Last week, I listened to Joni Mitchell’s “The Hissing Of Summer Lawns” where I said something to the effect of she and Billy Joel and Elton John may be in their own company when it comes to storytelling and lyrics that place you IN the song. I would like to add David Ackles, or at least this album, to that elite company. I was FLOORED listening to some of these songs. How have I never head of this guy, or this album? On here are some of the most beautiful songs I’ve ever heard, sung with a lot of conviction, and wrapped up in really pretty instrumental arrangements. Right off the bat, “American Gothic” is such a fun parlor-style story of a messy couple. I didn’t realize I was in for such a theatrical listen! Then “Love’s Enough” straightens things out with a Nick Drake type of love ballad. This song is so honest and heartfelt. One of the most pure fun songs is “Oh California!” which switches into this swanky showtune style and ends with what seems to be a full string/horn chorus arrangement??? How many tricks does David Ackles have up his sleeve??? The last song that really stood out to me was “Waiting For the Moving Van” which just about brings you to your knees. What a sobering, sentimental little song. In addition to these highlights, there’s bits of country, folk, and gospel peppered into things! Plus a very nice long story in the last song. These are the albums that make this list so worthwhile. I can slog through 50 two-star albums in a row if it means the 51st album is this diamond in the rough. Total hidden gem that shines so bright if you give it a dusting. Reading further on his life and legacy, it is a crime that David didn’t get the commercial success he deserved, even with Elton John constantly singing his praises. No popular interviews of him on youtube, very little info to dig into anywhere. This is insane!

Alright why has the world conspired to keep "Valley of the Dolls" hidden from me. In fact, why has the world conspired to keep this whole album from me? You all know I cant resist sample-based music thats made more colorful by the use of a phaser/flanger. That blissful Daft Punk phaser texture hits the dopamine receptors just right. I didnt realize it, but "Drop the Pressure is responsible for a very often-used vocal sample in house music! This song specifically has that early Calvin Harris vibe, you can hear the beginnings of blog house sprouting up. But my highlight on here (and it isnt even close) is the blissed-out "In My Arms". This one is special. I know that there will be very few times that this list produces a song that so perfectly aligns with my exact hopes for what any song can be, while also doing so utilizing my very favorite production methods. A house tempo song with a super happy, super fuzzy, phased vocal loop in a major key. A repetitive, simple bassline. A nice little bridge/chopped up middle section that ramps back up to an even more outright happy and shiny second half, with just a little extra glittery synth at the end to bring it home. I replayed it twice before I could move on through the album! The only comp I have for this song is Pete Heller's Big Love, which wouldnt surprise me to hear it was a reference track for "In My Arms". Genuinely, this song couldve been surrounded by ten layers of shit, and this album wouldve still been worth it for that euphoric little nugget. Luckily, this album isnt layers of shit at all! Now, it's no opus of dance music. But it's good! A tasteful (i hate using that adjective) amount of sampling and chopping, like on "Rikki". Some more easy listening cuts that venture into almost trip-hop territory like "Sunworshipper" or "Need You Tonight". I'm gonna guess the common gripe about this album is that theres not much substance to grab and hang onto, not much in the way of hooks or sticky musical motifs - and that's fair. To that, I'd say that maybe those things aren't always needed. Maybe this album could find its place while doing chores on a lazy sunday or on a nice walk, or just for laying around in the sun. A nice, happy, hazy little musical companion. Soft 4/5.

Saw a tweet one time that was just this picture, captioned “these honkeys were COOKING” and it’s so true. ‘Shout’ is just one of those few 80’s gems that will never be replicated. It’s got AURA. It’s got ATTITUDE. This can be said for the entire album actually. Tight, direct song structure that knows when to slip in and out of instrumental atmospheres. A massive generational pop hit. One iconic vocal melody after another. A mystical album ender. Socially conscious messaging. This album has it all and doesn’t overstay it’s welcome at all. Perfect! It’s incredible that we got this less than a year after Purple Rain. It’s worth noting that they’ve done the impossible recently - they made a song that’s unique and new sounding, unlike every other legacy band from the 80’s or earlier pumping out nothing-burgers to cash in on yet another world tour. Check out ‘No Small Thing’ it’s worth a listen

I don’t hate this album as much as I used to, even if morissey is still way too whiney. This probably hit super hard if you were a British teen back then. The instrumental composition is really good. The fact that this got a 3 out of me is saying a lot. It just makes me want to listen to Brand New. Similar amounts of whiney crooning

Alright I’m officially tilted at how many boomer rock albums we’ve pulled. I would like to use this album to bring to light the 2010 remix of My Generation featuring Slash and Will.i.am., in which he sings about the war in Iraq and the recession

Makes me wanna mull over a glass of whiskey in a black&white downtown diner while figuring out cold case crimes. Flames

Did I hear some crooning vibrato vocal runs? Damn Post Malone kinda stole her flow. Very heartfelt very personal very nice

“Mamaaaaa, uwu” - Freddie Mercury

What a fun goofy band! I wonder how they feel about the war in Iraq.

the stronks 🗣️

Genesis/Phil Collins/Peter Gabriel but for British millennials 🔥🔥🔥

🔥🔥🔥🔥SKA MUSIC🔥🔥🔥🔥

What in the WORLD is this hippie going on about???

https://youtu.be/zLk6bUvS6Ic?si=M_uO2c8Ata2fpNoW

Millennials know that Deep Purple rocks they were the first song in Guitar Hero 3 AND the intro to Rockband

One liberating thing about turning 26 is being able to say “Neil Young just doesn’t do it for me” without the fear of being disowned by my parents and dropped from the family healthcare plan. Too old for that now

Fucking AMPED for this one. Wildly ahead of it’s time. The prodigy did the dubstep/riddim/bass music aesthetic 20 years before it became a thing. Producers like G Jones and Nitepunk are just now making Prodigy-style sounds popular in edm. The first two tracks on here are widely considered to be classics, but Mindfields is such a slept on banger. The Noisia remix of Smack My Bitch Up & the Glitch Mob remix of Breathe are modernized versions of these bangers, worth checking out

Points for going full Jack Black there at the end

I’m more of a blink-182 guy a very soft 3/5 on this one

I’m convinced she dated bob dylan just to show everyone how she clears him in many categories (multi-lingual, sane)

Such a good way to end the earlier traditional Beatles sound. Very polished. Nowhere Man gotta be the highlight here. But the real treat of this album is Ringo Starr doing a lead vocal (What Goes On) where he’s NOT singing about an imaginary creature or some drug-induced situation he finds himself in

She sings the hell outta this album. Generational vocal talent. Adele, Karen Carpenter, Aretha Franklin. Can't think of many other singers who stick the landing on EVERY single note like this. Unless that new Ringo Starr album HITS XD

Front half of the album is good, back half is a snoozer. And what does Kings of Leon do that The Killers, The Strokes, Muse, U2, or Black Keys didn’t already do better? Album is fine in a vacuum but on a 1000 albums you must listen to list? I don’t knoooow about that

• Blissed out and hypnotic. Like I’m in a UK warehouse on acid • Lush 3-1 gets played at a rave happening inside Donkey Kong Country 2 • This album is what old excision is gonna sound like in 30 years • The la la la vocal from Halcyon And On And On is a famous sample. Most recently used in a Skrillex & Boys Noize BANGER called “Fine Day Anthem” • There’s some more important/better electronic albums I’d rather see on this list • If Parker blind-rates this above a 2 then I will give myself $20

I downed a red sour patch ghost energy drink and put this on to start work at 5:30AM and I got real productive real fast. Hijacking the arena sport aux to play this during soccer games 🔥

Aretha-tier vocalist doing some ice cream + red wine jams

Please please please go listen to their next album “This Is Happening” It’s iconic it should be on this list so I can give it 5 stars Why is this album on here instead? >:(

One of the albums of the 90’s

Take a journey inside the mind of the average league of legends player

While I don’t go back to this album often, you gotta respect the creativity and raw talent here. "Calm down folks, now just tell me what did the Jimster do?" - Hugh Neutron

Simple but effective. Some sadder British Jim Croce/James Taylor vibes. My one tiny criticism with this album is that there isn’t enough tight chorus/catchy parts, my monkey peanut brain needs a little more to remember and sing along to. But this is great imma listen to more of the better Drake here. He was 21 when he made this??? Damn

Sultans of swing great song to do cocaine too everything else is meh

First time listeners do NOT let this be your final impression of him, go listen to Born to Run or Darkness on the Edge of Town to get that classic anthemic Bruce sound. He was going through some dark times when he made this album & would immediately turn around to write his “pop album” Born In The USA. Firm 3.5 out of 5. Depressed minimalist Bruce Springsteen still clears many artists in the story telling department

Eddie Vedder drank wine from the bottle when I saw him at the mariners stadium then belted out Black just as it sounds on this album

Wake up honey, it’s time for your daily seattle grunge album ⏰ Not as solid as Ten but Layne Staley has some pipes on him. Must be something about fellas born in the Bellevue/Kirkland area that makes them destined to make it big 🤔 you and me Layne, equal levels of greatness

After two albums, I can list the ingredients needed for your typical Bobby song: 1. Play a loopy acoustic guitar melody. Keep playing the melody the entire time. 2. Bob proceeds to word-vomit about the latest adventures of his imaginary friends during a drug-induced psychosis. 3. Harmonica outro.

*refined* new wave. The most refined

Solid for what it is. “Zilch” went crazy

George Harrison - ass album. Very impressive that he made this at 19 though, serious musicality. Hard working 3 out of 5 from me

Emma as my witness I fell asleep for this one

Very solid 2000’s indie sleaze! Now let’s all listen to “Heads Will Roll (Atrak remix)” - Yeah Yeah Yeahs

A lot more cowbell on this than I remember. Pretty one dimensional album but the highs are so high, some of the greatest arena rock songs of all time on here

Very fun very lively I would’ve never found something like this if it weren’t for this list 🙏

He knew we were going to someday be reviewing this album when he titled that song “midnight ravers”

Imma call this genre “the opposite of edm.” Better album than I remember, wears out its welcome towards the end. Great songwriting and composition, just kinda wish it was performed in more unique ways? The 90’s singer-songwriter sound doesn’t always hit for me

master storytelling ability and succinct songwriting

*deferring my right to comment on this one so our native Kiwi can have a moment of Oceania pride*

2 stars, doesn’t have West End Girls on it

Was a little skeptical about this but then learned that Brian Eno was in the band so of course this album was very musically sound and in some ways ahead of it’s time. You can really hear the Eno on the last track it’s almost like a transition song to his solo masterpiece that dropped two years later “Another Green World”

Strong writing strong voice. Doing some research into what she had going on in life makes many of these songs even more impactful

God, if you’re listening, please give me something from the 21st century man. This should be a Lady Gaga album

An album that gets better the older (and sleepier) i get. I didn’t understand the point of this album when I first listened maybe a decade ago but now I have more patience and willingness to listen to this beauty. Kinda invented ambient music as we know it

I can’t handle much CCR beyond their greatest hits. Do I love their greatest hits? Yes. Do I strongly affiliate them with early childhood memories of music? Yes. Am I tired of rolling the boomer rock albums? YES.

He oscillates between being a total cornball to having some really clever bars. Pretty good for 1990! A hard-working 3/5 for me

Peak 50’s crooning

Really enjoyed some of the more mellow and experimental songs on here. Lou Reed has unlimited singer/songwriter rizz. I would just like to point out how the song “Murder Mystery” on here is eerily similar to “Chop Suey” by System of a Down

Alright I’m officially tilted at how many boomer rock albums we’ve pulled. I would like to use this album to bring to light the 2010 remix of My Generation featuring Slash and Will.i.am., in which he sings about the war in Iraq and the recession

...I’m hate-listening now. Smite me down, God, end my boomer-rock-induced suffering

It’s kinda like if My Chemical Romance got inspired by Muse then just went crazy with it. Very thoughtful very technical i just need to listen to it more

Really liked this one, I feel like tumblr probably liked it even more though

The most disingenuous thing I can do is adjust my rating just because it’s Christmas and this is a Christmas album. Imagine if i just ripped a 1/5 though. Also he invented the 2014 Forest Hills Drive album closer style with this one, just doing a spoken narrative thank you

Pulling two heavy tumblr-core albums in a row is huge after all the boomer rock. The highlight of this album for me isnt the atmospheric pads and melodies that everyone knows it for - to me its the way the bass player chooses to play in a more sparse and often repetitive manner. Long repeated one-note hits with quick fill melodies at the end of a verse. Induces the same feeling of the best house music songs of this albums time - hypnotic and blissful

This album is a TRIP. Was cruising along thinking “huh nice a little Rush meets ska revivalism ok ok” then the song ‘Deep Inside’ comes on. Then it’s just Music To Ride Your Harley To. And then socially conscious protest music???

High intensity soul

This would’ve gotten me torqued if I was a British teen in the 70’s. Not just the messages but the playing is really tight and it has a huge, booming sound for its time

amazing posse rap dynamic and incredibly menacing for the early 90's

They’re all so on the same page it’s insane

Personal results of this daily listening list: - developing a genuine aversion for classic rock - coming to the conclusion that the drugs in the 60’s must’ve HIT to make this type of music culturally enjoyable

They scared a lot of people back in the day, but hindsight let’s this album stand it’s ground. Layered instrumentation & memorable grooves. I’m addicted to the opening song on this record there’s like 3 separate perfect melodies going at once towards the end of it

Despite this album only being a few years older than the Five Leaves Left album we pulled a month or two ago, he definitely sounds a bit older/more rough around the edges. Becoming a fan of his delivery

This is so close to a full 5/5 stars for me. I think the most impressive thing about this album is how many songs have absolutely killer hooks, all done by the trio, all sung by people who consider themselves rappers/mc’s before singers. Intstrumentals are so pleasing and easy on the ears

I was so torn on what to give this album, until I asked myself “what’s holding this album back from being a 5/5?” and I couldn’t come up with anything. So ladies and gentlemen we got my third ever 5/5 here. It’s just so full of life, addresses very universal human emotion/struggle. I’m beginning to create a scale for boomer music: on one end is the “songs to ride your Harley to” and on the other end is “songs to do a line to” and this one is more on the latter side

More “music to do lines to.” A very solid 3 for me. I’m learning a lot about popular musicians pre or post famous bands they were in. Steve Winwood in this one John Barleycorn is an opp 🖕🗣️

Was this really so uniquely essential that it needed to be in the list? A bit of a nothing burger tbh

This is the quintessential sound of any GTA game based in the west coast. Highlight for me is the clean sampling in the production, the beats were clearly made to blow out the low-end of boomboxes and car radios. This sound is totally made for cruising in a convertible

What a fun way to say “im not like the other girls” Pop songwriting perfection and all-out performance

Solid. A little better than the first wailers album we pulled. This is like the 4th duplicate artist in 60ish days of this list

Loving the amount of “YEOOW” they’re dropping on these songs. Never has a band been more synergized the EW&F and this album is proof

I enjoyed this more than most rock from its time. They seemed to be on the cutting edge of punk. Probably had a lot of people up in arms back then

Ten minutes in and I was already amazed by his ability to weave in and out of melodic ideas and different motifs. The audible woo’s and noises he makes confirms that he is but a vehicle for these beautiful motifs to manifest on the keys. I needed a new type of calming background music and this is it

Listening to U2 confused me a lot as a kid because some of their music is so sonically timeless. Like, this is from 1987, but With Or Without you sounds exactly like a mid 2000’s moody radio hit. No aged synth leads, no annoying programmed electronic percussion. All that being said, this album is just fine. Revolutionary and timeless for something from the 80’s, but nothing more than solid

This was kind of a fun vibe! When I hear the term krautrock, I don’t really have much of a frame of reference so I assume it’s just very on the nose guitar based stuff. But this was much more nuanced and chill. Great background music that enhances whatever you’re doing at the time

This is what the list is best for - I would’ve never listened to this otherwise. Opening song was crazy

Very good music to start your work day to at 5am. Bill Withers type beat

Not quite the right rock opus that Machine Head is, but still solid. A little more sprawling and all over the place. I can see how these guys inspired a lot of early metal. I have gained knowledge and respect for them beyond the Guitar Hero 3 smoke on the water band

Second greatest vocal harmonics in rock behind the eagles. Forgot our house is on here. More dynamic songwriting than I remember. Last album: Deep Purple. If you hang out around Emma’s dad enough you’ll hear Deep Purple. Today’s album: CSN&Y. If you hang out around my dad enough you’ll hear CSN&Y.

Was going through this album thinking of how badly it needed a remaster. I couldn’t hear shit and it was just meh. At least in the context of Lou Reed’s full career. Then “Sister Ray” came on at the end. She was too busy doing HUH to WHAT????

