624
Albums Rated
3.66
Average Rating
57%
Complete
465 albums remaining
Rating Distribution
Rating Timeline
Taste Profile
1960
Favorite Decade
Folk
Favorite Genre
other
Top Origin
Cheerleader
Rater Style ?
162
5-Star Albums
17
1-Star Albums
Breakdown
By Genre
Top Styles
By Decade
By Origin
Albums
You Love More Than Most
| Album | You | Global | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Trout Mask Replica
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band
|
5 | 2.28 | +2.72 |
|
Playing With Fire
Spacemen 3
|
5 | 2.55 | +2.45 |
|
Don't Stand Me Down
Dexys Midnight Runners
|
5 | 2.61 | +2.39 |
|
Isn't Anything
My Bloody Valentine
|
5 | 2.75 | +2.25 |
|
Third/Sister Lovers
Big Star
|
5 | 2.79 | +2.21 |
|
Scott 4
Scott Walker
|
5 | 2.81 | +2.19 |
|
Sweetheart Of The Rodeo
The Byrds
|
5 | 2.82 | +2.18 |
|
I Am a Bird Now
Antony and the Johnsons
|
5 | 2.84 | +2.16 |
|
Good Old Boys
Randy Newman
|
5 | 2.85 | +2.15 |
|
Red Dirt Girl
Emmylou Harris
|
5 | 2.86 | +2.14 |
You Love Less Than Most
| Album | You | Global | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Metallica
Metallica
|
1 | 3.78 | -2.78 |
|
The Number Of The Beast
Iron Maiden
|
1 | 3.58 | -2.58 |
|
1984
Van Halen
|
1 | 3.5 | -2.5 |
|
A Rush Of Blood To The Head
Coldplay
|
1 | 3.44 | -2.44 |
|
...And Justice For All
Metallica
|
1 | 3.42 | -2.42 |
|
Ace of Spades
Motörhead
|
1 | 3.29 | -2.29 |
|
Deloused in the Comatorium
The Mars Volta
|
1 | 3.19 | -2.19 |
|
The Hour Of Bewilderbeast
Badly Drawn Boy
|
1 | 3.12 | -2.12 |
|
Make Yourself
Incubus
|
1 | 3.08 | -2.08 |
|
All That You Can't Leave Behind
U2
|
1 | 2.98 | -1.98 |
Artists
Favorites
| Artist | Albums | Average |
|---|---|---|
| Radiohead | 4 | 5 |
| Leonard Cohen | 4 | 5 |
| Led Zeppelin | 4 | 4.75 |
| Beatles | 4 | 4.75 |
| The Kinks | 4 | 4.75 |
| Bruce Springsteen | 4 | 4.75 |
| Bob Dylan | 3 | 5 |
| Prince | 3 | 5 |
| The Rolling Stones | 6 | 4.33 |
| David Bowie | 5 | 4.4 |
| Arcade Fire | 3 | 4.67 |
| The Stooges | 3 | 4.67 |
| Sonic Youth | 3 | 4.67 |
| The Smiths | 3 | 4.67 |
| Creedence Clearwater Revival | 3 | 4.67 |
| Jimi Hendrix | 3 | 4.67 |
| Spiritualized | 2 | 5 |
| The Band | 2 | 5 |
| Bob Marley & The Wailers | 2 | 5 |
| Neil Young & Crazy Horse | 2 | 5 |
| OutKast | 2 | 5 |
| Neil Young | 2 | 5 |
| Johnny Cash | 2 | 5 |
| My Bloody Valentine | 2 | 5 |
| Nick Drake | 2 | 5 |
| Public Enemy | 2 | 5 |
| The Velvet Underground | 2 | 5 |
| Lou Reed | 2 | 5 |
| Stevie Wonder | 4 | 4.25 |
| The Who | 4 | 4.25 |
| Tom Waits | 3 | 4.33 |
| PJ Harvey | 3 | 4.33 |
| Björk | 3 | 4.33 |
| Talking Heads | 3 | 4.33 |
| The Beach Boys | 3 | 4.33 |
Least Favorites
| Artist | Albums | Average |
|---|---|---|
| Metallica | 4 | 1.5 |
| Emerson, Lake & Palmer | 2 | 1 |
| Coldplay | 2 | 1.5 |
| Iron Maiden | 2 | 1.5 |
Controversial
| Artist | Ratings |
|---|---|
| U2 | 1, 4 |
5-Star Albums (162)
View Album Wall
Popular Reviews
Coldplay · 51 likes
1/5
I remember watching a documentary once about how the Swiss army were working to develop bullets that caused less harm as they passed through people. The idea being that you could stop someone, but have less chance of fatally injuring them.
Similarly, Coldplay have developed a brand of music so anodyne that it leaves almost no trace on the listener. I genuinely forgot it was playing at one point.
Clearly they're earnest chaps, and mean well, but it's merely more evidence that the road to hell is paved with good intentions.
Overall I'd prefer to listen to this again than be shot (Swiss bullets or regular), but it's a closer call than it should be.
Pere Ubu · 13 likes
4/5
Ground zero for postpunk. The avant garage. The beauty of Cleveland pressed into vinyl...
A band I'd probably have never got into, except for reading Rip It Up and Start Again, Simon Reynolds amazing book on postpunk 78-84. I hear it very differently now.
Not a perfect album, but the highs are totally exhilarating. 4.5*
Spiritualized · 5 likes
5/5
For symptoms including heartbreak, depression, profound existential sadness, joy, love, weariness, physical pain and spiritual malaise.
Adults and children, take one dose 💊 Repeat if necessary.
Ingredients include psychedelic space rock, gospel, soul, blues, discordant noise and ballad. Side effects may include relief, euphoria, and a deep groove.
Combine with other medication at your discretion.
Yes · 4 likes
2/5
Maybe there's some music-for- musicians thing going on here, but it's not working for me, just increasing the sense that prog rock was kind of a musical dead end. Really felt like a chore listening to this today. A whole lotta noodling.
The Smiths · 4 likes
5/5
How good is Johnny Marr?
1-Star Albums (17)
All Ratings
Simon & Garfunkel
3/5
Jimmy Smith
4/5
Very cool. Loses a point, arbitrarily and unfairly, for still being jazz.
Air
3/5
Instant transport to 1998, and it stands up pretty well, if of its time. Loved it back then. As an album now, there are more longueurs than I remembered, but still enjoyable. 3.5
Ramones
5/5
Now I wanna sniff some glue.
The Smashing Pumpkins
4/5
"Billy Corgan, Smashing Pumpkins."
"Homer Simpson, smiling politely."
Amy Winehouse
3/5
I mean, hard to say it's a bad album. Great production, great voice, couple great songs. But still underwhelming and not a patch on the originals it pays homage to.
Violent Femmes
4/5
Really digging these groovy kids and their fresh new sound.
Hope the singer manages to get some therapy, mind.
The Zombies
4/5
New to me. Lovely. Grew over a few listens.
Barry Adamson
2/5
Filing this under 'albums I was vaguely aware of but had never listened to, that I'm sort of glad to have listened to, but will never listen to again'.
Spiritualized
5/5
For symptoms including heartbreak, depression, profound existential sadness, joy, love, weariness, physical pain and spiritual malaise.
Adults and children, take one dose 💊 Repeat if necessary.
Ingredients include psychedelic space rock, gospel, soul, blues, discordant noise and ballad. Side effects may include relief, euphoria, and a deep groove.
Combine with other medication at your discretion.
Cyndi Lauper
4/5
Some great 80s pop. Fantastic voice.
R.E.M.
4/5
Remembered this album as being a bit overproduced and sentimental compared to their best stuff. Great to listen with fresh ears again. Excellent album, but still don't love it as much as Murmur.
The Band
5/5
All time classic. One of my favourites.
Oasis
3/5
Will still defend this as a good album. Northern brashness and defiance after years of Thatcher and the Tories. It'll never sound as good as it did then, and obviously it's heavily derivative, but for a while it made it sound new and full of scornful energy.
Coldplay
1/5
I remember watching a documentary once about how the Swiss army were working to develop bullets that caused less harm as they passed through people. The idea being that you could stop someone, but have less chance of fatally injuring them.
Similarly, Coldplay have developed a brand of music so anodyne that it leaves almost no trace on the listener. I genuinely forgot it was playing at one point.
Clearly they're earnest chaps, and mean well, but it's merely more evidence that the road to hell is paved with good intentions.
Overall I'd prefer to listen to this again than be shot (Swiss bullets or regular), but it's a closer call than it should be.
Weird choice for this list. They produced so many great albums in thr 80s and early 90s, but by this point they were creatively over, and this is deathly. After Coldplay yesterday, our Spotify algorithm may be permanently trashed.
Coldplay
2/5
17 albums in, and 2 Coldplay albums in three days. The algorithm is learning, and it is malevolent.
Arcade Fire
4/5
I love Funeral more, but this holds up for me. Their most grown up record (though I hadn't noticed before how much he talks about 'the kids'), with some beautiful moments, but not their greatest.
Joan Baez
2/5
A style of folk I've never really enjoyed. Wanted to like it more.
3/5
Nice variation, hope there's more like this. Gonna give it another listen.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
4/5
I'd forgotten how good this album was. 4.5 stars, to leave room for his even better ones.
Metallica
2/5
A two plus hour live metal concert with classical backing (which feels like overkill) to start the day? Okay...
Actually found myself enjoying this at one point about an hour in. But the whole inescapable overblown silliness of it wins in the end.
Steely Dan
3/5
Gave it a few listens, and it went from a 2.5 to a 3, to a 3.5. Quit while I was ahead. Some stuff I really like (Reelin' in the Years), some that does less for me (the slight cheesiness of soft rock). But there are tunes, and hooks.
The Only Ones
3/5
Always loved Another Girl, Another Planet, but disappointed by the rest of the album. Like the style, the voice, but just not the songs.
Janis Joplin
5/5
4.5 for the album, 5 for the voice
The Cardigans
2/5
Perfectly pleasant pop, at times (and dreary at others), but not exactly essential listening before you die.
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
3/5
I mean, I love Tom Petty, but his debut is probably the weakest of his albums. Probably included for American Girl, which still sounds fantastic. 5* for that, 3.5* for the album.
Joni Mitchell
3/5
I kind of wish I liked it more, but JM had never really done much for me.
Supergrass
3/5
(Only listened to original album, not bonus tracks)
Interesting to go back to this - saw them play a lot in the 90s, and they're great live. But haven't relistened to this as much as their debut. This is less poppy, a heavier, maybe more interesting sound. Some good songs too, but I miss the fun of Caught By The Fuzz etc.
3.5, brought back some good memories of the 90s Oxford indie scene...
Gorillaz
2/5
Man, I don't feel this has aged well. Sounds pretty dreary. Extra star for Del the Funky Homosapien on Clint Eastwood. Won't be returning to it.
Pere Ubu
4/5
Ground zero for postpunk. The avant garage. The beauty of Cleveland pressed into vinyl...
A band I'd probably have never got into, except for reading Rip It Up and Start Again, Simon Reynolds amazing book on postpunk 78-84. I hear it very differently now.
Not a perfect album, but the highs are totally exhilarating. 4.5*
Led Zeppelin
5/5
Heavy riff -
Hey hey baby baby -
Heavier riff -
Unexpected love song -
Really dirty riff -
Drum solo?!
Riff
5*
Joni Mitchell
4/5
Suzanne Vega
3/5
Dusty Springfield
3/5
Strange one to review. Great voice of course, some classic songs, but pretty much just versions of then-recent hits by other artists.
Pavement
5/5
Best listened to, and trust me on this, on sunny afternoons in the summer of 1992, when you're eighteen years old and about to start college, on a dodgy stereo that sometimes chews up tapes, from one side of a C90 your mate copied for you (Spacemen 3 on the other side), with the lo-fidelity set-up making it sound somehow rougher and more ramshackle and more beautiful than it already is.
That said, these circumstances may not be available to you, so I should also report that I'm listening on decent headphones now, and it still sounds f***ing fantastic.
(This does mean I'm going to have to give Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain 6 stars, tho.)
Radiohead
5/5
Brilliant. Really needs good speakers or headphones to immerse yourself in.
Stan Getz
4/5
Pleasant, but uninspiring first listen, three stars. Then I listened again, in the evening after a drink.
Slayer
2/5
Filing under albums I would never have listened to but for this list, that I'm glad to have listened to but will never listen to again, and that I have no idea how to review. Kind of great in some ways, laughable in others (man, those lyrics...). 2.5?
David Bowie
4/5
Great stuff
Sparks
4/5
Great fun. Strong 4*
Joy Division
5/5
Yep, that's pretty much how it feels. It hurts, but there's so much beauty in it too.
Sister Sledge
3/5
I think Disco is for healthy, happy people who like to dance, which is why I can't relate... But gave it a couple listens, and there's some good songwriting in there to appreciate, a good vocal groove, some great guitar at times. Not one for me, though.
Arcade Fire
5/5
And if the snow buries my / my neighborhood / and if my parents are crying / then I'll dig a tunnel / from my windows to yours.
Always loved those lines, but didn't realise they were just a realistic description of Canadian winter till I moved there.
