317
Albums Rated
3.62
Average Rating
29%
Complete
772 albums remaining
Rating Distribution
Rating Timeline
Taste Profile
1950s
Favorite Decade
Post-punk
Favorite Genre
US
Top Origin
Wordsmith
Rater Style ?
94
5-Star Albums
13
1-Star Albums
Breakdown
By Genre
By Decade
By Origin
Albums
You Love More Than Most
| Album | You | Global | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Duck Stab/Buster & Glen
The Residents
|
5 | 2.03 | +2.97 |
|
Tank Battles
Dagmar Krause
|
5 | 2.12 | +2.88 |
|
Junkyard
The Birthday Party
|
5 | 2.16 | +2.84 |
|
L'Eau Rouge
The Young Gods
|
5 | 2.32 | +2.68 |
|
Dub Housing
Pere Ubu
|
5 | 2.35 | +2.65 |
|
Public Image: First Issue
Public Image Ltd.
|
5 | 2.42 | +2.58 |
|
Goodbye And Hello
Tim Buckley
|
5 | 2.83 | +2.17 |
|
Rings Around The World
Super Furry Animals
|
5 | 2.97 | +2.03 |
|
Sail Away
Randy Newman
|
5 | 2.97 | +2.03 |
|
Tom Tom Club
Tom Tom Club
|
5 | 3.03 | +1.97 |
You Love Less Than Most
| Album | You | Global | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Parachutes
Coldplay
|
1 | 3.46 | -2.46 |
|
Urban Hymns
The Verve
|
1 | 3.35 | -2.35 |
|
Live At The Star Club, Hamburg
Jerry Lee Lewis
|
1 | 3.28 | -2.28 |
|
The Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones
|
1 | 3.25 | -2.25 |
|
At Budokan
Cheap Trick
|
1 | 3.1 | -2.1 |
|
The Doors
The Doors
|
2 | 3.95 | -1.95 |
|
Second Toughest In The Infants
Underworld
|
1 | 2.86 | -1.86 |
|
(What's The Story) Morning Glory
Oasis
|
2 | 3.84 | -1.84 |
|
Metallica
Metallica
|
2 | 3.79 | -1.79 |
|
Back to Mystery City
Hanoi Rocks
|
1 | 2.68 | -1.68 |
Artists
Favorites
| Artist | Albums | Average |
|---|---|---|
| Talking Heads | 4 | 5 |
| Neil Young | 3 | 5 |
| Neil Young & Crazy Horse | 3 | 5 |
| Bob Dylan | 3 | 4.67 |
| Kendrick Lamar | 2 | 5 |
| Tom Waits | 2 | 5 |
Least Favorites
| Artist | Albums | Average |
|---|---|---|
| The Verve | 2 | 1.5 |
| The Rolling Stones | 4 | 2.25 |
Controversial
| Artist | Ratings |
|---|---|
| Run-D.M.C. | 5, 2 |
| Coldplay | 1, 4 |
| Beck | 5, 2 |
| The Beach Boys | 2, 5 |
| My Bloody Valentine | 2, 5 |
5-Star Albums (94)
View Album Wall
Popular Reviews
George Harrison
5/5
Streaming and CDs really do this album dirty. It's billed as a triple album but it was released as a double album with a bonus Instrumental LP (labeled as 'Apple Jam'). The 2014 remaster on Spotify also adds four bonus tracks to disc one and then ends with Out of the Blue which is supposed to start Apple Jam. Do yourself a favor and listen to this one as it would have been on vinyl. Each side has a great little arc to it. I'm looking forward to picking up a pressing because I can totally see myself listing to single records or even single sides from time to time. This is a ton of music on one album and I think it was meant to be listened to in chunks as much as a complete record.
All in all the quality of the album is very high. Too many great tracks to list. I don't think I'll every do all three records again, but I'll be coming back to it frequently.
11 likes
The Young Gods
5/5
I think this might confirm that I have the worst taste in music (at least in liking what other folks like). I absolutely loved this. The instrumentation is incredible and the production is so good. I have a feeling that not speaking French is a bonus because I suspect the lyrics are pretty dumb but prog rock Nine Inch Nails in French was not something I expected to love so thoroughly.
6 likes
Klaxons
2/5
Oh look, Of Montreal and MGMT have a less interesting cousin over in the UK.
If you liked how weird this was, go checkout Of Montreal's Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer which released in the same year. That was Of Montreal's 8th album. No matter how much the Klaxon want to rewrite history on their band blurbs, they're a derivative act from a time just before the internet made it so obvious.
3 likes
Big Star
5/5
What a joy. I had heard people cooler than me talk about this band with the same tone they talk about The Velvet Underground, but had no idea what I'd find here.
I'm blown away that this album released in '71. It sounds at least 10 years ahead of its time in production, composition, and even the eclectic track listing. It's not that I couldn't imagine a rock band sounding like this in the 70s, just that most of them didn't.
There's an alternative universe where Big Star got the marketing they deserved. There's legendary tales about their fist fights but they get the support, funding, and touring time to really put it all together and make some incredible music.
This is a close second I guess. It doesn't all work but it's still great as a whole (just skip India Song). I'm excited to check out Radio City and see how they sound on the sophomore record.
2 likes
Public Image Ltd.
5/5
I mean. It's noise and whingey complaining and repetitive long songs. Loud and weird is one of my favorite genres.
1 likes
1-Star Albums (13)
All Ratings
Beastie Boys
5/5
Great. Sounds like a giant party. I had no idea the Beastie Boys were around so early. I hear the influence they've had.
The White Stripes
4/5
I want to love this more but I think the only musician better than Jack White is the musician Jack White thinks he is. There's so much pretentiousness on the album creeping through that it rubs me the wrong way.
The Strokes
5/5
Defined a whole decade of rock. So catchy and the band is incredibly tight.
Pixies
5/5
Wow. All bangers and good variation between tracks.
Public Enemy
4/5
Forgot how much hip hop used to groove. I'm digging it. The flow isn't as solid as other rappers but the message is great.
Aretha Franklin
5/5
What a classic. Aretha had such a powerful voice. I wish I could have heard these live (or recorded on modern equipment). So many great tracks on this album and the bass playing supports so well.
Run-D.M.C.
5/5
Wow! Those first four tracks come out hard! I see how this finally broke the hip hop barrier to make it mainstream. Back half of the album doesn't match the same quality, but that's a very high bar. Perfection, Hit It Run, and Proud to Be Black are all good tracks and Dumb Girl is just fun.
Was expecting to find Run DMC corny but this album was great.
Prince
3/5
I want to like it... I really do. I just don't. Prince is objectively an incredible musician and I just don't connect with any project I've ever heard. I might have just missed the times. I don't know.
Super Furry Animals
5/5
What a refreshing surprise. I'm tempted to temper my review a bit because I don't think they are going to be a band I continue to come back to and the sound is a bit dated, but I just really enjoy it. I had never heard of this band before and the blending of styles and variation between there music was excellent.
Juxtapozed with U was a great little song, but I loved their instrumental [A] Touch Sensitive and the longer tracks like No Sympathy and Presidential Suite. Great album!
Norah Jones
3/5
Norah Jones is a gem. I don't know what was in the water in the early 2000's that made singer songwriters explode again, but I was happy for it. That said, this album is lukewarm. There are some lovely little tracks (Come Away With Me, Cold Cold Heart, Turn Me On) but overall her later, less commercially successful work has a lot more depth to it. Not going to complain though. I love her voice.
Dusty Springfield
5/5
Wow! Excellent album. Half of these songs are classics. Dusty feels so unique in her voice and musicality.
Charles Mingus
5/5
I've struggled getting Mingus in the past, but this album is incredible. What beautiful orchestration and composition. The balance of the group is incredible and the themes are kicked around and reformed so well throughout. I could probably listen to this thirty more times and still pick out new things I missed. The ballet aspect comes through for me. All of my favorite music tells a story and particularly tells a story through the music. This lives up to the hype as a masterpiece.
Talking Heads
5/5
Great album. Love the talking heads.
Kid Rock
1/5
Wow... I remembered hating this as a kid and expected to find that it wasn't actually that bad... nope. This is trash.
The Doors
2/5
I don't know with this one. The band is incredibly tight. LA Woman and Riders on the Storm are incredible hits and I really liked L'America. Jim Morrison is a goddamn mess though. I wanted the drunk uncle to shut up and let someone else do their impression of a blues singer instead. Who cares if we lose a few clever lines that Uncle Pretense managed to squeak out of his addled mind? I could do without the shouting and mumbling.
Seriously, I was born almost twenty years after the man died so I'll never know the culture but from everything I've learned Morrison wasn't counter cultural, he was just an alcoholic dickbag who threw a tantrum when he was told what to do. I don't care how "intelligent" he was. The end result was a pretentious douche who drank himself to death at 27. That shows on this album. Love her Madly sounds like the vocals were recorded in another room. Changeling is a mumbling mess.
I'm looking forward to when their earlier albums show up (and try to find the time to listen to them before then even). The Doors launched so much music that I love. I just can't get past Jim on this album...
Elvis Presley
2/5
Hrmm... I see the criticism of Elvis and stealing black music. The album is good but on the backs of an entire culture that didn't get to reap the rewards. Also, Elvis's high voice is so weird.
Kendrick Lamar
5/5
One of the Best albums of all time. I loved it when it dropped and it hasn't aged.
Prince
5/5
This album grooves. Great and banger after banger.
Siouxsie And The Banshees
5/5
I have enough goth friends that I knew of Siouxsie and the Banshees but had never done a deep dive. What a hell of a debut album. Some of it sounds a bit dated to me but looking at the date it really defined a genre for years. 5/5. Great album.
Manic Street Preachers
4/5
I'm torn. This album is so tightly written and the tragedy behind it is compelling, but it's thematically kind of boring. Its just a good album in a genre that was saturated in good albums.
Bob Dylan
5/5
Dylan gets lost in my rotation and everything I come back to his music I remember how much I love it. Absolute classic album. I prefer his earliest work if I'm being honest but it's like saying I prefer lobster to steak. It's all incredible music.
Television
4/5
It's really good music. I hear all the influences they had on later post punk, but it's not captivating. I'll probably listen one or two more times to catch the complexities I missed, but I get why this band wasn't more famous. I wish I could have been around to see them live though. I bet they were incredible.
Elliott Smith
3/5
Songs to seduce Millenial girls. I get the genre even if it's not really my speed. This album is good but not great. The hooks are catchy but the vocals are rough and emotionally the album is one note.
Paul Simon
4/5
It's not Graceland but Paul Simon is always incredible. Me and Julio is the highlight but there are a number of great tracks.
John Coltrane
3/5
I've never understood the hype on this one and I still done. The emperor does have on clothes. Each musician is in top form in this quintet and there are some truly fantastic moments. The drum solo kicking off Pursuance, the solo bass ending Acknowledgement and starting Resolution, and the vocals on Acknowledgement are all worth the price of admission. But none of it really works for me as a whole. The ideas develop sporadically and feel forced at times. The playing is disjointed within the ensemble. There is not a single line from Coltrane himself that feels like a thesis or expanded idea. It lacks so much in structure that I just don't have any anchor to care about where they take me. Are we returning to a status quo or have we changed? Do we yern for something more or are we satisfied. I've read the liner notes but from the music, fuck if I know. Psalm is the only track that feels like an actual moving piece of music and it just comes too little too late to make this piece feel meaningful.
Don't get me wrong. This is great music but I never understood this as Coltranes masterpiece. It's not Blue Note or even Impressions. It sure as hell isn't Giant Steps. I was really hoping this listen would be the one where I get it, but I just don't.
Public Image Ltd.
5/5
I mean. It's noise and whingey complaining and repetitive long songs. Loud and weird is one of my favorite genres.
Dusty Springfield
4/5
Already had this album weirdly. It's gold, not great.
Guns N' Roses
5/5
Man. I wanted to hate on this one but I just can't. The songs are so well composed. They're long without being tedious and showy but within good taste (for the genre). This album is the culmination of all the heavy metal and arena rock that lead up it. Every track is solid and the only bad thing to say about the singles is that they're overplayed. I hate how much this became the peak commercialization of rock music but hot damn if it didn't deserve it.
Take my 5. It deserves it even if I don't want to give it.
The Birthday Party
5/5
I went into this album cold and holy hell was it a treat. Made sense when I learned it was Nick Caves first band. Do I think it's for everyone? No. But this kind of sloppy, we know the rules of music but refuse to use them kind of music is my jam. She's Hit was the highlight track for me but I'm looking forward to listening through this one a few more times. Loved it.
Underworld
1/5
It started with me thinking this was actually pretty good and by the time I got to Stagger I literally said outloud to no one "Oh thank God its the last track." This is really high quality techno but it has nothing to say at all. Its long and repetative and abrasive in an annoying, not interesting way. It feels like musical hedonism. Folks who want to get wasted and zone out on this, be my guest but wow do I hate this.
Marvin Gaye
5/5
It's a seminal album from an incredible artist with some of the best bass playing recorded. (Fun fact, legend has it that James Jamerson (the bass player) was out drinking when Gaye had the studio space for the title track. The studio pulled him in from the bar and he was so drunk he recorded and composed the whole line laying on the floor)
Leonard Cohen
3/5
Leonard Cohen is undeniably an incredible songwriter but this album is not the height of his abilities. Loved a few tracks but it drones on with little variation. It'd be great for a dinner party but I can see why this album didn't make a large splash when it was released.
Duran Duran
3/5
Wanted to love this album, but I only like it. The bass playing is great and the band is super tight. When the vocals work they're on point, but they often sound grating when they don't. I think the bright synth sounds are both what makes this album sound so unique but also shrill at time.
Rio, Hungry Like a Wolf, New Religion and Save a Prayer were the highlights for me.
My Own Way started great but overstayed it's welcome quickly. Lonely in Your Nightmare and Hold Back the Rain both hit just wrong. I didn't want to turn them off, but I didn't enjoy them either.
Where it hits, this album is great, but it's too full of misses as well.
Sarah Vaughan
5/5
Wonderful little album. I am a big fan of Ella Fitzgerald but had never listed to Sarah Vaughan. Her voice is incredible and her charm is evident throughout this live album. Great stuff.
Baaba Maal
4/5
All of the best folk music (in my opinion) invites the audience to participate even if it's just with feeling the groove. This has that in spades. I'm not familiar enough with Sangalese music to properly rate the quality of this offering but it seems very good. I finished the entire album on a rare day I was home alone (wife took the older boys the store and the baby was napping). The repetitive rhythms became hypnotic as I was folding laundry and doing other chores. Made the time move by very fast. I'm interested in coming back to this one. Going with a 4 because I don't see myself putting this on regular rotation or highly recommending it to others but it was a very good listen.
Everything But The Girl
1/5
Bravely answering the question of what of the Indigo Girls were a heterosexual couple that wrote boring ballads with bad electronic instruments, I have no idea why this album is on this list. This is about as milquetoast as you could possibly get.
The Rolling Stones
3/5
I get the appeal as the edgy alternative to the Beatles but wow is this remarkably boring by today's standards. There are highlights and the Stones know how to write a song but Jaggers vocals are rough (Wild Horses is so much better on every cover) and the instrumentals are good but feel derivative of blues greats running the same time.
Maybe I'm just on the wrong side of the hype train. I don't know, it just doesn't hold up for me.