Incubus, Soundgarden for pop punk heads. This aged a little better than I expected! Drive was a good shot of nostalgia

I have a soft spot for a lot of these sounds. People like Aphex Twin would take this and iterate on it. So I see this album as important, but not necessary amazing. Probably very cool if you were into this when it came out tho

Damn what a cohesive vocal unit. A nice newer iteration of the temptations that isn’t just “oooohh ahhh I like this girl.” Also the deep bassy baritone guy popping in every once in a while cracked me up. Sounded like a cartoon charecter

TWO CSN ALBUMS WITHIN A WEEK? 🤔🤔🤔🤔 this time without Young, and these guys sound more cohesive without him tbh. Neil Young’s incredible but his voice was its own thing that stuck out a bit in the other record. That being said, these honkeys were COOKING with a few songs on here - Helplessly Hoping (S+ tier song), Teach Your Children, Judy Blue Eyes. If I could sum up this album, I’d say it’s like Simon & Garfunkel for people who grew up near the appalachians. Graham Nash isn’t even American too, that’s insane

Picture a scuzzy cartoon alligator in a rocking chair on the porch of a house in the swamp. Bottle of bourbon in hand, belting out these songs while his tattered fedora falls over his eyes. The first song had me a little unsure of how this would go, some interesting lyrics, and his singing voice made me wonder if I was supposed to take him seriously or not. But Tom manages to execute both sides of an interesting coin here: Half the songs are gritty, southeastern honkeytonk blues with some sort of loose storyline. Then the other half are somehow the most beautiful piano-and-string love ballads I’ve maybe ever heard, where genuine sincerity shines through his weathered voice. I can’t believe I’m giving this album a five outta five but I have to. Masterful songwriting. Insane vocal commitment. Clear sonic theme. Rob Dougans “Drinking Song” is a clear homage to this style of ballad too, and I highly recommend the album it’s on, “Furious Angels”

Ok there’s no way this thing is random. I give Tom Waits a 5 yesterday on my first time listening to him then I pull this?????? No way. This wasn’t as memorable as Heartattack and Vine. I likened him to a scuzzy cartoon alligator on that last album. He sounds more like a slimy river eel on this one. A little more devilish and doomer-pilled, dropping the sense of sincerity from Heartattack in favor of more lofi experimentation

Very safe solo debut. Just some mostly stripped back songs with basic but interesting stories, until Maybe Im Amazed comes on and blows everything else out of the water

It seems like he kinda has creative control as one of the figureheads of this bluesy sound

She’s had an interesting musical arc and I’ve liked Dirty Computer since it came out about 5 years ago. Much like her other stuff, this is a very nice easy listen that falls just short of absolutely great. Solid and unique but not wildly amazing. This is one of many musical works to be largely inspired by the movie metropolis from like 100 years ago. Another musical trilogy that shares the name and inspiration is the metropolis EP series by the M Machine. A must listen

Man. A whole can of worms with Oasis. It helps being a gen z American, to view this band outside of the social context they existed with in the UK in the 90’s. So there is some positives to this album and oasis in general. I think this was probably the baby boomers last time they ‘got’ the sound of pop radio music. Because this album definitely has some Beatles, classic rocknroll structure to it. And the songwriting at its core is really solid - it’s fleshed out pop and rock. But maaaaan. Did this really push pop music forward in any significant way? Does oasis even function as a gateway to anything else besides a look back at the rock that influenced them? Is that important? The sonic choices are so plain and polished to the extent that it washes away a lot of the impressive songwriting aspects about it. It makes you appreciate the Billie Eilish’s or Lady Gaga’s of the world that pushed their way into pop radio with great songwriting AND unique, forward thinking artistic/musical aesthetics (at least for pop standards). Really torn on oasis, always. Hard to separate how huge they were from a social standpoint, with how down the middle their music was

This shit slapped front to back. This is tight, colorful, memorable pop + r&b. Stellar. The ultimate compliment i can give an album is the honor of going to its Wikipedia page to see who has production credits on it. They produced the hell out of this album. It’s obviously a Y2K pop album (rimshot snare, the use of a triangle/bell shake, synthetic strings everywhere). But the lead on Perfect Man? That intro to Independant Woman II? Cmoooon this is masterful.

Look at their past members list on wikipedia. Maybe slightly better than most surf/psych rock if it’s time. It nothing crazy

Was ho-humming this album as another quirky alt British rock joint but then Caught By The Fuzz played and I remembered the Oasis album from a few days ago, which was made around the same time. I would’ve killed for Oasis to make anything this explosive and raw. This album seems like a precursor to the blog rock and tumblr rock sound that lasted for a good 20 years after. Solid stuff I may give this a relisten

We’ve said goodbye to the beatles of old, say hello to the influence of fame and drugs kids! Paul is starting to test out all sorts of genres, John is starting to get a little pretentious, George is finding his sense of self in India, Ringo is letting the psychedelics manifest in yet another whimsical song about being underwater. After having not listened for a while, I notice how Eleanor Rigby and Got to Get You Into My Life are a precursor to some of Paul’s most ambitious Wings stuff, namely Band on the Run. But honestly this album has a lot of snoozers at least by late Beatles standards. Also is Tomorrow Never Knows the first DnB/breaks song ever??? :eyes:

I knew we were in for a long one when they busted out the keys and started noodling on the first song. And much like this album, I have nothing else to say

So good. A beautiful blend of country, lounge, ballads, & singer-songwriter stuff. She’s so good at expressing love & longing. Engaging and personal, lots of textured instrumentals, unique compositions. One minute it sounds like I’m in the hills of rural Italy, the next it sounds like I’m in the dustbowls of Nebraska, the next it sounds like a pacific island beach. Close to a 5, will get many relistens outta me. Enough listens over time could turn this into a real 5, actually. Highlights are: Miss Chatelaine, Wash Me Clean, and DEFINITELY Season of Hollow Soul

Ok so I was like “who tf is this guy I should know him” and it turns out yeah I do but not for this project. He has some really good stuff later on as the Thin White Duke (Four To The Floor Remix) and then as Jacques Lu Cont (remixed tons of pop songs). And he produced Madonna’s best album imo. So this guy has chops, no doubt about it. BUT, I consider myself someone who has his ear to the ground for all things dance music from the mid-90’s onward, and I cannot in good faith figure out why this record is on here, and Daft Punks Discovery is not (and a whole list of other edm records tbh). Discovery is one of the most influential, perfect dance records, and this one from just a few years earlier…is kinda not even noteable? This album has not held its own in the past two decades, nobody talks about this album. In fact, this album is a spineless nothing-burger in the context of this list and in the context of its respective genre. This album can’t make up its mind if it wants to be something for your headphones or something for the dance floor. It uses a lot of dated sounds even for its time of release. The grooves and loops are sometimes grading on the ears. What are we doing here? This album feels like such a disconnected music nerd’s token pick of what they think good electronic music maybe could sound like. Do yourself a favor - instead of listening to this album, listen to Chicane’s “Far From The Maddening Crowds”. It came out at a similar time and actually commits to its melodies and ideas. It scratches the same itch that this album SHOULD be scratching. It is actually danceable AND more sonically layered. I’m so mad this took up a spot on the list.

Great 100th album to have for this list. Shout out to Emma, this is one of her favorite Gorillaz records and we’ve gone back and forth on this vs. Plastic Beach for a while. I think the best thing about this album is how it sets a good listening atmosphere. Some of the lyrics aren’t immediately intelligible, there’s a lot of lofi sounds, classic drumloop samples (like to a DJ Shadow extent), and there’s a bit of a punk/postpunk influence (literally the song Punk on here). This isn’t nearly as clean or tight as almost every mainline Gorillaz album after it, but that doesn’t detract from it! It’s a good easy listen with some HITS sprinkled in

This is a sprawling masterpiece that’s surprisingly mostly about genuine affection. There’s a ton of clear-eyed love ballads and entertaining skits especially on the Love Below. The DNA for Kendrick’s to Pimp a Butterfly can be found all over this record. Much like Kendrick, Andre3000 has more unique thoughts on this album than I feel like Ive had in my whole life. And this is SO ahead of its time. The intro alone could have been released today, it’s so modern. Most of the first album is this way! Lastly, while I know this is a double album made by two different people with two different visions, I think it flows together very well. Nearly a 5

For what this is, it’s solid. There’s another ‘fear of the bomb’ 80’s song in here and it made me notice an interesting split in music and how it represents different perspectives on life. I don’t think too many black artists were making songs about fearing the bomb during the Cold War, and instead were making songs about the struggles of day to day life. Interesting to see how that split has evolved over the years

OOOooooh baby OOOH! On a hot streak right now of like four albums in a row from the mid-80’s or later. A lot of people with my listening habits give this one an instant 5 and point out the similarities to Daft Punk’s Discovery (which again, is better than this album and not on this list somehow). I think this album’s shining moments are the dreamy, blissful waves of samples that come together to create a sound collage. Extra points to this record for creating one of my favorite feelings you can get from music: sample-based ecstasy. Very much worth listening to their most recent album, We Will Always Love You. It tightens up the song structure, and has a handful of INCREDIBLE additive guest features on it. & specifically an 11/10 song built entirely around a Carpenters sample. This record is a little shy of a 5 for me, with the only detractor being sometimes it gets a little too lost in a fugue state with the sampling starting to all blend together a little toooo much. Everything else though? Beautiful.

A whole week+ with no albums from before 1980 let’s go. This was alright. If you’re into ska I could see this going crazy. Some nice moments, some that blended all together. Another song about fearing the bomb in 1980’s, just a few days after another 80’s album with a fear of the bomb song on it

Yeah it’s Bad alright. Ok so it’s Off The Wall > Thriller > this album. And I think each album has more hype and cultural buzz around it, while each album also has less substance in it (yes Off The Wall has more substance than Thriller). To further go on about comparisons, Purple Rain just kinda does everything on here but better? As far as this album goes on its own…I wish for so much more edge. So much more soul. It seems like Michael is being pulled between the desire to be his own unique voice and the need for this album to have a universal commercial appeal. Smooth Criminal is a beautiful Thriller holdover that CLEARS everything else on this album. What a fun song. I don’t get much enjoyment out of the rest of this album

Was this the first instance of money being referred to as long?

Soft 3 for me. Some albums are greater than the sum of their parts. This album is the opposite. The bangers BANG, everything else gets a bit annoying in the ears. It’s funny how Mr. Brightside isn’t even the best song in this album, it’s All These Things That I’ve Done. Still a karaoke banger though. I wonder how future generations will take to The Killers. Hopefully well. Now the REAL actually good Killers album is Pressure Machine. Earnest portraits of the struggles of inland America without being preachy or ideological

Love a good indietronic throwback. As with most records in the genre, this is very good at being whistful. Slows down a little too much for me towards the end of the album. Heads Will Roll is a classic, Atrack is a genius for what he did in the remix too. Probably won’t go back to this album as much as Fever To Tell from a few months ago

Can’t find the quote but I’m pretty sure one time George Carlin said something along the lines of “if you work in advertising, kill yourself.” and that basically sums up the ethos of this album!

I was BOOOOOOOORN by the river!

The crazy tonal shift from Stupid Girl (spiteful, misogynistic) to Lady Jane (respectful, regal) is crazy. Why tf would I listen to the UK version that doesn’t have Paint It Black on there??? Whack suggestion. Most everything else here stays within the lines of the stones stuff for this time - a little honkytonk, a little bluesy stuff, rock, slight instrumental experimentation. Solid

Does “Tragedy” have the same drum loop as “Clint Eastwood” ???? I respect this album a lot, I think Brandy Carlisle owes a ton to this album in particular. Best compliment I can give this albums authenticity is that my grandmother born and raised in West by god Virginia wouldve enjoyed this

First off, this album cover goes so insanely hard. This record really confused me. Some songs on here are the most drab 90’s britpop. At other times though, they’re pushing very interesting experiments. Songs that sound like a leftover Spiritualized cut. Very washed out melodic passages, like the end of Butterfly McQueen, which sound like an early Hum song. So while there are some highlights on here, I have a hard time grasping and what this albums concept or vision is.

Opening track is among the all time greatest openers. Smooth, fluid ideas that flow from one song to the next. Who knew more classical instruments could be so emotive?

Hindsight has made this album the slightly more acceptable version of insane clown posse. My absolute favorite part about D12 era eminem is easily the courage the cowardly dog type of sounds in the instrumentals. A whirling theramin, the circus-style bouncy keys. It’s like a dumb carnival/haunted mansion. I don’t have anything to add to the shitty lyrics discourse that hasn’t already been said. I will have to say that once you hear a few songs on here you kinda hear them all. I wonder if people see earlier Eminem like I do too, as a tandem project with Dr. Dre just as important to the whole project. Not taking anything away from mr. Venommmm himself, but Dre was in the right to put himself in the picture as much as he did.

We all knew this was a 5 outta 5. There’s so much that’s been said on so many levels about this album, so I’d just like to say that what I appreciate most about Kendrick, on this album and in general, is that he gives his ALL in these performances. No one can ever question Kendrick’s dedication to his craft, his consideration in his lyricism, or his effort in his performances. I’m glad I’m around at the same time Kendrick is around, I’m glad he makes it cool to push oneself in dedication to one’s craft. This album is a crowning achievement and a brilliant ode to specifically the black experience and the human experience in general.

This is Brian Eno-core 110%. I appreciated much of this album in all of its whimsy. Highlights was Blues In Bob Minor, which is a better (and more cogent) Bob Dylan song than half the Bob Dylan songs.

There’s something so intoxicating about an early Kanye beat. He had it figured out. Had such a good persona and a good ability to communicate like he was talking to you while rapping. What happened man

If the black keys knew how to hold a groove and let it simmer

Charming, slightly kitschy. Meg Whites drumming is killer, it embodies the spirit of the project as a whole. Interesting if you’re into post 2000’s rock, but doesn’t necessarily reinvent the wheel. “I Think I Smell a Rat” sounds strangely like an MCR demo

Jump Into The Fire was on the Shaun White Snowboarding soundtrack and maybe it was just the context of the game but I always thought it was like a 2000’s rock/funk/alt jam. Even though this album didn’t totally click for me on first listen, I recognize good songwriting when I hear it

Such a fascinating album to me. Cash’s cover of Hurt is a perfect statement on age. There are few songs from the perspective of a man his age, even fewer that are bound with such complicated emotions as he looks back on a life lived to the fullest. While I consider the Eagles original version of Desperado to be one of the greatest songs of all time, I’m glad Cash put his elderly spin on it here too. Don Henly comes in to harmonize the post-chorus and it could bring a tear to the eye. He knew how to pick ‘em for this record, because he picks a third song I’d consider to be one of the greatest written pieces of music of all time - with Danny Boy. Think we are done with good covers of the greatest songs of all time? WRONG! How about Bridge Over Troubled Water too! I’d seriously consider all four songs talks about above to be put on a record to introduce aliens to music, if we ever encounter them (although most of them as originals). That being said, I’ve always felt like Personal Jesus is overhyped and this cover doesn’t redeem it any more

These guys go crazy what a fun listen front to back. A lot of punk for me suffers from the same repetitive structure and sound but these guys have tons of unique passages in each song. A swing drum line, actual rock guitar solos. Wonderful!

The punk aesthetics were alienating to me as a child but listening to this again you realize this is just charged up pop music slammed into very efficient punk aesthetics and it works so well

Solid rock opera. I think the only thing supertramp sometimes suffers from is star power. everything about the music is there, there just isnt a sense of personality in here all the time maybe? hard to grasp. Either way, super impressive arrangements

ELO’s greatest hits is up there with any rock band’s. Seriously, go listen to it. However, with this album, once you’ve heard a few songs you’ve kinda heard em all

Hard for me to grasp that this was someone’s G Jones. I appreciate it for what it was at its time, but I’m so far removed from music like this now

I should be giving this a 2 stars just on the principle of this list containing over three Pink Floyd albums. Putting that aside. Today we get to learn about artistic foreshadowing! Syd Barrett sings about whimsical gnomes and leads the band into wild vocal/instrumental passages, surely foreshadowing is imminent mental spiral! Fun!

This is my first 1/5 stars (a little over 100 albums in). There is nothing redeemable or functionable about this record. I tried SO hard to justify a 2/5. But I can’t. The instruments are often atonal, the composition is so forgettable, the recordings/mixing is ?????. https://imgflip.com/memegenerator/260817778/Guy-taking-off-headphones

Tough week for me, this ends a full week of albums from 1969-1980. Most metal is a bit hard for me to really dig into, since modern dubstep festival kinda fills a similar role for me. But I super respect this regardless. A little samey all the way through but that’s expected. Super tight arrangements. A neat feature for me was all the drum fills peppered in throughout the album

Life could be dream type beat. Actually really entertaining, it’s clear that this guy was an entertainer as much as he was a musician. Most joyful listen I’ve had in a bit

This album is such a 2014 time capsule. It’s features, the themes of self-love and new-wave feminism. The trappy production choices. I think it’s aged pretty well though, the composition and writing stands on its own especially in the most memorable songs to have come from this album. A 1.5 hour album is such a slap in the face to the listener, she just did it again with the Cowboy Carter record. I am one of the few people that has the time and attention to listen to albums at that length, most people don’t! Streaming has ruined the succinct album experience. Very solid 3 for me almost a 4.

Strange and extravagant. Went to the grimes school of music. Sometimes gets a bit lost in the crazy atmosphere of the album. I’m glad she’s since done more pop-focused projects, she’s got the chops for it! I think she deserves more mainstream recognition for the space she’s carved out for herself in contemporary music.

This set a nice ambiance for me to get ruthlessly ledge-camped by a marth named “TheNik” on slipping during my paid day off. TheNik, no amount of bluesy lamenting on this album can replicate the misery of your play style.

Do we really need to prove that Van Morrison sounds good in a live setting on the 1001 albums you should listen to before you die list? No problem with the album in a vacuum, he’s super talented. More a problem with the album in the context of this list

Oh baby this has long been in many peoples top albums of all time list. On that note Sloop John B -> God Only Knows is incredible, two generational songs back to back. I think God Only Knows is a top 5 song of all time. This album has such a specific sound and formula, not only unique for it’s time but unique for almost anytime.

Peggy NOOOOO 😳 I dunno, I see the appeal to this, and if I actively listened enough times I could find the enjoyment in it. But I don’t think I should have to do that much legwork to meet this album where it is, especially when there are more albums of it’s time that execute its sound better. Respect, but not enjoyment

Saw a tweet one time that was just this picture, captioned “these honkeys were COOKING” and it’s so true. ‘Shout’ is just one of those few 80’s gems that will never be replicated. It’s got AURA. It’s got ATTITUDE. This can be said for the entire album actually. Tight, direct song structure that knows when to slip in and out of instrumental atmospheres. A massive generational pop hit. One iconic vocal melody after another. A mystical album ender. Socially conscious messaging. This album has it all and doesn’t overstay it’s welcome at all. Perfect! It’s incredible that we got this less than a year after Purple Rain. It’s worth noting that they’ve done the impossible recently - they made a song that’s unique and new sounding, unlike every other legacy band from the 80’s or earlier pumping out nothing-burgers to cash in on yet another world tour. Check out ‘No Small Thing’ it’s worth a listen

Quick, someone who was alive back then tell me how bad and persistant the comparisons to Prince were. This is solid, I think it’s survived it’s time and aged maybe better than most mainstream rock albums of it’s time. A hard-working 3 from me.

Cause ALLLLLLL I neeeeeed, is a beauty and a beeeaaaaaat This album is sweet, tight, punchy, and fun. I can see this having inspired all sorts of projects and genres that came after it, everything from Sleater-Kinney to No Doubt.

Not much to say here fun listen

Really makes you feel like you’re in a snooty jazz bar

It’s a damn shame these two hate each other now. Because together they were such a force of songwriting and harmony. This album displays some of their most creative and whimsical ideas alongside some of their most sincere lyrics and instrumentals. And this isn’t even their best album. Incredible! Maybe it’s just the constant harmonization but there’s something so natural about a good Simon & Garfunkel song

This album was the ultimate “falling into your dad’s music taste check” and it checked me HARD. I used to think Valarie as a song as so mild when I’d listen to it compared to the sampled version from Eric Prydz/Thomas Bangalter. Then I listen to this album and maaaaan Steve’s in the POCKET on these songs. Not overdoing it, just groovin

There are way too many live albums on here that aren’t Alive 2007 by Daft Punk. There are too many live albums on this list in general. Is it good? Yes. Very good. Incredible noodling and drum soloing throughout. Is it necessary to the list? ………..

