. This is a good album but it's flaws do hold it back from greatness.
Best Song: Another Pearl
Worst Song: This Song
Curtis Mayfield
3/5
Okay, I am not sure how Superfly hit so differently from the other Curtis Mayfield album i did but somehow, it just did. The music here still has some of that messiness from There's No Place Like America Today but it seems to be slightly better mixed with far less sudden instrument introductions than that. The vocals here are also somewhat better as the music complimented Mayfield's voice quite a bit better even if the lyrics here are a little strange (I'm sure they fit in the context of the movie though). This album isn't the most amazing thing ever but compared to There's No Place Like America Today, It is heaven.
Best Song: Superfly
Worst Song: Pusherman
Korn
5/5
Korn is one of my favorite bands of all time, second only to Linkin Park so i came into Follow The Leader expecting nearly everything from it, and yet somehow, I'm still so impressed with how amazing this album is. This album had an incredible sound which blurred all the right lines between heavy, weird and haunting which made my whole listening experience so enjoyable. So many songs also had some really fun and unique ideas with an example being All In The Family which is just two intoxicated men just thinking of the best disses on each other and i just loved every single second of it, in fact every song here is just a pure banger. Hybrid Theory may forever be my #1 but this is still easily a close second.
Best Song: Dead Bodies Everywhere
Worst Song: Earache My Eye
Jimmy Smith
2/5
So, Back At The Chicken Shack was an album that just exists. I have a lot of the same problems with this album as i do with an album like Sunday At The Village Vanguard by the Bill Evans Trio as in i think that this album, while not being as well recorded as the one i mentioned, generally sounded fine and didn't really have anything for me to really hate. However, that's all it had, it never deviated or tried anything new or interesting and just stuck to the same old formula it had from song one which even with this album's 37 minute runtime (43 if you are talking about the CD rerelease), it still got tiring. I can see that Jimmy Smith and all the other musicians here absolutely had talent but that talent couldn't really save this album from being anything above mediocre.
Best Song: Back At The Chicken Shack
Worst Song: When I Grow Too Old To Dream
Beatles
3/5
Honestly, I never thought super highly of The Beatles prior to doing this project but it really opened my eyes to how good they are especially with The Beatles (The White Album as fans call it). This album had quite a lot more variety with the kind of music being played, more so than any of the other Beatles albums that i have listened to. And for the most part, it paid off with a lot of these songs actually being really solid listens and generally being very memorable. I do feel like this album is pretty long however and i personally think that it would be great if the album was trimmed down a bit. That being said, this is still a really solid album and definitely my favorite Beatles album by far.
Best Song: Helter Skelter
Worst Song: Revolution 9
The Last Shadow Puppets
3/5
The Age Of The Understatement is a pretty decent album. The album gave a vibe of a 60s western movie throughout the majority of it's runtime with all of it's instrument choices (except for the last song which had a more romantic vibe). I thought that the songs here sound pretty good and could be pretty catchy and get their intended feel out well but they did feel a little too similar to each other. The album was a fairly quick one at around 35 minutes so the sameyness of the songs were not really too irritating to me. I wouldn't really call this a great album but it does do it's job pretty well.
Best Song: Black Plant
Worst Song: Time Has Come Again
My Bloody Valentine
3/5
Loveless is a weird one for me. Yes, it is repetitive, yes, the vocals are really muffled and difficult to hear for most of the songs, and yes, the songs can sound really noisy at points. But for some reason, i kinda enjoyed this one. The noise of a lot of the songs for some reason felt really pleasant, relaxing, and hypnotic and i also didn't seem to mind the repetition throughout most of the songs since the sounds that are repetitive are at least unique in some ways. This one is obviously a really difficult one to get into due to all the reasons i mentioned above but i felt as if i was able to get past it and enjoy the album to a decent extent.
Best Song: When You Sleep
Worst Song: To Here Knows When
Orbital
3/5
Snivilisation is a really weird album (probably because it's an electronic album and those have often been pretty weird). There are things that i like about it and things that i don't like about it. This album does have plenty of cool beats, some well done melodies and enough 90s charm to be really memorable. I thought i was gonna give this album a 4 but as it kept going, i soon realized that towards the end, it was just going to drag itself out especially with it's last two songs which easily pass the 10 minute mark. The album did get pretty tiring towards the end but i still liked the majority of it.
Best Song: Crash And Carry
Worst Song: I Wish I Had Duck Feet
New Order
4/5
Honestly, I liked Low-Life way more than i thought i would have. This album is of course, horribly dated, and you can easily tell it's an album from the 80s considering it has all the usual elements you would expect from an 80s new wave album. The vocals were also strange in some areas like sometimes they weren't well produced and could get drowned out by the music and there was that one bit of bad grammar in Face Up. However, I still really enjoyed this album, The guitars and synths were really well done, and songs were also super catchy at points. On top of that this album went for the perfect length. This was quite the pleasant surprise.
Best Song: Face Up
Worst Song: Love Vigilantes
Deep Purple
4/5
Deep Purple In Rock certainly shows that Deep Purple is some of the best in rock (my jokes are so great, aren't they). I initially went into this album thinking that Machine Head would be the better album from these guys but as i kept listening, this album proved me wrong. It still has the trend from Machine Head of having the best songs at the end of the album but this album somehow remained more consistent with it's quality throughout over Machine Head. It, of course, still shows some great musicianship from the band throughout it all. This album most certainly, is a great one.
Best Song: Into the Fire
Worst Song: Speed King
3/5
The Joshua Tree is a pretty good album. This album does tend to play it safe throughout most of the songs as it doesn't really try anything to help it stand out from all the other alternative rock bands that were around a lot throughout the 1980s. It does try some things but not all that much to make the album feel like it's own. That being said, it's still a solid album and while the songs do tend to play it safe, a lot of them actually sound pretty good and there was also no point when i was so bored to the point where i was losing track of the songs. This album isn't anything all that special but it's still a solid one nonetheless.
Best Song: Bullet The Blue Sky
Worst Song: With Or Without You
Metallica
5/5
Man oh man was ...And Justice For All a great album. I have always heard from various different sources that this album was not very well produced but other than the bass not being very hearable (for lack of a better word)(and even then, it's common to not be able to hear the bass unless you listen closely in most metal tracks) it was pretty well mixed with it sounding as crisp and clean as you can get. Every song, of course, was incredible with them ranging from fast and ferocious thrash metal, to slower and more melodic technical metal. I absolutely love this album so much.
Best Song: One
Worst Song: To Live Is to Die
The Dave Brubeck Quartet
3/5
Time Out may be yet another instrumental jazz album but i think i do like it more than quite a bit of the other instrumental jazz albums i have listened to before. I tend to find this genre of music to be pleasant and inoffensive but it often tends to meld together as there are just so many of these albums. But this album does a little bit (though not much) to help itself stand out from the rest of them. Sometimes the players could do solos on their instruments (i guess i call them that) in a few of the songs and those parts are what i find to be some of the more unique parts of this album. This album may be another instrumental jazz album but these parts elevate this one above some of the others.
Best Song: Take Five
Worst Song: Blue Rondo a la Turk
Hüsker Dü
3/5
Warehouse: Songs And Stories is a pretty alright album. Musically, i do quite like what it does. It does mostly go for an alt rock sound with punk sounding guitars with the energy of indie music and it even does have a few diversions here and there so that's also nice. The vocals, however, leave something to be desired. They feel so weak and while i did get used to them as the album went on (partly thanks to the album's fairly long length), I still do not believe they are all that well recorded and the music does often have a tendency to drown them out. This album is pretty flawed but i have heard worse.
Best Song: Bed of Nails
Worst Song: You Can Live at Home
The Who
4/5
Somehow, Live At Leeds is my favorite album by The Who. I do not say this about a lot of bands/artists (in fact, i have pretty much never said it until now) but i genuinely think that The Who's live performances are better than their studio albums if the albums i have listened to in both fields are anything to go off of. I feel that The Who is not exactly the best when it comes to producing their albums so this album not really having any production at all actually sorta helps it. The songs here all generally have a fun, raw sound which i really like and the album never got tedious due to it's short length. This is one of the better live albums i have looked at for this project.
Best Song: Magic Bus
Worst Song: Substitute
Nirvana
5/5
MTV Unplugged In New York has got to be one of the best live albums i have ever listened to. I find it quite crazy how well Nirvana could translate their heavy, grungy sound into a more acoustic live show. The heaviness was not often there but still could come out at points where it did sound great. The recording quality was also top notch and i think that Kurt Cobain's more deadpan stage presence was a nice change of pace from all the really extravagant performers from other live shows (not that i dislike those) during my time listening to this album, i was gravitating between a 4 or a 5 for this album but with enough thinking, i decided to give this one a 5.
Best Song: Where Did You Sleep Last Night
Worst Song: Plateau
Deep Purple
4/5
So, here it is, my third live album in a row with Made In Japan and just like the other live albums i have done in this row, it is a great one. The songs here frequently took many twists and turns which i enjoyed and the recording quality sounded absolutely great on a majority of the songs. There were however, some problems that make me not like this album as much as the studio albums. The album did drag itself out in some places and there was the fact that The Mule did sound incredibly messy with it's composition. These problems aside, i do think that this album is yet another great album from these guys.
Best Song: Lazy
Worst Song: The Mule
Side note: Since i have done every Deep Purple album on this project, here is my ranking of them
1. Deep Purple In Rock
2. Machine Head
3. Made In Japan
Belle & Sebastian
4/5
Well for my first studio album in a while, Tigermilk was quite a nice surprise. The album incredibly chill, in fact, it was probably one of the most chill albums i have done for this project. The songs did mostly seem to follow the same formula being that of a folk pop rock formula but it wasn't really something i minded too much and it did help some of the more interesting songs stick out more. I did go into the album thinking that the production wasn't going to be all that good but after listening to it, i thought it was pretty alright. This album was actually a great surprise for me.
Best Song: The State I Am In
Worst Song: My Wandering Days Are Over
The Smiths
3/5
Strangeways, Here We Come is a pretty decent album. I wouldn't really say it does anything super special or original or things that it's contemporaries does not do but for what it does do, it does a well enough job. The music was all pretty nice to listen to as were Morissey's vocals and the lyrics felt on brand for him and were pretty interesting just like the other Smiths songs and the album went at a brisk pace meaning it didn't get too tedious. This album i feel is probably in the middle ground of Smiths albums, not as cool sounding as The Queen Is Dead but not as iffy sounding as Meat Is Murder, it's just right.
Best Song: Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me
Worst Song: Death at One's Elbow
Side note: i also find it pretty interesting that i have now done every Smiths album on this project but none of Morissey's solo stuff yet but anyways, here is my ranking of them
1.The Queen Is Dead
2.Strangeways, Here We Come
3.Meat Is Murder
The The
3/5
I liked Soul Mining more than i thought i would have. This is one of those albums that gets off to a rather uneventful start but picks up as the album progresses as it starts to introduce new and interesting things. The songs at the start were alright but didn't sound too well mixed at points but the later songs definitely were so much better as they were the ones with all the more unique sounds. The later songs could also get really catchy (especially Soul Mining) This album isn't exactly an easy one to get into but since i stuck around, i started to like it a pretty decent bit.
Best Song: The Twilight Hour
Worst Song: I've Been Waitin' for Tomorrow (All of My Life)
Sonic Youth
3/5
Sister is an album i wanted to like more than i do but i just don't see that happening. When i first saw this album, i thought that it was gonna be your standard typical rock-out album but this album actually turned out to be an art rock album. And with most art rock albums, they have almost no accessibility to them and are only for people who really like that kind of music. I still think the riffs here are cool and i definitely do see the direction but the songs just tend to meander longer than i would have wanted. This album is not a bad one but i do think that it is pretty hard to get into.
Best Song: White Cross
Worst Song: Beauty Lies in the Eye
Metallica
4/5
I don't think this comes as a surprise to anyone but i really like Master Of Puppets. The album always did have that thrash metal sound to it which i enjoyed even if it did start to get a little repetitive due to the lack of change throughout. While i love the fast, heavy sounds of this album, i mostly enjoyed the more technical and melodic parts of these songs which can really show what these musicians are really capable of. Despite it's somewhat repetitive nature, i still didn't find myself getting all too tired of it. I still like ...And Justice For All more but i still think this one is a great album.
Best Song: Damage, Inc.
Worst Song: Orion
Kacey Musgraves
4/5
I didn't exactly have the highest hopes for Golden Hour seeing as its a country album and I'm usually not a huge fan of those but it actually turned out to be a pretty nice surprise. The songs here are some of the most pleasant and relaxing ones i have heard from this project and the album still managed to be super melodic which is also another pretty decent plus for this album. The production here is also really good and the lyrics are also really good. Some of the songs could get a little samey but never enough to detract from my enjoyment. This album was quite a big surprise to me and it was certainly a good one.
Best Song: Velvet Elvis
Worst Song: Mother
Side Note: Since this review is gonna go up on the first of the new year. To everyone reading this review, happy new year. May 2025 bless us all with great albums.
Joanna Newsom
3/5
Not to be confused with the series of RPGs with the same name, Ys is a pretty alright album. Like a couple of albums i have done here, the lyrics in this album seem like they are telling some kind of story and in these albums, the lyrics are most often the best part and that does apply here. Joanna's voice was pretty good despite taking me a bit of time to get used to and the music was a little long-winded but fit well with the songs and was something i liked. I do believe that this album would be a fairly difficult one to get into but i did end up liking what i heard. Honestly, not a bad way to start off 2025.
Best Song: Only Skin
Worst Song: Sawdust and Diamonds
The B-52's
3/5
B-52's was a pretty solid album. Even though this album did come out in the late 70s, it still feels so 80s and i still find that a really fun quirk of this album. The songs here are a pretty mixed bag though. There are some really good ones and some that i would remove if i were given the choice for one reason or another. Though the main thing that helps this album to be as good as it is has got to be Ricky Wilson, He is an absolute beast of a guitarist who pretty much does the majority of carrying this album. The other instruments and vocals were good too. This album is most definitely a good listen.
Best Song: There's a Moon in the Sky (Called the Moon)
Worst Song: Downtown
Portishead
4/5
Dummy is such a cool album. From the album art and this band's name, for some reason, i thought that this was going to be a punk rock album but no, instead what i got was a trip-hop album and it definitely does the genre super well. The beats may be repetitive but that didn't bother me one bit as they just sounded so cool and all the extra touches the band put into these songs really added to them. Beth Gibbons' voice was also something that really added to my enjoyment of this album as she was able to bring out all the emotion of all the tracks that she was in. This album was a very good listen.
Best Song: Glory Box
Worst Song: It's A Fire
Fleet Foxes
3/5
Fleet Foxes is an album that i liked, I don't think it's amazing or anything but i like it. This is yet another relaxing album on this list which i do appreciate since sometimes, i do want to hear something to chill out to especially if the day has been rough. Though this album, if you take away the lyrics from these songs, i could probably be tricked into thinking these are songs from Planet Coaster since they seem to have the same sound as the songs from that game. I do feel that the songs here can get a little samey due to most of them feeling like background noise. I still like this album and it's relaxing feel so i can still appreciate it for what it is.
Best Song: He Doesn't Know Why
Worst Song: Meadowlarks
A Tribe Called Quest
4/5
The Low End Theory actually turned out to be a really good album. Oddly enough, the thing i most judge rap albums for (the lyrics) could be pretty hit or miss but i still ended up liking it for some reason. This was mainly due to other factors that mainly helped skyrocket the album into being something great. Those things are the instrumentals with some incredible beats and melodies that fit the songs very well and sounded real cool and while the lyrics were indeed hit or miss, the flows were mostly just hits since they felt so smooth that they became so enjoyable to listen to. I really wasn't expecting this much of a step up from People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm but this album ended up being just that.
Best Song: Show Business
Worst Song: What?
Wu-Tang Clan
3/5
Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) is an album I'm pretty divided on. I generally like it as a whole but there are just small things about it that hold this album back for me. The songs here are pretty good with some good instrumentals and some rapping that really shows what these rappers can do. None of the songs here are really bad as a whole either but the main issue is just small parts of songs that manage to be bad enough to hold it back. The main offenders of this are the build-ups to the songs not sounding great and just being something i can do without. This is still a good album, just one i think could be better if some things were changed.
Best Song: Da Mystery Of Chessboxin'
Worst Song: Method Man
The Dandy Warhols
5/5
...The Dandy Warhols Come Down is such a weird, wacky and wonderful album. I initially came into this album thinking that it was just going to be a standard alt-rock album (which i still would have been fine with) but as it went on, it started introducing more and more crazy elements that really added to this album's individuality. The vocals were great here to ranging from regular alt-rock vocals to a much more quiet vocal style which i would have found many reasons to criticize if the album didn't handle these vocals so well but it ended up doing just that. Many of these aspects made this 66 minute long album more than worth my time.
Best Song: Hard On For Jesus
Worst Song: Pete International Airport
Christina Aguilera
3/5
Back to Basics was certainly an interesting album. Unlike other double albums which despite being double albums, do tend to rely on the same sound. This one drastically changed it's sound towards the 14th song with it changing from a more hip-hop/R&B style album to a more orchestral album towards the end. It does go without question that i do prefer the first half and that's mainly because DJ Premier produced a lot of that section and he is a beast of a producer who did an immensely good job there. This album is a decent one and i can appreciate it for changing up it's sound but the change does feel very jarring.
Best Song: On Our Way
Worst Song: Nasty Naughty Boy
Beck
2/5
Look, i really wanted to like Odelay considering that i listened to the other two Beck albums on the project with Sea Change and especially Guero being some good albums but i just can't like this one. I personally feel that this album has a huge identity crisis as it just doesn't know whether it wants to be rock, country, hip hop or electronic. This causes the album to try too many random things with almost none of them working out in the album's favor. I typically like it when albums are more unique and weird but this one tries to be those things so hard that it just forgets to make an album i would enjoy listening to.
Best Song: Devils Haircut
Worst Song: Computer Rock
Side note: Since i have done every Beck album on this project, i will rank all his albums here:
1. Guero
2. Sea Change
3. Odelay
Bob Marley & The Wailers
3/5
Exodus was a pretty decent album. This is only the second reggae album that i have listened yet i don't have a whole lot to say about it. The songs here are all pretty pleasant listens with no outright awful sounding stuff but that's all it kinda is. There is nothing about any of these songs that stands out as really good or really bad, It's just mainly mid tier stuff. I will admit that the transition From So Much Things To Say to Guiltiness was pretty sudden and abrupt but it doesn't really change my opinion of this album all that much. This is a perfectly fine album and that's all i can say.
Best Song: The Heathen
Worst Song: So Much Things To Say
Love
4/5
Da Capo is actually a really good album held back by one major flaw. The songs on side 1 were surprisingly quite good as they gave me a couple of different sound types. The first track almost made this sound like a circusy (for lack of a better word) album then the album mainly shifted into a style where, while having the typical psych rock quirks, still sounded immensely pleasant to listen to. The main flaw i was talking about earlier was side 2. I think that the song there simply went on for too long and had too many annoying elements (despite having a couple good ones). If the last song had been removed or at least shortened, This album could have earned a full 4 but as it stands, it gets a 3.5.
Best Song: Seven & Seven Is
Worst Song: Revelation
Side note: I also like that in the album art, the guy standing in the middle kinda looks like Han Solo with that outfit.
Run-D.M.C.
3/5
For being a pretty early hip-hop album, Run-D.M.C. does it's job pretty well. This is probably one of the earliest hip-hop albums on this project (I believe it is second only to Malcolm Mclaren's Duck Rock in that regard) so it is a pretty basic album especially in it's first half. There are some pretty good songs here however and some weird ones (I'm looking at you, Wake Up) but the good ones are some pretty solid songs. I guess if there is another issue with this album besides it's overly basic nature, I'd say the weird songs do tend to drag for a bit too long which causes their gimmicks to get a little annoying but other than that, This is actually a pretty good early hip-hop album.
Best Song: Rock Box
Worst Song: Wake Up
Jack White
3/5
Blunderbuss is a pretty good album at what it does. Since this is by Jack White and he is a member of The White Stripes, i personally liked the album most when the songs were doing White Stripes things. These were mainly songs like Sixteen Saltines and Freedom At 21 and those songs were easily some of the highlights of the album. It was when the album was going off on its own when my interest was at it's lowest points. These songs aren't bad but they are kinda forgettable and they do take up the majority of the album. Other than that, i still enjoyed this album for what it did.
Best Song: Freedom At 21
Worst Song: I Guess I Should Go To Sleep
Madonna
4/5
Ray Of Light is a really good album that i wasn't really expecting to sound the way it did. Despite mainly being a pop album, This album was an electronic music lover's dream. It has a lot of the different genres that are well associated with electronic music including techno, trip-hop, ambient, house etc. And i can safely say that every genre that was tried in this album was executed really well. At worst, the songs could just be a little forgettable but most of the songs here were actually pretty catchy and enjoyable to listen to. This is definitely a really solid album.
Best Song: Frozen
Worst Song: Shanti / Ashtangi
Side note: I also noticed that depending on the music video, Madonna could look incredibly different in one compared to the other.
Soft Machine
3/5
Considering Third's reputation on this site (with a 2.45 average score) i was going into it thinking that i would absolutely hate it. But i didn't hate it, rather, i tolerated it somehow. I will get this out of the way, Yes, the album can get pretty noisy when it wants to. Those noisy sections were surprisingly rare though as when the album was actually trying to sound like proper music, It didn't sound too terrible. I guess the length did kinda help me get through this album's quirkiness. The vocals in the third track were cool as well. I didn't think i would not dislike this album but somehow, it turned out to be surprisingly okay.
Best Song: Moon in June
Worst Song: Out-Bloody-Rageous
Wire
4/5
I actually really enjoyed Pink Flag a pretty decent bit. The album has the fast and energetic pace that i expect from most punk albums for most of the songs. The guitars and drums are of course exactly like that and the vocals are also really good here too with the right amount of British cheesiness while still sounding very clear and understandable. I guess if i did have one problem with this album, it would be that sometimes, this album gets a bit too fast-paced with the songs ending before they can really start to sink in. Other than that small blemish, this is still a really fun album i enjoyed quite a bit.
Best Song: Pink Flag
Worst Song: It's So Obvious
Led Zeppelin
4/5
Like the other Led Zeppelin albums i listened to, Led Zeppelin was a legitimately great album. For a pretty early album in the metal genre, This album still managed to do so many interesting things to the point where it didn't sound all too basic like a lot of early albums of their respective genres do. Most of the songs here were pretty long but still managed keep me hooked throughout their whole runtime by doing enough to add to the typical blues-hard rock sound that this band is known for. While this album doesn't seem to have a lot of Led Zeppelin's most popular songs, I still really liked this album.
Best Song: Babe I'm Gonna Leave You
Worst Song: Good Times Bad Times
Janelle Monáe
3/5
The ArchAndroid is a case of good ideas with mixed execution. There was mostly the idea of combining a couple of music genres with a pop touch like R&B, Opera, and even somewhat of a metal influence in Come Alive. Most of the time, these ideas worked pretty well with the songs being catchy and Monae generally having a similar energy to a lot of the R&B artists from the 60s and 70s. But other times, the songs could either be boring, annoying or (in a rare case) both. I guess this is somewhat expected of an album that is over an hour long but it still remains an issue for me. All in all, The thing i can say about this album is that there is good and there is bad.
Best Song: Tightrope
Worst Song: Mushrooms & Roses
Mj Cole
3/5
You know, for being one of the lowest rated albums on this whole site (tied for 18th to be exact as of writing this) Sincere isn't half bad. Most of these songs feel like they would be songs that would play during the daily life segments of the Persona games and i love the soundtracks of those games so this kinda resonated with me. I can see the issue of the songs using the same beats throughout the whole thing some how so it can get really repetitive but the other parts of the songs were pretty cool including all the little ambient sounding parts. This is actually a pretty solid album and if the songs used different beats, I could see people liking this album quite a lot more.
Best Song: Hold On To Me
Worst Song: Slum King
Moby
5/5
Play has managed to become one of my favorite electronic albums. The album mainly employs a lot of different styles including ambient, techno, and even rock in some places with all the guitars. And somehow, every single element is handled beautifully with the songs managing to remain upbeat and catchy and having enough ambiance to make the album sound otherworldly. The album also managed to have very different sounding songs which kept me interested even at a 63 minute runtime and the songs still managed to fit well together. This is an absolutely beautiful album.
Best Song: Bodyrock
Worst Song: My Weakness
Bob Marley & The Wailers
3/5
Catch A Fire is a pretty good album. I honestly never thought that with the few reggae albums that i have currently listened to, i found some pretty good sounding ones. This one is probably the best of them though (at least so far). The instruments here were the most extravagant sounding without going too far and becoming annoying. I also think that Marley's vocals are perfect for these kinds of songs. My only problem with this album is it keeps things too consistent to the point of being overly samey as to where i had trouble picking out a best and worst song. I still do think this album is a pleasant and enjoyable listen.
Best Song: Slave Driver
Worst Song: Kinky Reggae
Sheryl Crow
3/5
Tuesday Night Music Club is yet another album that falls into the category of being just good. When i first heard the the name Sheryl Crow, I thought this was going to be a country album but while this does have some country elements, i wouldn't really say that this is a country album. This album has it's fun and catchy songs which i do find to be pretty good songs but it does have some boring ones too. I wasn't too miffed at this album though because the former easily overpowered the latter even if the latter's songs were longer. I do think that this is a decent album that i never really disliked at any point.
