795
Albums Rated
3.3
Average Rating
73%
Complete
294 albums remaining
Rating Distribution
Rating Timeline
Taste Profile
2010
Favorite Decade
Punk
Favorite Genre
US
Top Origin
Wordsmith
Rater Style ?
113
5-Star Albums
23
1-Star Albums
Breakdown
By Genre
Top Styles
By Decade
By Origin
Albums
You Love More Than Most
| Album | You | Global | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Gold
Ryan Adams
|
5 | 2.83 | +2.17 |
|
Goodbye And Hello
Tim Buckley
|
5 | 2.84 | +2.16 |
|
The Modern Lovers
The Modern Lovers
|
5 | 3.05 | +1.95 |
|
If I Could Only Remember My Name
David Crosby
|
5 | 3.06 | +1.94 |
|
Music For The Jilted Generation
The Prodigy
|
5 | 3.07 | +1.93 |
|
Murder Ballads
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
|
5 | 3.08 | +1.92 |
|
Berlin
Lou Reed
|
5 | 3.09 | +1.91 |
|
Tubular Bells
Mike Oldfield
|
5 | 3.09 | +1.91 |
|
NEU! 75
Neu!
|
5 | 3.1 | +1.9 |
|
Rid Of Me
PJ Harvey
|
5 | 3.12 | +1.88 |
You Love Less Than Most
| Album | You | Global | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Tommy
The Who
|
1 | 3.33 | -2.33 |
|
The Lexicon Of Love
ABC
|
1 | 3.09 | -2.09 |
|
The Doors
The Doors
|
2 | 3.95 | -1.95 |
|
Ys
Joanna Newsom
|
1 | 2.8 | -1.8 |
|
Happy Trails
Quicksilver Messenger Service
|
1 | 2.79 | -1.79 |
|
A Short Album About Love
The Divine Comedy
|
1 | 2.77 | -1.77 |
|
Let's Stay Together
Al Green
|
2 | 3.76 | -1.76 |
|
Yeezus
Kanye West
|
1 | 2.76 | -1.76 |
|
Hms Fable
Shack
|
1 | 2.76 | -1.76 |
|
Group Sex
Circle Jerks
|
1 | 2.75 | -1.75 |
Artists
Favorites
| Artist | Albums | Average |
|---|---|---|
| Radiohead | 6 | 4.83 |
| David Bowie | 7 | 4.57 |
| Beatles | 6 | 4.5 |
| The Rolling Stones | 5 | 4.6 |
| Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds | 5 | 4.6 |
| Pink Floyd | 4 | 4.5 |
| R.E.M. | 4 | 4.5 |
| Talking Heads | 4 | 4.5 |
| Led Zeppelin | 3 | 4.67 |
| The Stooges | 3 | 4.67 |
| Bruce Springsteen | 3 | 4.67 |
| Nirvana | 3 | 4.67 |
| Nick Drake | 3 | 4.67 |
| PJ Harvey | 3 | 4.67 |
| Yeah Yeah Yeahs | 2 | 5 |
| The Smashing Pumpkins | 2 | 5 |
| The Prodigy | 2 | 5 |
| Oasis | 2 | 5 |
| Kendrick Lamar | 2 | 5 |
| Johnny Cash | 3 | 4.33 |
| The Velvet Underground | 3 | 4.33 |
| Black Sabbath | 3 | 4.33 |
Least Favorites
| Artist | Albums | Average |
|---|---|---|
| Public Image Ltd. | 2 | 1 |
| Scott Walker | 2 | 1.5 |
| The Mothers Of Invention | 2 | 1.5 |
| The Divine Comedy | 2 | 1.5 |
Controversial
| Artist | Ratings |
|---|---|
| Kanye West | 5, 1, 4 |
| Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band | 1, 4 |
| Dire Straits | 2, 5 |
| The Who | 3, 4, 4, 1 |
| Metallica | 5, 3, 2, 4 |
5-Star Albums (113)
View Album Wall
Popular Reviews
The Who · 8 likes
1/5
Honestly, while I like a lot of songs by the Who, Tommy baffles me.
It has its moments musically, obviously including Pinball Wizard, but thematically it falls flat and ends up just being a tediously overlong and anemic slog of an album to actually listen to due to boring masturbatory stretches like 'Underture'.
Initially planned to give it a 2, but fuck grading on a curve and weighting historical significance.
For being an unenjoyable plodding mess for most of its ridiculous 74 minute runtime, and for the plotline of Uncle Ernie raping poor Tommy, this gets the 1 it truly deserves.
ZZ Top · 7 likes
3/5
Enjoyable but disposable 80s trash. Sometimes you just want a Big Mac, and that's fine, but 11 of them is a bit much.
I'd say they rate comfortably below Brian Johnson AC/DC, but above 80s Aerosmith.
Sonic Youth · 3 likes
5/5
A true 80s alt-rock classic.
Sonic Youth can be hit and miss for me, particularly in album form, but not here. Opening with the best track they ever wrote, Daydream Nation somehow manages to perfectly balance their noisy, weirdly-tuned distortion-heavy brand of alternative, with a layer of polish and accessibility.
Radiohead · 2 likes
5/5
I thought this would be a hard one to rate. This is a great album with plenty of bangers, including some of their most straightforward & accessible made this side of 2000, but it's generally not considered to be top-tier Radiohead.
I remember liking it a lot on release, but in my mind it stands in the shadow of the albums found on either side of it.
It also *feels* front-loaded to me even though there's plenty of good stuff in the back half as well. Maybe it's the sequencing, maybe it's the fact that Scatterbrain is pretty weak, and I've never been huge on Wolf at the Door either.
I had to go back and bump my 4 rating to a 5. It might not be Radiohead's best, but it certainly deserves a top-tier placement among the 1000+ albums here.
Korn · 2 likes
1/5
I truly don't think I'll ever fully recover from hearing "All in the Family".
4-Star Albums (219)
1-Star Albums (23)
All Ratings
The White Stripes
4/5
Better than I remember; Perhaps I got many of the tracks confused with Icky Thump. I put both in the 'lesser Stripes' category but I may have been wrong about this one.
Jurassic 5
3/5
Good, but ultimately too long and samey as an album. Standouts like What’s Golden and A Day at the Races are still absolute bangers.
Bob Dylan
3/5
I never want to hear the harmonica again.
Willie Nelson
4/5
The Rolling Stones
3/5
UK version felt like a slog. Too much filler and no Paint It Black.
Stevie Wonder
5/5
Michael Jackson
4/5
OutKast
5/5
Pink Floyd
3/5
Shuggie Otis
2/5
John Coltrane
4/5
Led Zeppelin
4/5
Fugees
3/5
Eels
4/5
Alanis Morissette
4/5
Motörhead
4/5
DJ Shadow
4/5
The Smiths
2/5
I despise Morrissey, and I genuinely can't stand There Is a Light That Never Goes Out, but this was my first Smiths album listen.
This really ran the gamut for me from the truly awful, to the bland, to the admittedly great. Will give it 2 stars for the solid ⅓ of the album I enjoyed, and see if I can keep mining for Smiths I can enjoy.
Garbage
4/5
Beck
5/5
Run-D.M.C.
3/5
Count Basie & His Orchestra
4/5
Charles Mingus
3/5
Klaxons
2/5
Super Furry Animals
3/5
The Specials
5/5
Johnny Cash
5/5
Michael Jackson
4/5
Nothing with "The Girl Is Mine" on it deserves 5 stars.
Caetano Veloso
3/5
Isaac Hayes
4/5
GZA
3/5
Bob Dylan
4/5
The Stooges
5/5
Prince
5/5
It's motherfuckin' Prince.
David Crosby
5/5
Suede
4/5
Much of the album is pretty great. A little pretentious but the songwriting is solid and the faux-Bowie 90s vibe didn't really come off as derivative.
"Black and Blue" was terrible though, I almost dropped my rating. Thankfully, "The Asphalt World" is a pretty spectacular recovery.
Amy Winehouse
4/5
The titular track is a masterpiece. The rest of the album less so, but its solid, doesn't overstay its welcome and ultimately deserves more than 3.
Harry Nilsson
3/5
Metallica
5/5
Earth, Wind & Fire
4/5
Arcade Fire
4/5
This was never my favourite Arcade Fire album and I'm not entirely sure why. A lot of the tracks are great and Sprawl II in particular has to be a career highlight.
Bruce Springsteen
5/5
The Band
2/5
Sorry boomers, there’s nothing notable about this album. Except maybe that the lead singer sounds a little like Jeff Bridges in The Big Lebowski.
George Jones
2/5
Fairly unremarkable oldschool country fare.
Nas
4/5
The Temptations
4/5
Leonard Cohen
4/5
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
5/5
The Smashing Pumpkins
5/5
Pink Floyd
5/5
Pretenders
5/5
Stan Getz
3/5
Beatles
4/5
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
4/5
Public Image Ltd.
1/5
Credit to the bass player, but John Lydon's agonizing, out-of-tune vocals and the overall monotonous, cacophonous mess make it an album I certainly would have preferred living without hearing.
"But that's the point, don't you get it?!?", a pretentious music snob scoffs at me before disappearing up their own asshole.
Sometimes you have to call a spade a spade.
Primal Scream
2/5
If this hadn’t immediately followed Public Image Ltd’s Metal Box, I’d probably have given this a 1/5 too.
Paul McCartney and Wings
4/5
Various Artists
3/5
Metallica
3/5
A sporadically entertaining 90s curio whose arrangements miss at least as much as they hit.
Dr. John
4/5
Love
2/5
Björk
4/5
James Brown
4/5
Funkadelic
4/5
Shame about the fart noises.
David Bowie
5/5
The Magnetic Fields
3/5
Chicago
2/5
Fleetwood Mac
5/5
The War On Drugs
4/5
The Chemical Brothers
4/5
Manic Street Preachers
2/5
Kate Bush
4/5
Tears For Fears
5/5
The Prodigy
5/5
Wild Beasts
3/5
Genesis
2/5
The Smiths
2/5
Bob Marley & The Wailers
4/5
Stan Getz
5/5
This slaps.
The Blue Nile
2/5
Christina Aguilera
3/5
It was actually pretty good, but Holy Christ, 77 minutes.
David Bowie
4/5
B+ tier Bowie.
Cyndi Lauper
4/5
The Zombies
2/5
Time of the Season is great. The preceding 32 minutes, not so much.
Sister Sledge
3/5
It's not for me, and several of the songs stretch way too long, most notably the title track (which is quite possibly the worst on the album). But I can see the appeal.
Gil Scott-Heron
3/5
Joni Mitchell
3/5
The Offspring
4/5
Fleetwood Mac
4/5
Drive Like Jehu
3/5
The Streets
3/5
Heaven 17
3/5
The Go-Go's
4/5
Funkadelic
2/5
Bon Jovi
2/5
Linkin Park
2/5
SHUT UP WHEN I’M TALKING TO YOU!!!!!
Elton John
4/5
Pearl Jam
5/5
I almost skipped this since I know the record inside and out, and I'm really glad I didn't.
I took the opportunity to listen to Brendan O'Brien remix of the album (listed as "Ten Redux" on streaming) which I think I was dismissive of originally; after a dedicated listen I think it sounds phenomenal compared to the original mix while still being respectful of and faithful to it.
The "big 4" being rock radio staples for the better part of 30 years have done nothing to diminish the impact and quality of the entire album.
1001 Albums has got me better attuned as to what albums I enjoy purely for their nostalgia factor vs. what have truly gone the distance, and this album in my eyes is easily the latter and a 5/5 masterpiece.
Red Hot Chili Peppers
2/5
Nirvana
4/5
Ryan Adams
4/5
Slint
3/5
The Doors
3/5
Lorde
5/5
A modern classic. Easy 5/5
The Flying Burrito Brothers
3/5
Iron Butterfly
2/5
Billy Joel
5/5
All killer no filler.
Red Hot Chili Peppers
3/5
Steely Dan
3/5
Soft Cell
2/5
Pretty fucking bad.
Ice Cube
5/5
Marianne Faithfull
4/5
Radiohead
5/5
A Tribe Called Quest
4/5
Femi Kuti
5/5
Welp, turns out I'm an Afrobeat fan.
Foo Fighters
4/5
Public Enemy
4/5
Pulp
4/5
Jorge Ben Jor
3/5
1/5
Scott Walker
1/5
Circle Jerks
1/5
Duke Ellington
3/5
Nick Drake
5/5
Michael Kiwanuka
4/5
Taylor Swift
4/5
First time listening, although given its popularity I probably recognised 6 or 7 tracks. I took the liberty of listening to Taylor's Version.
I thought "Welcome to New York" was a particularly weak opener, both musically and lyrically. I'd also be quite happy to never hear "Shake it Off" again after it got overplayed to death a decade ago.
Rest of the album was solid, I was genuinely surprised how much I enjoyed the back half of the album I was less familiar with, as well as the Vault tracks.
Overall, while not exactly my cup of tea, I'd say this is a solid pop album with good production values that lives up to its reputation.
Aphex Twin
3/5
Tracy Chapman
4/5
David Bowie
4/5
Sonic Youth
3/5
Certainly not my favourite Sonic Youth album.
Tricky
2/5
It's perfectly serviceable, but why do I find this album so bland and uninspired?
It doesn't help that the Glory Box ripoff immediately made me wish I was listening to Dummy instead.
Honestly the best part of the listen was the album ending, and Apple keeping the music going with a pretty great trip-hop mix featuring Massive Attack, UNKLE, Lovage, Bjork, Francesca Belmonte, & Martina Topley-Bird solo.
Billy Bragg
3/5
Fela Kuti
4/5
3/5
Happy Mondays
3/5
Supergrass
3/5
5/5
Sly & The Family Stone
4/5
The Velvet Underground
5/5
The 13th Floor Elevators
4/5
Beatles
5/5
Take away the historical context and groundbreaking production of the time, and you're still left with 14 incredibly diverse and well-crafted pop songs making up one of their best and consistently-great albums.
Also, the 2022 mix I listened to sounded absolutely sublime compared to the old hard-panned stereo mix.
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band
1/5
I genuinely feel for anyone who has invested significant time in the mental gymnastics needed to convince themselves that this dreck holds artistic value, conditioning themselves through constant repetitive trauma to find artificial enjoyment in it.
Life is short. Embrace it. Hug your wife and kids. Call your mum. Cuddle your cat.
The Cure
5/5
Perfection.
The Who
3/5
Some great tracks, some terrible tracks, but mostly just mid. Glimpses of what they'd become.
Run-D.M.C.
4/5
k.d. lang
2/5
She has a great voice, and Constant Craving is a classic. But I really didn't care for this album as a whole.
Germs
2/5
Eagles
3/5
Dusty Springfield
3/5
The Mothers Of Invention
1/5
Man Zappa sure showed those hippies!
Unlistenable and unpleasant boomer shite masquerading as lame satire that was apparently cutting-edge and biting 50 years ago.
The Byrds
2/5
Korn
1/5
I truly don't think I'll ever fully recover from hearing "All in the Family".
R.E.M.
5/5
I was never a huge REM fan outside of the 90s radio staples, but wow, what a killer debut. The band is already fully formed, there's not a single bad track, the musicianship is tight and production sounds timeless and *nothing* like 1983!
I genuinely don't know how it ranks compared to their other albums in the court of popular opinion, but as far as I'm concerned, this one's pure 🔥.
LCD Soundsystem
5/5
The soundtrack to my mid 20s. A damn near perfect album.
James & co. never did manage to top this one, which hit just the right balance of honouring and celebrating its influences while being unabashedly its own thing.
The Beach Boys
4/5
Surprisingly great. Only song I recognised was 'Feel Flows' from the Almost Famous credits but really liked the variety and overall mood on offer, and 'Long Promised Road' is an absolute banger.
The Sonics
2/5
The covers ran the gamut from pretty good to downright woeful ('Miss Molly'), but the originals weren't bad and overall I didn't mind the vibe and lo-fi aesthetic.
But Jesus fucking Christ, the cumulative effect of the constant WOWWWWWWWW!!!!!s was just way too much. Each one hurt more than the last, and turned into the longest 28 minutes and 42 seconds of my life.
Might have made a decent 45 or couple of tracks in a shuffle playlist, but as an album it became actively unpleasant to listen to.
PJ Harvey
5/5
The album that made a 19 year old me build a Chu Moy headphone amp!
A raw & abrasive almost-masterpiece that is only let down (IMHO) by the unnecessary and jarring Man-Size Sextet.