While impressive for it’s time, is this album really that unique when you strip it of it’s psychedelic presentation? Clapton doesn’t even carry it

Radical for its time, but a time we are so far removed from that it doesn’t shake any modern musical conventions

Elite r&b. The Wurlitzer-rhodsy chords just glide through this whole album creating a masterclass in atmosphere. Perfect amount of crooning. Punchy yet subtle basslines. Wonderful

Fun musical ideas turned into whole journeys. Well ahead of its time and aside from everything else that was coming out around then, with the exception of maybe Brian Eno. Great way to start my morning with this album

For better or worse, this is one of the most American albums I’ve heard. Honkeytonk and blues as far as the eye can see. But this shouldn’t be on here. I don’t care that ABB is tight in a live setting. It just isn’t pertinent enough to be anywhere near this list - we as millennials/genz must overthrow the makers of it. You wanna actually learn something from ABB? Whatever you do, don’t ride your motorcycle in Macon, Georgia. There. That’s more interesting than the umpteenth classic rock live album on here

I don’t hate this album as much as I used to, even if morissey is still way too whiney. This probably hit super hard if you were a British teen back then. The instrumental composition is really good. The fact that this got a 3 out of me is saying a lot. It just makes me want to listen to Brand New. Similar amounts of whiney crooning

What the Cold War does to a mf 💀💀💀 I’m assuming they’re repeating Germanic phrases that center around social issues? Truly the Death Grips of their time, except this made a bit more sense than death grips do tbh. Never listening to this again, but I get it and respect it

I love me a good horn section but this can be a bit excessive at times. Fun, easy listening, but it always sounds like they’re falling a little short of a pop hit they’re aiming for. Meanders around a lot

I’m calling this “One Tree Hill Core”. First half of the album or so is easy on the ears, with a slight influence of post rock. A little melodramatic at times, like this is so clearly made for 2000’s dramas. There is a weird point in the album, from “Catch The Sun” onward there’s a consistant need to sound like a British foo fighters ripoff? A hilarious shot of nostalgia for turn of the century tv series enjoyers.

It’s like if No Doubt was a new wave band! -wildly strong, unique female lead vocalist (who is just a little quirky) -mostly faceless male instrumentalists who keep it tight in the backing tracks -a dynamic that produced some of the most spunky pop tracks of its respective time

He was cookin The band was cookin Even the crowd was cookin They made a sizzlin dish 🤌

Haven’t and won’t do a deep dive on CCR’s discography, but I’m willing to bet this is their best album. It feels the most directed and concise, not just one folksy honkeytonk song after another. When I was like 5-6, I used to LOVE the song Traveling Band. I’d scream the screaming part and everything

It is STRIKING how powerful the tom drums and other floor drums just PUNCH through your headphones. Especially since they’re being banged on so constantly. I would love to know how one ends up liking this music as casual listening, how many holes you have to go through. Very interesting, very frenetic

Milquetoast at best. Forgettable delivery of almost every song

You shouldn’t be allowed to be this horny and this weird

It’s American Gorillaz! Same sort of lofi drum loop sampling with some twangy vocal noodling at its best, waffles out a little too long at its worst towards the end. Might hit a lot harder smoking weed on a porch in the middle of nowhere

What I wish for from more rock albums of its time. Ambitious and focused, some generational singles to come out of this one. The British had rockestra down, I can point to this and all of ELO’s greatest hits as evidence

Pulling the CCR album last week with Looking Out My Backdoor, which mentions Buck Owens, was a summoning ritual for him to appear this week. There’s nothing like a good ol steel guitar. Which made me realize that people our age might like the steel guitar because of…SpongeBob. Of all things. Anyways this was surprisingly enjoyable front to back. Simple, compact, easy country listening

Hope There’s Someone was lifted/covered by Avicii and it’s just as beautiful as it is here. I was so excited to hear the original here opening the album. And it’s consistently as raw and emotional throughout. Lots of great messaging about identity and self-discovery in the singers journey of finding a true self

I listened to this literally the day before this for the first time because it was on apples top 100 💀 Surely the frat boys at the time ATE this up

Running Free is absolutely the highlight here. The rhythm and drum fills tickle my brain. I wonder how much variance there will be in Iron Maiden albums, considering this was their first, and their output was pretty prolific

Grooving’ but at what cost This was passable and relaxing but further proves how ahead of their time the Beatles were

Electric and emotive and most of all innovative. I’m guessing the reversing of the tape technique was pretty mind-boggling back then. Hendrix is what every frontman should desire to be.

Not sure what she’s saying but it sounds fun

He understood and performed music so well that he super rested the 80’s sound fonts so frequently used in this amazing album. Strong 4/5

They’re the best bits of AC/DC + Aerosmith. The ultimate Dudes Rock arena album. Surprisingly good, energetic from front to back. Surprisingly thorough

I do understand this, I really do. I even respect it. But it’s not for me. Especially after having just done Princes’ 1999 a couple days ago. Nothing in this album stands out from its 80’s pastiche

Fine at best, not unique enough to be deserving of a 1000 albums list at worst. Probably helped the onset of shoegaze as a genre but who cares

The Band. The Album. The Songs. The Music. The mid.

Anyone with parents my age knows this has a handful of generational hits on it. Specifically the first three songs, that’s an all-time track list. it’s insane how the first like 5-6 songs are all played on classic rock radio as hit singles. They figured out how to write a killer pop chorus, how to harmonize on it, and ran with that formula. As with most hit albums, my only criticism is that it’s a bit front-loaded. Last 2-3 songs are a bit lackluster. But holy shit. I acknowledge the nostalgia clouding my vision on this one, but I also think it’s fair to say this is one of the best, most succinct American classic rock albums

Thoughtful lyrical oldheads unite 💯 This is solid, it’s a good, summation of what Common is all about. Except there’s so much Kanye on here. Constantly. Hard working 3

I used to always just be right on the edge of grasping the appeal of Massive Attack, and in some ways I still am. But I think it helped that I listened to this at 5:30 am while I buttered the forklift around the warehouse at the beginning of a quiet work day. Massive Attack isn’t meant to be grasped super hard, and this album helped me realize that. Great background music, great weed smoking music

Candy sweet and squeaky clean. Like, almost too clean. I think a big part of most pop music today is that it doesn’t have to adhere to such tight production and mass-appeal standards (harry styles and a few others are exceptions though). Pulls from what was working in 2014 but doesn’t lean into it too hard. Hooks for days, but as with every pop album, it’s front-loaded.

Unlike most albums of its time, the last two tracks in particular brought it home for me. A surprisingly solid finish. If there’s one thing I’m learning, it’s that old heads love CSN&Y, and that includes all of their careers individually. Understandable, this was a respectable effort with a tasteful amount of shredding. Hard working 3

Talking heads more like clicking heads am I right gamers? Probably the quintessential talking heads album, I’m just more of a remain in light guy myself

There isn’t a single thing this album does better than its predecessor, Funeral. Therefore, outside of being a little recession time capsule, I don’t think this album will age with grace. It doesn’t have edges, it’s so soft. My real gripe with this album is once again within the context of this list. There is no reason for this to be on here, taking up a spot when I’m sure funeral already is on here. It’s milquetoast Grammy fodder for 30+ year olds who want to look back on their privileged suburban life fondly. Twinkly, sweet moments that are otherwise washed over by drab blehhhhh

It’s been a long time coming for this one. I hold this album close to my heart, it was a big revelation for me as a listener/consumer who was growing in and out of certain music tastes about 8ish years ago when I finally heard it. This album helped me realize that a record can be greater than just the sum of its parts. On their own, many of these tracks are just fuzzy, hypnotic trip-hop, with strange samples going in and out of phase. But as a whole, this album sounds just like the title of one of its best tracks: Midnight In A Perfect World. This record manages to establish an atmosphere thats both liminal, AND blissful. So many odds and ends have been stitched together perfectly here. A haunting organ soloist sample. A vintage scifi movie clip. Or those lush, beautiful organ chords at the beginning of the aforementioned Midnight In A Perfect World! I can’t completely put proper words together to describe the aura of Endtroducing. I’m convinced this album was conceived in its entirety under a full moon summer night. So please do yourself a favor and save Endtroducing for those long summer months coming up (June 2024 as of writing this). Bring your headphones and go for a walk on that next full moon night. Listen to this front to back, your human experience will be enhanced for doing so!

What am I supposed to say here “oh it really comes alive halfway through the second album oh the third disc really has some hidden gems in it.” Get tf outta here with a nearly 3 hour long album comprised mostly of male manipulator music. This album was a huge test of strength for me to meet a piece of art where it’s at, and I tried my hardest. But after a while, these songs did what I’m guessing a lot of deadmau5 songs do for his first time listeners: blended all together. This was a Spotify streaming bloat album well before it’s time though, I’ll give it that

They’re all self-aware jesters doing their best to make us giggle and I really appreciate that. Finally something from the 70’s that stands out a bit! Still not some generational record, but at least this had lots of character. Almost a 4 star from me

Maybe a bit more meditative than the 2 other wailers albums we’ve had so far, but otherwise pretty similar

Shocked that we are 186 albums into this list and this is the first Radiohead album we’ve had so far. Like so many albums in the early/mid 2000’s, there’s lots of despair and grappling with the world post-9/11. I’m pretty sure Radiohead has better offerings than this though

The Beatles have broken up and now it’s the stones time to shine. And they stick to their honkeytonk guns. It’s impressive how many British rock bands at this time wanted the American sound. Please check out Susan Boyles version of Wild Horses from this album. She actually made a better song out of it

Man I love Chic. They laid out the blueprint for house music 20 years before it became popular. Simply make an irresistible musical idea, loop it, and iterate on it throughout the course of 5+ minutes. Shout out to Nile Rodgers who has to be one of the most important musicians of the 20th century. Chics greatest hits go head to head with any greatest hits album.

It did not transcend the time it was made in, unfortunately. There’s more unique and identifiable arena rock out there, if you ask me. Photograph on here even kinda just passes by as it’s hit song

The advent of all things punk, the best to ever do it. Everyone else has already said everything else, I’d just like to point out two songs I particularly like on this record. 1. The Card Cheat - it’s practically a Bruce Springsteen song 2. Revolution Rock - is this early ska?

Never had there been an album cover more accurately depicting the contents and aesthetics of a record. The song Gz And Hustlas has an unreal sample of a Bernard Wright song. Seriously this is such a find, it sounds like it could be on a Justice record just as easily

It’s no Heart Attack and Vine (the GOAT) but it’s at its best still leaning even further into the scuzzy fictional characters that reek of old-timey New Orleans folklore

It’s unexplainable U2 to release this album on January 1, 2000, and have the opener be “Beautiful Day.” I fear that the times are beginning to catch up to U2 on this album. They stuck to their guns, which are running out of ammo. This sound was so clean and cutting-edge on something like Joshua Tree in the late 80’s. But the Radioheads of the world have since taken the blueprint that U2 laid and expanded upon/experimented with it. So is this album bad? No. Is it unique, worth being your first U2 album listen, or a stand-out in the field of its early 2000’s contemporaries? Nope. One more unrelated note, today is July 3rd, and I know this list has kicked out holiday themed albums in the past. I’m calling a Born In The USA pull for tomorrow.

I’d say this album aged poorly, but there’s just no way people didn’t see a ton of red flags with this album on release, both lyrically and sonically. When I can’t understand the lyrics, I just hear grating babble. When I can understand the lyrics, most of the time I end up wishing I didn’t. Multiple kings of Leon albums on this list are an affront to the dedicated listeners time

Spunky very fun full of attitude, probably one of the last good unique rock albums that had some wider appeal. I will be going back to this!

I just knew that was Nile Rodgers the moment I heard the guitar. These ladies can sing and harmonize like crazy. While I think Chic came out with more bangers, this album follows the same enjoyable template that laid the ground for house music with its grip Iness and repetitive nature

I appreciate this a bit more than most Brit pop of it’s time. It felt like there was some serious thought given to the composition and instrumentation, especially on the title track. I got a sense of weight and movement that id normally hear in a Zedd song 🤌 Hard-earned 3, could come back to it and bump it up to a 4

Wow! Wow wow wow. I love it when baroque/art pop sticks the landing. I can’t believe this is from 1973. It’s just as unique as Eno’s Another Green World which came a few years later. The title track is one of the best chorus medleys and executions I’ve ever heard. Like, even when the next song started playing, the “you’re a ghost lalalalalalalalala” just kept on going in my head. It’s the end of the day, I listened to this album 3 times today at work, and still, I have that chorus stuck in my head. Great concept, incredibly catchy from start to finish, succinct enough. Perfect. This might be a softer 5/5 than some of my true longtime favorites, but I cannot deny this album what it truly deserves

I know I’m getting old when the Steely Dan singles start sounding like harmonic gold to my ears. The lack of bombast can be forgiven and replaced with an appreciation for the unique composition and tight production. Which is all ironic this time around, because this album doesn’t contain any of those yacht rock classics I used to hear on my parents radio in my youth. All that being said, should this album be on this list? Not if there’s two or more other steely Dan albums on it, which I’m sure is the case. Begrudging 3/5. Anyways happy 200 albums :)

Alright I must admit I was blown away on the first song, his voice is so aged and sinister. I do think that effect overstays it’s welcome. But I appreciate an album from someone who isn’t in the prime years of their life, even if there should be many albums from the mid-2010’s on this list instead

A perfect summation of John Lennon’s persona; equal parts iconic and pretentious. How can you lead the album with the messaging on Imagine but then also have a diss track about your former bandmate on the same album? This record fluctuates from fantastic to grating on the ears far too often

Refreshing sound in the greater context of this list. Suspenseful, unique, but not anything mind-blowing imo. What are we calling this, dramatic lunge music? Chat is this dubstep?

Just wanna start off by saying there are pictures of her in which she looks hauntingly like Clairo??? Anyways, I respect this record a lot, her performances are full of life. Sweet Blindness probably the favorite for me. Will I go back to this album often? Probably not, but I still respect it. I wonder why Laura never got the mass legacy appeal someone like Carol King did. These songs have a pretty similar standard quality

Not for me, anyone younger than genX, or anyone else who can count on one hand the number of times they’ve smoked weed. With that in mind, I will give props to these guys for being this musically fluid while surely being cooked out of their brains

I was so sure tenement funster was done by The Who frontman. But I was wrong. Maaaan so few bands were put together as well as Queen. Ironically, this might be the closest thing we ever got to an ELO record that isn’t actually ELO. Maybe classic rock was just starved for pianos not done in the honkeytonk style. This album is great, the transition from the theatrical melodrama of In The Lap Of The Gods right into the proto-metal, Deep-Purple-esque Stone Cold Crazy. So wonderful. What a performance. And then Leroy Brown?!? That pretty much did a better job every Panic At The Disco song tried to do. Perhaps the coolest thing about this album is how it consistently escalates the theatrics and fun of everything with each new song.

Maybe real Beckheads can get excited about this one, because I cannot. Does he always sing like this, or is this just really Chris Cornell inspired?

Seems like every Stones record is just -honkeytonk admiration -classic late 60’s rock doowop -that one song everyone on planet earth knows -more honkeytonk -Mick having a moment of actual humane introspection -oooohbabeyyy you’re a honkeytonk giiiirl from upper Virginia god I wish I grew up in Appalachia Now I will give this album some credit for diverting from that method a slight bit and leaping away from the 60’s classic rock sound into something often more subtle and nuanced. And the story telling is pretty vivid too.

For when it's dude's oclock and the fellas want to drink beers, try this album! This sounds like a disciple of the iron maiden format, and it mostly works.

fun and simple, an ode to basic songwriting and simple themes. not many highlights, but not many lowlights either. Soft 3

Finally, 211 albums in and we get some Bowie going. Outside of the individual album ranking, David Bowie is one of a few true solo artists who should be given 5 stars for his career, not just any one album. While Hunky Dory is an artsy, boundry-pushing, expressive rock (kinda) album, he truly went crazy with it over the years. For example, in 1997 he did an electronic BREAKCORE ALBUM that honestly holds up pretty well for what it is. Anyways Fill Your Heart on Hunky Dory is my sleeper highlight here. STRONG 4 stars here. Truly an honor to have walked the earth at the same time as David Bowie

so that's where modest mouse got that voice

Perhaps the best use of a live vocal sample is Mat Zo sampling Chuck D. in Caught, Can We Get A Witness off this album. This is carried insanely hard by the larger-than-life presence both Chuck D and Flava Flav have. Because I'm sorry, as fun as some of these beats aree, they are still clunky at the end of the day. I respect it either way

I would like to cite the ending of one of the most popular reviews on this website (a 5 star review of Lorde's Melodrama) that ended by saying "Sorry it's not King Crimson or whatever." And that feels fairly accurate. If I was born in 1954 and spent my 20's doing LSD, being sure that these guys + Pink Floyd had just figured out music, then I too would go bananas over this. So I respect it for how progressive it was for it's time. Additionally, there are passages in this album that are still placid and beautiful, like the ending of Exiles. But I don't see myself ever enjoying this an the every-day setting. Nor do I see myself remembering too much of it either

indie darlings? yes. Kinda snoozy? Also yes

REM probably hit a little harder if you were alive and tuned into american current events when this album came out. Like...these songs are well-written (at least mostly), but are performed in a pretty bland way (outside of the obvious hit singles). REM on the whole, not just this album, feels like a settled agreement or compromise by the radio listeners at large. Nothing is done outright BADLY, but nothing is that good to my ears.

A bit pretentious to call it that but when you listen all the way through and consider the man and the time period, you’ll allow it

My personal name for this album is “Context has the right to change my opinion” When I first heard this album years ago I thought it (and all other Boards of Canada music) was a snooze fest that didn’t deserve any of the hype it got. Most of the songs just kinda came and went, there wasn’t much to grasp. But maybe it’s not about grasping a song. Maybe it’s more about sinking into the vibe. Minecraft’s soundtrack led me to a deeper appreciation of Aphex Twin, who made a lot of music very similar to what’s on this album here. With that in mind, and the proper time to sit on it all, I’ve realized that this album is about embracing the liminal soundscapes that come and go, just like a nice dream. While this album does overstay it’s welcome a touch, it’s not nearly as challenging as it once was. Listen to it right before bed or right as you get out of bed.