Best Song: What I Can Do For You
Worst Song: No One Said It Would Be Easy
Tim Buckley
2/5
Happy Sad is an album i just couldn't enjoy to the fullest. I can see the direction where the album wanted to go in being a folk album with a couple of jazz elements but this album just failed in too many ways for me to really enjoy it. There is already the fact that the composition sounds really messy but add that with an inconsistent voice volume (he could go from overly quiet to trying to do his best Kermit The Frog impression). And another issue was track 5 where it clearly wanted to be a quirky sorta cultist song like something Dr. John would make but the problem with this track is that it doesn't fully play into the weirdness like Dr. John did which makes the song kinda have an identity crisis. Who knows, this guy does have a few more albums here so maybe my opinion might change but with this album, It shows me that Tim's son just makes better music.
Best Song: Sing a Song for You
Worst Song: Gypsy Woman
Lauryn Hill
3/5
At first glance, I thought i wasn't going to like The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill seeing as it didn't give off the best first impression with the first two songs (not counting the intro) but as the album kept going, it did start to have some good songs. The main issue with the first few songs (which bleeds into a few of the other songs a little by the way) was that the composition of both the vocals and the instruments could get messy and disorganized to the point where it becomes sensory overload but in a lot of the other songs, the beats were cool, Lauryn had some good vocals and the lyrics were decent as well. This album's issues do hold it back but not enough to make it bad.
Best Song: I Used To Love Him
Worst Song: Lost Ones
LL Cool J
4/5
Mama Said Knock You Out was a surprisingly very good album. I didn't have the highest expectations going into it in which i was expecting to only like the back half but a good majority (if not all of it) turned out to be very good. The beats all were really cool sounding and the only issue with them is that they could get a little repetitive but it was rare. The main selling point of this album though, was the rapping itself. The LL Cool J had some really good flows and somehow he could manage to make them sound so good without swearing all that much which is difficult for a lot of rappers to do. Aside from the repetition, There isn't really anything for me to complain about so all I'll say is its a really good album.
Best Song: Mama Said Knock You Out
Worst Song: Mr. Good Bar
Bee Gees
3/5
I only ever really knew the Bee Gees for Stayin' Alive so when i heard Odessa and found out that every song on here sounded nothing like that one, I was utterly flabbergasted. This album was way more of a folk/country album with many orchestral elements with some songs even going as far as to just being orchestral pieces without any vocals at all. Even the vocals here are very Beatlesque. I actually did quite like this album in spite of my shock. The instruments (especially the violins) were handled really well and the songs were still catchy at points without being disco like the Bee Gees are known for. The country songs weren't my favorite but this album was never at any point bad.
Best Song: I Laugh In Your Face
Worst Song: Marley Purt Drive
Paul Simon
3/5
Graceland is an album I'm pretty mixed as it has some things that i like about it but has others that i think could have been handled better. This album used quite a lot of elements of South African Street music which i find interesting and it is handled alright but not all too greatly which is a big reason as to why i prefer both Simon's self titled album and Hearts and Bones over this one. Some of the singles which did not use world elements were pretty good though with songs like You Can Call Me Al being pretty fun tracks. This isn't a bad album but in my opinion, it is a lot more rough than the other two Paul Simon albums i have listened to.
Best Song: You Can Call Me Al
Worst Song: Homeless
Side note: Since i have done all of Paul Simon's solo albums, i might as well put my ranking of them here:
1. Hearts And Bones
2. Paul Simon
3. Graceland
Sepultura
5/5
I pretty much expected this but Roots is an incredible album. This album is the second album in a row that incorporates world like elements but in my opinion, handles them so much better than the other one. I also like this one more than the other Sepultura album since it plays way more into the world elements than Arise did. The world elements, like i said, are handled absolutely beautifully as are the metal elements with heavy guitars and vocals which sound awesome. Some of the songs here i would not listen to on their own but they still added to the album pretty well. This is one amazing album.
Best Song: Ratamahatta
Worst Song: Canyon Jam
The Icarus Line
5/5
Penance Soiree is an album that should have fell flat on it's face but somehow, it manages to be so amazing. I wasn't having high hopes about this album considering that it was listed as a noise rock album so i was expecting the most annoying thing ever but i did not get that. Instead, what i got was fast and frenetic album with some great melodies and some insane guitar work. The trumpets in some of the tracks did add quite a lot to them as well as they gave the album a pretty bluesy vibe. Granted, Meatmaker does do the annoying thing with it's instruments getting loud at certain intervals and the lyrics can be incredibly juvenile at points but none of these issues were enough to make me score this album any lower than 5 stars.
Best Song: White Devil
Worst Song: Meatmaker
3/5
The Lexicon Of Love is easily one of the most 80s albums i have ever heard. Everything from the bass, the keyboards, the regular vocals, and the other types of vocals. Everything just sounded so electronic, poppy and robotic at some points but i still enjoyed a lot of these elements. Every element i listed sounds pretty good and really did add to the charm of this album. The lyrics are a bit cheesy at points considering that this is an 80s new-wave band and those lyrics are expected but some of them do sound pretty stupid in this day and age. The album was pretty short though which means it never got tiring while still giving me my fill of this stuff. This album isn't perfect but still solid.
Best Song: 4 Ever 2 Gether
Worst Song: Many Happy Returns
Jimi Hendrix
4/5
Electric Ladyland is an album that took a little while for me to get in the groove with it but when i did, i really did. The album didn't really leave me with the best first impression considering that i thought it was going to be overly noisy but as it turns out, those moments were rare if they were even there at all. The guitar riffs were really good and the album just invoked a chill yet rocking vibe. It did take until around track 4 for me to start liking it but when it did hit that song, the album just remained consistently really good. This album was a pretty nice surprise and definitely better than i was expecting.
Best Song: 1983... (A Merman I Should Turn to Be)
Worst Song: House Burning Down
Led Zeppelin
4/5
Led Zeppelin IV was definitely more of a mixed bag containing some of Led Zeppelin's highest highs and lowest lows. In my opinion, Some of their best songs came from this album including Stairway To Heaven and When The Levee Breaks but this album also has some of their worst songs too including Misty Mountain Hop and Four Sticks. I still do think that the good heavily outweighs the bad as i just enjoyed all the best songs and still tolerated the worst ones. The songs are also well paced and know the perfect length for the songs. This album isn't the most consistent one in terms of quality but i still really liked it.
Best Song: Stairway To Heaven
Worst Song: Misty Mountain Hop
Miles Davis
1/5
So, A friend of mine told me that she believes that Miles Davis' music just sounds like noise, while i don't see that with Birth Of The Cool, Kind Of Blue, or In A Silent Way. I absolutely do see it with Bitches Brew. This album was just so unbelievably noisy with hardly any work done in actually composing any of the songs properly made this album genuinely painful for me to listen to. I would have disliked this album if it were just 30 minutes but it goes the extra mile and adds an hour to that runtime which made me so relieved once it finally came to an end. Miles Davis has made some decent albums before this one so to see him drop the ball this hard is just insane.
Best Song: Sanctuary
Worst Song: Bitches Brew
Side note: Because i have now done every Miles Davis album on this project, here is my ranking of all of them
1. In A Silent Way
2. Kind Of Blue
3. Birth Of The Cool
4. Bitches Brew
Boston
5/5
I don't know if i have any words to say just how amazing Boston is. This album gave me a lot of the same vibes as Rush (It could mostly be due to the fact that this album and 2112 came out the same year and are obviously of the same genre) did and since i loved 2112, it should come as a no brainer that i love this one as well. The songs had such a fun, upbeat and fast paced rhythm to them yet also had such good melodies inside them all as well. I would honestly say that my biggest issue with this album is i just want more of it which should just go to show just how amazing it really is.
Best Song: Foreplay / Long Time
Worst Song: Let Me Take You Home Tonight
The Police
3/5
Synchronicity is just an incredibly bizarre album. The sheer 80sness of this album really shines through in nearly every song and makes every song feel like an incredibly bizarre trip. Despite all the quirkiness (actually due to it kinda) I enjoyed this album quite a fair bit. The weird electronic sounds and the vocals really kept the album interesting throughout it's whole runtime and even the weird lyrics helped as well. It is things like this that make this album better than the last album by The Police that i did. This album is just significantly more interesting and had much more memorable tunes than Reggatta De Blanc did. This album is a pretty solid listen.
Best Song: Every Breath You Take
Worst Song: Mother
John Grant
4/5
Well, we have another weird and wonderful album with Queen Of Denmark. Initially i made an incredibly wrong first assumption about this album and that is that it would be a generic pop folk album which doesn't do a whole lot to stand out from the crowd but i was so very wrong. This album does so much wacky stuff to make it all it's own. Everything from the odd electronic sounds, the wonderful piano playing, the sudden bits of a guitar, and the weird and somewhat offensive lyrics were all odd inclusions which ended up really adding to the album (Okay, maybe the piano wasn't that odd but i don't care). This album was an incredibly nice surprise.
Best Song: Silver Platter Club
Worst Song: Tc & Honeybear
Willie Colón & Rubén Blades
3/5
Siembra is definitely one of the more different albums that i have looked at. I wasn't really expecting to see any salsa music on this project but this album corrected me on that front. That's not to say the album is a bad one. The songs here are decently catchy and definitely scratch that salsa itch if there is one. The songs can tend to get a bit repetitive in some places but the album was short enough to the point where that was not too much of an issue. I still can't seem to get over how much i wasn't really expecting to see an album like this, guess i should have expected it from the salsa tag being there. I still think this album is alright.
Best Song: Maria Lionza
Worst Song: Ojos
The Cure
3/5
Disintegration is another album which doesn't really go above and beyond but is still a pretty solid album. The album never really did anything that i wasn't expecting from an album like this but it still managed to do it well. The songs (especially towards the end) all had a very relaxing and hypnotic feel to them with many elements contributing to this feel which i quite like. The album however, is very samey which can cause it to get a little bit repetitive but the sound of the songs that generally was playing was still always good sounding so it wasn't something i was too angry about. This album is a decent one, I don't love it but i absolutely don't hate it either.
Best Song: Last Dance
Worst Song: Untitled
Kings of Leon
3/5
Aha Shake Heartbreak is honestly what i expected from a Kings Of Leon album as in its nothing special but still fairly solid. I have only really heard some of the singles from Kings Of Leon so i always got the impression of them being a band that is a pretty obvious choice for any person to listen to. I still got that from this album, but this album definitely had quite a bit of blues elements which i was expecting and not expecting at the same time for some reason. The songs here are fairly good sounding and while not doing anything all too special or unique, they do their job as well as they can.
Best Song: Slow Night, So Long
Worst Song: Pistol of Fire
King Crimson
3/5
Lark's Tongues In Aspic is definitely one of the stranger albums i have done for this project, more so than the last King Crimson album i did. It definitely seems that these guys are continuing the trend of combining different music styles but i remember the first King Crimson album i did having jazz elements which this one does not have, instead, picking really weird elements. I'm in an odd situation when it comes to how much i like this album. The guitar playing in a lot of the tracks is cool but the weird elements can definitely get a little too much at points. Its not a bad album, i just prefer In The Court Of The Crimson King to this one.
Best Song: Larks' Tongues In Aspic, Part Two
Worst Song: The Talking Drum
Sly & The Family Stone
4/5
Stand! is an album i actually really enjoyed. I felt that the first Sly & The Family Stone album i listened to (There's A Riot Goin' On) was good but a little boring as the album could get really samey. This one is a lot better because it does not feel nearly as samey and still had all the cool elements that album did. The songs actually were pretty cool sounding with all the things they did and the lyrics could be a fairly mixed bag ranging from pretty smart to pretty dumb. There were only a few parts i could consider annoying but none of them were ever enough to detract from my enjoyment of this album.
Best Song: Sing a Simple Song
Worst Song: Sex Machine
Kanye West
1/5
Well, this was certainly an interesting time to get Yeezus considering that Kanye is going through his little X crash out but regardless of the kind of person he is, This album is terrible. I can certainly see the idea they were going with in the production, having Daft Punk produce a lot of these tracks, but it kinda gets so overkill that it makes the instrumentals annoying and directionless. But even if the instrumentals are bad, that can be forgiven since hip hop is a more lyric-driven genre right? Wrong! The lyrics here are also incredibly horrendous with Kanye clearly prioritizing wordplay over actually making the lyrics make sense. It's a shame i have to give this album a 1 considering The College Dropout was incredibly good but i have to do it.
Best Song: I'm In It
Worst Song: Bound 2
System Of A Down
5/5
Geez, why does this site feel that whenever i get it 1 star album, it has to give me a 5 star one to make up for it. System Of A Down is a very amazing album which has everything i love about nu-metal. It is fast, it is chaotic, it is incredibly weird and yet the guitar riffs are amazing, the vocals work absolutely perfectly with the songs with them being incredibly weird yet adding to the album's immense charm and it also went at the perfect length by having plenty of time for the songs to sink in but still not being overly long. This album is easily a top tier one if i do say so myself.
Best Song: Soil
Worst Song: Peephole
Eurythmics
3/5
Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This) is not a bad album. When i went into this album, i thought it was going to be an overly-boring slog with weak vocals and weak instrumentation, but I'm glad to say that i was proven wrong for some of that. There were some pretty cool synthy sounds used for some of the songs and they made some pretty good melodies. The songs i also remember sounding boring were actually cooler and more interesting than i thought they would be. Granted, the production is a little iffy in places with some of the instruments greatly overpowering the vocals in some places but i still think that this is a pretty decent album.
Best Song: I Could Give You (A Mirror)
Worst Song: The Walk
Leonard Cohen
3/5
Songs Of Leonard Cohen was a pretty good album. The music here did it's job pretty well and even had some cool elements like the little parade like instruments in Sisters of Mercy traveling throughout the audio channels. The songwriting here is also very solid. The main issue i have with this album is the fact that since this is Lenny's first album, It falls into the traps of one as in he didn't have a fully established style yet meaning that the songs here all sound like typical folk songs rather than sounding like Leonard Cohen songs. I still think that this album is good and has it's moments, i just think the later albums are better due to having Lenny's established sound.
Best Song: Sisters of Mercy
Worst Song: Teachers
Merle Haggard
3/5
I'm a Lonesome Fugitive is a very middle of the road album, even in it's own genre. It's an album that's not bad but also not great. The music, lyrics, and vocals are serviceable but not very interesting and are pretty much what you would expect from an album like this. There were a few tracks that were better than others but i don't think they were better enough to make a really huge difference. The album is pretty short and does not feel like it is making jarring transitions which are both points in it's favor. This album isn't a bad one but i still think you can do better.
Best Song: If You Want To Be My Woman
Worst Song: Skid Row
Taylor Swift
3/5
I know you would probably expect me to be very hard on 1989 considering that the person who made it has one of the worst fanbases ever but i don't really think i can since i don't hate this album all too much. Don't get me wrong, its not perfect but i was expecting quite a bit worse. The music, while not something out of the ordinary for contemporary pop, is serviceable and has enough variety. Taylor's vocals were also pretty good as well but the lyrics have a certain cringeiness to them and they cause the songs to feel like they are in a weird order. Its by no means an amazing album but it has enough good elements for it to get a pass from me.
Best Song: Style
Worst Song: Clean
Nick Drake
4/5
Pink Moon is definitely one of the most relaxing and peaceful albums i have heard. Everything about it just feels so much like i am relaxing underneath a starry sky which kinda fits considering that this album is called pink moon. I think that the main things that help this album be as good as it is are the composition of the songs as well as Nick Drake's vocals being pretty much the main selling points of this album. I guess if i had one issue with this album, it would be that in some places, there is something i don't like with how the guitars sound. A majority of the songs absolutely do get it right though so this album still is able to earn itself a 3.5.
Best Song: Things Behind The Sun
Worst Song: Know
The Shamen
4/5
En-Tact was a pretty surprisingly enjoyable album for what it was. For some reason, i have an odd affinity with this type of weird electronic music and this album really showed me just how much i have it. The beats were super catchy in a lot of the songs and many of them had cool enough elements that i didn't get bored of it, even with a 65 minute runtime. Granted, not all of the songs are perfect as some of them have elements that i just didn't really like which made me wish the album cut them out. There was not a single song i really hated though so this album remains a really good one in my eyes.
Best Song: 666 Edit
Worst Song: Lightspan Soundwave
Underworld
5/5
I wasn't expecting too much from Second Toughest In The Infants because i didn't remember it being too great but man, this album surpassed my expectations and then some. Every song here just manages to feel like the best kinds of electronic music with enough energy to be easy dance club bangers and enough ambiance to feel like you're in a whole new world. The guitars weren't there often but when they were there, they were just so unbelievably well done. It may be a 71 minute long album which may put some people off but in my ears, they made sure to make every second pure bliss.
Best Song: Banstyle / Sappys Curry
Worst Song: Confusion The Waitress
American Music Club
3/5
California is yet another one of those albums that is fine albeit unremarkable. Its just another alt rock album from the 80s that wasn't really doing anything to help it stand out from it's many peers. Many of the songs also just tend to copy paste the same exact formula to the point where they just tend to get a bit forgettable. Bad Liquor is one of the more fun tracks seeing as it's one of the few (if not the only one) that deviates from the formula and it manages to still be a pretty good track. That is however only one track and it is pretty short so i would not say it is enough to elevate this album any higher than 3 stars.
Best Song: Bad Liquor
Worst Song: Laughingstock
DJ Shadow
4/5
Endtroducing..... was actually a very good album. It is interesting to see an album that was entirely made up of samples in a very lyric-focused genre like hip hop but this album managed to work with that very well. The beats all felt cool and had a downtempo like ambiance to them which really added to my enjoyment. Even when the songs were long (mainly when they were doing medleys) they were still good even if they did take a while to get to that point. There were also some samples/ideas that didn't work so well but the good heavily outweighed the bad. This is a really good album for what it is.
Best Song: Changeling
Worst Song: Organ Donor
The xx
3/5
xx is an album that is just squandered potential in my eyes. The first 5 songs were all great with them each having an otherworldly indie sound with beats that did the job well and just a general vibe that you could easily relax to and get lost inside your thoughts. However, tracks 6, 7 and 8 were all lacking due to music that was trying to hard to be ambient and vocals which sounded like Romy and Oliver were just getting bored of this and while tracks 9, 10 and 11 were good, they just weren't able to hit the heights of the first 5. This album is the embodiment of the saying (I don't know if this is a real saying or not but who cares) "You had it all but lost it somewhere along the way".
Best Song: Intro
Worst Song: Shelter
Side note: I love the music video for Islands, I love how it tricks you into thinking that it is just going to be a simple visualizer but then everything goes awry and it was just a really cool subversion of my expectations
The Magnetic Fields
2/5
I will give 69 Love Songs credit, the title certainly was not lying but was it really to the benefit of the album. Due to the album's sheer number of songs, the run time clocks in at nearly 3 hours and they made sure to take advantage of that time to do whatever. When it comes to each field of the album (Lyrics, vocals and music) there is good, and there is really bad. This is just one of those albums where i feel that you could cut out a lot of these songs (even some of the more palatable ones) and this album would be much better. Granted, it would ruin the title but you really gotta ask yourself the question "Is the novelty worth it?".
Best Song: If You Don't Cry
Worst Song: Punk Love
Eminem
2/5
The Marshall Mathers LP is a much better album than The Slim Shady LP but it is still not very good. Instead of just having bad songs (with the occasional hint of something decent) this album is somewhat more of a mixed bag with it actually having some good songs. The instrumentals have gotten a slight upgrade from the last album with none of them being overly annoying and actually having a structure. The rapping has improved a little bit too in some songs where in others, it remains overly cringey. This album is not good, don't get me wrong here, but if you gave me the option between listening to this and The Slim Shady LP, then i would pick this album any day of the week.
Best Song: The Way I Am
Worst Song: Under The Influence
Robert Wyatt
3/5
Shleep is an album i have mixed feelings on. On one hand, the album is actually filled to the brim with quite a bit of good songs with many of them sounding oddly relaxing despite all of their noise and some even trying some unique things. On the other hand though, some of the songs are real stinkers due to being so noisy and annoying and even to a point where apparently Robert Wyatt even seems to have a tough time singing the songs so he just gives up on adding the lyrics in (The Duchess is an especially bad offender of this). I don't hate Robert Wyatt's music as much as a lot of other people on this site do (at least, the songs i have heard) but i still don't think i can give this album any higher than a 2.5.
Best Song: Blues In Bob Minor
Worst Song: The Duchess
Basement Jaxx
4/5
Remedy is a really good album. It could just be my affinity for most electronica albums speaking here but the album was filled to the brim with a lot of bangers. Bangers that all managed to sound very different from each other and keep me interested throughout the album's whole runtime. Its absolutely not perfect with songs that could be better if they weren't so noisy but even these noisy songs along with all the other ones never were bad, just songs that i would put lower than the best songs. I just don't know what else to say other than this is just a really fun album that will likely be staying in my head for a while.
Best Song: Jump N Shout
Worst Song: Don't Give Up
The Birthday Party
1/5
Look, I generally really like punk albums but Junkyard manages to spectacularly fail when it comes to everything. I don't think there are many redeeming qualities about this album. The music manages to be super messy and noisy. The vocals are a poor man's Tom Waits but far worse. The lyrical decisions manage to make me cringe so hard. The production is also terrible here but that might be a blessing considering that if it wasn't, i could fully hear just how bad this album is. Never before have i managed to find an album that managed to bore me to tears and also irritate me to the point of begging for it to be over but somehow, this album managed to do it.
Best Song: Several Sins
Worst Song: She's Hit
Prince
4/5
Sign 'O' The Times was a much more enjoyable album than i thought it was going to be. This one is a double album so you know there would be a lot of songs and with that hopefully, a lot of variety. This album did have a decent bit of variety while still sticking to a defined sound throughout. The main reason i like this album is mainly the music though. They often had some really cool instruments like the Sega Genesis sounding bass among others and the rhythms were cool too. Prince's vocal work had a Michael Jackson style flair to it and that i really enjoyed. This album isn't perfect but it is a great palate cleanser after the garbage i listened to yesterday.
Best Song: U Got The Look
Worst Song: Starfish And Coffee
Mylo
4/5
I was really not expecting Destroy Rock & Roll to be this good but i was so happily proven to be wrong. From the first time a got a taste of some of the songs, i was expecting that i would get a 2 star album at best. However, when i actually listened to this album it went up to a 3 and stayed that way until the last 2 songs which were enough for me to give it a 4. The songs here were all some really good stuff but the final 2 tracks, like i said, stole the show for me. The album always managed to have a good beat to all of it's songs and got really beautiful towards the end. This album isn't gonna destroy rock & roll but it is still a really good one nonetheless.
Best Song: Need You Tonite
Worst Song: Sunworhsipper
Depeche Mode
5/5
Dear lord, Violator is such an amazing album. I was expecting at first to hear just another good album like Music For The Masses but this album goes way beyond that. It just has everything i would really ever want in a new wave album. Its haunting, melodic, catchy, memorable and every other adjective i can think of to describe a good new wave album (and in some cases, an album in general). Every song managed to be really good with no stinkers or even average songs as they all just had something that made me really love all of them. This is easily one of the best new wave albums i have ever heard.
Best Song: Personal Jesus
Worst Song: Blue Dress
Duran Duran
3/5
Rio is an alright album. Since this is an 80s new wave album, it is of course gonna have a lot of cheesiness in virtually every aspect but that isn't always a bad thing. A majority of the instruments all sounded alright and fit the songs pretty well and all had good melodies which was the main thing that was initially praised about this album back in 1982. The thing it was most heavily criticized for, The lyrics, weren't something i paid all too much attention to but from what i remember, they were not all that bad. I'd say the main issue with this album is how overly similar the songs sound to each other. I still will say that it is an alright album, just nothing all too great.
Best Song: New Religion
Worst Song: Rio
Beth Orton
4/5
Central Reservation was actually a super nice surprise. This album is a very poppy folk album and i do enjoy that kind of sound when it is done well which this album does do it well. There were many songs that all had some really nice melodies to them with Beth's voice adding quite a lot to them. The songs here were a little samey but all generally had a good sound to them so that wasn't an issue that i cared about too much. I don't think i have much more to really say about this album so all i will say is that this album was a really nice surprise and it really does deserve more attention than it seems to get.
Best Song: Stars All Seem to Weep
Worst Song: Pass in Time
Siouxsie And The Banshees
5/5
The Scream is another amazing album from Siouxsie and the Banshees. It has been a long while since i did an album by this band and because of that, i have forgotten just how good they really are. There is already the fact that the guitars and vocals in the songs are great and really do a lot to help me enjoy them as much as i do. This album is also home to my second favorite Helter Skelter cover (My favorite is the Rob Zombie/Marilyn Manson one). I don't think this album is as good as Juju though i can't really pinpoint why. Regardless, i think both albums are some of the best listens i have had on this project.
Best Song: Mirage
Worst Song: Suburban Relapse
Kanye West
4/5
I think we are at the time where everyone has more or less forgotten about Kanye's X crash out (since nobody is talking about it) so i don't think it will be too controversial if i say that i think that My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is a great album. I have had a somewhat mixed opinion on a lot of Kanye's lyrics but i will say that they in this album are not nearly as bad as the ones on Yeezus, but not as good as the ones in The College Dropout. However, what i think is better than both albums is the production. It took a massive step up and delivered some major bangers in basically all of the songs. Kanye might not be the greatest person but this album sure is his greatest.
Best Song: All Of The Lights
Worst Song: Dark Fantasy
Side Note: And since this is the last of the Kanye West albums i will be looking at, here are my rankings
1. My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
2. The College Dropout
3. Yeezus
Pearl Jam
4/5
Ten is a really great album but for whatever reason, something about it is preventing me from giving this album 5 stars. Pearl Jam is one of the big two grunge powerhouses (the other being Nirvana) so it does of course have that typical grunge sound that i was expecting and it does sound very good throughout all of the songs. The guitars on the songs are what mainly steal the show as they do sound amazing in a lot of the songs. A lot of the other aspects about the album are great too and of course none of the songs are bad either. I really do like this album but not as much as i feel i should.