Tracy Chapman
5/5
Incredible. Chapman has such a self assured voice and beautiful lyrics. Her songwriting is where the magic lives. Love it.
Buzzcocks
4/5
I love punk so much. Tons of fun, high energy and sloppy in the best of ways. I don't find this especially compelling in that raw emotional or political way of the best of punk, but it's great.
Mudhoney
4/5
I had to listen to this one twice. Judged by the grunge bands they helped Subpop spawn they Mudhoney pales in comparison. They're the first cake recipe that lets you know you're onto something but it hasn't all come together yet. It's not quite melancholy or abrasive or melodic or percussive enough. Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, even Bush all do it better and only a few years later.
However, as a trashy fun little punk band that spawned a movement, it's good. Nothing revolutionary but it's got heart and those fuzzed out guitars are banging. Hate the Police, Sweet Young Thing Ain't Sweet No More and Need were my favorite tracks.
The Residents
5/5
This is the most stupid, dog shit album I've ever heard. I love it. I hate how much I love it.
Adele
3/5
Beautiful but with all the soul produced out of it. Adele works hard to milk it but it only can go so far.
Justice
4/5
This is how to do electronic music. It's not quite Discovery but it's close to that good. Lovely surprise. I had never heard of this band before.
The Party is the low point but even that track could have been good if the vocalist had any flow or at all. My kids liked it too.
The Killers
5/5
One of my all time favorite albums. Killers released their greatest hits album first. Not a single bad track on this record. I only wish their later records even came close.
Neil Young
5/5
Had to listen to this on YouTube with ads but loved it. So much heart in each track. Vocal quality is lacking but the songwriting and lyrics are great. Wonderful album.
George Harrison
5/5
Streaming and CDs really do this album dirty. It's billed as a triple album but it was released as a double album with a bonus Instrumental LP (labeled as 'Apple Jam'). The 2014 remaster on Spotify also adds four bonus tracks to disc one and then ends with Out of the Blue which is supposed to start Apple Jam. Do yourself a favor and listen to this one as it would have been on vinyl. Each side has a great little arc to it. I'm looking forward to picking up a pressing because I can totally see myself listing to single records or even single sides from time to time. This is a ton of music on one album and I think it was meant to be listened to in chunks as much as a complete record.
All in all the quality of the album is very high. Too many great tracks to list. I don't think I'll every do all three records again, but I'll be coming back to it frequently.
The Notorious B.I.G.
4/5
On a technical level it's probably the greatest hip hop album of all time. That flow, those rhymes, the story telling. It's all incredible.
But this is a hard listen. Gangster rap is so bleak and the rough edges are rough indeed. Not something I can listen to frequently anymore. The skits are also gross and cringe inducing. Glad that trend has mostly died (finally) on new albums.
The War On Drugs
3/5
I recently complained in my review of the Stone's Sticky Fingers that it was such a dull experience... My apologies to Mic and company. I did not know how boring it could get.
This is over produced to complete monotony. The drums are, I think, identical on every track. The vocals are so drowned out in effects (and in the over saturated instrumentation) that its difficult to make out a word. (at least not my old ears) But don't worry, I looked up the lyrics and we're not missing anything.
All of the playing is solid. This band is tight and I'd hope they put on a good live show but like... for who? They seem successful so someone must like them but... meh? This is mediocre white man the band. It's a shame because there's a lot of great playing here. It's just all in service of such a boring, shallow, and pretentious slog. I don't get it.
Emerson, Lake & Palmer
2/5
I think the album might be best summarized with a quote from the title track. "Squiddly squiddly, dweee dweee, wahhhh."
The first half is a lot of just organ noodling on a twenty minute track with very loosely connected movements. The second half is a weirdly schizophrenic pile of shorter tracks that are all just fine. I can tell this band is tight but this album just ain't it. Cool art though.
Stereolab
3/5
I like it. This album will probably go into my rotation but I don't think it's groundbreaking or particularly influential. It reminds me of those Instagram guitar players that are clearly talented but lacking any real depth or interest once you can puzzle together the different techniques they've mashed together into a song. Going with a strong 3 but it could be a weak 4 instead.
Rahul Dev Burman
4/5
Fun little album. It's always interesting to hear non-Western music incorporating Western influences into their music rather than the other way around. I'm happy to see Indian music on this list, but I have a feeling this is the one "Indian Album" that the author of the book pulls out when called out on not having enough non-Western music on his must listen list. I know for a fact that this is not the most influential or best music from that country.
The Stooges
5/5
Weirdly slow start for such a short album but by the time Raw Power kicks off its hard not to get swept away. It's not about the music, it's about the feeling of it. So raw. I love it.
Simon & Garfunkel
4/5
This might have gotten a 5 on a different day but I had Fleetwood Macs Rumors yesterday which isn't fair to any band.
This is a great peak at a great duo. Their harmonies are excellent and there are a lot of nice moments here. The one star ding is because it feels incomplete. A lot of the songs are rather short and feel like they had more legs to them. Homeward Bound is the highlight but it's only 2.5 minutes.
Weirdly it reminds me of tik tok artists now a days.
Screaming Trees
5/5
I'm conflicted about this rating. I absolutely loved this album but I can't tell you why. I don't know if it just scratched same nostalgic itch as Smashing Pumpkins and Sunny Day Real Estate or it was just legitimately great. Either way it's going in my rotation. Loved it.
Saint Etienne
2/5
Listened to this in bumper to bumper traffic. It was somehow still less interesting than the license plate of the car in front of me. I wanted to like this. It's well put together but ultimately it's just samples of better music put on loops with nothing of interest added to it.
Hanoi Rocks
1/5
You know... there are times when I wonder if I should write music. My own ideas always feel so hokey and simplistic. I feel like everyone will mock me out of the room for trying. And then I hear gems like this and remember that it's okay. Thank you Hanoi Rocks. If you're willing to put your name on this and release it to the public, I can have some courage too.
Johnny Cash
3/5
Hurt is still one of the best covers of all time, but there's not much else going for this album. Personal Jesus was also interesting and We'll Meet Again was poignant. The more traditional country covers sounded tired. Not in an intentional stylistic way but like an old man pushing himself for one more go. In My Life and Bridge Over Troubled Water were both actively bad tracks.
Cash is a legend. This is his last album but it doesn't hold up to his legacy. Let's remember Hurt and forget the rest.
Fleetwood Mac
5/5
Holy shit.
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
5/5
If nothing else, this project getting me to finally sit down and listen to Neil Young will have made it worth it.
Harvest was my first experience with him and it was an incredible album. This is so much different but still fantastic. Round and Round felt like a clunker and I was surprised by the extended solos, but I'll be throwing this into the rotation too. It's such an unabashedly simple album. The playing is tight but not showy, the lyrics are underdeveloped but it feels intentional. It feels like music that just poured out of the band. Even though I had never heard any track before I already feel like this was music that just always existed and one day Young and Crazy Horse were able to pluck them from the either and record them for us.
Looking forward to continuing to discover more of Neil's work.
Paul Weller
2/5
Good on you Paul. Got famous enough to make an album of whatever you want. What you want is super boring dad rock but like, it sounds like you might be having fun I guess...
In more seriousness the band is fire on this album. It grooved so well but every time Paul jumped back on the vocals is fell apart. Not something I'll listen to again.
Coldplay
1/5
Wow. this album aged like a gallon of milk. I remember loving this when it came out and thinking that Coldplay really fell off. Turns out they've been pretty bad from the beginning, we just took awhile to catch up. I don't know what was going on in the early aughts, but it wasn't good for any of us.
Bob Marley & The Wailers
3/5
Maybe I'm uncultured. This felt like drinking room temperature water. It wasn't bad, not objectionable but not compelling either. Completely neutral. Bonus stars for the cultural impact Marley had though.
Pink Floyd
3/5
Oofff. This hurts to give because I respect the band but as an album this is so padded I was wondering when it would take the ice and play goalie. What's good is really good but it's so surrounded by fluff meant to get it up to the 80 minute feature length for the film they wanted. It's high quality fluff for what it's worth but it's still only 40 minutes of actual content on an 80 minute album.
As a rock opera, it's amateur hour. No knocks against Roger Water and Co here. Musical theater is hard. Maybe if I watched the film I could change my tune but I'm rating the album here. Rent, Hamilton, Wicked, Hades Town, hell, even Les Mis all kept me interested nearly end to end with sound track alone and at twice the run time.
Totally see why this album had the impact it did. I love concept albums, but I don't think this is as well executed as nostalgia makes folks think.
Funkadelic
4/5
Man... I love old school funk. So much soul and pushing so many boundaries. Honestly, I could do without Maggot Brain. It sounded to me like 9 minutes of an introduction. I kept waiting for the song to start, but everything afterward was excellent. Highlight was the mixed meter on Hit It and Quit It. So groovy and good.
The Verve
2/5
I remember distinctly as a kid growing up in the 90's that I assumed computers made all the music that I heard on CDs. It was always way too perfect and didn't sound like any kind of music I had heard in person. I was 7 or 8 when I realized that wasn't true, but it's still why I was always more attracted to Jazz, Classical, and older rock music. Singer songwriters also became much bigger for me later in life.
This album from the Verve is a horrible example of that kind of music. It's just walls of sound generated by distorted instruments with lazy vocals laid over top. There is no harmonic movement, no interplay between the band, and no breath to it all. It's a palatable sound, but not an interesting one.
The Allman Brothers Band
4/5
I'm surprised at the lukewarm reaction to this album. No, it's not pure blues. It doesn't have anything on T-Bone Walker or any of the other greats they cover in the top half of this album. It's also not what this music is trying to do. They're having fun and vibing with the crowd. It's a different aspect of Blues and more importantly Blues Rock.
I am always skeptical of "jam bands" because wankery and musicality are often confused. Bands like the Allman Brothers do make me enjoy it though. That said, I would probably dig this live much more than I do on record. Looking forward to their studio albums coming up, but enjoyed this one.
Isaac Hayes
5/5
Hot damn. I'm gonna need a shower and a cigarette after that one. So much soul. You also could have told me this was released anytime between 1970 and 2023 and I would believe you. So timeless (even with the filter pedals... who doesn't love a filter pedal... looking at you Thundercat).
I was here for all of it. Even the 8 minute short story starting off By the Time I Get to Phoenix. The album is a whole meal so plan accordingly but it's one good good meal.
Various Artists
5/5
Absolute classic. Charming little Christmas album. Glad Phil is dead so I can just enjoy this without supporting him.
Fever Ray
2/5
An odd one. It felt like a near miss more than a bad album. The production was good minus to gross wet mouth sounds in the first track. The vocals were repetitively but in a way that added interest. But it didn't feel fully inspired. I was interested enough to sample a few tracks from The Knife which I liked a lot more. I'll be coming back to Fever Ray's other albums. My interest is piqued if nothing else.
Dolly Parton
5/5
Just a regular old feel good album. The title track sets a higher bar than the rest of the album can deliver but there are clear highlights throughout. The bass playing is stellar which was a very pleasant surprise. It's very hard to go wrong with Dolly. She truly is a gem.
Morrissey
3/5
I've never taken the time to sit down with The Smiths or Morrissey. I was not surprised at all that I enjoyed it. I love love love angsty music. Having not heard any of his music before, I also listened to some Smiths tracks and some tracks from his other albums.
This album is good but even after two listens I can't really tell you any tracks that stood out to me. They mostly washed together in a generally good soup. I don't think this is the best offering from him.
This would be 4 stars but also knocking one off because Morrissey is such an ass.
King Crimson
5/5
Wow. No one band should have all that power...
Jokes about the sample aside 21st Century Schizoid Man comes out hot and stays that way. Absolute banger of a first track. I only wish the rest of the album stayed that way.
I honestly liked I Talk to the Wind after adjusting from the whiplash but it's sad how hard is sucks the air from the room. Epitaph felt fine and Moonchild was just weird but the title track ends things very strong.
Overall amazing debut album. I'll be coming back to this one. It's not perfect but it's good.
R.E.M.
4/5
It's good but not really my speed. It feels too melodic for the grunge guy in me but too sludge-y for the pop guy in me. Last three tracks close out so so strong though. Good listen
Sparks
5/5
What a fun album! I obviously knew This Town, but the whole thing is a treat. It does get a little repetitive and I know I'll need a few more listens to fully unpack everything, but honestly, I'm looking forward to listening to this again. It was a great time. I loved the live track at the end. I'd love to see these guys in concert even now way past their prime.
Afrika Bambaataa
3/5
Renegades of Funk is a banger. I had no idea Rage's version was a cover. This hasn't aged well and Afrika is a pedophile but it's a good album. It's been sampled and copied so much it sounds hacky but imitation is a form of flattery.
Kendrick Lamar
5/5
I'm instantly snapped back to 2012. I just graduated college and started working a lame office job building reports for a mid-sized family business. I passed the time listening to episodes of "WTF" and "You Made It Weird" and jamming any album I could find. This was on constant repeat. The only thing keeping me from singing along right now is that my kids are in the other room.
One of my all time favorite albums. I think the cultural impact and artistic depth of "To Pimp a Butterfly" is higher, but this project is so much tighter and more enjoyable. "Backstreet Freestyle" is on so many of my headphone only playlists. This is such a perfect album experience though. It tells such a compelling story from front to back of a lifestyle I'll never know. There's not a single skip. It's been years since I've given this a full listen and it's still great. Dark and depressing, but such a hopeful end. Love it.
Beatles
4/5
My first Beatles album! Excited to sit down and listen like a teen in the 1960's.
Norwegian Wood and Michelle are both fantastic songs. In My Life is an all time great track for a reason. Overall this is a solid album but not perfect. Think For Yourself, The Word, and What Goes On are all pretty forgettable. Run For Your Life is disturbing but has the same morbid draw to me as Last Kiss, would not fault anyone for being out on that track though. You can also hear just the start of the band growing into what will become such an amazingly compelling sound on Revolver then Sgt. Pepper.
As an album it's good, but it's place in music history is much more of a marker of things to come. As much as I love playing the contrarian, the Beatles practically defined rock history and I only love the band more the more I listen to them.
The Isley Brothers
4/5
This is getting out of hand, now there are six of them!
The Isley Brothers are an amazing crew. I'd love to be one of these brothers. It sounds like they're having so much fun with each other. Love this album. The synth and guitar are both so meaty. I have a hard time not smiling when I listen to this.
I think this does not transcend the funk/soul genre into all time best albums, but it's still an incredible album. I'm glad I have this in my mental catalog now.
Tom Waits
5/5
I think I'm in love. Prior to this listen, I was aware that there was a singer named Tom Waits and that many people who's opinions I tend to share really enjoy him. I'll admit, it took me until Hang Down Your Head for me to finally be bought in, but man do I love this. I've listened to this album four times today. It's such an odd breath of creativity and angst. It's both self deprecating and serious.
Looking forward to digging further into this man's catalogue.
Cheap Trick
1/5
There's some other version of this album out there somewhere, right? One that's actually incredible and full of energy? There has to be. I have no idea how this is in this list of 1001 albums otherwise. How the hell is this in the top 500 albums of all time? How is this anywhere on anyone's list of top live albums. This is... I mean it's dog shit. Low energy minus the crowd going crazy because Japan is a weird place (no offense to the Japanese folks reading this, we're all weird in our own ways) and in the 70's this was as Midwestern American as a coke and a McDonald's burger. The playing is sloppy, the songs mostly suck. I Want You to Want Me and Surrender are obvious highlights but nowhere near good enough to save it. The same boomers bitching about how Taylor Swift is overhyped (or calling her actively bad) are gonna tell me this sell out bullshit wasn't the same nonsense? This is lowest common denominator rock designed for radio play.