We’re (I’m) around 215 albums into this list and the realization is coming over me that I’ll be getting real tired of the inclusion of albums like this - it’s the new random psychedelic rock album inclusion. I don’t care if these guys influenced bigger bands, the album just passes right by

The earnest nature of the first song gave me hope, but alas, that hope was ill-placed. This is not in the top 1001 albums you should listen to, surely it’s not

It’s is two separate things to “get” an album vs. to “like” an album. I get this album. I really do. There’s no more needing to beat me over the head with it. But I still don’t like it in the way everyone else does. There are other albums that go for this same aura and do it better

An album that you give a 5/5 stars to without much thought. Not to say that it’s overrated at all though! Most songs on here are household names for a reason. Billy Joel sticks the landing over and over again. A masterclass in storytelling done perfectly through the lens of piano-pop ballads

Boomers bring anything Steely-Dan-related to this list like Sheen brings Ultralord to class in Jimmy Neutron It would be something if this album was unique, but it was just more of the exact same steely Dan sound too >:(

Essential early millennial listening that set the trend for tumblr pop in the years to come. The pop hits are hits for a reason, sometimes the performances and deliveries towards the end get a bit lethargic, and not in the cool way. Still, almost anything post-2000 is refreshing for this list

A rare, RARE case where a pop-adjacent album ends with its best two songs. This album has me conflicted, there are moments of Bowie-inspired greatness, and most of the compositions, specifically the instrumentals, are great. Sometimes the vocals are a little all over the place though. I could see this being the greatest thing that ever happened to you if you were an impressionable teen at the time of its release, it has that sort of dramatic energy. This is a soft 4 for me for now. But I’m coming back to it, I’m interested in this albums replayability

There should be a 2 album per band limit and I don’t think Queen II cracks the top 2 for Queen

RHCP are such an interesting listen to me and this album is a microcosm of that experience. The hits are anthemic, timeless, and undeniable, and within an hour I’m really tired of hearing the band. My non-hit-song highlight from here would be “Road Trippin” as it’s a good break from the slappy funk-rock that starts to otherwise blend together as the album lengthens out

Her ability to inject genuine personality and character into each song is so astounding that the instrumentals don’t have to do that much work. I can think of few others over the past few decades who have that capability - maybe Frank Ocean, earlier Kanye, and Kendrick. Elite storytelling abilities puts her in elite company. Side note, anytime I pull an album from 2000ish or beyond, I’m filled with excitement for something new, but also filled with dread - knowing there’s only more 60’s psychedelia and 80’s british post-punk to slog through

Was it good? Arguably - it was at least well-executed with tight production and a clear vision for what it wanted to be as an album. Was it ageless/timeless? …please refer to the cover art.

If early Skrillex was a signal from the transformers, then this was an eloquent message from aliens outside our solar system. Otherworldly, gracious, delicate, tactful. Maybe not totally ‘music’ as it’s known, but most definitely inimitable art

Few albums will ever touch the complete artistic vision this album embodies. The songwriting is SO good that it completely escapes the time capsule many of its 80’s sound fonts have locked themselves in. Everything good has already been said about this album, it’s performer, and it’s concept. I will just say that if the aliens do want us to send them a “NOW! That’s What I Call Humanity’s Greatest Hits” — the song Purple Rain absolutely makes it on that record

Personal Jesus - ahead of it’s time in the sound department, never that good in the lyrics/writing department Enjoy The Silence - timeless, beautiful, that little plucked guitar melody with the chords they run under it is precious. Good album, worth your time, great sense of aesthetics and presentation. Strong 3, maybe a 4 if you catch me on the right day

The inclusion of two (at least, I’m only 230ish albums in) Roxy Music records has me irritable, when I know how many good post 2000’s records have been left off this list. This album wasn’t as good as the RM album that came after it, not was it unique enough to justify its place on this list

We’ve already pulled Paul’s Boutique, and to me this album gaps that one. PB was interesting and vivacious, but the thoughtfulness and experimentation pays off in spades for Ill Communication; Bodhisattva Vow is a good example of that willingness to experiment yielding a wonderful change in dynamics. No longer is everything shouted loudly and over pronounced. This album feels like watching a former frat boy, now in his late 20’s, start to shed his old ways, reaching for a more meaningful lifestyle

ACAB: The Album! We now know where Danny Brown got his flow, and with how catchy this album is, we don’t blame him

The more classic rock concept albums I listen to from this time period, the more I realize the peak male fantasy was some alignment of heavy rock n roll combined with mystical lyricism. The fellas just wanted to live in a Tolkien-inspired world. Pepper in some honkeytonk, add a smidge of rebellion. And boom. That’s it. Soft 3.

Gotta be one of the most accessible and lyrically logical Bobby albums Along with some great, simple guitar playing Some actually pleasant storytelling that you only need a surface-level grasp of social contexts to get what he’s often talking about Strong 4

The Who delivers a poignant concept about living in a “modern” world that advertises you into submission, with a surprisingly timeless display of irony. While the mediums have changed (tv -> social media), the inward cacophony that’s induced by yet another car sales jingle has remained all the while - this album will tug at that cacophony for years to come. Their rendition of In The Hall Of The Mountain King leans into the cool unease so well. Strong 4.

A wonderful, rich instrumental pallet cleanse from most other sounds of 1963

It’s sometimes hard to listen to these super old albums in a comparitive context that this list forces. Like, this doesn’t sound anything like Lorde’s Melodrama. But there are some cool things to be heard, like how the black social struggle was represented by Little Richard, and how it shares some base similarities with how it’s presented in music now. Anyway, he’s very energetic, it’s fun to think that this was the cutting edge of pop performance back in its day

It’s still hard to believe, even after the second REM album on this list, that this band was one of the most popular in the world. It’s just passable pastiche

The Superbowl for depressed people who spend lots of time on the internet. It’s alright, there’s instances of good storytelling, a clear ability to inject his personality into the songs. I think this is sadly a case of the albums aura being heightened by the context of its artist. Soft 3

While I think this is a very left field pick for something out of the late 2010’s, it deserves to be here. I just wish there were more albums from its time. I hear a lot of Spiritualized in these guys. They do the same exercise of taking a musical idea and letting it grow its own atmosphere over a few minutes. The abrupt ending of the song Boxing Day was really cool, caught me off guard. And Reunion will be used in the ambient playlist going forward too. Hard working 3 almost a 4

It is so cool that the first few minutes of this album could be the beginning of a Tyler, The Creator album. There are moments of timeless composition, timeless performance on here. Impressive storytelling throughout. The one ding on this album is that it’s a bit long and played out, for how many songs sound so similar. Still, a classic.

When it’s going well, it’s dramatic, airy, theatrical. When it’s not going well it’s a bit over-performative

Outright incredible storytelling. Leonard Cohen, one of the few exceptions to the rule I want to impose on this list of only 2 albums per artist. This album proves that this guy should’ve got the spot the Bob Dylan took in the pop culture lexicon

Indeed it is.

I really wanted to like this more than I ended up liking it. There is some good to be had in here, for example, this is definitely a progenitor of the yung lean/lil b ethos - where it doesn’t matter how atonal you are, it only matters that you’re rapping with personality. But yeah, I wish this album stuck its landing a bit more. The shock value samples/lyrics aren’t that zany, the sick & twisted aesthetics are just passable. Feels like the same 3-4 things are being brought up over and over again. Interesting guy, but this just doesn’t do it for me like I hoped it would

My first childhood band obsession was AC/DC, former expert checking in here. New lead singer Brian Johnson is here and he brought some of the most momentous arena rock of all time with him. It’s hard to think of another band that had a lead singer pass away, and have a graceful replacement take the band (so quickly) and elevate its sound like Brian does here. I really respect their decision to take heavy rock aesthetics, package them into a pop box, and not be gentle in introducing you to their new identity. Kinda ballsy to make the first song after Bon Scott’s passing (RIP) “Hell’s Bells”, but they practically HAD to - that song is meant to be an album opener. The only glaring reduction of this albums greatness is what any post-1980 AC/DC record can be criticized for - each song sticks to a tried & true formula; that formula can get a bit mundane, especially to the ears of a younger generation. Additionally, some lyrics and innuendos are very corny and aged, but that’s sadly par for the course for this genre. Man. What a total “dudes rock” album. Such a stellar tone-setter. One of the best album openers ever. And such a great closer to the record as well! I feel like it’s sound is a bit of an homage to Bon Scott, blending the new cutting-edge heavy sound with something slightly bluesy/twangy/lazy — a sound they had perfected by the end of the 70’s.

There is nothing that hasn’t been said about this masterpiece so I will just add in a personal anecdote — i’ll add that I cherish the rides over to the cabin or night hike drives where this was a new, exciting, fascinating album. The vast expanse of Shine On juxtaposed with the stripped rawness of Wish You Were here captivated our attention and soundtracked our good times. For that, I am forever thankful.

Funky and full of ground zero for the term “gangster rap”

Is this the first or second best CCR record? Because if not, there shouldn’t be more than two on this list!! All is as it should be with this album. Songs about the backcountry, about rambling, about being a rolling stone that grows no moss - even in the swamp.

Really, really struggling to see how this album earned a spot on this list. I will remember nothing from this album other than it being new wave. Is it outright bad? No. Is it at all unique or memorable? No.

HOW the HELL does THIS make the cut, but “This Is Happening”, one of the greatest indie dance albums of all time, DOESNT?????

Considering her output in the years to follow after this album, this is a refreshingly progressive pick to be on this list. Highlights for me are “SOS” and “Onanon”.

Not his most outstanding work by any means, but only because Bowie set himself such an astronomically high standard throughout his career. One of the few artists who deserve to have more than two albums on this list. We were lucky to walk the earth at the same time as David Bowie

Some generational hits packaged in an album that’s largely about the toll of war (in Vietnam or otherwise) - that’s nothing new for rock of this albums time. However, what is new is a sort of looming dread Paranoid carries with it. Manic mental states, confronting death in its face, grappling with the modern technology of war. These guys may have a legacy of mindlessly rocking and rolling, but behind that lies a lot of existential questions about the horrors we can barely comprehend

I really wonder what this album will sound like in 20+ years. It’s still young enough that it’s cool, but also starting to get old enough to be considered for the seminal work it is. Pharrell kills it on Numbers, and of course Shutdown is quintessential UK grime listening - this whole album is, really.

Witness a man staring death in its face! This album is transcendental, given the context that Bowie knows he’s terminally ill. Complete existentialism at the end of life for one of the world’s greatest artists. Makes for a powerful listen

These guys were a hit song away on this album from stardom forever, I truly believe that. Great album opener, very fun album closer. What is it about these guys? Is it spunk? Panache? Rhythm? Whatever it is, they’ve got it. A refreshing hidden gem. Sneaky good

I’m sorry there’s no way I’ve had 3+ REM albums a quarter of the way through this list. Not happening. Wish I could veto but I’m in too deep at this point. Even more unfortunately, the music itself does nothing to prove its placement on this list. Outside of the rare almost catchy hook, this album offers nothing. Not memorable, not descriptive, not unique. I’m so sad about this. Have to give it a 1.

Yeah I’m really not too sure this needed to be on here, outside of Take Me To The River there are no iconic or unique moments worthwhile. Love Talking Heads but this one isn’t it

I actually kinda mess with this one, or at least some songs on this one. Session Man is a very fun meta song without getting too lost in its own joke. I think I’ve heard Sunny Afternoon a few times before as well. Some highlights, some songs shouldn’t have made the cut, but at least there are some memorable, very Beatles-inspired moments.

I was never clear which song came first, Babe I’m Gonna Leave You on this album, or 25 Or 6 To 4 by Chicago. But I’m convinced someone copied someone. The good about this album is its slightly saturated, gritty, natural rock sound. Early signs of that Tolkien-inspired-folk here and there. And hey look! Black Mountain Slide is the obligatory Indian-style jam, as every rock band had around this time. The bad is the insane amount of whining about women/his woman. It was par for the course during this time, but Robert Plant just doesn’t stop. Additionally, even though it’s their first LP, you can already hear the imitating of black vocalists from time to time.

If you’re like me and wanted a record to engage in your confirmation bias that 90’s britpop was largely overrated and melodramatic, boy do I have the album for you. Much like beans on toast, you can only hope this is a product of a bygone, more troubling time

It goes from a solid 4/5 to Free Bird bringing it home to an undeniable 5/5. Anthem after anthem, from songs about classism to songs about cocaine. This is the southern rock classic

Some good lyrical miracle posse rapping. Highlights are One Of Them, which is more vicious than most tracks on here, followed immediately by Hey, which just has an incredibly pleasing instrumental.

About 250 albums or so in and I’m experiencing the first instance of real memory issues with this list - I swore we (i) already pulled this one. Anyhow this is a markedly incredible record. Outside of some obvious “Metallica” sounds, you can barely tell it’s from the 80’s, or any certain time period. It’s all energy, all perfect execution. Even as i listen to this at 5:30am to start work, I can only be super impressed with how tight the production & performance is. It’s missing some softer dynamics/ maybe one melodic interlude away from being a true 5/5 for me, but i recognize this as the holy grail for metal heads and respect you if you give it 5 stars

It’s a bit long to listen to one man constantly talking like that, but at least there’s some personality and character to it all

It is with great regret that (even with this being the second Kinks album this week) i say i like and appreciate this album. While there are too many like this record on the 1001 list, this one at least knows what it’s doing. There’s plenty of character, fun storytelling, catchy melodies. These guys really hate the idea of war, as did most rock bands in the late 60’s. Highlights on here for me are Yes Sir, No Sir as well as Shangri-La

Creates a good vibe that maintains a specific pleasant atmosphere for bunches of 10 minutes or so, mostly when it’s Stevie knicks singing. I’m always impressed at how Fleetwood Mac found the sweet spot for letting instruments and vocals breathe, giving everything its proper room in the mix/recording. Still, nothing on here makes me jump out of my seat

Alright I’m pretty sure that’s all 3 major Nick Drake albums checked off, what are we (i), 271 albums into this? I remember the first one being the most impressive to me, even through the background noise of a giant airplane taking me to NZ. He had a very grounded vocal presence that seemingly held out a hand to take you along through whatever story he was telling. Then we pulled Pink Moon, which was a bit more experimental and definitely more in lala land mentally (apparently representing the decline of his mental state a bit), and now we are here in the middle. So how does it go? More like the first record, thankfully. Drakes delivery is very arresting. There’s strangely a lot of tasteful, easy waiting room style music in this too. Maybe not everyone’s thing, but I’m a fan. 3 for now, but I want to go back to this one I think there’s more here. Poor Boy is my highlight of the record

The stark cut from the first track into The Nurse, which is by far the best song on here, is the highlight for me. I had to check to make sure it wasn’t my phone going off. Everything else is par for the White Stripes course. After enough time with this list I can offer my respect to the Whites as musicians. Not often my mood, but they’re both stellar

Fun loving? Yes, absolutely. These guys are very fun and at times pure of heart. It’s infectious at best. However, it often comes at a cost of subpar lyricism and delivery. It’s interesting, they’re at an intersection of rock and rap, but not at all in the nu-metal linkin park way. “All the Time In The World” is the highlight for me here. Good instrumental, good vibe. And a light 3 for those good vibes

Chat am I a jaded hater? I’m just getting this feeling that I won’t remember anything off this record other than the title track - which does deserve its props. Sweet Dreams (the song) seems like the type of song you write/record and instantly know you’ve got something big on your hands. I must also recognize it’s staying power, zedd just recently played it at his show. It’s still recognizable and sleek. But outside of that…there’s nothing new to grasp onto. It’s just 80’s music with nothing more than a slightly dark facade to it all. Carried by the title track, if there even is anything to carry here

Simply put - not my jam

So this is what they sang about before the cold war! Very tight & well performed as a band, but hard to judge

So this is Grateful Dead. Not as eclectic as their reputation would lead you to believe, but I know that most of that reputation is from their “jam band” style live shows. This was just very Crosby-Stills-Nash-esque. Truckin is a classic, my favorite on here is Ripple though. Not too shabby

Yeah this is a bit more solid than most stones albums / any rock album of its time. I think the biggest standout on here is the moments of restraint mick and the band use on some arrangements - they know when to go crazy and Gimme Shelter it, but they know when to pull it back and You Can’t Always Get What You Want it

the lightest 4 stars from me. Good protest music, some iconic songs are frontloaded onto here, tapers off a bit in the back.

Like every album made by The Black Keys or Kings of Leon, I wish they would just shut up. Such nice pop-rock compositions almost always ruined by the singers voice. I can’t quite pin it down, but there’s something in both the tonality of the singers voice and the lyrics that is so grating on the ears. On the plus side, this is recorded excellently. The fidelity and textures of all the instruments, how they all come together, it’s all fantastic. Softest 3 possible.

Showcases the incredible quality of Kurt’s voice in its unique tonality and his ability to so personally tell a story in each song. An iconic album in the eyes of many

I don’t know if the 5am ghost was just hitting right this morning, but this was a surprisingly good album. I wasn’t expecting much at all. The highlight for sure is I Wish I’d Never Loved You, it’s soaring and dramatic and sung to perfection. Also, is Live It Up sounding really close to The Loco-Motion to anyone else? I know it’s not an uncommon chord progression, but it sounded pretty similar. Anyways, really enjoyed this album.

I can’t really poke a hole in this album. Maybe that’s partly due to how out of my depth I am with anything metal. But this was fantastic. Obviously, Hollow is the clear highlight of the record. More melodic and refrained than most songs, which I think all metal/loud albums need a bit of. A stark, interesting contrast from Master Of Puppets that was recently the album of the day, in that VDOP here was often more introspective and lyrically based in reality. Really well done.