The OG PJ Harvey trio always sounded great, but Albini's production (not always my cup of tea) is truly fantastic here and elevates the music and lyrics fantastically well (as anyone who's heard the interesting but somewhat lacklustre-by-comparison versions on 4-Track Demos can attest to.)
I'm giving it a bonus point for the uncompromisingly dynamic mix that is a giant middle-finger to the loudness war. Crank it fucking loud.
Muddy Waters
3/5
Sex Pistols
4/5
The Strokes
5/5
An undeniable nostalgia 5 for me.
It's July 2001, I am weeks away from turning 18 and finishing High School. The Strokes fly into Australia to support You Am I. The album hasn't even dropped yet, but that's basically their setlist in order. News spreads from other states of what awaits us. Four glorious nights in a row at the Newtown Theatre in Sydney quickly become legend, culminating an early album drop months before anywhere else in the world. Something momentous has occurred. We're finally free of our post-grunge and nu-metal shackles.
I'd like to think the album holds up without nostalgia goggles, but I honestly can't tell. These 35 odd minutes sounded huge back then, and it always will to me.
If not, a bonus point for the iconic non-American artwork perchance?
Leonard Cohen
2/5
And I thought I liked Leonard Cohen...
It genuinely sounds like a parody of 80s production, like I'm stuck inside a cruise ship bar for lonely middle-aged men on karaoke night. The loneliest and oldest man, whose wife disappeared in mysterious circumstances, now earns a living mumbling words while demoing the worlds first MIDI keyboard.
Up until 'Jazz Police' I would have argued it's just extremely dated production. But I now insist this entire album was an elaborate troll and somehow 80s audiences unironically ate it up. It's the only logical explanation.
The literal opposite of polishing a turd.
Sonic Youth
3/5
The Cure
4/5
Dire Straits
2/5
This was my first Dire Straits album, although I obviously knew Money For Nothing, and Walk of Life (which I've always hated for its faux-rockabilly sound and chintzy organ)
I understand it moved a lot of CD players in the mid 80s. But despite some interesting guitar work, I disliked most of it and are completely baffled to its **17x Platinum** status here in Australia.
Why are the songs so goddamn long? Are the shorter vinyl album versions abridged, or were these unnaturally stretched out to demonstrate the amazing runtime of the CD? Why is the middle section so unbelievably boring? How can anyone feel *anything* from the overly sterile 80s production and insipid lyrics?
Jeff Beck
3/5
Really liked Jeff Beck's guitar work. Rod Stewart and the song selection slightly less so, but it's perfectly serviceable.
Moby Grape
3/5
Van Halen
4/5
Huge in its day, and still holds up very well indeed. The blueprint for the next decade of rock.
Common
5/5
Easily one of the best hip-hop albums of the 00s.
Buddy Holly & The Crickets
3/5
Unlikely to enter my regular rotation, but it’s held up well and I enjoyed it.
Robbie Williams
2/5
52 minutes long and absolutely nothing of substance.
Leftfield
2/5
Sporadically interesting but often uninspired 90s electronica, the kind that might have introed a cracked game for my Amiga 500.
-->---,-`-.> 5h0ut 0u7z 2 RaZoR 1911 4nD Fa1rL1Gh7 d00dz! <.-`-.---<--
Laura Nyro
2/5
Hugh Masekela
4/5
Very smooth. Nice and varied compositions managed to keep my interest for the entire running time.
Radiohead
5/5
A truly timeless masterpiece.
The Black Keys
3/5
I remember really enjoying this on release but I don't think time has been kind to this one.
It's perfectly fine of course, but endless licensing to TV and commercials has dulled its appeal and contributed to its overly-clean-production-with-hot-vocals sounding cliché. It's unmistakably the sound of 2010 and possibly even a contributing factor to rock music's decline. Too harsh?
Upon relistening I quite enjoyed the lesser-exposed back half I hadn't heard in many years and would probably give it a 3.5 if I could.
Traffic
4/5
I really enjoyed this. Quite surprised I'd never heard of them, although Steve Winwood's name rang a bell.
Thoroughly enjoyed the mix of blues, folk, and psychedelic. You Can All Join In was a strong opener, and Pearly Queen sounded like the authentic blues rock experience I was sorely lacking yesterday when I had to review The Black Keys. Feeling Alright is certainly a classic I'm not sure if I'd ever head the original.
Not perfect by any means, but a very solid record IMO.
Dolly Parton
3/5
Talking Heads
5/5
What an outstanding and amazingly fun album. Production is sublime with super tight rhythms, great guitar work, and some epic bass lines.
Lauryn Hill
3/5
Some undeniably great tracks but I never quite got the hype for this.
As an album it's mostly good, occasionally great. But it's too long and there's plenty of filler.
Baaba Maal
2/5
I'm sorry, I just couldn't get into it. Vocals too grating, songs too repetitive, album too long.
Kanye West
5/5
An undeniable classic, the biggest and best hip-hop album of its time. It still sounds great today (despite the overcompressed/clipping mix)
Credit where credit's due. Kanye's an asshat that has fallen off the deep end, hasn't made anything remotely comparable since, and apparently still doesn't get the fishsticks joke.
It's a shame we immediately went from the highs of 'Runaway' to Kanye getting asshole bleach on his T-shirt, but for a brief shining moment in the early 2010s Kanye had beaten his detractors and was on top of the world.
The Who
4/5
Great album, obviously phenomenal opens and closers, but the middle sags a little.
The Rolling Stones
5/5
S-Tier for sure. A perfect blend of rock, blues, country, and gospel, bookended by two of the greatest songs ever written.
Jimi Hendrix
4/5
Venom
2/5
Not completely terrible, but I did not enjoy it and I will never listen to it again. It was hard to tell if it was cliched, or the precursor to those cliches, but I've certainly heard a lot better metal.
Beastie Boys
4/5
Very much enjoyed a re-listen of this classic. It hasn't aged as much as I feared and for the most part* is still a very fun listen.
* But 'Girls' is still an insta-skip for me. Just terrible.
2/5
Occasionally I'd find myself enjoying a moment or two, but overall the whole thing sounded incredibly derivative and pretentious, and the lyrics were often terrible (eg. My Dictionary)
3/5
First Kinks album. Could hear the lineage of late 90s/early 00s UK indie rock in this. Musicianship was solid and there were a few great tracks, but I did find it slightly underwhelming.
Supertramp
2/5
Sadly not a fan of this one. A couple of nice moments including the closing track but they were few and far between. Not a fan of the singer's voice and wish it was proggier.
TV On The Radio
4/5
Always enjoyed this one. Dancing Choose, Golden Age and DLZ are absolute bangers, almost everything else is extremely solid. Only track I'm not huge on is Stork & Owl but it's okay.
Talking Heads
3/5
Gotta admit, after instantly enjoying the absolute shit out of their second album when it popped up, one I was previously unfamiliar with, I found this first album to be quite underwhelming by comparison.
Psycho Killer is obviously a very bright highlight in their entire discography, but I feel the rest is good albeit somewhat forgettable, and the band were yet to find their groove on this one. Just doesn't have the usual Talking Heads magic to me.
Interested to see if it grows on me, but I'm having trouble mustering more than a 3.
Scott Walker
2/5
I will never listen to it again, but thankfully it was better than Scott 2.
The Who
4/5
I listened to the 37 minute original and I loved it. No filler, none of my favourite Who songs either, just an awesome show, some very great drumming from Mr. Moon, and practically zero crowd noise.
Van Morrison
4/5
I am not a fan of live albums nor particularly familiar with the oeuvre of Van Morrison, but despite its hefty runtime I thought this was great. Good soulful voice, band are precise yet somehow sound effortles, the overall vibe is warm and inviting. Will definitely come back to this one.
Quicksilver Messenger Service
1/5
Even by 60s jam band standards, this one was giant pretentious steaming noodly jizzbridge of wank.
LL Cool J
3/5
Great title track but the rest of this hasn't exactly aged well.
Alice Cooper
3/5
Surprisingly varied and enjoyable.
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
2/5
The best part of the album was when I got 2 minutes into "Down By the River" and could just enjoy Crazy Horse rocking out for a while, without having to endure Neil's shitty voice.
Otis Redding
5/5
An undeniably great album.
Elliott Smith
4/5
Probably the Elliott Smith album I least engaged with back in the day. With 20 years in the rearview mirror I really enjoyed it in retrospect and think it might be one of his best works. Great production and solid variety throughout, even a rocker or two.
Liz Phair
4/5
Very pleasantly surprised by this one. I was aware of Liz Phair, but had only really heard her awful potty-mouthed-Avril-Lavigne attempt of the early 2000s, whatever the album was where she extols the virtues of using men's bodily fluids as moisturiser.
Leaning pretty heavily into riot grrl sensibilities and having some pretty funny and biting lyrics while maintaining a sound that is both accessible and varied is a pretty neat balancing act. You can clearly hear its influences in 90s alt rock, 00s indie and beyond.
Raekwon
2/5
Starts alright but gets boring quickly. Entirely one-note and way, way, WAY too long.
Louis Prima
3/5
Not my thing and I'd question its essential status, but it was perfectly pleasant, and at times even fun.
Frank Ocean
3/5
Clearly I'm in the minority but I've never _quite_ understood the hype. For the most part all I hear a decent but second-rate Stevie Wonder imitation, interspersed with mumbled rap and/or a grating falsetto.
It's not all mild disappointment though. Pyramids provides a much needed up-tempo shot of adrenalin in its first half, and Crack Rock and Lost on either side of it are pretty solid or at least interesting too.
Dire Straits
5/5
Given my previous distaste for mid-80s Dire Straits I was very surprised by how much I enjoyed this. Sultans of Swing is the only song I knew, but overall I thought it was a surprisingly well-formed collection of songs for a debut, with great guitar work and solid lyrics.
To me this is everything Brothers in Arms isn't: a cohesive, warm, evocative and authentic-sounding roots/blues rock album, free of overproduced and overlong 80s excess.
[edit: I initially gave this a 4, but have come back to it a number of times over the past 18 months. This gets a bump to a 5.]
The Jam
3/5
Great, prominent basslines throughout, some interesting guitar work, occasionally straying into the Bowie-esque but a nice cohesive 35 minutes that's just a little too samey for my liking. An enjoyable 3.5.
Stephen Stills
3/5
Some great moments, some not-so-great moments, but overall, not bad.
The White Stripes
5/5
Probably haven't listened to this one in 15-20 years. This was *huge* in 2001 and while I loved it back in the day, I'm surprised at how well it holds up versus, say, The Black Keys.
More polished than De Stijl, perhaps not quite as triumphant as Elephant, but the beginning of their reign as Garage king and queen. A diverse and well rounded album with not single a bad track.
Thundercat
2/5
Extremely tedious.
Blur
3/5
An undeniable classic, but I still think it has its fair share of duds.
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
4/5
Really enjoyed this one. A short but sweet debut.
The Undertones
3/5
Super fun pop punk. 3.5.
Dexys Midnight Runners
2/5
I wasn’t looking forward to this assignment. After all, I hate Come on Eileen with the fire of a thousand suns. It’s only gotten worse with the numerous and obvious men’s bodily fluid joke in recent years, found everywhere from American Dad to this very site. The only joy it’s ever provided me is the hilariously bad live version on their official YouTube, but alas the song remains the same.
Still, you try and approach every album with an open mind. Isn’t that the whole point of this endeavour?
I don’t know why there are 3 versions of this thing on Apple Music, but naturally I chose the shortest one. I have questions about why Kevin Rowland felt the need to put his own name in front of the bands for apparently this one album alone.
He is the worst part of it. In his normal register he sounds fine, a little like a happy Robert Smith. But every octave outside of the mid range is like nails on a chalkboard.
The second he stretches and strains his vocal cords to produce that cacophonous strangled cat of a falsetto I nope the fuck out.
Mott The Hoople
2/5
Mostly a boring derivative slog that answers the question "What if David Bowie couldn't sing?". Best left behind in the 70s, but credit for the interesting violin solo on Violence.
Boston
4/5
Super fun and impeccably clean classic rock. Holds up very well, and it’s honestly pretty hard to fault.
It is interesting to me how America-centric the album's success was, with 85% of sales coming from US and 5% from Canada. Certainly doesn't seem to have made much of a splash here in Australia, and I’d say it’s quite rare to hear on classic rock radio here; if anything it evokes nostalgia of the 2 years I spent living in Canada in the 2010s.
Joni Mitchell
3/5
I appreciate its place in music history, but I've tried to enjoy this album more than a few times over the years, and something about it just doesn't quite click with me.
I go back and forth on whether I enjoy her voice or not, but I definitely think it's too loud in the mix.
The Sugarcubes
2/5
An interesting pre-solo Bjork curio with maybe 3 decent songs?
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
2/5
First time listening to a CSN(+Y) album.
So far I've given a 5 to Crosby, a 3 to Stills, and a 2 to Young+Crazy Horse, whose upper-register singing voice is like nails on a chalkboard to me. Nash remains an enigma, but I get the feeling he's a little too twee and whimsical for my liking, like McCartney's bad days.
This album has done nothing to change my beliefs, although I think given enough time I can build a compilation I enjoy.
S: Almost Cut My Hair
A: Country Girl
B: Deja Vu, 4+20
C: Carry On, Woodstock, Everybody I Love You
D: Helpless, Our House
F: Teach Your Children
The Avalanches
5/5
A monumental achievement in sampling and dance music and an undeniable classic.
Perhaps due to its sheer inventiveness or diversity, I think it holds up better than albums such as Endtroducing, and certainly compared to the poppier/big beat artists of the time like Fatboy Slim or Moby.
I thoroughly enjoyed revisiting this, even if I do prefer their _amazing_ 2020 album We Will Always Love You quite a bit more.
Led Zeppelin
5/5
Legendary.
ABBA
3/5
I approached this with some trepidation as I'm not the biggest ABBA fan. I recognised none of these tracks, even though ABBA Gold was my mother's housework soundtrack for a few years back in the 90s.
Credit where credits due, I liked this. The production and mix itself is sublime, the opening title track is a fucking banger, and I enjoyed the theatricality of I Let the Music Speak as well.
Pixies
4/5
Classic debut. Pixies knew who they wanted to be and arrived fully-formed. They would go on to bigger greatness, but the punk sensibilities, quirkiness, and interplay between Frank and Kim make this one a fun album to revisit.
The Byrds
3/5
Pleasant enough, but not something I'm in a hurry to revisit.
The Triffids
4/5
I'm genuinely baffled by the hatred for this entry. I've never heard of these guys, and I'm from Australia, but honestly it's a pretty great 80s pop-rock album.
Production sounds very typical of the period, and I can hear some INXS, The Church, and Nick Cave similarities but mostly I think the singer sounds like Tim Booth from UK Band James. Musically and lyrically I think its very solid with some nice flourishes and variety.
Would much rather listen to this than yet another fucking Morrissey/Smiths album.
Alice In Chains
3/5
Having never really listened to Alice in Chains back in the 90s, I have zero nostalgia for this. I don't quite get the grunge label, it sounds like sludgy Sabbath-eqsue 70s metal mixed with a bit of 80s alt rock to me.
It was a bit of a fatiguing listen but I think it picked up after the first few songs. Sickman and Rooster in particular felt like a much-needed shot in the arm.
Pixies
3/5
Love Surfer Rosa, love Doolittle...but this one has always left me a little cold. It's, fine I guess, but nothing approaching their best. I mean even Trompe le Monde has U-Mass on it.
The Stone Roses
2/5
Honestly, I've tried, but for the most part this album does absolutely nothing for me.
There is one noticeable exception -- the extended instrumental outro on I am the Resurrection absolutely slaps.
Ray Charles
4/5
I skipped the second disc as only the first seems to be the original album. From what I can gather it is a historical significant album, but knowing none of that, it's a tight 39 minutes of reworking that holds up amazingly well.
Ray's voice was impeccable as you'd expect, the song selection was nice and varied and the big band sounded great. Definitely will see a few tracks entering my weekend breakfast rotation.
R.E.M.
4/5
It's a shame I don't think the back half of the album is quite as excellent as the first; Lightnin' Hopkins in particular I'd consider a bit of a low point.
Overall a great album that while not as strong as Murmur IMO, dials down the jangle and ups the intensity to great success.
Elton John
5/5
I'm going to hypocritically ignore my own personal code and give this a 5 despite it having a clunker or two. It's a mammoth double album with both huge hits and amazing deep cuts.
Funeral for a Friend is the highlight because of course it is.