Seriously, I forgot that Cheap Trick existed and I'm looking forward to next week when I can do it again.
The Blue Nile
3/5
This is an odd one. I love the mix. The instrumentation is eclectic and doesn't sound anywhere near as dated as their contemporaries. I personally don't mind somewhat atonal meandering music either. The lead singer's voice was nice and fit the band well. But it feels unnecessarily inaccessible.
They hit me the same way TV on the Radio did back in the early 2000's. I actually rather enjoyed most of the music I heard, but it was all so hip and I was too square to be allowed to the party. This is that but from the 80's. I bet this was super trendy in the right circles.
The Who
4/5
Interesting album. The difference between the original cut and the extended cut is night and day. Extended version is fine if you are already bought in on The Who (which I'm not), but the original cut rocks from the start and doesn't have as much chaff. I'm glad I took the time to listen to both.
That said, it's still The Who. I just don't connect with their music. The his were always fine to me and the deep cuts just feel weird. Keith Moon is electric but a bad drummer. John Entwistle does so much work just keeping him in check. Roger Daltrey's vocals don't sell me and Pete Townshend is a monster guitar player from an era of monster guitar players. I don't feel any differentiation with them. They sound better live than in studio in my opinion but I'm still not going to listen again.
3/5
Every time I hear Muse again I think 'Oh right! Why don't I listen to these guys more' and then I make it halfway through an album and remember exactly why. They are a great Playlist band. Good in small doses but an hour's worth of Muse just gives me a headache.
Much like their overall career, the opening tracks come out so strong and it just falls off after that. A lot to like here but a lot of grating and repetitive lines too. I've never cared for Knights of Cydonia either so that track is not enough to make up for Exo-Politics, Hoodoo, or Glorious.
Jimi Hendrix
5/5
Is it the best album I've ever heard, no. Is it absolutely seminal and can easily hold it's own without any caveats against albums released today? Totally. 5 star experience hands down. Incredible.
Can
4/5
Huh... It's very well done. The entire album is so chill but intricate. I don't have much respect for soundscapes for their own sake. It feels like serving me sauce on a plate and calling it a meal. However, this is done very well. All four tracks are interesting and different from each other. I can also hear the influence they've had on Radiohead which was an incredibly formative band for me. Also incredibly impressed that this album is from 1973. It could be a sound cloud release from this year and I wouldn't bat an eye.
Ultimately, I think that last sentence is what keeps it from five stars. This is well made music, but I don't think it's any better than any other good soundscape-y artists. It's more of a wash of sounds than a moving piece of music. I had a roommate in college who was/is a monster of a musician. His side hustle was getting stoned out of his mind and putting together ambient tracks for commercials and video games. Future Days sounds a lot like that music. It sounds good, but I can't take it for anything more than background music.
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
4/5
First time actually listening to Elvis Costello though his reputation proceeded him. This backing band is insane. The drums and bass are both phenomenal. I was not sold at first but Chelsea, Living in Paradise, and Lipstick Vogue are all great tracks that grabbed me immediately.
After a few listens and reading up about our man Declan, I think this is good music that suffers from just being too self aware. Elvis, as he calls himself, is the son of music industry parents and was part of the industry from birth. It's pretty apparent on this album. It's an interesting blend he hits on these tracks. He is biting and swaggering in a way that screams out his desire for authenticity but the tracks themselves are polished and clean as if designed by committee. I can hear the New Wave sounds bubbling up on this album and the punk rock vibes he's going for, I just don't fully buy it. I think Declan is authentic to himself, but who he is as a person is someone so influenced by posturing and marketing that he's fake even to himself.
Interesting music, but I don't think I'll be coming back to it.
Green Day
3/5
It's a fun album. The hits are really good and there are no skips. Launched an entire, regrettable genre. I can barely stand pop-punk but every super fan I've ever met is a lovely, if annoying, human.
That said, Nirvana's Bleach auto-played as soon as this CD ended for me and any ideas I had of rating this highly immediately went out the window. It's not that this is bad music, there's just so much better music out there. I don't think Green Day is a band people will still be listening to when my kids have kids.
Otis Redding
4/5
Solid. Otis Redding is such a great musician. I usually don't dig albums with too many covers but this is still motown era so it's understandable. The cover of Satisfaction was a lovely surprise. Respect and I've Been Loving You Too Long are both excellent.
I don't think all of this worked but what does works amazingly.
Joni Mitchell
4/5
Wonderfully weird and soulful. I don't love every track but the standouts sure stand out. River surprised me. Loved the playful quote of Jingle Bells to make a sad love song.
Tom Waits
5/5
This is my second Waits album and it's also a treat just like the first. I love his ability to spin a yarn. His singing is rough but his orchestration is incredible. I don't find this quite as strong as Rain Dogs but it's still an easy 5 for how much I'll be coming back to this one.
Sepultura
2/5
I respect this list for what it is but Robert Dimery is awful at genre music. Went through this full album annoyed to be listening to derivative metal shlock. Arise isn't terrible but it just reminded me of every Bolt Thrower album I've ever heard minus the War Hammer references which make it interesting. Then I finally finished the album and a track from Roots came on and Holy hell was it imeditiatelh interesting. Right band wrong album to a bewildering degree. What the fuck?
Creedence Clearwater Revival
5/5
This is the John Fogerty show through and through which is both fantastic, because he's an amazing musician, and rough, because so are his band mates. It's a damn shame the man couldn't muster three dimes worth of humility because what this band could do when they worked together was incredible.
Regardless of the internal drama and their breakup just over a year after dropping this gold, Cosmo's Factory is a great album. Every CCR album (except maybe Mardi Gras) has one or two stone cold classics but this one is packed. Travlin' Band, Lookin' Out My Backdoor, Run Through the Jungle, Up Around the Bend, and Who'll Stop the Rain are all instantly recognizable to anyone who's listened to music in the last twenty years. On top of that you've got some solid blues tracks and CCR's recording of Heard It Through the Grapevine which competes with Marvin Gaye's classic version.
Just a phenomenal album.
The Band
5/5
USDA Certified Organic music. The Band is like a big bowl of well cooked vegetables. It's not flashy but it is just so satisfying. The Weight is obviously an incredible track but really everything from Caledonia Mission onward is great (with Lonesome Suzie as the weakest track in that run and even that one's good).
Death In Vegas
2/5
Lots of cool ideas that mostly end in a bloated boring soup. Lofi beats to study to before YouTube existed except that it's not lofi enough for that even. Dirge, Soul Auctioneer, Aladdin's Story, Neptune City, and One More Time were all pretty good, but didn't make up for what was around them. I really wanted to like Aisha but is just reminded me of a bad version of "I Was A Prisoner In Your Skull" from Swans two years later.
I really tried to give this one a proper go. Came back to it multiple times and it never clicked. A strong 2 here. I like the idea but it doesn't come together.
Eels
3/5
This was much better than I expected but still feels generic to me. The theremin was a fun touch, but not stellar by any means. They know how to spin a good track but it doesn't really feel any better than the sum of it's parts. I agree this is a good album, but not sure why it's one of the 1001 albums I need to hear.
Best tracks: Susan's House, My Beloved Monster, Novocaine for the Soul
Anita Baker
2/5
No amount of emotion and vocal control can make up for bad taste, but it certainly helps.
Jimi Hendrix
3/5
Solid album but half baked. So many songs just Peter out after a minute or two. Little Wing is still incredible (although Stevie Ray Vahn's cover is my favorite version of it).
Supertramp
4/5
Good seventies progish rock. Well played but lacks that spark that makes up a 5 stat album. Wont go into my rotation.
Tricky
2/5
This didn't work for me. The production is innovative and there are some very cool tracks in here. Overcome and Black Steel both have very cool beats. Suffocated Love has that super cool chime effect too that I liked. But the whole album feels so humorless. It's just so bleak without feeling human. It reminds me of the grimdark fantasy that can be so much fun when done well, but quickly just becomes edgy and weird when done poorly.
I'm interested in hearing other work from Tricky, but I think his spot as an almost placed is appropriate in the annuls of music history.
TV On The Radio
4/5
Man... Pixies by theater kids is such a perfect description of this band. It's a fun sound to lean into but the album gets long by the end. For as much variation as they have in instrumentation and genre, the whole thing drones and eventually becomes a samey soup. I did enjoy it more than I expected though. Looking forward to Dear Scientist which I think is also on this list.
Gram Parsons
4/5
The genre of "Rock Country" reminds me of when metalheads argue about a band being "Stoner Doom Metal" or "Drone Sludge Metal". I get the rationale of differentiating within genre but from an outsider perspective, it's really more important to let me know I'm about to start a country album.
That said, this is a very good country album. Emmylou Harris is an absolute gem and Gram Parsons has excellent musicality. I want to rate this 5 stars because I had never heard of Gram before this one, and it caused me to dig into his catalogue over this weekend. However, it is weaker than the rest of his material. I'll remember this one fondly, but it probably won't go into the rotation.
The Rolling Stones
3/5
I don't think I'm ever going to give the Stones anything but a three unless some of their god awful albums somehow end up on this list. I was building a trampoline for my kiddos as I listened through this one and a Tom Waits album. I liked both but by the time I finished I looked back and realized that I had added 5 Waits songs to my liked tracks and replayed three of them and added zero tracks from Exile. I then realized that I couldn't sing back a single melody either. I listed to Exile second and the assembly was not going smoothly so I assumed I must have zoned out and not realized. After my second listen, I'm of the same mind. I know the tracks I liked best were "Happy", "Loving Cup", "Tumbling Dice", and "Sweet Virginia" but none of them are joining my liked tracks list. They're all... just fine.
I think that's what the Stones are, trend chasers. They write just fine music that catches the vibe at the right time. I'm probably going to pick up this album on vinyl if I'm being honest, but mostly because it's something I liked well enough and feel like I can put on a mostly ignore while I'm doing other things. I cannot fathom how anyone could just sit and actively listen to this.
Talking Heads
5/5
Tina Weymouth is so insanely good at bass playing. I'm so glad I'm finally digging into the Talking Heads. They're just incredible. Didn't expect the quality to increase on their sophomore album, but I think these are all more mature and better crafted songs that '77. There's no Psycho Killer on this record, but Found a Job, Take Me to the River, and The Big Country are all fantastic tracks and the album flows very well.
Circle Jerks
3/5
Like a eating Dorito's after a night out drinking. It feels good and I like it but it's not really a meal. I love trashy gross hard-core punk and appreciate what they made here, but even I need more substance than this.
George Michael
3/5
An uneven album. Faith, Father Figure and Hard Days are all great but Monkey and I Want Your Sex (part 2) really drag things down. I did love how playful Michael is throughout but I don't think I'll listen to anything but the first two tracks again.
Wu-Tang Clan
5/5
I'm very much a dabbler in hip hop so I've heard a lot of Wu Tang tracks but never did a full album. Wow, this might be the perfect hip hop album. It goes hard, the production is crazy tight and the rhymes are fire. It's insane that 30 years later this still sounds modern.
David Bowie
3/5
Sure, I guess. Blackstar never came out this would be an interesting album. One final statement from a legendary artist to show he's still got it after all these years. But Blackstar did drop and it's significantly better than this.
It's not a bad album. I was impressed at how relevant Bowie was to the 2013 sound. It was part of the conversation while still being uniquely Bowie. You're So Lonely You Could Die was also a standout track for me.
Nothing else was particularly interesting though. Rise and Fall, Hunky Dory, and Heroes all blow this out of the water. This one is good. I'm glad I listened because Bowie is incredible but this one just isn't a classic.
Led Zeppelin
4/5
Incredible album. Dazed and Confused is easily my favorite Zeppelin track. Knocking off a star for cheating on their homework though. Not enough credit where it was due.
Isaac Hayes
3/5
I feel like Hot Buttered Soul was enough to cover Isaac Hayes on this list but it was an interesting listen at least. The music is good and I respect Hayes' musicality a lot. This could have been so cheesy but the man knows how to be over the top without being unserious. All around a fine if not inspiring listen.
Britney Spears
2/5
Adorable. I haven't listened to this since I was in grade school. I remembered turning on this and Christina Augulara and N'Sync once I found grunge in 6th grade. It was fun to come back to this as an adult.
Unfortunately, that's where the fun stopped. Soda Pop is a ridiculous song and Sometimes is legitimately good, but everything is so forgettable. Like eating macaroni and cheese from a mediocre cafeteria. It's not exactly objectionable, but bland and unsatisfying.
Arctic Monkeys
4/5
Hell yes. One of my personal favorite bands. It's not Favourite Worst Nightmares which is one of my all time most listened to albums but man do I love the earlier Arctic Monkey's stuff. It's just solid, fun, well written rock music.
Deep Purple
2/5
Man, I cannot stand the early hard rock stuff. This album has everything I should like. Roger Glover is beastly on the bass. The over-driven organ is super cool and well played. Blackmore rips some interesting solos. The band is tight as all hell. And yet...
It sucks. The lyrics are so cringe inducing. Am I supposed to be mocking them? They're joking right? I really can't tell. It's all so dumb. As well executed as the songs are, they really don't add up to anything more than generic 70's hard rock. It's a shame.
Honestly, I bet if I was a young person in the time this band came out, I'd be a huge fan, but I wasn't and time really passed Deep Purple by. There's more interesting music to listen to now even if this somewhat interesting as a time capsule.
Tears For Fears
4/5
Excellent music that is the most quintessentially 80s sound you can get. The songs all overstay there welcome for me. I like a long song but these all get a bit repetitive by the end. Great album.
Hookworms
2/5
Well this is certainly an album by a band. It was fine but I don't really get the inclusion on this list. Apparently the keyboardist was some hot shit indie producer in the UK and this album came out after a long break and was a reset in their sound... then they broke up almost immediately because the lead singer was abusive.
I get taking shots on new music for lists like this. This one didn't pan out.
Suede
4/5
The britpop crazy never fully landed for me. At least not this wave of it, but this album is quite good. I really wish more of it was like The 2 of Us and less like We Are the Pigs. I found their more rocking stuff cheesy and while technically very well done, kind of lackluster. The ballads are where I really felt their musicality shine through and got some hints of Bowie that I really liked. It's a good album but not going into my all timer list.
Daft Punk
3/5
When it's good it's very good but the back half especially gets repetitive and more damningly quite grating. Dance music is at its best when you can zone out and get lost the music. Rock and Roll destroyed that for me.
Glad I listened but I'll still to Discovery or RAM if I'm feeling the punk.
Violent Femmes
5/5
Oh! It's the Blister on the Sun guys... Oh. I thought this album was from the 90s. Interesting... Oh shit! This slaps... What's wrong with me!? How did it take me this long to listen to this album!?
If I had to pick one genre that I universally love it would probably be folk punk. There's something about the careless approach, angst, simple melodies, and lyricism that just does it for me pretty much every time. I appreciate music with production value, but I'll take a sloppy ass punk album just about every time.