The Stooges
5/5
Yeah, Iggy, I can feel it. Thanks for asking.
Elbow
3/5
Thought I might come back to this after 15 years with new ears but it's exactly how I remember it - solid and unspectacular. Doesn't reach, for me, any heights of majestic melancholy the way Tindersticks or The National do.
Run-D.M.C.
3/5
Jethro Tull
2/5
Nope.
Kate Bush
4/5
Surprised how much I liked this. Some wild stuff in here.
Iron Maiden
1/5
Just terrible.
(Except for the opening song, which is great comedy from Vikings: The Musical. "Invaders...pillaging! Invaders...looting!"
Spinal Tap couldn't do better)
Jean-Michel Jarre
3/5
Felt groundbreaking in the 70s. Now? <gallic shrug>
4/5
New to me, and really loved it.
Stevie Wonder
3/5
Fairly minor album compared to Innerversions and Songs in the Key of Life. Second half felt stronger. 3.5*
Milton Nascimento
3/5
Some of it I really loved, other bits less interesting.
Bob Marley & The Wailers
5/5
Such a great album
The Cure
4/5
A Forest still sounds great. Not my favourite Cure album, but great to return to.
The Avalanches
4/5
The Dave Brubeck Quartet
5/5
Listening so easy it felt like I was on my third cocktail before I knew it.
Van Morrison
5/5
Timeless
Ravi Shankar
4/5
For a list which seems a bit over full of white guy rock, this was a very happy change of gear.
Paul McCartney
4/5
Never listened to McCartney's solo albums. Really enjoyed.
Motörhead
1/5
Title track is fun, of course, but I lost the will to live through the rest of the album.
5/5
Tom Waits
5/5
The album as carnival barker, or the mutterings of a drunk lying in a Bowery gutter, or the album as a circus of freaks or the underdeck of a pirate ship, or a one man band falling down a flight of stairs, or a lounge singer sitting at the bar after his set, listening to the crowd, or the janitor in the New York basement hearing the pipes creak and bang. In a good way.
Pet Shop Boys
3/5
Solid, consistent but unspectacular PSB album.
Goldfrapp
3/5
Oh, much less poppy than I thought it would be. Some lovely moments, and a couple tracks I really liked, but also long stretches where my attention drifted.
Lorde
4/5
Some good songwriting, and I love the voice, but something about the production on this era of pop always rubs me the wrong way. Something overproduced or soulless about it. Talent survives it, but stops me really loving it.
Various Artists
3/5
Some great talent on the record, and good versions of classic songs I never really liked. Bah humbug. Happy Christmas.
Abdullah Ibrahim
4/5
Enjoying these jazz albums much more than I expected. Very listenable.
Jeff Beck
3/5
Some good pre Zeppelin heavy rock, but it's patchy too, and loses at least a star for that version of Greensleeves. 3.5 🌟
Echo And The Bunnymen
4/5
Great album. Can hear all kinds of influences from the 60s and 70s, and recognise loads of bands from later who were influenced by it, but it still could only be from the mid 80s.
Radiohead
5/5
<insert overlong and pretentious review here>
Marvin Gaye
5/5
This was such a great album to hear on new years day. Sounds as great as it always does.
Queen
2/5
Yeah, prejudices reinforced. There's something about Queen's music, despite the talent involved, that leaves me totally cold, and apparently that's not going to change. I tried!
The La's
3/5
Bonus point for 1990 nostalgia. Ubiquitous then, and influential, though hard to believe now, as it sounds so imperfect (recording the album was a notorious saga), and there's not much musically that's endured. There She Goes is great, but feels so different to the rest. I've soft spots for Way Out and Looking Glass, because I liked them when I was 16. Those songs drag the album up, barely and generously, to a 3. Nostalgia best left in the past.
Cee Lo Green
2/5
That guy at the party who repeatedly tries to get everyone to refer to him as the soul machine, and you can't help but think it's just reflecting a terrible insecurity on the inside.
Also made me think about how an album like The Source by Jimmy Scott is not on the 1001 list (I think), while this is. Crazy.
The Kinks
5/5
Love The Kinks, and really love this fascinating, beautiful album. Is it perfect? No, not from first to last (I'm not here for Phenomenal Cat, for one thing, and the album does drop off in the final third). Is it a 5 star album? Crikey, yes.
Herbie Hancock
3/5
Recognize this as a great album, but don't really enjoy jazz funk. So I guess it's a 5 star album I'm giving 3 to, which is another illustration of the fact that not everything needs quantifying.
Beatles
5/5
Such a weird album, really, veering from rock to blues to whimsy to medley. And not even close to my favourite Beatles album. But never less than astonishing.
Echo And The Bunnymen
4/5
Great 80s album, loved returning to it. Still the wrongest band name. Pretty definitively a 4.5 album for me, which recreates the main dilemma of this list, rounding up or down. Look, it's 4.5, okay?
Laibach
2/5
Okay, who had Slovenian art rock in today's sweepstakes?
Some great (deliberately) comic highlights (somehow Leben heisst Leben is funnier in Geman). The (age retricted) video to the English version is something to behold, though.
Apart from those covers there's not much in the way of tunes (or music), and it gets a bit tiresome to listen to. But hey, at least they're having fun. 2.5 🌟
Gib mir ein leicht bier!
Derek & The Dominos
3/5
Long album. A lot of it feels like I've tuned into a classic rock station while driving, and though it's enjoyable enough, if derivative, I can't remember a thing about the songs when they're finished. But a couple great tracks too, obviously. 3.5 🌟
The Last Shadow Puppets
2/5
Listenable enough, but it didn't do much for me at the time, and I'm still no wiser. Really surprised to find it on here. 2.5.
The Fall
5/5
Thank f&%£ for The Fall.
Sepultura
2/5
Well, it's some kind of vibe. Not the worst metal we've had on the list (damning with faint praise), and some of the bits that weren't metal were interesting, but still, mostly, generic dumb metal.
Metallica
1/5
Point for discussion: There is way too much metal on this list, and all of it is terrible.
(Allegedly Metallica have some of the best lyrics in metal. It's a low bar.)
1.5 🌟
Michael Jackson
4/5
I'm no big fan of pop or MJ, and this is in no way a perfect album (there's some pretty banal filler like Baby Be Mine and Human Nature, and apart from one great run of tracks in the middle it doesn't really cohere). But when it's great, it's truly great. Billie Jean/Beat It etc. Loads of soul in the voice and music, which gives the pop its kick and edge. In some ways hard to argue that it's not 5 stars, but here we are.
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
5/5
Definitely in my top 5 favourite Neil Young albums...
Terence Trent D'Arby
2/5
Decent voice, soulful though not exactly OV Wright. Some 80s pop cheesiness to production and arrangement. Songs vary between were-everywhere-in-the-80s to the pretty ordinary. Not my thing. 2.5*
Willie Colón & Rubén Blades
4/5
If this were my airport, there would be more of this kind of thing. 4.5 🌟
Michael Kiwanuka
4/5
This is 5 years old already?! Damn, my life...
Anyway, 4.5 🌟
Duke Ellington
5/5
Firstly, a shout out to the algorithm for setting all the long albums for the weekend.
Secondly, this is fantastic. I was nearly up doing the jitterbug halfway through, and I have no idea what the jitterbug even is.
Billy Joel
3/5
Upbeat and well crafted piano pop. Listenable and likeable if you like to listen to that kind of thing, which I don't, particularly.
Megadeth
1/5
I'd call it 'music for disaffected high schoolers on amphetamines', but that makes it sound much more fun than the turgid, interminable thrash metal it is.
The Rolling Stones
5/5
The Stones at their peak. Bluesy greatness.
Badly Drawn Boy
1/5
To paraphrase Woody Allen: the music here is awful, and such big portions!
Insipid and lacklustre singer songwriter stuff that should be nowhere near this list.
Kate Bush
5/5
I don't love everything on here, but it's so great, way ahead of its time, brilliant and experimental.
The White Stripes
4/5
Missed this one of theirs at the time, but really enjoyed. A mostly successful, occasionally great, experiment with their sound and songwriting.
Fiona Apple
5/5
Brilliant album, great to find it on here. Shout out to Shameika for being early on this.
Skunk Anansie
2/5
Never much got into these guys. Liked the punk bits (On My Hotel TV) more than the overwrought heavy rock. Doesn't do anything for me.
Traffic
3/5
Interesting. That identity crisis of 60s influences - rock, blues, psychedelia, jazz, folk - hangs together okay, and it all sounds pretty good, but even after a couple listens there's nothing that stays with me like the greats of the time.
Blur
4/5
Stands up surprisingly well. Fun, and you can hear the influences of The Kinks running through. I mean, Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain was released in '94 too, which puts this in perspective, and I love Pulp's His'n'Hers from the same year more than I'll ever love this, but this was much more interesting and enjoyable to return to than I'd thought. There is some filler, particularly in the second half, would have been a stronger album if a few songs shorter.
OutKast
5/5
I mean, this is two five star albums, so I'm giving it 10 🌟
John Prine
4/5
Mighty fine songwriting, Mr Prine.
Michael Jackson
3/5
Never found out if Annie was okay 3/5
2/5
No.
U2
4/5
AC/DC
3/5
Sometimes fun, always dumb.
Duran Duran
3/5
Eric Clapton
3/5
Some really decent tracks, just don't think entire albums of covers should be in this list.
The Crusaders
3/5
Enjoyed, especially Street Life, but kept forgetting it was playing after that.
Cat Stevens
5/5
Jesus, he was 22 when this album came out....
Anyway, a couple more listens over the weekend convinced me to round up from 4.5...
Metallica
2/5
I can totally believe this is the best heavy metal album on here. The playing is fast and tight, it's repetitive, and the lyrics were apparently written by a 13 year old. 2.5 🌟
Sonic Youth
5/5
Man, it's great to feel 16 again...
Arrested Development
3/5
Still lots of fun, couple great tracks, bit overlong and patchy as an album. 3.5.
Neil Young
5/5
As the old joke goes, I played this so much on vinyl back in the day it destroyed the record: you should see the needle and the damage done.
Anyway, it's the album that got me into Neil Young, and still my favourite.
Sigur Rós
5/5
T. Rex
4/5
Never listened to the whole album before. Really fun, cool glam rock. Not my usual thing, but loved it.
4.5 🌟
Metallica
1/5
Oh, no. Please no. More Metallica? At this rate there are going to be 33 Metallica albums on the list, and they all sound the f£%^ing same. One is too many, and the returns are diminishing badly.
We're well into the hundreds of albums, and given the tedious length of these, close to 5% of the time has been spent listening to this one terrible band. 0 🌟
Roxy Music
4/5
Top baroque prog pop/rock
Doves
4/5
Oh man, haven't listened to this for an age. Great first half and a bit, tails off at the end a bit.
James Brown
4/5
Great, but sounds like it was even more fun to be there...
Count Basie & His Orchestra
3/5
They're popping, but not really my style.
ABBA
3/5
For me their best stuff is always the sad stuff: winner takes it all, and here, knowing me, knowing you. Not a big fan apart from that (and find dancing queen unlistenable), but there's some obviously great pop here (that doesn't do much for me), and some average filler. A ha.
The Slits
4/5
Not instantly listenable, but there's so much going on here, closer to dub than punk, and it's interesting and innovative, despite all the influences. Wouldn't have given it the time of day a few years ago, but genuinely enjoyed it now. Also, Viv's great.
Kendrick Lamar
3/5
I've got friends who think he's the GOAT, and talk about this album like it's Moby Dick, so I go back to it sometimes to give it time, but all I keep hearing is an at-best second rate lyricist and unremarkably-voiced rapper with some great production. Not bad at all, but not earth-shattering. I get that this probably reflects badly on me, but so it goes.
Johnny Cash
5/5
Incarceration is underrated.
The War On Drugs
4/5
Ah great. Love this and it's great to have another album from the last..
Wait. This is from 2014? Oh god, I've lost another ten years of my life.
4.5 🌟 for the album, 1 🌟 for the accelerating passage of time.
Bert Jansch
3/5
Lovely, gentle, not outstanding, but didn't outstay its welcome. Nice guitar work though. 3.5 🌟
The Sensational Alex Harvey Band
2/5
New to me. And roving all over the place stylistically, prog, glam, musical etc, loads of things thrown at the wall, mostly with energy, sometimes sounding like pastiche. Interesting, but I don't love it. 2.5 🌟?
4/5
Definitely their best album. Some of it you had to be there for, but still great to return to.
Bob Dylan
5/5
I'll put it down to bad luck that we had 2 Coldplay and 4 Metallica albums before the first sight of any Dylan. Anyway, we're here now, and that's all that matters.
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
4/5
Great stuff.
Paul Simon
5/5
Ali Farka Touré
4/5
Really enjoyed, and I'll come back to it. Wish there was way more stuff like this on the list.
My Bloody Valentine
5/5
My bloody madeleine. Just a small taste of those layers of guitar, and it's instant time travel. How they manage to make a sound so perfectly happy and sad and elusive is magic. This and Loveless are unparalleled.
Nick Drake
5/5
My favourite Nick Drake, and right up there with Pink Moon. Perfect listening for the weekend.