Not as impactful as the previous kd lang record we’ve pulled from this list. A bit more outwardly country & folksy, maybe a tad too much so. Not bad by any means, just not the best offering

The instrumental backing is lovely The singing is unbearable

Telling myself that English britpop/rock isn’t derivative and mundane for the millionth time while wearing a clinically insane smile on my face and manically clawing at the walls that surround me

I apologize Queen Latifah, I wasn’t familiar with your game. Thoughtful, well-produced, full of charecter. “Come Into My House” is the highlight for me

Sister Midnight and Nightclubbing are both incredible songs, then it slowly devolves into more hazy, hard to grasp stuff. Glad to know that China Girl by Bowie is a pseudo cover/redo

Queens of the Stone Age are really good at Just The Right Amount. Just the right amount of melodic variation, of emotion, of sounds vs. silence. Where they really excel is in producing an atmosphere (songs for the deaf will go on to further prove this). Really good rock music that isn’t bogged down by an awful singer

A lot of people think of this record when they think of the word "album" The strange thing is that the first two songs sound like an album closer. Within You Without You into When Im 64 is a personal favorite beatles moment for me both songs are so fun. Now is this a 5 outta 5? No. But its making the case for it. a couple of tracks with a little less punch than the rest. Still, it deserves much of the generational hype.

While it had its moments of getting way too noodly, I get the hype for this one. Very much ahead of it’s time for progressive/experimental rock

I had such a good listening experience with this album that I just let Spotify suggested take the reins for like two hours after. Great music to work to. I’d hoped there’d be more albums of this unique variety when I first got into this list

This was so well done, especially for a movie score. I feel like, too often, film scores fall too far into doing way too much or way too little in terms of their presence and listenability outside of the movie. But this is perfect, enjoyable, and tight. Cafe Regios is a highlight on here (outside of the crazy Do Your Thing which should just be listened to, not talked about), one of the best songs I’ve picked up so far from this daily albums list. Tasteful bossa nova that paces itself so well, when that hi hat ride kicks in around halfway through and the drum pattern slightly alters - OOH!

there's so much personality in this, especially in the first track. Thankful for the rare instances of true variety this list can provide, so glad its a break from classic rock or new wave. Very very fun mixup

Some personal chronicles about the dynamics of relationships. Nothing overtly amazing, but nothing skippable either. Very accurate cover art, the focus here is a girl and her guitar. For this being made almost 50 years ago, it holds up surprisingly well. Feels like it coulda been on the radio with Lenny Kravitz in the 90's. An even 3 stars

Simply one of the greatest albums of all time. There are a handful of EP’s and just a few albums that I can playback in my head from start to finish - this is one of them. Every song is uniquely memorable, no skips at all. It’s a damn shame these two had a falling out, because this record is at the top of the evidence pile for a case to be made the S&G were the greatest duo ever.

I enjoyed this slightly more than I thought I would! I would say it’s well above average for an early 70’s rock record. This list has helped illuminate little nuggets of albums like these, that teach me that there was a lot of good music more grounded in reality thats been hiding behind the wall of select classic rock hits that get played to death

This is a protest 2 star. We don’t need this many rock albums from the 60’s! This is simply insane! I don’t care if it’s the Beatles or a one-hit-wonder! It must be stopped, even this record is not that essential!

This one’s a bit of a rollercoaster. I was beginning to think that live Motörhead was wearing out it’s welcome quite early, but something about the persistence of their energy and great chemistry/playing live was noticed around the time they get to We Are The Road Crew. A nice little sentiment for a yeehaw metal song. But then it kinda goes back into a wall of noise towards the end of the album. Still, engaging enough to hold my attention for an hour

A scathing indictment of suburban America and its culture/belief system under the Bush administration. Also at times a beautiful display of the different ways those suburban kids/families struggle to reckon with personal tragedy. A great juxtaposition of power chords and sad but catchy melodies. It’s undeniably a 5, a good snapshot in time for a subset of Americans

Let’s go NZ this is one of the most justified white woman crashouts of all time. Pop artist should use this record as a reference, it’s that good across the board. And is that some Kate Bush influence I hear in Writer In The Dark?

I’m semi-convinced that Limp Bizkit (and specifically this album) exists as a way to show us how lucky we were to have Linkin Park, and specifically the dynamic between Chester Bennington and Mike Shinoda. A sort of Wario to LP’s Mario. Because nothing about this album is charismatic, but everything about this album is enigmatic. The instrumentals and compositions are so cutting-edge and clean for their time, then Fred Durst just takes the mic to spew verbal diarrhea everywhere. And at points there’s some self-awareness to it all? It feels strange giving such a polarizing album/band a 3, but here we are. The clever chorus on Full Nelson is the highlight for me

Man they seem like they’re having so much fun while performing with such ease. Call me aging, but Do It Again grows on me more and more as the years go by. I went into a convenience store yesterday and it was playing over the speaker, and my mood just got better instantly. Soft 4 here, great week for albums so far it’s been a 5, 4, and today a 4. We’re (I’m) 300 albums in and I don’t know if that’s happened much or at all!

I’ve got no qualms with the quality of music, thank you Green Onions for the iconic Sandlot lick. But none of this sticks. It’s like how some people feel about house music, it’s all just kinda in the background, kinda not impactful or wanting to make its presence known - but at the same time it’s clearly not trying to do the ambient music angle where it’s intentionally out of the way/in the background too. Cool guys, important that they were racially integrated as early as this was, but just not doing anything for me musically

Heartfelt and delicate, but has the same issue as many other albums of it’s time in that it’s almost too mellow at points

You can frolic about in the echoey indie sounds of this album, but most of them will be forgotten to the whimsical sands of time.

I’m so glad I was an impressionable age when this album came out. I think these days I would’ve more easily written it off as 80’s revivalist pop pastiche. But no, this was peak tumblr, Porter-Robinson-adjacent, on the drive to my first job, good from front to back. Wistful lead vocals packed with a nice balance of angst and catharsis, often dancey, AMAZING hooks. If you are new to liking this, I suggest The Naked And Famous as a similar listen. “Tether” is my highlight and it has a great house remix from Junior Sanchez that should be listened to as well

I have not had harder lyrical whiplash than my listening experience with “Oliver’s Army” on this album. And upon further digging it looks like Mr. Costello has a big issue with his views and choice of words - but that he’s also very actively pro-Palestine??? Anyways, nothing on here is bad, but nothing is very new or unique. “Party Girl” is probably my highlight. I’m sure I’m the last person on earth to hear Elvis and think that Prince was doing it better. I wish this album wasn’t given a spot on here, considering there are other more deserving ones not dropping hard R’s!

I saw her in concert about two months ago! I went into it with very few preconceptions or specific expectations and I left very impressed. She’s a performer through and through, it was dramatic from start to finish, very few words were said until a break towards the last few songs. I greatly appreciated it. Anyways, as for this album here, it is a great balance of delicate and guttural. I suppose you can say that about all of her best stuff. Uninhibited vocals and raw instrumentals to back it up. A very very strong 4 outta 5.

Good RnB/soul music is where the vent diagram of honest lyricism/singing crosses with bits of the pop format. I really respect Al Greens ability to do that with such ease on this record. Just little treats of authenticity coming at you left and right every single song. Like someone handing you assorted homemade baked goods for an hour straight

Al Green yesterday Marvin Gaye today. Gaye's falsetto crooning is perhaps the defining sound of this album - backed by grooves that weave between heavy pockets and lighter passages with ease. It seemed like this album was a big leap for him thematically, moving away from the overtly clean suit and tie doowop love songs, to something more existential, open-ended, and funky all the same. Not the most surprising pick, but Mercy Mercy Me is my highlight here -- What's Going on is so culturally significant that I'm sure most everyone already knows it.

Is this the best radiohead album? probably. The masses may say OK Computer, I'm not so sure I agree with that. Is this album fantastic? In many ways, yes. Almost every song creates an amazing sense of space and atmosphere by demonstrating restraint on when to let the blend of electronics + real instruments go crazy vs. when to keep things nice and quiet. All I Need is my sleeper highlight on this one, using an updated version of that late 90's breakbeat percussion rhythm so well. Is/was this album also the bible for people who are beginning to think their music taste can cure cancer? maybe a little, yeah. My little mini-theory on that is this album came out during a time where personal music blogs were widely accessible and in-fashion, and many people were creating their own blogs, heightening the sense of personal pride on what music taste meant to oneself.

Not to be a Scrooge on this Christmas 2024 but this is a near-inexcusable placement on this 1001 albums list thats only barely redeemed by the energized live instrumentation. Because, respectfully, the vocals aren’t there. At all.

If your goal is to travel from 80’s rick to 90’s grunge/rock, this album makes it clear that you must last the Pixies checkpoint. You might even take a long detour or have yourself a long stay. This album is full of sweet hooks covered in hazy instrumental melodies, often singing whistfully about some unattainable girl or situation. Definitely not bossanova though.

swanky and fun. the musical pop definition of "cool" would soon evolve very rapidly huh. This was especially good to practice melee to

2024 ends in a day, and something I want to do in 2025 is listen to music with no preconceptions or sense of jadedness. This album is really testing those personal goals. I hear Chris Cornell’s one in a million singing voice here, I hear a very well-recorded band, I hear songs that mean a lot to a lot of people… this album just doesn’t do it for me. I ran it back too! I listened to it twice! I think this album, much like Nirvanas nevermind, is a bit front-loaded. I also think that this is just a rock album as much as it is a grunge album. I really want more for my enjoyment of Superunknown, it just isn’t hitting for me

Just because i said Lou Reed is one of the few artists so great he can exceed my theoretical 2 album per artist limit doesn’t mean you get to go crazy with it and add any project Lou Reed touches. That was my knee jerk reaction. Then I listened to the album! Lou Reed, man. Great album intro as always. A simple concept album done beautifully. Men Of Good Fortune showcasing his amazing, personable storytelling ability. Some great horn arrangements on How Do You Think It Feels. Then one of the best album closers I’ve ever heard - one of the best songs to come from this list so far - Sad Song. I immediately ran it back on this one. What a fantastic, charming, soaring melody executed to perfection. The middle of this album began to lull just a tiny bit, but Sad Song brought it all home with such a firm finish. As a little context, reading about this album reveals that rolling stone initially said it was a disaster, but 50-some-odd years later it’s a top 500 album of all time. Very funny. If you like something that much, never listen to critics about how it should be perceived

2025 is here and I am being tested. I wish to be less immediately-cynical about artists I have relative knowledge of, but haven’t listened to a majority of their discography’s. I believe I accomplished that by stumbling into the correct circumstances to appreciate what this album has to offer. It’s been a cold, grey day so I went to the gym to run on the treadmill. I think this was a great backing track to that setting. It also made me realize that the smiths/morrisey are functionally similar to Lana Del Rey but for gen X white male teens/20 somethings. Both are very whistful and often sing with a sense of yearning for something ephemeral. As for this album specifically, it was still what I would expect from a Smiths project. Maybe a bit more based in reality, which I could appreciate, considering the albums topics about war, unnecessary human suffering, vegetarianism, and ethical consumption. My favorite track is probably Well I Wonder, I liked that slightly surfer guitar riff. The final track, the title track, is interesting to me. It had the best instrumentation, cutting edge production, but felt a little on the nose and melodramatic, lyrically. All in all, I honor the in-depth experience I had with this album, one I could’ve very easily half-assed and passed over easily. Soft 3/5.

Im always so interested when its an album form the 60's that has like 1 million plays per song or less. Like, did this just get added, or is it really a deep pick? Anyways, I had to wait until the weekend to listen to this, because in true 60's fashion the vocals and some instruments were panned completely to one ear. Can't one-ear listen at work. As for the album itself, it sadly fades into 60's pastiche around song 8ish. There's even an indian-psych-inspired track! Truly the complete late 60's rock package. For this, I must reluctantly give it a 2 out of 5, there isnt much that's very distinct about this album that isnt already done many times over or many times better by many other groups. My highlight is probably "Bracelets of Fingers"

Never has a band been so sweet and perfect in the recording booth, and so toxic off the mic. So rarely do you get a group that checks off boxes for drug addiction, alcohol abuse, sexual abuse, a love quadrangle, and various misdemeanor arrests. The love quadrangle and cheating in particular makes the juxtaposition of smooth harmonies and the lyrics of a song like “Got a Feelin” seem almost agonizing. This album has challenged my preconception that The Eagles were the greatest vocal harmonizers of all time. Now, the record does take a bit of a dip after California Dreamin, where it starts feeling a bit repetitive, but I can’t sing it too much - because the final song “The In Crowd” was a nice pickup in energy and confidence. I can totally see this being a pop music revolution for its time, it even stands up to the impossible gold standard that is the Beatles/Beach Boys in the early 60’s (speaking of the beach boys, this version of Do You Wanna Dance is arguably better than the beach boys for me, its more intimate). Candy-sweet anthems that took the yearning of teenybopper music and elevated it to something slightly more mature with spectacular, tight vocal arrangements. Soft 4/5 stars!

Potentially the closest an album from the early 2010’s will come to being “timeless.” Everyone, quick, remember what pop music sounded like in 2012. There was almost always some gimmick (a mandolin) or angle or hyper-emphasized genre (pop going EDM) about each hit song. Channel Orange, on the other hand, has songs that could’ve come out in the year 2001, 2012, or 2025, and I genuinely wouldn’t know which decade to pin it down to. This record is both generational, and generation-defying! On the whole, something I appreciate most about Channel Orange is how it’s kinda like the GTA V of albums (aside from the fact that they both came out within a year or so of each other). Both the album and the game are fantastical portraits/caricatures of aimless, impulsive, glitzy west coast life. Both explore the false promises, hard realities, and various methods of escapism used to deal with it all. And, holy shit, both the game and the album are masterclasses in world-building and defining an atmosphere. I can hear the pastel sunsets in the warmth of Franks crooning. A small nitpick I have with this album is the song Pyramids, whose first half is maybe the only time it sounds a little like it’s for sure from 2012. That synth line is cool, just a bit dated now. The second half of Pyramids switches into the simplest, coolest beat you could hope for though! Catching John Mayer in the midst of his best musical era and just throwing him in there for a little smooth guitar interlude, pulling a clever-as-ever Andre3000 feature, and getting a rising Earl Sweatshirt as the only named collabs on here too??? Incredible. I have to give this album all 5 stars. Frank Ocean doesn’t just present you with a great album, he pulls you into it’s decadent, hazy, hedonistic world.

(written like an angry Facebook post) Album title very misleading! We let this guy get away with too much, and the passage of time lets me say that with certainty. I think the biggest gripe I have with this album is that some fantastic Pharrell and Timbaland production is wasted on some just ok JT falsetto singing. My second biggest gripe with this album is that I’m not sure how seriously JT wants us to take him. Making a song like “Cry Me A River” and then proceeding to cry himself a river on the closing “Never Again”, all the while peppering the track list with various “hey girl I like your body” type of tracks. Mixed messaging, which I suppose I could look past if I was a JT stan…but I am not. And I think that’s where the barrier of entry lies with this Justified - if you are invested in the man then this is an album do substance for you. Otherwise, all this album is good for is a poorly-aged single about a Britney Spears breakup. And some solid pop production. Both Timbaland and Pharrell are so good at making sounds that sparkle and add flavor to a track. I have lots of good to say about the production, not much to say about the man behind the microphone. Sadly, “Cry Me a River” is my only worthwhile highlight, the album takes a noticeable nosedive from “Right For Me” and beyond. More mature than his boyband days? Sure, but not by much.

How rare and exciting it is to get an album past the year 2000 that I know nothing about! What’s more exciting is how *not* post-2000 it sounds. This music is honest and simple in structure, allowing the listener to pay more attention to when Gillian Welch accentuates a word or repeats a phrase. The songs are good at either painting a character, or ask you to think back on a different time in one’s life. My highlight on here is “Everything Is Free” for it’s straightforward but super effective guitar melody

This album makes me wonder who else from her generation was just as good at lyrically placing you right in the midst of a story or setting. Maybe Billy Joel, Elton John, and…? Surely the list is short. Vintage easy listening that doesn’t tug on the heartstrings as much as it instead functions like a personal favorite fiction novel. Also with a bit of subtle electronic production here and there? I noticed it on “The Jungle Line” song. Loved the horns on “Harry’s House/Centerpiece.” My favorite is probably the closer “Shadows and Light.” Pleasant music to listen to while lounging around

Yay! Our last Marvin Gaye album was just a week or so ago, so we get to think comparatively! My favorite way to form thoughts around music!!! This does share many similarities on sonics with What's Going On, but where it differs is that most songs here are really in the pocket - theres just a bit more groove to provide some backbone to the songs. That's not true for everything though, which allows me to talk about my favorite song on here. "If I should die tonight" is just so beautiful in it's sentiment and execution. The swelling strings and horns, the light, plucky guitars fading in and out, and Marvin putting his whole heart and soul into the vocal performance. Wow, such a pretty pretty pretty song! Another highlight, "You sure love to ball" gets back into the more groovy (and almost bossanova) territory - and I think its a nice microcosm of the other change this album sees in comparison to Whats Going On; there's no social outcrying here. It's just one smooth love song after another. Love proclamations and grapplings with ones feelings surrounding a lover, these are what we get treated to on this record.

I don’t have a ton to say about the details of this album, as it’s so far out of my depth. But I really enjoyed it and wish we had more unique instrumental genres to listen to. What I do know is that there seems to be some artistic liberty in the solos of different instruments peppered throughout this record (it’s jazz, so duh I shouldn’t be surprised by that. By 1957, was this a radical composition and performance? Surely to jazz heads at least, it must’ve been. My highlight here is probably the most notable mood switch on the album, Pannonica. Alternative name for this group: THEL and the MONKey homosapiens

Sounds like it’s just some white boys having fun. Strangely, the stuff I liked the most on this record were the stripped back, simple songs. The Going To California type of guitar melody on “Vastopol” was a very good interlude. Then “Liberty For Our Friend” was very fun and made its way into my head with its simplicity. I’ve never heard about these guys before and don’t know how often I’ll hear about them after this. I can hear the foundations for some of the midwestern rock and emo to come after this album, like one of my favorites “You’d Prefer An Astronaut” by Hum. While there is a great amount of charm to be heard throughout, I don’t think I’ll be going back to this one much. I’m happy I got to learn about a new band and had a bit of fun doing so

Last week, I listened to Joni Mitchell’s “The Hissing Of Summer Lawns” where I said something to the effect of she and Billy Joel and Elton John may be in their own company when it comes to storytelling and lyrics that place you IN the song. I would like to add David Ackles, or at least this album, to that elite company. I was FLOORED listening to some of these songs. How have I never head of this guy, or this album? On here are some of the most beautiful songs I’ve ever heard, sung with a lot of conviction, and wrapped up in really pretty instrumental arrangements. Right off the bat, “American Gothic” is such a fun parlor-style story of a messy couple. I didn’t realize I was in for such a theatrical listen! Then “Love’s Enough” straightens things out with a Nick Drake type of love ballad. This song is so honest and heartfelt. One of the most pure fun songs is “Oh California!” which switches into this swanky showtune style and ends with what seems to be a full string/horn chorus arrangement??? How many tricks does David Ackles have up his sleeve??? The last song that really stood out to me was “Waiting For the Moving Van” which just about brings you to your knees. What a sobering, sentimental little song. In addition to these highlights, there’s bits of country, folk, and gospel peppered into things! Plus a very nice long story in the last song. These are the albums that make this list so worthwhile. I can slog through 50 two-star albums in a row if it means the 51st album is this diamond in the rough. Total hidden gem that shines so bright if you give it a dusting. Reading further on his life and legacy, it is a crime that David didn’t get the commercial success he deserved, even with Elton John constantly singing his praises. No popular interviews of him on youtube, very little info to dig into anywhere. This is insane!