This album just works on every level for me. The band is tight but playing so loose at the same time. Those bass lines are so juicy. Gordon Gano is a lovely little freak and his voice is perfect for this music. Love the drums and the way the band passes lines between them (sometimes Gordon ripping solos, sometimes Brian overplaying songs in the best possible way, sometimes just letting Victor take the wheel in drum breaks). What works the best for me is how much variation there is between tracks. Blister in the Sun to Kiss Off to Please Do Not Go to Add It Up is a journey and that's just the first four tracks.
I can appreciate why people don't dig on this kind of music, but man is it my favorite. 5/5 stars. No question.
Cat Stevens
5/5
One of my family's favorite albums. My wife introduced me to Cat Stevens with this record when we took my Mother in Law's vinyl collection. Tea for Tillerman, Wild World and Father and Son are obvious standouts but Miles from Nowhere is one of my favorite lesser known Yusuf/Stevens tracks.
The Young Gods
5/5
I think this might confirm that I have the worst taste in music (at least in liking what other folks like). I absolutely loved this. The instrumentation is incredible and the production is so good. I have a feeling that not speaking French is a bonus because I suspect the lyrics are pretty dumb but prog rock Nine Inch Nails in French was not something I expected to love so thoroughly.
Iron Butterfly
2/5
Apart from the gimmick of the 17 minute track (which does have a killer hook) there's not much here. Iron Butterfly in all its names is a mid tier act from a wave of physchodelic rock music. I get their success but don't think it's endearing. I don't hate it but I can't give out half stars so here's the 2.
The Sonics
4/5
This is fun. They really are raw and I love the terrible production quality. I bet I would have had a blast at their concerts where I around back in the day.
I can't in good contious give a 5 to an album that's 2/3rds covers, especially one that has so many covers of black musicians repackaged for white audiences, so a 4 it is.
Nina Simone
5/5
This isn't a perfect album, but what's good is so good that I just don't care. Nina Simone is incredible and this album is a bunch of cuts of her doing her thing. Four Women and Lilac Wine are the biggest standouts to me, but I also loved Break Down And Let It All Out and Either Way I Lose.
I keep remembering how much I love old soul music from this list. Just great stuff.
Solomon Burke
3/5
Interesting... Solomon Burke has an incredible voice and killer vocal control. I was blown away by the way he can slip in and out of silky smooth and raspy vocals at will. But it's all in service of utterly generic soul music. I do understand that he's part of the defining the genre and respect his contributions there, but he just don't have that same magic you hear in Sam Cooke, Nina Simone, or Otis Redding. I think ultimately he sounds like he's singing ABOUT heartbreak instead of singing through it.
Adam & The Ants
4/5
Fun! Loved the Burundi Beats. Also loved the number of risks on this album. It might lead to clunkers like Jolly Roger but also leads to epic songs like Ant Invasion. Ultimately not something I'm going to come back to frequently and it's marred by some very London-esque synth and melody choices, but a great album all in all.
Don McLean
3/5
Don McLean would easily be the best player at your local open mic. By miles even. American Pie is classic for a reason. Vincent is also great and I really enjoyed Winterwood, Sister Fatima, and The Grave.
But I find the album to be wildly inconsistent. Empty Chairs should be a nice song on paper, but it's so vague there's just no gut punch to it. Don's finger picking is excellent. I have a ton of little tricks to go practice after this record, but they don't always feel musical. It's noodley folk solos which is interesting in a 'I didn't know that was possible' kind of way, but not in the good ways.
All in all, I want Don to pick a lane more. The most interesting songs were the ones were he started to get political (The Grave and pieces of "Everybody Loves Me, Baby) or paints a unique portrait (American Pie, Vincent, Sister Fatima, even Winterwood) but it feels very minimal. Overall, I have the impression of a very talented musician and singer who just doesn't really have a point of view to share.
Buffalo Springfield
3/5
A pleasant listen. Nothing special but a good time capsule. It's wild that Neil Young would go on to be the biggest star of this group but that's the way of these things sometimes.
Bob Marley & The Wailers
5/5
This is one of those albums that absolutely transcends genre. I'm very lukewarm on Raggae. I don't hate it but I rarely love it. This album is positively electric with meaning. Marley came into the studio with something deep and meaningful to say and put his thumbprint on the universe. It's raw without being aggressive and spiritual without being preachy or vapid. Easy 5 star record.
The Doors
4/5
When The Doors are good they are so good. Jim isn't a drunk mess on this album which is great because he is captivating when he's sober enough. I think this album starts strong a peters out by the end. I'm surprised to see so many people Maggie M'Gill a highlight. I found it so dull especially coupled with Indian Summer. The Spy right before both of those clunkers was a way more interesting track.
Good music by a good band, but has its warts.
Siouxsie And The Banshees
4/5
This is about as solid as you can get. Into the Light, Halloween, and Sin In My Heart we're my favorites, but there's not a single skip on this album. I wish I could listen to it on Spotify instead of YouTube, but we can't have them all.
I'm hemming and hawing between a 4 and 5. I think this is the definition of a 4.5. There's a bit missing to bring it up to a 5 for me. The band is great, but I don't hear their sound spilling into future bands they way I do with massively influential artists and I don't think I love them enough to make it part of my regular rotation. In the interest of not having my top rated albums overly full this is getting a four, but I don't feel great about it.
Neneh Cherry
4/5
There's so much on this album that's corny as hell, but it all works so well together. Read about Neneh performing Buffalo Stance while pregnant at an awards show and brushing off reporters that were trying to make a stink about it.
This woman was almost 20 years ahead of her time and it shows. Great music, just wish the production wasn't as badly dated and her flow had some more nuance to it. I was surprised by how much I liked it, especially after the first minute of Buffalo Stance.
Rush
4/5
Fun album from a great band. These nerds can play. I normally don't like it when multi movement pieces are all on one track but I so feel like it works here. Lee and co remember that for all of your chops, funky rhythms, and stories, the music has to come first. The restraint in these songs is what really makes them all work.
Earth, Wind & Fire
4/5
EWF is an incredible band but I've never listened to a full album before. I'm surprised this is the one that makes the list. The high moments are great. Shining Star, That's the Way of the World, and Africano really stood out to me, but there's also some corny 70s schlock ballads on here too. My gut says there are better albums out there even if this one sold well because of the movie. Still a fun listen.
Metallica
2/5
Much like Metallica's career, almost every track on this album starts off interesting, overstays it's welcome, then eventually fades out without a proper ending.
Enter Sandman is one of the greatest rock songs of all time, but the whole thing falls off a cliff right after. Sad But True kind of rocks, but it's so corny and again just overstays. I have no idea how Nothing Else Matters is a single. I found it so trite even if it was a welcome contrast to the rest of the heavy heavy riffs.
The Jam
2/5
What's in the water in the UK? Lord this is painfully derivative and dull. Bruce Foxton sounds epic on the bass and that's really the only thing I enjoyed at all. This is like Elvis Castello's less talented cousin made a band and I already find that man teedering on music by committee nonsense.
I suppose they're at least honest. A baby wailing and stray dog howling... that's entertainment. Truth in advertising.
4/5
If this list had taught me anything it's that I really don't like prog. As a whole it confuses complexity for substance. I love mainstream music and art music and prog just sits in the uncanny valley between them. It's too complex to be mainstream but too boring to be worth deep analysis.
That said, Close to the Edge seems to get it. The riffs and melodies ebb and flow. They come back transformed or together in new and interesting ways. The songs are long because they showcase many ideas into a cohesive picture (side eye at you Tarkus and your useless 20 minute opening track).
Will I listen to this again? Maybe, but was it worth listening to? Very much so. Interested to hear more of Yes.
Morrissey
4/5
Morrissey without Johnny Marr is like an oreo without the cookie, less satisfying and apparently kinda racist. I'm a sad fat man so I'm still gonna eat it up, but it's not what it used to be.
A Tribe Called Quest
5/5
Just so very cool. Flows so well and the instrumentation is the perfect amount of minimalist. Just a vibe that can go on forever.
Judas Priest
4/5
I've never connected with Judas Priest. I respect the band, but their music doesn't really do it for me. There's nothing particularly wrong with it. I just don't care for heavy metal in general so it really needs to transcend the genre for me to love it. (Looking at you Appetite for Destruction)
That said, I'm glad I finally sat through a full JP album. Anyone saying this sounds samey clearly stopped listening by Grinder. United, Living After Midnight, The Rage, and Red, White, & Blue are all great change ups. The Rage might be my favorite track though Breaking the Law and Grinder are also hard to beat.
All in all, this is a phenomenal album for people who like heavy metal but won't change your opinion if you don't. Love and respect the band and their place in music history. I'll probably add a few tracks to my playlists too.
Gene Clark
2/5
I love singer songwriters, especially of this era. There are things to like about this album. I do like Clark's almost idiotically simple approach to the music. The instrumentation is minimal and makes for a great dinner party or coffeehouse vibe.
But ultimately, it's just as vapid as it sounds. The poetry is middling. The Tears of Rage cover just makes me want to listen to Dylan or The Band.
That's ultimately the problem. Gene Clark is just DULL. His voice is timid, his guitar playing is both too proficient to be raw and too sloppy to be the focus. His orchestration feels simple because he's simple but it's like he's trying to hide from it.
Tim Buckley
5/5
This is right up my alley. I was hooked from No Man Can Find the War. Once I Was and the title track were also high points. This one is a soft 5 stars from me. As a rule an album only gets a five if it's something I'm going to come back and listen to multiple times. I don't know if I'll do this whole album again but I'm 100% learning a few of these songs and will have them on playlists going forward. Happy to hear this one.
The Byrds
3/5
This gets a few points for being a bit ahead of its time on psychedelic rock, but uneven is a great description of this album. I See You was the only track of note for me and Captain Soul and Hey Joe were both fun listens. Mr. Spaceman also got a laugh out of me.
Altogether nothing to write home about, but not offensive.
Steely Dan
5/5
What a hell of a debut album. It's gold top to bottom. I don't love how produced Steely Dan got later in their career (although Aja is phenomenal) but this is just stunning work from a group of crazy skilled people.
Jerry Lee Lewis
1/5
When do you separate the art from the artist? For me I think it's when the art is not something you're willing to lose and the art itself is not an extention of the toxic behaviors. Here we have the racist pedophile singing songs stolen from black artists with the smug satisfaction of knowing he'll always make more than them. Jerry Lee Lewis reminds me of the kind of asshole that would go to an open mic just to mock young artists. I don't care how well he performs. Give me James Brown and Little Richard please.
Traffic
4/5
This feels like a weak album from a great band. I loved a lot of what I heard but it feels like less than the sum of its parts. First three tracks are all cool and different but don't really work for me together. I kept flipping between a weak 4 or a strong 3 but I've been giving mediocre rock albums a 3 in general and I think this is better than say War on Drugs or Foo Fighters. I'm looking forward to hearing their other albums on this list.
Run-D.M.C.
2/5
This is what I expected when Raising Hell came up earlier in my queue. This album is corny as hell. I see exactly why this popped off. It's perfect for the time it's from but we can throw away this cheese now. It's moldy and smells funny. Let's be glad they made much better albums we can still enjoy to this day.
Jurassic 5
5/5
I'm amazed this slipped under my radar. This album is straight gold top to bottom. Quintessential 90s hip hop group. Crazy good beats, positive messages, killer flows from multiple members. The production is fantastic. Each track flows to the next.
Life really kicked me in the teeth trying to listen to this record and even after having to stop it 4 times I was still excited to come back and it never lost its freshness.
The Stone Roses
5/5
There's an alternative universe where Nirvana never signs with DGC and Smells Like Teen Spirit doesn't set the music world on fire in 91. In that world, I think The Stone Roses end up a household name and really define the sound of the grunge movement. Honestly, they still kind of did just 10 years ahead of their time.
I'm so glad to find bands like this. I had never heard of this band before and even my most keyed in music friends hadn't either but they're great. They are a bit of a grunge Led Zepplin, a ton of excellent syncopation in the rhythm section, borrowed ideas from other bands completely repackaged and made fresh and exciting and dynamic virtuosity from pretty much every member of the band. If the rest of there material is as good as their debut I'll be listening to them a ton. Worst case I'll enjoy the hell out of this album a few more times.
Big Brother & The Holding Company
3/5
There's an incredible album buried in here but it's covered up by so much noodling. Janis is predictably excellent and Piece of My Heart is an absolute classic. There is just a lack of taste throughout. Even Summertime is loud and long. Everyone involved is a talented musician with some tasty lines but it just feels like they're trying to fabricate big emotions instead of having those big emotions flow from them. Ball and Chain is the most egregious. 9 and a half minutes of mostly yelling. Check out Big Mama Thorton's version for some excellent music.
The Saints
3/5
Middling. I like the horns and appreciate a punk act with chops but nothing jumped out at me. I expect I'll eventually forget this band. I get why they had their moment but don't think it's timeless by any means.
Randy Newman
5/5
This was delightful. I was a child when Toy Story came out and only new Randy Newman from that soundtrack. I always wondered how he could work as a popular musician. Turns out it's by writting short but involved pieces with biting satire. I don't know if this is the peak of his powers but Political Science and Simon Smith had me rolling. There's little I love more than someone smiling while they tell you to go f--- yourself.
Paul McCartney
3/5
Unfortunately forgettable. McCartney is the best composer of the Beatles without much competition but he's also the least interesting. He's not a wacked out spiritualist like Harrison, and wild peace promoting hypocrite like Lenon or flamboyant like Ringo. The music on this first solo effort is very well done but doesn't really bring anything novel or exceptional to the table. All around a lukewarm effort even though McCartney remains my favorite Beatle.
Radiohead
4/5
I remember in 2007 sitting in my dormroom waiting for the cart to open up so I could buy this album on MP3 from my favorite band. Not only was it a digital transaction which was novel but it was pay what you want! I remember spending $5 then going back and adding $10 more after I listened.
This album is a masterpiece of production and motifs. The panning in particular was amazing in an era when earbuds first took off. I've listened to these tracks so many times I know the whole things going to be on repeat in my head all weekend.
That said, this one also marks the moment I fell out on Radiohead. I fell in love with them late in middle school. By this album all I wanted was to hear something the wasn't downtempo breathy singing over textured instruments. I love it but it's just all chocolate ice cream the whole way down. It's also just so very serious. It's something ultimately very simple masquerading as something deep and complicated. Once the facade falls off, it's hard not to hold it at arms length.
Beck
5/5
Groovy. I came in pretty cold on this one. Beck is just a touch older than me and I was on a different scene as a young person. Loved this album. E-Pro, Que' Onda Guero, Girl, and Missing all rocked for different reasons. Broken Drum hits deep even if I never really connected with Elliot Smith. Farewell Ride was great. I'm a sucker for acoustic blues guitar over electronic instruments.
Overall a great album. I understand Beck is an adventurous artist so I'm excited to hear more of his stuff to see if this album connected in particular or if I like the swagger and approach in general.
Klaxons
2/5
Oh look, Of Montreal and MGMT have a less interesting cousin over in the UK.
If you liked how weird this was, go checkout Of Montreal's Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer which released in the same year. That was Of Montreal's 8th album. No matter how much the Klaxon want to rewrite history on their band blurbs, they're a derivative act from a time just before the internet made it so obvious.
Bruce Springsteen
5/5
I'm a sucker for storytelling in music and this delivers in spades. I can understand the hate for Springsteen's mumble mouth, but this album is a verified classic for a reason. Great stuff.