DJ Shadow
3/5
Remember this being a thing back in the day, but never loving it as much as Massive Attack or Tricky or other mid 90s precursors/contemporaries. So, good to return too, even if it leaves me feeling exactly the same. S'alright. Preferred some other stuff.
Van Halen
1/5
Best thing about the album: it's only 30 minutes. Second best: Jump sounds pretty good, even if it's mostly here to show up how shit, dated and regressive the rest of the album is.
Emerson, Lake & Palmer
1/5
Things were bleaker than I imagined in 1971.
Genesis
2/5
I'm not getting much reward out of these prog rock albums. Can hear some decent stuff in there, but god you could get away with so much rubbish. Taking the worst/most indulgent bits of rock and jazz and aiming for a lyrical level of metal.
The Clash
5/5
This week in 1001 albums has been much like the 70s, in that there's been a lot of interminable prog rock, and then punk has come along at the end as a necessary corrective.
Johnny Cash
5/5
Didn't expect both prison albums. But man, it sounds great. Forgot I wasn't actually there.
LL Cool J
3/5
Mixed bag. Some good grooves, some solid stuff, some dated, some cringey. Enjoyed the listen though.
PJ Harvey
5/5
Remember hearing Sheela-na-gig on the radio in '92 - cheers, John Peel - and having heard nothing like it before (didn't know Patti Smith back then, or much of anything). Still sounds fantastic and fresh today. Those early PJ Harvey albums are so great.
The Monkees
3/5
Listened to the original album (30 minutes) rather than the deluxe reissue 90 minute version on Spotify. Anyway, very enjoyable. Some filler, but a great Beatles or Byrds-y 60s pop sound when they hit it.
Beatles
4/5
Interesting to return to and hear echoes of 50s pop along with the occasional intimation of the band they'd be in just a few years. Couple world class tracks here, obviously, but also some ordinary stuff (at least by the Beatles standards...).
5/5
I remember my dad talking about how great The Kinks were, and I knew some of their singles, but wasn't that interested compared to Dylan and the Beatles etc. So in a way they've been the great revelation for me from this list. Village Green and this are fantastic albums.
Neil Young
5/5
Neil Young's retreat to the raw and loose, after the success of Harvest and the addiction and the death around him. This one was a slow burner with me originally, not as easy a listen, but god it rewards returning to it.
Sheryl Crow
3/5
If the algorithm can sort out a Christmas album for Christmas day, how come it can't manage to put this on a Tuesday?
Anyway. This was... okay, occasionally decent, but consistently unchallenging. At its best when poppy.
2.5 🌟
Paul Revere & The Raiders
3/5
Well, they had a lot of influences, sometimes sounding like two different bands in the same song.
Anyway, my marking system for this one was to start with 5 stars, then deduct 0.05 stars every time he said 'girl'.
2.85 🌟
Bob Dylan
5/5
Just relieved after group reviews of the last Dylan that I don't have to disown my in-laws or question my marriage x
Beach House
4/5
Oh, nice start to the week. Great to find this on here. 4.5 🌟
Miriam Makeba
5/5
Wonderful find on here.
50 Cent
3/5
Came in with low expectations, which helped. For the most part some pretty standard gangsta rap, missing what made some of the genre great. But there are some good singles, some decent grooves, and good production. Better than I thought it would be.
Heaven 17
2/5
There's some great synth pop out there, but this isn't it. Pretty average songwriting, hasn't aged well.
Electric Light Orchestra
4/5
I was fascinated by the physical LP when I was a kid, the strangeness of the neon gloss and glow among my dad's records. I remember sliding it out and opening it up for the futuristic art. Don't remember listening to it at all until I was an adult. It wasn't the album I had expected, but something pretty good all the same.
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
3/5
Enjoyed, but doesn't hold up as well as It's Blitz! 3.5 🌟
Scott Walker
3/5
I'm more about Scott 4, but always liked how defiantly theatrical and of time all this was. The Jacques Brel obsession was always a bit much. 3.5 🌟
Ghostface Killah
4/5
Great rapper, great album. 4.5 🌟
Wilco
5/5
Intense, understated beauty.
Muddy Waters
4/5
There has not been a lot of blues on this list... Great album, love how loose and free the band is. 4.5 🌟
Iron Maiden
2/5
Came in with very low expectations after the last IM album, and it was either that, or maybe this isn't the worst heavy metal in the list by a long way. Reaching the relatively dizzying heights of 2 🌟
Khaled
3/5
Great opening track, but disappointing afterwards, too Euro-pop-y in its fusion and beats. Still, a rare bit of variety on the list.
The Rolling Stones
5/5
Brilliant. Top 3 Stones album.
Mj Cole
2/5
Didn't expect to be reminded of the feeling of living in London 25 years ago, and picking up a dodgy minicab in Soho to take you south of the river, with a late night local radio station blasting exactly this kind of thing for hours. As in, the kind of thing that was ubiquitous, but I'd only hear accidentally. Production is (too?) clean, and I gave it a fair shot, but it only ever felt like backdrop music to more interesting things happening.
Carole King
5/5
Finally one for Jim!
A couple of these tracks have better covers, but this is some all-time great songwriting.
Stevie Wonder
5/5
This and Songs in the Key of Life are perfect.
Morrissey
5/5
Morrissey's last great album. Really stands up, even if I wish we'd never heard from him again after this.
Faust
4/5
Das gefällt mir! 4.5 🌟
Björk
5/5
I remember, late one night in '94, bumping into the lovely, slightly crazy guy who lived down the street in east Oxford, just off the Iffley Road. He was a little wild-eyed. He confided to me that he was in love with someone, but hadn't told them yet, and that he was worried his mental health problems might get in the way. Do you think I have a chance with her? he asked.
Why not, I said. Who is she?
You might not know her, he said. It's Björk.
Anyway, great to return to this. The 90s production is so noticeable now, but it's all good and interesting and serves the songs. Proper songs too, nothing wilful in the experimentation, just great music.
4.5 🌟, rounding up in memory of my old friend from down the road.
Beastie Boys
4/5
They did better albums, and they did smarter albums, but this is so much fun.
Prince
5/5
Easy 5.
Led Zeppelin
5/5
Kind of padded in the second half and imperfect, especially compared to IV, but one of those 'great, imperfect, torrential works', as Bolaño had it. My favourite Led Zeppelin album.
Cocteau Twins
5/5
Great run of albums the last few days, hoping it lasts. The Cocteau Twins' creative peak.
Nico
4/5
Works for me.
Sex Pistols
5/5
England's dreaming / no future.
Nina Simone
5/5
Immaculate and inimitable.
David Bowie
5/5
Another easy 5 🌟
Depeche Mode
4/5
Loved this when I was 16, so curious to return to it. Hasn't aged quite as well as I hoped, but it's a solid album, and I still get some of the feels. 4 🌟
The Byrds
4/5
Bit uneven as an album, but the highs are great: 5D, Eight Miles High, and Mr Spaceman, which I've loved since I was a kid.
The Smiths
5/5
How good is Johnny Marr?
Willie Nelson
3/5
Nice, easy, pared back sound, but doesn't excite me much.
Jungle Brothers
5/5
Sure, it's fun, varied and inventive, but where's the misogyny, feuding with other rappers, and petty diss tracks?
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
5/5
Always loved this album. A handful of great songs, and just a lovely feel to the whole thing.
Earth, Wind & Fire
3/5
Nothing to dislike here; it's just not my thing.
The Smashing Pumpkins
5/5
Just totally nails that sound, that age, and that feeling.
Creedence Clearwater Revival
5/5
Great band, great sound.
The Charlatans
4/5
From memory was expecting this to be a solid 3, but then it left me in so much of a better mood than when I started. Also, always got time for Tim Burgess.
Pere Ubu
4/5
Didn't know this as well as The Modern Dance, but damn, it's just as good. 4.5🌟
The Police
2/5
Running the gamut of pretty poor to bang average. At one point thought is was sounding great, only to realise the album had finished and Spotify had gone on to play Dexys Midnight Runners.
GZA
5/5
That run of solo Wu Tang albums was insane.
Creedence Clearwater Revival
5/5
Just great rock and roll.
The Who
5/5
The kids are alright, and the boomers sound pretty great too.
Jacques Brel
3/5
Well, Jacques Brel was never for me - too grandiose - but it's defiantly what it is, so I'll give it a neutral 3.
Alanis Morissette
2/5
As angsty as I remember, but much rougher as an album. A couple high points, but otherwise another one best left in the 90s.
Songhoy Blues
3/5
Nice bit of variety, but hasn't really stayed with me after a couple listens. 3.5 🌟
Led Zeppelin
5/5
This is very hard to argue with.
Happy Mondays
5/5
Shambolic genius. High point of Madchester/baggy and indie/rave crossover. Album isn't perfect, but the best bits, stolen from all over and blended to perfection - Kinky Afro, Loose Fit, Step On etc are fantastic fun. It was a great time to be 16.
Aphex Twin
5/5
Could listen to this all day, and feel good the whole time.
Bee Gees
2/5
Weaksauce.
Norah Jones
2/5
Perfectly arranged and produced and sweet sounding, yet somehow bereft of any soul and utterly inconsequential. Never heard music so determined to fade into the background. Take drugs, kids, not sugar pills.
Daft Punk
4/5
Smart dumb fun.
Crowded House
3/5
I've got time for the Finn brothers - I know they're respected and liked by musicians I admire, and I've seen them play in later years in a couple contexts. But good will aside, and despite a couple great tracks, this is some middling 90s fare.
Adele
4/5
Not really one for me, but it's not hard to see the talent, and why so many love it. Album is a bit mixed, there are some weak songs to go with the obvious standouts. 3.5 🌟? I'm going to be uncool and round it up to 4.
Paul Weller
2/5
So forgettable I'm not 100% sure I actually listened to it.
Tracy Chapman
5/5
Deep Purple
2/5
Some albums are timeless, some are of their time. Unfortunately, I think if there was a time for me to get into this, it was 50 years ago. Interesting to hear the beginnings of metal. But Christ, there's even a drum solo. 2.5 🌟
The Everly Brothers
2/5
Pleasant enough, but man, a lot was about to happen in the 60s...
4/5
Oh, what a great set. Rough and raw as anything, but full of energy and feeling. It's like pre-punk post-punk. No way it sounds like it's from the 60s.
Red Snapper
2/5
There must be loads of great albums I've never heard of, and I thought this list would provide. Instead, we get this. Occasionally chill, mostly generic and lazy. Dated. The kind of album a pseudo-cool posh kid at uni in 2000 would have been into.
King Crimson
3/5
Went into this cautiously, given past experiences with prog on this list. But mostly enjoyed it (Moonchild, though?). 3.5 🌟
I'll have to add King Crimson to the bottom of my list of favourite musical kings:
1. King Creosote
2. BB King
3. Carole King
4. The King (Northern Irish Elvis impersonator, see Gravelands)
5. The King (Elvis)
6. Ben E King
7. King Crimson
Jimi Hendrix
5/5
Unlike Electric Ladyland and Are You Experienced? I wasn't familiar with this one, and so pleased to know it now. Fantastic stuff.
Santana
4/5
Nice pairing for the Hendrix yesterday.
Alice Cooper
3/5
Decent 70s rock. I was expecting something either much worse or more challenging. 3.5 🌟
My Bloody Valentine
5/5
The album as religious experience. Perfection.
10 🌟
Prince
5/5
Immense. Honestly, if the app bugged out at this point and it kept giving me this album every day for the next three years, I don't think I'd mind.
Eagles
2/5
Pretty dull.
Pixies
5/5
Not quite up there with Doolittle for me but still pretty great.
N.E.R.D
2/5
This is really, really bad. 1.5 🌟
Pet Shop Boys
4/5
Great pop.
Talking Heads
4/5
Maybe not their height, but you know, still David Byrne great.
Steely Dan
2/5
Apart from one brighter spot (Peg), this puts the difficult grind into easy listening, and the offensiveness into its inoffensiveness.
N.W.A.
4/5
Not one of the greatest rap albums for me, and the relentless misogyny is hard to take, but it's musically influential, and endlessly culturally and politically relevant.
Mylo
3/5
Diverting but inconsequential.
Kraftwerk
5/5
Ja! Das ist die Autobahn!
Supertramp
3/5
Enjoyed this more than I thought I would. Sometimes indulgent, but some high points too.
Parliament
4/5
Undeniably fun and groove-y.
Sade
2/5
Smooth as a pebble, but unfortunately as interesting as one too. Full of banal sentiment.
Big Black
2/5
New to me, and I was wondering why this never really made it over to the UK until I gave it a listen. There were just so many more interesting things going on in the mid 80s than this. Couple moments I liked - Kerosene gets somewhere good about half way through - but there's nothing I want to come back.
John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers
3/5
I mean, musically pretty good, though I can leave the drum solos. But I'd really prefer to hear the originals.
Funkadelic
4/5
The opening track kind of starts in the middle and then stays there for a long time before fading out, but by halfway through the second I was into it.
David Bowie
4/5
Really great late Bowie - interesting and challenging. It was his best for ages, ir really only a minor classic by his standards.