Yeah so unfortunately the wiggling worm and dancing monkey in my brain ate this up like a steak dinner. It’s so cool to me that last week I can be prompted to listen to some wildly over-produced Justin Timberlake debut solo album with every little note and production element perfectly placed, then yesterday listen to one of the most heartfelt and undervalued albums I’ve ever heard in American Gothic by David Ackles, then get this craziness today. I can unfortunately see so many people responding to this with something along the lines of “ummmmm yeah not for me no thanks” and being very close-minded to it. I understand that perspective! But this is underniable a memorable listen. Furthermore, it’s both of its time, and ahead of its time! Social issues and late 60’s characters are portrayed well throughout the albums few structured moments. I hear some scathing and clever observations of societal injustices that remind me of System of a Down. I hear the frenetic sounds effects that remind me of Aphex Twin. I hear some beautiful instrumental bending amongst the chaos, like Miracle Musical. I hear LOTS of 100 Gecs in the pitched up vocals. I can even see the line between this and a very modern group like Deaths Dynamic Shroud and their off-the-wall sound. “Flower Punk” and “What’s The Ugliest Part of Your Body” are my highlights, if you can pick out such things from this musical quilt. The wiggling worn and the dancing monkey are telling me to give this 4 stars

Man Ive always loved “You Can Call Me Al” so much. Maybe too much. Perhaps it’s because it kept playing in an ad for a while last July, perhaps I’m just chronically white. But that song is just a super ear worm and is complete fun. I wasn’t aware that most all of this albums would be just as fun. It seriously impresses me that Paul Simon was in the midst of a failing marriage, lost partnership with Art, and off the heels of a solo album that apparently flopped. I’d love to be 40 and find this much fun and inspiration from the world in the midst of such personal turmoil. I think he does the South African sound well and weaves in its native collaborators really nicely. The title track is such a good rambling road trip song with a memorable set of chords under its pre-chorus. I was a little unsure about how this album would score for me as a whole, or if it would take a thematic turn, but when the first minute or so of “Diamonds On The Soles Of Her Shoes” finished up, I was just smiling ear to ear. How incredibly fun. I shouldn’t be shocked, but this little hymn was just gliding around in my head for hours after. At this point, I knew that the vibrancy and easy fun of this record was here to stay. I love art thats this kind to the senses, it’s like a little musical vacation. Paul Simon was in his bag for this one

Nick Cave always has a lot of vivid stories to tell. I often wonder how he comes up with all these images in his head. This album is a good example of just that - from stories of family and relationships, to tales from high fantasy worlds - he has it all in his head. At points during this record though, it felt like too much for one sitting. Not to take away from the incredible vocal conviction and great narrative-based lyricism. But towards the end I got a bit burnt out on it all. “Hiding All Away” is a great anthemic rock song. And “Messiah Ward” has some really cool guitar harmonies that make it my favorite listen here. Soft 3/5

There are moments, particularly early on, where we rise above the looming britpop slog that this record predates. Growing pains and angst can be felt throughout the first few tracks, whether it’s the jealous tone of the opening track, or the coming-of-age realizations in “The Marriage.” I personally love the surfer blues guitar riff and vocal melody on “Levi Stubbs Tears.” And that horn solo at the end? OOH! Love it. “Wishing The Days Away” is an equally wishful but gloomy singalong that I really enjoyed. “Deportees” is a highlight of disc 2, which is making a conscious effort to highlight social immigration and humanity issues at Americas southern border - it’s practically a protest song done in the Eagles lonesome western style. Then, “The Clashing Of Ideaoligies” is making me wonder if someone isn’t pulling the switches on what albums we get on specific days for this list. The song is a scathing set of jabs about corruption in parliament and government in general. One day after our own inauguration? Hmmm. Anyways. The good is really good, but this could probably be consolidated into one album to make it great. Instead, you’ve gotta take the good with the meh. Strong 3/5.

I honestly really don’t have much for this record, since it didn’t give me much to chew on. Or at least there wasn’t much that I haven’t already hear before that was done better by other punk bands. I’m sure this could’ve been massive if you were a British teen in 1979, but I couldn’t connect the dots. 2/5.

Did I already listen to one Goldfrapp record on this list? Or was that on my own time? I look forward to more of this confusion as the daily album list goes on. Anyways, super pretty opening song. Mystical and peaceful guitar ballad. Turns out most of the record is like that! There’s a right amount of whimsy and vulnerability in here. “Eat Yourself” is probably my highlight, but if you need to skip to something more energetic then try “Caravan Girl.” Something so nice about this time/style of music - this, Florence + The Machine, Temper Trap, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, etc. - it was all very cathartic pop/alternative music.

At the opening song, I thought to myself “was ZZ Top going for that sweet sweet MTV spot??” Then by the second song, specifically when that little electric guitar lick came in at the end of the chorus, I thought “damn were they secretly good at it too?” It kept going too! Everybody knows “Sharp Dressed Man” but my highlight of the record for me is the song after, “I Need You Tonight.” A really cool night crawler style track. I have a problem with how horribly legs is sung, but somehow ZZ Top is saved with their general scuzzy aesthetic not setting the bar too high in the first place. As is the case with all pop-leaning records, it tapers off in the second half in a noticeable way. This is briefly saved by a whole song giving tribute to TV Dinners. But then we are right back to the objectifying women and attempting to make more arena rock hits. I’m a bit torn on what to give this. Ive gotta remember what this album was trying to achieve - I must remind myself that this band made a huge sonic transition for this record. But I don’t think they totally sold out, their ethos and lyrics kinda stayed the same. For marrying their dusty, oily hearts to the new-school sound of the 80’s in a successful fashion, I give this a light 4 outta 5 stars

I have nothing good to say about this record, or Smashing Pumpkins, outside of that i appreciate the grand instrumental compositions on occasion here. I came into this record with hopes of having a better experience than I did with Mellon Collie (having two of these albums make this 1001 is overkill), but what I got was much of the same. I cannot stand Billy Corgans voice, I hear no appeal in it other than it being instantly recognizable, if that matters to you. His singing is genuinely grating on the ears when it’s at its lowest points on this record. “Disarm” is a fine song I suppose, but only if you could have the magic powers to mute the audio channel that plays back Billy Corgan’s vocals. I understand the appeal of Death Grips more than I understand the appeal of Smashing Pumpkins. I have nothing else good to say about this record, so I will not say anything else at all.

Ahhhh this is such a breath of fresh air. I think that can be said for all the Stevie wonder classics during this time period. Even the downtrodden songs on here are still somehow so joyous. Everything is sung with a pure heart. I do think Songs In The Key Of Life kinda sets the bar even impossibly higher and somehow this album doesn’t quite live up to that same bar. But this is still such a pleasant, refreshing, affirming listen. My highlights are the obvious ones, “Superstition” reminds me of watching I-Robot as a kid. And the opener “You Are The Sunshine Of My Life” is an elite-tier love song. Soft 4/5 stars

It’s 5am, Wednesday morning at work. It’s cold as hell, our heater stopped working. I’m tired, another 9th place at UW melee last night. But the vibes are all good. So maybe the tired is getting to me, but I feel like this album couldn’t give me a break. Sonically, it was just so constantly full of noise. I want to understand this trend, I want to know what led to this being somewhat commonplace in the genre of british pop / post rock / y2k rock. Did Radiohead just blow the doors down for this sound and then everyone tried to follow suit? I could barely grasp onto any melody or lyrical hook because it felt so buried in the brigade of guitar reverb but also prolonged vocal performances but also loud percussion but also full looping bass lines. “Brainstorm Interlude” is perhaps the worst offender of this noise blitzkrieg. My highlight is probably the more mellow reprieve from all the noise, “On Your Own.” I wanted to like this more than I did, and think I would like the songs if they were composed and performed with less of a deluge of reverb and echo and noise coming at me from all angles

Damn I kinda enjoyed this album. But I understand if the enjoyment is more personal than universal. I think it was 70% surprisingly good production, 30% occasional good vocal hook. “Liberation” has that super pretty 90’s two-step beat with some beachy keyboards and synths behind it. “Yesterday When I Was Mad” is what I like to call a SEGA Sound Team Sonic Riders type beat, which furthers my point that the production here is very forward-thinking! “The Theatre” had a really dramatic pre-chorus/chorus. Then “Go West” had to be my highlight. The 90’s version of Canon In D, but also with those distinctly Eastern European backing vocals? Really cool touch. As I’m writing this review, I’m realizing how much this one snuck up on me. There are still some painfully 90’s sounds on here, “One and One Make Five” had an intro that soured the rest of the track for me. But overall, I’m impressed. Tight, thumping drum programming, non-offensive synth/keys choices, memorable enough top lines. Soft 4/5 stars, who would’ve thought!

I don’t really have much to say here other than that I love just how much is constantly going on, instrumentally speaking. Whereas The Verve album a few days ago felt like a relentless maelstrom of sound that you just wanted a break from, this album fills your ears with so many fun textures and sounds. All the syncopated percussion going on at once. And just when you think you’ve started to nail down it’s happy formula, the record hits you with something like the 1:45 mark in “A Historia De Jorge” when that starry synth sweeps in out of nowhere. Super cool, super infectious stuff. Hard not to get caught in the good vibes here. My personal favorite is “Cavaleiro Do Cavalo Imaculado” for its tempo and energy

The Bee Gees! Finally, The Bee Gees! I credit my parents playing their BeeGees records when I was young for shaping my inclination for vibrant, melodic dance music today. So it was a breakneck shock to hear these guys before the soaring strings and harmonized disco choruses. Like, this is genuinely just an early 70’s record full of rock/pop/singer-songwriter ballads. All that being said, it doesn’t take long to hear the blueprints for their transitional success, as “Israel” has some of those string sections towards its second half while Barry Gibb goes on a little crooning tangent with his signature wobbly vibrato thingy he does so well. A few tracks later, “It’s Just the Way” sounds a bit too much like an easy -listening Beatles song. Similar guitar tone and you can practically hear Paul and John harmonizing together here. It’s also at this point that the BeeGees would like to get it through your head that this album is all about wishing and yearning. Some of its hopeful, most of it is hopeless; “Remembering” makes me sure that one of these guys just got a divorce or is character acting as a divorced man. A high point in the record for me is the beat switch on “Somebody Stop the Music” to something more fun and swanky, even if it still has Beatles fingerprints all over it, which STILL continues onto the title track. I’m left wishing for a bit more variety, like the grand sense of a silver lining on “Dont Wanna Live Inside Myself” which should have been the closing song. Good I’m moments, does a lot of the same sulking for the majority of the time.

All I’m saying is that it’s very fitting that we get these guys on the day of the Grammys. Arcade Fire again huh. Unfortunately I don’t think this will be the last time we see them, I’m still waiting for “Funeral” which is their big record thats really worth its weight in gold. Early on, the formula is still clear here: anthemic ho-hey’ing that juxtaposes bits of suburban utopia with all sorts of existential unease. “Intervention” is a sign of the times song about the war in Iraq, and I’m honestly surprised it took four tracks to get to protesting that time of American imperialism - three years earlier, American Idiot blew the doors down for any band to throw its hat in the protest ring. This makes sense as a follow-up record: you just won album of the year, why charge it up? Go ahead and use this album as you would the aforementioned Funeral - put it on and ride your bike through a town like Mill Creek WA on a nice summer evening. Welcome the nice breeze in your face as you guide on the empty, smooth neighborhood roads. Notice the strangeness of a gated community or all the American flags on the excessively nice, eerily quiet houses.

“It’s no Master of Puppets” - me, and probably most other people. While this album is no slouch, I just don’t think it holds a torch to its predecessor. There are some moments worth listening for here, like the really chunky, slower “Harvester or Sorrow” which slows down its powerchord formula to a pace that makes you feel the thump of the drums and guitars. Then the obvious highlight on here is “One” which is truly among the best metal songs you’ll ever hear, if not the singular best. Metal will never be my in my powerhouse, but I can still appreciate this album in the same way I appreciated MoP: incredibly clean production and composition that stands the test of time, an instantly recognizable sound, and solid storytelling/imagery. Sadly, a point down for this being too similar to MoP

Almost pissed off that we got some niche indie film soundtrack until I read about the concept of this album not actually having a real movie to go with it. I needed the concept to understand this record, then it instantly became cooler. Perfect? No, not at all. But really cool. I’m reminded of a few other musicians I really like when I listen to this. First, the concept reminds me of the M Machine Metropolis EP series, where there was some loose conceptual lore written down to build up the world of the music. Second, in MSS’s haziest, craziest moments, like “The Swinging Detective” I’m reminded of DJ Shadow’s “Endtroducing” with how music like this can be greater than the sum of its parts when you give it the time and space to develop. Lastly, I feel like I can draw a direct line between this album and some of the stuff Onehotrix Point Never was doing in his best years. “The Most Beautiful Girl In the World” is my highlight on here and super reminds me of OPN soundfonts with that touch of surrealism. Neat stuff, worth a listen, won’t go back to it, but can be appreciated in a vacuum anytime.

Melodramatic, grand, and full of emotion. There is a sense of scale and fullness (for lack of a better term) that I haven’t heard on previous Cure albums, or many 80’s albums in general for that matter. The low end on “Prayers for Rain” that comes in at about 40 seconds is absolutely insane, it adds so much sonic mass and depth to the song. Then Robert Smith comes in with those echoey, delayed, reverb vocals. Wow! Fantastic production there. Then the vocal crescendos near the end of “Disintigration” really stuck with me too. So full of drama and longing. While it isn’t up my alley, I can’t deny that the cure stuck the landing with this one. Soft 4/5!

Oooh somebody new that I know nothing about! This is a really cool album opener, reminds me a bit of Radiohead meets Dan Deacon in terms of some progressive, energetic production thats a bit atmospheric, a bit off-the-wall. Indie meets electronica, that’s what this is! “Loops in the Secret Society” was a really cool listen, she has such a clear idea about how to build up a song and be additive at just the right times. Another highlight was the little bleepy synth refrain in the next song “The Architect.” But my song of the album award absolutely goes to “The Lightning Back” for its infectious, quaint indietronica perfection. I hear lots of The Postal Service in this one, which is about the highest compliment I can give a song. Whirling, nasaly synths that are easy on the ears, a bit-crushed beat meant to induce a little head-nodding. Airy singing about a lovers impact on the singer. Beautiful stuff, so good that it got a replay out of me before I could finish the album! Another shoutout to the cool vocal intro and outro on “Ravenspoint” that helped elevate the tension a bit. This album is a great deviation from the manly rock&roll or grand concept albums. Sometimes all you need is some easy, well-made indietronica to get you through the day

As soon as that easy organ/wurlitzer? keyboard hit on the opener "Stardust" I knew I was in for a soft, sweet treat. Willie has that Leonard Cohen ease to his delivery, it's so simplistic and surehanded. Like a nice warm hug. I got a lot out of "All of Me" for the square-dance-meets-lounge-music combination. Probably my highlight of the record. I was ready to turn my nose up at a pretty simple cover of "Unchained Melody" and there is fair reason for that - I dont think Willie's voice is cut out for those few high notes he reaches for. But man, all the same, the soft beating heart finds it's way to shine through in Willie's gentle delivery. An earnest cover. It's at this point in which all listener's have realized that they've been lulled a first half full of pleasant love songs. Another moment worth holding on for is when Willie adds a little muscle to his voice when counting of the months on "September", to then have it followed by a romantic plucky acoustic guitar solo. A true sign of a generational musical talent is an artist who can make the transition from their breakout sound to something more poppy, while still preserving what made them identifiable in the first place. Willie Nelson puts on a masterclass on how to do just that. We are lucky to hear it done with such ease on Stardust. Good Sunday listening that will put a smile on your face and help you breath a little easier. I was gonna go with a strong 4/5 stars, but this is undeniable - a total pleasure from beginning to end.

A bit unsure how to feel about the opener - good storytelling, but the topic is certainly interesting. After a few more songs of feeling this way, I went to the full Wikipedia article to see if Tim Buckley was just playing a wretched character or if these songs were more biographical. Lo and behold, this is Jeff Buckley’s dad. Something clicked then, having already heard Jeff’s “Grace” album & gotten familiar with the story of his life. Father and son both lived careers of vices, doubt, and inner-turmoil. Both troubadours to some extent, using their music as a means of processing the lives they lived, both dying before their full audience could be realized. I think “Nighthawkin” is a fair microcosm of this whole record. Engaging story, a performance clearly empowered by cocaine, and then *boom* a couple of words you wish he didn’t use/ideas he didn’t convey. A record encapsulated in its time and place. It’s like you listen to this album unfold and wish for Tim to use his powers for good instead of evil. You can’t deny his vocal chops and heart for performing…but then you hear song after song about a vice, misfortune, or misbehavior. Perhaps the final song “Make It Right” is even more representative of the album as a whole, more than “Nighthawkin.” It’s a ‘mask off’ moment where Tim doubles down on the instrumental composition and production to elevate the energy to something really groovy and exciting. Then proceeds to dream and plead for a sex worker (?) to do all these things to him to “make it right” again. He takes the ending of the song to a pretty impressive peak where he goes on a crazy vocal run. It’s as if he’s accepting how lost he is in his vices. Will I go back to this album? No. Did I learn something? Sure - maybe Steely Dan & Van Morrison had a good thing going, in comparison to the more evil sides of this record.