The Black Keys
2/5
In 2010, I was back of for the summer from college. A few of my friends went to an amusement park and one of my friends brought one of her friends. In retrospect, that gal was almost certainly gay, but that didn't stop me from developing a crush on her immediately. While we were there, Tighten Up came on and she told me how much she loves that song. I wanted to seem cool so instead of admitting to not really knowing The Black Keys, I said "Oh yeah. Have you heard their latest album? It's awesome!". Which is the story of how I went home and listed to the album named Brothers multiple times so I wouldn't embarrass myself further the next time I saw her.
Much like that pathetic attempt at seduction, this album is dead on arrival. Vapid, boring, and repetitive. It can be fine as some background music, but not really an album to listen to before I die.
Parliament
5/5
Damn is this a fun one. I've probably listened to this album a hundred times and look forward to the next one hundred plus between now and the day the great UFO in the sky takes me back. George Clinton had such a perfectly out there vision for this record that was executed perfectly. Bootsy Collins shows a masterclass of both funk and restraint. Give Up the Funk has such a simple bass line but I could listen to that groove for hours.
The synth and instrument effects are a marvel as well. Listening to the horrors that were just starting to be inflicted on pop music (and would peak in the 80s) with terribly misguided synthesizers, there are hardly any misses here. The fart synth on Thumpasorous Peoples is the worst and even that one was tasteful. Bootsy work with filters on that bass are legendary and defined whole eras of playing.
Even beyond the music, I love what Clinton said about the concept itself. "We had put black people in situations nobody ever thought they would be in, like the White House. I figured another place you wouldn't think black people would be was in outer space."
This is a rare, lightning in a bottle type of album. It works on every level and defines while also breaking new ground on an entire movement of music. One of my all time favorite records.
Jimmy Smith
5/5
Lovely. I'll be coming back to this one. I had never heard of Jimmy Smith despite a passing interest in Jazz history. I absolutely adore the organ in Jazz and Rock settings so hearing this as part of the popularization was awesome. Really an easy time listening. I'm excited to explore more of his recordings.
For Chicken Shack specifically, I love Stanley Turrentine on the sax. That was a name I already knew and I wasn't surprised to hear him rip. Kenny Burrell and Donald Bailey make a very right rhythm section with Jimmy that hook you in on each track. I think every player had their moments of glory. As much as Jimmy Smith stays supportive throughout the record, the organ does really shine the most. That lush tone really brings out the best parts of the ensemble. I especially dug Minor Chant. I love a simple idea played out to perfection.
The Rolling Stones
1/5
The best band from a terrible fad in UK history. I am continually impressed at how well these cats turned mediocrity into the (almost) longest career in rock history. Mick and Keith have written some incredible tunes but only one of theirs is on this album and it's not a classic. It is the best track which should tell you how tepid this selection is.
I was going to be gracious and give this a 2 but I've listened to Parliament, Otis Redding, Jimmy Smith, and the freaking Black Keys in the past few days. Stones are way closer to one of those bands than the others and it's not the good ones.
Ice Cube
3/5
Genuinely clever with a clear message and solid flow. Coming right out of Straight Out of Compton to this is impressive. Unfortunately, it's marred by some nauseating misogyny. Even for the time it's too much.
Side note, I'm so white I learned today that Ice Cube and Ice T are different people. Literally just thought I couldn't remember the man's name. Looking at them next to each other they really look nothing alike either.
The Psychedelic Furs
2/5
Is no one going to talk about how Pretty in Pink sounds so pretty because it's just the hook from Born to Run without the melody? I'm certain it was a case of parallel thinking but I can't unhear it.
All in all, Talk Talk Talk is the definition of good, not great. Dumb Waitress, So Run Down, and She Is Mine are all good tracks. Pretty in Pink would also be a highlight if not for the Born to Run ear worm. But compared to their contemporaries I don't see what makes them special enough to warrant an inclusion on this list. We're talking about the same era of The Talking Heads, The Smiths, Joy Division, Blondie, Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Cure, The Birthday Party, The Jam, The B-52's, and Television. Fur are a good genre band, but nothing special here.
Post punk is a genre I love and I'd probably go see this band live if I had the opportunity, but as a selection on the 1001 Albums to Listen to before I Die, this one falls way short.
Rush
4/5
I wish I could be half as smart as Geddy Lee thinks he is. So much of this album is sung with a self importance that reaches levels of secondhand embarrassment for me. That aside, it's otherwise pretty great. I don't mind Geddy Lee's voice even if his lyrics are cringe worthy. YYZ is the best track by a mile anyway which might be related. The band is tight here too. The Camera Eye was my favorite surprise on this album. It's a great song.
The tighter ideas on this album are more digestable than Rush's earlier work like 2112, but they also lose some of the cohesion they had on those earlier albums, too. I understand the hate for this band, but they are a talented crew.
Neil Young
5/5
Neil Young has been my favorite discovery of this project. Tom Waits was also pretty revelatory and there's been some interesting discoveries about the evolution of music, but Young just consistently impresses me with every new album I find.
This is my fourth album from Young. Harvest and Everyone Knows This Is Nowhere from this project and then Ragged Glory on my own. While I was busy thinking about how I didn't connect with this album as much as the previous ones, I realized that I'd already listened to it 4 times today, listened to multiple covers of After the Gold Rush (Dolly with Trio is particularly good) and detuned my guitar to start working up Don't Let It Bring You Down.
Don't Let It Bring You Down and Birds are my favorite tracks with After the Gold Rush, Only Love Can Break You Down, and Oh, Lonesome Me very close behind. I have learned that I prefer Young with Crazy Horse over the solo tracks. The 9+ minute tracks spoiled me, but I'm not going to complain. 5 stars.
The Vines
2/5
Wildly inconsistent. The screamo singing was an unwelcome surprise. Autumn Shade, Country Yard and In The Jungle were fun but I just kept thinking if how much this band isn't the Arctic Monkeys. Interesting time capsule but not that good.
Love
3/5
This is such a weird album. It reminds me of a Neil Breen film but if Neil Breen could actually execute on any of his hair brained thoughts. I don't know if I actually liked it or not. Orange Skies is a great track and I liked The Castle too. The flute makes me think of Anchorman, but in a fun way.
All in all a very uneven album. I probably won't return to it, but I am glad I listed to it. It'll be a fun point of reference to pull out on people.
Beyoncé
3/5
I don't understand that hate on this album. I've never really understood idolizing pop stars but I can accept that people do. Taken on it's own terms, this album has a ton of merit.
First, the production is excellent. The queen hired top tier talent in spades and it shows. All of the tracks are multilayered with interesting breaks and changes. The balance is noteworthy for sounding just as clean in my ear buds and phone speaker as it does on my higher quality speakers.
The singles off this thing are great. Drunk in Love is a banger. I was out of clubs by 2014, but I know droves of people were getting down and dirty to it. Partition is a wild ride. I don't know if I like that ride, but it's interesting at least. ***Flawless and Blue were the other standout tracks to me.
Okay. Talked about the merits, now the flaws. The number of writers on this thing is obvious. It is all over the place. The standout tracks have Beyonce at the center doing the vocals that Beyonce can do (Drunk in Love) but stuff like Pretty Hurts, No Angel, Blow, Jealous feel like they could be literally any other popstar's and I'd barely blink. Mine was the absolute worst. Get out of here Drake.
For people who are fans of Queen Bey, I get how the sexy tone of this album was a turning point, but I don't think it escapes the confines of the 'made by committee' pop albums to be anything special for those of us that aren't already fans. Both Cowboy Carter and Renaissance are both significantly better albums. Those albums didn't exist when this was added to the list, but I do think either of them (Probably Renaissance) should replace this one in future editions.
David Bowie
5/5
This album wouldn't be so special if Bowie had not died so close to the release, but the fact of the matter is that Bowie did die within days of the release and he knew it. Honestly, the MFer was so dramatic I wouldn't be surprised if he wasn't holding out for release day and mad that his timing was off. That's what we loved about him.
This is a beautiful, weird, rocking swan song from Bowie. I held off on listening to it when it came out because apart from a few singles, I'd never listened to the man or any of his personas before. I still have a ton of discography to go, but I know enough to feel like I can read the ending, so to speak.
There isn't a single skip on this album. It's experimental and a little weird, but easy to digest. I wouldn't put this on for a party, but I'll probably listen to it a few more times and I'll think about it a lot. Lazarus, Sue, and I Can't Give Everything Away are all fantastic tracks. Particularly the last one. There's so much meaning in that simple line. "I'm dying so I can't give you all the things I have left". "I can't give you everything or I'd have nothing left". "I'm not going to share my secrets because the mystery is part of the fun". It'll stick with me for a minute.
If Bowie had a made a miraculous recovery and didn't actually die after this swansong, I don't know if it would have as much impact. There are moments where musically things don't work as well as I'd like. The title track in particular is a bit long and meandering, but this is an easy five stars.
GZA
2/5
I'm disappointed. 36 Chambers was one of my favorite hip hop albums. I wanted to love this, but it falls short. GZA just doesn't have the poetry for me. His lyrics are clever, his flow is proficient and this themes are interesting, but there's just something missing with the sound. The very best rappers paint lyrics that sing on their own. Just the sound of the words against each other, even devoid of meaning, are compelling. I just don't get it on this album. Just don't feel it.
Mercury Rev
3/5
I'm surprised at how much I like this. UK bands that didn't make it in the US are usually anathema to me but I'm digging it. I don't care much for Jonathan Donahue's voice, but the lyrics are nice and I love the lofi, mellow vibes. It's uneven though. Holes and Opus 40 are great tracks, but Tonite It Shows and Endlessly were both significantly worse. Looking forward to hearing how the rest of it plays out.
The Happy End (The Drunk Room) is a great track. I like this band's theatricality. The bonus track was fun too.
All in all, I love how much this band seems to be having fun with themselves compared to other shoegaze/atmospheric bands I've heard. The end result is inconsistent and I don't think think I can give it more than a 3, but it's a very strong three. Much better than the nonsense from War on Drugs. I'll probably be coming back to this band. It was fun.
Def Leppard
2/5
I wanted to just enjoy it for what it is and have fun with it but it's all the worst lyrics of hard rock with none of the skill.
Belle & Sebastian
3/5
It's twee pop but very good twee pop. It's always interesting to hear an album that launched derivative schlock because there's usually so much more authenticity to it.
Highlights were Expectations and We Rule the School.
Van Halen
4/5
In the early 2000s I saw Bill and Ted's excellent adventure for the first time when I was in middle school. Heard about this incredible band called Van Halen then found 1984 in my parents tape collection. Turn it on full of expectations and heard Jump then turned it off and decided that the 80s were a weird time and this band sucks.
I still don't love Jump, especially as a title track. It's a fun dumb song but it sounds nothing like the rest of the band's catalog and Eddie doesn't do anything for most of it. I'm happy I went through the whole album this time. Panama, Hot for Teacher, Drop Dead Legs and Girl Gone Bad are all worth it.
Eddie is a guitar god. I love the things he pulls off on this album. The whole band is super tight and David Lee Roth is manic in the best ways. Still not my favorite band, but I get it now. Be Excellent to Each Other dudes.
Bruce Springsteen
4/5
Underwhelming. I try to rate each album on its own merits rather than relative to others from the same artist. It's interesting to think about where this record fails next to Born to Run though.
First, the production is horribly dated. Bad synth, cheesy piano and regretfully small amount of saxophone suck a lot of the grit out of the E Street band. Downbound Train and Working on the Highway are the worst offenders.
Second, it's easy to hear the radio aspirations. The singles are good and catchy but wow is title repeated a lot on all of them. Literally the only reason I hate Born in the USA is because of how many times Bruce sings "Boooorn in the USA". By the end of the song I'm floating over that skip button. It probably wouldn't be as bad if that song wasn't so over played but it is and that sucks.
Lastly, I just don't get as much of a throughline on this album. Born to Run crescendos deliberately from the first note through the title track with connected ideas. This is just a pile of songs. It's a good pile, but Springsteen and E Street without the storytelling is just a pretty good bar band with a bad singer.
Incredible Bongo Band
2/5
You wouldn't expect a 75 minute album of bongo focused Instrumental music to be an easy listen. And you'd be right, but this is way more fun than it has any right to be.
This is clearly a passion project and I can't tell if Michael Viner's is in on the joke or is the joke. Either way, I enjoyed it. The songs do drag after a time. In A Gadda Da Vida was rough and Dueling Banjos was all over the place. But the fun songs that later would be hip hop samples are great. Apache had me dancing.
I can't give this a high score because it's not that good but I'm glad it was on the list. This is a super fun reference point and a cool band to show people.
B.B. King
5/5
I'm mostly struck that in between while the Rolling Stones were establishing themselves as the kings of Blues rock, albums like this were released.
B.B. King is incredible at this show. I found the first track phoned in, but that had it's own charm. Everything else is over the plate home runs. This is great top to bottom.
Echo And The Bunnymen
4/5
I had a nice pithy zinger about replaceable UK post punk bands loaded in the chamber, but damn it, this band is pretty good. This album is how I want REM to sound.
Soundgarden
2/5
Despite growing up in the late 90s and loving grunge, I never got around to Soundgarden. If I have been sleeping on them, this album certainly isn't convincing me. Obviously, I knew Black Hole Sun and recognized Fell On Black Days, Superunknown, and Spoonman after listening to them. None of the tracks were noticeably bad, but very little jumped out at me. Even after three listens, I could still barely tell these tracks apart.
Most damning is that after my third listen, I decided that I might like the album if it was four tracks shorter and I literally could not tell you which ones to cut. Not because I can't chose between them, but because they all just sound like the same sludgy bleak nonsense.
Chris Cornell is an impressive singer. The riff and winding lines from Kim Thayil were interesting and the way they played with odd meters from the rhythm section does put them over other schlocky heavy metal bands. None of it pop off the record for me or does anything particularly interesting, though.
I'm excited to try out their earlier albums and see if I find something I like more there. I don't regret listening, but I won't be coming back.
The Smashing Pumpkins
5/5
I cannot be unbiased. For two hours I was back in 7th grade, laying on my bed after another rough day of middle school just soaking in the guitars and terrible singing. I adore this band.
Snoop Dogg
3/5
Snoop is all style and little substance. I remember seeing him live and he spent 20 minutes of his 50 minute set doing a call and response with the crowd "What's my name?" "Snoop Dog!". His flow is incredible, but he takes 'leave them wanting more' to an extreme.
For the positives, the beats are all great. This very much is a sequel to The Chronic and that's not a bad thing at all. Lady of Rage is a stand out and I loved every feature with her. Snoop's swagger and flow are both hypnotizing. You could easily listen to him read nutrition facts and it would sound dope.
But in all the album feels inauthentic to me. Snoop raps about all of his women and drugs, but it feels like bad acting the whole way. The skits are corny as hell but not goofy enough to feel like they're in on the joke.
Buena Vista Social Club
4/5
Lovely album. Listened through it while playing with my 8 month old and she had an excellent time dancing along. Obviously the rhythm section is the star here, as in most Latin music, but the harmonic movement of this band is also so good. Pueblo Nuevo was a standout for me for this reason. There are some moments where this sounds like the corny ragtime you only now here in amusement parks, but the highs more than make up for it.
