Once you blow the dust off, Songs For Swingin' Lovers! is a tight collection of songs built around the theme of romance, if not love. It's a classic, unimpeachable sound, but once the veil of nostalgia is pulled back, the album isn't as exciting as its suggestive lyrics may have been back in the day. The songs blur together despite their intricate composition and layered production, largely because this record's choice for an album "concept" wasn't as novel as the moody blues (indigos?) of In The Wee Small Hours. Sinatra's easy-but-never-sleazy vocals and the lush backing band are pleasant but don't elevate this to a level far beyond background music or historical document.
Standouts: Each side's opening tracks, "You Make Me Feel So Young" and "I've Got You Under My Skin," deserve their icon status.
Sleepers: "You Brought a New Kind of Love to Me" almost becomes a lull in the album's conversation until it swells into a more thrilling version of itself halfway through.
Stinkers: "Makin' Whoopee" isn't cute. It's vulgar for the era and cringe today.
three out of four pennies from heaven
Simultaneously raucous and reserved, White Blood Cells is the White Stripes' first bold statement. Jack White finds a way to flex his knowledge of American music history while carving out his own sound around Meg's understating drumming, exactly as primal and metronomic each song demands. The album extends alternative rock's loud-quiet-loud dynamic to its entire tracklist, oscillating between distorted garage rattlers and tender acoustic numbers. The swagger here is a little unsteady compared to the bravado to come one album, two years and seven nations later, but it still sounds pretty sure of the potency of its particular blend of folk, blues, and rock 'n' roll.
Standouts: "Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground" is one of the best White Stripes tracks. "Fell in Love With a Girl" is a firecracker of a pop song.
Sleepers: Didn't Jack Johnson cover "We're Going to Be Friends?" It sounds more authentically schoolyard-sweet here. "This Union Forever" broods in a very cool way.
Stinkers: The album is very frontloaded and falls off a bit in its second half, but only the not-as-cool-as-it-thinks "Aluminum" feels like a real dip.
Four out of four boys you've always known
Before he spent a decade taking the rap game back to school a few times, Kanye was humble—or at least still able to pretend. Unlike his future works, much of The College Dropout's content is genuinely grounded and relatable; even the title and cover art of his debut evoke a self-effacing sense of dejection. But as a no-name producer for bigger names, Ye was the only one in the room who knew what his future held and he clearly felt pressure to prove it on his debut. While his later output—especially his rapping—would become raw and uncut, the bars here are remarkably tight. No head-shakers about bleached assholes here.
While his wit and flow are uncharacteristically slick on The College Dropout, his production skills remain the undisputed star of the show and the source of his influence on the shape of hip hop to come. His signature chipmunk soul sound was fully formed right out the gate, inspiring many other artists to jam sped-up soul samples into their beats in Kanye's wake. Later West staples like orchestral strings, techno synths, and overdriven autotune pop up here and there as prototypes foreshadowing the rise of hip hop's future architect. All of it coalesces into a varied but cohesive podium from which Kanye introduces himself to a pop culture that would consume him as he consumed it.
Standouts: It's been a while since I heard this, so I was taken aback by how just how many great songs are here. There's a lot of filler tracks on this album, but none of them are actual songs. "Through The Wire," "Slow Jamz," "All Falls Down" and "Jesus Walks" would all be unmatched peaks of any other career.
Sleepers: "Breathe In, Breathe Out" goes hard while still matching the tone of the rest of the record. It's hard to call it underrated, but "Spaceship" deserves more credit as a rare example of a very smooth hip hop waltz.
Stinkers: The last 8 minutes of "Last Call" is an interesting story to hear once, but adds unnecessary bloat to an already long runtime. The same can be said of the multiple skits, though the School Spirit skits have a legitimately funny payoff.
four out of four degrees: associate's, bachelor's, master's and doctorate
Some fun moments, but not as memorable or unique as Aja and not as effectively fun as Can't Buy A Thrill.
Standouts: Rikki, Don't Lose That Number, of course. Of all the stabs taken at rocking, With A Gun is the most interesting.
Some really cool peaks scattered among more forgettable valleys. It was probably mind-expanding at the time, but the boundaries of psychedelia have stretched too far for this to be all that impressive, and other contemporaries were doing cooler stuff a few years before. Still, some moments are legitimately moving, by thrill or tranquility.
Standouts: White Rabbit and Somebody to Love are obvious choices, but for good reason.
Sleepers: Embryonic Journey is lovely.
To some extent, a lot of the appeal here is the novelty of what is essentially acoustic punk, which feels like it is more valuable as an historical influence than its own listen. Since the stripped down instrumentation and Reed-y vocals relies very heavily on pop sensibility to be welcome in your ears, the peaks are high but the valleys are a little forgettable.
Standouts: Blister in the Sun is obviously a perfect pop song, but Add It Up is the coolest track on here, though it's may just be nostalgic for me as a feature on the Tony Hawk Underground 2 soundtrack.
Sleeper: Gone Daddy Gone shows just how far a little extra instrumentation can go.