Best Song: Jeremy
Worst Song: Oceans
SAULT
3/5
Untitled (Black Is) is actually a pretty solid album for being my first album from the 2020s for this project. It is also pretty interesting to see that this is probably the most Christian album that we are likely getting on this project. As for the album itself, there is good and there is not so good. The music here was stuff i generally enjoyed having a nice R&B sound with a lot of the songs feeling very distinct from each other yet still fitting together quite nicely. I guess if i had to complain about something, it would be the vocals. They aren't horrible, i just find something off about them. This is a solid album but i do feel there are better albums from 2020.
Best Song: Monsters
Worst Song: Black
Kraftwerk
3/5
Trans Europe Express is certainly a weird one but hey, that's Kraftwerk for you. It is pretty easy to tell that this is one of the earliest electronic albums ever made mainly due to it's sheer quirkiness and desire to basically try as much weird stuff as it possibly can. I felt as if i kinda did vibe with the quirkiness at points and i did enjoy some of the melodies here. The main issue i have with this album is just how repetitive it is even for electronic album standards. Quite a couple of the songs here carry over from the songs before it and with their lengths, can easily make them feel stale. I kinda did enjoy this album but i would still easily put The Man Machine above it.
Best Song: Abzug
Worst Song: Franz Schubert
David Bowie
4/5
I actually really liked The Next Day. It is always interesting whenever this project has an album that was released several years after it's artist's prime and this one is certainly no exception. It still has a lot of David Bowie's trademark traditions including always having a special kind of energy to his songs and also having many art rock elements. I guess if i did have one issue with the album, then it would be the fact that the album is a bit sloppy in places where the compositions don't feel perfectly put together and the instrumentation doesn't help those moments. Other than that though, the songs are great and i still had a good time with this album.
Best Song: Love Is Lost
Worst Song: The Stars (Are Out Tonight)
Giant Sand
3/5
Chore of Enchantment is just okay. I do kinda like the idea the band seems to be going for, using some Leonard Cohen style vocals and putting them in an alt-rock album is certainly an idea for an album i would enjoy. The problem is though, the album just never does anything with a lot of the ideas it has and it makes a lot of the songs just feel pretty boring and safe. There were a couple of stand out tracks in this album but nothing i would feel like i would go out of my way to listen to again. This album is not a bad album, it just isn't really all that special and there is just far better stuff out there.
Best Song: Wolfy
Worst Song: Shrine
Simple Minds
3/5
New Gold Dream (81/82/83/84) is just another alright album from this project. From it's title, i nearly assumed that it was a series of songs recorded from 1981-1984 (i thought that before i remembered the release year) and yes, this all seems to be music made for this album. I only think that there is one standout track, that being Glittering Prize which is actually a pretty solid song. The rest of the tracks, while not bad, either don't have anything interesting or do but those interesting things get a little boring due to the length of the songs. Its an alright album, just not better than a lot of the other new wave albums out there.
Best Song: Glittering Prize
Worst Song: Someone Somewhere (In Summertime)
Arcade Fire
4/5
Funeral is an album that i really enjoyed. I never really heard too much of Arcade Fire, all i have really known about them is that a lot of music critics praise them as if they are the second coming of Jesus Christ. I don't think that this album is perfect but i still do really like it. The instrumentation is on point and works well with every song no matter what instrument they pick and the melodies are always interesting and changing which makes a lot of the longer songs not very tedious at all. I think that the vocals could be clearer but they are still quite serviceable. I don't praise this album as much as all those music critics but i can still see why it gets so much praise.
Best Song: Rebellion (Lies)
Worst Song: Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels)
Deee-Lite
3/5
World Clique is definitely one of the more bizarre albums on this list. There were quite a lot of points in the album where the songs had many different things that they wanted to try with mixed results. The results were generally pretty good and had their moments but sometimes, the weirdness did get a little too much. There were definitely quite a decent bit of solid songs here which all sounded pretty unique from each other but some did go on for a little too long causing the beats to get a little bit repetitive. This is one of those albums where you have to know what you are getting into to really enjoy it but if you do, you will find quite a bit of enjoyment here.
Best Song: Good Beat
Worst Song: Build the Bridge
Os Mutantes
1/5
Good lord, i took a week off from this project to go on a vacation and then i come back to this?! Os Mutantes is an albums that somehow manages to commit nearly every no no in music possible in just 36 minutes. I'm not gonna fault the lyrics since they are in Spanish and i am still a beginner in learning that language and the vocals are about as good as they could be with the limited resources but what i will fault is the music. There is everything here from terrible compositions to awful instrumentation amplified by terrible audio recording and mixing even for 1968 and that's when the songs aren't having immense identity crises. The other aspects are not so terrible but when the music is this unbelievably bad, i can't give this album any higher than a 1.
Best Song: Le Premier Bonheur Du Jour
Worst Song: Panis Et Circenses
Dwight Yoakam
3/5
Buenas Noches From A Lonely Room is an alright album. I'm not really the biggest fan of country music so i wasn't going in with the highest of expectations but it is a decent listen. The songs are pleasant and well done with good vocals, good instrumentation, good rhythms, and the album is really well produced. My main issue with this album (like a lot of other albums like it) is the songs are not diverse enough. They all seem to rely on more or less the same formula which sounds fine but gets a little bit tiring even with this album's fairly short runtime. This album isn't a huge recommendation from me but it isn't a stay-away either.
Best Song: What I Don't Know
Worst Song: Send Me the Pillow
Little Simz
4/5
GREY Area was a pretty darn good album. I guess i should be expecting something good considering the immense critical praise it got according to Metacritic back when they still had albums on that site. I do find the lyrics a little weird in some place with how much Simz uses the n word but other than that, i don't really have that much negative things to say about this album. The instrumentals were all cool and provided something different in each one and the flows were also super well done making this a really smooth experience. I don't have much else to say, just a really good album.
Best Song: 101 FM
Worst Song: Boss
Morrissey
4/5
Gotta say, due to Morrissey's stigma of not being great, I wasn't expecting You Are The Quarry to be as good as it is but i was certainly wrong. When i saw that Morrissey had a solo career, i thought that these albums were going to more or less just be more Smiths albums but this one definitely feels very different from those by dropping the a majority of the new wave elements and going full indie rock. The music here is really well done with some great The Killers style melodies and even when the lyrics were dumb, they still managed to make me wonder what Morrissey would think of next and that always kept me interested. This is a really solid album that in my eyes, gets more hate than it deserves.
Best Song: First of the Gang to Die
Worst Song: The World Is Full of Crashing Bores
Side note: I don't know why but the album and artist names being positioned the way they are kinda makes me laugh, it feels more like a statement than just the name and artist of this album
Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark
4/5
Architecture And Morality is an album that didn't leave the best first impression on me but as it grew on me, i really started to enjoy it. At first, i was worried that this album was going to be overly boring or overly noisy but as it turned out, this album is neither. It has a lot of the 80s cheesiness you would expect out of 80s new wave albums in a lot of areas including the vocals to the instrumentals but this album also manages to be super melodic where said melodies can be absolutely beautiful, haunting or both. I wasn't expecting a lot from this album but it still really turned out to be a really nice listen.
Best Song: She's Leaving
Worst Song: The New Stone Age
Def Leppard
5/5
Hysteria is an album that i expected to love and my expectations were 100% right. According to this album's wikipedia page, it is Def Leppard's longest album at 62 minutes but they made sure to make each and every second count. This album is filled with nothing but amazing guitar riffs, awesome drumming, melodies that hook you and never let go and some really great vocals as well. Not all of the songs here were the best of the best but the ones that were, really were and really helped elevate this album to be a 5 star album. I have nothing left to say, just one of the best albums i have looked at for this project.
Best Song: Pour Some Sugar On Me
Worst Song: Women
The Triffids
3/5
Calenture is an okay album that doesn't go all the way but is still an alright listen. This is basically as typical 80s alt rock album as typical 80s alt rock albums get. You have all the ingredients for them, Theatric sounding vocals, check. Slow, sometimes melodic guitars, check. Drumming that's only really there to help progress the melodies, check. Some other instrument like a piano or violin, well, they are both here so check. This album never really does anything unique or different to help itself stand out from it's contemporaries but i still can't call this album bad. The songs here could have some pretty good moments so it is an album that i can say is decent but there is better out there.
Best Song: Kelly's Blues
Worst Song: Bury Me Deep in Love
The Doors
5/5
I gotta say, I was not expecting to like L.A. Woman as much as i did but good lord this is genuinely a glorious album. In my eyes, this album represents everything a psychedelic rock album should be. A fun, catchy, ever-changing experience that anyone using psychedelic drugs can enjoy (not that i was using any, I'm only 20 years old as of writing this which is probably underage for these drugs) with a good dose of quirkiness but not too much to make the album annoying. The songs, at worst, could be a little repetitive but even that flaw was very rare as the songs always had elements to help keep themselves from getting stale. This is easily one of the best psych rock albums i have heard.
Best Song: L'America
Worst Song: Crawling King Snake
Doves
4/5
Lost Souls was such a great album because it was just so relaxing. This is genuinely the perfect album to listen to after you had a long day because it just has everything that makes an album relaxing. It has a slow pace with some beautiful melodies with just the right style of guitar playing to help give this album it's feel. I got this album during the specific scenario i mentioned that would be perfect to listen to it so it got to a point as to where i wasn't bothered by the repetition and length of the songs all that much. Some of the songs are a little weird due to a somewhat unorthodox vocal style but it was never enough to make me not enjoy this album. This album may hit hardest during a specific scenario but when it does hit, it hits hard.
Best Song: The Man Who Told Everything
Worst Song: Lost Souls
Gotan Project
4/5
La Revancha Del tango is certainly a really fun album. This album definitely has one of the most unique ideas of all the albums here with it combining French tango music with modern (well, for the time) dance music. And the results paid off as this album managed to be a really good one. This album always knew how to keep itself interesting even if it did rely on the same formula by adding subtle nuances to keep most of the songs feeling different. It also managed to do this without sacrificing listenability as there wasn't a single bad song here even if some songs were better than others. I really did enjoy this one.
Best Song: El Capitalismo Foraneo
Worst Song: Chunga's Revenge
Bad Company
4/5
Bad Company is an album i really have a soft spot for but i don't feel like i have a particular reason for it having a soft spot in my heart. Lets get one thing out of the way, this album is incredibly basic and simplistic especially for a hard rock album from the mid 70s (mainly when you consider that there were hard rock albums with more interesting elements that came out earlier) but i still really enjoyed this album. There were some unquestionably good songs and there wasn't a song that i would consider bad. It was also a pretty short listen too meaning that the album never had a chance to get repetitive. This album gets a really mild 4 mainly because i just don't really have a big reason for liking it yet i still do like it.
Best Song: Bad Company
Worst Song: Movin' On
Emerson, Lake & Palmer
4/5
I know i have been giving out 4s like I'm Oprah Winfrey giving out cars lately but that's just because these albums have been so good and Pictures At An Exhibition is one of those albums. This album genuinely shocked me with how not only good, but weird it is. Each of the songs had a very different vibe from each other (except for the ones with the same name) and each of them had quite a lot of quirkiness to them from the bleeps and bloops of some songs to the heavily blues inspired songs. The sound quality was also very good and it never at any point got tedious. This is just another album i really like.
Best Song: The Old Castle
Worst Song: The Sage
Buffalo Springfield
4/5
I gotta say, I like Buffalo Springfield Again quite a bit more than i was expecting. At this point, I am pretty familiar with two of this band's members being Stephen Stills and Neil Young but it is clear that this is where they brought out their A game. This album did so many things right, It had good instrumentation, great melodies, a good amount of singers all of which sounded great and brought their own little touch to each song and good variety between every song while still sounding like they fit together nicely. I'm not the biggest fan of when the songs suddenly stop and start with no rhyme or reason to but other than that, this is a surprisingly really good album.
Best Song: Mr. Soul
Worst Song: Broken Arrow
Tom Waits
5/5
Rain Dogs is certainly an excellent album. I always liked Tom Waits' style of music and how unique it is and this album does a really good job in capturing that style. It also just does every aspect that you would ever want in an album right. There are plenty of different styles of music here which all sound great, Tom's vocals which all are varied and gave the songs their intended feel and then some, the lyrics in every song are interesting and the production here was surprisingly very good, even better than Bone Machine even though that album came out 7 years later. I don't think i can think of a single problem that this album has so it gets full marks from me.
Best Song: Gun Street Girl
Worst Song: Time
Pavement
3/5
Slanted And Enchanted wasn't an album i hated but i didn't really love it either. Typically, i am quite a fan of this rough indie rock style that this album is going for but i just feel it could have been executed quite a bit better. The music is mostly good but sometimes, it could get a little noisy and had a few questionable moments. But the main thing that hampered my enjoyment of this album is the singer's voice. I feel like he gets a little too into it and it makes some of the songs get kinda annoying. Like i said, i didn't hate this album as there were some solid songs but i just feel that too many things hold it back for me.
Best Song: No Life Signed Her
Worst Song: Chesley's Little Wrists
Johnny Cash
4/5
American IV: The Man Comes Around was an album that i actually liked quite a fair bit. I was pretty surprised to learn that this album was just covers (with one original song) but these covers are some pretty good covers. This album also seems to have songs from some of my favorite albums on this list like Hurt from Nine Inch Nails' The Downward Spiral, Personal Jesus from Depeche Mode's Violator, and Bridge Over Troubled Water from Simon And Garfunkel's album of the same name. While i do like the original versions of all those songs more than these covers, I still cannot deny that they are very good and the other songs were quite good as well. Definitely a really good listen.
Best Song: Personal Jesus
Worst Song: Tear Stained Letter
Side note: Am i the only one who thinks that Johnny Cash's lineup of albums on this list is a little weird? He has 2 live albums and 1 studio album 99% consisting of covers.
Rocket From The Crypt
5/5
Scream, Dracula, Scream is such an amazing album. I already really like punkish sounding albums but even this album goes beyond those lofty standards. The album is of course fast, fun and frenetic and the vocals really do fit these songs well. But the main two things that really steal the show are the guitars and the trumpets. Both elements heavily support the album in very different ways. The guitars are what really carry the album with them being pretty heavy but still keeping the songs really catchy. The trumpets also help differentiate this album from a lot of other punk album by giving this album a more extravagant feel. Not every decision made with this album is perfect but i still absolutely love it.
Best Song: Come See, Come Saw
Worst Song: Misbeaten
The Smashing Pumpkins
5/5
Who knew that Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness would be such a banger of an album. This album is very long clocking in at more than 2 hours which would be something i had a problem with but when the album is 2 hours of some of the greatest grunge music i have ever heard, i don't have any problem with it. The songs consisted of nonstop amazing guitar riffs, vocals that were a bit weird at first but still managed to fit the songs really well and that i eventually really started to like and enough quirkiness to give the album even more charm without getting annoying. The fact that this album is 2 hours long and every single song managed to be so great easily makes this one of my favorite albums i have done for this project.
Best Song: Bodies
Worst Song: Take Me Down
Sonic Youth
3/5
E.V.O.L is an album that i have somewhat mixed feelings on. This album has an incredibly abstract sound to it where it seems to be picking some of the most random noises and putting them together with mixed results. The album does lack accessibility meaning that it can feel overly forgettable due to the album trying to be so artsy-fartsy. However, there are some pretty solid melodies here and the album definitely sounds cleaner than the last Sonic Youth album i have heard (Sister if you didn't check and i doubt you did anyways). This isn't the worst album but it isn't really the greatest one either.
Best Song: Starpower
Worst Song: Green Light
Kelela
3/5
Take Me Apart is definitely a jack of all trades, master of none type of album. A lot of the time, i really do like the mix of R&B as well as hip-hop/electronic type of music this album is going for and it does seem to do that style well. The music is pretty good, Kelela has some good vocals and the lyrics are solid as well. The problem is, that's all the album really does. Every song seems to rely on this formula with some slight changes here and there but each song more or less gives the same kind of vibe. This causes a lot of the songs to become pretty forgettable as they all blend in too well. This album is far from bad but i did expect more from it.
Best Song: Blue Light
Worst Song: Enough
Jimi Hendrix
4/5
Axis: Bold As Love was definitely a really good album. Since Jimi Hendrix mainly does psych-rock, the songs here all have that psych-rock vibe to them. It is, of course, a style i do have a soft spot for especially when it is combined with hard rock. This album is very trippy as you would expect from a psych-rock album but also is very groovy and pretty easy to get into. This album does take a while to get going but when it does, it really does. I also like this album more than Electric Ladyland since it is just far more accessible than that album ever was even with this one's quirks. This album is certainly a great one that i absolutely think deserves a spot on this list.
Best Song: Little Wing
Worst Song: Exp
Hot Chip
4/5
In Our Heads was a much greater album than i was expecting. I was only expecting an okay album with a few highlights when i got my first impressions on the previews on these songs but hearing them in full has allowed me to fully appreciate just how good a lot of them are. Hot Chip's style of music in this album really shined with a lot of the tracks sounding very melodic but also being fun and groovy whenever they need to be. I also really enjoyed a lot of the lyrics as those all fit their songs very well. Not every song was perfect but when the songs were good, they were really good.
Best Song: These Chains
Worst Song: Now There Is Nothing
Calexico
3/5
Bizarre title aside, Feast of Wire is most certainly an interesting album. I think that another name for this album could be "Sounds of a Mexican Restaurant" because a lot of these songs definitely sound like something you would hear from a Mexican restaurant which kinda does make sense seeing as this band is from Southern US. The album itself does sound pretty good, it mainly flip-flops between songs with vocals and solely instrumental songs. Most of these songs are handled well and do have their fair share of interesting elements beyond the Mexican sounding stuff but i don't really think are memorable enough to be elevated beyond the good status.
Best Song: Black Heart
Worst Song: Pepita
Joni Mitchell
3/5
Hejira is a pretty good album. This album definitely does have a lot of the typical Joni Mitchell staples that you would expect from her. It has lyrics that are more like poetry and i think that is easily the best part about this album as it really does show what Joni is capable of and she does tell some great stories here. The music here is also alright, some pretty good sounding stuff but i do feel it doesn't go all the way and isn't as memorable due to it just not having enough elements to keep it interesting and to set it apart from it's cotemporaries. Its a good album, i just feel that it is not the best that it could have been.
Best Song: Black Crow
Worst Song: Coyote
Def Leppard
5/5
I guess i should have expected this after listening to Hysteria but Pyromania is such an awesome album. It might not have as many of Def Leppard's most famous songs but they are still very much here. And of course it should come as no surprise that all of these songs are great. They have the typical characteristics like catchy melodies, heavy guitars and some really great vocals. There are also some slight diversions with the formula which kept the songs fresh while still feeling like they fit well including Billy's Got A Gun's more swingy style. Like i said prior, every song is also an absolute banger meaning that this really is one of the best albums i have looked at for this project.
Best Song: Photograph
Worst Song: Foolin'
Elastica
4/5
Elastica is certainly an enjoyable album. I am always in the mood for a good punk album and this album certainly delivered on that. I did not think it was perfect with the vocals feeling weak at times but when it comes to the music, that was handled pretty well for the most part. Every part of the music manages to steal the show in all of these songs with the trifecta of the guitars, bass and drums. They were all very good and could often be at their best during very different points of the album. The melodies here were also very infectious and catchy in a lot of these songs too. This isn't a perfect album but for what it does, it still is very good.
Best Song: S.O.F.T.
Worst Song: Indian Song
The Who
3/5
The Who Sell Out is certainly a pretty interesting album. This probably is The Who's quirkiest album of them all (or at least the ones i have heard) seeing as this one consists of a lot of commercial jingles like the ones for the products you see on the front and back covers. Of course, the typical The Who formula still applies to this album seeing as it does feel like a Beatles clone just like My Generation did but this one definitely has more quirk than that album did. The songs here are pretty solid albeit kinda forgettable which applies to this album more than it does a lot of their other albums but i still would not say this is The Who's worst album.
Best Song: I Can See For Miles
Worst Song: Rael
Side note: Since i am checking The Who off of my list, i will give a list all The Who albums i have heard here ranked:
1. Live At Leeds
2. Who's Next
3. My Generation
4. The Who Sell Out
5. Tommy
The Jesus And Mary Chain
2/5
Look, I really wanted to like Psychocandy but when the production is just this bad, i gotta dock major points from this album. I am no stranger to noise rock as i have listened to many of those types of albums through this project but i have never seen them have production that is this low quality. Its a real shame too because there are things i like about this album. There are some decent ideas with the guitars and the vocals and it is a good thing this album isn't very long so it never got unbearable to listen to but i can not get over this production. This album isn't horrible but i just am having a really tough time recommending this to even noise rock fans since the production here is so bad and makes awful ringing noises and when there are just far better albums like this.
Best Song: Just Like Honey
Worst Song: It's So Hard
The KLF
3/5
The White Room was a fairly solid album. The sounds of this album mostly makes me think of them as songs from Super Nintendo games but in CD quality (I guess we would have gotten stuff like this if the Super Nintendo CD had released). Anyways, this album definitely does have quite a few good moments as well as some more boring and forgettable ones. I mainly liked the songs that had a good beat to them which is how i like songs in most electronic albums but i also did like some of the extra touches they added in some songs like a saxophone bit. This one may be a bit lacking in comparison to other electronic albums i have heard but it is still an enjoyable album nonetheless.
Best Song: Go To Sleep
Worst Song: Build A Fire
Bonnie Raitt
3/5
Nick Of Time was a pretty good album. This album was certainly a country album, i will give it that. This album basically had all the sound styles that you would expect from a country album like the slow guitar song, the more upbeat song with some harmonicas among many other things with some of those being blues elements as well. Most of the songs here were pretty good and had some pretty groovy vibes to them and at worst they could be a little bit boring and forgettable. The forgettable songs were not very common in this album but unfortunately, they were still there. This album is a pretty solid album that i would not be against listening to in the future.
Best Song: Love Letter
Worst Song: Nobody's Girl
The Kinks
3/5
Something Else By The Kinks is an interesting title that's given to a pretty good album. As far as i have heard, The Kinks do seem to be yet another Beatles clone which were more than prevalent during the 60s and they have a lot of the things you would expect from The Beatles including all the quirkiness. I'd honestly say the worst part of this album is something that isn't really the band's fault that being the recording quality but this is to be expected considering this album came out in the 1960s. The songs still sound quirky and full of energy and the album was short so i still found quite a bit to like about this album.
Best Song: Situation Vacant
Worst Song: Death of a Clown
3/5
Don't Come Home A Drinkin' (With Lovin' On Your Mind) is an album that doesn't really do anything all that interesting but does the best it can in what it does do. It more or less has the sound that you would expect from a female-sang country album from the 60/70s so like a lot of those, it is a fairly basic album. The songs at least do everything well like having good vocals which is probably the highlight of the album as well as decent music and lyrics. It certainly is a very repetitive album as every song uses only a few formulas (and by a few, i mean 2 or 3) but the album was very short so it wasn't too big of an issue. This album isn't amazing but there is certainly worse out there.
Best Song: Don't Come Home A Drinkin' (With Lovin' On Your Mind)
Worst Song: Tomorrow Never Comes
Rod Stewart
3/5
Gasoline Alley was a pretty uninteresting album but still a solid one nonetheless. I don't really know if there is anything that this album does differently from all of it's contemporaries as it does just sound like a generic 70s blues rock album. It certainly isn't bad though, there are quite a couple of songs with some fun guitar work and some good vocals by Roddy himself. There also wasn't a bad song here at all as they were all good while at worst being a bit forgettable. I still enjoyed my time with this album even if there isn't really anything else i can say about it so I'm just regurgitating the point i made up top at this point.
Best Song: You're My Girl (I Don't Want To Discuss It)
Worst Song: Lady Day
Bon Jovi
4/5
Slippery When Wet is often seen as a classic among classic rock albums and after listening to it, i can absolutely see why because it genuinely is great. I thought these songs had already lost their luster seeing as i have heard the singles like You Give Love A Bad Name, Livin' On A Prayer and Wanted Dead Or Alive on classic rock stations quite a lot but they were all seriously great songs and the others are still no slouches in the slightest. And this goes without saying that there was not a bad song in sight on this album as they are all greats in their own way. I do think that something is preventing me from 5 staring this album but it is still a great one regardless.
Best Song: I'd Die For You
Worst Song: Never Say Goodbye
The Flaming Lips
4/5
Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots was certainly a very charming album. This album mainly seems to take after the soft rock elements from The Flaming Lips' prior album The Soft Bulletin but adds quite a bit of quirk and even somewhat of a story in the lyrics (Well, enough to the point of this album getting a whole musical based on it). A lot of the electronic elements here make me think that this album is the second closest one to being a lo-fi album too (closest being DJ Shadow's Endtroducing...) which i actually do quite like as the songs have a unique relaxing vibe. I did feel that there were points when the album gets a little too long but i still enjoyed this one quite a fair bit.
Best Song: One More Robot / Sympathy 3000-21
Worst Song: Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots, Pt. 2
Fela Kuti
3/5
Live! is certainly a livelier album than i expected to be (no pun intended). I guess it might have been helped by the fact that not only did Fela Kuti perform it but also Cream's former drummer Ginger Baker helped out as well (of course alongside The Africa'70). It may not be as good as the other album i have heard in this project that he worked on (Cream's Disraeli Gears to those of you curious) this is still a fun album to listen to. The music had a very nice charm to it with it always sounding lively and upbeat even if it did feel like the album was dragging itself out a bit. There are better albums like this but i still enjoyed this one.