2/5
I'm mature enough now to admit that I've jealous of this band. I still think they're lame but Don't Look Back in Anger, Champagne Supernova, and even Wonderwall are all objectively great tracks. Cast No Shadow and Morning Glory are also good lesser knowns.
That said, every song ends with repeating the title for at least 30 seconds and it gets old so fast. Hello and Roll With It are both stupid tracks that don't set up the album for success at all. It might be a product of Oasis being part of the generation before me. I was 7 when this album dropped and Wonderwall was already a joke by the time I was getting into music. I just can't get over it.
Pavement
3/5
Wooow... It's so auuuthhheeeenntic. It sounds like all the other artsy suburban boys that are just in it for the art man... Sure, they are the pioneers of this sound but it doesn't make it less boring now.
The artistry is there. This is objectively a very impressive album and probably deserves more than a 3 but I just hate when good bands intentionally mix themselves into washed out oblivion. I'm certain if I was a teen in 1994 this would have been my spirit album the same way that Hail to the Thief felt inspiring to me when I found it at 14. But I'm not a teen anymore and there is just better music out there. Hoping their other albums might be better because I want to be cool enough to like Pavement.
Erykah Badu
5/5
It took awhile for me to come around by I was sold by Booty. That track and Orange Moon were absolute standouts but I just vibes with this while project.
Do yourself and favor and listen on something with proper bass to it. Phone speakers really don't do this justice. Get a dose of your favorite poison (weed, whiskey, whatever), find a cozy couch and a good set of speakers and just chill for 70 minutes.
Curtis Mayfield
5/5
Freddy's Dead, Pusherman, and Superfly are all worth the price of admission and then some, but the entire album is a great listen. It's difficult to overstate Mayfield's talent. The man was an absolute creative machine.
Jack White
3/5
We need to put this man's picture next to Eric Clayton's on the Urban Dictionary definition of Mediocre White Man. This music is just fine enough to justify its own existence but fuck I wish Jack White was half as good as he thinks he is.
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
5/5
Just another easy 5. I love Neil plus Crazy Horse. I listened to this after finishing Everyone Knows This is Nowhere and loved it from the start. It's not the 'best' of the records from Young I've heard, but it is the one I throw on the most. It sounds so alive. Farmer John, Love to Burn, Days that Used to Be and Fuckin Up are my favorites.
The Smiths
4/5
Andy Rourke is such an underrated member of this band. Happy to hear an album where he gets to shine. This is more uneven than their other albums, but I still love The Smiths.
The Verve
1/5
This is better than whatever that other Verve album was on this list. That out of the way, this album makes me understand Brexit. I'm not even going to give it the credit for Bittersweet Symphony. I feel like my life is made ever so slightly worse for having sat through this bullshit album.
Pink Floyd
2/5
I like this more than the Roger Waters era for what it's worth but I don't really care for Pink Flyod in all honesty. Interstellar Overdrive is so overblown and tiresome. I'm down for a long track but I want it to actually develop some ideas. This one had so many short repeated ideas that did not serve an 11 minute length. Gnome and Take Up Thy Stethoscope... were super fun on either side of it at least.
The Prodigy
2/5
Five stars for quality. What bangers.
Minus one star for the cringy vocals on half the tracks
Minus one star for over an hour of music without a single change in tempo (sure it's a dance album but come on SOME fluctuation would be nice)
Minus one star for the misogyny.
That fell off quick.
Blondie
3/5
Debbie Harry is such a smokeshow. I don't think this band holds up as much without her allure but damn does it work. I'm glad I listened though I don't think I'll be returning often.
Thin Lizzy
4/5
I knew Boys Are Back in Town from various genre mixes and enjoyed the few other tracks that popped up but never took the time to actually listen to Thin Lizzy. I think they're my new favorite hard rock group baring maybe GnR.
I don't love that these tracks are overdubbed. You can hear the hard cuts between tracks so clearly and it sucks the crowd energy right out. The good news is Phil Lynott doesn't need the crowd to rock out.
This band just grooves. There are more wild bands and more technically proficient bands, but Thin Lizzy feels so much more rock and roll than all of them, at least on this album. The transition from Cowboy Song to Boys are Back is a chefs kiss and Massacre is a track so good I had to replay it immediately. This isn't going down on my best albums of all time, but I'm very glad I have it a listen.
Joy Division
5/5
I'm a sucker for post punk. I could listen to this all day which probably says something about me. There's just so many layers and it goes down so smooth. I have had too many people impacted by suicide which usually poisons me against artists that have killed themselves but I think the art transcends the artist in this case.
Kings of Leon
2/5
There are many sins on this album, but the most egregious is that this band is just lame as hell. Their songs are all about swagger and sex appeal but I just flat out don't buy it. This is rock music for people who's biggest adversity is being passed over for district manager at PetSmart.
Use Somebody is a hell of a song though and Sex on Fire would be too if the lyrics weren't so dumb. So I have to give them that at least.
Santana
4/5
So smooth (but thankfully not Rob Thomas smooth). My nine month old was dancing her butt off from the moment Carlos came in. I love how well these tracks flow together. Black Magic Woman and Oye Como Va are obvious highlights but there wasn't a track that didn't work.
Steely Dan
3/5
Rikki Don't Lose That Number and East St. Louis Toodle-Oo are both great tracks but I find this album is missing a lot of the spark that makes Can't Buy a Thrill so memorable. The Dan did so much work getting polished they scrubbed off their soul.
Gorillaz
4/5
Like most folks, I wasn't cool enough to find the Gorillaz until Demon Days. I always forget how good they on on this debut. Clint Eastwood is a certified classic but 5/4, M1 A1, 19-2000, and Starshine are all bangers.
The Everly Brothers
2/5
A quick listen. It's good for what it is but so half-baked. Nothing really feels special except as an artifact of what music used to be.
Frank Sinatra
4/5
For all his good qualities what Blue Eyes had best was an immaculate taste. This record is a master class in doing the right thing for the moment. I'm more of a Dean Martain person from the Rat Pack and I'll take Ella or Vaugh over any of 'em, but I'm not going to let preference get in the way of recognizing a great thing when I hear it.
Johnny Cash
4/5
What a ham. Cash has never been my favorite but this recording makes it clear why he's some folks top artist. Fun concert and a good recording. San Quinten twice was a wild choice but I think it works.
Yes
4/5
I'm lukewarm on Prog as a whole. I like the idea of giving songs space to breathe, using the studio as an instrument and generally pushing musical boundaries. In practice, I find that most acts hide behind those tools instead of using them to express something. (Jacob Collier as a prime example in modern pop)
Fragile teeders on that problem with a few tracks (We Have Heaven as the worst offender) but even those feel more like lackluster moments than failed experiments to me. Roundabout is an opus and exactly what I want to hear from a prog band. Long well developed varied and interesting music. Nothing but Heart of Sunshine gets back to that level but still an enjoyable pile of eclectic music here.
The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
1/5
One of my most cherished CDs is an album from a band called Night Owls called Explosions which was handed to me after I finished a set at a comedy open mic by the then 67 year old bass player. The album is a very fun garage band dumpster fire that I will never fall out of love with. The love of that music has everything to do with how I acquired it and nothing to do with any (lack of) talent from the Night Owls. The album lived very proudly for many years next to the insane pamphlet from the cat boy comedian from another open mic night and the healing crystals a random hippy girl gave me after a party one night.
That’s what this album is. It whoops it’s way onto a list of albums to listen to before you die because the author forgot the difference between personal favorites and worthwhile music. I get it. It’s fun, but Jack White runs circles around this band and I don’t even know respect him that much.
FKA twigs
4/5
Woooaaaahhh! The depth of the production on this album is insane. I listened a few times through and picked up new little things every time. twigs has a beautiful and haunting voice that suits the music well. A few moments sound dated but it closes really strong. I am looking for her future projects to be a little more focused and less repetitive but I’m so glad I was forced to sit and listen to this because I would have bounced off quickly if left to my own devices.
Ray Charles
3/5
I'm embarrassed to admit, but after 5 attempts, I still have not managed to finish this album. I would have LOOOOVED to see Ray Charles live. I had a few best of compilations I listened to regularly in high school and Genius Loves Company was on all the time with my friends. Sadly, as an album, this feels like something from a bygone era. The performances are phenomenal, but it's just a pile of songs on a record a nothing greater than the sum of the parts. This rating is because I can't, in good contentious go higher on an album I didn't finish.
Lorde
2/5
Pretty much every pop album from the 2010's forward has been written by the same crop of people, using the same instrumentation in a completely commercialized effort to sell as much music as possible. The artists themselves are unique and interesting people. I loved Pure Heroine when it came out. Lana Del Rey, Taylor Swift, and Lorde are all interesting people and I respect them as artists, but damn if everything they put out is so forcefully crammed into the small box of 'sellable' production. I honestly really liked Jack Antonoff in Fun. and don't mind his production, but go listen to Reputation and Melodrama next to each other. This music is literally just picking the purple or pink backpack in sixth grade and deciding that it has a huge impact on your personality. That is literally true when you are young and impressionable, but that doesn't mean it's art. At the end of the day it's just Jansport manipulating human experience to turn the real process of self discovery into dollars.
Ted Talk aside, this was an album that played through twice while I was in the same room. I can probably sing most of it back to you because that's how simple and catchy modern pop music gets, but could not tell you a single track title except that Melodrama was referenced in one of them.
The White Stripes
3/5
There's some things that are really inspired here but at the end of the day it remains just riff rock. I honestly do like the White Stripes, but they're really nothing but a mediocre band that filled a niche of actual human music in a time that synth and heavy production was taking over the industry. There are better bands both in the past and contemporaries.
That said, Nurses was a jam that I loved. Instantly joined a few playlists for me. Nothing else had quite that spark for me.
Missy Elliott
2/5
I wanted to like this a lot more than I did. There's the making of something super interesting here, but it's not fully baked. Missy is unfortunately the least interesting rapper on this whole project. I dig the production and want to support the early women of hip hop, but it's just not there yet.
The Specials
2/5
This is a tall glass of slightly too warm water. I’m not going to complain about it but I’ll never think about it again.
Sigur Rós
4/5
Happy this exists for the people that are moved by it. On a technical level it is a masterpiece of production and atmosphere. For an album from 1999, it sounds flawless but not clinical. I can see how people listen to this on repeat and get more out of it with every listen.
It just doesn't speak to me personally. I'm sure I could lean in and learn all of the lyrics and dig into the drama of the band. There's a younger me that might have, but I'm a father of three now and just don't feel like the juice would be worth the squeeze on this one. Honestly, I'm reminded of Tool in the same vein. It is both too complex to be digestible pop music but also not rich harmonically or historically enough for me to put in the effort to listen to it as art music. I think this album gets closer to that goal than anything from Tool, but if I'm looking for this level of deep, focused listening, I'll still take Dvorak, Beethoven and Brahms all day.
Queen
4/5
Good Company and Bohemian Rhapsody being next to each other really exemplifies this album. Queen is a homerun kinda band and when they miss oh boy do they miss. Still the highs more than make up for the duds.
I had not heard The Prophet's Song and was happy to change that too. Great band and good album but not without warts.
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band
1/5
Wow... I love post punk and noise rock. Berg and Schoenberg both fascinated me in college. The experimental band music from Ives was some of my favorite to experience live. I throw in an album from The Residents at least once every few months since this list introduced me to Duck Stab/Buster Glenn. Which is all a preamble to say this is the biggest pile of horseshit I may have ever heard.
That's not to say there were not highlights. Some moments were fun. The instrumentalists are all virtuoso and crazy tight in the chaos. But the whole this is musical nihilism at its absolute worse. Who is this album for? No one seems to be having any fun with this. It's nonsense and absolute pretentious nonsense at that. Is this some kind of odd exploration of what music can be? Sure, but that doesn't make it interesting or moving. It's weird for it's own sake and as a flag to try to mark the band and listener and cooler than everyone around them. Fuck that.
Grateful Dead
2/5
Huh... I can appreciate how great this band was live when Jerry was kicking, but this album is dull. Ripple, Operator, and Friend of the Devil are all great tracks but this whole thing is lacking. I think they just don't translate. Wanted to love this but I barely liked it.
Rage Against The Machine
5/5
I was just too young to understand Rage when they were still together but they dominated my stereo time on middle and high school. The Battle of Los Angeles is my go to, but I always forget that this debut was absolute fire. Killer band. Great, if ultimately impotent message. Tim and Tom are a fantastic duo. Love this band.
Bill Evans Trio
5/5
One of my all time favorite albums. Evans is a maestro of chord painting and Scott LaFaro is a revelation. It's a damn shame that he died so young or his work would have ended up on this list one day.
Check out the complete live recordings if you enjoyed this. So excited to have an excuse to listen again.
Brian Eno
4/5
I already know Eno from his production work which I've loved. This is my first album of his music. The man has impeccable taste. I'm not a huge fan of ambient music but there is not a single note out of place or over played on this project. I don't think this will go into my regular rotation and it didn't change my life, but I liked it and look forward to exploring his other music.
Solange
3/5
LoFi chill beats to be black and empowered to.
In a less pithy way, this album is all vibes. Solange's voice is quietly powerful and the production is immaculate. I appreciate the message behind it, especially in the context of 2016 when it dropped. All that said, there just isn't enough juice for its run time. It doesn't feel bloated by any means, just airy. I wanted one or two bangers or at least contrasting ideas through the run time.
I liked it. It's a strong three but I can't get to a weak 4.
Cream
4/5
We all know Eric Clapton isn't a good person. He wasn't a good person when this came out because he was a womanizer and kinda gross. Years later he'd become an out of touch racist douche...
All that said, he's not the only one in this band. Jack Bruce really shines on the bass, elevating a lot of tracks like World of Pain and Dance the Night Away. There's a lot of songwriting to like here even if I think Clapton is overrated on guitar.
Michael Jackson
5/5
A classic. I wish I could go back and listen to this one for the first time again. Beat It, Thriller, Human Nature, and Billie Jean are all time great tracks even if the first two are so overplayed it's hard to keep the same hype about them. PYT and Wanna Be Startin' are also great. I know That Girl is Mine gets the most hate but I honestly kind of like it. It's Lady on My Life and Baby Be Mine that really bog me down honestly.
Easily a top 100 album of all time, even with a few warts.
James Brown
3/5
Sure. It's James Brown, one of all time greatest artists since recording technology has existed. But there's nothing particularly unique or special about this live album that isn't better captured by a greatest hits compilation. I appreciate that JB needs to be on a list of albums to listen to before you die but this one isn't anything unique among any of his other work.
Elliott Smith
3/5
The man was a hell of a musician, I'll give him that much. LA and both Everything's are great tracks. I just wish there was any depth at all. I keep thinking about how I see more emotional range out of Pete Davidson than I have on any Smith album. Such a waste of talent.
Nas
5/5
Absolute classic. This is very much of a time but it's not dated. I listed three times today because I was still digging it so much. I do wish Nas had more variety in his flows but his lyricism and technique more than make up for it across the album. I prefer It Was Written for what it's worth but that doesn't mean this isn't also a 5.