Sonic Youth
5/5
Didn't know this as well as some of their catalogue, and really great to have a few listens today, without the sheen of nostalgia. Loved it.
Recommended reading: Kim Gordon's Girl in a Band.
Rahul Dev Burman
3/5
Hard to review. It's sometimes cool and sometimes cheesy, sometimes inventive and sometimes derivate, sometimes fun and sometimes dull. Safe 3 🌟?
The Lemonheads
3/5
Some of the tracks are really tight and impressively short, and some are very middling 90s indie sludge. Not sure it really needed the expanded edition treatment...
Black Sabbath
4/5
Honestly, I'm as surprised by this as anyone.
CHIC
3/5
Pretty cool by disco standards, but sometimes repetitive.
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
4/5
Beautiful. Wish I understood the form better.
Harry Nilsson
5/5
So good to return to this after a few years. Always loved it, and how it fits together as an album - great songwriting, a great voice, a lot of fun.
The Teardrop Explodes
4/5
Remembering that in Head On, Cope describes the herculean amounts of LSD the band were on for this recording, and how they often used to arrive at the studio riding imaginary horses.
Just can't work out whether it's because of that or despite that, that the album sounds so good.
Marty Robbins
2/5
Ah, I wanted to like it more. Some of the songs are really oddly overwritten (looking at you, Utah Carol), and he sings every song the in the exact same tone, never mind if the protagonist is about to be hanged or in love. Prefer my cowboy songs with a bit more edge.
Taylor Swift
2/5
Came in with a positive attitude, but quickly worn down. What was going on with the production in pop in the 2010s? It's really overproduced, and the sound - that slight autotuning - is mostly bland and often awful. Interesting to hear the 80s touches, but it pales in comparison to the best of that decade. Some obvious talent, and a couple brighter tracks - Shake It Off, Bad Blood etc, but otherwise pretty disappointing. Now the wait to find out if my nieces forgive me...
Everything But The Girl
3/5
Solid, listenable trip hop.
Japan
2/5
New Wave is not for me. Couple tracks enjoyable.
Radiohead
5/5
Astonishing album, full of depths. Maybe the best album of the millennium.
Public Enemy
5/5
Great album. Relentless, inventive, political.
Miles Davis
5/5
Came in nervously, because of the fusion tag, but really loved it. Listened again a day later and still blown away. Just great feeling to the playing. Damn, I think I'm finally getting jazz a little.
De La Soul
5/5
Haven't listened to this through for maybe 25 years, and it still sounds fantastically fresh and cool.
Janet Jackson
2/5
Some very big 80s pop production, some heavy handed social commentary, a couple pop tracks that hang together pretty well. But very much feels like less than the sum of its parts.
Air
3/5
I mean, I own and like this album, but am pretty surprised to find it on here as an essential-listen-before-you-die kinda thing.
Sufjan Stevens
4/5
Wait, there's a Decatur imitator?
Lovely album.
4/5
Good album, but I seem to be in a minority in greatly preferring her early work.
Aimee Mann
4/5
Great songwriter. Feel like her best work was still to come in the 90s.
The Vines
2/5
Derivative and limited. I was wondering what the specific noise on the record was, beneath the guitars, drums and vocals, but it turned out to be the sound of a barrel being scraped.
(A generous) 2 🌟
Antony and the Johnsons
5/5
Always loved this, but fantastic to hear how well it holds up 20 years later. Vibrato is so often used by inane singers as a substitute for real feeling, but here it's a strange and ethereal component of it. Thoroughly beautiful album.
Jack White
3/5
Decent, with a couple great tracks, but not exactly essential.
Linkin Park
2/5
Yeesh. All that energy, and for this?
Adam & The Ants
4/5
Adam Amt was ubiquitous on Top of the Pops growing up, so very strange to return to it now. Then it was just pop music, with no context. In a way it sounds completely new - I can hear all the different influences at work, and how they come together. Really enjoyed and surprised by a couple listens through.
Judas Priest
2/5
I can see things to like, if you like this kind of thing. Band is tight, and the drummer has it down, and there are some good hard rock influences running through. But every heavy metal album is another reminder of how dumb, samey, adolescent amd portentous the genre is. Count me out.
Koffi Olomide
3/5
Pretty listenable.
Wu-Tang Clan
5/5
Masterpiece. Wu-Tang Clan ain't nuttin ta f wit.
Recommended reading: Chamber Music by Will Ashon
Buddy Holly & The Crickets
4/5
Hard to review now, because it's so much of its time, but anyway.
The Cramps
4/5
Some great stuff, pretty raw and fun. Less convinced by some of the more rockabilly stuff, but hard to argue against what the band is doing with it all.
Beyoncé
3/5
I was surprised to find out that a friend of mine was a huge fan of Beyoncé, but I said to him, well, whatever floats your boat.
No, he said. That's buoyancy.
(Anyway. Some real highlights - Partition, Flawless - but plenty of lowlights too, and the sentiment throughout is pretty banal. Hard to care about.)
Jazmine Sullivan
4/5
I don't like too much contemporary R&B, but this is great. Soulful voice, honest, sensual songwriting, great minimalist production, and a really tightly built album.
Green Day
2/5
Punk content: zero
Pop content: mediocre
Crooked Rain, Crooked Rain came out in '94. Why the hell would anyone be listening to this?
Leonard Cohen
5/5
Just going to review this on sentiment. Obviously not the height of his powers, and hard to see it as anything except a remarkable parting gift. Couple all-time great tracks, the rest strong. Head would say 4 stars, but it's Leonard Cohen, so going with the heart.
Mudhoney
3/5
Bit mixed as an album. Good Enough sounds great, liked a couple others, but there was better stuff going on in '91...
The Undertones
4/5
The Cult
3/5
Yep, that sounds exactly like an okay rock album.
Fleet Foxes
4/5
Always loved this. Great that so many influences cohere into something so distinct and beautiful. 4.5 🌟
The White Stripes
4/5
Good, bluesy rock, stands up well but think I prefer White Blood Cells.
The Jam
4/5
Loads of 60s influences coming through, particularly Beatles and Kinks, but with a post punk feel and production. Really enjoyed.
Yes
3/5
Liked it more than the last Yes album we had. It almost broke out into a song at points. Still not my jam, though. 2.5 🌟
Gary Numan
4/5
(Ignoring the bonus tracks, which detract a little from the album)
Thought this would feel very much of its time, and of course it does, but it still sounds fantastic today. Great album.
Garbage
2/5
Bang average miserablist pop rock.
2.5 🌟
Nas
5/5
All time great East Coast hip hop.
Talking Heads
4/5
4.5 🌟
Elastica
4/5
A lot of borrowing, but it's a sharp, scuzzy sounding album, nothing outstaying its welcome, and some really solid songs.
Femi Kuti
4/5
Great vibes. Hope there's some Fela Kuti on here too. 4.5 🌟
The Prodigy
2/5
Couple good tracks, but mostly on the dumb, repetitive side of rave. 2.5 🌟
Guns N' Roses
2/5
Couple brighter tracks, but for the most part a depressingly stupid listen.
Le Tigre
4/5
New to me, and loads of fun. Went straight back to the beginning after the first listen. 4.5 🌟
Simon & Garfunkel
4/5
Man, these Simon and Garfunkel albums aren't holding up as albums as well as I thought they would for me. Thought this would be an easy 5 stars. But for every great track (The Only Living Boy in New York, The Boxer), there's a pretty lazily written one where they're just coasting (So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright). Still, the highs are great.
Talvin Singh
2/5
I'm happy for all the people out there who enjoy this.
Talking Heads
5/5
Loving this run of Talking Heads albums (and there must be a couple more to come, I reckon). They're all up around 4.5 for me, so giving a 5 to this one to even it out.
Public Enemy
5/5
Landmark album.
The Psychedelic Furs
3/5
Kind of pleasingly ramshackle, but too much of it is pretty forgettable. Thought it might stand up a bit better.
Green Day
3/5
Expectations were so low after the last Green Day album but after the reaffirmation that they're a pop band (this is not punk), it began to make a bit of sense. Nothing great, but way better than Dookie, at least.
Led Zeppelin
4/5
Great album, but I'm gonna go with the orthodoxy that is not quite up there with II and IV.
Iggy Pop
4/5
Definitely Iggy's best work after Raw Power, and loving hearing the Bowie input again. Couple all time great tracks, too. 4.5
Kanye West
4/5
Honestly, a pretty great debut hip hop album, if also a reminder that there's not much that reveals character like success.
Björk
4/5
Oh, nice. Haven't listened to much of Björk's later work at all. Very sad and beautiful and unnerving.
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
5/5
Oh boy, David's gonna hate this, but as far as I'm concerned they could just stream this straight into my veins. Just a fantastic album.
Hole
4/5
Oh, haven't heard this in an age. Sounds pretty great still.
Yes
2/5
Maybe there's some music-for- musicians thing going on here, but it's not working for me, just increasing the sense that prog rock was kind of a musical dead end. Really felt like a chore listening to this today. A whole lotta noodling.
Jimi Hendrix
5/5
The Flaming Lips
5/5
Unique, idiosyncratic, delightful. Also great live.
X-Ray Spex
4/5
Quality, fun punk, 4.5
Culture Club
2/5
Sure, Karma Chameleon is catchy, but there's a reason it's been played around 38 times more often than the next most listened to track. Mostly pretty bland pop, far from essential listening.
Pink Floyd
4/5
Kind of nervous returning to this - haven't listened to it through for around 30 years. But the remaster sounds fantastic, and I'm relieved to find I still love it. Yes, it's overlong and uneven, particularly losing momentum in the second half (picking up a bit again after Confortably Numb), but as a concept album/rock opera it stands up, with soem amazing heights. It'll never be my favourite Pink Floyd, but it was great to spend the weekend listening to it again. So close to five stars that this rating feels cruel.
Elton John
4/5
I'm sure it's great on its own terms, but it's not really for me.
Shivkumar Sharma
5/5
Thanks to the reviewers who sent me to the right recording on YouTube, instead of the wrong Spotify link. Loved this, played it a few times over the day. So full of expression. Can see why so many western musicians were excited by it.
David Bowie
5/5
The Beach Boys
4/5
Never listened to this, and really enjoyed. It's not Pet Sounds, but what is? Couple great tracks, couple slightly cheesy.
Nine Inch Nails
4/5
This was bleak, but excellent.
Creedence Clearwater Revival
4/5
Not my favourite CCR album. Only a couple great tracks, but the sound is there. Heading off to Google "What is chooglin' " and hoping it doesn't take me anywhere bad...
The Roots
4/5
Beth Orton
4/5
Another album not returned to for 20 years or so. Doesn't quite have the effect it used to, but some of the old vibe is there, and her voice is great: haunting, dismissive, expressive and understated. 4 stars, not sure how much of that is nostalgia.
The Temptations
3/5
Interesting blend of soul and funk, and enjoyed a couple listens through, but felt it was mostly solid rather than spectacular. 3.5
Booker T. & The MG's
4/5
I mean, it's not my thing, but it does sound like something out of time, and I get why it has endured. 3.5
Pretenders
4/5
Oh, this stands up great. Happy to have this back in the rotation 4.5 🌟
The Byrds
5/5
Man, I do not understand the lack of love for this album on here. Right at the heart, and near the start, of the alt country.
Lauryn Hill
4/5
Smart, confident hip hop, with reggae and soul running through.
The Saints
4/5
Goddammit, that's yet another thing that's as old as me but has aged far better.
Isaac Hayes
3/5
Seems a bit churlish to complain, after going on about the lack of soul on the list (apparently no OV Wright, Ann Peebles, Howard Tate, Jimmy Scott?), but this is not the soul I was looking for. Sometimes schmaltzy, sometimes dated, one not great arrangement, really only leaves you with a couple tracks worth the time. Band is doing okay though.
The Rolling Stones
4/5
Couple great tracks, some nice bluesy stuff, but not exactly their best stuff. 3.8
Barry Adamson
2/5
I mean, sure, it's an interesting little bit of musical history, and parts of it I liked, but a must-listen album rather than odd curio?
Radiohead
5/5
Right up there with Kid A, but somehow feels underrated in xomparison. Sounds better every year, and so cohesive as an album.
Bobby Womack
3/5
A little too much on the cheesy R&B and funk production end of things for me, and nothing that hits remotely like Across 110th Street.
Willie Nelson
3/5
Underwhelmed by the last Willie Nelson album, and this started badly with a schmaltzy title track. It picked up after that, with his versions of Georgia on My Mind, Blue Skies, and All of Me, but then I drifted away from the rest of the album.
Dusty Springfield
4/5
Not all to my taste, but some great stuff, and a couple all-timers.
The Coral
3/5
Huh. Not quite what I was expecting The Coral to sound like. Loads of weird and interesting influences, but apart from a couple tracks don't feel that the output really comes together as well as it could. 3.5
Circle Jerks
4/5
Short and sharp. Occasionally felt that the brevity was covering up for some flaws, but great fun, and much rather this than 2 hours of prog.
Jane Weaver
3/5
I mean, I liked it.