Best Song: Black Man's Cry
Worst Song: Let's Start
The Teardrop Explodes
3/5
Ladies and gentlemen, I think i have found it, I have found the most 80s album to ever exist with Kilimanjaro. Pretty much every single element of 80s music that has appeared in those albums, it's all here from the keyboards, to the synths, to the bass, to the guitars, to the vocals, to the lyrics its got everything you can think of which means it really earns that new wave tag. As for the album's quality, it's fine albeit nothing all that special. Beyond some decent melodies, there isn't really anything that stands out about this album, neither good or bad. The album was only around 37 minutes long so it is a pretty harmless listen.
Best Song: Poppies In The Field
Worst Song: Books
Suede
4/5
Dog Man Star is a really good album but i don't think it's as good as Suede's debut. I guess i could attribute my feelings to my mood because i was pretty sleepy when i was listening to this but this album still feels like a step back in a few ways. The music took the biggest hit, while it was still good and still had a decent bit of interesting moments like the majority of the back half being reserved entirely for ballads but i still feel like the first album did it better. The vocals are about the same and the lyrics are a step up due to sounding a bit less weird. This definitely still is a really good album but i still prefer the self titled album.
Best Song: New Generation
Worst Song: The Wild Ones
Talk Talk
4/5
I wasn't expecting The Colour Of Spring to be as good as it is but man i was pleasantly surprised. I was mainly expecting Talk Talk (Not to be confused with The Psychedelic Furs album of nearly the same name (just missing another talk)) to be just another 80s new wave band which went the same for this album but it is a pretty decent step above a lot of it's contemporaries. It of course still has some of the cheesiness that you would expect to find in a lot of these albums but this one was also pretty melodic and definitely had some pretty relaxing vibes to it. This album was quite the nice surprise.
Best Song: Life's What You Make It
Worst Song: Chameleon Day
Mudhoney
4/5
Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge and to listen to this album because its certainly a very good album. I saw that a critic from Entertainment Weekly compared this album to a Black Sabbath if it were sped up and had a bit of humor and while i can see that, i would more easily compare it to the grunge contemporaries of it's time such as Nirvana and Pearl Jam. I don't like this album as much as i like the offerings from the two i already mentioned but i still think its very good. The music was fast and fun and, of course, had plenty of humor and quirk to it and while the vocals are a bit awkward at first, they still fit the songs well. I really enjoyed this album and think its a good addition to all the other grunge albums of 1991.
Best Song: Don't Fade IV
Worst Song: Generation Genocide
Syd Barrett
3/5
The Madcap Laughs is a pretty solid album. Syd Barrett was apparently an ex-Pink Floyd member (the singer to be exact) and it seems he brought a lot of Pink Floyd's style to this album (as that is my assumption, i have not heard Piper At The Gates Of Dawn yet). It did feel like at a fair bit of points that Barrett was not really taking this album too seriously as this album included a lot of his pre-recorded takes which does feel kinda odd since this album doesn't appear to be satirical. Regardless, the typical psych-rock quirks are here and do make this album enjoyable to listen to and it does have a lot of stand-out tracks. I enjoyed my time with this album and can't wait to see his work with Pink Floyd.
Best Song: Octopus
Worst Song: If It's in You
Best Song:
TLC
4/5
Crazysexycool is a pretty darn good album if i say so myself. This is a group i only ever knew for their really big single, that being Waterfalls, but the rest of this album is a pretty fun bop as well. The instrumentals were easily my favorite part of the album with some great compositions, super funky beats and some cool guitar sections as well. The lyrics also flowed really well and definitely helped the album keep it's pace which the vocals also do help with. I guess if i had one issue, it would be the intermission tracks as they are just way too weird for their own good especially Sexy-interlude, now that was mood whiplash if i had ever seen it. This is still a really good album and a fun listen.
Best Song: If I Was Your Girlfriend
Worst Song: Sexy-interlude
Napalm Death
4/5
Scum is definitely one of the most odd albums on this list and that gives it a unique charm that not a lot of other albums have. This album has a very interesting structure with it being 28 songs but a lot of them are extremely short with one being only 5 seconds long. The general songs are also out of the ordinary with it having your typical thrash/death metal beats but with some incredibly fast drumming and vocals which almost make it sound like the vocalist is barking like a dog. This album can get a little samey and easy to lose track of due to being so short but i still love this album's charm and the more conventional thrash/death metal parts do sound really great so i'm giving this album a 3.5.
Best Song: Scum
Worst Song: Multinational Corporations
Adele
4/5
21 was a great album much to my surprise. I think this project made me have a greater appreciation for Adele in my 20s than i did when i was a pre-teen during Adele's prime and listening to both this and 25 really helped with that. While i don't think that this album is as good as 25, i still think it is still a great listen with beautiful music, great songwriting and vocals which i now like far more than i did during my pre-teen years. This album did have a good diversion with I'll Be Waiting and had a cover of The Cure's Lovesong which it always shocks me when pop albums have cover songs but this cover was still very good. I liked this album quite a lot more than i thought i would have.
Best Song: Rolling in the Deep
Worst Song: Don't You Remember
The Jesus And Mary Chain
3/5
Darklands is everything that Psychocandy should have been. I always thought that Psychocandy had some pretty good sounding guitars and melodies but that album was mainly held back due to it's very poor production but this album fixes that exact issue. Gone are the awful ringing noises while this album still has the guitars and melodies i liked from the prior album. This album obviously is not perfect, it's generic nature does kinda make the songs feel a little sluggish but i never thought that the songs were bad. This album still is an enjoyable listen and is quite a massive step up from Psychocandy.
Best Song: Happy When It Rains
Worst Song: Darklands
Willie Nelson
2/5
I guess Stardust is a serviceable album but it is still super repetitive and uninteresting. This is my problem with Willie Nelson after listening to two of his albums, the fact that while his music sounds pleasant, that one style of music is all he really has with him never really deviating and trying to do anything interesting that his contemporaries have not done already. I guess it is better than his other album Red Headed Stranger since there aren't any annoying horn sounds and the songs here did have more time to sink in seeing as they didn't end before they could. I just really don't know what else to say, this album is listenable, just incredibly forgettable.
Best Song: September Song
Worst Song: Don't Get Around Much Anymore
Spiritualized
3/5
I wasn't expecting Lazer Guided Melodies to be very good but this was quite a bit better than i was expecting. This is a space rock album so the name of the game here is ambiance since there is certainly a lot of that. Because of that, this album is best when in certain situations in which ambient music fits and this album won't be the easiest to get into but when you do get into it, it can be a pretty relaxing album that's good to listen to after a long day. This album also does have many quirks in its sound with all the extra instruments and sounds aside from the typical stuff and i find those to be fairly nice additions. This album is kinda hard to get into but if you do, you will find a pretty decent album.
Best Song: Run
Worst Song: If I Were with Her Now
Koffi Olomide
1/5
Now look, I'd love to talk about all the horrible things this man has done but this is a site where we review music, not people. Not that it matters anyway because Haut de gamme / Koweit, rive gauche absolutely sucks. There is of course the fact that Koffi himself gets way too into the lyrics making them sound creepy even though i don't know what he is saying as i do not speak French, But the main issue is the music. While the novelty of them sounding like Super Nintendo songs in CD quality was there at the beginning, it quickly wore off when the songs went on for so long and did absolutely nothing to earn their length. Typically, i would say this is a case of separate the art from the artist but i don't think i need to do that when the art sucks.
Best Song: Elixir
Worst Song: Conte de fees
The Darkness
5/5
I guess this site is continuing the tradition of giving me a really excellent album after an absolutely terrible one with Permission To Land and man oh man this album is seriously amazing. It brings back a lot of the glam metal elements from the glam metal bands from the 80s like Bon Jovi and Def Leppard while mixing in a fair bit of power metal elements as well. The vocals here are fun even if i can see why some people would find them a bit too much but the main star of the show is obviously the musicianship. The music here is nothing but amazing guitar solos, fun, catchy melodies and everything else you need in a great glam metal album. I truly love this one and think its one great late glam metal album.
Best Song: Love on the Rocks with No Ice
Worst Song: Growing On Me
Destiny's Child
4/5
Survivor was actually a really good album. This album's structure kinda reminds me of the Christina Aguilera album Back To Basics with it starting with a very hip-hop/electronic like production kinda like the way DJ Premier did it in the album i just mentioned and with it later becoming a more ballad sort of album with some slower, more romantic vibes in contrast to Back To Basics' more moody vibe. This album does switch back to the other style though and even the slower songs still had more pop elements. I would typically dislike this but the pop elements actually helped the album feel more focused. The songs are still very catchy and memorable which does help make this album a really good listen.
Best Song: Survivor
Worst Song: Happy Face
Faust
3/5
Faust IV is certainly a very bizarre album. Krautrock is a genre which i have never heard of before listening to this album but after listening to it, it makes me think of some of the stuff Frank Zappa made. However, this album is better than anything he has ever made. You get the best of both worlds with this one, it's quirky, just like his Mothers of Invention albums and it's coherent like his solo album Hot Rats. Even some of the stuff some people would find annoying, i found tolerable. This album isn't amazing as it can get quite a bit repetitive due to the length of some of the songs but in all honesty, i was expecting a lot worse.
Best Song: Giggy Smile
Worst Song: It's A Bit Of A Pain
Massive Attack
3/5
Protection is definitely an interesting electronic album of it's time. Every song felt very different from each other which mainly comes down to the fact that they had many different vocalists sing the songs like the usual suspects (aka the members of the band: 3D, Daddy G and Tricky) Tracey Thorn, Nicolette and Horace Andy with all of them having very different voices. I would say that the album itself is pretty good with it having some pretty good music even if it could get fairly repetitive and the vocals could become difficult to get used to at points. I still think that this album is a solid listen and i do enjoy it more than the first Massive Attack album.
Best Song: Three
Worst Song: Light My Fire
Metallica
5/5
Metallica (The Black album) is certainly a beast of an album. I already had some high expectations for these guys after hearing both ...And Justice For All and Master Of Puppets but even this album managed to surpass those two in just about every way. The songs here are fast, heavy and melodic in all the right spots and they can put more effort into being one of those things whenever they need to and it is always handled incredibly well. The production here is also really great with the bass not being pushed back as much as it was in their last album. There isn't a single issue i can even think of with this album so it's getting full marks.
Best Song: Enter Sandman
Worst Song: The Unforgiven
John Lennon
3/5
I gotta say, John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band was a shockingly pretty good album. I always do find the sounds of the solo albums from the members of The Beatles to be pretty interesting in terms of how much they differ from their albums together as The Beatles. In this case, this album definitely feels way more relaxing than most of The Beatles albums did but this album still did have its much harder tracks. I still am surprised at how good this album is as a lot of these songs are handled rather well and had fun melodies to boot like Remember which i think may have inspired ELO's Mr. Blue Sky. I still liked this album quite a bit and i do prefer it over most Beatles albums.
Best Song: Mother
Worst Song: Isolation
Carpenters
3/5
Close To You is an alright album but it is one that i feel is very unnatural to listen to. There are things i like about this album, the music is handled well throughout a lot of the songs and has quite a few moments of genuine beauty, Karen's vocals are well done and fit the songs well and even Richard's vocals in that one track worked rather well for it. My main issue with this album is how unnatural it feels to listen to it and that is entirely due to the pacing. This album does feel overly fast paced at points to the point where i could sometimes forget what song i was on. This is why i like the 4 minute tracks on this album the most because they give the songs time to stretch out their legs. This album isn't bad at all, just a bit difficult for me to get into.
Best Song: Crescent Noon
Worst Song: Love Is Surrender
R.E.M.
4/5
I liked Document quite a bit more than i thought i would have. I thought that this album was just gonna be good and nothing else just like the last two R.E.M. albums i looked at but i was proven to be wrong as this one in my eyes goes beyond being just good. The songs were all incredibly lively which was the main thing that made me like this album more than the past two R.E.M. albums i looked at. There are several more aspects i like too including the fun melodies, great musicianship from each instrument and the lyrics and vocals were also very well done too. This album was also paced just right. It may not be a perfect but its still a really good album.
Best Song: Fireplace
Worst Song: Welcome To The Occupation
Belle & Sebastian
4/5
I really did like If You're Feeling Sinister. It is certainly surprising to see that this album came out the same year as it's predecessor Tigermilk but i guess it isn't the first time i have seen something like this on this project (this happened with Queen with Queen II and Sheer Heart Attack). While this album does lose what uniqueness Tigermilk had with the songs here now all using the same formula. I still can't deny that this album is still a good listen since it has all the relaxing vibes that the first album did and still has some very good lyrics. I would typically be put off by the lack of deviation but this album was too short for me to find an issue with that. I still think that this is a really solid album.
Best Song: If You're Feeling Sinister
Worst Song: Judy and the Dream of Horses
Christina Aguilera
3/5
Stripped is a pretty alright album. The last Christina Aguilera album i looked at is quite different from this one as while the former has two different styles for two sides, This one seems to combine the two styles. This one also has some of the same vibes that the Justin Timberlake album i did which makes sense since the two artists did eventually perform this album live together but this album does lack that one's absurdity. The album itself is decent with the singles being some pretty good songs and the other ones being decent but forgettable. This album was really long though without much change or interestingness. This is an alright album, just kinda forgettable.
Best Song: Fighter
Worst Song: I'm OK
Steve Earle
3/5
Guitar Town is yet another case of an album on this list that is unremarkable but still pretty solid. This album basically is your typical run-of-the-mill 80s folk country rock album that is more or less just like its contemporaries but doesn't really do anything that much better or worse than any of them. The music, vocals and lyrics are all in the same boat with them being neither great or terrible. This album was thankfully pretty quick so it never got to the point of being a super tedious listen. I think this review might actually be shorter than my other ones because i genuinely don't know what else to say about this album.
Best Song: Hillbilly Highway
Worst Song: Think It Over
Nirvana
5/5
Nevermind is a genuinely amazing album but i don't think that's very surprising considering that this is the essential grunge album. There is, of course, all the singles including Smells Like Teen Spirit, In Bloom, Come As You Are and Lithium all of which i hear on the radio quite a lot and are all very much great songs but the other tracks on this album are no slouches either. The guitars and Kurt's vocals are of course major highlights but the bass is also a huge highlight. I also like how similar to Bug by Dinosaur Jr, it ends with a really heavy song which is always something i love. I still think In Utero is a little bit better but this album is still an absolutely excellent one regardless.
Best Song: Come As You Are
Worst Song: Polly
Side note: Since i will be knocking Nirvana off my unlistened albums list for this project, here are my rankings for each of their albums:
1. In Utero
2. Nevermind
3. MTV Unplugged In New York
Ray Price
2/5
Night Life is an album that i didn't enjoy very much. This album mainly suffers from issues that some other albums suffer from including ones like Richard Hawley's Coles Corner where the album does nothing all that horribly but its just super uninteresting. I get that this is a fairly early country album coming from the early 60s but there are country albums that released before this that are way more interesting and memorable than this one. This is just a massive nothing album to me that lacks anything to make it really good or really bad, I'm running out of things to say as it is just kinda there.
Best Song: Let Me Talk To You
Worst Song: Sittin' And Thinkin'
The Adverts
3/5
Crossing the Red Sea With the Adverts is a pretty decent album. It is a late 70s British punk album so it has all the bells and whistles you would expect from an album with all of these characteristics and in my opinion, its done pretty well. The songs all have that fast paced and rebellious energy that you would expect to see from a punk album like this making the album rush by and really never getting all too tedious. Granted, this album is very samey and also very cheesy as it does have all the quirks of late 70s british punk rock albums but i still enjoyed this album for being a fun, inoffensive listen.
Best Song: Safety In Numbers
Worst Song: Bored Teenagers
Slipknot
5/5
I am a guy who absolutely loves nu-metal so it obviously comes as no surprise that i love All Hope Is Gone. This is an album i do have some experience with by listening to a lot of the more popular songs off of it quite a fair bit. But of course, every song off this album is a genuinely great listen. This album is nearly nonstop heaviness throughout but also had a much more slow and melancholic side to it with songs like Snuff. Even though they were not utilized much, the electronic elements that were used in this album added quite a lot to the songs that had them. This album is a long one but still one that is amazing the whole way through.
Best Song: Dead Memories
Worst Song: This Cold Black
Van Morrison
3/5
Ah, Van Morrison, now that's a name i haven't heard in a long time, not since my third album. Anyways, It's Too Late to Stop Now is an album that is pretty dang solid. I think that Van Morrison might be another case of an artist/band that sounds better live than in the studio. While Moondance was an alright album, this one is definitely a step up as it just sounds more jazzy, more upbeat and just has a lot more energy and memorability. There is one thing you really have to get around though, and that is the fact that this album is VERY long, It is an hour and a half long and many of the songs definitely feel like they drag. Despite that, this was actually a pretty solid listen.
Best Song: Into the Mystic
Worst Song: Help Me
Prince
4/5
1999 was definitely an album that was all over the place but still a really fun listen. This album was a case where absolutely no song sounded the same as they all had their own quirks and gimmicks that the other songs didn't have with some working better than others. This album does of course, reek of the 80s seeing as it did come out in 1982 and tried sounding as futuristic as it could seeing as it is called 1999 but it still reeks of that era in all of the best ways. I do think that not all of the creative ideas in the songs were handled perfectly as some could be annoying. It is a shame though, because without those annoying bits, this genuinely would have been a 5 star album but alas, we can't have that can we?
Best Song: D.M.S.R.
Worst Song: All The Critics Love U In New York
The Cure
3/5
Pornography is definitely an album which I'm not exactly the biggest fan of. This album did have some good ideas with it being one of the early pioneers of gothic rock and it does show with a lot of the songs having this somewhat haunting air to them. This album unfortunately isn't the best when it comes to the execution though. This album's production isn't really that great causing the songs to sort of blend in with all the dissonance that they all have in spades. This causes the songs to just feel kinda forgettable since the melodies are lost to the dissonance. This is by no means a bad album but i still think that it could have been quite a lot better.
Best Song: Cold
Worst Song: Siamese Twins
Tori Amos
4/5
Little Earthquakes was definitely a really darn good album. This album gave me a lot of the same vibes that Fiona Apple's Tidal gave despite that album coming out a whole 4 years after this one. This album still hits a lot of the same beats Tidal did with similar sounding vocals and also heavily relying on the piano in nearly all the songs. Said piano was easily the best part of the whole album as it could be really beautiful at points in the songs that did use it. The vocals were a bit more hit or miss but were mostly hits when Amos did her typical singing style and didn't try anything too weird. This is a quite a nice surprise of an album.
Best Song: Winter
Worst Song: Me and a Gun
Ryan Adams
3/5
Gold was quite a solid album which rather surprised me. For some reason, the album art made me think that this was going to be an emo album (i guess some of the fashion choices did it for me including the hair and the eyeshadow) but no, this is in fact a country rock album. This album does it's job pretty well as many of the songs can be pretty beautiful or pretty rocking in a lot of the best ways. The main issue that i do have with this album is it's length, this album is around 70 minutes which would be fine if the songs sounded more varied but here they do not and it did cause my enjoyment of this album to tank a bit. It's still a solid album and was better than i was expecting due to Adams' reputation on this site.
Best Song: The Rescue Blues
Worst Song: Touch, Feel & Lose
Violent Femmes
3/5
Violent Femmes is an album that i have somewhat mixed feelings on. I definitely didn't hate it but it wasn't something i really loved either. It does feel quite a bit different from a lot of the other punk albums i have heard on this project with this one feeling more acoustic than a lot of the others. The music here is pretty good albeit a bit forgettable as there is not a whole lot of differentiation between the songs with them only having a few interesting moments. The lyrics are not all that great either due to some of them feeling more perverted than i would have wanted. It is still a pretty decent album but its not one that i really want to go back to.
Best Song: Add It Up
Worst Song: Gimme the Car
Steely Dan
4/5
Countdown To Ecstasy was actually a really good album. During my first few minutes of listening, i thought this album was just going to be okay but the more i listened to it, the more i started to like it. I love the generally jazzy vibe to it with a whole lot of rock elements added in as well and also even the slight country twinges were a nice surprise as well. But the main draw of these songs is obviously how funky they can all get. They all had a fun melody to them that is just so easy to dance along to. Granted, the songs are a bit long but i never really found that to be too much of an issue as i still enjoyed their melodies. This is a really strong album and a really enjoyable one.
Best Song: My Old School
Worst Song: The Boston Rag
Heaven 17
3/5
Penthouse And Pavement was just a really weird album and a really difficult one for me to speak my opinions on it. I guess one thing i can really say about it is "The 80sness is strong with this one" as this is probably one of the most 80s albums i have ever heard. You can just tell that this album was from 1981 with all the synths, the style of the vocals and all the quirks that this album had. The quirkiness is the real make it or break it moment for this album for a lot of people. I can see why some people find it annoying but oddly enough, i did kinda enjoy just how quirky this album is. Its definitely an odd one but still a somewhat enjoyable one.
Best Song: Play To Win
Worst Song: Song With No Name
Steve Winwood
3/5
Arc Of A Diver isn't really an album i have much to say about. All this album really is is just your standard, typical 80s pop rock album that has been done so many times. I guess this wasn't really overdone at the time since this album came out pretty early in the 80s (in fact, it was the first year of that decade) but it still does not change the fact that this album just isn't one that's gonna stick in my mind which is a shame since the one i did yesterday of a similar genre did so much to help itself stand out from the rest of the pack while this one just doesn't. I can't hate this one because the musicianship is pretty solid but it doesn't change the fact i can't rank this one any higher than a 2.5.
Best Song: Slowdown Sundown
Worst Song: Spanish Dancer
Tito Puente
3/5
Dance Mania is yet another album where i am more or less just split down the middle in terms of my opinion of it. I definitely do enjoy a lot of the jazz elements that are on frequent display here and the album always had a fun, upbeat vibe to it. My main issue is that all the songs just sound the same with no real differentiation towards any of them. This is my main problem with salsa music in general. When you get past all the things that make it different from other genres, There isn't very much individuality to the genre as nearly every song of that genre sounds the same. This album is still good but that problem is still quite noticeable.
Best Song: Hong Kong Mambo
Worst Song: Mi Chiquita Quiere Bembe
The Crusaders
4/5
I have never really thought too highly with most jazz albums on this list due to a lot of them just being overly boring and forgettable but there have been a fair few standouts with Street Life easily being one of them. There wasn't anything too out of the ordinary with this album with it mostly just sticking to the basics of jazz but it handles those basics super well. The music is mainly the best part of the album with it being so funky yet so relaxing at the same time. The vocals (when they were used) were also very well done too. Also, this album is one of the few jazz albums on this project that never felt bloated. This is easily one of the better jazz albums i have heard.
Best Song: Street Life
Worst Song: Carnival Of The Night
Prince
5/5
Purple Rain is certainly a darn amazing album. This is my third (maybe fourth) time hearing a film soundtrack from this project (after both Air's Virgin Suicides, and Curtis Mayfield's Superfly and kinda Barry Adamson's Moss Side Story) but i can safely say that this is easily the best of the bunch. I also think its Prince's best album due to pretty much combining the best parts of both Sign 'O' The Times and 1999 without any of their issues. Every guitar riff is great, the vocals are something to behold and it is produced beautifully. I don't believe i can think of any issue that this album even has so it is getting a full 5 stars from me.
Best Song: Let's Go Crazy
Worst Song: Take Me with U
Side note: Since this will be my last Prince album, i will rank all of them
1. Purple Rain
2. 1999
3. Sign 'O' The Times
The Rolling Stones
3/5
Exile On Main Street is an album that i had a hard time keeping up with. I am mostly just going to blame it on it's length and the fact that there isn't all too much variation on the formula. The songs tended to flip-flop between two formulas, one being a more country like style and the other being a harder, more rock and roll style and that lasted for about an hour. I don't think that this album is bad, far from it actually, the music is pretty good especially from the latter formula and the vocals are also really good hear as well. I just wish that it were cut down a bit. This may be another album where I'm struggling to find a favorite and least favorite song due to them being overly similar to each other. It's not bad, i just wish it wasn't so long.
Best Song: Stop Breaking Down
Worst Song: Sweet Virginia
Jazmine Sullivan
3/5
Heaux Tales is definitely an odd one for me when it comes to my opinion on it. This is one of the most recent albums on the whole list as this album closed the 2021 edition of the book this whole list was based on. As for my opinion, there are things i do and don't like about this album. Musically, it handles things pretty alright with the production and instrumentals being decent at best and mediocre at worst. The lyrics though, i have some pretty conflicting feelings. At some points, they could feel pretty cool and deep but at other points, they could just be pointless swearfests. This album is one where my feelings are all over the place but i didn't hate my time with it.
Best Song: Put It Down
Worst Song: Ari's Tale
The Beach Boys
3/5
I thought that The Beach Boys Today! was an alright album. In many ways, it does feel very dated from things like the production, the lyrics and many other things that clearly make this album a product of 1965. I still enjoyed this album a decent bit to be honest. I thought that the songs felt relaxing and had that Beach Boys vibe i got from hearing all their really popular stuff pretty well. The main issues with this album are the fact that every song sounds overly similar to each other and that the album went by a little too quickly. This made the album kinda forgettable but these issues never made it bad.
Best Song: Help Me, Rhonda
Worst Song: Don't Hurt My Little Sister
Marilyn Manson
5/5
Look, regardless of what you think of Marilyn Manson as a person or his style of music, There is absolutely no denying that he truly makes some of the best music of his kind and Antichrist Superstar shows that off perfectly. This album has just about everything i love about industrial metal. Its dark, haunting, aggressive, heavy and has some good electronic elements which add so much to the music. It could also be really catchy when it wanted to (I'm looking at you Angel With The Scabbed Wings). The lyrics here are also incredibly good as well with some pretty deep lines throughout a lot of the songs. This album is an easy favorite for me.