Alright why has the world conspired to keep "Valley of the Dolls" hidden from me. In fact, why has the world conspired to keep this whole album from me? You all know I cant resist sample-based music thats made more colorful by the use of a phaser/flanger. That blissful Daft Punk phaser texture hits the dopamine receptors just right. I didnt realize it, but "Drop the Pressure is responsible for a very often-used vocal sample in house music! This song specifically has that early Calvin Harris vibe, you can hear the beginnings of blog house sprouting up. But my highlight on here (and it isnt even close) is the blissed-out "In My Arms". This one is special. I know that there will be very few times that this list produces a song that so perfectly aligns with my exact hopes for what any song can be, while also doing so utilizing my very favorite production methods. A house tempo song with a super happy, super fuzzy, phased vocal loop in a major key. A repetitive, simple bassline. A nice little bridge/chopped up middle section that ramps back up to an even more outright happy and shiny second half, with just a little extra glittery synth at the end to bring it home. I replayed it twice before I could move on through the album! The only comp I have for this song is Pete Heller's Big Love, which wouldnt surprise me to hear it was a reference track for "In My Arms". Genuinely, this song couldve been surrounded by ten layers of shit, and this album wouldve still been worth it for that euphoric little nugget. Luckily, this album isnt layers of shit at all! Now, it's no opus of dance music. But it's good! A tasteful (i hate using that adjective) amount of sampling and chopping, like on "Rikki". Some more easy listening cuts that venture into almost trip-hop territory like "Sunworshipper" or "Need You Tonight". I'm gonna guess the common gripe about this album is that theres not much substance to grab and hang onto, not much in the way of hooks or sticky musical motifs - and that's fair. To that, I'd say that maybe those things aren't always needed. Maybe this album could find its place while doing chores on a lazy sunday or on a nice walk, or just for laying around in the sun. A nice, happy, hazy little musical companion. Soft 4/5.

I think I’ve come out of this record still a bigger fan of the Shaft score. But also with an appreciation for the conviction Issac Hayes brought to each song here. “Walk On By” builds upon itself really well up to the 7 minute mark - it’s probably my highlight. “By The Time I Get To Phoenix” actually did a really good job of keeping my attention, despite it being 18 minutes. Great 3rd person narration. Not my absolute favorite, but a good listen with a unique album format

My hopes were high for this one after reading its description, but I’m afraid it didn’t live up to those hopes. I just had a hard time finding many musical ideas or hooks to hang onto here. There are some exceptions, the ending of “Everybody Knows (Except You)” with those ‘ba-ba-baaaa’ backing vocals was really fun. The album was so short that I listened to the disc 2 remaster, and enjoyed “Bath - live” a good bit too. But outside of that, I don’t think I’ll remember much from this one, nothing made a lasting impact on me. Not bad, just not exceptional.

I have so much to say! Guys it happened! I finally liked an album mainly for its lyrics! For LYRICS! This never happens! Also, have The Beach Boys GONE WOKE?!?!??? WOKE BEACH BOYS??? In all seriousness, I loved this albums messaging. It’s so strange to hear self-awareness in such an old album. I’m reminded of one of my favorite albums, “Plastic Beach” by the Gorillaz - much like Surf’s Up, it’s vibrant, colorful, and ear-wormy, with lyrics about a failing environment and other ethical issues. “Long Promised Road” has such a nice sentiment about positive determinism in the face of a great challenge - more music needs to be like that (like Nurture by Porter Robinson). “Take a Load Off Your Feet” spoke to me specifically as I am feeling more and more physical ailments after each work day/workout. Lastly, “Student Demonstration Time” is awesome for how blunt it is, just listen and learn. Loved everything I heard and learned, loved the messaging a lot here! Thats 4 BOOMS from me

I always look like this >:( when I see Jack White/most any rock on this list past 2010. So much had been going on that was so far outside the realm of anything guitar-based. Luckily for me, this isn’t as ‘rock’ as it seemed at fave value. Furthermore, almost anytime I’ve listened to a Jack White record, I’ve come away thinking “this guy really has a lot of fun performing”, and I once again feel the same way with Blunderbuss! It did take a little while to settle into, though. Then “Love Interruption” played and I started really enjoying things - it’s probably my highlight of the album. The title track is pretty cool as well, especially if you’re into Zeppelin-sounding songs. The most pure fun you can have with this record is easily with the song “I’m Shakin” which is kinda like if the Black Keys actually made something with actual character that wasn’t incredibly derivative, he sells the hell outta this song. Fun, thorough rock that isn’t afraid to explore a new idea or sound for a bit.

I’m beginning to learn that the tried & true Sabbath formula was some galavanting guitar licks paired with the most agonizing cry for help lyrics you can think of. “Changes” got its flowers with how it’s been covered over the years and I’m glad it did, the song is worth the attention. “FX” might be the musical marker for when the drugs started to kick in for Ozzy. The more this record progresses, the stranger it gets! “Supernaut” has such an interesting little percussion passage midway through. Then there’s “Laguna Sunrise” which just mellows everything out with am acousting guitar and some accompanying soaring strings. Then BOOM it’s back to some dudes rock guitar licks on “st. Vitus Dance”. It’s all a little flip-floppy and hectic, one of the more irritating instances of song sequencing/ track listing. Even with its peculiar moments or fun production choices, this album doesn’t really warrant a spot on here IMO, especially considering there’s at least one other Sabbath record on the list.

I am a sucker for two types of album openers. The first of which, I like to call the EDM Headliner Opener, where there’s a long drawn out buildup starting from practical silence and slowly easing you into some epic opening melody. The second method, after listening to this album, will from here on out be known as the “Skunk” method. 0.00 seconds wasted, your attention has been commanded by way of screaming. You don’t get much of a break until “Wail”, where noise rock meets some Elvis jiving. We continue our dive into the odd trip with the psychedelic “Fuck Shit Up” where you realize that the only rules this album follows is that there are no rules! I think this album retains its fun factor until “Love All Of Me”. Something about the more twee intro of the song made me want something more. The blueprint is set from this point on. Rocknroll tangents, baritone crooning that jumps to distorted yelling. High-energy in-your-face performances. I appreciate this album for how uncompromising it is, and how I haven’t heard much else like it on this list so far.

A few years ago I would’ve been potentially territorial about non-Americans being so critical of America, but at this point it’s totally fair and warranted. Not that this album is strictly critical, it is at times scathing, and at times painting a caricature of people here. And that’s understood! The highlight here is the insanely named “ IFWHITEAMERICATOLDTHETIUTHFORONEDAYIT'SWORLDWOULDFALLAPART” for obvious reasons. There’s a handful of good hooks here that are indicators of a pop-punky (NOT pop punk, pop-punky) formula that would be commonplace years later. My criticism of this record comes in the form of how it stays at the same level of energy and noise until “This Is Yesterday” which gets a little bit more quiet, then the rest of the album resumes that same level of noise once more. Some variation would be nice. Solid social-awareness/protest album

Much like Bill Clinton, Cat Stevens’ appeal comes in the form of his ‘folksy charm’. Stevens is direct and simplistic in his lyrical approach. Don’t expect him to even raise his voice very often. A lot of these songs seem to be about finding oneself and contemplating ones place in the modern society or universe at large. “Miles From Nowhere” holds a message about the idea of self being something beyond just the physical body. It makes me wonder if Cat Stevens was a nice comedown artists for the hippies that were coming down from some heavier trips in the 60’s. “Longer Boats” might be my sleeper pick on the album for its infectious harmonized chorus - it’s a fantastic hook that knows its power, which is why it gets repeated plenty of times over the course of 3ish minutes. “On The Road To Find Out” is probably the only noticeable moment where Stevens ramps up the intensity a bit. Then there’s the very famous “Father And Son”, which is just so arresting in the best way possible. All of these wonderful moments out of the way, I am left wishing for more “Father and Son”, and less of everything else. A bit more commitment to a song or idea, and a bit less meandering. But meandering is a big focal point of this record. Cat Stevens has a very recognizable style and voice, which is also worth a lot in the pop world. Soft 3/5 for me.

An unfortunate indictment of this albums lack of impact is the songs that Spotify played in the queue after the album ended. All of those songs were similar, but packed more of a punch than most of what can be heard here. Now, Hour of Bewilderbeast isn’t bad! Just…too hazy. I’d be more prone to enjoy this album outside the context of 1000 albums I should listen to. A few good moments on here are the opening track, “Once Around the Block”, and my pick from the whole record, “Blistered Heart”, which is full of vulnerable moments and a nice guitar melody. I don’t fault this album for anything, and could hear it accompanying a Gilmore girls style show, but I am left wishing for more substance and impact. Strong 2 stars.

I don’t want to have to come down on this album hard. I have a high tolerance for country-rock, I was raised in a home where a lot of it was played. Even if I don’t like it, I can see the appeal in its best offerings. But this is not the genre’s best offering. In fact, the genre isn’t even the big problem here. The problem, unfortunately, is Neil Young’s voice. Neil is HURTING to hit those higher notes. It’s not lovably aged like the later Johnny Cash recordings. It’s not charmingly personable like Leonard Cohen or Yung Lean. It’s just screechy and rough. Neil Young is an incredible musician, but nothing here warrants him attempting to sing his way out of things. From “Over and Over” up through “Love and Only Love”, it is a slog to sift through the singing, only to find some very safe, typical country-rock guitars and drums. It’s not all horrible though! The conviction on “White Line” is fairly compelling and memorable. “Mother Earth (Natural Anthem)” is almost like this cruel teaser at the end of the album, showing that Neil and the band are capable of unique song arrangements and quality performances. But the rest of this album, from tracks 3-9…a slog. I’d go listen to earlier, more iconic Neil Young, if that’s what you’re searching for. And if you want good country rock from the 90’s, just do Garth Brooks. Nothing to see or hear on Ragged Glory here.

A really good way for Bon Scott to go out. You can tell that this band had been doing this for a while, and that there are two brothers in the band. Everyone’s very in sync, not that this is super complex rock or anything like that. As per usual, AC/DC knows what their hits are worth, and open yet another album with a classic. “Highway to Hell” is so anthemic and indicative of the bands whole brand up to that point. “Touch Too Much” is another memorable rocker for its repeatable chorus. “If You Want Blood” is basically the same sort of song too. Which is a fair criticism levied against the band, for this album and in general. They don’t really stray from the formula at all. Which is a shame because some of their most memorable songs have those artistic liberties (with Bon Scott or Brian Johnson) like the “oy oy oy” chorus on TNT or the canons on For Those About To Rock. This record lulls into scuzzy rock monotony at points, but otherwise is a fantastic, wired-up crescendo to Bon Scott’s career and life. Soft 4/5

This album is “So” 80’s. It’s so 80’s that it has an Africana inspired art pop duet with Kate Bush that sounds a bit like their version of “Bridge Over Troubled Water”. What was it in the 80’s? Paul Simon was also on this africana-inspired pop wave. Anyways, huge highlight here is “Mercy Street” for the stellar double vocals it’s got going on, the dual-octave effect makes it sound otherworldly and leans into the dreaming effect the lyrics go on about. Really really great song. “Big Time” sounds like it should be a modern day Djo song, with its tongue-in-cheek lyrics painting a goofy narrator. Another fantastic song is “We Do What We’re Told” which once again is very airy, dreamy, and strays away from the pop side of things. No offense to the Sledgehammers of this album (banger song), but the coolest passages on here are the more experimental bits. I suppose this is a great litmus test for diving into Peter Gabriels work - if the stranger stuff on this record interests you, then get into his stuff - I know I will! I’m feeling the lightest 4 stars here, mostly for the memorable, unique songs. While there are some flops peppered in here, Peter makes a strong case for his ability to perform thorough pop music. Especially when he ends the album “So” strongly. I’ll see myself out.

Just a spectacular hook to open up with on “So Many Sides Of You”!! A groove thats super in-the-pocket, a really memorable phrase and energy thats hard not to latch onto. “Lay Your Lovin’ On Me” takes a little longer to get to the point, but the pay off is there in the chorus all the same - that chorus of vocalists are majestic, floating over the bouncy funk arrangement until it fades out. “Secrets” follows next and is a bit less impactful, doing mostly what’s the first two songs do with a bit less oomph. A special shout-out to the bendy circus keyboard effect on “Just My Imagination”, which pairs so well with the contemplative, chuckling nature of Womack on this one. What comes after are a few songs which are a pleasant but quick mix of dance floor heaters and romantic jams. Then comes “If You Think You’re Lonely Now” which very well may be the best funk song past the 70’s, if not if all time. This song is perfection and the world is better for this song existing in it. A longer closing track concludes an offering from Bobby Womack that is so fun and thorough on all fronts. Really loved this one

For better or worse, nothing offers more street cred than surviving being shot multiple times. With that as a leading narrative (emphasized as early as “What Up Gangsta”), 50 comes into the booth with a fire under his ass and a recognizable, 1-of-1 delivery. The beats on this record are sinister, bouncy, and state-of-the-art for their time. “Many Men” has basically become synonymous with surviving a situation you shouldn’t have, whether it’s as big as a shooting or as small as a car cutting you off in rush hour traffic. 50’s team knew what they had going, following up with “In Da Club”, an iconic single that enshrined him in the cultural lexicon thanks to a simple set of steel-drum hits syncopated to some crunchy club drums. What’s beyond this is more leaning into drive-by’s, pimped-out cars exhibitions of grit, and some signature 50 Cent hooks, proving that rappers can at least pass as singers every once in a while. Dr. Dre leads a team of producers in a memorable effort - all of these instrumentals are aged, but almost none of them aged *badly*. Shoutout to the VERY east-coast “Back Down” for its creeping, evil, repetitive beat. If you waved the flag for new school gangsta rap back in the day, you could point to “PIMP” to make a strong case for the shifting subgenre. This isn’t perfect front to back, “Poor Lil Rich” is a bit nasaly and repetitive. That repetition gets a pleasant break on “21 Questions” which is about as earnest and romantic as this record gets. 50 rides the album out from there, constantly aiming for crossover success, toeing the line between accessible radio cuts (even keeping the slurs and dated language to a relative minimum for it’s time) and ill-willed posturing for his G Unit. Tight flows wrap the bow on Curtis Jackson’s presentation of 50 Cent to the world. This is also the fourth 4 stars I’ll give in a row! That has to be a record for this list. Making up for the 1 star record from just before that.

It’s a bittersweet end to The Smith’s run of albums, as they were just starting to piece together ways to not be so whidbey and one-note all of the time. “I Started Something I Couldn’t Finish” highlights a strong few opening tracks on this album. “Stop Me If You Think You Heard This One Before” has a super catchy “I never, I never” refrain. Another bit of relief is Morrisey not taking himself as seriously, signaled by points on the record where he gets very weird with his vocal intonation / delivery. If this is the last Smiths album on this list, I won’t be mad about it. But I’m thankful and happy to say I’ve dropped my blind bias against them, thanks to this daily list

Technical boundaries were pushed, but u fortunately, so was my patience

There’s just no way. No way that yesterday’s album was the Byrds previous album, which wasn’t my favorite. There’s just no way. The ONLY benefit to these albums being back to back is that I still have the Notorious Byrds stuck in my head, which I would’ve otherwise forgotten in a few days time. So, comparatively, this album is a little better. Going from psychedelic rock into country probably turned some heads and turned away some fans. “I Am A Pilgrim” has gotta be a blatant rip-off of “Will The Circle Be Unbroken”, no? Like, clear as day. My highlight of the album is probably “Nothing Was Delivered”, which was a memorable tune on an otherwise forgettable back end of the record. A Bon Dylan cover, which I appreciate, as it shows that they weren’t trying to hide their inspiration for this new artistic direction. Soft 3

Ok my knee-jerk reaction to the first few seconds of the first song was to think that he sounds a bit like Jimmy Fallons impression of Barry Gibb LOL. Looking beyond that, there’s some substance here. Lots, actually. “Down Where The Drunkards Roll” paints a really vivid picture, and is probably my highlight of the record. “Has He Got A Friend For Me” is one of a few examples of this album having some actually unique things to say, some songs about stuff you probably didn’t hear much about at the time. The closing live track, “The Calvary Cross” is a pretty exceptional live jam. I think this one just comes down to personal preference, I won’t be going back to it. There’s a lot of substance here like I said, maybe just not a lot of impact or memorable delivery of it all. And that’s ok, I can see there being a time and place for this album!

Yesterday I was listening to System Of A Down, thinking to myself how one-in-a-million their sound is. I wondered what other musicians I could bring to mind that were known for such a unique, instantly-recognizable sound. Simon & Garfunkel’s harmonies came to mind. “Scarborough Fair / Canticle” took all of 20 seconds to open up this album and confirm that exact thought I had. While simple harmonies over some folksy instrumentals were commonplace in the mid/late 60’s, a song like “Cloudy” is a good example of how S&G just did it with so much more character and spunk. I think “Homeward Bound” is the popular song from this record, but honestly it fits right into the track listing, it doesn’t stick out like a sore thumb. “59th Street Bridge Song” might be the most pleasant Sunday morning go for a walk song ever - it’s very homely and peaceful. Then comes “The Dangling Conversation” which is one of the most arresting and pretty songs I’ve heard in a long time. I cannot believe that these two were operating on such a perfect level even in the 60’s, that song is incredible. There’s a bit of Bob Dylan influence on here, as is the case for most 60’s white dudes, I’m learning. “A Simply Desultory Philippic” however, isn’t just a little artistic influence, it’s an outright parody of Bobby. Does it take me out of the immersion of the record? Maybe a little, but it’s still strikingly accurate. “A Poem On The Underground Wall” is a forceful, colorful rambler that continues to keep the quality of the record super high. The closing “7 O’clock News/Silent Night” was a strangely calming experience for me. It helped me realize that the craziness we are experiencing in the country today gave a similar feeling of unease that is conveyed in the news monologue on this song. Really cool way to end the album. One of my biggest takeaways from this entire list so far (about 370 album in) is that Simon & Garfunkel are worth all the hype and more. I thought about how this list could get annoying to someone who doesn’t have a taste for S&G, but then I thought how that could even be possible! The duo is undeniable. My only giant ding on this album is that some of the songs were so good I wish they went longer and had more time to evolve and develop. Strong 4/5 stars

Sometimes it’s about set and setting. While it’s the first day of March, it’s been really nice out this weekend. It’s 60 degrees, we’ve been sitting out in the sun. I get to listen to this album on a lazy Saturday. It’s been perfect. “August Day Song” has hit its mark while I work on my gamecube controller maintenance in the sun. A huge contributor to this albums vibe it’s the really pretty blend of bossa nova with a bit of electronica production elements sprinkled in. A nod to the producer Suba, who apparently died saving this album from a studio fire. Another favorite of mine is “Algueno” for its slowed breakbeat-style rhythm, it sounds like it’s come out of a Miami sunrise circa 2000. If you wanna cut to the bossanova chase, listen to “So Nice (Summer Samba)”. The last few tracks of the album pick up the energy a bit if the pace of this album isn’t for you. But, especially in the context of this list, I don’t know how you can’t appreciate this album. Something as unique as a Brazilian bossa album helps create a listening experience, not just an album to get through. Loved this!