Creedence Clearwater Revival
5/5
Huge hits, extended jams, an 11 minute Grapevine...this album has it all. Expanding beyond swamp rock and rockabilly into soul, country, and rhythm and blues, it's honestly hard to fault.
Johnny Cash
4/5
Pretty great, but honestly not as good as Folsom.
I of course listened to the 34 minute original, but the bleeped swears are annoying.
PJ Harvey
5/5
I’ve always enjoyed this one, but put it a tiny bit below the extremely high bar set by some of the albums that would follow. I… think I was wrong?
The two singles remain the high point for me, but I enjoyed every second of this listen. I don’t know if it’s been remastered or what, but the OG trio sound great here.
Grading on a curve be damned, Dry gets the 5 it deserves.
The Shamen
1/5
Embarrassingly awful.
Gang Of Four
3/5
It might be a little _too_ minimalist for me, but I'd say it's held up decently well and has its moments. I can certainly hear the influence on later post-punk bands.
Coldplay
3/5
This was a hard one to rate.
I *did* genuinely enjoy listening to this for the first time in 20 years, even though I've always found it vastly inferior to 'Parachutes'.
God Put a Smile On Your Face, The Scientist and Warning Sign are all solid, and I've always particularly enjoyed the title track and Amsterdam, which close out the album beautifully.
But then there's the truly execrable Clocks, the mere hint of that arpeggio triggering some sort of PTSD, and the other truly forgettable tracks.
This is the ultimately album that killed any interest in Coldplay for me. Rather than building on a strong debut, it set them on their course for superstardom as a meandering, U2-like, inexplicably popular nothing-band.
As an epitaph, I think a 3 is fair.
Violent Femmes
4/5
I obviously knew Blister, but this was a fun listen. Sounds like nothing else from 1983 and almost like a protopunk Mountain Goats.
I think it dipped a little in the middle but it opens and closes strong.
Gorillaz
4/5
Well, it's certainly not the best Gorillaz album, or even in the top 3.
But there's something about its balls-to-the-wall, whiplash-inducing genre-hopping that remains an intriguing and strangely charming listen outside of its biggest hits.
Probably more of a 3.5, but 3 seemed too low.
Radiohead
5/5
So celebrated it's practically cliche, OK Computer remains a phenomenal achievement and deserves its reputation as the single greatest album of the 90s.
10 🤖s out of 5
Laibach
2/5
Ja nein.
Pet Shop Boys
3/5
Dated but decent.
a-ha
3/5
I didn't *love* it but there were a couple of surprisingly good tracks beyond Take on Me.
Adele
3/5
The big hits off this were certainly inescapable back in the early 2010s, but this is the first time I listened to the album proper.
There's maybe one ballad too many but overall I'd say it's pretty great for it's genre. I'll Be Waiting is an absolute banger. I am *baffled* as to how it's the least popular song by far according to Spotify.
I am, however, deducting an entire point for the completely uninspired and unnecessary cover of The Cure's Lovesong. It's already been covered to death, the pedestrian bossanova accompaniment adds nothing, and it's even missing the biggest melodic hook from the song.
Siouxsie And The Banshees
3/5
I didn't enjoy this as much as I expected. It has a great punk vibe, Siouxsie brings the energy and the attitude, and I can hear the influence on Bat for Lashes, PJ Harvey, Sleater-Kinney et al.
But something about the actual song selection left me cold? I don't know. I hated the Helter Skelter cover, everything else was fine but lacking anything truly memorable on first listen.
The Prodigy
5/5
As a young teenager introduced to The Prodigy via music videos and Wipeout 2097, I always had a preference for Fat of the Land, but in retrospect I do think this is their best album.
A truly groundbreaking mix of techno/rave/big beat/electronica, it still managed to cross over to alt/rock nerds like me who'd never set foot inside a rave, through it's punk energy, aggressive beats, and impeccably layered production.
There is some cringeworthy circa-1990 dance on this list that has aged extremely poorly. It's amazing the difference a few years make, this is anything but. It still sounds big, bold, fresh, interesting and utterly timeless.
The Rolling Stones
5/5
Man, the Stones really were unstoppable from 1968-1972.
They weren't shy of exploring various flavours of rock, country, blues, and more, but the balancing act was absolutely perfect on this album. All members are in fine form and more than half the album is A-tier or above.
Consider the sheer hookiness of 'Brown Sugar'. The understated beauty of 'Wild Horses'. The unique and epic jamming on Can't You Hear Me 'Knocking'. Their now-honed-and-perfected authentic country-roots sound on 'Dead Flowers'. The swagger (and killer horn session) of 'Bitch'. The hauntingly melancholy of 'Sister Morphine'. The beautiful introspection and strings on 'Moonlight Mile'.
The sleazy cover of 'You Gotta Move' is probably the only weaker track that isn't great in isolation, but as an interlude closing out side A it works great in context.
On it's own I don't know how to give it anything but top marks. But in the context of the albums on either side of it, it also firmly makes the case for The Rolling Stones to have one of the best four-album runs in music history.
Simply Red
2/5
Neuroscientists, musicologists, and other top academic researchers should study this album to analyse how they managed to suck all of the soul out of soul music.
Mick Hucknall has a good voice but this is a truly dismal slice of 80s waiting room Muzak.
It also features one of the worst Talking Heads covers ever recorded. kd lang does a great cover of Heaven because she understands the need for a little restraint. This version is amped up into the terrible-stratosphere.
I am charitably giving it a 2 because, while it is awful, it is a dull & inoffensive background awful, and I know things would get even worse with 'Fairground'.
The The
3/5
It was fine. Seemed a little restrained and I found my attention waning at times, but some nice moments.
Mercury Rev
3/5
I found my interest waning at time, to the point I felt it warranted a second listen. It is often at times Flaming Lips-esque in its instrumentation and brittle vocals, but 'The Soft Bulletin' it is not.
Overall a pleasant album, with some interesting flourishes and a couple of standout tracks like Opus 40 and Holes. But I didn't quite understand the significance of this one.
Miles Davis
5/5
No additional commentary necessary.
Slayer
4/5
A true thrash classic.
Dinosaur Jr.
2/5
Started strong, devolved into some fairy generic and samey indie rock for the most part. Then came "Don't". I'm okay with noise rock but that was straight up obnoxious. Started a 4, ended a 2.
Green Day
4/5
Confession time.
Many of these songs were forever ingrained in my youth, the soundtrack to a million mix tapes, CDs, Winamp playlists, hangouts, and parties, but I'd never heard this classic album in full before.
By the time I became an album collector in my later teens, I was also an insufferable music elitist douche that considered these pop-punk pioneers and their light-hearted attitude beneath me. Something for my younger sister to enjoy.
Listening to this was both deeply nostalgic and strangely fresh. Full of Big riffs, solid basslines, clean production and no skips, it's an undeniably great album that holds up well, no matter what my stupid 17 year old self thought.
David Ackles
2/5
Wasn't a fan of the first track, but I thought "Love's Enough" was quite pretty and understated. Things were looking up!
Then the rest of the album destroyed that goodwill. On paper it sounded like it might be something I'd be interested in but, whatever this is, It's not for me.
Al Green
2/5
It was short, and made pleasant enough background music, but there was a certain je ne sais quoi that stopped me from really enjoying it.
Maybe it was the knowledge that Al Green was an abusive piece of shit who beat his pregnant wife to the point where she required stitches because she denied his demands for sex.
Let's Stay Together indeed. Fuck you.
Arcade Fire
5/5
Still an amazing debut after 20 years. Haunting, beautiful, anthemic, it reinvigorated and redefined the entire indie rock genre.
Their winning streak would continue for at least the next two albums, but they never truly topped this one in my book.
AC/DC
5/5
Fuck the insufferable musical elitists and the critiques about their 18-album discography or their deceptively simple style.
This is an absolute classic album that still holds on its merits, let alone against the backdrop of a band losing their talented lead singer and setting a new benchmark for hitting the ground running with v2.0.
Nanci Griffith
3/5
Fairly straightforward country fare with a great voice. Not exactly my cup of tea, but made for pleasant listening.
Primal Scream
4/5
I had to laugh at what my brain conjured up when I heard 'Primal Scream' vs the bright piano of the opening Rolling Stones-meets-George Michael opening track. It's an absolute delight.
What a unique and interesting album. 'Cohesive' might be a stretch but it's certainly fun and varied.
Probably more of a 3.5, but it's almost bizarre stylistic shifts put me in a good mood and I'm rounding up accordingly.
Fleet Foxes
3/5
Honestly, while it's very beautiful music with some standout moments, I struggle to find any urge to listen to it.
4/5
Doesn't have the biggest hits but this was a fun listen. IMHO a more consistent album overall than Parklife.
The Human League
3/5
I guess you had to be there.
Christine and the Queens
3/5
It was...fine?
Soundgarden
4/5
I wasn't the biggest Soundgarden fan back in the day -- I knew and enjoyed the singles, and owned a copy of their "A Sides" compilation. This was my first full album listen.
I must say I'm surprised at the quality of the entire album. It's very long like many albums of the era, but it's pretty great from beginning to end.
Cowboy Junkies
3/5
Finished stronger than it started. Definitely need to be in the mood for it, but I can see myself listening to it again. 3.5.
Beastie Boys
5/5
Absolute classic. Great production. Lots of fun.
Nick Drake
5/5
Another flawless and beautiful album from Nick Drake.
M.I.A.
3/5
Not every track is great, but I'd say it still holds up well.
Faust
2/5
Occasionally interesting but mostly just grating and annoying.
Tina Turner
3/5
It's very 80s, and not for me. But a few classic bangers on here.
The Beach Boys
3/5
Look, it's nice and all, and I don't want to be a contrarian for the sake of it, but Pet Sounds legendary status has always been a bit baffling to me.
It's a cohesive and enjoyable album, but across its 13 tracks are two great songs, three good songs, and a whole lot of quaint but barely memorable filler that wouldn't even crack the top 40 best Beach Boys songs.
Give me 'Surf's Up' anyday.
2/5
A dull and turgid outing from Muse, in which they failed to capitalise on the goodwill of their three good-to-great albums prior, and disappear up their own arseholes chasing US commercial success by sanding off all the rough edges or anything that could be considered even mildly unique or interesting of what was already a pretty derivative band.
This one introduces a Gap-approved, mid-aughts light-guitar-and-synth aesthetic, which just amplifies rather than compliments Matt Bellamy's preposterous vocals.
Lead single Supermassive Black Hole is a truly dire sellout alt-pop anthem firmly targeting that year's EA Sports video game soundtrack placement, but overdoing it so much that it ends up in the hands of 12 year old girls everywhere via the Twilight soundtrack.
The one bright spot is unquestionably Knights of Cydonia, but its placement on the album is also a jarring reminder of how bland and uninspired the preceding 45 minutes were.
(At least the authors came to their senses and removed it from subsequent revisions of the book.)
Neneh Cherry
3/5
Sure, it's dated as all hell, but this was an enjoyably catchy and eclectic listen.
Aretha Franklin
4/5
Mike Ladd
2/5
I've never seen such a short Wikipedia album summary on this site before. So non-notable even fans can’t be bothered putting a few words together. This review is longer.
Clearly it got the attention it deserved.
2/5
Not a lot of variety in Dr. Sardonicus’s dreams, is there?
George Harrison
4/5
Cutting out the Apple Jams and bonus stuff and focusing on the album proper, this is a *fantastic* album by any standard. Highly recommend you listen to the original vinyl tracklisting.
The Notorious B.I.G.
2/5
Biggie's flow is great, but listening to this oversexed and overstuffed skit-heavy album in its entirety becomes incredibly tiresome and tedious.
The Police
3/5
Second half was great.
Paul Simon
3/5
I don't mind a bit of Paul Simon, without or without Garfunkel, but as far as albums go. I would question its essential status.
Nice, but certainly not his best.
Sigur Rós
4/5
Still a hauntingly beautiful album that's just *slightly* too long.
Ozomatli
3/5
An interesting fusion of styles, but some of the rapping and lyrics were pretty cringe. Definitely sounds "of its time". Occasionally felt like the soundtrack to an early 00s Showtime or FX drama.
Maybe it was the fact I had to listen to a heavily compressed, unofficial playlist via Youtube, but the mix sounded a little flat and lacking in dynamics.
Despite my mild disappointment, 2 seems too harsh.
Stephen Stills
4/5
Started out very strong, but the excess of the double album format (or maybe just a dip in quality) certainly wore down its welcome over time. I feel like it'd be better pared down but will have to give it another listen.
I was prepared to give it a 3, but then it picked up again by the end, so a 4 it is.
Joni Mitchell
3/5
Pleasant enough.
Bruce Springsteen
5/5
Yeah, no shit it's good.
Lou Reed
5/5
Wow. Outside of the VU Lou Reed has always been very hit and miss for me, but this was great.
Beautiful, delicate, dark, foreboding, and engaging, Lou's limited vocals really compliment the music on this one. The strong narrative and subject matter might not be everyone's cup of tea but it certainly isn't boring.
Bauhaus
2/5
It's genuinely impressive that the one album can consistently make odd 180 degree turns between the genuinely interesting and *incredibly* annoying.
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
3/5
Overrated.
FKA twigs
4/5
Wow, has it been 10 years already? A killer full-length debut from a unique talent. Not as good as the second, but still just a great album to put on late at night. Ethereal and beautiful and out of this world with super chill beats.
Eric Clapton
3/5
Honestly, I really enjoyed this, it's a pretty great album. But also Fuck Eric Clapton.
The Temptations
2/5
Honestly I didn't care for it at all.
Neil Young
2/5
I wasn't looking forward to yet another endurance test of whether I could go the distance having to endure Neil's shitty voice.
This one was a real surprise, because midway through he abandoned his nasally whine for a lower register, which was *great*. Unfortunately, he did so in service of some of the most boring and meandering songs I've ever heard.
Not sure what was beach-like about it. Music to drown yourself to?
Morrissey
2/5
I didn't totally hate it. Started strong, and some okay tracks. Still an insufferable slog to get through an entire album.
Steve Earle
2/5
Wasn't a fan. Seemed to teeter on the brink of parody at times, and felt much longer than 34 minutes. A couple of decent songs though.
Pink Floyd
5/5
There's not a lot I can contribute to the discourse about one of the greatest albums of all time.
The Great Gig in the Sky alone would net it a 5 no matter what else was on the record. And it's still just magical how Speak To Me/Breathe and Eclipse bookend the album.
But I will say that for an album I have heard many times in many formats, the 2023 Atmos Mix found on Apple Music sounded phenomenal on a good home theatre setup.
Ali Farka Touré
2/5
Currently one of my top 3 genres, I have enjoyed a great many "World" albums through this site.
Unfortunately this is not one of them.
Even as background music it was uninteresting, overly long, and so grating I couldn't even appreciate the guitar. I suppose it is a fairly broad genre, but this didn't grab me at all.
The Everly Brothers
3/5
Pleasant enough, certainly not for me, but Holy Christ do you get more of an appreciation of The Beatles, Stones, Byrds etc. managed to do in a few short years.
Elis Regina
3/5
CHIC
2/5
Some decent jams but *way* too repetitive.
Peter Gabriel
3/5
Seemed a little patchy and inconsistent, but overall I enjoyed it.
Dirty Projectors
3/5
Didn't like it first, but it slowly grew on me. A bit like a polyrhythmic Vampire Weekend at times.
Deep Purple
4/5
Enjoyable 70s rock and a couple of stone-cold classics.
3/5
Fun stuff, but not exactly groundbreaking.
Sly & The Family Stone
4/5
oh my god that's the funky shit
Derek & The Dominos
2/5
Layla And Other Assorted Love Songs (that don't deserve a mention and aren't even half as good).
It's way too long. One great track, a few good tracks, and then a whole lot of boring or downright bad tracks. Little Wing was horrendous. Sorry boomers.
Also, as always, I must stress: fuck Eric Clapton.
Jimmy Smith
4/5
At first I worried about the prominence of the Hammond organ, but I enjoyed this quite a lot.
The Good, The Bad & The Queen
3/5
I guess I liked it? It was occasionally interesting, mostly just fine. Not exactly one of Albarn's bigger achievements.
Dolly Parton
3/5
Not for me, but some pretty harmonies.
Eminem
4/5
A juvenile but undeniable classic. Epic rhymes and dope beats yo.
That said, the skits are just as annoying as they were 25 years ago.
Rahul Dev Burman
3/5
Metallica
2/5
Some pretty good tracks, a couple of duds, and all-time great with One, but with the average track length stretching beyond 7 minutes, it can get quite boring and monotonous after a while.