Best Song: Angel With The Scabbed Wings
Worst Song: Mister Superstar
X-Ray Spex
4/5
Germfree Adolescents was a pretty fun album. I always am in the mood for a good fun punk album and this album seemed to scratch that itch pretty well. The main stars of the show on this album were the guitars and the saxophones which were what made the album as enjoyable as it is. There was also that classic 70s cheese in the vocals, lyrics and even some of the general melodies and i did enjoy all of that and i never found it too annoying. This album is a short one but thankfully, it's not a case as to where the album felt like it was going far too fast. I had a good time with this one and found it to be a worthy entry to this list.
Best Song: I Am a Poseur
Worst Song: I Can't Do Anything
Fats Domino
3/5
This Is Fats Domino was only an okay album at best. I did like some of the stuff it tried with a lot of it sounding like an early version of Sam Cooke's Live At The Harlem Square Club but this one unfortunately lacks in one area where the former excelled in, that being liveliness. This album just has the issue of sounding very empty at points especially during the last couple of songs. I get that this album is from the 50s so you would probably expect the production to not be the greatest but that emptiness still kinda irks me. Thankfully, this album is really short because if it were longer, it would be very repetitive. This one gets a very soft 3.
Best Song: So Long
Worst Song: Poor, Poor Me
Daft Punk
5/5
Homework is an album i really do like. I am fairly aware of some of the songs from this album mainly Da Funk primarily due to it's inclusion in Just Dance 3 but i never really knew that it would be this good. I genuinely think that this album has some seriously amazing sounding electronic elements from the regular bleeps and bloops that were nigh on everywhere to that more rough sounding electronic sound that could give the album a more rocking vibe. The vocals could be pretty hit or miss but the main issue that most people have to get around is the repetition. Despite that, this is still a really fun album and definitely one i enjoyed all the way through.
Best Song: Da Funk
Worst Song: Teachers
The Beach Boys
3/5
Pet Sounds was a pretty enjoyable album. It is your fairly typical psych rock outing from the 60s with the vocals and the general melodies without any real things to make it different from those. But while it lacks in originality, it more than makes up for by just being a solid album. The vocals were still solid as were the lyrics and the music was also done pretty well and was able to shift to various different moods quite well. This album is still kinda samey throughout but i still think i found it quite a bit more memorable than the last Beach Boys album i listened to. This album isn't incredible or anything but it's still a pretty solid work.
Best Song: Don't Talk (Put Your Head On My Shoulder)
Worst Song: Let's Go Away For Awhile
Side Note: Also, obligatory rest in peace to Brian Wilson who as of this review being written, passed away yesterday.
R.I.P. Brian Wilson
June 20, 1942 - June 11, 2025
Cheap Trick
4/5
At Budokan doesn't really do anything all that special or unique but it does what it does pretty well. I'm pretty sure that i have never heard any of this band's studio songs (If the version of I Want You to Want Me that plays on my local classic rock station is this version) but i still think that these guys definitely sound really good when they are performing live. The songs themselves are also enjoyable listens with them mostly being your typical late 70s sounding hard rock songs. There wasn't too much of a difference between any of the songs but i still thought that this album didn't drag. This album isn't perfect but it is still a very good listen.
Best Song: Surrender
Worst Song: Hello There
Slade
4/5
Slayed? was definitely one heck of an enjoyable album. It was always good but it did take until the third track to really get going but when it got going, it really did get going. The main thing i like about this album is the fact that many songs had very different melodies that gave off very different vibes from a Beatles vibe with Look At Last Nite to a more bluesy vibe with Mama Weer All Crazee Now. And of course, every song managed to be a good listen and just as whacky as their names. I don't think it's a perfect album but it is still a really good listen. So, It's pretty safe to say that these guys most definitely slayed with this one (pun very much intended).
Best Song: Look At Last Nite
Worst Song: How D'You Ride
Jungle Brothers
3/5
Done By The Forces Of Nature is a pretty solid hip-hop album. I was pretty surprised to see that many other hip-hop artists from this era worked on this album including Queen Latifah, De La Soul and Q-Tip of A Tribe Called Quest. The album itself does it's job fairly well with some of the instrumentals being pretty cool and catchy but some were a bit too minimalist. The rapping and lyrics themselves are kinda typical for an album from this time period so nothing that really makes it better or worse than all of it's contemporaries. This is a pretty good album but i wouldn't say that i have a special reason to recommend it.
Best Song: J.Beez Comin' Through
Worst Song: Sunshine
Snoop Dogg
3/5
Doggystyle is definitely one of those hip hop albums which has some really good instrumentals and production but some not so good lyrics. I guess the only song i was familiar with before listening to this album was Gin And Juice but it wasn't really the song that i recognized but more so the title since there is an actual drink with that name (with Snoop's name and all) that is sold at the grocery store i work at. I do enjoy all the different instruments and samples in all the beats which is easily what i enjoyed most about this album but a lot of the lyrics did feel overly juvenile and kinda annoying. I did enjoy this album a solid bit but the lyrics did hold it back for me.
Best Song: Gz and Hustlas
Worst Song: Lodi Dodi
fIREHOSE
3/5
Fromohio is just another late 80s alt rock album to add to the ever growing stockpile. If i were to compare this one to another album on this project, it would probably California by the American Music Club since they share a lot of the same ideas and have a generally similar sound. I do think this one is a bit better than that one since i do enjoy some of the melodies of this one a bit more than that one. There are also 2 songs where they are just drum solos which I'm not a huge fan of since single-instrument songs aren't really my thing but they were pretty short at least. Honestly, i really don't know what else to say about this album, it's more or less something that existed.
Best Song: What Gets Heard
Worst Song: Let The Drummer Have Some
Goldie
2/5
I don't think i have ever gotten so tired after listening to an album but i think Timeless managed to do just that. I only ever knew of this guy because of his connection with Bjork so i had no expectations going in but man, this album really got tiring. This album was just so unbelievably long and repetitive that even while having some good beats and decent ambiance, My enjoyment of this album did feel incredibly hindered by it's long and repetitive nature. I can't in good conscience give this album a 1 due to it having the beats and ambiance that i liked but i still don't think this album is very good. This isn't a bad but i don't think its timeless either.
Best Song: Sea Of Tears
Worst Song: Adrift
Happy Mondays
3/5
Bummed was actually a pretty solid album. Considering this album's average is on the lower side, i thought that it would not be very good due to that fact but it was shockingly good. This album is of course, incredibly cheesy with all the little new-wavey sounds that are found in quite a lot of the songs to the point where you can easily tell that this is an album from the 80s. I also feel that this album really only started to get going by the time Mad Cyril came in because the first two songs were the weirdest and were not my absolute favorites. Other than that, it is a pretty good album that is most definitely a product of it's time but still a good listen.
Best Song: Wrote For Luck
Worst Song: Country Song
The Roots
5/5
Phrenology is an absolute beast of an album. I always was aware that The Roots are a very talented band with them doing some pretty great stuff in The Tonight Show but this album did show just how outstanding they really are. This is probably my favorite Hip hop album on this project so far because it goes beyond being a simple hip hop album and takes inspirations from many genres other than hip hop including rock, punk, folk, jazz, blues, R&B, electronica among many others. Every single element on this album is handled incredibly well from the flows to the beats to all the other elements. This is one amazing album and definitely one of the best hip hop albums ever.
Best Song: Sacrifice
Worst Song: Phrentrow
Billy Bragg
3/5
Mermaid Avenue was a shockingly solid album. Apparently this album contains lyrics written by an old folk singer named Woody Guthrie but repurposed into actual songs by Billy Bragg and Wilco and i must say, they did a pretty good job here when it came to replicating that folkish feel that Guthrie appeared to be going for. Even without all that cool history, it's still a solid album. Most of the songs had a very relaxing feel to them which are perfect for just lounging around. Furthermore, the production was pretty great with the album sounding quite expensive. Even as a guy who isn't the biggest fan of folk or country music, i still found a fair bit to like here.
Best Song: Way Over Yonder In The Minor Key
Worst Song: California Stars
Orbital
4/5
I thought i was going to hate Orbital 2 but it was a surprisingly very good album. I guess since the last electronica album (Timeless by Goldie for those of you who are wondering) left a bad taste in my mouth, I thought that this album was going to be an overly repetitive slog but i was pleasantly surprised. A lot of the songs here were incredibly catchy and didn't get too repetitive despite their long lengths. There were also some cool ideas on display like Walk Now sampling an Australian pedestrian crossing light. It also felt like this album went by quite a lot quicker than their other album on this project (mainly because it was shorter). The first and last songs are definitely something that really should have been cut down but despite that, This was a great album.
Best Song: Monday
Worst Song: Input Out
Earth, Wind & Fire
3/5
That's The Way Of The World is just an okay album in my eyes. When it comes to Earth, Wind & Fire, i typically know them more for their heavy disco tracks so it is a bit of a surprise to see them do something with more of an R&B twinge to it. This was also the soundtrack to a movie of the same name which makes it the fourth film soundtrack i have done. The songs themselves are alright, they get the job done and don't do anything that terribly but there isn't really anything all that memorable. I guess it is good that it is a pretty short album but other than that, i don't think i have much else to really say about this album.
Best Song: That's The Way of The World
Worst Song: Africano
James Taylor
3/5
Sweet Baby James is definitely a pretty decent album. I'd say that every single track was written, performed and produced well as none of them have anything i really dislike about them. However, my main issue with this album is just the fact its not all that special. Outside of both Steamroller Blues and Suite for 20 G, there isn't really any standout tracks on offer. They are all still good songs but i think they are ones i will forget in a not very long amount of time. I definitely do not think that this is a bad album at all but this is a case where i am really running out of things to say about it. It is good, just not very memorable.
Best Song: Suite for 20 G
Worst Song: Oh Baby, Don't You Loose Your Lip on Me
Dion
3/5
Born To Be With You is an album that is pretty good and got better the more i listened to it. I didn't really have any expectations as to how this would sound considering that this album is a pop album and that genre can have albums that sound very different from each other but it mainly does seem to go for a doo-wop sound. The songs themselves did sound pretty good and all had a nice vibe to them which i would always enjoy. This album wasn't all too long either so it never really felt like it was dragging on. It is a good album but i still feel that it's formula would go on to be improved by other bands like Primal Scream.
Best Song: Make The Woman Love Me
Worst Song: Born To Be With You
Death In Vegas
4/5
The Contino Sessions was quite an enjoyable album. When i first saw this album's cover with the art, band name and album name, i thought that this was going to be a country album. While this album most definitely has elements of that genre, this mainly is an electronic album with some hints of rock as well. A lot of the songs could remind me of Underworld with the way they kept adding onto themselves as the songs progressed which i think is really cool. There were some points where this album could get pretty repetitive but this is an electronic album and that should be expected by this point. This album was definitely an interesting addition to this list and a good one at that.
Best Song: Aisha
Worst Song: Broken Little Sister
Fred Neil
2/5
Fred Neil is really just one of those albums that doesn't really add anything new to it's genre. The main issue with it is that every song sounds basically the same with hardly any differentiation to them to the point where i am having difficulty thinking of my least favorite song from this album since everything in them is just so similar to the point where i just can't even remember what they sound like. I also heard this guy is apparently a folk pioneer but i don't see that since many musicians before him did what he did but actually added some differentiation to them. This album isn't the worst thing ever but it is just an album that i don't see why it was included here.
Best Song: Cynicrustpetefredjohn Raga
Worst Song: Faretheewell (Fred's Tune)
David Bowie
4/5
Station To Station was a great album. I guess if i can compare it to one of Bowie's works the most, it would probably be Aladdin Sane due to it having some more of the heavy guitars that the album had. This album still felt fairly different from that one due to it having a different vibe from it with a softer tone in a lot of the songs (especially Wild Is The Wind). I still enjoyed that softer tone that this album displayed due to a lot of the songs just being generally very nice to listen to. Though when it did get more lively, that's when i enjoyed the album the most. Regardless, this album was enjoyable no matter how it sounded.
Best Song: TVC15
Worst Song: Word on a Wing
Can
3/5
Tago Mago is definitely one interesting album. I heard that it is a krautrock album so it definitely has the quirks of an album like that or at least the ones i know of from listening to Faust IV but i do like this one more because this one still was quirky like that one but still managed to hold itself back when it came to the quirkiness. Well, except for tracks 5 and 6. Those two tracks just felt like Can was throwing everything they had at a wall and was seeing what stuck but not a whole lot of it did. Track 5 was worse in that regard but both of them still could be pretty annoying. But regardless, if i were to recommend one krautrock album of the two i listened to, it would be this one.
Best Song: Oh Yeah
Worst Song: Aumgn
Green Day
5/5
American Idiot is a very enjoyable album. I figured that i would really enjoy it since i do love me some punk music but this one definitely took it up to a whole new level. Songs like the title track, Boulevard of Broken Dreams and Wake Me up When September Ends are all great tracks but that is to be expected when they are the most popular songs of this album but the other songs are no slouches either. The punk sound throughout the album always sounded great but i always liked the emo influences too in songs like Wake Me up When September ends. I don't think i can find a lot of things to dislike about this album so it gets full marks from me.
Best Song: Boulevard of Broken Dreams
Worst Song: Are We the Waiting
Wilco
5/5
I don't think i was expecting it but i absolutely loved Yankee Hotel Foxtrot. Even if my favorite genre is metal, i still do enjoy an album that is so relaxing, it soothes the soul. Every song, even if it did have a faster pace to it, just felt so relaxing with the slower songs being the ones that really brought it out. I also liked all the little electronic sounds in each of the songs as they did help give the songs even more of an identity even if they did get a little noisy in the first couple of songs. I also never really found the length of the album an issue because i feel this album needs to be 57 minutes in order to fully soothe you. This is a really excellent album that i can easily recommend to anyone.
Best Song: Ashes of American Flags
Worst Song: I Am Trying to Break Your Heart
The Afghan Whigs
4/5
Gentlemen was a great album. I always do enjoy a good alt rock album as it is one of my favorite genres due to having an easy to get into, hard to get off of kind of sound i always enjoy. This album definitely has that sound to a T. The musicianship may be a bit awkward at points but for the most part it is very great with the guitars being the main star of the show here. I have heard not great things about the singers voice but while it does take some getting used to, he does have a pretty good voice. The lyrics are probably the weakest part about this album as they could be pretty dumb but still tolerable. I still really liked this album quite a lot mostly for the musicianship.
Best Song: Debonair
Worst Song: When We Two Parted
The Pharcyde
4/5
Bizarre Ride II The Pharcyde is a pretty fun album. For some reason, when i first looked at this album art, I thought that this was going to be a psychedelic rock album from the 60s. That was until i noticed the parental advisory, explicit content sticker on the art which made me realize that this is a hip hop album from the 90s. The album itself is a great listen. This is another one of those hip hop albums where while the rapping and lyrics are solid, it's the production and beats that really steal the show. The beats all had this incredibly jazzy feel which i really enjoyed. I had quite a bit of fun with this album and it is one i can definitely recommend to others.
Best Song: Return Of The B-Boy
Worst Song: Quinton's On The Way (Skit)
The Temptations
3/5
All Directions isn't the most amazing album ever but it at least left an impression on me unlike the last Temptations album. I found that everything here is just way more memorable probably due to being played much louder than i remember Cloud Nine being played at. A lot of the actual music is pretty good with a lot of it being able to invoke an incredibly relaxing feel. One other thing i can note is that in the second song, the n-slur is used. I always get caught off guard when these kinds of slurs are used in old R&B music since i always consider it a hip-hop thing. Regardless, I enjoyed this album a fair bit and i definitely like it more than Cloud Nine.
Best Song: Papa Was A Rollin' Stone
Worst Song: Run Charlie Run
John Lee Hooker
3/5
The Healer is certainly one interesting album but i guess that is to be expected from a man who doesn't seem to have a definitive birth year. What mainly surprised me was the sheer number of featuring musicians here. There is everyone from Carlos Santana, Bonnie Raitt, George Thorogood and many others and each of these musicians brought something different to each of the songs they appeared in. Each song they appeared in was no doubt a good song but the last 3 songs there that were just done by Hooker fell a bit flat. This is no doubt an enjoyable album, i just don't think i would enjoy it as much without the extra musicians.
Best Song: I'm In The Mood
Worst Song: No Substitute
Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five
3/5
The Message was certainly a ride of an album. Now we get to what is probably the first hip-hop album by release date on this project, Forget Run-D.M.C., forget Duck Rock, this is the real first one and it shows as this album feels like it takes inspiration from many R&B and funk albums rather than it's non-existent contemporaries. For being an early hip-hop album, it's basic but still quite enjoyable the production and beats were fun and the lyrics were interesting with one of the tracks being a full-blown Stevie Wonder worship track (I mean, good taste, Stevie is good). It still has a lot of cheesiness but it is certainly quite enjoyable.
Best Song: The Adventures of Grandmaster Flash on the Wheel of Steel
Worst Song: The Message
The Sabres Of Paradise
1/5
Okay look, I typically really enjoy electronic music, even some of the ones that most of the users on this site tend to hate on a lot (En-tact by The Shamen and Remedy by Basement Jaxx to name two) but when it comes to Haunted Dancehall, i just can't defend it, this album is genuinely garbage. There are points of this album that feel like they have potential with their compositions but squander that by using the most irritating sounds possible. And even when they aren't irritating, they can still get incredibly repetitive especially when you consider just how long this album is. I typically disagree with a lot of the hate many of these electronic albums but this, i genuinely see why you all hate it so much.
Best Song: Planet D (Portishead Remix)
Worst Song: Bubble and Slide
Neu!
3/5
I liked NEU! 75 more than i thought i would have. I initially thought that this was gonna be another pop-rock album but this one is more of a krautrock album but without a lot of the quirkiness of the other krautrock albums i have heard. In all honesty though, that actually makes this one more enjoyable. This album still felt pretty relaxing to hear and really did feel like perfect background music. But that is where the issue lies, it is mostly just background music. The issue with it being background music is it makes the songs all feel rather unmemorable with some i have easily forgotten. Even so, i did not hate my time with this album at all.
Best Song: Seeland
Worst Song: E-Musik
Paul McCartney and Wings
3/5
Band On The Run was a pretty enjoyable album. Unlike Paul McCartney's solo album which i did earlier on this project, this one definitely has more of a Beatles vibe to it when it comes to both the music and the vocal style. I did quite enjoy this one, It definitely had quite a decent amount of fun moments throughout it's runtime. Nineteen Hundred And Eighty Five was definitely a huge highlight for this album. I guess if i did have an issue with it, it would be that all the songs sound a bit to similar and are a little too forgettable but that could be pretty rare. I definitely had my fun with this album and it's definitely up there as one of McCartney's better works.
Best Song: Nineteen Hundred And Eighty Five
Worst Song: Band On The Run
Van Morrison
3/5
Astral Weeks is an alright album but it is certainly a forgettable one. Nearly every single song had basically the exact same sound with an acoustic guitar with the occasional flutes here and there and Morrison himself using a pretty soft voice. It sounds nice and definitely works as good background music but it's just not very memorable and is something i will most likely forget all about in due time. The one standout track is easily The Way Young Lovers Do as it is the only one that deviates from the formula and it is a generally very enjoyable song. This album in general though is just another one of those slow acoustic albums even if it still sounds good.
Best Song: The Way Young Lovers Do
Worst Song: Ballerina
Side note: Since this will be my last Van Morrison album, I'll rank them all here;
1. It's Too late to Stop Now
2. Moondance
3. Astral Weeks
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
4/5
Fever To Tell is a really darn good album if i say so myself. This is one of those albums that's really deserving of having the label of garage rock as it really does sound like it was recorded by just a bunch of high school friends having a jam session in a garage. The songs are fast, frenetic, and rough which really gives it it's fun punkish nature. I would typically complain about albums that have a rough production style but in this case i feel like it adds to this album as it helps with it's punkish, garage rock nature. I will say that the vocals were a bit hit and miss as they could be good sometimes but not so good at others. Regardless, this is still a fun album that i really enjoyed listening to.
Best Song: Y Control
Worst Song: Poor Song
Aerosmith
5/5
Rocks is a genuinely fantastic album. This album managed to take everything that made Toys In The Attic great and amped it up to 11. The songs here still had that bluesy vibe which i enjoyed from Toys in The Attic but it really leans more towards a hard rock style which inspired loads of hard rock and heavy metal bands, even some on this very list from Guns N' Roses to Metallica to Nirvana. Every song was always a vibe and never at any point made the album feel like it was dragging on, in fact, this album went at the perfect length. There also are no bad songs in sight either. This is genuinely one of the best albums on this project and one i enjoyed so much.
Best Song: Nobody's Fault
Worst Song: Sick As A Dog
Einstürzende Neubauten
1/5
You know that pattern in my reviews where sometimes when this site gives me a really awful album, it follows it up with a really good album? Well, with Kollaps, this site did the exact opposite by being the follow up to Rocks. And yeah, It is a terrible album. It tried to be unique by incorporating various found items into it's sound like metal plates which basically means that this album was recorded with literal garbage. This of course, was not executed well as this feels like some music that a little child would make with a lot of toys at their disposal rather than by actual professionals. This album still is incredibly annoying too with bad vocals and constant irritating sounds making this one of the worst albums on this site.
Best Song: Tanz Debil
Worst Song: Lunebest
Jamiroquai
4/5
Emergency On Planet Earth is an album that i enjoyed way more than i was expecting to. Considering the only Jamiroquai songs i have heard before this were Cosmic Girl, Automation and Canned Heat, I didn't really expect that they would be a funk/acid jazz band so i got confused when i saw the funk tag. The music on here is great and really brings me right back to all the funk albums from the 60s and 70s that i did with Jay Kay's voice really providing a more modern touch to the album. The last two tracks were also pretty nice diversions which didn't take away all too much from this album. This was certainly a really enjoyable funk album.
Best Song: Emergency on Planet Earth
Worst Song: Didgin' Out
Megadeth
4/5
Rust In Peace was certainly a great album. As a huge metalhead, i have always been aware of this album's existence, i even went as far as to use Tornado Of Souls for a college project but i have never actually listened to this album in full until now. This listen however, showed me how much i really do like it. The guitars and bass are some of the best parts of these songs as they were fast and hard hitting with all the other aspects of the music being not too far behind. I will admit that some of the songs do feel like they lack focus at points but it was never enough to really hamper my enjoyment. This album is still a great listen regardless.
Best Song: Holy Wars... The Punishment Due
Worst Song: Dawn Patrol
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
4/5
At first, i thought Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers was just going to be a 3 star album but the more i kept listening to it, the more i leaned towards 4 stars. I do know of this band quite well but not much of this album, the most i have heard relating to it is hearing Stevie T's cover of Breakdown which i didn't even know was a cover until i listened to this album. This album is a pretty great one as it has the perfect mix of both soft and hard rock in all of the songs and they all had some pretty great melodies. This album also went at a good pace with the album only being 30 minutes and not feeling like its too long or too short. This was certainly a really good listen.
Best Song: Fooled Again (I Don't Like It)
Worst Song: Rockin' Around (With You)
Lightning Bolt
2/5
Yeah, I wasn't really a fan of Wonderful Rainbow. This is such a shame because i feel like i should like this album. Its got a very punkish and heavy sound and i really do enjoy albums like that. The main things that hold this album back though are just how utterly noisy and repetitive most of the songs here are. And look, there are some noisy albums here that can be enjoyable (Penance Soiree by The Icarus Line being one of them) but i don't think that these should be so repetitive. It also feels like the heaviness has very little weight to it which does drag the album down further. I wanted to like this album but i just don't think i can.
Best Song: Crown Of Storms
Worst Song: Dracula Mountain
Femi Kuti
3/5
Femi Kuti was not a bad album. This album does give me a lot of the same vibes that Fela Kuti's 2 albums on this project did which makes sense seeing as Femi is his son. But then again, they use a lot of the same instruments, use melodies that have more or less the same vibe and even their voices sound very similar. The songs are also very long, just like they were in Zombie and Live!. And just like those albums, this one is a pretty decent trip. The songs here sounded pretty good and while they were indeed long, they didn't tire me out as much as some other long albums did. This album wasn't a bad listen and i do feel like both Femi and his dad are around the same quality-wise.
Best Song: Stubbor Problems
Worst Song: Live For Today
The Blue Nile
3/5
A Walk Across The Rooftops was certainly one of the stranger albums on this list but i didn't find it too bad. It is more or less your typical 80s New Wave album from the UK as it hits all the same beats as it's contemporaries do with things like the vocals, synths and general vibe that they all have. The thing that makes this album as strange as it is would mainly be the fact that some of the songs are compositionally odd, especially with the synths. This album wasn't really a bad listen though as some of the songs could be quite relaxing and very pleasing to listen to. In my eyes, it was those songs that made the album as enjoyable as it was to listen to.