The Black Keys
3/5
Pretty standard blues rock, and though they've clearly been listening to some 70s glam, they're staying solidly in the safe middle ground. Has its moments, but too much of it is forgettable, even as it was playing.
The Velvet Underground
5/5
I love this album so much. Amazing how influenced it was by the 57 years that followed it...
Can
4/5
Love Can, and to be honest need to go back and listen to this a few more times.
American Music Club
2/5
I could only listen to this on my phone's speakers, so let's say that's the reason the album sounded so bland, limited and tuneless.
Jorge Ben Jor
4/5
Loved most of this, and liked the rest of it. Mostly just relieved for a break from the usual on this list.
Elton John
4/5
Not my thing personally, but impressive in its way.
The Smiths
4/5
Not quite their best, for me, but there was still nothing else like them.
Anthrax
2/5
It was going okay until the singing started. Comedy gold. The sound isn't for me, fair enough, but I still don't understand why all these metal bands have to have their lyrics written by 13 year olds. Bonus star for making me laugh out loud a couple times.
Ice Cube
4/5
Really solid beats and sampling, with sharp and vital narratives. Just the sound and tone maybe a little too one-note, especially over a long album.
Elvis Presley
4/5
Such a short album, and so many different ways of reviewing it. Cultural borrowings, advent of rock'n'roll, early career marker etc etc. But let's just stick with the spirit of the list and give it a number out of 5.
Beck
3/5
I love Beck, and like this, but wouldn't have it in his top 5 albums, which makes me wonder how much Beck we have ahead. 3.5
Fatboy Slim
4/5
Not really made to be sat down and listened to, but that made it kind of interesting too. Some great, dumb big beats, loads of fun in the right context. But a lot of filler over the hour too. Big album in terms of where dance music was at the time, which made me wonder about rounding up from the 3.5 it's getting...
The Associates
4/5
Totally get that this is an acquired taste - for most of my listening life I wouldn't have given this the time of day. Sitting down today with Simon Reynolds' Rip it Up and Start Again while listening to this on repeat did the trick for me. Get the feeling I might come back to this in a few years and give it a 5.
Bruce Springsteen
5/5
God-tier pop-rock, for one thing, every song a blinder. But shot through with intelligence, sadness and longing, and genuine depth and richness in its narratives. Immaculate, and still not my favourite Springsteen album.
The Kinks
4/5
Not their greatest album, but a fascinating snapshot of 60s musical change.
Stevie Wonder
5/5
This and Innerversions are pretty much perfect.
Nirvana
5/5
Yep, that still rocks.
Emerson, Lake & Palmer
1/5
I almost liked some of the minimalist bits where they didn't play many notes. But then they'd go and play all the notes to make up for it (some of them perhaps unintentionally, or maybe as an in-joke, or maybe that's just how they sounded live). And then somehow it all ends up sounding more dated than the Mussorgsky original.
Guided By Voices
4/5
Yeah, sure it's uneven, but it's right up my street. Love it.
Deerhunter
4/5
Another great modern minor classic. This hasn't really left the rotation since it came out. 4.5 🌟
Elliott Smith
4/5
Man, 4 stars is doing a lot of work in the scoring process, covering a range from better-than-good to almost-great to recognisably-great-but-not-my-thing. Anyway, somewhere in that territory are both Either Or and XO.
The Smiths
5/5
Just tragic that Morrissey died after his first two solo albums. Who knows how that career could have gone? Anyway, an early masterpiece here from him and Johnny Marr (thankfully still with us).
Eminem
3/5
Loads of talent, but boy a tough listen now. I guess how well this has aged depends partly on how much of this is a persona, and how much a portrait of the artist as a young asshole. The rhyming and rapping is really tight and great, and production is good, and it's sometimes funny, though not as often as it is toxic, in an adolescent way. Too long, too.
Billy Bragg
4/5
Just struck me how few artists there have been who have really followed in Gurhrie's footsteps, with deeply political songwriting. You'd have thought the last few decades would have engendered (and could use) more protest singers. Anyway, not my personal favourite of his albums, but won't hear a word of complaint about him.
Sinead O'Connor
4/5
Thought this held up /way/ better as an album than I was expecting, with far more high spots and consistency. Hadn't listened to it through for 30 years. Really enjoyed it again.
Jeff Buckley
3/5
Still find this overrated as an album, with only a couple things to love in it. Great version of John Cale's already great version of Hallelujah, but that took me down a John Cale rabbit hole, which was much more rewarding. 3.5☆
Lou Reed
5/5
So great.
Dead Kennedys
3/5
Slightly underwhelmed by this well-regarded American punk. Couple high points, especially Kill The Poor and of course California Uber Alles, but maybe their later stuff is better?
Venom
1/5
Interminable and forgettable. One of the worst albums on this, or any other, list.
Madonna
2/5
Vapid and pointless. But wildly successful, apparently. Once again it's people that are the real problem here.
Thin Lizzy
3/5
70s rock isn't always my thing, and this is a bit overlong, but honestly, it's loads of fun and full of life (regardless of how live it may be (and who cares anyway)). 3 5☆
Blur
4/5
This and Parklife stand up surprisingly well, even if both have a bit too much filler in the second half. Anyway, this was always the one I preferred by a good way. Bought my (probably knock off) cassette in an electronics market somewhere in Karachi in '97, and I'm getting some weird flashbacks to there from listening...
Massive Attack
5/5
Thelonious Monk
4/5
Found this more challenging than some of the jazz I've instinctively loved. I know there's a lot going on that I don't know enough about to even hear. But until I get a PhD in musicology, will just have to say I liked and admired it, for what that's worth.
The xx
4/5
Yeah, lovely. Very spare but very cool and still in the rotation since 2009.
The Police
2/5
Wow - it's not often an album leaves me lost for words! But here I am, struggling to articulate precisely why this left me so uninspired and annoyed.
Stevie Wonder
4/5
Mixed bag - some great, some a bit schmaltzy. 3.8 ☆
Soft Cell
4/5
I don't love absolutely everything on here, but there's some really great synth pop beyond the couple tracks I knew.
Otis Redding
5/5
Great songs (sure, mostly covers), great band, great voice. What's not to love? There is not enough soul on this list.
Ryan Adams
5/5
Well hey, there's the heartbroken soundtrack to my late 20s and early 30s. Great album.
A Tribe Called Quest
5/5
<offers a silent prayer to the list-making gods that this unusual run of great albums continue>
<quietly acknowledges that it's probably a 2 hour heavy metal album tomorrow>
<allows that thought to pass, and puts A Tribe Called Quest on for one more playthrough>
The Who
3/5
This happens a lot: I wish the link would go straight to the original album (which is on Spotify just fine) rather than the bloated super deluxe edition.
Anyway. I can take or leave the concept album/rock opera here, but they manage to wrangle a couple great tracks along the way. Important at the time, sure, but hasn't aged as well as others.
Dwight Yoakam
2/5
The band is fine, but the songwriting feels hackneyed and reactionary. I mean I couldn't write these songs, but that's only because mediocrity is matter of the heart, and therefore difficult to imitate.
Aretha Franklin
5/5
Sensationally good.
Holger Czukay
4/5
Feels like the list got it right today - loads of fun discovering this.
Kendrick Lamar
4/5
Oh, more sold on this than his first album. More flow and musicality. Still think he's overrated as a lyricist though.
The Temptations
4/5
Variable as an album, with not everything successful, but some great Motown along the way, and that version of Papa was a Rollin' Stone is insanely good.
The Triffids
3/5
Started off hating this - felt so poor and basic, then began to hear some of the postpunk sound and feel to it, then gave it another listen and really began to get into it. Totally get why it would be an acquired taste, but there's real music and feeling in here. One more listen amd I'd have been at 4 stars, rather than 3.5...
Baaba Maal
4/5
Loved this - very beautiful, and wish I knew a bit more about it.
The Doors
3/5
A long way from being my favourite Doors album (peak Doors are great, but they made some pretty average stuff too). Still, Peace Frog is really great, Roadhouse Blues a nostalgic stomp, and Waiting for the Sun took me back to teenage years. 3.5
Television
5/5
Perfection. An all time favourite.
Sam Cooke
5/5
Finally hitting some great soul in this list. Yeah, the recording quality isn't perfect, but you'd have to be pretty cloth eared not to hear the musicality and talent and joy streaming from this.
Steve Winwood
2/5
Music so cheesy I'm going to have the aftertaste for days, and so uncool it's probably responsible for global warming.
Fats Domino
4/5
Hard to fully imagine the context for this album, but it was a lovely short change of pace for today, and the playing is so easy.
David Gray
2/5
Man, very surprised to see this on here. I kind of get why a couple of the tracks were popular to the point of ubiquity at one point in time, but it's all so dreary, monotone and mid, and a very unlikely choice. 1.5
Bruce Springsteen
5/5
Right up there with his very best.
Bob Marley & The Wailers
5/5
Yeah, this is great
Dire Straits
4/5
For no reason I can explain, I've always felt guilty about liking Dire Straits. Maybe something I liked as a kid and that shouldn't have been carried into adulthood? Anyway. Funny to be reminded how country they were (Setting Me Up especially). Otherwise, solid album, and weirdly timeless. Permission to self to not feel guilty granted.
a-ha
2/5
I can take or leave a lot of 80s new wave, and this doesn't do it for me. A couple good singles, but it really doesn't hold up well as an album.
Björk
4/5
Very chilled and lovely, and lots of interesting stuff going on musically. One of Bjork's best, for me. 4.5☆
Michael Jackson
2/5
As people born with sickle-cell trait have a natural resistance to malaria, so I seem to have been gifted with a good degree of immunity to disco and funk era Michael Jackson.
The Mamas & The Papas
4/5
Stratospheric highs, obviously, but enough weaker tracks to drag the album down a point or two.
Simple Minds
4/5
Feels like there's been a lot of new wave recently, and mostly I can leave it. But this got a couple listens, and the layered sound grew on me, and I began to really hear it. Still feel I kind of need to go back to it some more.
Super Furry Animals
3/5
Not essential, for sure, but a really good, eclectic indie rock album from the 00s. 3.5☆
The Go-Betweens
3/5
I'm sure 1980s Brisbane was a great scene to be around (?), but in the scheme of things this is is some middling indie of the era. I liked Clouds, but the rest is pretty forgettable. 5.5/10
Amy Winehouse
4/5
I think I liked this more than Back to Black. Loads of influences worn on tue sleeve, but lots of talent.
Buena Vista Social Club
5/5
Wonderful album, wonderful musicians.
Primal Scream
4/5
Always feels like Primal Scream's lost album, between the early stuff and XTRMNTR. And I get that not everyone is down for an “anarcho-syndicalist speedfreak road-movie record”, particularly in the middle of a 1001 album marathon, but this deserves a couple listens to feel it out, and gear everything that's going on. Not perfect, but some great stuff along the way.
Weather Report
2/5
That's some crowd-pleasing, TV theme tune level of jazz going on. If I'd wanted to listen to this before I died if have just watched some studio-filmed sitcom from the age, then at least I'd have something to watch too. 1.5☆
The Pogues
5/5
As far as I remember it this morning, that was a fantastic night at the pub.
Soundgarden
2/5
Grunge? Feels much more like standard hard rock, veering into metal in places. Compared to, say, Dinosaur Jr. or Nirvana this feels so thin, and lacking in any kind of soul. Leaves me totally cold.
Funkadelic
5/5
Funking fantastic.
Solange
4/5
First time listening to this, and really enjoyed. Feels cohesive as an album, good sound, and well produced. Nice.
Kelela
2/5
I think artists sometimes get tunnel blindness in studios, when everything sounds great over the speakers, and they're laying down vocals and playing around with the bleeps and bloops and that goes on for months and they're sure it's a masterpiece, and they've just lost sight of the fact that they're making a really dull album.
Arcade Fire
5/5
These early Arcade Fire albums are fantastic. On some listens these days it feels like a truly great album, on others an excellent one with moments of greatness. Either way, 5 stars.
The Doors
4/5
Astonishing debut album, the sound already confidently locked down, and instantly influential. Listening in the cold light of day I have to admit there are weaker tracks too. Then, LA Woman is a stronger album, so I'm going to surprise my 17 year old self and mark it down to 4.5 stars.
The Chemical Brothers
3/5
I was not in the right mood for this today. Token 3/5.
Bruce Springsteen
4/5
Some great tracks, but I'm in a minority feeling this isn't among his best.
Siouxsie And The Banshees
4/5
Never listened to this, and really enjoyed. Early, influential, discordant post punk.
MC Solaar
4/5
Great for a sunny day in London. Jazzy trip hop as much as rap. Chilled, musical delivery.
Incubus
1/5
I was wondering, while this was ruining my day, how someone who had never heard music before would feel if they suddenly encountered this. It's possible they would be amazed and moved by the beauty of sound. But I tend to think that even they would clock the turgid soullessness of it all, and never have an urge to listen to music again.
Syd Barrett
4/5
Had never listened to this. Very English, in its melodic, idiosyncratic sadness, with echoes of the Kinks and the Beatles. Get why it wouldn't be everyone's cup of tea, but loved it.