But mostly I've never been able to enjoy this one due to the truly awful and flat production. Beyond the complete lack of all bass, the guitar sounds thin and the drums anemic, which only highlights the huge gulf in quality and talent between Lars's drumming and the rest of the band.
2 seems harsh, but what else to rate an album that is actively unpleasant to listen to in it's entirety?
Def Leppard
2/5
There's probably a reason subsequent generations of kids have been walking around in Nirvana tees for the better part of 25 years, but hair metal stayed firmly in the 80s where it belonged.
Television
5/5
Effortlessly cool and supremely influential, it's also just a great album from beginning to end.
David Bowie
5/5
Holy shit, what an amazing album.
This was one of the few Bowie albums I wasn't familiar with; in my mind I think I'd dismissed it as a 'lesser' album between two great periods, and it was definitely under-represented on my 3-disc Greatest Hits collection I had growing up.
Bowie is soulful and in fine form. The band is on point, the saxophone is borderline poronographic. 'Young Americans' is a bonafide banger and amazing way to open. 'Fame', 'Fascination', and 'Somebody...' are all funk masterpieces. The rest of the album is very, very strong and 'Across the Universe', for all its 70s excess, absolutely works for me.
There's nothing artificial here, it still might not be my favourite Bowie album, but on its own merits, an easy 5/5 and one of the funnest ways to spend 40 minutes.
The Adverts
3/5
Probably not something I'll return to, but not bad. Perfectly decent UK punk.
Kraftwerk
3/5
I think I appreciated it more than I enjoyed it. Maybe it just wore out its welcome, but the first half seemed stronger.
The Dictators
3/5
Super dumb but decent enough early punk. The humour didn't quite work for me, nor did the I Got You Babe cover, but I suppose the album as a whole wasn't without its charm. Lets call it a weak 3.
OutKast
3/5
Truth be told, I've always preferred Speakerboxxx to The Love Below, which despite having the the hit singles and some truly great moments, is way too long, pretentious, and with plenty of mediocre filler.
The world did not need to hear "Where Are My Panties?" or "She's Alive".
If Aquemini or Stankonia is a 5, then Speakerboxxx is a 4 and Love Below a 3.
Echo And The Bunnymen
3/5
Pretty decent album and I can hear the influence in particularly UK bands that followed. The Killing Moon is the obvious highlight, and everything after that is pretty good too, but I wasn't as huge on the first half.
The Band
3/5
I enjoyed it but didn't love it.
Elvis Presley
3/5
Quite enjoyed this. None of his 'hits', but his voice is in fine form and the recording itself and band sounds great.
The Go-Betweens
4/5
Really enjoyed this one. I'm Australian but knew very little about The Go-Betweens, although I did recognise 'Streets Of Your Town'.
I thought it was a nice slice of jangly indie pop with well-crafted melodies, poetic lyrics, and what I'd consider a pretty good balance of joy/hope and melancholy.
There's no '80s production excess, none of the gloomy sadsack moroseness that plagued so many of the overhyped UK bands of the era that are frankly over-represented in this list.
Rage Against The Machine
5/5
Just an amazing debut. Timeless, epic songs with huge riffs, great vocal delivery, and impeccable production and mixing.
Beth Orton
3/5
Big Joni vibes on this one. Beautiful vocals and some tasteful 90s electronic elements. I didn’t *love* it, but describing it as merely pleasant is selling it a bit short. Good stuff.
Holger Czukay
3/5
Well, that was certainly a thing.
Turbonegro
2/5
Mostly lame songs with embarrassingly bad lyrics.
Its one saving grace is that none of the originals are as bad as the horrifically butchered cover of Suffragette City which I am choosing to ignore as its technically a bonus track.
Stevie Wonder
3/5
Superstition is amazing. Maybe Your Baby, great. Rest of the album? Not so much.
'Innervisions' is a much stronger album than this.
Jah Wobble's Invaders Of The Heart
3/5
A bit all over the place and very 90s sounding at times, but I enjoyed a decent chunk of this. Great basslines as you'd expect and some nice guest vocals.
Drive-By Truckers
2/5
Intolerably long and boring, featuring one guy that can't sing, and another that's even worse.
Droning on about the South, Skynyrd, and George Wallace is not even remotely interesting to to anyone that doesn't make being Southern the cornerstone of their self identity and major personality trait.
It's bland, it's derivative, and all things considered I'd much rather be listening to Skynyrd.
Nina Simone
3/5
Nina Simone albums that are better than this one:
- Little Girl Blue (1959)
- Pastel Blues (1965)
- I Put a Spell on You (1965)
- Nina Simone Sings the Blues (1967)
- High Priestess of Soul (1967)
- Black Gold (1970)
- Emergency Ward (1972)
The Allman Brothers Band
3/5
Some good stuff here, but tediously overlong.
Electric Light Orchestra
5/5
A meticulously produced and truly epic and cohesive orchestral pop-rock masterpiece. One of the best albums of the 70s, and one of the few double albums that doesn't overstay its welcome.
Adam & The Ants
3/5
It was decent enough but didn't blow my socks off. It all got a bit samey by the end, especially as I forgot to turn it off before all the bonus tracks.
Was interesting to hear the original version of "Physical (You're So)"...it's quite terrible!
Leonard Cohen
3/5
It's a good album, to be sure, but the minimalist instrumentation becomes grating.
John Prine
2/5
Not a huge fan of country Dylan, tbh.
Don McLean
3/5
A good album, but the understated charms of its mostly slower tracks falls under the weight of the opener.
A Tribe Called Quest
5/5
Amazing debut. Meticulously produced, great use of samples, interesting lyrics, at times funny and charming. Just a perfect classic hip hop album.
TV On The Radio
3/5
Not nearly as good as their next two albums, but decent.
You Could Be Love was absolutely atrocious, but i'm ignoring the bonus tracks.
Compared to their earlier work its particularly bland and uninspired. But while its not for me, I didn't completely hate it. It probably would have got a 3 until it took a turn for the worse at the very end.
'Grace' is absolutely horrendous.
Ride
3/5
Not sure if it's a must-listen, but it was enjoyable.
Moby
4/5
Still an absolute banger. It's hard to be critical of an album that was an initial failure, only to make it huge through sheer brute force and licensing. Which just goes to show, there isn't a single dud on it.
New Order
3/5
B-Tier album that doesn't seem to quite know what it wants to be. Good, but far from their best work.
Deep Purple
4/5
I listened to the original 7-track edition and really enjoyed this, one of the few great live albums. The recording and mix sounded clean and clear with plenty of dynamics. The excessively long solos were a little OTT, but overall a very worthy inclusion.
Nick Drake
4/5
Very beautiful, but I don't think it hits _quite_ as hard as the next two.
Dion
2/5
I thought the first 3 songs were pretty good, then it nosedived spectacularly.
Peter Tosh
2/5
One note, repetitive and underwhelming. At least it picks up slightly after the first song.
Butthole Surfers
2/5
Not completely terrible, but I don't think I'll listen to it ever again.
Portishead
5/5
Fuck yeah.
Queen
3/5
Second half was great.
David Holmes
2/5
Dull, repetitive hotel-ass music. Like I've just checked into the Embassy Suites and the decade-old TV with comically large bezels is welcoming me by highlighting the signature cocktails to be found on the Level 2 mezzanine.
I know this guy from his work on Soderbergh movies, and I think a couple of these tracks are actually in Oceans 11. But Holy Christ are these uninspired and unnecessarily long. A 30 second snippet as Clooney and Pitt exchange grins is one thing, seven and a half fucking minutes of the same 5 second loop is something else entirely.
And how do you make the Bond theme boring???
Little Richard
4/5
Still a great listen due to the sheer energy on display.
Suicide
2/5
I was kinda digging it. Nice synth punk shoegaze Heard a bit of LCD Soundsystem influence as well.
Unfortunately, then Frankie Teardrop came on, which is unlistenable pretentious shite.
Ute Lemper
2/5
It’s punishing alright.
The Residents
1/5
Your time here on Earth is too precious, too fleeting, too goddamn valuable, to be wasting even 35 minutes on this pretentious dog shit.
Iggy Pop
4/5
Really enjoyed this one. Nice variety plus a touch of Bowie, what's not to like?
Lynyrd Skynyrd
5/5
Undeniable classic.
Elvis Presley
3/5
Cultural appropriation never sounded so good.
Depeche Mode
3/5
Some great standout tracks, also some bland filler.
Queen
4/5
Pretty great album. Maybe not the car song.
Dizzee Rascal
2/5
He’s not untalented but as an album this was severely grating, repetitive and exhausting to listen to.
Robert Wyatt
3/5
Not going to lie, I *really* struggled with the first track. But I ended up digging quite a bit of it.
Simon & Garfunkel
4/5
Great stuff.
Mekons
3/5
Not great, not terrible.
Curtis Mayfield
4/5
Sheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeiiiiittt.
David Bowie
4/5
I remember being disappointed by this back in the day. I mean, how can you even get invested in an album with such a lazy and uninspired album cover?
Revisiting it over a decade later was a bit of a revelation. It fucking slaps.
Miles Davis
3/5
A bit too out there and tiresome for me.
Afrika Bambaataa
3/5
Hasn’t aged particularly well but the longer it went on I found myself enjoying it more.
It was …interesting to hear the original Renegades of Funk, but Rage really made it their own, huh?
Aerosmith
2/5
I mean, it's not *completely* awful, but it's certainly not *good*. Bad lyrics, generic riffs and way too horny.
Adele
3/5
Not a massive Adele fan, but she's good at what she does. Some of the deeper cuts were surprisingly great. ('I Miss You', 'Sweetest Devotion')
Rocket From The Crypt
3/5
Kinda enjoyed this, for what it was.
Elbow
3/5
Recognised the band name but not the album, which is slightly odd because it won the Mercury Prize and I was big into music around that time.
Anyway, this was nice and pleasant. I instantly recognised and really enjoyed 'Grounds for Divorce' The rest didn't exactly blow me away but maybe a grower? Will give it a few more spins.
Paul Simon
5/5
I've liked quite a few of the Simon and/or Garfunkel albums on this list, but this was a big step up. A perfect Saturday Afternoon with this album. Great vibe and not a bad song among them.
Barry Adamson
3/5
It's obviously going to be of niche appeal, but for what it I was, I can't say I didn't enjoy it.
Waylon Jennings
3/5
Not exactly my jam, but enjoyed it.
Skepta
3/5
Grime isn't my favourite genre, but this wasn't bad at all.
Radiohead
5/5
I thought this would be a hard one to rate. This is a great album with plenty of bangers, including some of their most straightforward & accessible made this side of 2000, but it's generally not considered to be top-tier Radiohead.
I remember liking it a lot on release, but in my mind it stands in the shadow of the albums found on either side of it.
It also *feels* front-loaded to me even though there's plenty of good stuff in the back half as well. Maybe it's the sequencing, maybe it's the fact that Scatterbrain is pretty weak, and I've never been huge on Wolf at the Door either.
I had to go back and bump my 4 rating to a 5. It might not be Radiohead's best, but it certainly deserves a top-tier placement among the 1000+ albums here.
Emmylou Harris
4/5
Well this was a pleasant surprise. Just a beautiful album from beginning to end.
Of course Emmylou has a great voice, but the songwriting was top notch and production and world influences surprisingly effective.
The Youngbloods
3/5
Dips a little in the middle, but this had some great tracks.
The Who
1/5
Honestly, while I like a lot of songs by the Who, Tommy baffles me.
It has its moments musically, obviously including Pinball Wizard, but thematically it falls flat and ends up just being a tediously overlong and anemic slog of an album to actually listen to due to boring masturbatory stretches like 'Underture'.
Initially planned to give it a 2, but fuck grading on a curve and weighting historical significance.
For being an unenjoyable plodding mess for most of its ridiculous 74 minute runtime, and for the plotline of Uncle Ernie raping poor Tommy, this gets the 1 it truly deserves.
The Clash
4/5
Classic, fun album with surprising variety.
Jeru The Damaja
3/5
Decent but unremarkable early 90s hip hop.
Carole King
4/5
It's not exactly my jam, but what an iconic collection of classic songs.
Beatles
4/5
A great album that was arguably the turning point for The Beatles musically.
Culture Club
2/5
Almost turned it off at the second donkeyfuck harmonica solo, but I persevered. Sadly Karma Chameleon, one of my most hated 80s songs, is the best one here.
Fats Domino
3/5
Well, I enjoyed it, but I might have enjoyed it even more if the only copy I could find wasn't at the wrong speed/pitch.
Bob Marley & The Wailers
3/5
Not nearly as good as 'Exodus'. And the studio version of No Woman No Cry is vastly inferior too.
Suede
4/5
Charming and underrated (on this site at least, thanks to the many ignorant Americans that get offended at the mere presence of post-70s UK bands)
One of the best Britpop entries on this list. Arguably not as great as its followup, but also a little more straightforward and less pretentious.
The Monkees
2/5
Look, good on them for getting the freedom to write and play instruments on their 3rd album, but this pleasant but underwhelming and mediocre collection of songs isn't exactly a must-listen is it?
Bee Gees
2/5
I’ll give them points for ambition but this is a mess of an album.
For every good track there’s two or three bad ones and it falls under the weight of its own self importance and lengthy runtime.
Lamplight is such a low point its almost hilarious that one of them left the band over it not being chosen as the A-side. It's horrendous.
Jefferson Airplane
2/5
The two songs people know and like, and then a bunch of poor-to-mid ones.
Not helping matters, my copy was labelled “Bonus Track Edition” but appears to have six of them. Maybe the OG would have been less tiresome but now I’m in a bad mood.
Silver Jews
3/5
It didn't exactly command my full attention but it was decent enough. Some nice lyrics.
Frank Sinatra
3/5
Some truly great tracks on here, but I think there's more than a few duds.
5/5
Every time a Bowie album pops up and I question if he's over-represented, I love every fucking one of them.
His breakthrough album and a bona-fide classic, but maybe my 4th favourite Bowie album? Still can't rate less than a 5.
John Martyn
3/5
Not bad.
Sugar
3/5
“Mom, can we have some R.E.M.?”
“No, we have R.E.M. at home.”
R.E.M. at home:
Mylo
3/5
Some of it was great. Some of it was grating and annoying. Much of it was in between.
Air
4/5
It was an absolute pleasure spending the afternoon revisiting this chill downtempo classic.
Minor Threat
2/5
It was only 21 minutes long, but completely wore out its welcome for me in 15.
Not terrible, but one-note and extremely tiresome to listen to.
Sufjan Stevens
5/5
I expected this mid-00s classic to hold up well, but I genuinely forgot how many *great* songs are on this one.
I still think it's slightly too long, but wouldn't even know where to begin cutting, and you certainly have to be in the right mood, but still, what an achievement.
Black Sabbath
4/5
Had never heard their debut before; the blues roots are a bit more evident and it's not quite the classic that the follow ups were, but still mostly great stuff.
Christina Aguilera
4/5
Not my thing at *all*, and its too long, but it's still one of the most diverse and downright best pop albums of the 00s, commercial or otherwise. What the fuck is wrong with you people?
Joanna Newsom
1/5
Lord knows I tried, but I just didn't have the fortitude to make it through this one.
Beyond Joanna's frequently excruciating and insufferable vocals, the pretension and boredom factor of these ridiculously long songs is off the charts, unlike her somewhat tolerable first album.
Unlistenable, self-indulgent wank.
The Beau Brummels
2/5
Not completely terrible. But annoying vibrato/vocal technique, and mostly forgettable songs. 5/10.
Hüsker Dü
2/5
There's probably a good single album in there somewhere, but this double album is too long, too samey, and sports a particularly bad sound mix.
Motörhead
3/5
Rough recording quality but a good energetic performance. The 40 min runtime of the OG version was probably the right amount.
Fishbone
3/5
Quite enjoyed this one, lots of fun.
The Mothers Of Invention
2/5
Not good, but not as awful as some of the other Zappa entries on this list.
Can
3/5
On first listen it made for some pleasant background music. I can see myself returning to this one.
Les Rythmes Digitales
2/5
Unremarkable faux-French Electronica, *especially* for 1999.
The Pogues
3/5
Felt like I could appreciate it more than I truly enjoyed it, but it was a good listen on a chilly Friday afternoon.
Maybe I should have downed a few pints of Kilkenny first?
The Only Ones
4/5
This was a real pleasant surprise, despite the shaky start. Will definitely be returning to this one.
Syd Barrett
2/5
A drab and depressing assortment of demos by a man who was very unwell.