Best Song: Easter Parade
Worst Song: From Rags to Riches
Laura Nyro
4/5
Eli And The Thirteenth Confession was an album where my opinion kept wavering back and forth. At points, it could feel like a 3 star album and at other points it could be a 4 star album. A lot of the music here could be alright at best but it did have moments of being really good. The vocals also wavered with them sometimes being really good and other times being a bit awkward. I will still say that the good parts of this album outweighed any of the really bad but also a lot of the really good parts to. This more or less makes this album be just a good one with a lot of really good parts so i may just end up giving it a 3.5
Best Song: Eli's Comin'
Worst Song: December's Boudoir
Side Note: One thing i just really want to say is that i think Laura Nyro is genuinely so beautiful
Emmylou Harris
4/5
Red Dirt Girl was certainly a nice surprise of an album. Apparently from reading the Wikipedia article from this album, this is apparently her first album of hers for the majority of the songs to be written by her rather than covering songs by other songwriters. And surprisingly, it really did pay off as many of the songs here were written very well and were performed just as well. The music was really well done by combining a typical country sound with more pop elements and they really do mesh well together. Emmylou's vocals were also very good, as were David Matthews' vocals in that one song that he appeared in. This was a really good album and a lot better than i was expecting
Best Song: I Don't Wanna Talk About It Now
Worst Song: Bang the Drum Slowly
Charles Mingus
3/5
The Black Saint And The Sinner Lady is an album that had a lot going for it but was held back by one simple thing. This album certainly did have a lot of variety for just having 4 songs. There was the typical jazz music, a point where it had that odd stringed instrument (i don't know if its a guitar or not) and even some very Clair De Lune sounding piano parts. I do like a lot of those aspects but the album just needed to do one thing to be great which it did not do, That is GET IT'S CRAP TOGETHER. This album felt like it had barely any composition as there was just sounds everywhere and it could get annoying. It is a shame since this album could have been a 4 star album, it just needed to fix this issue.
Best Song: Track C-Group Dancers
Worst Song: Track A-Solo Dancer
Black Sabbath
4/5
From the moment i heard the news, I knew that i was gonna get Black Sabbath today and I'm glad i did because this album is genuinely great. Unlike some of Black Sabbath's later albums, this one leans way more into being doom metal with it having more dreadful vibes to it than some of the band's later releases. This album also feels like it has quite a different structure than the others with some of the songs being all lumped into one which does make the album feel shorter. The songs here are all really well done having a lot of the same enjoyment as their later albums. While i enjoy Paranoid and Vol. 4 more, i still really like this album.
Best Song: A Bit of Finger / Sleeping Village / Warning
Worst Song: The Wizard
Side note: Since this will be the last Black Sabbath album i will be listening to here i will rank them:
1. Paranoid
2. Vol. 4
3. Black Sabbath
Also RIP Ozzy Osbourne, The genre of metal wouldn't be the same without you
December 3, 1948 - July 22, 2025
Mekons
3/5
Fear and Whiskey is an album that i enjoyed quite a fair bit. This one very clearly has a lot of country influences (Heck, the final song on this album is a cover of an actual country song) And i say, they mixed quite well with all the more rock like elements. The country elements very rarely got overbearing because they didn't ever feel as if they were taking over the whole album. Even then, i liked the songs that leaned more towards being typical rock music because they could be some rather enjoyable tracks. This album also felt like it went at a good length with it not ending too early or too late. This is an album that while not amazing, does it's job pretty well.
Best Song: Hard to Be Human Again
Worst Song: Flitcraft
Thin Lizzy
5/5
Live And Dangerous is an album i absolutely love. It may not seem all too special from the lens of a modern listener with it's typical metal/hard rock sound and the stage presence of the band not being as interesting as the stage presence of other musicians, but for 1978, this was good and definitely seemed to heavily inspire Motorhead as their music does sound really similar. The songs here are a bit samey but that didn't stop me from loving all of them as they were just incredibly fun, enjoyable romps. The recording quality did take me some time to get used to but as i kept listening, i enjoyed it's rather rough nature. This is one album that definitely is a case of just getting better and better as it went on.
Best Song: Massacre
Worst Song: Jailbreak
Rod Stewart
3/5
Every Picture Tells A Story is yet another album where it is good but is a case where i just don't have that much to really say about it. Seeing as this is Rod Stewart, it is another folk rock album with most (if not all) of the songs relying on that sound. I do enjoy the guitars and piano of this album and Stewart's raspy voice really does add a lot to this album. But then again, those are the only real things i can really say about it. There isn't really that much else that stands out when it comes to this album. It really is just another folk rock album from this list. It's still a good listen but i don't think i would be too unhappy if this album was not on the list.
Best Song: That's All Right
Worst Song: Maggie May
Don McLean
4/5
American Pie is certainly one great album. It was honestly surprising to me just how slow and melodic this album really is. There are only two more lively songs here (Those being Everybody Loves Me, Baby and maybe American Pie too even if the latter is a mix of both styles). I really do like these songs though as they are incredibly relaxing and therapeutic and they really are further amplified by McLean's brilliant songwriting. It also did help the more lively songs stick out and become more memorable when it comes to this album. I also don't think there is a single bad song here as they all have something really good in them. This is certainly a really great album and one i really enjoyed.
Best Song: American Pie
Worst Song: Babylon
Bert Jansch
3/5
Bert Jansch is a pretty okay album. This guy was apparently apart of Pentangle and also worked on that band's album on this list but this album most definitely sounds different than that Pentangle album in many ways. Unlike the more fairy tale style of that album, this one seems to just be a typical folk album mainly just relying on guitars and Jansch's vocals in some of the songs. The album does sound fairly nice as it can be pretty relaxing to listen to. The songs here do suffer from same face syndrome though as they all sound overly similar to each other which would have greatly reduced my enjoyment of this album if it wasn't so short. This is an okay album but not one I'm interested in coming back to.
Best Song: Dreams Of Love
Worst Song: Smokey River
Khaled
4/5
Kenza was not what i was expecting at all. This was one of the few albums where i did not scout ahead and listen to previews of the songs here so i was just expecting this to be a typical world album with the string instruments and some wind instruments. But i should have known what genre this actually was due to the pop tag with it having several contemporary pop elements. These actually made the album shockingly really good as they made these songs catchy and unique even for a world album. Khaled's voice was also great and it was a long album that didn't feel like it was dragging on so that was a plus. This was one really good album and a really nice surprise.
Best Song: Mele H'Bibti
Worst Song: Leili (C'Est La Nuit/Version Arabe)
Judas Priest
5/5
What can i say? I love British Steel. I have had some experience with listening to Judas Priest though i don't think that anything i really listened to by them was from this album. I am glad i did find this album though as it is an excellent listen. Of course some of my favorite songs off this album are the singles like Breaking The Law, United and Living After Midnight but the other songs are no slouches either. These songs are mainly so good due to their excellent guitars and bass. Listening to the bass really made me think about how much modern metal pushes the bass into the background and makes me appreciate it being in the forefront here. I really enjoyed this album as expected.
Best Song: Breaking The Law
Worst Song: Rapid Fire
The Beta Band
3/5
Hot Shots II is a rather weird album in my eyes. There were points when it would sound like a 2 star album but there were also points when it would sound like a 4 star album. Though one thing was fairly consistent on my opinions on these song, and those were that the songs with more electronic elements were the ones i enjoyed more. The songs were fairly groovy and could have some fairly relaxing qualities but i also did feel like some of the songs didn't flow very well in terms of vocals with Eclipse probably being the worst offender of this. Other than that, i couldn't really find too many issues with this album. It's a decent listen, just i do think it could be better.
Best Song: Squares
Worst Song: Eclipse
Killing Joke
5/5
Killing Joke is an album that i absolutely love. Let's get one thing out of the way, this is a hard album to get into as it really tries to experiment especially during the first half. It can be tough to get into due to the experimental melodies and the singer's robotic voice. But when it gets to The Wait, that's when things really start to get good as it and each song after it is just so enjoyable to listen to. There is so much to like including the great guitar riffs, the crushing basslines and even the singer's voice feels less robotic at this point. A lot of these songs also have super catchy melodies which really add to them. It isn't an easy album to get into but if you stick around, you are in for quite a treat.
Best Song: The Wait
Worst Song: Wardance
Ravi Shankar
2/5
The Sounds Of India is something that does what it sets out to do fine enough but isn't very good as an album. This album was made as a way for the Indian sitarist and composer Ravi Shankar as a way to introduce and explain Hindustani classical music to the rest of the world. I say it does a pretty decent job at that as it does explain some of the characteristics of this kind of music in an intuitive and easy to follow way. However, as an album, it falls flat. Once the novelty of this being a unique genre wears off, it just becomes really repetitive and the songs become really hard to differentiate from each other. This album does it's job as a introduction and explanation of Hindustani classical music well enough but as an album, it leaves a lot to be desired.
Best Song: An Introduction to Indian Music
Worst Song: Sindhi-Bhairavi
The Stone Roses
4/5
The Stone Roses is just one of those albums that i feel like is a 4 star album but i just don't really know why that is. This is an indie rock album so it has the sound that you would expect from an album like this being soft, melodic and somewhat weird. I do enjoy this sound like i do with a lot of indie rock albums but i do feel like this album is kinda sleep inducing. It is just really quiet throughout it's runtime and combined with that soft indie rock sound, i did find that my eyes were having a bit of trouble staying open. That being said though, i still thought the songs here were enjoyable to listen to and there wasn't anything that bad so it still say it is a very enjoyable album.
Best Song: Made of Stone
Worst Song: Don't Stop
Screaming Trees
4/5
I gotta say, I'm always in the mood for a good hard rock album with some weirder elements and Dust certainly helped to scratch that itch. The main thing that stands out about this album is all the extra stuff they put into these songs from the electronic stuff to the world elements all really give these songs their own identity. The songs that these elements are used in are absolutely great mainly due to their great melodies with each instrument giving all of these songs a really nice sound to them and still fitting in with the grunge/hard rock style. Some of the songs here are a bit forgettable but other than that, this is a really great album that i can easily recommend to a lot of people.
Best Song: Traveler
Worst Song: Halo of Ashes
Iggy Pop
4/5
The Idiot is a pretty darn good album. Of course with it being an Iggy Pop album, it has all the positives and negatives of all his other albums. The songs here can be pretty enjoyable even if they are pretty weird as Iggy does seem to enjoy experimenting with whatever sounds he can use. The production is also a little weird but considering this was produced by David Bowie, that should be expected. At least the production here is better than that of Raw Power since this album doesn't sound like it was recorded in a dumpster but Iggy's vocals still seem to highlight the rather odd production. While Lust For Life was better at it's best, i feel that this album was a fair bit more consistently good so it gets a 3.5.
Best Song: Tiny Girls
Worst Song: Mass Production
Fun Lovin' Criminals
4/5
Come Find Yourself is a really darn good hip-hop album. I always really love it when hip-hop albums combine their sound with other genres with this particular album combining it with funk rock music. I find that the elements from both genres were used very well. The hip-hop stuff was where the rapping was really fun which makes this band really earn their name and the lyrics and samples were pretty solid too. The funk rock was where the music was also incredibly fun to listen to as it could be so groovy and still fit each song to a T. I do feel that there are some songs here which are rather forgettable which does cause this album to get docked a star but all in all, this is a great album.
Best Song: Bombin' the L
Worst Song: I Can't Get with That
Jean-Michel Jarre
3/5
Oxygene is certainly an interesting album. I wouldn't really call this an album per se rather i would say this is just one song split into 6 parts. The parts here do feel quite a bit different from each other but still feel cut from the same cloth. The biggest thing i could think of for what this song could fit into is a video game. This already reminds me of some video game sound like in Part 6, there is ambiance that really gives me The Legend OF Zelda: Ocarina Of Time vibes. There were a few instances where this album could get overly weird but it was still a fairly relaxing listen. I wouldn't say that this is great but i still found it to be a pretty decent listen.
Best Song: Oxygene, Pt. 1
Worst Song: Oxygene, Pt. 4
Kings of Leon
3/5
I did listen to Youth And Young Manhood after Aha Shake Heartbreak so all i could really think of when listening to this album was "Yep, that's the prequel to Aha Shake Heartbreak". Due to both albums having the same kind of sound, they share a lot of strengths and weaknesses. The music here is pretty solid with it being mainly a rock album with blues elements and i think it does do that sound very well. My main issue with this album is Caleb Followill's vocals as they just really sounded like someone who was trying too hard which made this album a bit annoying. Other than that, this album really is just the prequel to Aha Shake Heartbreak and is around the same level of quality as that album.
Best Song: Holy Roller Novocaine
Worst Song: Wasted Time
George Michael
4/5
I was honestly incredibly surprised with how good Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1 (of 1) turned out to be. George Michael was originally another artist that i would frequently get confused with Michael Jackson when i was younger. But as i have grown older, i now see the differentiation between the two quite clearly. The main thing that this album has going for it is it's absolutely excellent production. It genuinely sounds crystal clear and quite expensive. Plus a lot of the songs here could be either incredibly relaxing or incredibly catchy. There were a few songs that were a bit forgettable but other than that, this is an absolutely great album.
Best Song: Freedom! '90
Worst Song: Something to Save
Leonard Cohen
3/5
Well, i have reached my last Leonard Cohen album with Songs From A Room and unfortunately, we have ended with a whimper here. I say this not because i think the album is bad but because i can hardly remember anything about it. This is the Leonard Cohen album that felt the most like background noise because basically nothing interesting really happens in any of these songs. Other than that as well as The Butcher having some very awkward vocal parts, this album isn't terrible, the musicianship is decent and Lenny seemed to be developing his voice more during this album. The problem is that this album is still very forgettable and that is not something you want from an album so its only getting a 2.5.
Best Song: The Old Revolution
Worst Song: The Butcher
Side Note: Oh, and since this is my last Leonard Cohen album, I'll rank them here:
1. You Want It Darker
2. I'm Your Man
3. Songs Of Love And Hate
4. Songs Of Leonard Cohen
5. Songs From A Room
Neneh Cherry
4/5
Raw Like Sushi is easily one of the most 80s albums that i have ever heard. It has basically all the things you would expect from an album of it's kind from this era, the samples are what you would expect, the lyrics are pretty cheesy and the production just feels like a product of it's time. It is still a really fun album because of all of this though. Many of the songs could be serious bops and Cherry's voice also really managed to fit these songs pretty well. I also don't think that there is a single song here that i would consider bad as they still all at least had parts that i enjoyed. I wouldn't say that this album is perfect but it still is a really fun listen.
Best Song: Outre Risque Locomotive
Worst Song: So Here I Come
Beatles
2/5
With The Beatles is certainly one of the first Beatles albums i'll give it that. This album easily does deserve it's place on this list because it was definitely one of the first albums of it's kind and influenced loads of other bands. I still don't think this album is all that great. Most of the songs are far too samey and this album just doesn't really have any standout tracks (outside of Please Mister Postman, that track was pretty solid). I also feel like the songs go by too quickly, not giving them enough time to sink in and just makes them all get lost in the shuffle. I don't think its a bad album, the musicianship is good and it deserves it's place here, It just isn't great and a bit disappointing considering this is the album that was generated for me on my 21st birthday.
Best Song: Please Mister Postman
Worst Song: Little Child
Paul Revere & The Raiders
3/5
Midnight Ride isn't an album i have too much to say about but it is still a pretty solid album for what it is. It still does seem to be one of the many albums in the psychedelic rock movement that was going on a lot during the 1960s and because of that, it has the general sound of a psych-rock album. The songs here aren't the most diverse things around but they do enough to set themselves apart from each other. The songs here sound pretty good and the album just breezes by without feeling like it's going by at a pace that's overly fast. I wouldn't say it's a great album but it does what it does pretty well.
Best Song: Kicks
Worst Song: Ballad of a Useless Man
The Kinks
3/5
Face to Face is a pretty good album. There doesn't seem to be much of a difference between it and the follow-up to this album (Something Else) as they do seem to be cut from the same cloth which makes sense due to them both being by the same band (obviously) but i think i do like this album a little bit more. I feel that this album has a little something that it's follow-up didn't have even if I'm not exactly sure what that is. Even then, they still aren't too far apart from each other as they both do have some pretty good songs and some rather rough production qualities which is expected from this time period. This is still a pretty decent album.
Best Song: House in the Country
Worst Song: Fancy
Tom Waits
4/5
Nighthawks At The Diner is an album i really enjoyed. This is one of the few albums that isn't as good as it is due to the songs alone but rather, due to how well they connect with each other. This album was partially a studio album that was made to simulate a live album where it was recorded over 4 sessions in front of an audience to simulate the feeling of a jazz club. I think it actually captures the feeling of a jazz club very well and the music and Waits' vocals and lyrics/commentary really added to the album. I don't really know if i can single out one song as being the best/worst but i do know that this album comes together very smoothly.
Best Song: Spare Parts I (A Nocturnal Emission)
Worst Song: Eggs And Sausage (In A Cadillac With Susan Michelson)
White Denim
3/5
D is an album which i am rather mixed on. There were points where it could sound like a 2 star album and points where it could sound like a 4 star album. The main issue it had was that in some of the songs, the composition was overly messy and disorganized which made them really annoying and hard to listen to. However, there are a couple of songs which are pretty solid. These songs don't have the above issue, are musically well done, have a nice vibe and are even quite catchy and memorable too. They were a bit few and far between but that allowed them to really stick out. If you can get past all the bad stuff, you will no doubt find some good stuff here.
Best Song: Is and Is and Is
Worst Song: Anvil Everything
The Allman Brothers Band
4/5
I really liked At Fillmore East. It is another live album meaning that you would probably expect the recording quality to tank because of it but these guys absolutely killed it live. And another thing it does better than quite a lot of live albums is that the songs flow together incredibly well as they never felt like they were constantly stopping at any point. The music itself is great too bringing some fun bluesy and rocking tunes which are incredibly catchy. This one is a bit long and can feel like it drags occasionally but i was still enjoying it. I probably would not be able to feel the same about the revisions of this album though, One of them goes on for 6 HOURS. I don't think i could handle that but i can more than handle this.
Best Song: You Don't Love Me
Worst Song: Done Somebody Wrong
Sade
3/5
I enjoyed Diamond Life. I don't think that i have gotten too much R&B with a female singer as of late so this is actually a pretty enjoyable return to it. The musicianship here was very well done with many of the tracks on show being rather groovy and still having that relaxing feel to them. I also did like Sade's voice as she could have that pretty alluring sense in her voice. The album also never felt like it was dragging on but still had enough time to stretch out it's legs and let the melodies sink in. I guess if i did have a problem with it, it would be that some of the songs here are a little forgettable and do blend into the background but other than that, i quite enjoyed this album.
Best Song: Hang On To Your Love
Worst Song: I Will Be Your Friend
TV On The Radio
5/5
I was expecting Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes to be good but I'm still impressed. I've never heard of this album or this band prior to doing this project but i was still expecting it to be indie rock by going off this band's name. And my observation was pretty dead on. This really gives me vibes of David Bowie's Low with it's weirdness but still has a twinge of indie rock. And i love it for that, The music is wonderfully weird yet can still be beautiful and relaxing and i also really like the songs that had acapella in them. I also think that the vocals work well here even if they wouldn't work well every where. I can't think of a single complaint here, this album gets full marks.
Best Song: Ambulance
Worst Song: Don't Love You
Blue Cheer
4/5
There is absolutely one thing that i cannot deny about Vincebus Eruptum and that is that it is one of the most important albums on this list. It used a very blues rock style of sound which doesn't sound like much at first glance but if you actually start listening to the album, it is very easy to hear that this type of sound influenced a genre that we all know as heavy metal. Even with it's sheer influence aside, i really enjoyed this album. It does sound rough sure, but i think that the sheer roughness really adds to the charm of this album. It also had plenty of great musicianship throughout. It may sound rough but this is a really important album that's really good to boot.
Best Song: Parchment Farm
Worst Song: Second Time Around
KISS
5/5
Destroyer is a fairly basic but still really fun album. I always was aware of KISS' existence but i never really remembered hearing any of the songs off this album. And that is a shame because this album is an absolutely great one. The musicianship was easily the most enjoyable part of the album for me as it could range from hard rocking tunes to more orchestral sounding songs all of which sound very good. The lyrics here are a little dumb in some areas but this is KISS, a band that was rebellious for 13 year olds so it absolutely makes sense. The album went at the perfect length too, long enough for me to get my fill but not too long to become tedious. I really enjoyed this album and it's another addition to my highest rated albums.
Best Song: God Of Thunder
Worst Song: Rock 'N' Roll Party
The Velvet Underground
3/5
I quite liked The Velvet Underground. I have already heard this band's collaborative effort with Nico and that album suffered from the issue of the music not being very good and sounding very poorly produced but here, The Velvet Underground have absolutely stepped up their game. The music here is actually really solid with very few hiccups, it reminds me most of a very soft Beatles record. They also brought one of the best aspects about The Velvet Underground & Nico and that being the vocals as they still sound very good. The last album was only able to receive a 2.5 but this album managed to score a whole 3.
Best Song: After Hours
Worst Song: Jesus
Tricky
3/5
Maxinquaye is an album that i have rather weird feelings on. I do know that Tricky did work on the two Massive Attack albums in this project due to him being in that band when they released so it does make sense that a lot of these songs sound like Massive Attack songs. This album does feel incredibly inconsistent with it's quality as sometimes, the songs can be really good and other times, they can be really bad. At worst, the songs can be incredibly annoying due to trying to do too much with some pretty stupid lyrics too. Though at best, they can actually be some pretty good tracks with beats that don't get too repetitive even if they go on for a bit long. I still think i like both Massive Attack albums more than this one due to them just being way more consistent.
Best Song: Black Steel
Worst Song: Strugglin'
Billy Bragg
3/5
Talking With the Taxman About Poetry is an album that did have some pretty good ideas and for the most part, executed them rather well. This album mainly combines folk music with some more punk rock elements and a fair few of the songs put that on full display. I would also say that Bragg's songwriting is definitely quite a standout aspect about this album as these songs could tell some rather interesting stories. I also felt that this album went on for a good length by not being too long or too short. Some of the songs here do blend in with each other a bit which makes them hardly stand out but i still thought that there was no outright bad part about this album.
Best Song: Train Train
Worst Song: Honey, I'm a Big Boy Now
Röyksopp
5/5
Melody A.M. was an incredibly nice surprise. I always do enjoy a good electronica album and this album did more than enough to scratch that itch. This album is one of those complex, layered and interesting electronic albums that i enjoy so much. It also had some really good work on the bass. This is also one of the few electronica albums that never got repetitive no matter how long the songs got and were still always able to stay in my memory for quite a while. I genuinely don't think i can find a single bad thing to say about it as it just executes every thing so well. This is yet another album that's getting full marks from me.
Best Song: Royksopp's Night Out
Worst Song: She's So
5/5
From the last 4 albums that i heard by David Bowie, I never would have expected The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars would be one of my favorites by him but here we are. I am somewhat aware of some songs from this album, especially Starman since i have heard John Dolmayan and Serj Tankian's cover of it. I still was not expecting the album to be this good as it had an absolutely perfect mix of punk rock with acoustic rock and a nice amount of orchestral elements too. David Bowie's songwriting was very enjoyable here as well. It is an all around great album that i definitely think is one of Bowie's best.
Best Song: Suffragette City
Worst Song: It Ain't Easy
Madonna
3/5
Like A Prayer is a pretty good album. Instead of having a whole bunch of electronic elements like Ray Of Light did, This one seems to go for more of a typical 80s pop album. I like the former style more because it just sounds more interesting but this style is pretty good too. The songs could be pretty enjoyable but tend to blend in with each other a little too much. Madonna's vocals are the real highlight of this album as they could be really good and fit the songs perfectly. I also did like Prince's vocals in the one song that he appeared in. There are not too many stand out tracks here but i still enjoyed this album to a decent degree.
Best Song: Keep It Together
Worst Song: Cherish
Fishbone
5/5
Truth And Soul is one of the strangest and quirkiest albums on this list and that's why i love it so much. The funk-metal scene back in the late 80s and early 90s is easily one of the most underrated scenes in music history as there were so many good acts around that time with this one easily being one of them. Each and every instrument in all these songs manages to bring something different to the table while still making the songs catchy and interesting to listen to. The lyrics are also enjoyably dumb and really did add to the weirdness. This album also manages to do the rare feat of being a weird album with 0 bad songs. This is easily one of the best albums i have done on this project.
Best Song: One Day
Worst Song: Bonin' In The Boneyard
Buena Vista Social Club
3/5
Buena Vista Social club is certainly an interesting album. Some of the songs here, especially the earlier ones, sounded like songs that you would hear in a children's animated movie (particularly, some by Disney and Pixar). This is another album where i don't really feel that one song really stands out as being the best or worst one but it is an album that i think comes together pretty well. The songs were all a bit samey but they fit together well. I mainly think that an album like this could probably count as an elevator album (return of that term) due to it just being background music but i still think that it is pretty good background music.
Best Song: Chan Chan
Worst Song: Candela
The xx
4/5
I See You was a shockingly great album. This is one of the few examples where there is an ambient sounding album which still manages to have every song stick around in my head unlike so many others that leave my brain the moment they end. Of course, every song here managed to sound incredibly relaxing and dreamlike but still had enough energy to make them never feel like they are just dragging on. And unlike this band's first album, there are absolutely no hiccups at any point as the music always remained great and both Romy and Oliver's voices managed to fit the song while not sounding like they were completely bored. This one is more like "You had it all and you always did".
Best Song: Dangerous
Worst Song: Test Me
Ananda Shankar
3/5
Ananda Shankar was better than i was expecting it to be. I know that this guy is the son of Ravi Shankar who made an album on this list that came out way before this one but this one is what that album should have been. It still had the sitar that his dad's album had and that gave it the only bit of character that album had but this one goes beyond that by introducing some influences from western music, mainly rock and electronic music. This actually gives the album it's own identity and actually allows it to stick in my head rather than completely fade from my memory once its over. Its not perfect but i still liked this album a fair bit.
Best Song: Jumpin' Jack Flash
Worst Song: Sagar / The Ocean
Genesis
3/5
The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway is an album that had everything to be a 4 star album. The music is good with Brian Eno's "Enossification" on some of the tracks as well as all the other musicians doing their part rather well. Peter Gabriel and Phil Collins also held their end of the bargain when it came to the vocals as well. So, why is it only a 3 star album? Well, i'll tell you why, it's because this album is just way too long. The album went on for an hour and a half and never really justified itself being that long. The album never became horrible to listen to but i still found myself losing track on this album. If the album had been cut down a decent bit, it easily could have gotten 4 stars but as it stands, it only gets 3.