Ms. Dynamite
4/5
Some great tracks along the way. It's a bit overlong, and drifts off at the end. Would have been better at 40 minutes. 3.5 stars
Keith Jarrett
5/5
Thought this was sensational. I'm sure some jazz purists may not like it, and I can hear some of the pop and easy listening tropes along the way, but not sure I've ever heard someone so inside their playing before.
Bonnie "Prince" Billy
5/5
This album saved my life.
Mott The Hoople
3/5
Always assumed these guys were American. Anyway. Half decent Bowie impression early on. Half decent Dylan impression towards the end. Sometimes cheesy, but always kinda fun.
One thing I am getting from this project is a sense of when something was made. One listen of this and you're like, right, early to mid seventies.
Tom Waits
4/5
Not my favourite Tom Waits album, but always enjoyable, with some great moments along the way.
Napalm Death
1/5
Nice to see that by 1987 metal is at least beginning to evolve a bit, and opening itself up to slightly new forms and directions. On the other hand, most of this is still guttural, incomprehensible pointlessness. 1.5☆
LTJ Bukem
2/5
I'm immensely grateful to the reviewer who pointed out that the Spotify link goes to the wrong, 3.5 hour long, album. So instead just had a couple hours of drum n bass through the day.
Anyway. I remember when this was a thing. All the kids at uni who were really into it, and were running jungle club nights, were posh private school types. It was a big thing. I couldn't have given a f-.
Listening now it's just like hearing a musical moment. You can see where it came from, what it led onto. Would be okay in a club, okay as background while you're getting something done. But on its own terms as an album? Sheesh.
OutKast
5/5
Yay!
New Order
4/5
Love this. 4.5 ☆
The Pharcyde
4/5
Lots of fun.
Elvis Costello
4/5
Likeable; energetic; geeky; smart. Really interesting blend of classic rock'n'roll and other influences.
The Black Crowes
3/5
Solid; derivative; samey; uncomplicated; earnest. Maybe it was a revolutionary act releasing this in 1990, with everything else that was going on musically around then, or maybe it was just a bit retrograde.
Alexander 'Skip' Spence
4/5
As an album, this certainly seems like a selection of songs that have been recorded... Gave the whole thing a go, then went back to the original 12- track album, which feels more cohesive and less bloated.
Lots of interesting stuff going on, with rhythm and that fragile, mumbled voice. A few tracks I can forget, but a few I'll probably always remember. Worth a revisit.
Leonard Cohen
5/5
Not his best album for sure, but still great.
Pink Floyd
5/5
Peak Floyd
The Mothers Of Invention
4/5
Existing between doo-wop and insanity.
John Martyn
4/5
Glad I went back to this. Very underwhelmed first listen (while out, on earbuds). Tried again in the evening, on decent headphones, and it was like a different album. Ended up listening to it twice, and appreciating it more each time.
The Youngbloods
3/5
Nothing earthshaking, perhaps, but very much of its time and place. Enjoyed. 3.5☆
Jeru The Damaja
3/5
Some good beats, and good rapping - solid east coast hip hop, marred by misogyny.
Kid Rock
1/5
Holy shit, this is terrible. Aggressively stupid, almost unlistenable. A car crash.
Kacey Musgraves
2/5
Not without some sweetness, but beige, bland, and utterly banal. I'm sure it was wildly popular.
Frankie Goes To Hollywood
3/5
Tough to review as an album: four or five great era-and-genre-defining pop singles, then a fair amount of sub-par cover fillers. 3.5☆
Rufus Wainwright
3/5
You can tell it's the album he wanted to make, but it's not doing much for me. 2.5☆
The Fall
4/5
Maybe not quite a top 5 Fall album? Still the best thing we've had this week.
Ray Charles
5/5
Just great at what it does, and highly pleasurable to listen to. Those bug horn wails maybe aren't for me, but it's hard to complain about it.
Buzzcocks
4/5
Great stuff. No notes.
Killing Joke
4/5
Fascinating time for music, and throwing up albums like this. Post punk - and post disco, with some of the funk retained, but the sound turned brutal. Throw in some Krautrock, some almost-new-wave synth, and even some metal (The Wait), and somehow it sounds great and cohesive, if also very bleak. Great find.
Girls Against Boys
2/5
Not truly terrible, perhaps, but not my thing.
Shuggie Otis
3/5
A nice chill weekend listen, with lots to like. A bit too much of a veer into easy listening at times, and that lightweight disposability is why it isn't getting marked higher. But there's some cool stuff on here too. 3.5☆
The Band
5/5
This is great. I've listened to it less over the years compared to their self-titled album, but still hugely pleasurable and influential. Went back to watch Scorsese's The Last Waltz last year, which is a great end (or starting) point for The Band. Back to the Basememt Tapes after this.
The Dictators
4/5
New to me. And oh, kind of glam rock as much as punk. Simple, direct and fun. In the line of New York Dolls through to the Ramones. Couple fun covers in there. 3.8☆
King Crimson
3/5
I think King Crimson are as close as I'm going to get to finding prog bearable, on this list.
Skepta
4/5
I can leave the skits, as usual, but there's loads of energy and intelligence here. Really solid grime album.
Scott Walker
5/5
I'd heard a lot about this album before I first listened to it, maybe 25 years ago, and went in with high expectations. And it was so unlike what I was expecting that it didn't click with me at all. But I went back to it from time to time, and as my tastes grew and changed a bit, and I understood a bit more about the album and its context, I came to love it, and hear what its proselytisers had been hearing all along. Such a strange, wonderful album.
Elvis Costello
3/5
Didn't enjoy this as much as My Aim is True. Particularly after Scott 4 over the weekend a lot of the songs feel too busy, with too much going on, and are pretty forgettable. Some likeable stuff in here too, but no great shakes.
Throbbing Gristle
4/5
Gave this a couple serious listens, and honestly loved it. Only had a passing familiarity with their work before. Yeah, it's challenging at times, but in interesting ways, by turns brooding, bleak and beautiful, and always human throughout.
The Louvin Brothers
2/5
Bit of auditory whiplash after Throbbing Gristle yesterday (an all too rare experience on this list). Some very traditional country, which isn't really my thing. Liking the mandolin, and the harmonies, to a degree, but it's too steady or plodding, and very samey.
The The
4/5
Always got time for Matt Johnson, and all the influences he brought in - pop, synth pop, post punk, funk, electronic, maybe even a little prog - to make his own idiosyncratic thing. It comes out both romantic and cynical, entertaining and intelligent, nerdy and cool. The albums have aged so well, too. 4.5⭐
Aerosmith
2/5
Running the whole range from tolerable to terrible, via a bit of unintentional pastiche.
Jah Wobble's Invaders Of The Heart
3/5
Red Hot Chili Peppers
3/5
This was not as bad as I remembered. Exciting times.
Sebadoh
4/5
Oh wow, some Sebadoh. Nice surprise. I missed this album at the time, though knew Sebadoh III well, so listening is kind of an old and new experience together. Maybe it's the slight lack of familiarity that means I don't love it quite as much as III or the later The Sebadoh, but still really enjoyed.
The Beach Boys
4/5
I'm guessing that the algorithm has been tweaked, so we get this the day after Brian Wilson died, but it's still a little uncanny. Another time I might have compared this to Pet Sounds a little harshly, but today just playing it loud and enjoying the hell out of it. Rest in peace, Brian Wilson.
Louis Prima
4/5
Music so joyful it could make a dead man dance. Does what it does so well. 4.5⭐
Hot Chip
3/5
I like Hot Chip fine, but didn't expect them on ths list. It's a good album, but a long way from timeless or essential.
Joan Armatrading
4/5
Stands up really well.
Devendra Banhart
4/5
I'd heard of the artist, but never listened to much of his work, so the album was new to me. Thought it was very fine and beautiful, and full of feeling. Excellent find for me, and I'll go back to it.
4.5 ⭐
Ash
4/5
I mean I think by most standards this is a solid, sometimes fun, mid 90s indie pop album, and a safe three stars. And yet, I've always had a soft spot for the fuzzy production and how young these kids were when they made it, and the pureness of feeling they manage to get into some of the lines. 'I've got some records on and some bottles of wine...'
Be interested to hear what the Weezer fans in the group (or group adjacent) make of this one.
3.5 ⭐ And go on then, half a point for nostalgia and for honestly still sounding pretty good today.
The Residents
4/5
Totally get why this is dividing reviewers. Given one cursory listen, out of context, in the middle of a thousand albums, an unsettling piece of Dadaist performance art is almost certainly going to sound like a hard pass.
But if you've got the time, go read chapter 13 of the post-punk bible, Simon Reynold's Rip It Up and Start Again, on cabaret noir and theatre of cruelty in post-punk San Francisco, and then give it another go.
Fiona Apple
3/5
Debut of a really great singer/songwriter. And all the pieces are already there, and a couple strong tracks - I just prefer her later work. 3.5 ⭐
Roxy Music
5/5
Fantastic art-rock, influential and full of influences, bridging between The Velvet Underground and Talking Heads. Yes, side 2 isn't quite as wonderful as the first half, but it's still a classic.
Recommended reading: Re-make Re-model by Michael Bracewell.
The Isley Brothers
4/5
Very likeable, listening yesterday, but by this morning much of it had slipped from my memory a bit. It's possible I had a minor stroke in my sleep, or maybe this isn't up to Curtis Mayfield levels of greatness, and (Summer Breeze aside), is a little bit forgettable. 3 stars would be harsh, though.
Meat Puppets
5/5
This is fantastic - it kind of both summarises and predicts decades of music. And yeah, it's kind of rough, but it's the real thing, kids taking drugs and heading into the desert to make rock n roll.
5/5
Just phenomenal. Songwriting that feels like a poet unpicking the nature of the world, and that sound that kind of stops my heart dead for a second when I hear it.
Rod Stewart
4/5
Rod Stewart was pretty great around this time, and Maggie May is an all-timer. Still, the album is 50% covers, some great, some ordinary, which loses it a mark or so.
Happy Mondays
3/5
Not as good as pills, thrills... And you kind of had to be there anyway. Interesting to hear the mess of things going on musically, but I'll be honest, this doesn't hold up the way the best of those years has done
Shack
3/5
Managed to listen to this without knowing anything about the band, and yet it was /instantly/ identifiable as a second rate Liverpool indie band, circa 1998-200. Not unpleasant at all - there's that late 90s sweetness or production polish, and there's maybe a little bit of the La's, a bit of The Pernice Brothers, a bit of the Cosmic Rough Riders, a bit of The Thrills etc etc etc. It's fine, but totally unexceptional. Probably a three star album, but tempted to mark it down because what the heck is it doing on the list?
Paul McCartney and Wings
4/5
Came out the month I was born, which means yet another addition to the increasingly long list of things that have aged better then I have.
Prince
5/5
💜💜💜💜💜
Klaxons
2/5
Soulless, ordinary, forgettable, inessential; music made for commercials. At times I'd have preferred to be listening to an actual klaxon. Honestly, this list some days.
Jurassic 5
4/5
Some nice old skool. Doesn't blow me away, but solid and listenable. 3.5? They seem like nice boys, let's give 4 stars to the 5.
Paul Simon
3/5
Mixed bag. Some great - especially the title track. Some lost in the era, with chord and time changes. Some doesn't work at all. His backlist is an exercise in how variable his output was. 3.5 *
Lou Reed
5/5
Love this.
Moby Grape
4/5
Maybe more a good example of the genre, rather than innovative, given everything else that was going on in '67? But enjoyable.
Lana Del Rey
4/5
Great opening tracks, but drops away after. Bit of a disappointment after how great NFR was, but never bad. 3.5*
Fred Neil
4/5
There are a couple weaker tracks, but I loved the album: easy, soulful folk with a country inflection.
The Rolling Stones
4/5
Couple great tracks - Sympathy for the Devil, Street Fighting Man - but for some reason it's always felt to me a grade below Sticky Fingers, Let it Bleed and Exile on Main St.
The Stranglers
4/5
Doors-infused punk, with some great tracks.
Ray Charles
4/5
Not always for me, but can see how influential and important it was.
k.d. lang
4/5
Very enjoyable, if not always essential, and occasionally a bit cheesy.
Cornershop
3/5
A few real high points, particularly at the start, but felt very bloated as an album. 3.5
Black Sabbath
4/5
As much as this list has reinforced a deep dislike of heavy metal, it's also reminded me that some of the early, more hard rock stuff kind of rocks.
Rage Against The Machine
5/5
Essential listening.
Beastie Boys
5/5
Fantastic album
Baaba Maal
4/5
Great
The National
5/5
Majestic melancholy. It came in such a good run of albums, too, with this and Trouble Will Find Me probably the peak.
(Check out Ragnar Kjartansson's Endless Sorrow if you get the chance)
3/5
Enjoyed but doesn't feel like it coheres much as an album, or that it's as enduring as some psychedelic rock from the era. 3.5
Missy Elliott
4/5
This grew on me nicely. Some nice old school vibes, great production, varied songwriting.
Alice In Chains
2/5
It's a particular heavy sound I just don't like. Not much subtlety in the songwriting. Pretty monotone and dreary, without melancholy. If this is what heroin addiction feels like, I'm not missing much.