ZZ Top
3/5
Enjoyable but disposable 80s trash. Sometimes you just want a Big Mac, and that's fine, but 11 of them is a bit much.
I'd say they rate comfortably below Brian Johnson AC/DC, but above 80s Aerosmith.
The Cramps
3/5
Had its moments but just *slightly* too annoying.
PJ Harvey
4/5
A welcome return to form after a pair of disappointing albums in the 00s, and unlike anything else she’d done up until that point.
Not one of my favourites from Polly Jean, but it remains a beautiful album nonetheless.
Duran Duran
3/5
An enjoyable listen, but the deeper album cuts weren't quite as quality as the big hits. High 3, might edit/revisit later.
Orbital
3/5
It was fine.
3/5
Noisy, energetic and poorly recorded protopunk is not without its charm. I'll give it a 3 even though there were some rough moments.
Pavement
5/5
I only knew 'Cut Your Hair' and 'Range Life' before going into this one, but I have to say, I fucking loved it.
Poppier and more laid back than its (enjoyable) predecessor, beneath the slacker vibe is some razor-sharp and at times unpredictable songwriting.
I definitely think it's time for me to re-evaluate Pavement's catalogue.
Killing Joke
4/5
I wasn't too happy when I accidentally ventured deep into the bonus tracks, but the album proper I enjoyed quite a lot.
The Thrills
2/5
Pleasant to a fault. It just seems so trite and inconsequential. After a long day I just wanted to listen to something good and this just somehow made it worse.
Ministry
3/5
I didn't -love- it, but despite the je ne sais quoi it was still fun and enjoyable.
Erykah Badu
3/5
Pleasant and enjoyable, but I don't think it reached its full potential.
Todd Rundgren
2/5
Well that was...something. It had its moments, but too frequently it was just plain annoying.
Paul Revere & The Raiders
4/5
Really enjoyed this one, just a lot of fun. Probably more of a 3.5 but getting a bump for the surprise factor and not overstaying its welcome.
Beatles
5/5
This was my first time hearing the 2019 mix and it is *fantastic*.
Throwing Muses
4/5
This was an interesting one. It didn't grab me at first but won me over a quite a bit with is charms, and a second listen only furthered my enjoyment.
Also had no issues finding it on Apple Music, although I chose to only listen to the original tracks.
The Beta Band
3/5
Enjoyed listening to this again after 20 years. Not their best work, but mostly good with some enjoyable highs and only a few meandering lows.
Jeff Buckley
4/5
Much better than I remember.
Madonna
3/5
Madonna's not usually my jam but I enjoyed this one. Great electronica-tinged production, solid vocals, and a handful of certified bangers.
Morrissey
2/5
Insufferable pretentious boredom-inducing dogshit. Godawful lyrics. Garbage human being.
George Michael
3/5
It was...fine. Freedom! 90 is a certifiable banger, but nothing else rises to that level. 'Waiting for That Day' really just made me want to listen to The Rolling Stones.
Prefab Sprout
3/5
I'd struggle to call it notable or interesting, but it wasn't bad.
3/5
Was hoping for more.
Gram Parsons
3/5
Pretty good for the genre. Emmylou is great.
The Smashing Pumpkins
5/5
Despite being lumped in with the onslaught of popular 90s grunge bands, they really weren't even close to sounding like their supposed peers.
The Smashing Pumpkins would go on to greater commercial success with their great but bloated followup, but never truly topped the songwriting, perfectly balanced tracklist, and pure sonic craftship that went into this one.
An all time great. Bold and bombastic and beautiful and one of the very finest albums of the 1990s, or indeed, of all time.
2/5
There are a few Liars albums I enjoy quite a bit.
This is not one of them.
Donovan
3/5
Some great stuff, some mind-numbingly boring stuff.
Tortoise
3/5
Seemed closer to ambient than post-rock to me. But it was decent.
Air
4/5
Going in blind and having never seen the film, this was a great listen. Super chill and interesting.
Steely Dan
4/5
Loved it.
Girls Against Boys
4/5
What a nice surprise, this was fucking great.
Sam Cooke
3/5
Twas fine.
Peter Gabriel
3/5
It was a thing. Not for me but I can see the appeal.
Creedence Clearwater Revival
3/5
Honestly? Pretty weak, Proud Mary aside. Definitely not one of their best, not even one of their best *released that year*.
Cosmos Factory and Green River are certainly deserving of being on the list, but if they really needed a third entry I would have swapped this for Willy and the Poor Boys.
Jane's Addiction
4/5
Great debut. Not every song is a banger, and some of the lyrics can be a bit juvenile, but sonically its hard to fault.
Van Halen
3/5
Satisfying but empty 80s cheese.
Barry Adamson
3/5
What a wildly inconsistent and thoroughly weird, yet sometimes charming album. Rounding up from 2.5 for the balls of it all.
Dinosaur Jr.
3/5
An interesting listen. The mix and production often sounds like ass, but it was very clearly ahead of its time and hugely influential on the decade that would follow. Great melodies and riffs, questionable vocals. As an outsider with zero nostalgic attachment, pretty solid.
Aerosmith
3/5
Decent 70s rock.
Shivkumar Sharma
3/5
Not for me, but pleasant.
The Byrds
2/5
My patience is wearing thin. There are too many Byrds entries on this goddamn list, and this SURELY has to be the least deserving.
The Fall
2/5
Started out just a little grating, but then got way too monotonous and one-note. Tiresome to listen to in one sitting.
Booker T. & The MG's
3/5
Wish everything was as great as the title track.
LCD Soundsystem
4/5
Not my favourite of theirs, but still some great stuff.
Deee-Lite
2/5
Groove is in the Heart is a banger, but the other 45 minutes are only sporadically enjoyable.
Bob Dylan
5/5
I'm only a casual Dylan fan and hadn't paid this album much attention; it doesn't seem to be held in as high regard as eg. Blonde on Blonde, Highway 61 Revisited, or Blood on the Tracks.
But for whatever reason I enjoyed the absolute shit out of this one, and think it's better than all of them. Beyond the notable classics, just a great collection of rock and folk.
1/5
Hahahahahahahaha no.
Abdullah Ibrahim
3/5
Pleasant, but as far as the jazz I've been introduced on this list goes, this seems...rather pedestrian?
Elastica
4/5
Derivative but undeniably catchy fun.
Baaba Maal
2/5
I really struggled to get through this one. It started okay, but the production on tracks like 'Hamady Boiro' and 'Gidelam' and 'Olel' seemed particular cheesy and cheap.
Kraftwerk
4/5
I dug this one more than The Man-Machine, despite possibly being a little less melodic. Nice mix of hypnotic beats, texture and timbre.
The Rolling Stones
5/5
Between 1968-1972 the Stones could literally do no wrong, and my favourite changes constantly to this day. But this murky, rowdy and hedonistic outing deserves bonus points for maintaining its excellence across 2 LPs.
Tom Waits
4/5
I've always preferred Tom's 70s output to his later avant-garde, experimental stuff, but it's hard to deny that it is great if you're in the mood for it.
Dr. Octagon
2/5
Rare miss from Automator.
Eagles
3/5
Never really listened to the Eagles before. This was frustratingly inconsistent. Equally as many duds as great tunes, and not much inbetween.
Love
3/5
Chill and decent 60s folk baroque pop.
Public Enemy
4/5
An early 90 classic that’s held up amazingly well and still somehow remains criminally underrated. Huge beats and great delivery from Chuck D.
Kanye West
1/5
The exact turning point when Kanye's mental illness overtook his musical ability and consumed him completely. An abrasive, often unlistenable descent into madness. The minimalistic production does him zero favours here, discarding all of his strengths only to emphasize his biggest weaknesses: abysmal lyrics and weak flow.
Utter dog shit. Easily the worst album in his discography.
Sleater-Kinney
4/5
Not my personal favourite SK album, but I know it is for many. Their first great album and the start of their golden age. Mostly bangers and Janet really completed their sound.
(A real shame Carrie and Corin fucked her over many years later and fans decided to blame St Vincent instead, but 95-05 was a helluva run.)
System Of A Down
5/5
It's a little surprising that Toxicity isn't on the list instead, but their 1998 debut is a more than worthy entry. It's an amazingly accomplished and consistent debut, and certainly the most energetic, chaotic, surprising, and downright fun album in their discography.
As the only SOAD album on this list, and as rare example of 90s nu-metal that's held up well, this gets rounded up from a 4.5 to a 5.
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
2/5
Who is this for?
Frank Sinatra
2/5
Turns out Frank's not so great at bossa nova, and bossa nova's not so great with Frank.
Kanye West
4/5
Credit where credit's due. This was a great debut and has held up reasonably well, unlike the man himself.
Hookworms
3/5
Pretty decent. Let's just say I was whelmed.
Sounds a bit like LCD Soundsystem (via Can) with some MGMT and Tame Impala vibes. Not as good as any of those, mind you, and I felt like the 00s-UK-indie-as-fuck vocals might be the reason I didn't dig it more.
Bob Dylan
3/5
Not long after being pleasantly surprised by Bringing It All Back Home (5 stars!), I'm somewhat underwhelmed by this one.
There's some great stuff here, to be sure. But like many double albums it's just way too long. There is plenty of lesser material here that could have been excised. Dylan himself is often at his least tuneful, and the harmonica frequently grating.
Visions of Johanna though? Masterpiece.
Tom Tom Club
3/5
A little goofy, but a solid and fun diversion for Talking Heads fans.
Goldfrapp
3/5
Pleasant to a fault, but happened to strike me at the right time (very late in the evening). Genuinely surprised it managed to produce a UK Top 10 single. Monster Love was a great closer. Can't see myself returning to it in a hurry, but who knows?
SAULT
2/5
Call me cynical but this oddly hollow and soulless album seems to have attached itself to an issue without much of substance to say.. If you told me it was AI generated I'd believe you.
Haircut 100
3/5
Pretty solid, particularly the first few tracks. Liked the funky elements.
4/5
5/5 for the electric set, 3/5 for the acoustic set.
The Verve
3/5
I was only familiar with Urban Hymns which I think is a very solid record. This was...interesting, certainly more sludgy and psychedelic at times, but I felt like it started to drag as it continued.
I stopped at the OG tracklist; I shudder to think what the 2h32m 3-disc Deluxe version is like in its entirety.
Still, sub-3 seems harsh.
The Killers
3/5
Took me back to my Uni days, rocking out to the first five songs or so on my iPod, then getting bored and reaching for the skip button.
Nothing has really changed IMO. 4 stars plus for the beginning, 2.5 for the remainder.
Faith No More
4/5
A bit goofy and dated at times, but still an amazingly varied piece of funk/metal/alt/rap and a huge step forward from their first few albums. Great vocals and bass especially.
Big Star
3/5
For an album deemed too uncommercial and initially abandoned, I thought it was more than decent.
The Charlatans
2/5
The funniest album listen I’ve had all year.
Telling Stories plays like the result of someone hearing that Oasis were derivative of The Beatles and deciding to push the concept to absurd extremes: “You call that derivative? Hold my beer.” The vocals swagger like a Liam Gallagher AI model trained exclusively on pub fights, while the songs sound like they were composed for a made-for-TV Oasis biopic that couldn’t afford the rights to the real songs.
It's britpop cosplay — confident, clueless, and kind of amazing in its commitment. Charlatans indeed!
Sparks
4/5
Theatrical and bombastic and quirky without being gimmicky. An all-time alt-pop-glam-rock classic.
Guided By Voices
2/5
A series of poorly recorded demos and snippets by a guy that can't sing. A true must hear.
Pavement
4/5
I've always preferred the more polished Crooked Rain, but I still really enjoyed revisiting this one, even if the comparisons to Sonic Youth and Pixies are undeniable.
Massive Attack
4/5
Sadly relegated to the shadow of the bigger, better follow-up for a quarter century, but it's still low-key great.
Manu Chao
4/5
I really enjoyed this one. Great vibes and energy and mix of sounds and styles.
Was thinking 3.5, but I'm not going to round down just because my ignorant monolingual ass doesn't know Spanish, French or Portuguese.
Brian Eno
3/5
A product of its time; I liked the piano-focused parts a lot more than the annoyingly-dated synths. But nice.
The Hives
5/5
It's kinda cheating to feature a compilation over a proper album, even if it's maybe a couple of albums too early in their career to be a true Greatest Hits.
That said, it is how much of the UK discovered them and their only platinum-certified. As a result of that cherry picking, every song on here is at least a good one. 28 minutes of pure bangers, and a nice cross-section of energetic and undeniably poppy garage rock as well as their earlier punkier stuff.
Probably more of a 4.5 but happy to round up!
Teenage Fanclub
2/5
Gene Simmons C&D aside, there is *nothing* notable about this album.
Johnny Cash
4/5
To be perfectly honest, there are more duds on this album than its reputation might suggest. But with some spectacular highs including transformative covers, understated duets, and 'The Man Comes Around' proving Cash still had fantastic songwriting in him, it's a fitting swan song.
KISS
3/5
I feel like KISS's (admittedly deserved) reputation precedes them. On its own merits, this particular album is...serviceable.
Crowded House
4/5
A beautiful album. I've never really gotten into Crowded House, which is probable equal parts slightly-before-my-time and Australian tall poppy syndrome, but virtually every Aussie and Kiwi knows "It's Only Natural", "Fall at Your Feet" and "Weather With You".
Fortunately the rest of the album holds up extremely well. Just great songwriting and an effortless vibe.
Pink Floyd
5/5
Their funkiest, proggiest, and most beautiful work — all on one 44-minute LP. Pure magic.
Blondie
4/5
Fun, catchy, and varied.
Ananda Shankar
2/5
Bold move to open your debut album by absolutely murdering a modern classic.
The original pieces were a little better.
UB40
3/5
Somewhat enjoyable reggae grooves, but could probably use a bit of a trim.
Dr. Dre
2/5
A truly landmark album. It introduced the world to Snoop Dogg. Its revolutionary production set the sound of hip hop for the next 10 years. And its lyrical content set the human race back 20.
Maxwell
2/5
If I came over for a hang and this was playing, I'd leave immediately. And then spend my evening researching what sex offender list they were on.
Pere Ubu
2/5
No thank you.
Fever Ray
4/5
Good shit. Perfect late night music.
Neu!
5/5
This was fookin' great, especially for 1975. Loved the contrast between the atmospheric soundscapes and the punk on either side of the album.
Carpenters
3/5
A pleasant evening listen with a couple of classics and plenty of cheese.
The Clash
4/5
Great debut.
Mariah Carey
3/5
It was fine.
Terence Trent D'Arby
3/5
Great voice, decent songs, questionable production.
Kate Bush
4/5
Really enjoyed this, but side 2 is *wild*.
Fairport Convention
3/5
I found the vocals quite grating at first, but there was some undeniably great stuff on here.
Talking Heads
5/5
It’s kind of ridiculous that Talking Heads ever reached mainstream acceptance, but I'm glad they did.
U2
4/5
Given my general apathy towards U2, including the opening track, I was genuinely surprised how much I enjoyed this one overall.
The Rolling Stones
5/5
The beginning of the greatest four-album run in rock history.
Madonna
3/5
Yeah yeah, it’s "the artistic statement" album. And sure, it kicks off like a house of fire: the title track is straight-up GOAT material - gospel-tinged pop perfection with just the right amount of scandal. "Express Yourself" struts hard, and "Cherish"… well, it existed, it was a hit, and it’s cute if you squint.
But then? Things start wandering. The production is immaculate, but a lot of the deep cuts feel more like homework than hits. "Oh Father" is heavy, "Promise to Try" is heavy and sleepy, and "Love Song," the big Madonna-Prince moment, is somehow less than the sum of its parts. Like, how do you screw up that pairing? It's MFing Prince! It’s Madonna! And we got… synth-beige.
The real scene-stealer is "Keep It Together," a funky, low-key banger and much-needed shot-in-the-arm at the tail end. It grooves harder than anything else on the record and delivers the energy boost the album sorely needs. More of that, please.
In the end, Like a Prayer is big, bold, and sometimes brilliant - but also patchy and a bit self-serious. It makes total sense that The Immaculate Collection ended up the must-own Madonna release from this era, redefining the Greatest Hits album. It cherry-picks the gems and leaves the noble misfires behind.
Living Colour
2/5
A real mixed bag. A handful of good tracks and some nice guitar at times, interspersed with the forgettable, the cheesy, and the downright awful.
The album never recovers from the whiplash of opening with Cult of Personality, only to lead into the truly dire, NKOTB-esque "I Want to Know".