Best Song: In The Cage
Worst Song: The Waiting Room
The Modern Lovers
3/5
The Modern Lovers is one of those albums where its a good listen but it is a case of "What do you expect me to say about it?". It really is your typical 70s punk rock album if i have ever seen one as it has all the quirks that an album like that would have. This band does have a pretty interesting history though seeing as this album came out two years after the band broke up. I do find that fact pretty interesting seeing as not a lot of bands do this very often. There is also the fact that it is their first album meaning that nothing ever got released when this band was together. I may be touching on this a bit too much but i find this more interesting than the actual album.
Best Song: Pablo Picasso
Worst Song: Roadrunner
Spiritualized
3/5
When i got my first impression of Jason Pierce's music, i thought i was gonna hate it but after listening to all three albums he worked on that are on this project, I actually kinda liked them and Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space may actually be the best one of them all. One of the most interesting things about this album is how it was packaged. It was packaged as if it was prescription medication, even going so far as to having a booklet containing "Dosage Advice". It is weird since i don't think that this is the most drug-tripy album on this list, not even close. Even so, the music was pretty good and fit the space rock sound quite well. It's still not perfect but it is Jason Pierce's best work.
Best Song: Broken Heart
Worst Song: All of My Thoughts
Finley Quaye
3/5
Maverick A Strike is another one of those albums where the music is good but the lyrics aren't so good. I really do like the fact that it is an album that goes beyond it's main genre by taking influence from others. I always love it when albums do that as it adds more flavor to them. This one mainly is reggae but takes quite a few influences from genres like rock, R&B and hip-hop. My main problem with this album though is the lyrics. These lyrics felt like they were written by someone who was incredibly desperate for a lover (especially in I Need A Lover) Finley just says some pretty creepy things which just feel very off-putting. Other than that, it's a good album, just wish it had better lyrics.
Best Song: Supreme I Preme
Worst Song: Red Rolled and Seen
The Specials
2/5
Believe it or not, I don't think that More Specials is all that special. Apparently, this album influenced a lot of trip-hop artists in the 90s but i just don't really see the influence they took from this album. I only really see this album as a ska album with a few electronic elements but not enough to be the influence for a lot of trip-hop records. As for the album, it's not bad but it is very forgettable as many of these songs just blend together and just don't have all that much to keep them interesting (except for International Jet Set, i actually rather enjoyed that one) It's not bad but it is something that makes me question the band's name.
Best Song: International Jet Set
Worst Song: Enjoy Yourself (Reprise)
Iron Maiden
4/5
Iron Maiden is definitely an album i really enjoyed. It is always good when i get another metal album for the stockpile as i love nearly everything that genre puts out and this album is absolutely no exception. It is definitely a more basic album as it is an album that came out in 1980 but that doesn't make it any less enjoyable. This album is still fast frenetic and has all the great guitar riffs, crushing drum beats and everything else you could want from this genre. Granted, this album's basic nature does make it a little bit forgettable but i never at any point disliked what i was hearing. This is an absolutely great album that i still really enjoyed from beginning to end.
Best Song: Remember Tomorrow
Worst Song: Charlotte the Harlot
Suzanne Vega
3/5
Suzanne Vega was an album that did what it set out to do rather well. It is another one of those more relaxing folk albums kinda like stuff by Cat Stevens or Joni Mitchell and i always do enjoy them as they have some pretty relaxing vibes. This album was no exception to that rule as it shared a lot of the strengths it has with albums like those. The songs here are relaxing and have some pretty good stories within them. It is not perfect though as some of the songs can become quite samey to each other and i was not a fan of some of the vocals in Cracking but those were some small gripes i had with it. I still enjoyed this album a decent bit.
Best Song: Neighborhood Girls
Worst Song: Cracking
3/5
Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire) (great name by the way) was a pretty good album. Of the currently 3 Kinks albums that i have heard, this one is probably the best of the bunch. The main reason for this is the fact that the production got quite a huge upgrade over Face To Face and Something Else as it sounds a lot less grainy and way more crisp. This album still has a lot of the rough values that the other two albums had by using the guitars to get that sound and that is a good thing as i did enjoy that rough sound the other two albums had. The album also had enough going on as to where it didn't get tedious. This is easily the best Kinks album i have done so far.
Best Song: Brainwashed
Worst Song: Some Mother's Son
Grateful Dead
3/5
American Beauty is an okay album. Grateful Dead is just one of those bands where i knew who they were due to seeing every person under the sun wear shirts of them but i never really heard any of their songs until now. I always thought that they were a more punkish band due to their general image but nope, it seems they are more of a psychedelic country rock band. As for the album itself, it's fine, it does it's job well enough. None of the songs are real standouts but do generally have some good musicianship and lyrics. The album also didn't go on for too long which was nice. Other than that though, i don't have too much to say about this album.
Best Song: Sugar Magnolia
Worst Song: Attics of My Life
Marianne Faithfull
3/5
Broken English wasn't what i was expecting at all. From the genres listed on the reviews page, i thought that this was gonna be a folk rock album in the same vein as something like Joni Mitchell or Suzanne Vega who i looked at a few days ago. But i guess i should have seen it when i saw the listed genres on it's Wikipedia page that this would be a new wave album but they still caught me off guard. The album is pretty good though as the music is pretty good and the new wave and folk rock elements come together quite nicely. The lyrics are a bit weird though (especially in Why'd Ya Do It, which is a shame as if the lyrics were better, that song would have been my favorite one). It is still a rather enjoyable album for what it is.
Best Song: Guilt
Worst Song: What's The Hurry?
Mike Oldfield
2/5
Tubular Bells was definitely an album that had potential but unfortunately wasted it. It definitely has an interesting structure for an album with it just being 2 songs but having multiple parts to them. I can also really appreciate it for trying loads of different styles of music. The problem is some of the parts sound really bad. These parts were mainly the parts where Oldfield decides to commit musical war crimes with his guitars and dear lord, these could get incredibly abrasive. Even some of the good parts could get repetitive. I can't in good conscience give this a 1 because there were good areas and there is also my appreciation for him trying many musical styles but i still don't think its a very good album.
Best Song: Tubular Bells, Part Two
Worst Song: Tubular Bells, Part One
Side note: Yes, i know it is kinda redundant to have a best and worst songs area since there are technically only two tracks here but i don't care, i do as i please.
4/5
Sao Paulo Confessions was a pretty enjoyable album. I always am in the mood for a good electronic album especially when it is something different from the typical EDM i often hear including things like Acid Jazz which this album falls into. The songs often had this cool downtempo-ish vibe to them which made them have a cool and serious tone. The Latin elements on display were pretty cool too. Some of the electronic elements did not mesh together well and ended up being a bit annoying but it never got too terrible. I still ended up enjoying this album and i am a bit sad to find out this was Suba's last album before his death, RIP Suba.
Best Song: Na Neblina
Worst Song: Felicidade
Machito
4/5
Kenya was an album that was shockingly very good. I'm not really the biggest fan of most jazz music since albums of it can either tend to be too boring or too messy and all over the place. However, this one was able to strike a good balance between soft jazz and more big band jazz. It had enough going on as to where it kept me interested but never went too far with it to make it become messy and abrasive. There do seem to be some cuban elements here but i don't really hear them anywhere in the songs at it really does have the sound of a typical big band album. Even so, i still enjoyed my time with this album and think of it as one of the better jazz albums out there.
Best Song: Conversation
Worst Song: Congo Mulence
Sufjan Stevens
4/5
Illinois is a really interesting album i really like. It really does earn it's name as it really does have that feel of a city in Illinois (though i think New York would also work for this as well) I also do quite like it for all it's variety seeing just how many instruments are there with most of them being played by Stevens himself. Everything from an acoustic guitar, piano, oboe, triangle and many more are here. I also do love how long a lot of the song titles are, they do fit the songs rather well. It was long at around 74 minutes but still was able to do more than enough to remain interesting. I enjoyed this album for being as weird and interesting as it is.
Best Song: The Man of Metropolis Steals Our Hearts
Worst Song: Decatur, or, Round of Applause for Your Step-Mother!
The Band
3/5
The Band (despite it's generic name for both the band and album) is a pretty good album. With it's album art and the fact that the other The Band album's sound, i came in here expecting some country rock and i was completely correct. The main thing i liked about this album is that it was able to find a good balance between more rocking songs as well as softer ones. There is also the fact that no song on here sounds bad as they had nothing that made them too annoying or boring to listen to. I also do think that this is better than Music From Big Pink due to the fact that the production here is just so much better. This album is a really solid one.
Best Song: King Harvest (Has Surely Come)
Worst Song: The Night They Drove Old Dixie Down
The Verve
4/5
I really liked A Northern Soul. I think it has been quite a while since i have heard anything of the britpop variety on this project so this album was a pretty nice return to that for me. My favorite part about this album is easily how melodic it sounds. I guess it is where the shoegaze tag comes in for this album but this album definitely felt like it had a very relaxing sense of noise to it. I also thought that Richard Ashcroft's vocals are just perfect for this kind of music since it adds to the melodic nature so well. It is also interesting to hear Liam Gallagher add some hand claps on the song History. It can drag on a little bit but i still enjoyed this album quite a lot.
Best Song: This Is Music
Worst Song: [Reprise]
Joe Ely
3/5
Honky Tonk Masquerade is just your typical old country album with a few neat features but still is pretty basic. If you can think of any country album from the late 1970s, then there is a 90% chance that it sounds a lot like this. This uses all the same instruments (with a few ones i don't hear too often) the same vocal style and the same lyrical themes. If i had to pick a most interesting track from this album, it would be Boxcars since that song does have some sounds that i'm not all that used to hearing in country music. Other than that, i really don't have much to say about this album, It's fine but nothing all that special.
Best Song: Boxcars
Worst Song: Honky Tonk Masquerade
Waylon Jennings
3/5
Well won't you look at that, I got two country albums from the 1970s which both begin with Honky Tonk. First with Honky Tonk Masquerade and here with Honky Tonk Heroes. And my opinions with this one is the fact that it is just fine. Like the album i did just prior, its everything that you would expect from this genre, except less interesting as every sound here isn't really all that original. The songs here are okay and have some pretty decent lyrics as well as a pleasant feel to all the songs but they don't really stand out all that much from each other and feel too much like they are cut from the same cloth. This album was thankfully very short at just 27 minutes which is why it made it to a very soft 3 stars.
Best Song: Ain't No God In Mexico
Worst Song: Black Rose
Muddy Waters
1/5
I know this may be an unpopular opinion but hear me out, I really didn't enjoy Hard Again which is a shame since i enjoy bluesy stuff from time to time but this is just not something i enjoy. Everything about this album feels so self-indulgent from the annoying slide guitar that is used so frequently to the point where it gets even more annoying to the messy composition. But this album not only managed to be annoying but incredibly boring too. All the songs here sounded the same and the album felt like it was going on for far longer than it actually was. I'm sure that you all see something in this album that i don't but as for me, This album is hot garbage.
Best song: I Want To Be Loved #2
Worst Song: Little Girl
UB40
3/5
I gotta say, I was shocked at how much i actually enjoyed Signing Off. I guess it could just be the fact that my expectations were at an all time low considering i had to listen to Muddy Waters yesterday but this album shockingly was pretty enjoyable. Granted, it is a rather long album with Madam Medusa especially contributing to that length but i still think that the music here was good and could be pretty interesting at points. The same goes for the lyrics which seem to focus on racism and black culture which makes sense for a genre like this but they still were pretty good. I wouldn't say its a perfect album but it did what it set out to do rather well.
Best Song: Madam Medusa
Worst Song: 25%
The Young Rascals
3/5
Despite it's ugly as sin album art, Groovin' is a pretty decent psych rock album. If i were to compare this album to one of the psych rock bands from the 60s, it would probably be The Kinks as they have that similar sense of oddity that they had. While i don't think that this album is as good as the ones they have made but it is still decently solid. The music sounded all well and good with a few hiccups (especially in the second track) and the lyrics and vocals are about what you would expect for this genre. This album was pretty short though so that was nice to see. I wouldn't really say that there is anything too special about this album but it does what it does well enough.
Best Song: You Better Run
Worst Song: Find Somebody
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
3/5
You know, i was expecting to hate The Boatman's Call. I heard it was mainly a piano ballad album so i was just thinking that it was gonna get repetitive and tiring after just a few songs, But oddly enough, that never happened. I'm shocked that i did not hate this album. I thought it did have some really beautiful moments with it's music and i thought that Nick's voice perfectly fit the music as it was soft and deep just as this kind of music would benefit from. Granted, the lyrics weren't the greatest and the album did have it's moments of actually getting repetitive and hard to remember but i really was expecting it to be a lot worse.
Best Song: Idiot Prayer
Worst Song: Black Hair
James Brown
3/5
James Brown Live At The Apollo is an album that i have odd feelings towards. I did enjoy it but i feel like it is missing a few things to be truly great. For someone like James Brown, it really makes sense for him to have a live album on this list as he feels like one of those singers that really has a presence when performing that really suits being live. As for the show/album, it is enjoyable and had a lot of fun moments but my main issue is that a lot of the best moments on this album are simply too short and are unable to properly sink in most of the time. I still think its a really solid album but i don't think i can justify giving it any higher than 3 stars.
Best Song: Think
Worst Song: I Don't Mind
John Coltrane
4/5
I enjoyed A Love Supreme more than i thought i would have. I'm not usually a fan of these really noisy jazz albums but since this is a "You gotta be in the mood to really enjoy it" kind of album and i was in that mood (I will tell you why in the side note) I enjoyed this album a fair bit more than i thought i would have. I thought that the musicianship on offer sounded pretty good for being a typical noisy jazz album. I don't really have too strong of an opinion on the vocals on Track 1 but i thought that they fit the song well enough. The album was pretty short too so that was nice as well. On it's own merits, this album was only really worth a 3 star rating but since i was in that mood, I'm giving it an extra half a star.
Best Song: A Love Supreme, Part II - Resolution
Worst Song: A Love Supreme, Part IV - Psalm
(Side note: Ok, so while i was listening to this album (the first half at least), i was having a heated discussion about some funny scenarios for an upcoming game with 2 people in a Discord server, that heightened my enjoyment of this album a fair bit. So congratulations to the two people who i had that discussion with, You made John Coltrane's ghost proud)
Dexys Midnight Runners
3/5
Too Rye Ay is an album that i just have the strangest feelings on. On one hand i think that the album does get incredibly repetitive with all the songs having that Irish folk style which while it does sound nice and unique at points, it can get quite repetitive when dragged out and the album does have it's really bad moments (I'm looking at you, Until I Believe In My Soul) but on the other hand, It has some really solid singles with stuff like The Celtic Soul Brothers and Come On Eileen and I think Kevin Rowland's vocals are a huge step up from their last album (except for that one song i mentioned prior). Its equal parts a 2 and 4 star album so all together, it gets a 3.
Best Song: Come On Eileen
Worst Song: Until I Believe In My Soul
John Lennon
3/5
On Imagine's Wikipedia page, I saw that Ben Gerson of Rolling Stone said that it had a substantial portion of good music but he liked Lennon's first LP more and that, i agree with. This is a pretty solid album and definitely up there as one of Lennon's better works. I thought that all the songs no matter what vibe they had, be they soft and melodic or catchy and upbeat, worked well on this album. Lennon's vocals also were pretty good on this record as they portrayed each vibe on this album well. Granted, there are a few awkward moments on some of the songs but i don't think any of them were bad. This is a solid listen but i still prefer his earlier LP.
Best Song: Imagine
Worst Song: I Don't Wanna Be A Soldier Mama
Green Day
5/5
Dookie was just an incredibly fun album. It is just a typical punk rock album with nothing all too special to help set it apart from all the others on the market but it doesn't need to. All it needed to do was just be incredibly fun and enjoyable, and this album absolutely succeeded in that. It is just a fun punk rock album with some grunge elements with the vocals. The music here is fast-paced, rebellious and just a lot of fun and as were all the other aspects. Some of the songs here are a bit overly similar to each other (which is why i prefer American Idiot over this album) but regardless, I still had enough fun with this album to give it a 4.5.
Best Song: When I Come Around
Worst Song: Pulling Teeth
Billie Holiday
3/5
Lady In Satin is another one of those albums where i can speak pretty positively about the music but the vocals, not so much. Ray Ellis and his orchestra did the main heavy lifting of the album in my opinion with some pretty good music with some great work especially on the violins, kinda giving a Frank Sinatra vibe with all the music and it really fits each and every song. My main issue with this album though is Billie's vocals, she sounded like an old lady in this album (which didn't make much sense seeing as she was 43 when this album came out). This is just a problem with this album that i don't have with other vocal jazz by women. I liked the music, I just wish the vocals were better.
Best Song: The End of a Love Affair
Worst Song: For Heaven's Sake
U2
4/5
I really liked War and i don't know if I'm shocked to say that or not. Considering i have now made it to 600 albums, i definitely think that the album to hit that milestone should definitely be a good one and this one more than delivered on that promise. Every song here was enjoyable and catchy no matter which vibe it had, from relaxing and playful to more pump up anthems which you would expect from an album that is literally called War. I also think that this is yet another album that got it's length just right, not too long, not too short. I don't have many bad things to say about it, Its just a really good album and worthy of being my 600th album.
Best Song: Sunday Bloody Sunday
Worst Song: The Refugee
Fairport Convention
3/5
Liege And Lief is an album that is decent but it was one that i found myself losing track of what song i was on pretty often. I like the folk rock style that this album goes for and it makes it very fitting for certain scenarios and i also did like the fiddle in some of the tracks as it did add quite a lot of character when they were there. The problem with this album is how samey the songs can sound. It gets to the point where i had the issue of losing track of what song. I typically wouldn't have known i was on a different track on the album until i checked the YouTube tab that i was listening to the album through. I still think its a pretty decent album but i wish it didn't have this issue.
Best Song: Tam Lin
Worst Song: Reynardine
Randy Newman
3/5
Sail Away is a pretty good album that does go by a bit too quickly. I mainly only knew Randy Newman for making a lot of songs from Pixar movies, namely songs like Friend Like Me from the original Toy Story and the Monsters Inc. main theme. So it wasn't really a shock to me that the songs here sound like songs you would hear from any of those movies. The songs sound good and definitely do have some pretty good lyrics. My main problem, like i mentioned, is the songs go by so fast and really don't give all that much time for them to sink in. I still thought this album definitely had it's good points though.
Best Song: Burn On
Worst Song: Dayton, Ohio - 1903
10cc
3/5
Sheet Music is definitely an album i have mixed feelings on, almost like a love hate relationship with it. It simultaneously has great moments and horrible moments. There are some genuinely fantastic melodies on display here and when the instruments sound good, they can sound really good, and i liked how each song had a completely different vibe from each other. The main issue is the fact that when the instruments sound bad, they sound really bad. What is it with 70s rock artists and them feeling the need to commit musical war crimes by distorting their guitars? Saw it once with Mike Oldfield and i saw it again here. Anyways, rant aside, Its a solid listen marred by a couple of poor choices.
Best Song: The Wall Street Shuffle
Worst Song: Old Wild Men
Jane Weaver
2/5
Modern Kosmology is one of those albums where i just have a really difficult time enjoying it. It is very clear it tried something not like many other albums (that's probably why this album's only listed genre is Singer-Songwriter on this website) but i just don't think it did a very good job at that. The main thing that makes me think this way is the fact that the songs feel too weak, hollow, empty, quiet, I could keep going on. This album mainly just lacks a kick to it for it to really be enjoyable. It is a shame, since this album does have bits and pieces of something special, it just fails to realize that. I really wish it did realize that because it could be good but it just was not.
Best Song: The Architect
Worst Song: I Wish
CHIC
3/5
I thought Risque was a pretty good album. Disco is one of those genres that can range from pretty good to pretty terrible. Thankfully, this one falls into the former camp. This album didn't have many songs on it(only 7 of them) but they did make up for that a decent bit by making a lot of them decently long. I think this album makes about as good use of it's structure as it can but i still think it would be better if there were more shorter songs on it. The music itself is enjoyable too. Its pretty groovy and relaxing. There is a bit of that 70s disco cheesiness here but i don't think that it is anything that's unbearably annoying. I thought this album was a pretty decent listen for what it was.
Best Song: What About Me
Worst Song: My Feet Keep Dancing
Dr. Dre
4/5
I was surprised at how much i enjoyed The Chronic. I mainly knew Dr. from his stuff with N.W.A. and also some of the stuff from one of his later records, 2001. Granted, this is still gangster rap so the lyrics are going to reflect that with many of theme having n-words everywhere. While the lyrics are a bit silly, i will still admit that the production is absolutely incredible here with plenty of great samples. One of those samples being from Mothership Connection (Star Child) by Parliament and because i love that song, i love the song that used it as well. Even if the songs could have odd lyrics, a good majority of them had that great production so i still enjoyed listening to this album.
Best Song: Let Me Ride
Worst Song: The $20 Sack Pyramid
Raekwon
4/5
Only Built 4 Cuban Linx was a shockingly good album. This is another Wu-Tang Clan adjacent album because this is one of their members (probably the second to last one since the only one i think i have left is Method Man's solo album) and i think this one might be my favorite. The production here is absolutely off the charts using all the samples you would expect from a Wu-Tang Clan member's solo album (and an album with all of them together for that matter) even going as far as for Glaciers of Ice to be sampled by The Avalanches in Avalanche Rock and that still blows my mind. The lyrics are a bit stupid on some tracks but despite that, this one surpasses Liquid Swords as my favorite Wu-Tang Clan Adjacent album and is a really good album.
Best Song: Heaven & Hell
Worst Song: Shark N***** (Biters)
Dizzee Rascal
4/5
I wasn't expecting Boy In Da Corner to be as a good album as it was but that is what it ended up being. In a lot of ways, it reminds me of Prince's 1999 in that it just throws everything it can at the wall. It really makes use of it's grime label with all the electronic sounds. And just like with 1999, there are points where it does and doesn't work. Some of the sounds did get annoying with how they were used but the good majority of them sounded really cool as they could be very serious but still incredibly catchy and having that typical 2000s hip-hop flair. I think that if some of the worse parts were smoothed out, this would be an easy 5 star album. It failed to hit that mark but it is still a great album.
Best Song: Stop Dat
Worst Song: 2 Far
Side note: I also think its impressive that Dizzee started recording this album at the age of 17
The Undertones
4/5
I didn't think The Undertones was a super special album but it is one i still enjoyed quite a fair bit. This is your typical early new-wave punk rock album as it has all the things you would expect from an album like that. Everything from, the fast melodies, the vocals and the keyboards for that new-wave touch. I still think that this album got all those basics down as everything here sounds really fun and good. A lot of the songs are very samey which is why its only up to a 3.5 star rating but everything here still sounds very good. I also think i like this album more than Hypnotised because whatever odd thing i didn't like about that album, it doesn't seem to be here on this one. I thought that this was a really enjoyable album.
Best Song: I Know A Girl
Worst Song: Billy's Third
Hole
5/5
Celebrity Skin is an absolutely fantastic album that i enjoyed the whole way through. I was already sure i was going to like it but this album still kept taking me by surprise with all the things it tried. The album could show many different styles from hard and rebellious like the title track or epic and melodic like Northern Star. And of course it is all backed up by some absolutely sublime music with some awesome guitar riffs and great vocals from Courtney Love. There was also never a song which went anywhere close to being bad as it was just banger after banger for this whole album. This is easily one of the best albums on this project.
Best Song: Playing Your Song
Worst Song: Malibu
The Byrds
3/5
Younger Than Yesterday is definitely one of the more bizarre albums on this list. Initially, it tricks you into thinking that its just going to be a Beatlesque album with some added country elements, but with C.T.A. - 102 and many other songs, it just really goes off the rails into extreme weirdness territory. It has everything from odd voices to those reverse-sounding guitars which really just make it a really weird album. I didn't think this made any of it bad, in fact, it kinda adds to the album's character but it is still rather jarring. That being said, i did enjoy this album and i thought it was better than the last Byrds album that i did.
Best Song: Why
Worst Song: C.T.A. - 102
1/5
They Were Wrong, So We Drowned is definitely an album that's different from the pack but not in a good way at all. Everything about this album feels like it was written by a 14 year old who just learned about creepypastas (which is technically true seeing as a lot of this album was inspired by the legends of The Brocken) The main issue is that all of these songs lack any real structure and just feel like the band just throwing everything they can at the wall to be weird and hardly any of it working. Even some of the better songs on this album just go on for far longer than they need to with silence or ambient noises that add nothing. It might not be as abrasive as some of the other terrible albums but it is still in that club of terrible albums.
Best Song: Flow My Tears The Spider Said
Worst Song: Broken Witch
SZA
2/5
While it may be better than the album i got last time, Ctrl isn't really that great of an album. The production is decent with some pretty nice sounding music even if it can get rather forgettable depending on the song but for the most part it is pretty alright. My main issue with this album though is the lyrics, many of them are extremely stupid with a constant overuse of sex terms (Doves In The Wind is an especially bad offender of this) which makes these lyrics really annoying. And in general, i can only really remember a select few songs from this album due to the majority of them being so forgettable. It really is a shame because i know that SZA clearly has quite a lot of musical talent, just none of it is really on display here.
Best Song: Pretty Little Birds
Worst Song: Doves In The Wind
Baaba Maal
3/5
Lam Toro isn't an album that is all that special as it is just another afrobeat album but coming off the last two albums i just heard, it feels like heaven in comparison. I've never been aware of this guy or his music so i didn't really have much expectations going in but like i said, it has the typical sound of an afrobeat album. The songs here follow the typical norms of this type of music with some acoustic guitars, some electronic synths (a lot actually) and his voice. This is also a fairly long one too at around 58 minutes with many songs clocking in at 6-7 minutes. There isn't really anything all that special with this album, but for what it is, its a nice listen.