Adele
3/5
Great voice, obviously, and I liked a couple songs in the middle. Less successful than 21 for me: a lot of the songwriting/lyrics feel a bit too heart-on-the-sleeve, all text and no subtext, but hey, it wasn't written for me, it's her thing, and good for her.
Soul II Soul
2/5
This hasn't aged well, and with the exception of one track feels very disposable.
Kanye West
2/5
Oof. Very hard to listen to Kanye these days. But I tried.
Back in the day I'd really liked 808s & Heartbreak and MBDTF, and despite my distaste for the man, they still sound like great albums, but I fell off him precisely at this album, so it's kind of interesting to revisit why. Production feels lazier than previous work, lyrics are terrible, some tracks (Blood on the Leaves) are a shocking, self-indulgent mess. Felt like you could hear him beginning to disappear up his own ass.
The Specials
2/5
Interesting snapshot of some of the musical influences that were around in 1980, and at least they sometimes seem to be having fun, but it's not a sound or album that does anything much for me. 2.5
Carpenters
3/5
Honestly, hard to rate. Both sweet and cheesy, and that's entirely the point.
Peter Gabriel
4/5
Had one much-interrupted first listen, and it felt a bit eclectic and messy, but managed to listen to the whole thing through in the evening, and really loved it. Couple obvious high points, but I think there's a lot here that stands up.
Suede
3/5
Getting into a habit of needing to take a couple listens to really hear what's going on, which is kind of time consuming. Second listen - think it's a great but flawed album. A lot going on, but never trying to be showy. 3 seems harsh, and 4 generous. 3.5
Grateful Dead
3/5
This album, perhaps more than any other album on the list, is exactly what it is, no more, no less. And some of it I love, and some of the endless noodling I can leave. So an entirely redundant review, then.
2/5
Vocals are fine, but this is some country-song-writing-by-numbers stuff going on (as with the Marty Robbins one we had a while back, and that was from 1959), and even in 1967 this must have felt pretty retrograde. Some great stuff came out of country, but this is banal
Ladysmith Black Mambazo
5/5
Pure joy. Wonderful album.
Miles Davis
4/5
I get that it's a landmark, transformative album, and I was blown away by In a Silent Way earlier in the list, and I feel like a heathen not giving this five stars, but I just don't quite feel it the same way.
R.E.M.
5/5
Some folks in the group in Georgia are going to be pretty pleased with this one, and one folk in London already is. Always my favourite REM album, and it still sounds wonderful, with the added benefit of making me feel like I'm young again.
Ice T
2/5
Okay, so either Ice-T has no clue what antidisestablishmentarianism means, or he's a bigger supporter of the political status of the Church of England than I would have guessed. Either way, points deducted.
As for the album: sure, an OG, with decent production, but a bang average to weak lyricist, solid but unexceptional rapping, shit (as always) skits. Escape from the Killing Fields feels a cut above, but the album as a whole is inessential.
The Rolling Stones
5/5
Top 3 Stones album. No notes. Makes 50 years seem like nothing.
2/5
Early 80s pop, fine for a historical snapshot, but not great 80s pop. Couple distinctive tracks, but disposable, and pretty weak in the context of this list.
Dire Straits
4/5
This one is so familiar from my youth it's impossible to score. Feels like comfort food at this point. Anyway, I'm unhip, so I still love this, but there are a few weaker tracks in there.
The Zutons
2/5
Recognisable. Liverpool, early millennium. There was a lot of it about - see The Coral etc. This is a bit more interesting than most, but still a long way from being anything close to great. I've zero interest in listening to this again in my life. 2.5
Pantera
2/5
Still not getting over how metal is by far the silliest of genres, but they all take it /so/ seriously.
This is not the worst, and has a couple promising moments early on - something closer to a hard rock rhythm - but goes downhill after that. 1.5 stars.
The Gun Club
5/5
Man, there's so much stuff in that '76-'84 period that's so interesting and totally new to me, stitching together all kinds of influences together and leaving a trail of influenced afterwards. Just the first couple tracks here tie together the blues to The Pixies. Then it's a kind of rockabilly punk. So much going on in here it's like a musical missing link. Great discovery. 4.5 stars
Giant Sand
4/5
New to me, and went in blind, and really enjoyed. Not groundbreaking maybe - there's been a lot of this kind of stuff over the last 30 years, and even just from the Marks I can hear echoes of Mark Linkous, Mark Lanegan and Mark Everett - but it's stuff I like, and there are some lovely songs along the way. 3.8
Jimi Hendrix
4/5
Some great stuff in here, including probably the greatest cover of any track ever, but it's looser as an album, with some inessential tracks in the mix. Still, it felt harsh not giving it a 5.
Merle Haggard
2/5
Not getting much from these honky tonk classic country albums. Very little variety in tone, sentiments mostly banal, very little edge. I guess it's good at what it does, but it's not for me.
The Allman Brothers Band
4/5
I think if you walked into a random bar and these guys were playing you'd have the time of your life. Great bluesy rock, and the whole hour of it felt pretty pure and not indulgent.
FKA twigs
3/5
First listen of FKA Twigs, and not what I expected. Feels more influenced by ambient and even trip hop than 2010s pop, and more like genuine experimentation than studio overproduction. Liked it, but relatively forgettable too. 3.5 ⭐
Drive Like Jehu
3/5
The name vaguely rang a bell from the 90s, but didn't really know what to expect. Solid noise rock, it turns out. Bit of punk, garage rock or grunge and a touch of metal. Feels that there was maybe a lot of this stuff around, but it grew on me after a second listen. Not outstanding maybe, but enjoyable enough at times.
The Stooges
4/5
Some great high points, but not quite up there with Raw Power. The slower, more experimental tracks not what the band was great at.
The Stooges
5/5
Huh, back to back Stooges records. Had to check just now to see if Iggy Pop had died.
Anyway, another amazing record for 1969. More cohesive than their debut, not quite as all round great as Raw Power. 4.5
The Velvet Underground
5/5
Three albums from 1969 so far this week. Great year, and this is probably the best of them. Timeless, influential and so listenable.
The Libertines
3/5
Kinda feeling that The Libertines were a great singles band, and, variably, a great live band, but that the albums don't quite reach the heights (and this is not as good as Up The Bracket anyway). Still, a fun snapshot of 2000s indie. 3.5
Gotan Project
4/5
Had completely forgotten about these guys, despite owning, and liking, one of their albums (Inspiracion/Esperacion).
Anyway, a great listen, and refreshing, given the majority of this list. Soundtrack to a cool, imaginary film I'd definitely see. And who knew the accordion could sound so good?
Madness
2/5
Obviously super familiar, if you happened to grow up in the UK in the 80s. Listening now it sounds like it's exactly what it wants to be. My only problem is that I don't like it very much. Bang middling.
Machito
4/5
Yeah, really likeable and alive. Sounds great almost 70 years on.
Pentangle
2/5
Someone tried to get me into these guys a couple decades back, and the result now is the same. Folk that I can leave in the 60s.
Astor Piazzolla
2/5
This really isn't for me - the vibraphone very much on the plinketty-plink side of jazz - and it feels like it's maybe more for the players than the listeners. But on the other hand, it'd be great if the list had more of this kind of thing, and got me out of my comfort zone more often.
Patti Smith
5/5
An absolute tour de force.
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
4/5
I mean, I'm finding these Elvis Costello albums varying from okay to really pretty good, but I'm also seeing that there are, apparently, /six/ of his albums on the list, which has helped me understand that the creator of this list is, in fact, clinically insane, and should be getting out a lot more. Jesus, but the world really has been good to boomer white guys.
Anyway, 3.6 stars, moving on.
Dinosaur Jr.
4/5
They probably have at least two albums I'd have chosen over this one, but damn that sound is so great.
Mike Ladd
3/5
New to me, and a mixed bag. There's a lot that's really not successful, but a few tracks I kind of love. There's a better, shorter album in here somewhere.
Joe Ely
2/5
Polished, but still finding all this honky tonk country to be shallow, dull and soulless.
Arctic Monkeys
4/5
Really good 2000s indie debut. There was a lot of dross around at the time, which may have made this feel better than it was, but it still sounds great, and Alex Turner has proved himself a really interesting and versatile songwriter since. 4.5 stars.
Siouxsie And The Banshees
4/5
Oh yeah, we had The Scream earlier in the list, and I remember being surprised by it and loving it. This is another great slice of post punk. Loads going on, and sounds so good today.
Dexys Midnight Runners
4/5
Curtis Mayfield
5/5
Ah, Curtis Mayfield.
Born in Chicago, and I always think of the Saul Bellow line: "I am am an American, Chicago born - Chicago, that somber city - and go at things as I have taught myself, free-style, and will make the record in my own way...".
Died, much too soon, and ten years after that terrible accident, in some place called (glances at the rest of the group) Roswell, Georgia.
What a musician.
The Verve
4/5
Not as timeless as I felt it would be at the time (OK Computer and Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space came out the same year). And even then it felt a bit overpolished compared to their previous album, A Northern Soul. I'd always preferred that one, and will have to go back and listen to if it has fared a bit better. But still, this is a cut above the average of the era. 3.8
David Bowie
4/5
Good Bowie album, not a great one.
Soft Machine
3/5
After a very rough opening ten minutes, and low expectations, I found a lot to enjoy down the line, a lot of interesting complexity which still seemed to care about making something listenable. Much more of a jazz feel than lots of the prog we've had, and much better for it.
That said, I wasn't entirely sad that disc 2 isn't available on Spotify...
Django Django
2/5
Absolutely fine, polished and inoffensive, but I've listened twice now and can't remember a thing about it. Totally forgettable. 2.5 stars.
Spacemen 3
5/5
Trick question. This is obviously a test of how high you were getting in the late 80s and early 90s.
Anyway, I'd have picked The Perfect Prescription over this, but it's still one of the rare occasions I've been glad of the extended edition (man, those versions of Suicide). Sound quality a bit ropey at times, but to be honest I'm not sure I'd want it any other way.
Recommended reading: Playing the Bass with Three Left hands by Will Carruthers. "I can confirm that should you ever find yourself playing the bass with three left hands, it is usually the one in the middle that is the real one. The other two are probably phantoms."
Justice
3/5
Some big, fat, fun beats, if you're in the mood. Diminishing returns through the album - it's overlong and there's weaker stuff in there, but when it's great, it's great. 3.5
Slade
2/5
Eh.
2.5
Goldfrapp
2/5
Two Goldfrapp albums on the list is insanely generous. It's fine, but very forgettable.
XTC
3/5
A lot of interesting things going on (echoes of influences and influenced) and some high points (Dear God), but it's just a sound and result that doesn't do much for me.
The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
2/5
Frenetic electric blues. A lot of energy, to mostly no great effect. Occasionally okay, often annoying.
The Mars Volta
1/5
Bringing all the flaws and failures of prog rock into the 21st century, and even adding some adolescent metal into the mix. Doing that prog think of being briefly listenable, then deliberately overcomplicating things. Doing that metal thing of being overwrought. And god, it's just exhausting over an hour.
Orange Juice
4/5
Nice to have some idiosyncratically upbeat, sometimes soulful, post punk. Probably a three star album for me, except that Edwyn is one of the nicest people in music.
Kings of Leon
3/5
Very derivative, obviously, and in service to its influences, rather than making something new. But I came in with very low expectations, and honestly, it's not as bad as I thought it was going to be. Signs of life early on - the very Strokes-y Happy Alone - though diminishing returns later. 2.5
Iron Butterfly
2/5
Oh god, Iron Butterfly. Well, the title track is still kind of fun in its ridiculous way, but as an album it's not exactly one of the enduring artworks of its age.
Moby
3/5
No idea how to review this now. There's the degree of borrowing involved in the making of it (he even borrowed CDs of the Lomax recordings in the first place, and never returned them). There's the fact that most of the album was so oversaturated through adverts and radio play. That it sounds so much of its time. I can't even really hear what I'm listening to. Giving it a neutral 3 and moving on.
Love
5/5
The older I get the greater this album sounds. Among the very, very best of the decade's records, and essential listening almost 60 years later. 10/10
Dinosaur Jr.
5/5
Probably their best album? Though I love Where You Been too, and they were making great albums well into the 2000s. Sounds so good for '87, and so obviously influential over the next decades. I just get a bit of joy in my soul from the melodic fuzz of it all. And that Cure cover at the end is something else.
Marianne Faithfull
5/5
Great post punk album, and yet also like a more interesting 80s pop star than the ones we ended up with, even before that decade began.
The Who
5/5
Hard to argue with.
Beck
5/5
This is ageing so well - just a great album.
Doves
3/5
Dammit, almost a perfect week of 5 stars then this. Good band, and all, but their debut is really not exceptional (admittedly, the second half is stronger than the first, and brings up the rating); we could have stuck with The Last Broadcast for this list.
The The
5/5
I know I'm in a minority, but I'll stand by the position that this is one of the very greatest records of the 80s (and thanks to the amazing production, it still sounds fantastic today). Lyrically astute, musically brilliant, politically engaged and endlessly relevant, deeply cynical and loads of fun.