Gary Numan
4/5
Absolutely wild that the British Musicians' Union tried to expel Numan for putting "real musicians out of work" with all those synths.
Coldcut
4/5
As far as very early 1980-90 dance entries on the list go, I thought this one held up remarkably well.
Portishead
4/5
Hated it when it first came out. Still think it doesn’t have the magic of the first two. But I’ve come around to its odd abrasiveness.
Björk
2/5
Well it’s not boring, but I don’t get it. Some great moments but it gets just too plain fucking weird for its own good.
U2
4/5
Revisiting this was surprisingly enjoyable and almost made me forget about the dull and insufferable times to follow.
The Birthday Party
3/5
I prefer my Nick Cave a little bit more palatable than this, but it was an interesting listen.
Michael Jackson
3/5
A: Bad, Smooth Criminal
B+: Dirty Diana
B: Man in the Mirror, The Way You Make Me Feel
C: Another Part of Me, Leave Me Alone
D: Speed Demon, Just Good Friends
F: Liberian Girl, I Just Can't Stop Loving You
SZA
2/5
I prefer my pussy sans-autotune.
The Byrds
2/5
I'm incredulous there's YET ANOTHER Byrds album on this list. Props to Mr. Spaceman for doing something different at least.
Blood, Sweat & Tears
3/5
It was fine I guess.
Joni Mitchell
2/5
Christ, how many Joni albums are there on this list?
Occasionally interesting ('The Jungle Line'), but inconsistent and ultimately far more meandering than the others on here.
The Beach Boys
2/5
Far from their best work.
Pantera
4/5
First listen, although I was vaguely aware of Pantera; Dimebag Darrell being a well regarded guitarist before his murder, and Phil Anselmo a huge douche.
I really dug this. Not high art, but more variety and groove than I expected.
Kings of Leon
2/5
The one where the edges were sanded off completely, and Sex On Fire lit the way to superstardom through lame and uninspiring stadium-rock mediocrity.
Give me 'Aha Shake Heartbreak' anyday.
Todd Rundgren
3/5
*Way* too long, but some great stuff here in amongst all the 70s excess. It's a lot more pleasant than 'A Wizard, a True Star', that's for sure.
The Pogues
3/5
Enjoyable, but gets a bit tiresome after a while. Particularly when “The Broad Majestic Shannon“ is basically just the middle part of “Fairytale” again.
Lightning Bolt
2/5
Enjoyed the noise, didn't enjoy the monotonous repetition.
Hole
3/5
A solid effort from Hole. The first half is great, I'd even argue that 'Awful' and 'Reasons to Be Beautiful' are better than the big hits and Corgan-penned tracks.
But for whatever reason I just don't dig the second half nearly as much. Maybe it's more fatigue than a genuine drop in quality, but I also find the vocals are more grating, the lyrics less interesting.
Bee Gees
2/5
Another mostly low-energy and overly schmaltzy Bee Gees entry. Sluggish, saccharine easy-listening. Music to buy eggs to.
Highlight: The brief Beatles-esque turn on 'Somebody Stop the Music' injecting some much needed energy and whimsy.
Low point: Robin's lead vocals, particularly on 'Remembering'. Jesus Christ.
John Lennon
4/5
Lennon's strongest solo outing, still a step down from much of the Beatles work.
Everything But The Girl
2/5
She has a very pleasant voice, and I quite enjoyed the opening track, but it quickly deteriorated from there to disposable 80s cheese.
By the time I got to the excruciatingly banal 'Goodbye Sunday' I was ready to turn it off, but I'm glad I stuck around for "Shadow on a Harvest Moon" which was the only other highlight for me.
John Lee Hooker
3/5
It's a pleasant listen, but I don't think it compares to his 60s-70s work.
Dead Kennedys
4/5
Punk can be hit and miss for me, but this was great.
2022 mix itself sounded decent, songs were surprisingly varied, can hear the influence they had on System of a Down as well on tracks like 'Chemical Warfare'.
Justin Timberlake
3/5
Definitely not my jam, but there are some certified bangers on here amongst the filler.
Common
4/5
It's not as good as Be IMO, and could do with a bit of a trim, but some great stuff on here.
Green Day
4/5
Was too much of a music snob who 'aged out' of Green Day to listen to this back in the day, although Idiot/Boulevard/September were virtually inescapable.
Undeniably well-crafted pop punk.
Kacey Musgraves
3/5
Didn't think it was spectacular but it was good, and maybe it'll grow on me. Some very pretty songs. Hard to overcome recency bias but it was a pleasant way to spend the afternoon.
The Monks
3/5
I'm sure it must have been amazing to hear in 1966. To my ears it was fine, occasionally grating, but didn't overstay its welcome. Interesting and appreciable at least.
My Bloody Valentine
3/5
It was...okay? Not in the same league as 'Loveless'.
Brian Eno
3/5
I keep wanting to really like Eno, but honestly, I found it a bit of a mixed bag.
Metallica
4/5
Classic. “Selling out” never sounded so good.
American Music Club
2/5
Started alright but I pretty quickly got bored with this one.
1/5
Yeah, fuck this noise.
Richard Thompson
2/5
It's as Ann as the nose on Plain's face.
Wilco
5/5
Yankee Hotel Foxtrot might be considered their magnum opus, but in my mind Wilco never topped the alt-country/indie rock balance, mood, and sheer variety on offer on this one. Just a great album from (an admittedly elongated*) beginning to end.
Tweedy gave up most of his royalties to get the record company to price this double-album as a single, and I respect that.
Surprisingly great. Straightforward 70s rock with some fantastic guitar and I've never heard Rod Stewart sound so good.
The Velvet Underground
3/5
Certainly a little too abrasive and challenging to be my favourite Velvet Underground, but still an interesting and worthy listen.
The Bees
3/5
Quite liked this one.
Sonic Youth
5/5
A true 80s alt-rock classic.
Sonic Youth can be hit and miss for me, particularly in album form, but not here. Opening with the best track they ever wrote, Daydream Nation somehow manages to perfectly balance their noisy, weirdly-tuned distortion-heavy brand of alternative, with a layer of polish and accessibility.
Napalm Death
1/5
Unlistenable garbage. Sounds like parody. There are grindcore bands fronted by literal dogs who sound better than this.
Jacques Brel
3/5
No idea what he's saying, but was a surprisingly enjoyable listen.
Fiona Apple
4/5
First listen to this one, although I was familiar with 'Extraordinary Machine' and of course the single 'Criminal'.
What a terrific debut, a surprisingly great and mature jazz pop for an 18 year old, with some terrifically vulnerable and honest lyrics. I understand how she got lumped in with all the 90s alt-rock ladies despite sounding nothing like them.
Spacemen 3
3/5
Not all of it works for me, but some good stuff on here.
R.E.M.
5/5
One of the biggest surprises of this list for me has been my new appreciation of R.E.M., who I think I dismissed to my dislike of (or perhaps my childhood ubiquity of) 1991's Out of Time.
I've loved their 80s stuff, Murmur was a phenomenal debut, and Document was great with only a single misstep IMO, but I faced this 1990s peak-of-their-popularity massive hit album with some trepidation and...was wrong again.
This is a beautifully melancholic, sombre and mature album that I don't think I would have appreciated in my younger years, but the songwriting, lyrics, production, are all on point, and surely Michael Stipe's best vocal performance. A very easy 5 for me.
A final note...If you have a good home theatre set up you owe it to yourself to check out the Dolby Atmos mix. There are a lot of bad Dolby Atmos remixes out there, to the point where I have it disabled entirely in Apple Music on my iPhone, but this definitely isn't one of them. A phenomenal and truly transformative improvement over the standard stereo mix.
Grizzly Bear
4/5
Hadn't heard this in well over a decade, and was expecting to rate it down appropriately. But the absolutely sublime production won me over, again. A beautifully crafted album.
Randy Newman
4/5
Surprisingly great. Some masterfully witty, satiric and at times downright bleak songwriting, contrasted against the nice orchestration.
I just can't imagine being so close-minded to dismiss it because of some Pixar appearances over two decades later.
3/5
Kinda bummed I didn't love it all, but there were some great moments.
Weather Report
3/5
Nice easy listening jazz fusion. Perhaps an odd criticism but it might be *too* palatable?
Elvis Presley
3/5
As always I listened to the original tracklist, which means no 'Suspicious Minds'.
It's...a perfectly serviceable late-Elvis record. Some good songs, some clunkers. I just don't think he was an album man.
Black Sabbath
4/5
Great stuff. No notes.
Alice Cooper
3/5
Fairly average 70s rock with a couple of decent tracks and some laughably quaint attempts at shock. I feel like I preferred 'Schools Out'.
Gene Clark
5/5
Very surprised by this one, because a) it was a complete failure and b) I grew increasingly underwhelmed and tired of all The Byrds entries on this list.
Was a bit worried about the heavy country lilt on the first track, wondering if it'd be a bit one-note, but thankfully I was wrong. What a fantastic album. Very varied, great production and grandiose, and the title track is an absolute banger.
Rounding up for the sheer unfairness of its commercial misfortunes.
Black Sabbath
5/5
GOATed for sure.
Thelonious Monk
3/5
Enjoyable, but didn’t fully grab me. Will try returning to it.
Scissor Sisters
3/5
Questionably essential but damn good fun for the most part. Take Your Mama is a genuine classic banger. Comfortably Numb is a confusing misfire.
Everything else is somewhere in between, but Laura, Tits and Filthy/Gorgeous all solid as well.
Stevie Wonder
4/5
Lots of great stuff on here, but a few skippable songs for sure.
David Bowie
5/5
Bowie's best, hands down. Changes, Life on Mars, Queen Bitch and Pretty Things alone are all S-Tier.
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
2/5
Oh boy.
If going through this list has taught me anything, it's that I can't stand Neil Young, but there's an admirable level of variety and versatility. Every album I dislike for a different reason. Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere had great songs with awful vocals. On The Beach had tolerable vocals, boring and meandering songs.
With great trepidation I hit Play and...it started out alright? Country Home started off strongly, at least until I looked up mid-song and sure it was an excruciatingly unnecessary 7 minutes.
The band, and particularly the specific guitar tone on the album, sounds great.
Poor old Neil still can't sing worth a fuck (the opening to 'Over and Over' is particularly bad), butd while his wobbly warble is still here, for the most part he manages to avoid that particularly grating upper-register falsetto from his earlier years I can't stand.
But dear god, are these songs ridiculously, unnecessarily long and boring. I don't mind a good improvisational jam, but none of these songs lend themselves to it. There's no melodic variation, tension/release, or crescendo like builds, just a boring generic riff over a steady 4/4 beat.
I don't quite understand the 'grunge' moniker. If anything it seems like anti-grunge given its long periods of noodling and lack of loud-quiet-loud dynamics, but I can see how people might like this one.
*Almost* a 3 from me, Neil. Almost. Let's call it 2.75. Four down, five to go...
Neil Young
4/5
Getting two Neil Young albums back-to-back seems like a cruel joke, but...surprisingly, I actually quite liked this one.
Maybe it was just the fact we've averaging <4min a song after the bloated excess of Ragged Glory, or the fact that his voice is (very marginally) better, or at least suits the fragility and emotion of the material better, I don't know. But somehow this is the first Neil Young album that worked for me.
Rounding up from 3.5 in sheer amazement.
Miles Davis
3/5
I'm sure this is incredibly ignorant but this felt like...generic, serviceable jazz? I'm sure it must have set the blueprint for what my own casual-listener yardstick is, but it just didn't grab me like Kind of Blue.
Frank Zappa
3/5
Something listenable for once!
Randy Newman
3/5
Pretty decent, but a few clunkers and not nearly as good as 'Sail Away'.
Big Star
2/5
Big meh on this one. Slight to the point of toppling over, particularly in the back half. Less than the sum of its parts.
Cat Stevens
3/5
A real mixed bag IMO. There are the fairly obvious two big highlights I don't need to mention by name, and they are great. The title track featured in Extras, which is OK. And then some mostly forgettable stuff that got a bit too samey. Unpopular opinion but Sad Lisa's mawkish and particularly syrupy strings didn't work for me at all.
Pulp
4/5
Liked this quite a bit. Very British, dark and sleazy, and Jarvis's Goth-Bowie vibe works well for the most part. Not perfect by any means but a fitting end to the britpop era.
Kid Rock
1/5
Next time I'll choose death thanks.
Bad Brains
3/5
Not great, not terrible.
XTC
3/5
Interesting listen. Nice musicality, rich organic sound, but not 100% sold on the vocals. Does seem a bit like a less stereotypically-80s Tears for Fears. Will revisit to see if it grows on me.
Sade
3/5
Pleasant.
The Kinks
3/5
Enjoyable mid-60s rock. Doesn't shoot for the moon, but doesn't outstay its welcome either.
Public Enemy
4/5
A little inconsistent but its honestly hard to fault their 1988-1991 output.
5/5
Definitely Maybe is the better, more consistent album. Wonderwall has been overplayed, memed and murdered well past any point of enjoyment.
The whole thing sounds like absolute dogshit - its harsh digital clipping kicking off the loudness war, pushing an entire generation to dismiss digital entirely in favour of the comforting warmth (and inferiority) of analogue and vinyl.
And even Noel thinks some of the lesser songs like "Roll With It" are a bit shit.
But I'll be damned if this doesn't get the 5 it deserves.
Big Brother & The Holding Company
4/5
🎵 A synonym’s just another word for the word you wanna use… 🎵
Fun psych blues rock.
Gillian Welch
2/5
I really didn't understand this one. Nice voice but such dull, plodding music.
Frank Sinatra
4/5
This was a real nice one. Really liked the late night vibe and surprisingly constent for the era. Definitely the best Sinatra on the list so far.
Everything But The Girl
3/5
Its fine, but it strikes me as very generic.
Certainly miles away from the highs of Portishead, Massive Attack or even Tricky, and not as commercial as Morcheba or Sneaker Pimps either?
Hanoi Rocks
3/5
Honestly? Not bad. Disposable but fun.
Janis Joplin
4/5
Pretty great stuff. Mercedes-Benz aside.
Iron Maiden
4/5
Wow. This was a really solid debut, and quite a bit different from their later work.
Def Leppard
2/5
Dated, disposable cock rock by numbers.
Brian Eno
3/5
Well, it wasn't boring. But a little more melody would have gone a long way. Still, one of the more listenable Eno projects for me.
Underworld
4/5
Some pretty great stuff on here. It's too long but as it wore on it won me over, so, mission accomplished I guess?
The Cure
3/5
There are a number of Cure albums I love. This has never really been one of them.
Initially dismissed by critics and loved by a fairly vocal subsection of the fanbase, its firmly in the middle for me.
The Cars
4/5
First time listening to this, although I recognised several of the tracks. Phenomenal debut. (Almost) wall to wall bangers with only one or two filler tracks. Nice to hear a new wave/pop punk album that still has plenty of 70s rock elements, guitar solos, harmonies etc.
Bonnie "Prince" Billy
3/5
Not bad, but I feel like it should have been more up my alley than it ultimately was.
Queen
3/5
Good, but hardly essential Queen.
Belle & Sebastian
3/5
Chillaxed to a fault, but a nice album with occasional glimpses of greatness. Keen to revisit at a later date.
The Gun Club
2/5
Not completely horrible, but the lack of diversity on this one gets old, fast.
M.I.A.
4/5
An unpolished but fun, creative and somewhat charming debut. I do think its perhaps held up a little better than Kala, but it's hard to take the more political lyrics seriously after she became a certifiable 5G-gives-you-Covid-antivaxxer-nutjob.
Steely Dan
3/5
Nice listen. But given its cult status, I expected more.
Herbie Hancock
4/5
The kind of album that makes you grateful for 1001 Albums. Really enjoyable jazz funk fusion. Interesting that Beck lifted Chameleon pretty much as-is 30 years later. Fun grooves I very much wish to return to.
Nirvana
5/5
How can you not give 5/5 to the album that killed hair metal?
Talvin Singh
2/5
Meandering and nothing to write home about.
Oasis
5/5
Check your pretensions at the door. A true 90s masterpiece and one of the best debuts ever, arguably better than the followup. Even the songs they left on the cutting room floor around this era are great.
Buck Owens
2/5
*Easily* the least enjoyable country album on the list thus far. One-note, goofy-ass honky tonk with little to redeem it. At least I got a good laugh at the low notes on 'Streets of Laredo'.
Mudhoney
3/5
Decent enough early 90s grunge. But its pretty evident why, intentionally or otherwise and despite being an important player in the Seattle scene, they didn't blow up the mainstream like Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden or Alice in Chains did.