De La Soul
3/5
I wanted to love this album but I only like it. I know De La Soul by reputation. I love Tribe Called Quest and Del's work in all its forms. From the singles I've heard I assumed I'd be all about this crew, but the album feels a bit corny and overly long. Tracks like Can U Keep a Secret, Jenifa Taught Me, and Take It Off all felt like filler and bad filler at that. I don't know if things are going over my head but the lyricism feels lackluster too. There are some clever bars and the flow is strong but they don't really add up to anything fun or otherwise. Let's also never touch De La Orgee again.
On the positive side, the production is on point and, for the era, pioneering. The crew seems like they're having a blast. The skits are fun and dont overstay their welcome. I'll keep the highlights in my rotation. Eye Know, Tread Water, The Magic Number and Me Myself and I are all great. I also loved Do as De La Does; I wish more of the album could be that silly.
Looking forward to digging deeper on later albums to see how it comes together, but this was uneven.
Billy Bragg
4/5
I knew of Billy from his collaboration with Wilco on Mermaid Avenue which were arrangements of previously unreleased Woody Gutherie lyrics, so I had high hopes when I saw this come up in my queue. I was not disappointed.
First, Billy cannot sing to save his life, but it works very well for him. His lyrics really shine through, particularly on the romantic songs. Loved the opening track, but Levi Stubb's Tears and Honey, I'm a Big Boy Now, and Sin City are all great, too. I also enjoyed the political rants, but mostly as a point of catharsis than anything else. They certainly are not poignant.
My only gripe is that this album is LOOOONNG. I can't tell what is a bonus track or not on Spotify but a lot of the songs can be samey and the demo and alternative takes of tracks don't do anything to prevent the album from morphing into a wash of folky wailing. I'll come back to this one, but I doubt it'll be as a full album.
T. Rex
2/5
I'm conflicted. I want to give this a 2 or a 4 or maybe a 3? I have no idea. On its own, it's a solid 2. There are a few good tracks. Bang a Gong is fun and Rip Off really saves the album though a bit too late. The rest isn't bad, just trite. But then again, it's trite because this band's influence runs deep and this is the first album they really found that new sound so maybe it's actually pioneering?
I think I'm rating more on my personal enjoyment of the music more than anything so I'm going with a 2 in that front though as a historical album it's interesting and could deserve a 4.
Iron Maiden
4/5
This one SLAPS! I love Iron Maiden but have mostly listened to their 80s run (Number of the Beast, Piece of Mind, Powerslave). I'm adding this to the rotation. Transylvania and Strange World both caught me off guard in the best possible way. Steve Harris is one of my rock icons. Paul Di'Anno does a serviceable job, especially on Strange World, but he's got nothing on Bruce Bruce. Really the only knock I have on this project.
The Byrds
3/5
After the Fifth Dimension, I was not excited about this one. Boy did it whelm me. There's something interesting any the Byrds. When they hit they hit well, but I only saw that on Everybody's Been Burned. The rest of the songs were fine or outright boring.
This band is the Beatles and the Beach Boys less interesting cousin.
The Dave Brubeck Quartet
5/5
It's unfortunate that Brubeck's skin color gave him recognition that was not afforded to his peers, but by all reports, he was an unwilling recipient of that recognition. I'm not going to hold that against him given the credit he gave to his black contemporaries.
The most unfortunate part is that Brubeck and his quartet are legitimately genius. This is one of the most played jazz albums of all time for a very good reason. Without sacrificing any of the depth or richness of the genre, Time Out manages to be catchy and listenable. I can enjoy it as much with my rhythm guitarist as I can with my wife (who loves CCM and Taylor Swift with a passion I cannot understand).
I'll admit that I had not listened to the full album before. Nothing jumps out more than Blue Rondo or Time Out but I loved the piano intro on Strange Meadow Lark and the rest of it was great. Easy 5 stars.
Red Hot Chili Peppers
4/5
Before Maroon 5, the original California trash balls performed in the nude and put out some killer music. Is this cringe inducing? 1000% Does it slap? Also 1000%.
I find that I like the Peppers much better on their funkier tracks: Power of Equality, Funky Monks, and Give It Away. Sir Psycho Sexy is a hell of a closer. (They're Red Hot being more of a silly post script) Under the Bridge is a notable exception and probably their best track though their later catalog puts up some stiff competition.
This album is uneven as hell. Suck My Kiss was awful even before it got overplayed. Mellowship Slinkey, Blood Sugar Sex Magik (title track), and The Righteous and the Wicked are all low points for me. They could easily have been cut and made a better album.
All in all, these 1 star reviews need to get over themselves and have a bit more fun. Flea and Chad Smith are a monstrous duo and John Frusciante brings a lot of flair to the band. These reviews are anonymous, stop trying to play cool and just admit that the music slaps.
Bob Dylan
5/5
If there was a single Dylan album I had to pick and delete the rest, this could be it. It's the best of both worlds. Side A has his more rocking electric tracks while side B is just all acoustic folk bona-fides. I do think Side B is stronger by a lot. Side A never gets to the level he'd reach on Highway 66 Revisited later that year but it's still a hell of an album.
Bob Dylan
4/5
One the one hand, Blowin' in the Wind and Don't Think Twice are two of my favorite Dylan songs. On the other hand, there is so much bad blues on the rest of this album. It's pretty obvious this is an early project.
All in all, I see how this is an important album historically and there are a lot of high points. On top of the hits, Master of War, A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall, and Talkin' World War III Blues were all standouts to me. I still like it but Dylan puts out better work over all.
Big Star
5/5
What a joy. I had heard people cooler than me talk about this band with the same tone they talk about The Velvet Underground, but had no idea what I'd find here.
I'm blown away that this album released in '71. It sounds at least 10 years ahead of its time in production, composition, and even the eclectic track listing. It's not that I couldn't imagine a rock band sounding like this in the 70s, just that most of them didn't.
There's an alternative universe where Big Star got the marketing they deserved. There's legendary tales about their fist fights but they get the support, funding, and touring time to really put it all together and make some incredible music.
This is a close second I guess. It doesn't all work but it's still great as a whole (just skip India Song). I'm excited to check out Radio City and see how they sound on the sophomore record.
Spiritualized
2/5
Oh boy...
Never been a big fan of shoegaze and the amount of navelgazing on this album is astounding even by those standards. Going to finish but just got to Symphony Space which is more like a waste of space.
I know there are people who like to trance out to this kind of music but like at least do it to something with more interest beyond the surface. No, I am not dismissing the layers upon layers of production on each of these tracks. Those exist but like that's 101 atmosphere. Where is any harmonic movement? Where is the dynamic contrast? Where are the motifs, calls and responses, or polyrhythms? There's more than 5 minutes of music on every track, pay me off with something!
Happy to put this away and go back to Sigor Ros. There is something meditative to Spiritualized but I did not need to hear this before I die.
Note after finishing the album the piano at the end of Take Your Time and the horns in Angel Sigh are more what I'm looking for. The whole project is still lacking for me though.
Mylo
3/5
I grade these things on a curve. Legendary high budget albums I hold to a higher standard than lesser known artists. Also if I like an album from a genre I generally don't enjoy it gets more points for exceeding expectations. Is that the right way to do it? I don't really care!
Preamble over, the vibes on this project are immaculate. It's mellow without droning, repetitive without overstaying its welcome and interesting without being abrasive. Running a 5k today that I did not prep for... this is going to be so perfect for my slow ass. Thanks Mylo!
Update, too chill for running but I still enjoyed it.
Neil Young
5/5
I never bothered with Mr Young prior to this list, but he's become my favorite discovery. I was not expecting much from this album because it wasn't on any of the best of Young lists I was going through but it might be my favorite after Everybody Knows This is Nowhere.
Neil has taste above all else. This album is dripping with a melancholy that could get old even on the short runtime but the blues is used so effectively and the instrumentation is so great. Vampire Blues and the title track were the standouts to me. I know Young went through a string of awful albums but I'm grateful I haven't found them yet.
The Zombies
4/5
Love song, love song, love song, love song, love song, love song, love song, love song, love song, horrifying Western Front song, love song, all time classic song
What a charming album. Rose for Emily made me miss the times when bands used diminished chords regularly. All around excellent piece of work. Hearing Time of the Season at the end was a hilarious curve ball after the rest of the album passed with hardly anything recognizable. It's like looking through a random photo album and finding Barrak Obama randomly dancing at the end; no Michelle, no other celebrities, just the former POTUS closing the thing out.
All around great, but I don't think I'll be coming back to it regularly. I can see how this band was forgotten even though I bet they had several great albums in them if they had the chance.
Beastie Boys
4/5
It's loud. It's corny. It's so so fun. Great debut.
Eagles
3/5
Michelob Ultra rock. It goes down easy without much flavor. Perfect when it's what you want but not always satisfying. The hits are hits though, can't deny Peaceful Easy Feeling, Take It Easy, and Witchy Woman.
Merle Haggard
4/5
Talk about old school cool. There's something special about how much these old country guys are just fill each note. Nothing trails off. At the end of the day, they all sound a bit the same as a result, but it's still interesting.
More than a half hour of this would get old, but the length was about perfect. Nice little album.
Led Zeppelin
3/5
In My Time of Dying is one of the worst blues tracks I've ever heard. It's not that the band isn't crazy talented or the production is bad. It's that there is just no soul in the whole of the 10 minutes of Plant's wailing. There really isn't another bad track on the rest of this album, but it just soured me so much. Zep is a lot of great things but authentic has never been one of them.
David Bowie
2/5
Huh... a pile of most unrelated (though all very good) singles then a weird 25 minutes of Eno abiance. I'm holding Bowie to a high standard with this rating but feel like it's justified. The tracks by themselves are great. Sons of a Silent Age is probably in my top 5 Bowie tracks of all time. But as an album this project fails spectacularly.
Lynyrd Skynyrd
4/5
50% of this album is all time classic songs. Of the rest Things Goin' On is great, Mississippi Kid is good and the other two are mercifully short. If you take away the band's history and bullshit confederate flags it'd be an easy 5 but this defining 'Southern' so much for the worse means I can't separate the art from the artist as much as I'd like.
Bon Jovi
4/5
What a fun time. Starts stronger than if finishes and the skit in Social Disease is regrettable but at least self depreciating which almost saves it. I knew I'd enjoy it but didn't expect to like it as much as I did.
Dire Straits
5/5
Come on now... I'm a dad. What other rating was this gonna get.
Black Sabbath
4/5
I love this album. It's not as polished as Paranoid but has so much charm. N.I.B. is the clear hit but The Wizard remains weirdly one of my favorite all time songs. I can't go with 5 stars because it's rocky but such a good debut.
The Mamas & The Papas
4/5
This album is a lot and the band turned out to be a lot too (really John more than anyone), but the run time means they end right before it starts to grate and holy shit are those vocals right. Monday Monday and California Dreamin' are the real winners but the whole album is great. Glad I listened.
The Flying Burrito Brothers
4/5
Country rock version of The Band. The wild trombone (I think) in Wheels was delightful. Sin City is a classic tune and Hippie Boy had me really lean into the end of this album. The Hot Burrito tracks didn't land for me but very glad I heard this album.
Ladysmith Black Mambazo
4/5
Lovely. Don't know if I'll listen again but glad I heard it and have a reference point now.
Frankie Goes To Hollywood
5/5
Wow! This blew me away. Sure it's dates but so is the Rat Pack if we're honest and we don't hold that against those cats.
I did not expect so much depth and angst from the Relax band. I listened to this three times in one day and loved every moment of it.
Sister Sledge
4/5
Great album. Vocals are crazy tight and the beat is funky. It doesn't really transcend the genre but a hell of a soul record.
Country Joe & The Fish
3/5
I had a joke a queue up to call these guys the Thankful Deceased (I know I'm so clever), but it looks like they came just before Garcia and Co.
This is more of the same when it comes to psychodelic rock. Honestly, I enjoyed it a lot more than Ripple. The recordings are raw as hell which really captures a live music feel and I liked the weirdness. I won't visit often but it was a fun trip at least.
Fugees
5/5
Smart as hell and full of a quiet rage. This is some of the absolute best of hip hop. Incredible album.
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
5/5
The movement from acoustic to electric happens so perfectly I didn't even realize what was happening on the first listen. To be honest I didn't care much for side A apart from My, My but side B more than makes up for it. Powderfinger and Sadan Delivery were phenomenal.
Talking Heads
5/5
What a vibe. There's no mega hit on this album but it's just so good all around. David Byrne lives in some other multiverse and just happens to leak music here and you can't convince me otherwise and Tina Weymouth is immaculate as always. I think this is a little more bass driven than other heads projects which might be why it's my current favorite.
The Cure
5/5
I wanted to hate on it but the more I listened the more I loved it. The drums and synths are the stars here. It's a VIBE. I can't take it overly seriously but I don't think Robert Smith is either. It's cropped up in my rotation a few times now since my first list. Glad I waited to give a rating.
Paul Simon
4/5
Great album with the weird "we haven't really figured out multiculturalism" moments of the 80s sprinkled in. All around my favorite Simon album of the ones I've heard. Diamonds and Graceland are two of my favorite songs of his so that goes a long way.
The Beach Boys
2/5
RIP Brian Wilson but wow this is not Pet Sounds. A very long 28 minutes. The first side was the same song on repeat and although the ballads on side two were much more satisfying the lyrics torpedoed any good will they garnered.
Great band, terrible record.
Supergrass
2/5
No Timmy, we have Oasis at home.
Louis Prima
4/5
What a ham. Wish I could have seen him live. Remember when jazz was fun?
The Soft Boys
5/5
I was leary of this one going in but they quickly won me over. You can easily hear the influence this album had on so many other groups. This one is going into my rotation.
Tom Tom Club
5/5
Loved this from the title track. Each track runs so smoothly into the next and I adore well executed novelty music. Went in completely cold and was happy to learn this is a Talking Heads side project. Very glad they got back with Bryne but Tina and Chris still crush it on their own. So much fun and Genius of Love was wild both as a song and for all the places it's been sampled.
Shivkumar Sharma
3/5
Make sure you listen to the original on YouTube and not the far inferior rerecording on Spotify.
Beautiful album and totally understand how it introduced western audiences to Indian music. It is very much a light classical album though. Kenny G of this gorgeous tradition.
The Police
4/5
The Police always remind me of an exceptionally well made watch. They're disturbingly precise and brilliant and yet I can only find them so interesting. It almost feels too polished. It's not soulless at all. This is the polish of craftsmen who care so deeply about their work that they accept no imperfections. But I like the grit and the edges of a rock band. I'm not really looking for porcelain.
So that leaves me with this album both feeling phenomenal and underwhelming. It doesn't help that it took three attempts before I could get an uninterrupted 45 minutes to listen to it. Of the tracks, Every Breath You Take and King Of Pain where ones I knew and loved going in. Synchronicity I and Walking In Your Footsteps were both highlights for me as well as Murder by Numbers as the closer. The rest were good even if Mother felt like an outlier.
All around amazing album that I just don't connect with as much as I'd like. Looking forward to more of The Police later.
The Rolling Stones
2/5
Paint It Black is the best song the Stones ever wrote and they've written a lot of good ones. Mother's Little Helper is great too off the UK version. After that Lady Jane is interesting and Under My Thumb would be good if it didn't feel so gross. The rest is typical sloppy blues. The atrocity that is Going Home really destroys this one. Closing out side one of the UK version and the album on the US version, it's an okay instrumental vamp with Jagger moaning for 11 minutes. I wish I was being hyperbolic, but it's literal moaning for so much of the song. I'd love to scrub my ears out after that one.