Jerry Lee Lewis
4/5
Another one that's difficult to review as a single grade. It's a sensational performance, obviously, but aside from everything else about the man, there's the apparent reluctance to credit songwriters and borrowings (normal for the era, perhaps, but it seems like it was particularly black musicians that Lewis struggled to acknowledge). Token numerical rating here: it's a terrific live album but I'm not giving it 5 stars.
Peter Frampton
2/5
I mean, I listened to this for over an hour yesterday and I can't remember a thing about it today.
Manic Street Preachers
5/5
The Manics, and particularly Generation Terrorists (probably not on this list), were a definitive band for me growing up, and I just saw them a couple weeks back, so there's no chance of an unbiased review. This album, coming off the astonishing, coruscating The Holy Bible (probably on this list somewhere) and the loss of Richey Edwards, is where their situationist, glamorous art rock kind of transforms into a stadium, anthemic sound, while still singing about Kevin Carter, Willem de Kooning and caged animals. They really went their own way through the 90s. Too important to me to give it anything other than five stars. Libraries gave us power.
Emmylou Harris
5/5
Some great songwriting.
Wire
5/5
This is such a great album.
Randy Newman
5/5
Man, I just love Randy Newman. This is so smart, and beautiful, and humanely satirical.
Donald Fagen
2/5
Pretty cheesy soft rock. Banal. A frankly generous 2 stars.
Pearl Jam
4/5
Always admired this more than actually loving it. Something about the sound or voice doesn't quite move me, even as it should be right up my street. Taste, innit.
Flamin' Groovies
5/5
Thought this was great. Tight blues rock. Some great songwriting. I can see the comparisons to Sticky Fingers. One downside - the bonus tracks don't add much to the experience. Some weaker covers, and too long. 5* for the original album, ending at Whisky Woman, 4* for the extended version.
The Darkness
3/5
Inconsequential, but fun, and with some genuine songwriting chops. And credit for the humour and leaning into the ridiculousness.
2Pac
3/5
Jesus, I wish I hadn't read the context to this album. Anyway, the album is fine, pretty chilled, but overrated, 3.5*, and the guy who made it is a serious asshole, 1*.
4/5
No idea how to review this. It was challenging, which is no bad thing in itself. I can hear some things in there, but don't have enough technical knowledge to really understand what I'm listening to. I read up a bit. It was a good learning experience, and I thought there would be more on the list that challenged, rather than just disappointed. I genuinely liked the exercise of listening, but I'm left with zero idea how to give it a mark out of five. It's beyond my ken.
The Beau Brummels
3/5
Minor 60s album. Some nice moments, but inessential. Feels a bit copyist of other bands/trends.
The Chemical Brothers
4/5
Good, sometimes great, crowd-pleasing 90s big beat electronica.
Def Leppard
2/5
Simple pleasures, I guess, and if I'd had a lobotomy I'd maybe find some enjoyment in it. But just can't forgive it anyway for being so samey and dull. 1.5
The Kinks
5/5
The Kinks albums have been one of the real pleasures of this list. Not quite up there with Arthur or Village Green for me maybe, but a wonderful album. 4.8 stars.
The Adverts
4/5
Good punk album, but somehow feels a bit less timeless, and more of its time, than some of its peers. 3.6 stars.
Marilyn Manson
1/5
I can really hear the Trent Reznor input in...
Ah, fuck this guy, and fuck giving this album any serious thought. It's barely listenable.
PJ Harvey
4/5
Always got time for Polly Jean, but standing by the minority opinion that her 90s work is her best, and that everything since then has been merely really, really good.
Beatles
5/5
Perfection. Damn it sounds so good. And I know it will sound like hyperbole, but anyway: one of the high water marks of 20th Century art and culture.
Big Star
5/5
This is such a great album, and one of my favourites. Rough, fascinating, sad, the end of a great band, and hugely influential.
The Hives
3/5
Basic, but fun in short doses. Of its time, rather than timeless.
Tom Waits
4/5
Very good, borderline great, Tom Waits album. 4.5 stars
Prefab Sprout
3/5
Decent, varied, but not really one for me. 2.5
The Flying Burrito Brothers
3/5
I've never liked them as much as perhaps I should. Always had time for Gram Parsons, but for the most part my taste isn't quite attuned to the band. Still, I love Hot Burrito #1, and the (really pretty good) cover of Dark End of The Street took me back to the sensational James Carr original, which is something.
Fela Kuti
5/5
Fantastic
Nick Drake
5/5
Such a beautiful album - songwriting, playing and performance - and I still think Bryter Layter and Pink Moon are even better.
Astrud Gilberto
3/5
Pleasant bossa nova, but a bit dull. I was hoping for more.
Small Faces
3/5
This is such a mixed bag that even some of the songs, like Rene, have split personalities. Side 1 is mostly great, especially the title track and Song of a Baker (some real psychedelic rock). Then side 2 is a wholly separate narrated concept album, that sounds like both a surreal episode of Bagpuss written by Anthony Burgess, as well as a precursor of prog (while still occasionally throwing up some great rock - see Rollin' Over). So I'm confidently giving this 2, 3, 4 and 5 stars simultaneously, and it's not my fault if the app can't deal with that.
SAULT
4/5
Man, the state of some of the reviews here...
Loved this album at the time, but haven't listened to the whole thing through for a while. It's such a good vibe, with some standout tracks (not least Wildfires). 4.5*
The Divine Comedy
2/5
I remember vaguely that they were pretty well regarded back then? If so, standards were low: it's very disposable 90s pop with a tiresome archness. Completely inessential.
White Denim
3/5
Sounds like a lot of other bands at various times. And it's solid, okay, with some nice moments, but never feels like more than a sum of its parts, and is strangely forgettable afterwards
Tim Buckley
4/5
Some great psychedelic folk rock in here, even if the album doesn't constantly hit its heights.
Great loose, early 70s blues rock, with enough timelessness to the sound that means it's still a lot of fun to listen to. At its best, the band's looseness goes all the way around to some really tight tracks, like Stay With Me, which is outstanding. Not everything in the album works as well for me, but Stewart was great back then, and Ronnie and the band are having fun, so it's somewhere in the pantheon.
Tori Amos
5/5
Surprised how much of the lyrics I still knew. It stands up so well today. Great songwriting and performance, just a great album.
Dr. Dre
5/5
Sometimes I feel that the narratives around the album are maybe more interesting than the album itself. Dre isn't the greatest writer or rapper. A lot is owed to Snoop, and a lot of the lyrics are pretty depressing. But here it is, still a marker, maybe even the definition, of LA gangsta rap. The production is great and the sound of it endures well, and it ends up being more than a sum of its parts.
The Beach Boys
5/5
1966 had Revolver, Blonde On Blonde, and this, which is insane. Just a definitively great album from first to last.
Solomon Burke
4/5
There's not enough soul on this list - so many names missing - but still a couple things I don't know too well. And maybe this was just some good Christmas Eve listening, but I really loved it. 4.5*
Brian Eno
5/5
💚💚💚💚💚
Bad Company
3/5
That's definitely some early 70s classic rock, all right. Not much else to say. 3.5*
Dolly Parton
4/5
It may be heresy in these parts, but there's such a gap between Dolly's greatest songs and the more sentimental, by-numbers album fillers. Still, Jennifer has told me I have to give it an extra mark 'just for being Dolly', so here we are.
Leonard Cohen
5/5
Leonard Cohen albums get 5 stars in this house, but everybody knows that some of the 80s production is terrible, particularly on First We Take Manhattan. And obviously we're pretending Jazz Police doesn't exist. That aside, another great Leonard Cohen album...
Bruce Springsteen
5/5
My favourite Springsteen album. Just perfect narrative rock, shot through with sadness and loss, that sounds like nothing else in his catalogue.
Simon & Garfunkel
4/5
This has held up a lot better than the other S&G albums we've had. More polished, and less filler (and they've had a lot more filler than I'd previously imagined they would), more cohesive as an album.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
5/5
Sublime.
Fairport Convention
4/5
Had pretty low expectations for the genre, but got a lot out of it - it's a really good blend of folk and rock, both old and (at the time) new. Some lovely songwriting and strong, nuanced execution. Still not exactly my thing, but I can admire it.
Isaac Hayes
4/5
Cool, funky
Black Sabbath
3/5
Maybe just me today, but I got less out of this than the other Sabbath albums we've had. Still a cut above any other metal on the list. 3.5*
Elvis Presley
3/5
Hard one to review. Despite the country soul studio backing, most of the album seems to make the case that Elvis is ultimately only a middling singer of either country or soul, and much of it seems affected, sentimental, or just a bit dull. But then you have In The Ghetto and Suspicious Minds, which alone make a case for greatness. In the end, though, he didn't write any of these songs, just performed them.
Hole
4/5
Excellent 90s alt rock
Queen Latifah
4/5
Great upbeat hiphop
M.I.A.
3/5
Eclectic and energetic, but maybe less than a sum of its parts? A lot I liked about it, but not much that makes me want to return to it. 3.5*
Os Mutantes
5/5
Loved this. Maybe not perfect as an album, but it's so fun and alive. Wish there was more of this on the list.
Haircut 100
2/5
I can see why people might like this. It's bright and upbeat, and musically interesting: that new wave blend of jazz-funk and pop. Unfortunately I hate all these things and find it bland, soulless and overlong.
Neu!
4/5
Great bit of proto-industrial ambient with a side of krautrock. Been listening to it all weekend. On Friday I thought it was good. By Sunday I thought I was seeing God. 9/10 for the quasi-religious experience.
The Who
4/5
I totally get why this is dividing reviewers. You really need to buy in to both the concept and the context (both the psychedelic moment, and the role of pirate radio stations in the UK). Without that context it sounds lame, with it you can see how it works - satire, but with some great tunes.
Echo And The Bunnymen
3/5
My least favourite of the E&TB albums we've had. Just does less for me. 3*
Country Joe & The Fish
3/5
A good album to know, I guess, which is enough reason to be on the list. Helps understand some more of what was going on in 1967 and the beginnings of the San Francisco psychedelic sound. But it's also fair to say that it hasn't aged as well as some of its contemporaries.
Bill Evans Trio
4/5
Enjoyed this. It's easy going but interesting. Feels totally contemporary. Pleasant as background music, but worth paying attention to. Subtle and smart.
Sonic Youth
4/5
Kind of felt this would be another 5 stars, to match EVOL and Daydream Nation. And it's a great album, sonically brilliant, but there's something about it I don't love as much. I think the problem is me, here. 9/10
Deep Purple
3/5
Solid early 70s rock. Not really my thing
Rush
2/5
Prog rock concept albums are the fucken worst. Bloated (despite coming in under 40 minutes), pretentious and adolescent. Vocals and lyrics are awful. If you turn your brain off there's some fun along the way in the opening track, but that's it. 1.5*
Spiritualized
5/5
A favourite of mine back in '92, but I've gone back to it less than their other albums, and had a slight thought it might not stand up as well. It's still too familiar to me to judge objectively, but I still love it - beautifully produced psychedelic space rock. 9/10
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band
5/5
I figured the reviews for this would all be either 1* or 5*, with mostly the former, because god, it's not forgiving to a quick listen. I mean, I love Captain Beefheart - (came in via the much more accessible The Spotlight Kid and Clear Spot) and it still took me years to go from admiring this by proxy, without actually wanting to listen to it much, to thinking it's one of the high points of 20th Century American art, an avant garde, situationist, jazz and blues masterpiece.
Common
3/5
Listenable, but not outstanding
The xx
3/5
I like The xx, but always found this album a bit forgettable - the heavier sample sound not quite working for me, the songwriting a bit lacking. Listenable enough, with some moments I liked, but it shouldn't be on this list. Inessential.
Malcolm McLaren
4/5
In its way, kind of a brilliant bit of sampling and borrowing to make something surprising, fun, fluent, and way ahead of its time.
Not everything works, and McLaren's narcissistic refusal to credit any of the musicians involved, or any of the inspirations, is contemptible. Still, it holds up as an album, not just an odd cultural artefact.
The Rolling Stones
3/5
I'd have been fine with just Exile, Sticky Fingers and Let it Bleed on this list, maybe Beggars Banquet too. Leave some room for some of the underrepresented genres and artists around the world. Their debut is nearly entirely covers (though they have a nice loose and live feel) and feels interesting only because of what came later. I guess too it's a demonstration of how influential US blues-inspired rock from the 50s and early 60s was on these bands, but that's not exactly news.
The Go-Go's
4/5
Upbeat 80s pop with just about enough traces of its punk origins. I can hear pop influences tracing back to the 50s and 60s. Must have been pretty influential, given the way pop punk went in the US over the next couple decades. 3.8/5
Brian Wilson
4/5
Oh yeah, I remember the fuss when this was finally released. Listening now away from the hype I think it's a great album, if not at the heights of Pet Sounds.
Dexys Midnight Runners
5/5
Had never listened to this, and god I love it. Yeah, maybe the on-mic conversations are a bit indulgent, and there didn't need to be so much of it, but damn, it's great. Definitely the best Dexys album. Been on repeat all day.
Leonard Cohen
5/5
As I said before, Leonard Cohen gets five stars in this house. Immaculate songwriting and incredible world-weary delivery.