Public Image Ltd.
1/5
No thank you.
Devendra Banhart
2/5
Unbearably twee af.
The National
4/5
I *really* enjoyed revisiting this one. I don't remember being as fond of it as Boxer or Alligator at the time, and I guess that's still true, but there's something about the subtle, understated nature of this one thats given it real staying power.
Queens Of The Stone Age
4/5
A bit of a surprising inclusion on the list. It's a good album but very much the transitional bridge between the sludgy stoner rock of Kyuss and what would become the precision desert rock QOTSA groove found on Rated R, Songs for the Deaf and beyond; it's not _really_ the best example of either.
Still, it's a solid debut, the minimalist single note riff of Regular John making somewhat of a statement, and it would kick off one of the most remarkably consistent and high-quality rock band discographies of the next 20 years.
Ali Farka Touré
3/5
Not _quite_ my jam, but enjoyable.
The Jam
3/5
Pretty decent but hardly a must-listen.
Death In Vegas
3/5
Quite enjoyed the vibe and texture to this, but god did it get repetitive.
Joy Division
4/5
Post-punk I can get behind. A gloomy classic.
Anthrax
3/5
Pretty decent. Some nice riffs, but production sounds a bit muddy and vocals/lyrics occasionally annoying. 3.5/5.
Black Flag
3/5
Not the easiest listen, but a solid punk album if you're in the mood for it.
MGMT
4/5
A classic debut that was *the* soundtrack of Summer 2007 (south of the equator, anyway) and most of 08. The first half is full of absolute bangers that were obvious hits prior to their single releases, the deeper cuts interesting and unique and varied.
The Louvin Brothers
2/5
Struggled to get through this one, but I did. I can appreciate the craft, but that upper register just grates. Sounds like Ira Louvin was a real piece of shit too. 3+ for the influence, 2 for the experience.
Kendrick Lamar
5/5
MFer managed to make a platinum-selling jazz fusion album.
The Black Crowes
3/5
Decent but derivative. Feels like the soundtrack to a direct-to-video musical biopic for someone more famous, but they couldn't clear the music rights.
Gene Clark
4/5
Very nice. Not as good as 'No Other', but still solid. Gene Clark is now 2 for 2 in my book. I don't know why but I dig his solo stuff a lot more than The Byrds.
Yes
3/5
Should be right up my alley but felt like a mixed bag.
50 Cent
2/5
I really don't get it. Sub par delivery over mostly lacklustre beats.
The Dandy Warhols
4/5
A true gem of 90s rock, an effortlessly cool blend of indie rock with psychedelic and ambient shoegaze elements, coming dangerously close to but never quite going off the rails into meandering pretentiousness.
It's not as good as their 2000 follow up 'Thirteen Tales from Urban Bohemia' IMO, but a very fine record. It still sounds great and atmospheric and timeless and it's easy to be seduced by its charms.
From what I understand, the Dandys never quite got the recognition they deserved in the US, even though in the UK and definitely here in Australia they were relatively popular. It's a shame the US rock mainstream decided to spend its post-grunge years in the shittiness of nu-metal instead.
Creedence Clearwater Revival
4/5
Ridiculous they managed to put out three albums in 1969. Just a fantastic album and fun way to spend 29 minutes. Not *quite* as good as Cosmo's Factory, but it's much more consistent than Bayou Country, and John is in fine form.
Youssou N'Dour
3/5
I enjoyed it, but it seemed like it was over before it truly began.
Stereolab
4/5
Very enjoyable, and cooler than it sounded on paper. Great Friday afternoon coding vibe. Maybe more of a 3.5, but a 3's too low for this one.
Ice Cube
3/5
It’s a(n albeit dated) classic, but the rampant misogyny and one-note subject matter get a bit tiresome over an entire album.
Ms. Dynamite
4/5
I recognised 'Dy-Na-Mi-Tee' as something triple j played pretty frequently but that's about it. Quite enjoyed this one, a nice slice of forgotten early-00s hip-hop that's a lot closer to soul and R&B. Chill vibes, good voice.
Scritti Politti
1/5
Excruciatingly awful. Could not finish.
R.E.M.
4/5
First listen, although I recognised the bigger tracks. A very decent album, that definitely sounds like the bridge between 80s and 90s R.E.M. I don't love it as much as Murmur or Automatic For the People (both 5s) or Document (solid 4).
Jack White
4/5
Is it as great, historic, influential, or essential as White Stripes classics Elephant, White Blood Cells or De Stijl? No.
Is it as consistently and surprisingly awesome as his most recent solo album, No Name? Also no.
But I’ll be damned if I didn’t enjoy revisiting this. Has more great tracks on it than I remember. Probably a ~7.5/10, but close enough.
The Doors
3/5
There were some high points but overall a bit of a mixed bag, really. Especially the song with the generic blues riff that sounded like a 45rpm played at 33⅓.
Yes
3/5
Another Yes album I should be all over but somehow leaves me a little cold.
Beatles
4/5
A truly eclectic mix of songs, including some greats, but also a lot of filler and B-tier Beatles, to the point where I could happily skip the entirety of Side 4.
The Associates
1/5
Sounds like a bad parody typifying the very worst of the 80s. But I was happy to give a 2 to this terrible album and move on with my life.
But then I got the one-two punch of 'It's Better This Way" and "Party Fears Two (Remix)" which amp up the awful vocals to an absolutely transcendent degree, followed by the realisation that my streaming version had 7 bonus tracks, and the 40th Anniversary version 36 extra tracks(!).
That's a war crime.
De La Soul
4/5
Just a fun time.
Jerry Lee Lewis
4/5
My streaming copy was only 22 minutes, I had to go to YouTube to get the full 13-track, 37 minute album.
An undeniably rocking and energetic live performance by a real piece of shit.
Ghostface Killah
4/5
A bit too long, but pretty great. Top notch production, solid narrative.
The Stooges
5/5
Super fun and energetic psych/punk that's hard to fault.
Guns N' Roses
4/5
A legendary debut, one of the few big 80s rock albums that has stood the test of time. The big hits are simply huge, the rest of the tracks also very solid.
Nirvana
5/5
A frontman going through withdrawals and refusing to play the hits, opting for deeper cuts and relatively obscure covers. An unintentional final statement. A true classic.
Lenny Kravitz
2/5
Finally an answer to the question, what if Prince had no singing or lyrical ability?
This was rough. Lenny extends his vocals too much on this debut, like he hadn't discovered his thing yet. They're weak. But the lyrics are what are truly abysmal, like grade-school level.
I was not ready to discover that 'Fly Away' is somehow *not* the worst song in his
oeuvre.
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
2/5
It is *very much* not my thing. But at least its different.
Janelle Monáe
4/5
I only knew Tightrope prior to listening but this was really, really great. Not every track hits for me, but what a diverse, surprising and genre defying debut.
Leonard Cohen
3/5
A pretty mid album from Mr. Cohen. At least the vocals get a little more tolerable from the opening number.
Sonic Youth
4/5
Some pretty accessible stuff here by Sonic Youth standards. Lulls a little in the middle but finished strong. Enjoyed this one.
Prince
4/5
Not my favourite Prince album, but what a wild time.
The Modern Lovers
5/5
Fucking great. Heavily indebted to the Velvet Underground, but way better than The Doors. Can trace a line directly to 00s indie bands like The Strokes.
Paul McCartney
3/5
Not worth breaking up the Beatles for.
Morrissey
3/5
I didn't hate it.
Beach House
2/5
Uninspired but competent dream pop. Probably closer to a 3, but at one point I literally forgot I'd already listened to it.
Shack
1/5
Utter shite. It's derivative as all hell, a bit like a Temu Crowded House over a decade too late, combined with the worst aspects of C-tier UK bands at the time like Travis.
Trite lyrics and embarrassingly simple songs, coupled with a competent pub singer with zero interesting or intriguing qualities.
Saccharine and overwrought string arrangements and flourishes on meandering songs that neither need or deserve them.
As the 90s came to a close, in the year that we got classics like 'The Soft Bulletin', 'The Fragile', 'Ágætis byrjun', '2001', '13', 'Terror Twilight', 'The Slim Shady LP', 'Mule Variations' and exciting debuts like 'Showbiz' and 'The White Stripes', even Coldplay's Blue Room EP...*this* is what we're highlighting????
Crosby, Stills & Nash
3/5
Throughout this entire endeavour I've been a bit underwhelmed by CSN(Y), and drawn more to their solo work. This didn't really change my mind, but perfectly pleasant listen.
Pentangle
2/5
Definitely not my jam.
Buzzcocks
3/5
Great energy but somewhat typical punk.
Sarah Vaughan
4/5
Smooth as butter. Great voice, and sounds very good for a live album recorded in the 50s.
Bob Dylan
3/5
I enjoyed it, but I don't think it really clicked with me.
Missy Elliott
3/5
A little long but pretty decent. Laid back songs, slick Timbaland production, good vocals.
Fugazi
5/5
Fucking great, no notes.
Deerhunter
3/5
Pleasant, competent but wholly unremarkable 00s indie.
Pet Shop Boys
2/5
Dated, and I didn't dig it nearly as much as 'Actually'.
Led Zeppelin
5/5
All time great.
Ravi Shankar
3/5
Not my jam at all, and I did find my attention waning over the full album, but it was interesting and I respect the technical ability.
Astor Piazzolla
3/5
Interesting and enjoyable, at times very theatrical music. Occasionally diverged into the too quirky and chaotic for my tastes, but I really enjoyed some of the more beautiful piano+violin sections.
Radiohead
4/5
After two “best albums” in a row, it's hard not to see it as anything other than just a collection of B-Sides. Particularly given the a clearly inferior, lazy re-tread of Morning Bell (not to mention the lyrics for Amnesiac songs appearing hidden inside the jewel case for Kid A). Pulk/Pull Revolving Doors and the backmasked Like Spinning Plates aren't the most accessible tracks either.
But the highs are still so high here, and revisiting this was a blast. Pyramid Song, You and Whose Army, I Might Be Wrong are some of their best work of this era and easily go toe-to-toe or even surpass much of the material found on Kid A (heresy!) Packt Like Sardines, Knives Out, Dollars & Cents and Life in a Glasshouse are solid as well.
I don't think it quite acquits itself from being painted with the 'non-essential Radiohead' brush, but any other band would kill to have an album of this calibre in their discography.
TLC
2/5
Waterfalls is the obvious highlight and huge hit, but the album as a whole is a real disappointment. It's an excessively long, one-note, shallowly horny album, with some of the most generic R&B beats and lame skits, even by early 90s standards.
Julian Cope
3/5
A bit of a wild ride that started off poorly but mostly won me over with its charms.
Ian Dury
2/5
The godawful (repurposed as a 90s Spray and Wipe jingle) 'Billericay Dickie' aside, I thought the music itself was pretty good.
The bad lyrics, one-note, constant horniness and low-effort cockney vocals on the other hand...really hard to get through.
Bert Jansch
3/5
This was almost offensively pleasant. For my money, Bert's voice just wan't interesting enough to carry a whole album of minimal and somewhat fragile compositions. It got old, fast.
But I enjoyed the guitar on Angie enough to bump it back up to a 3.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
4/5
Not my favourite Nick Cave album, and I think the back half drops off a bit, but there's plenty to love here, and Papa Won't Leave You Henry is one hell of an opener.
Joan Baez
2/5
Some very pretty vocals and arrangements, but Jesus, when it comes to the constant vibrato, 'less is more' definitely could have applied.
I know she's a legend and all but, I struggled with this. 45 minutes straight is a bit much.
Tom Waits
4/5
Not my favourite or the most celebrated Waits album, but certainly a bit of an underrated/transitional one. The uptempo numbers and the right amount of dirty and sleazy. I think it's the ballads I think that let this one down slightly.
Spiritualized
2/5
Sounded like a less-engaging BJM or early Dandy Warhols to me?
The Darkness
3/5
Its inability to take itself seriously is both its biggest asset and its biggest weakness. There’s genuine talent here. And it’s hard to hate the cliched and fairly by-the-numbers rock and Justin Hawkins’s ridiculously over-the-top vocals when it has its tongue firmly implanted in its cheek. But it’s also hard to genuinely love or give much of a fuck about it either.
3 on a good day, 2 on a bad day. Best in small doses.
3/5
Straightforward cheating and drinking’ country fare. But what a great voice with a beautifully controlled vibrato.
Megadeth
3/5
Pretty good metal album. Great riffs, so-so vocals.
The La's
2/5
'There She Goes' is the only bright spot on an otherwise forgettable album.
The Cult
3/5
It's derivative as hell, but it's undeniable fun.
And given the period (and Rubin's own list of crimes), produced/mixed very well.
Neil Young
4/5
I still can't stand Neil Young's shitty falsetto, but this is one of his better albums.
Genesis
2/5
Talented musicians perform pretentious medieval-prog with downright annoying vocals.
Beyoncé
2/5
Beyonce is a horny mom who wants her pink skittles eaten. Good for her.
Incredible Bongo Band
3/5
It can't sustain itself over the entire runtime, but it's fun in small doses and as background music.
Slipknot
2/5
Mostly lame edgelord shit for 14 year old boys.
The Divine Comedy
2/5
Sounds like the lost soundtrack to a 1970s community-theatre panto adaptation of A Clockwork Orange.
Lucinda Williams
3/5
A bit of a mixed bag. It's by no means a bad album, but it certainly does drag. At one point she sounded just as bored as I was. Still, some nice slide guitar and uptempo numbers, and I liked the track with Emmylou's harmony too.
The Divine Comedy
1/5
I'm not sure if the guy dialling back the wink-wink-nudge-nudge for attempted sincerity makes this album better or worse than 'Casanova'.
But I do know they shouldn't be taking up *two* valuable spots on the list with this garbage parody of fourth-rate crooners who themselves were imitating better artists.
I guess I owe Scott Walker an apology.
Einstürzende Neubauten
1/5
Collapsing scaffolding just isn't my ASMR kink.
Bobby Womack
3/5
Good, but something about the 80s production rubs me the wrong way. Prefer his 70s material.
Malcolm McLaren
3/5
More interesting as a historical document than an album. But, cultural appropriation aside, not without its charm.
Björk
4/5
Bjork can be hit and miss for me, but such beautiful textures and soundscapes on this one.
Cypress Hill
3/5
Decent, but not their best work. Certainly Black Sunday would be the better inclusion.
Solange
3/5
Not really my jam/seemed a little repetitive, but enjoyed it. Nice vocals, good lyrics.
Country Joe & The Fish
3/5
I wouldn't say it's top-tier psych rock, but it's pretty decent. Enjoyed the bluesier numbers.
Jazmine Sullivan
2/5
Generic, boring and derivative. I don’t think it’s one of the top 1001 albums of that year.
Missy Elliott
4/5
Second Missy album to come up, my first time listen, and I really dug this one.
Could I do without the narration/commentary? Sure. But Missy's flow is impeccable as always, the production and guests are solid. Overall a pretty good balance of hip-hop and pop sensibilities, featuring her biggest hit and a certified capital-B banger, with plenty of interesting deeper cuts and no real duds IMO.
The Doors
2/5
I'm not a contrarian for the sake of it, but man, I _fucking hate_ this album.
Ray's organ is way too prominent in mix, and the timbre is nasally and grating. It's like nails on a chalkboard. Particularly with no bassist to thicken up the sound. And then you have Jim’s brooding, pretentious, college-dorm philosophy and slurred, droning vocals.
It's an awful pairing that my brain just can't enjoy.
Super Furry Animals
3/5
Yeah, it was fine.
Kendrick Lamar
5/5
Vivid storytelling, great production, smooth flow, no skips. That's a 5.
Khaled
2/5
Not for me, but I also wish they stuck to the more traditional sounding stuff and less 90s pop cheese.
Snoop Dogg
4/5
Some questionable lyrics aside, an undeniably great hip hop album. Epic G-funk beats, smooth flow from Snoop, and honestly, just more downright fun than The Chronic.
Mike Oldfield
5/5
One of the best albums of the 70s. A classic slice of prog rock. An iconic feature film inclusion. A true masterpiece.
It's all of these things and more, made all the more impressive by the fact that one 19 year old dude did it all on his own.
Neil Young
4/5
Certainly not Neil’s biggest fan, but this one is definitely one of his best and most tolerable.
Milton Nascimento
4/5
Really solid and pleasant listen. My attention did start to wane at the halfway point but it came back strong.
Beck
4/5
It’s not top tier Beck, but it’s pretty close. A great grab bag of styles and moods.