Best Song: Sy Sawande
Worst Song: Daande Lenol
Lloyd Cole And The Commotions
3/5
Rattlesnakes is a pretty decent album. I haven't really heard anything from Lloyd Cole or his band, The Commotions, but by listening to this album, i feel a strong bit of R.E.M. vibes from it with maybe a few extra synths that i feel that the R.E.M. albums that i have listened to did not have. But other than that, it seems to mark a lot of the same checks like the vocals and the general direction with the melodies and of course, having very similar sounding guitars. While i don't think this album is as good as any R.E.M. album i have heard, I still think this album is a fairly solid listen which breezes through without feeling like its missing anything.
Best Song: Down On Mission Street
Worst Song: Forest Fire
Ray Charles
4/5
The Genius Of Ray Charles is certainly a really good album. It doesn't have a single mention of country music in it's title so that means i can't sue the people who worked on this album (the ones that are even alive, that is) for deception and false advertising. Jokes aside, i really enjoyed a lot of the music on offer here. They all have that nice orchestral sound that i would come to expect from Ray Charles as well as a lot of his contemporaries from the time. I also enjoyed Charles' vocals and songwriting as they fit the album very well. The album also went on at the perfect length too. I think that this is a great jazz album and i would put it above his later album on this list.
Best Song: You Won't Let Me Go
Worst Song: Alexander's Ragtime Band
Jeru The Damaja
3/5
The Sun Rises In The East is a pretty enjoyable album. I've never really heard of this album or this rapper but if i hadn't had the info this site and Wikipedia gave me, i probably would have thought this album came out in the late 80s because it has all the vibes of a late 80s hip-hop album. There were definitely some pretty fun bits of this album and some boring ones but those were pretty few and far between. This album still had quite a lot of the cheesiness i enjoy from these sorts of albums. I was also pretty surprised about the length of this album being only around 40 minutes when i would typically expect hip-hop albums to be an hour. I'm not sure i can justify giving this album any higher than 3 stars but i still like it.
Best Song: Da Bichez
Worst Song: Ain't The Devil Happy
Common
4/5
I really liked Be and i thought it is a very good hip-hop album. I've never really been aware of Common prior to doing this project but i'm glad i am because the majority of this album is filled with some really good songs. It definitely does give a lot of the same vibes that a lot of Kanye West's albums did which makes sense since he was one of this album's producers. And because of that, the production is very good with some cool beats and nice R&B melodies. I also think that the lyrics are definitely some of the better lyrics i have heard in hip-hop music. I honestly can't really find a lot of negative things to say so i will just say it's a great album.
Best Song: The Corner
Worst Song: Chi-City
Barry Adamson
4/5
I don't think i was expecting this but i really enjoyed Oedipus Schmoedipus. I already listened to Moss Side Story prior to this but i still was not expecting this to be another soundtrack for an imaginary film. These songs still feel like they would fit a detective film just like Moss Side Story but i like the ones here more because they just have so much more to them. The songs here could be groovy, ominous, even funny (like with Vermillion Kisses). Every song here just had something different on offer and they were mostly executed very well. This album did unfortunately get docked a star due to Dirty Barry but i still really loved this album.
Best Song: Achieved in the Valley Of Dolls
Worst Song: Dirty Barry
David Bowie
4/5
Heroes might not be David Bowie's best work but i still enjoyed it quite a fair bit. This one really finds it's mix between being both a typical rock out album from Bowie and leaning way hard into the art rock style especially with the last 3 songs. For the most part, this album was a really enjoyable ride. The guitars are distinctly as Bowie as i would ever want them to be and all the other elements of this album had that style too. I even enjoyed the more artsy songs on the album even if they were just 4-5 minutes of the same thing. I still think that Bowie has done better but this is still a really good album that is a very worthy addition to his lineup.
Best Song: The Secret Life of Arabia
Worst Song: Sons of the Silent Age
Marvin Gaye
4/5
Here, My Dear is an album i enjoyed quite a lot. It does feel a bit odd going from an album like Let's Get It On to this one for Marvin Gaye considering the lyrical themes but i guess this did come out 5 years after that album so things definitely changed for him. The music is a bit of a step back from Let's Get It On but is still pretty good and the lyrics are definitely some good lyrics about divorce without feeling overly creepy. Granted, these songs can feel very samey and do tend to blend in with each other but this is to be expected when it comes to albums that are 71 minutes long. This album may not be as good as Let's Get It On but i still enjoyed it.
Best Song: Is That Enough
Worst Song: Here, My Dear
Ella Fitzgerald
4/5
The Gershwin Songbook was one of the few very long albums on this list that i enjoyed. It really is some of the best jazz music i have ever heard with plenty of great parts from each and every musician and Fitzgerald's vocals also made this album come a long way. It is interesting that this is less of an album and more of a box set which explains it's length but i still think it went on for a while. 3 hours is a long time for any album and i feel that albums that go on for that long that don't massively change up their sound can easily get repetitive and hard to remember. This album would have been an easy 5 stars if it were just a bit shorter but it still gets a very respectable 4 stars.
Best Song: The Real American Folk Song
Worst Song: Soon
3/5
Apple Venus Volume 1 is a pretty good album. It is one of those albums that has so much going for it. The music is very unique by often relying on more orchestral sounds which gives it a vibe of it's own and it is also brought up by the absolutely top notch production. The lyrics are also pretty solid here as well especially in Your Dictionary. The only thing that's keeping me from giving this album 4 stars is the fact that for an album from 1999, it feels like it is stuck in the 80s. A lot of 80s sounds are here mainly through the vocals. I feel like if this album came out in 1989, I'd probably give it 4 stars. This album is still a good listen and i would put it above Skylarking.
Best Song: The Last Balloon
Worst Song: Greenman
Tracy Chapman
3/5
Tracy Chapman was an alright album. The most i have ever really known about Tracy Chapman was hearing Miel Bredouw recommend her music (particularly Fast Car) back when she hosted the podcast "Punch Up The Jam" (If you haven't heard it, definitely do, it's a great podcast) and for the longest time, i thought Chapman was a man. It wasn't until i read her wikipedia page did i learn the truth. As for the album itself, it's fine. It isn't really anything that special or unique and the songs can get rather forgettable but there isn't really anything wrong with them and they all had a pretty good sound to them. It probably won't be something i'll remember that much but at least i didn't hate it.
Best Song: Mountains O' Things
Worst Song: Behind the Wall
Mott The Hoople
4/5
Mott was certainly a pretty fun album. I went in initially thinking i was not gonna like it despite my love for hard rock music but against all odds, i ended up enjoying this album. On the surface, it doesn't really do much other than be a typical 70s glam rock album with all the bells and whistles you would expect from the genre. But in my eyes, it doesn't really need to be anything more than that. I still had fun with this album on each and every song. Be they fast or slow, it was all enjoyable and just simple fun and i can't complain about that at all. I also can't really think of anything that this album does wrong so its just nothing but a very enjoyable listen.
Best Song: Whizz Kid
Worst Song: I Wish I Was Your Mother
Aphex Twin
4/5
Selected Ambient Works 85-92 was quite a bit better than i was expecting it to be. I've never really listened to any of Aphex Twin's music but i do know of the guy due to him having one of the most interesting personal life sections on Wikipedia. As for the album, i was expecting it to just be okay but it turned out to be really darn good. The songs here all feel layered and complex and had some good melodies and rhythms for just being simple background music. It is rather repetitive but i think that is to be expected from a genre like this. It may not be the greatest electronic album but i still liked it quite a lot.
Best Song: Ptolemy
Worst Song: I
PJ Harvey
4/5
I'm kinda shocked at how much i enjoyed Dry. I've never really heard much involving PJ Harvey or her music (Unless you wanna count The Boatman's Call by Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds) but oddly enough, this was the kind of music i was expecting from her. And yeah, it is some good music. It has such a rough sound with the guitars, bass and drums kinda giving it a bit of a grunge feel despite this album not really being grunge. I also think it went at the right length giving me my fill, not too much, not too little. There are some songs that feel like they don't get to the point and the ending of this album feels a little odd but aside from those two gripes, I really enjoyed this one.
Best Song: Victory
Worst Song: Happy And Bleeding
k.d. lang
3/5
Shadowland is kinda just another country album. It's not anything bad, just kinda there. I was honestly surprised to hear that this was a woman singing since Lang here, looked like a man (I guess seeing the album arts for both Iggy Pop's The Idiot and David Bowie's Heroes did that for me). Like i said at the start of this review, This album really is just a generic country album like a lot of the other ones on here. It has the music of one, the vocals, the lyrics and even a song at the end with the words "Honky Tonk" in it's title so it's got it all. It thankfully wasn't very long but i still found this album to be fairly forgettable. It's fine, just nothing all that special.
Best Song: I Wish I Didn't Love You So
Worst Song: Sugar Moon
Sister Sledge
3/5
We Are Family is a pretty decent album. It is a 70s disco album meaning that it has all the quirks that you would expect from the genre with the bass, drums and those other string instruments which i can't exactly make out what they are but I'm not sure they would change my opinion. Overall, I'd say that the album was pretty enjoyable. Each song had a rather nice groove to it but i will say that each song does get repetitive which is a staple when it comes to disco due to what it is typically used for. It still did make me wish some songs were a little bit shorter. Even so, this album was still an enjoyable listen and on par with a lot of the other disco albums i have heard.
Best Song: We Are Family
Worst Song: He's the Greatest Dancer
Scott Walker
3/5
I quite liked Scott 4. I was honestly expecting not to like this album very much especially considering that the users of this site don't seem to be all too kind to him but against all odds, this album turned out to be pretty enjoyable. I do enjoy the art pop style this album seems to go for with some of the songs (Primarily The Old Man's Back Again) kinda giving me a bit of a Leonard Cohen vibe. I also think that Scott's songwriting style is pretty interesting and each song here works well with said songwriting style. The album is a short one but i'm not all too sure if that is a good or bad thing as part of me is glad this didn't get repetitive but another part of me wishes there was a bit more. Regardless, I did enjoy this album.
Best Song: The Old Man's Back Again
Worst Song: The World's Strongest Man
Stevie Wonder
5/5
I really loved Talking Book but i don't think that is a surprise seeing as this is Stevie Wonder we are talking about here. I was initially thinking that i wouldn't like this album as much as the other albums i have heard from him but this ended up being up there. Every song here was so enjoyable with each instrument being used so well by each musician on each song. The lyrics here were also fantastic with Wonder's voice really adding to them. Also this album went at the perfect length. I was initially thinking i would give this a high 4 stars but i think that Superstition is just way too good for me not to give this album a 5.
Best Song: Superstition
Worst Song: You Are The Sunshine Of My Life
Side Note: Since this will be my last Stevie Wonder album, I'll rank them all here:
1. Songs In The Key Of Life
2. Talking Book
3. Innervisions
4. Fulfillingness' First Finale
Bob Dylan
2/5
Bob Dylan? Now that's a name i haven't heard in a long time. I already thought that the first album i did by him (Bringing It All Back Home) was mediocre and so is The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan, in fact I'd put it below the former. It is kinda a shame since i do see quite a fair bit of promise with Dylan's songwriting as it did feel rather interesting for 1963. My main issue with this album though, is the music. This is really a case of if you heard one song, you've heard them all and quite a bit of the songs on offer (especially the longer ones) got really repetitive after a bit. I guess i should have seen this coming since i'm not a big Bob Dylan fan but i'm still just not a huge fan of this album.
Best Song: Masters of War
Worst Song: A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall
The Gun Club
4/5
I actually really enjoyed Fire Of Love. This band here was apparently one of the originators of punk music with blues, country and rockabilly elements and for this album being one of the first to have that sound, it does it very well. I thought that the general punk elements were my favorite part of the album with the guitars and everything but i also enjoyed a lot of the other genre elements on offer, mostly the rockabilly elements. Granted the album can get rather repetitive with the later songs being bigger offenders of this and I'm not the biggest fan of the points where the music goes very quiet but i still really enjoyed this album for what it did.
Best Song: Sex Beat
Worst Song: For the Love of Ivy
Traffic
3/5
Traffic was actually a pretty decent album. I saw the style of music that this album would consist of from a mile away due to things like the album art and the fact that i have heard the other album on this project by this group (John Barleycorn Must Die). I think this one is leagues better than that one though because everything on offer is significantly more interesting here. The melodies in particular for some songs really stuck out to me because they could be pretty darn catchy especially in songs like You Can All Join In. I'm not really sure i can say much else about this album so all I'll say is it's a pretty solid listen.
Best Song: Who Knows What Tomorrow May Bring
Worst Song: Means To An End
Shack
3/5
Hms Fable was a pretty forgettable but still solid album. I've never heard of this band prior to listening to this album but it seems like just another one of those britpop/alt rock bands that are on this project like Oasis, Blur and The Verve. I don't really think that this album hits any of the heights the ones by the other bands i mentioned did but i still think that this album was a very pleasant listen. It is clear here that Shack clearly knew what sounds would be the most pleasant to listen to in terms of both music and vocals. That being said, it doesn't really do anything all that remarkable either and just fades into the crowd of 90s britpop bands. It's perfectly good for what it is, just nothing all too special and it just plays it too safe.
Best Song: Since I Met You
Worst Song: Re-Instated
The Zutons
4/5
Who Killed...... The Zutons? was an incredibly fun album. As i was listening to it, i was kinda teetering back and forth between giving this album 3 stars or 4 stars as there were both good and mediocre songs here. But as i kept listening, I began finding that the good was heavily outweighing the mediocre. I really liked the folk and blues elements combined with the garage rock sound that this album was mainly going for. The songs in general here just have this really fun vibe that i just can't help but really enjoy. I can't really think of anything to complain about other than said mediocre songs so i'll say its a very enjoyable album.
Best Song: Havana Gang Brawl
Worst Song: Long Time Coming
Side Note: I love the music videos here too, they all provided something different but were all very fun to watch no matter what.
The Saints
5/5
I really loved Eternally Yours. It may be just your typical late 70s punk rock album but sometimes, that's all an album needs to be in order to be good. Though because of that, it's probably not gonna be an album where i will be saying too much about it, i just think that the music just speaks for itself. That music is very good, especially with all the guitar riffs sounding so sublime and while the vocals may sound bad in any other genre, they fit so well with the punk style here. I honestly really can't think of anything else to say here, neither good or bad so i'll just say that it's an absolutely sublime album that i loved the whole way through.
Best Song: No, Your Product
Worst Song: International Robots
Joni Mitchell
3/5
The Hissing Of Summer Lawns is a pretty good album. It definitely does feel a little more experimental than Mitchell's other albums, almost like a precursor to the new-wave album she made that didn't seem to be well received. This album does seem to follow the typical Joni Mitchell staples that the others all follow. The songwriting here isn't as strong as some of her other albums but i would say that the music here is one of her stronger works. There was that one track where it had a bongo and also bleeps and bloops that sounded like they are from video games that wouldn't release until years later. It may not be my favorite album by Mitchell but its still a good one to go out on.
Best Song: The Jungle Line
Worst Song: Sweet Bird
Side note: Since this will be the last Joni Mitchell album I'm reviewing, I'll rank them here:
1. Blue
2. The Hissing Of Summer Lawns
3. Hejira
4. Court And Spark
Holger Czukay
3/5
Movies was a much more solid album than i was expecting it to be. When i looked at it's Wikipedia page and saw an Experimental Rock tag in the genres section, I got a bit worried that this album was just gonna be noise. But thankfully, while there were some noisy parts, the album did feel like it was properly composed and had quite a bit of good melodies and fun ideas. Even those distorted guitars which I'm typically not a very big fan of were alright here. Like i said, the album still does get randomly noisy at points but it was never unbearable and it had enough cool ideas for me to give it a pass.
Best Song: Cool In The Pool
Worst Song: Persian Love
Dead Kennedys
3/5
Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables is a strange one because i feel like i should like it more than i should. One thing i will say is that it is some of the most chaotic music i have ever heard. Throughout every song's relatively short runtime, This album just hits you very hard with the guitars and the fast melodies. It definitely is very surprising but you eventually get used to it over time. This chaotic nature was something i definitely enjoyed about this album. But other than that, I'm not all too sure of anything else that stands out about this album. It is a very solid album but i just don't think there is a special reason for me to recommend it.
Best Song: California Uber Alles
Worst Song: Chemical Warfare
Crowded House
4/5
I enjoyed Woodface quite a lot, quite a bit more than i thought i would have. This album really reminds me a lot of a lot of British pop-rock albums which is a bit odd seeing that this band is partly from Australia and the other part from New Zealand but it is still a sound i welcome. It is another one of those albums that is just so nice and pleasant to listen to but that isn't to say that it doesn't get really lively at points which it absolutely does. There also wasn't a single bad song off this record as they were all very enjoyable. I don't think there is really much left i can say so all i'll say is that it is a very enjoyable album.
Best Song: Chocolate Cake
Worst Song: How Will You Go/I'm Still Here (Medley)
The Style Council
3/5
Cafe Bleu was certainly an interesting album. I went into this album thinking that it would be a punk rock album but after reading the genre tags and listening to the album, it was this odd mix R&B, Jazz and Rap held together by a central new-wave sound a bit reminiscent of Everything But The Girl which make sense because it's members did help out on this album (and by the album, i just mean the song The Paris Match) I have pretty mixed feelings on this album, part of me likes the variety on offer but the other part of me thinks its a little unfocused. This is an album that i didn't really love or hate so its kinda in the middle.
Best Song: You're The Best Thing
Worst Song: Mick's Blessings
Nanci Griffith
3/5
The Last Of The True Believers is a pretty generic female sang country album. I've never heard much from Nanci Griffith but i wasn't all too surprised to hear that this had a very Dolly Parton sort of sound. It is not bad, the music is nice enough, the vocals are pretty good and the album is just a generally pleasant listen. But that's about all it is, this album doesn't really try anything all that interesting to help set itself apart from all it's contemporaries as well as a lot of the songs sounding very similar to each other combines into one rather forgettable experience. Its by no means a bad album, it's just not one that's gonna stick in my mind.
Best Song: One Of These Days
Worst Song: Goin' Gone
Ramblin' Jack Elliott
1/5
Because Jack Takes The Floor wasn't on Spotify, i couldn't really scout ahead and use the previews to see what it was gonna be like but i was not expecting it to be this bad but that's what it ended up being. I know this may be the second country and the second folk album on this list in release order (after The Louvin Brothers' Tragic Songs Of Life) but i still gotta attack this album for everything it gets wrong. I could maybe see some potential in Elliott's songwriting but there is one problem, It's that I CAN'T HEAR ANY OF IT! This is easily some of the worst recording quality i have ever heard on an album. Combine that with the fact that every song sounds the same and you got a recipe for an absolute dud of an album.
Best Song: Salty Dog
Worst Song: Mule Skinner Blues
Mercury Rev
4/5
I was honestly surprised at how much i enjoyed Deserter's Songs. I guess there were two major factors that helped in boosting my enjoyment of this album. 1. I had to listen to Ramblin' Jack Elliott yesterday so my standards were lowered and 2. I listened to this after a long day at work. There is also just the fact that the album is just really good. It reminds me of Lost Souls by Doves in a lot of ways. The album was super relaxing and always had something weird and different waiting for me at every turn. Even the intermission-esque tracks were always very enjoyable. I might not like it as much as the album mentioned above but i still thought this was a really enjoyable album.
Best Song: Opus 40
Worst Song: Endlessly
The Isley Brothers
3/5
I thought that 3 + 3 was a pretty good album. When i first saw the album cover, part of me thought this was gonna be a hard rock album but as it turned out, it leaned pretty heavily into funk R&B, almost feeling like an early version of Jamiroquai in some spots. For the most part i enjoyed this album, The music was very enjoyable as it had that funky groove to it i always enjoy and the vocals generally worked well for each song. There are some downsides though. I feel that a lot of the songs sound a bit too similar to each other making them fairly forgettable and there were points where the singer got a bit too into it. Other than that, its a pretty good album.
Best Song: Don't Let Me Be Lonely Tonight
Worst Song: That Lady Pts. 1 & 2
Lou Reed
3/5
Transformer is an album i have some very odd opinions on. On the surface, it is one that is pretty solid as the guitars are snappy, the vocals work well with the songs, the trumpets and saxophones are cool and the album is pretty well produced. However, there are some odd little things that i don't really like here. The lyrics are not something i really enjoy, especially in Andy's Chest and the album overall just has this really sleazy vibe which i just don't like. I'm not sure the main thing that is giving the album this but it's still there and i'm still not a fan of that. I still think its a solid album but i feel like i wanna like this album a bit more than i do.
Best Song: I'm So Free
Worst Song: Andy's Chest
Elton John
4/5
I really liked Goodbye Yellow Brick Road. It sure has been a while since i last reviewed Elton John which makes sense as the two i have done (including this one) are his only ones. I still like this one quite a lot more since it has a lot more to it and the songs here don't have any super long build-ups which did kinda plague Madman Across The Water. The music here was absolutely fantastic and while the album did go on for a bit long, i didn't feel like it was too bloated as the songs then were still very good. It does unfortunately get docked a star because there are some points where John's voice isn't great along with the ones where it is but this is still a great album.
Best Song: All the Young Girls Love Alice
Worst Song: Bennie and the Jets
Frank Sinatra
4/5
Song For Swingin' Lovers! was an album i enjoyed quite a fair bit. I already have had experience with Frank Sinatra due to the prior two albums on this project that i did that were by him and i was expecting this one to be the best of the three, and i was completely right. This album did have all the Frank Sinatra staples i would expect from him, like the vocals and the Disney movie/Christmas violins and i feel like they are all at their best here. Granted the songs here do sound kinda samey as is expected of Frank Sinatra but i thought that the songs here were all good enough for me not to care all that much. This album gets a 3.5.
Best Song: Pennies From Heaven
Worst Song: Makin' Whoopee
Side note: Since this is gonna be my last Frank Sinatra album, I'll rank them here;
1. Songs For Swingin' Lovers
2. In The Wee Small Hours
3. Francis Albert Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
5/5
And i thought that Fever To Tell was a great album. It's Blitz! managed to take everything that made that album great and cranked it all the way up to 11. It already has a lot of the same musical beats i expect from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs including the loud and rough guitars, Karen O's vocal style and a lot of the same lyrical themes from that album. But the one big thing that this album added is an ARP Synthesizer which ended up turning this album into more of a synth-punk album and i love what the synths added to this album. The album also never hitched at any point and remained consistently enjoyable throughout. I absolutely loved this album and would definitely give some songs way more listens.
Best Song: Heads Will Roll
Worst Song: Skeletons
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
3/5
Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere was a pretty good album. It has definitely been a while since i looked at one of Neil Young's works and this one is a pretty good reintroduction to them. It has a pretty good balance between both soft and melodic tracks as well as some more hard rocking tracks and each variant had some good songs in them. The music itself for the most part sounded fine even if i'm not the biggest fan of the way that some of the instruments are recorded, same goes with the vocals. The album itself did fly by though meaning it never felt too tedious. I thought that this was a solid album, just not the greatest.
Best Song: Cinnamon Girl
Worst Song: Running Dry (Requiem for the Rockets)
The Charlatans
4/5
I really enjoyed Tellin' Stories (The album, not the action though i do sometimes enjoy doing the latter). I am often just a real sucker for indie rock and since this album falls under that genre, it is no surprise that i would like it. I already enjoy the typical indie rock staples of this album from most of the music to the vocals even if that's where this album gets it's britpop label. Though one other thing that really added to my enjoyment of this album was all the hip-hop elements in store, i thought that they gave this album some much needed variety. It isn't perfect, some of the songs are a bit samey but i still enjoyed this album quite a lot.
Best Song: Get On It
Worst Song: Area 51
Flamin' Groovies
4/5
Teenage Head was certainly an enjoyable one. When it is done right, psychedelic rock can be a rather fun genre to listen to and this album is absolutely no exception. It gets to a point where it even gets a sound that is very similar to The Rolling Stones (Especially considering Sticky Fingers came out the same year and Mick Jagger even pointed out it's similarities and preferred this one). As much as i enjoyed Sticky Fingers, I thought this album was better as the songs here just felt that much more fun and had real show stealers with the melodies. There are a few vocal things i don't like with this album but i still really liked my time with this album.
Best Song: Doctor Boogie
Worst Song: Evil Hearted Ada
Bonnie "Prince" Billy
3/5
I See A Darkness is certainly an interesting album. While i don't know much about his "Bonnie "Prince" Billy" alias, I would be lying if i said i wasn't familiar with the person behind that alias, Will Oldham, mainly from a Tweaker song he worked on. One thing i can say about this album is that it is very quiet, The music is quiet and so are the vocals and i think that is an artistic choice rather than one made due to limitations but still something that holds this album back a bit. The songs do sound pretty good here despite how quiet they are. They are still very samey and hard to remember though. Not bad but it isn't one i can consider great.
Best Song: Song For The New Breed
Worst Song: Nomadic Revery (All Around)
Love
3/5
Forever Changes was certainly a pretty good album. This album definitely seems to be a pretty big deviation to their prior album "Da Capo" in a lot of ways. While that album had a very rough sort of sound, this one feels a lot more polished and orchestral. I don't think this change was bad because the songs here still sounded good and that distorted guitar did return for one track and added some nice variety. I still think i liked their last album more though, I just like the more rough sound as it gave it more character, this album just blended in a lot more with it's contemporaries. I still enjoyed this album to a decent extent though.
Best Song: Live and Let Live
Worst Song: Bummer in the Summer