I have a strong bias against the Stones in that I don't really respect anything they do. It's commercialized rock and roll garbage that waters down the actual gritty music of American blues to be palatable for those middle class white families who will spend the money. I've been generally giving every album a begrudging 3 due to the sheer brilliance of Moon and Jagger's songwriting. When those boys hit, they sure do hit.
Luckily, on this album, I just get to be a curmudgeon and give it a two.
Nightmares On Wax
2/5
Sir, sir. Please. I've been on hold for over an hour. I just want to cancel my gym memebership.
Foo Fighters
3/5
By itself it's kind of a by the numbers grungy rock album. There are a few highlights, Big Me being the biggest one. As one dude pouring out some music in response to his friend dying, it carries a lot more weight. In general the Foo Fighters hit me like fast food rock and roll. It's easy and not terrible, but nothing special.
Stan Getz
4/5
I could take a bath in the tone of Getz's tenor. Beautiful performances all around and samba goes down so smooth. Repeated listens reward you with more depth. Every musician on this record has chops for days and it shows. I do think the only thing holding this back is a lack of players from the tradition in the band but honestly, everyone is so talented it's a matter of going from great to perfect more than anything else.
Portishead
5/5
My buddy has a project to buy all of their "Perfect Albums" on vinyl. This was one of their first purchases and I could not agree more. Trip hop is a genre I like more on paper than in practice. After a time I just need this to open up a little, but this album is a major exception. Easily listened to it 3 times yesterday and will likely give it a few more spins this week.
Sisters Of Mercy
2/5
I wanted to like this one but it just doesn't land for me. The first three tracks are built so similarly they're practically indistinguishable to me. The slower tracks don't have the lyrics to keep my interest and are so repetitive I can't feel like they justify their length. All in all a disappointing album from a band that seems like it's trying to be too cool for itself.
My Bloody Valentine
2/5
Switching to my good headphones certainly helped but my hearing is already starting to go. It's just a wash of color without any root for me. I can appreciate the craft but going to save any good will for their first two albums when I get to them.
Justin Timberlake
1/5
Started it for the third time this morning and... whatever. I was a teen when this dropped. I know a ton of folks who bought this album but don't know anyone who listened to anything but the singles.
Bad R&B is atrocious and that's all there is to offer here.
Willie Nelson
4/5
It's warm and wholesome. Not all of the covers landed for me but the ones that did felt great. I'll come back to this one.
Amy Winehouse
5/5
Steller. It's a shame how the industry treated this woman and how she treated herself. But damn if this isn't a generational classic.
Culture Club
2/5
I had very low expectations coming in and Boy George did exceed them if only just barely. Sometimes the artist is more interesting than the art. I did have a lot of fun imagining that the choruses were all written because the band could never remember what song they're playing. The title of the song is just repeated sooooo much on every track.
The Beta Band
2/5
Well that was disappointing. I can't say it's not musical or well produced but it feels vapid without being fun. You can be one or the other but not both.
Peter Tosh
5/5
Hot damn. I was ready to write this off after the title track but this goes right up there with Exodus as one of the best reggae albums of all time... not that I have a huge sample size to be fair. Still, where Exodus has emotional weight Legalize It has breadth and musicality to put it over its peers. No Sympathy, Igziabeher, and Til Your Well Runs Dry all pull on different threads while still sounding so groovy. I'll be coming back to this one.
Coldplay
4/5
I'd call it the good Coldplay album but I honestly like Viva la Vida too. This is the better one of those two though. It's still melodramatic, but the hooks are so good and The Scientist, Rush of Blood to the Head, and In My Place still hold up as individually great tracks.
Nirvana
5/5
For the amount of time I spent listening to Nevermind in middle school, I realized I've never actually listened to In Utero. It's amazing what this band was doing and a shame they didn't have more to give. Would have loved to hear their continued evolution after this heavy wonderfully sloppy album.
If you're someone struggling with suicidal thoughts, call or text 988 (in the states). There are people here for you and you deserve life.
5/5
Wow. This could become my standard as the best psychedelic rock album. It's so weird without being cheesy or unlistenable and the tracks are all over the place in the best possible way. New favorite. These finds are the reason I'm doing this list.
Mj Cole
1/5
Apparently this was the start of the genre that eventually birthed dubstep and some other electronic movements, so that explains it's inclusion I guess. This is offensively inoffensive shlock through. I thought AI bands were a 2025 problem.
Joni Mitchell
5/5
JACO! JONI! What an incredible album. I ended up listening to Blue four or five times before rating it because I just loved it so much and wanted to sit with it. I'm not going to bother waiting this time. Easily joining some of my all time favorite albums even after one listen.
The Doors
2/5
I've officially become too cool for The Doors. Not sure if that means I'm no longer a pretentious asshole or I've become an even bigger ass than young Ray and Jim over here. Either way, I'm less than impressed by the wailing organ of Ray 'I invented the 7th chord' Manzarak and the immature lyrics of Jim 'The drugs make me think I'm a poet' Morrison than I was a younger man. Still they get two stars for the staying power at least. Love hearing other bands play their music.
Crosby, Stills & Nash
3/5
I've given better ratings to worse folk albums (eat your heart out Tim Buckley, love you man) but I found this underwhelming. Helplessly Hoping and Teach Your Children were both great but the rest of the album really blended into a soup of high quality but forgettable folk music for me. Can't deny those harmonies but hell if I could sing back a single melody after two listens.
Black Sabbath
4/5
RIP to a legend. Ozzy will be missed.
I enjoyed this album but it's not my favorite Sabbath work. Changes is so different from what I expect that it delights me every time I come back to it. Apart from that gem, Under the Sun was the only other stand out for me. The rest where good not great.
Beck
2/5
Well that was disappointing. What I like most about Beck is how playful and fun he can be. This was well performed but just so dreary and dull. I had to force myself to finish.
The Offspring
5/5
I LOVE this album. When I was in sixth grade (around 11 years old for the European folks), my friend played Conspiracy of One for me and I went out and bought it immediately. I liked it so much I picked up Smash at the same time without any demos. This one became the soundtrack of my entire year. I listened to it every day when I was getting ready for school and often afterwards too.
Coming back as an adult do I find some flaws, sure. The aggressive tone is ham fisted and they don't feel as authentic as I thought as a preteen, but hot damn do I not care at all. Rock the fuck on Offspring.
David Crosby
3/5
This really had me in the first half then fell off a cliff in the second. Song with No Words is a straight up accidental parody and rarely impressed by blues rock instrumentals. I'm still a sucker for this country blues rock though so I'll be coming back to it anyway.
Songhoy Blues
4/5
This slaps. Super listenable rocking band that pulls just enough of their heritage into an overplayed genre to breathe some new life into it. Not perfect but great work.
My Bloody Valentine
5/5
I was excited for this one. m b v was generated for me a few weeks ago. It peeked my interest but felt lacking overall. This 1991 album is supposed to be there best and I whole heartedly agree.
Art is always subjective and I can't always predict what will trigger a strong response in me. In general, I tend to love art that is either bloated and sloppy or pristine in its minimalism. This album manages to be both at once. The ostinantos and waves guitar sound become a wash of color where melody and harmony paint in monochrome across it. It's the subtly the does it for me. I'm not sure how often I'll come back to this but certainly enjoyed it.
Kanye West
4/5
Ye is an out of touch, likely literally insane, Nazi and he sucks. Let's get that out of the way up top.
At this point in his career though, he was just an unsuccessful narcissist who finally broke big and what a hell of a break it was. I missed this when it dropped, but his next album Graduation, is what finally made me understand hip hop. While that particular project aged poorly, this one holds up and then some. Last Call overstays but it's the only weak track. Everything else is just so fun and well produced. How can you hate on "She got a black friend, look like Michael Jackson. She got a white friend, look like Michael Jackson."? Is that line dumb as hell, yes. But is it also fun, yes.
I don't stream Ye anymore even though I love his music. Glad I had the excuse with this project and sad that he's ruined himself.
Dire Straits
4/5
Mark Knopfler is such a beast, I've heard multiple non-musicians ask if what he's doing is hard. It takes a good player to play difficult music. It takes a monster to make it sound like you could play it.
I like this album less than their self titled debut, but the highs are higher. Money for Nothin' and Walk of Life are both killer singles. The title track and The Man's Too Strong are also great, but as a whole the album gets a little wanky to me. Knopfler may have supreme taste when it comes to guitar playing, but his arrangements are so... long. I wouldn't call it pretentious, though I think it teases in that direction. It's just that every track uses so much breath that the music becomes kind of airy. You see it even on Money for Nothin'. Sitting down and actually listening to that song is worth it, there is an incredible amount of musicianship in there, but it stays well past it makes its point. I think that's why Walk of Life is my favorite Dire Straits song. The band could have so much oomph behind them if they just got to the point and ended the damn songs.
Mike Oldfield
3/5
What a weird one. I'm glad I listened. I won't do it again. Nicely done Oldfield.
Fiona Apple
4/5
Glad I finally got to dive into Ms Apple's work. I've loved every collaboration I've heard of hers and dig this era of singer songwriters.
There's some rough edges to this debut both for good and for bad. The songs are a bit samey but we'll focused in a unified sound at least. I liked it. Great album.
Queens of the Stone Age
2/5
I'm not one for hard rock even though I like heavy music. It just reminds me of every lame stoner kid in high school and feels just as generic.
This is a solid debut but so weird that Songs for the Deaf or ... Like Clockwork or not included instead. Nothing on this project rises above the genre in any meaningful manner.
The Velvet Underground
5/5
I don't care how much of a hipster it makes me. This isn't an album it's a sacred text. 6 stars.
White Denim
3/5
Nice. A whole lot of promise but it's lacking in depth. Street Joy is the best track by a mile followed by 'Is and Is and Is' and Keys.
I liked it enough to put on their 2016 album which I immediately liked better. Good stuff.
Lauryn Hill
4/5
Hill's lyricism really carries this album. It's so long and it's hard to say exactly what should go since there are at least pops of excellence on every track. The track lengths are also long, but her message and musicality is nuanced and the length is rewarded. But ultimately I found myself checking the clock for when things would wrap up rather than finding the time to settle in like I do when something really grabs me.
Overall an excellent album, but not to the level I want from someone as crazy talented as Ms Hill.
Marty Robbins
5/5
Effortlessly cool. I love the storytelling. Five stars.
Eminem
2/5
Gross. One star for content. I hated this album from my first listen as an 11 year old. Em's rhymes and flow are still developing here but he's still miles ahead of a majority of other rappers of literally any Era.
Absolutely flawed record just for the hate it spews. Glad there are later better honed records I can rate higher.
G. Love & Special Sauce
2/5
Sublime at home.
Dagmar Krause
5/5
If you told me that I would rate the English dub of Post war German Les Mis, I would totally believe you but I'm still surprised it exists.
This kind of weird nonsense is absolutely my jam. The fact that both the performance and the songwriting are steller really just solidifys my rating.
The Police
4/5
The Police are such an odd band. They're all so freaking good at what they do but seem to want to do anything except write hits. They're so good at the hits too. Message in a Bottle is one of my top 100 favorite songs of all time. The rest of the album does not disappoint but goes to such odd places. I love weirdo music but it just feels like such a waste of what we could have from this band.
All around excellent album.
The Smiths
4/5
It's the worst of the studio releases, but I still just love Marr and Morrissey together. Really credit to everyone in that band who isn't named Steven Patrick Morrissey for sticking it out long enough to give us 4 great records.
DJ Shadow
3/5
Wow that was dull. I am glad that I listened once. The craftsmanship is incredible and the work paved the way for so many records I love. That doesn't mean it's held up though.
The Triffids
2/5
This is an album on this list.
The Avalanches
4/5
The first half is a masterpiece. Brilliantly diverse electronic music that really pushes genre and vibes. The backhalf becomes pedestrian again and keeps it from a 5 star record for me.
Metallica
3/5
One is an incredible track. I could really care less after that. I just don't like thrash metal.
Girls Against Boys
2/5
I listened to this a week ago and remembered having some opinions I planned to write down but like every track on this album, I forgot them.
Sufjan Stevens
4/5
Every woman I've ever loved has loved this album and I do too. Sufjan falls short for me lyrically in many places: John Wayne Gacey and Decater in particular on this album, but he make up for it musically and with so much playful fun. Anyone calling this twee isn't listening carefully.
Steely Dan
2/5
How do you make a sophomore album that's more musically proficient and well produced than your landmark debut and still make it so much more boring. This so graded on a curve. Man do I dislike bands that decide they're too good for their own material.
Talking Heads
5/5
David Bryne and Neil Young both seem insufferable but damn I might as well just hit the 5 star button as soon as I see either of them on this list.
I love this debut. It has some warts but Weymouths rock solid bass and Brynes weirdo meandering melody and lyrics just get me every time.
Kraftwerk
4/5
After track one I expected to hate this but The Hall of Mirrors and Showroom Dummies are both killer tracks. The rest was interesting especially for the time but a noticeable step down. All around very happy to finally have a Kraftwerk album under my belt.
Pixies
4/5
This doesn't live up to Doolittle for me. I think this might be the Pixies at their purest which sounds good, but honesty, I kind of only like this band in spite of who they are rather than because of it. Give me the more polished tracks every day.
Likely invalid criticism aside, it's still a great album from a great band.
Pere Ubu
5/5
I am so glad that I was not alive instead of a 20 something in the late 70s to early 80s because I would have been the most insufferable prick if I found art punk and no wave as it was dropping.
I had never heard of this band before today but I'm immediately into it. Such a nice blend of the weirdness of No Wave with the accessibility of garage rock. I'll be coming back to this frequently.
Thelonious Monk
4/5
Way ahead of his time. Monk is brilliant and oh so very cool. There are bumps, Monk is not always fully up technically to his vision and the band feels fragmented at times, but it's a great album despite those flaws.
The Beach Boys
5/5
A lot of better spoken people than me have already said smarter things than I could articulate about Pet Sounds. I'll just say it's phenomenal. Ground breaking work with some of the greatest songwriting in pop music history. Wouldn't It Be Nice and Sloop John B are both great tracks. God Only Knows is one of my favorite songs ever (and might be my #1 if I'm pressed to pick).
There are flaws. It's odd how much this album is both sophisticated and quaint. The fade outs are awful: especially on Here Today and Wasn't Made for These Times where just stopping the progression would have been a natural ending. For the period though, I can't really count that against Wilson and Co.
Easy five stars. RIP to Brian Wilson.
2/5
Not the first album I've compared to room temperature water. Weird that it's happened twice on this list.
Inoffensive with flashes of brilliance. Not sure what I was supposed to gain from hearing this one. Read that one reviewers story about the trip hop dj and the escorts. It certainly made my listen more entertaining.
5/5
Ziggy! I'll admit I was nervous going in. The legend of this album proceeds it. It did disappoint on that front but in the same way that a tinder date becomes a real person instead of a fictionalized fantasy when you finally see them in person. Once I shook off the expectations, the hype was very real.
Personally, I think I prefer Hunky Dory but it's cheesecake verse a chocolate mousse. Ziggy is indulgent. It never goes to the point of poor taste and rewards repeat listenings. I just like Bowie at his more personal. He's a hell of a musician. While the theater is fun, it can cover the even more captivating voice of a killer songwriter.
All around killer album. Glad I finally broke the seal.