Lloyd Cole And The Commotions
3/5
I quite enjoyed this, although I found it got a bit monotonous towards the end, and that's even after I skipped the last 4 bonus tracks for not being part of the original release.
First half is probably a 4, second half has bumped the whole thing down, but I'd be keen to revisit this one.
Incubus
2/5
Brandon Boyd spends most of the record sounding like he’s searching for a melody in real time, only occasionally landing one ("Drive") before politely moving on.
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
3/5
There is entirely too much Elvis Costello on the list, but this one wasn't bad. Liked the low-fi garage sound, and 'I Want You' is an absolute banger.
The Isley Brothers
4/5
One of the better soul entries on this list. The funky uptempo numbers are the bomb.
Lupe Fiasco
4/5
Solid early 00s hip hop. Great lyrics and storytelling. Skip the outro.
The Zutons
3/5
Mostly pleasant; the sax was occasionally grating. But decent enough.
Elvis Costello
4/5
As much as I think Costello is overrated (and certainly over-represented on this list), there's no denying this one's great. A classic, fully-formed debut.
k.d. lang
3/5
Absolutely beautiful voice. I like this a lot more than Ingenue, although the country-by-the-numbers got a little old by the end of the album. Still, very nice.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
5/5
Murder Ballads isn’t quite my favourite Nick Cave album, but its mythology looms large. This unrelenting collection of vividly imagined deaths marked a strange commercial high point for Cave, driven largely by the unlikely crossover appeal of a legendary duet with Australia’s pop princess.
And it’s not even the best duet on here. “Henry Lee” with PJ Harvey - fresh from their breakup - is arguably more compelling, particularly in the video, where the performance crackles with a volatile mix of attraction and hostility.
Cinematic and darkly funny from beginning to end, the gallows humour and excess of tracks like “O’Malley’s Bar” almost push things into parody. And that’s before you reach the closing track: an oddly touching, and sincere piece of tonal whiplash that cements the album as a true great.
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
5/5
A stone cold 00s classic that reinvigorated the NY music scene after more than a decade on the backburner. Nothing artifical and zero pretension, just a great fucking art-punk/garage-rock revival.
The Slits
3/5
Not without its charm, but it does make you wish they were better musicians. It can't sustain the full runtime on attitude alone.
The Icarus Line
2/5
Started strong but quickly grew grating and tiresome.
Leonard Cohen
2/5
Music to kill yourself to.
Alexander 'Skip' Spence
2/5
I’m all for elevating lesser-known albums, however undeserving, but romanticising mental illness ain’t it.
There is nothing even remotely noteworthy or essential here, unless you're a music snob elevating mythology over music in between sniffing your own farts.
Roni Size
2/5
The Mercury Music Prize has produced a few head-scratchers over the years, which I suppose is a good thing.
But nothing about this grabbed me at all, and I was well and truly bored less than 2/3rds of the way through Disc 1 alone.
The Young Gods
2/5
Not great, not irredeemable.
The Flaming Lips
4/5
Really enjoyed revisiting this one; after a few decades away I forgot how good, cohesive and weird the album got beyond the big hits. Still holds up.
The Psychedelic Furs
3/5
Pretty decent new wave, occasionally great, but those one-note vocals become quite grating over 45 minutes.
Ladysmith Black Mambazo
3/5
I was really enjoying it, but then I thought it slightly overstayed its welcome?
Emerson, Lake & Palmer
2/5
I wanted to like this, but I found it so unrelentingly annoying.
Sebadoh
3/5
There's some nice stuff on here, but it's a bit too inconsistent for me. A real mixed bag.
JAY Z
4/5
Never thought Jay-Z is as good as he thinks he is, and the album's too long, but I have to admit, this one's quite good.
Parliament
5/5
Damn that's funky.
Radiohead
5/5
Radiohead's last truly great album, and depending on my mood, might edge out OK Computer or Kid A as my favourite. Nude->Weird Fishes->All I Need alone might be one of the best stretches they've ever done.
There's arguably nothing innovative here, but there's not a bad song on here (and that goes for the bonus tracks on Disc 2 as well.) It's meticulously mixed and produced, sounding warm and dynamic and organic, the flourishes perfectly balanced. The songs themselves are diverse but strangely cohesive, with some of Thom's most beautiful vocals and less alienating, more-relatable lyrics.
There's something oddly comforting about this one. A very easy 5/5.
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band
4/5
Solid blues rock that retains the weird Beefheart edge. Proves he could make listenable music when he wanted to.
Jamiroquai
3/5
It's decent enough, but it did nothing to shake my belief that all Jamiroquai songs sound the same, and the blatant Stevie Wonder impression does get a bit tiring. It's also just bad luck I happened to listen to this immediately after Parliament's Mothership Connection.
I will say, however, that it's great to hear some prominent didgeridoo. And Revolution 1993 was pretty great.
Grateful Dead
2/5
Some parts were okay. But a dull, interminable slog of an album to actually get through.
White Denim
4/5
Never heard of these guys, but this was a great listen. Pure fun.
Traffic
3/5
Decent enough.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
5/5
Nick Cave followed up the disappointing Nocturama and the departure of Blixa Bargeld with this absolute masterpiece. One of the rare double albums that earns its ambition, free of bloat.
Abattoir Blues is loud and bombastic and theatrical. Gospel choirs, shouted sermons, Cave in more preacher than frontman. The humour is there but restrained compared to the cartoonish extremes of Murder Ballads.
The Lyre of Orpheus is reflective, self-aware, and beautifully restrained and subdued, but nothing like the solemn intimacy The Boatman’s Call or No More Shall We Part. It's lighter and more inquisitive, still humorous, and even downright quirky and fun at times ('Breathless').
One of Cave’s most accessible, confident, and alive records, and one of the finest rock records of the 00s.
The Stooges
4/5
Quality proto punk.
Sabu
3/5
It can certainly get a little repetitive at times, but I can't say it wasn't a fun listen.
The Byrds
3/5
Another pleasant enough yet questionably “essential” album from The Byrds.
Blue Cheer
3/5
Pretty decent proto metal. It might be more notable as a historical artifact than something I simply 'must' listen to, but I can't say I didn't enjoy a lot of it.
Goldfrapp
3/5
A hard one to rate. There's some truly beautiful and occasionally eerie stuff here. But its hard not to consider it somewhat repetitive across its 39 minutes, nor derivative of Portishead.
Calexico
4/5
Now this was a nice surprise. I'm not sure how I slept on it back in 2003 but a fun twist/cut above the standard indie rock of the time.
Animal Collective
2/5
Unbelievably annoying and pretentious.
Koffi Olomide
2/5
Hardly essential. Starts out pleasant enough and quickly plummets from there. Guy sounds like a real pos too.
Marty Robbins
2/5
Hokey honky-ass shit.
Rufus Wainwright
2/5
Didn't mind the second track. But overall this was incredibly, almost unbelievably dull.
Kraftwerk
3/5
Not one of my favourite Kraftwerk albums, but an interesting one nonetheless.
Bonnie Raitt
2/5
Good voice, bad production, bland songs, trite lyrics. Sounds like the soundtrack to a forgotten 1980s made-for-TV biopic. Surely 1988 had more to offer than this. Sorry Bonnie.
Bob Marley & The Wailers
3/5
Enjoyable listening, but not his best IMO.
Paul Simon
4/5
A legendary album that's genuinely hard not to like. Instant mood improver.
Simon & Garfunkel
4/5
Side A is a little weirder than I expected, but plenty to love here.
Bruce Springsteen
4/5
Against all odds, actually lowkey pretty great.
Rush
3/5
It was...fine I guess? Musically very competent, occasionally interesting, Pretty weak but perfunctory vocals, solid bass playing, occasional obnoxious drum fills.
But it feels sterile to me. I don't feel anything listening to it. It's just...there.
LTJ Bukem
2/5
Well this certainly took me back to my youth.
Not as a fan or the artist or genre, but getting infuriated at the endlessly monotonous, basic-ass loops coming out of my roommate's bedroom as he attempted to learn how to use FruityLoops Studio.
Apologies, but my ears can't tell the difference.
The Disposable Heroes Of Hiphoprisy
4/5
Actually really enjoyed this and didn't know Michael Franti did anything before Spearhead. Great industrial-meets-jazz beats and socially conscious lyrics.
No, his flow isn't the most impressive and leans oldschool with the occasional awkward moment, and its certainly not a subtle album.
But doesn't really detract *too* much from proceedings. Unique and interesting, a great hidden gem.
Willie Colón & Rubén Blades
4/5
Not really my jam, but its charms were undeniable. Toe tapping salsa greatness.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
5/5
A reinvention of sorts for Nick Cave.
Revisiting this was an interesting one, in the context both the enduring legacy of 'Into My Arms', and the albums that would come after it.
It's no longer his bleakest or most personal. Nor his crowd-pleasing beast. Or even my favourite of his late 90s-early 00s piano-crooner phase (I have a huge soft spot for 'No More Shall We Part').
But I'll be damned if it doesn't still pack a punch if you're in the mood for it.
The xx
4/5
Good vibes. Solid production. Pleasing vocals.
Ryan Adams
5/5
Forget Whiskeytown and Heartbreaker, the hill that I will die on is that this is Ryan Adams' masterpiece - an utterly fantastic album that ranks as one of the best of the 00s.
It's excessively long*, consistently threatening to fall under the weight of itself, but there's not a dud song on the whole disc. Adams effortlessly weaves from country to rock, Eltonesque ballad to Jagger swagger, and everything in-between. This tightrope act and sheer diversity keep things interesting, the backing band is tight, the production immaculate.
*In a rare case of record company intervention being a good thing, Adams was forced to reduce the album to a single disc, excising 25% of the intended songs onto a bonus disc. None of them are essential and the album is undoubtedly better off without them.
Adams is a real piece of shit, but this remains a wonderful time capsule of how talented and promising he was out of the gate before he squandered it all.
Tim Buckley
5/5
Wow, this was fucking GREAT. What the hell is wrong with you people?
The Velvet Underground
5/5
Its classic status and impact on music culture is undeniable, but in my mind I always preferred self-titled or Loaded to this one; or at least thought it was _slightly_ overrated. Mostly because I never really warmed to the Nico tracks.
And yet, as I pressed play and one iconic track gave way to another, and then another, and then another...yeah I was wrong. The true greatness of this album to me is that the minor flaws just don't fuckin' matter. It's still perfect.
Iggy Pop
5/5
It's a strange, sleazy Iggy/Bowie hybrid, and I know the extend of each's contributions continues to be debated, but nonetheless I am here for it. Very different from Stooges and Lust for Life, but not a dud track here.
The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
4/5
A bit more chaotic and rawer than I expected, based on some of the other JSBE stuff I've heard. But I quite enjoyed this, 45 minutes of punk/blues energy that's greater than the sum of its parts.
Gotan Project
3/5
It's pleasant enough. Some tracks in particular like Triptico I really like, and the French tango theme is cute. But overall it does feel a little more...pedestrian background music/DVD menu.
At least compared to the similar(-ish?) artists I used to listen to...Propellerheads, DJ Shadow, RJD2, Nightmares on Wax, Bonobo, Thievery Corporation, Amon Tobin, Ugress, Dust Brothers etc.
The Undertones
3/5
A decent little pop-punk album. Solid riffs only marred by the occasional dud track, Sharkey's overdone vibrato or both.
Peter Frampton
3/5
I know it was huge in its day but to these slightly younger ears it's...perfectly fine.
Some great playing, decent songs, and a pretty epic ending, but I was getting a bit bored in the middle.
Sonically, the flabby midrange of the live recording/mix is a bit too murky for me to truly enjoy it, but the isolated guitar solos sounded good.
My Bloody Valentine
3/5
A real mixed bag. The occasional flash of greatness but definitely not their best work.
King Crimson
5/5
Phenomenal debut. One of the first ever prog records remains one of the best. Expertly sequenced as we journey through proto-metal, jazzy interludes, distorted vocals, dreamlike quieter moments.
As much as I also like and appreciate Red, I don't think King Crimson ever topped this one.
Pixies
5/5
A legendary followup to what was already an impressive debut. A little catchier and more diverse than Surfer Rosa, it still manages to surprise yet balance the off-kilter and noisier elements well. Still just an absolute crazy joy to listen to. One of the finest records of the 80s and absolutely influenced the direction of the 90s.
Arrested Development
3/5
The big singles were certainly a nostalgia trip. A bit dated but overall, a decent early 90s album.
Tom Waits
4/5
Not my favourite or the most accessible Tom Waits album, that's to be sure. It starts off *rough*. But it does get progressively stronger.
Bob Dylan
5/5
Bob Dylan's absolute peak. An apologetically raucous, rock-focused banger of a blues record that opens with one of the best songs ever written, and still manages to sound interesting and varied for the remaining 8. Just A+ songwriting, vivid imagery and lyrics delivered with gusto.
Anita Baker
2/5
Waste of a great voice. Inconsequential and uninspired easy listening trash. It doesn’t help that all the synths and backing tracks have the excitement and grandeur of the demo MIDI files bundled with my 1994 PC’s sound card.
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
2/5
Not really my jam, but I didn't mind it at all. Until I discovered there was another hour and a half to go. Ridiculously, self-indulgently long.
Tight 45 to an hour would have been at least a 3.
John Cale
2/5
I'm sorry, I tried, but the only thing consistent about this album is how awful John Cale's vocals are.
Mudhoney
4/5
Not sure if I was supposed to listen to the EP or the LP version but in the end I just had to go with pressing Stop midway through the Deluxe Edition, which technically doesn't match either.
But I really like this earlier, punkier incarnation of the band, and dug the album a lot more than 1991's Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge. Pretty sweet grunge forebearer that I'm sure was a real kick up the ass on its original 80s release.
Miriam Makeba
4/5
Always great to get an album on this list that you would never have listened to in a million years. Makeba has a very beautiful voice, and it was really great to hear the original 'Mbube'. Nice combination of tunes, but I definitely have to dock a point for Charles Colman though.
Buena Vista Social Club
4/5
Good times were had by all.
Cocteau Twins
5/5
Absolutely gorgeous dream pop that is both huge yet intimate. It transcends its genre and dreamy atmosphere thanks to just the right amount of pop hooks and accessibility.
By any reasonable definition, a perfect album.
Jean-Michel Jarre
4/5
Yeah this slaps. The 80s before the 80s.
Rod Stewart
3/5
Didn't enjoy it as much as Faces, but it wasn't bad.
4/5
A lot of fun. Quirky new wave that holds up well. Has a je ne sais quoi that other similar 80s acts just can't match.
Kings of Leon
4/5
There is admittedly a bit of nostalgia attached to my enjoyment of this one. But it's hard to fully convey how fresh, fun, and exciting this one sounded to my 2003 ears.
They weren't posers, they weren't co-opting a sound for nostalgia. They were genuine, sons-of-a-preacher Southern boys, playing some country fried Skynyrd-meets-Strokes with rock with sharp guitar work and some charmingly twitchy and slightly off-kilter vocals.
Regardless of what would become of them in later years, their first two albums remain great listens.
Peter Gabriel
3/5
It’s genuinely wild how inconsistent and odd this album is. There’s almost nothing average on here, it’s either great or tedious and unlistenable. Kudos.
Emerson, Lake & Palmer
2/5
I always thought I loved prog rock. Then I embarked on this listening challenge.
Elliott Smith
5/5
I find it hard picking a favourite Elliott Smith record, even when purely looking at his lofi period, it's a tough call whether its Either/Or or self-titled.
And yet I'm still happy calling this one of the finest records of the 90s. Dude could work magic with the sparsest of arrangements and bleakest of lyrics.
Madonna
3/5
I had to laugh at the album summary describing it as 'Experimental', but I thought this was a fairly standard pop record, with the occasional production flourish making it at least a little interesting.
The American Pie cover was absolute dog shit, but as a bonus track I won't penalise as much as I'd like to for having the whole thing end on a sour note.
Talking Heads
5/5
To some it lives in the shadow of Remain in Light or Stop Making Sense, and its hard to argue with, but this is still one of the best Talking Heads records, certainly one of the most diverse, and one of the best on this list.
Even its biggest singles can overshadow the record’s stranger corners, where the band’s nervous experimentation really takes hold, but that's what makes it truly great in my book.
Skunk Anansie
4/5
Quite enjoyed this one. Only recognised the one song from the Cruel Intentions soundtrack, which is the worst on the album. Nice and varied, and can go hard when it wants to.
Probably more than a 3.5, but giving it the bonus for being something kinda unique on this list and not Britpop or early 90s dance.