Music brings people together, and sometimes people bring music together. I’ve learned that many times over, and this album is no exception to that rule. With that in mind, I’m so thankful for my lovely wife Emma and her strong conviction to bringing my ears to women-led hands like this, and to the catharsis Siouxse and the Banshees provided her and so many others. Not only is there a great deal of catharsis to be experienced in the topics this record covers, but it’s performed so well - especially for the late 70’s. The last minute or so of “Carcass” has a super catchy clap rhythm section that must’ve been especially fun to hear in concert. Immediately after is one of the coolest covers of all time, “Helter Skelter” with an eerie, silence-ridden intro. It’s a cover that has so many cool tricks and production elements in it, I don’t want to spoil any more by further talking about it. The high-pitcher vocal intonations towards the end of “Metal Postcard” and the beginning of “Nicotine Stain” give everything all the more character. Please forgive my ignorance, but whatever that now famous punk/postpunk drum pattern is that’s done on “Switch” here is maybe the best example of it ever performed. The only crime here is not one to do with the music or the band, but on American audiences not giving this album aa much widespread love aa it deserves.

I don’t know if I’ll remember many songs from this record, but I will remember how great it sounded and how well it was produced for 1995 (remaster aside). “Only Happy When It Rains” is probably my highlight for its anthemic chorus. “As Heaven Is Wide” has a nice mellow breakbeat and chunky guitar loop/bassline. “Stupid Girl” has a really sticky little piano refrain on loop that stuck with me through the album. “Milk” is a personal pick for me for its downtempo breaks, synth strings, and general dramatic rock-meets-electronica mood. Is this rock? Is this electronica? Who’s to say, but it’s worth a listen. Actually solid / 5.

Ok is this among the best that Clapton has to offer for his solo stuff? I genuinely am unfamiliar. Because if so…meh. Not only am I left underwhelmed, but I feel like there’s a lot of lifting from black culture/music here. “Willie and the Hand Jive” is an eyebrow raiser, but the cover of “I Shot The Sheriff” is Drake levels of lingual and cultural appropriation. This is how not to it, whereas an album like Paul Simon’s “Graceland” is a much better example of honoring black culture and highlighting black voices without just ripping it off. I wish more songs were like “Please Be With Me” or “Let It Grow”. You can see the soft beating heart poking through, no gimmicks, no code-switching.

Despite hating fast cars, the opening track is kinda the energetic equivalent of driving a really fast car. The drum patterns and fills specifically are really impressive for punk music, whoever the drummer is, he’s shredding! “Get On Our Own” has a really funny vocal holler on the chorus that was a highlight for me. The lyrics of “Sixteen” give me an uneasy feeling, which sucks because the composition is so cool and unique. There’s a handful of moments peppered throughout the record that make sure you’re paying attention. Worth your time / 5.

Almost positive the opening sound effect on this album is a Star Wars tie fighter. Could that be related to the album title? The year Star Wars came out?? Is there a lot of substance to this album? Not really, honestly. But I need to check myself, because I feel like the me of 8-10 years ago would’ve been more into this one. Lots of angst and raw energy, lots of songs about girls and the highs and lows of being young. My highlight on here is easily “Kung Fu”, as it’s the most pure fun on the record. Still, I am left questioning if this deserves a spot on a list of 1001 albums you need to listen to.

After an off-putting opener, U2 settles into their sound nicely on “Even Better Than The Real Thing”. “One” is a very simple, timeless hit that can still be appreciated to this day. “Mysterious Ways”, on the other hand, to me is largely overrated and shes not as well. Everything in between is kinda just ho-hum. This whole album is a blueprint for bands like Radiohead to take and experiment with / iterate on.

If you asked Scott Walker what to do when life gives you lemons, I’d bet he’d answer something along the lines of “make the most elaborate, decadent, flavorful, bright, sugary lemon cake.” There’s so much character and rapid fire imagery here within the first minute of the first song that you kinda gotta meet the album where it’s at. I’d love to ask him to slow down but that’s apart of the fun of it all. “Jackie” sets the tone for the whole record, and depending on how you receive it, you could be in for a great, vivid trip, or a tiresome, theatrical display. You know who I’d like to draw a modern comparison to? Orville Peck. Especially on the song “Black Sheep Boy”. Everything is so galavanting and turned up to 11, even on the softer cuts. “Next” is both incredible and kinda harrowing/sad. It’s so specific that I wonder if this was a lived experience. “The Girls From The Streets” continues some fantastic story-telling, but locks you in your listening seat and doesn’t let you move. This album on the whole is full of songs that seem just a beat off from achieving massive pop success. The colorful instrumental arrangements are there (“Wait Until Dark” was one of my favorites), the even more colorful vocal performances are there. It’s just that Scott never turned it down a notch. I really respect it, I think he has a great intuition for songwriting and showmanship. It’s just a lot to take in. Still, I had a lot of active listening moments throughout Scott 2, and for that, I appreciate this album a lot!

There is no FUCKING WAY this is the third Byrds album I pull in two weeks. Unacceptable!!! To the maker of this list, I hope you suffer the listening of 1001 bloated, nothing-burger pop albums this year. What’s worse is this comes on my Sunday run day. This is not music to run to!!!! “5D” is a respectable opener that is both placid and transcendental, which momentarily quelled my rage for having to listen to this album. Aa I make my way through this track list, I’m realizing this is the easiest on the ears of the three Byrds albums I’ve had so far. No matter the performance or message, like the anti-war “I Come and Stand at Every Door”, I’m having a hard time reckoning with this. “Eight Miles High” doesn’t have the star power needed to justify anything either. No, no “Hey Joe” variation will do oy for me either. No, the endearing “John Riley” won’t stop me from being mad. The Byrds are not among the handful of artists that deserve 3, let alone 2, spots on this list.

This is a massive success full of measured vocal performances layered on top of exquisite instrumental jams. Right off the bat, “You Ain’t The Problem” is an ear worm that sets a great tone for the album. “I’ve Been Dazed” is another great song just a few tracks later that goes on a nice little psychedelic exploration. The jams continue on “Piano Joint” which has this suspense-laden, Bond movie string section with a fantastic vocal performance. What follows is one of my favorite things in a good album, the use of relative silence to heighten the atmosphere. It’s at this point that I knew I was in for something special! I think that use of silence and creation of ‘space’ is what I’d most like to highlight about this album. It seems like Michael Kiwanuka is always hitting the right spot in terms of energy and emphasis - everything comes off so effortless. What sealed the deal for me was the transition between “Interlude” and “Solid Ground”. WOW. Just perfect. I’m treating this album as a gift for having gotten through my 3rd Byrds album in a few weeks. A STRONG 4/5 stars!

If you can stomach some of the craziness and make it through the occasional song that gets a bit lost in its story, you’re in for a narrative treat on this one. “Stagger Lee” is a shocking, wildly vivid story that makes you wish it wasn’t true. “Lovely Creature” is good for its haunting sonic atmosphere with those airy backing female vocals and that constant snare roll. “The Curse Of Millhaven” is an outstanding song, story, and my highlight on this record. Not only does it captivate you with its narrative, but the “la la la la” melody it keeps reciprocating just adds even more to the tension. Nick Cave sells out with the energy he gives this performance! “O’Malleys Bar” probably has the best character portrait of all the murderers on here (crazy sentence to say, I know). Last, “Death Is Not The End” puts a unique bow on the whole thing, but its message is fitting considering the albums concept of innocent people being killed. This album is a rarity to me in that it gets better as you get further into the track list. You sink into these vivid, terrifying stories with ease thanks to thoughtful vocal performances and some helpful backing tracks.

I know I just got done listening to the new Panda Bear album, but wow does he sound like a new version of the title track on here. So thats saying I enjoyed the start of this album. It’s all got a pleasant, trying to be utopia feel about it. “Do You Remember Walter” sounds a lot like the blueprint for Mr Bluesky too! Unfortunately, around “Johnny Thunder”, this album succumbs to a bit of the tired sounds of it’s time, I feel myself resisting the urge to think comparatively about the Beatles, etc. “Starstruck” is a standout for me for the “babababa” chorus. “All My Friends Were There” is so goofy and circus-ish that I replayed it a couple times. This is overall a respectable effort, I’m guessing this was a diversion from some of the earlier mid-60’s stuff The Kinks and others were doing. Easy on the ears / 5.

The first 45 seconds I’m like ahhh what a nice instrumental this will be fun then BOOM AHHHHH HE SOUNDS LIKE MORRISEY AHHHHHH!!! I’m only partially kidding. I don’t wanna say I had high hopes for this album, but anytime I see something post-2000 I’m hopefully for a breath of fresh air. I didn’t necessarily get that here. I heard a bit of what was contemporary for this albums time, but nothing that Arctic Monkeys didn’t do better at a similar/slightly later time. “What Katie Did” was a fun little stroll of a song. “Road To Ruin” had a very The Clash sort of marching vibe to it. As the album begins, so it ends with a Morrisey/Smiths style song in “What Became of the Likely Lads”. I think this album is good for its aesthetics, isn’t a bad listen by any means, but doesn’t leave a lasting impression or differentiate itself from the crown of British rock at the time. Some vibes but nothing more / 5.

Moby might be one of THE toughest challenges facing both my actual music preferences, and my admitted biases. When I was younger, I didn’t understand Aphex Twin. I thought it was just bleepy noise, that dubstep and electro house was where it’s at. Not too long ago, this list even broke through my preconceptions about how whiny the smiths were (to an extent, at least). But Moby…Moby was and has been a tough nut for me to crack. All I ever heard was wallpaper music that sat in the boring middle ground between music for ambience and actually palpable electronic music you could move to. ‘Electronica’ has been a tough moniker in general for me that I’m only really getting over my dispositions for in the past year or so. All of this to say, I have been waiting for this one, for better or for worse. Did Moby deserve the success this album brought on? Have I aged enough to ‘understand’ Moby? Does age = broader taste? Is it a ‘me’ problem? Well, it's complicated. The music on here is very fundamental. I wouldn't be mad at you if you just called them beats. And the beats take a downturn once "Southside" hits in the tracklisting. The classic 90's slowed breakbeat doesnt change, but the singing on this track isnt it. I liked the new age, surreal moments on "Porcelain" and "Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad?" well enough, but this just wasnt it. A song like "Machete" is a good example of what I feel this album lacks: impact. There's just no punch in most of these songs. They're more vibes than songs, or somewhere stranded in the middle between a vibe and a song. "Down Slow" works better as an interlude, becuase it's jsut that - an interlude. A short, hazy beat that knows when to leave after a minute and a half. I think DJ Shadow's Endtroducing... does everything this record fails to do. Endtroducing is additive and wandering, sometimes randomly frenetic, always engaging and/or mysterious. Play is just a bit too wallpaperish, too frequently. Maybe good for a kickback, that's about all. I can't say my opinions totally changed on this album, and on Moby so far. While I understand the appeal a tiny bit more, and recognize this music has its place, I still dont know that we all lifted the right guy to such great heights during his peak. Nothing sticks.

This might be quintessential music made to conjure a mosh pit. Malicious messaging, volatile vocal performances, violent instrumentals. It’s done well! For what it is. The drumloop weaving in and out of “Eyeless” then going back to the ‘can’t see California’ vocal line was really cool. I didn’t expect any song from this album to be as sticky and memorable as that one. For sure my highlight of the project. “Surfacing” might be a nice little summation of this record - within the wild defiance and chaos lies a still-beating heart thats one bad day away from dropping the scary facade to give way to tears and all the trauma head on. Call this numetal or anything else you wanna call it, it’s not galavanting and it’s not typically machismo like some metal is (though “Tattered & Torn” would like you to think otherwise). I found a lot more nuance and substance here than I expected to. I think it just took a lot of trauma and a lot of artistic vision to realize the trauma in the way this album sounds. It’s crazy to read that they took their sound in a ‘darker’ direction after this. Seems hard to do! I wouldn’t listen to this again but am surprised by how much I got out of it / 5

What a fascinating ‘passage of time’ skit to open an album. Telling a story without rapping about what’s happening. Then “Things Done Changed” drops with one of the coolest, snazziest instrumentals under Biggies iconic flow and it’s just chills! The string section coming in and out on loop, it’s all so lavish. Track after track here, it’s all about hitting licks, kicking back, and living in the afterglow of everything BIG did to come upon these riches. I’m so impressed with the sweet spot these beats find - full of character and texture, but never getting in the way of the rapping. Around “The What”, things start to get a little one-note, which is what makes “Juicy” even more refreshing. What a purely happy song. My problem with this album is just that it’s a little bloated, in a vacuum. Add to the context that biggie never got to put much more out after this, and I can give some lenience, but only some. Still, in so many ways this album is chalk-full of iconography. It forged an immediate legacy, I respect it for that

Not a lot of heart, soul, or variation to be found here - and I don’t think they intended for that in a cool way. You know it’s tough when the singles that I remember from my childhood dont really invoke a sense of nostalgia. “Save A Prayer” is a slight stand out, but it, as well as “The Chauffer” show up too little too late. Maybe there was a visual component I’m missing out on since this was around MTV times, but other artists dug so much more out of this sound and took it in so many more interesting directions. Just skip this album / 5

I’d like to know the bands ethos and intent with making this album. Because I think it’s great background indie music, meant to sit out of focus or accompany another activity. Nothing offensive, few moments where they break into a sound thats more loud or focused. Those moments are my highlights! “Two Weeks” is an Arcade-Fire-style classic. The last minute of “I Live With You” gets exciting. And “Foreground” is very aptly named, as it’s more captivating of the listeners attention than most songs on here. Put this on as you go for a long PNW drive / 5

A lot to say and dig into here! I think the way this album addresses tragedy and loss is really beautiful. On the other side of the coin, I think the way this album addresses love and romance is often shallow and dull. Even with that in mind, the opener “Bury Me Deep In Love” is still memorable, and establishes the singers super powerful vocal presence. That vocal presence impressed me throughout, he has a very full, grand voice. “Hometown Farewell Kiss” is completely an Aussie take on something Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band we’re doing a while before, but it’s still super fun and punchy. Also, it’s so sad! I wonder if this pulls from the same inspiration/tragic events “Beds Are Burning” pulls from. “Jerdacuttup Man” was so cool that it led me down the rabbit hole of this songs inspiration coming from a museum visit. Also that chorus! So good. Sooooo so so good. This is probably my highlight on the record. The way it transitions into the gothic piano interlude on the next song is fantastic. This album isn’t perfect though. “Baby Can I Walk You Home” is a good example of the cheesy, more boring parts of this record. So happy I get to listen to albums like these because of this list. Would never have known about them otherwise. Hidden gems, almost a 4, strong 3 / 5 stars!

While this isn’t even close to his best record, I still had an instant popoff seeing this one generated for me this morning. You ever just say fuck it we’re making a goddamn pop album? Because the advent of MTV pushed Bruce Springsteen to do so. It seems a little hollow-hearted, given his previous album was this super stripped back, depressing set of portraits that reflected the bad mental state he’d been in for a bit. All of this can be heard in the music on this album. The opener / title track is likely the best protest song of the 80’s and maybe top 10 pop songs of that decade too. Iconic melody front-loads the track, anthemic choruses throughout, all to potentially divert your attention from Bruce lamenting about the domestic and foreign tragedies of the Vietnam war. The next 3 songs are kinda just reskins of each other, which is my major gripe for this record, it’s just song after song trying to be a pop hit with various amounts of success. Most of the topics and even the language he uses stays the same (I don’t like how much he uses the term ‘little girl’ to talk about a girl he likes). Stuff about working union jobs and traveling through county lines. But “Downbound Train” is a little bit stickier and more self-serious, it kinda feels like a holdover from Nebraska, that aforementioned dim last album. I’m pretty sure Born In The USA is too! “Bobby Jean” has an instrumental that takes it back a few years to prime Springsteen days, but the lyrics on this one are painfully rigid honestly - same with “I’m Goin Down”. I also feel like this one specifically has the super typical pop chord structure, I could be wrong on that? That’s ok, because this is a pop album and “Dancing in the Dark” is such a stellar reminder of that! Maybe the most electronic and dancey Springsteen will ever get, and it’s soooooooo good. Just such an ear worm of a melodic progression. A pop song thats about struggling to write a pop song. Fun! Much like Dark Side Of The Moon, I think iconography plays a big part in this albums long-term success. Simple album cover, simple pop hits help you get through some of the pop misses on this one. Bruce takes his great showmanship and ability to paint a picture to the arena rock stage and TV screen all once. A soft but anthemic 4 / 5 stars

Culturally ubiquitous. Likely the best pure, succinct classic rock record. If you got rid of “Four Sticks” or swapped it out for something a bit more experimental, this is the perfect album. I have no more to say because there is no more to say

Just a very fun, colorful, clear-eyed record. It really started to come to life with “Come Om Feel The Illinois! Pt. 1”. Evo with a sing as grim as “John Wayne Gacy Jr”, this whole album feels like floating through a twee, shimmery dream state. Like if “Eleanor Rigby” was more spread out and happy. Son 7 & 8 give you that indie mandolin/banjo fix (the titles are just too long to type out). The intro on song 12 almost shook the belief I was starting to form that this album is perfect to put on and just daydream to. That’s the highest compliment I can pay here, it’s just perfect daydream music. Song 15 might be my personal pick for Illinois, not just for how good it is, but for how it kicks off a string run of back half tracks. A twinkly, dreamy record that functions well as one cohesive listening experience!

Let’s get the obvious out of the way: Björk is a generational talent whose vocal presence completely demands your attention so much that you forget there’s a band performing with her. The music is solid here though! Love the horn section on “Motocrash”, love the guitar and drum groove on the following “Birthday”. It all lies somewhere between influence of the Police/Sting, the success of Siouxsie and the Banshees, the vocal dynamics of the B52’s, and just a hint of the advent of whichever wave of ska-rock was happening then. I think my personal favorite in here is “Sucj for Toys”, it’s really fun and I love when a guy who’s second language is English sings/speaks in English on songs (see: all of the white MC’s on 90’s and early 2000’s Eurodance songs). It stays really fun and gets more strange on “F***ing in Rhythm & Sorrow” with that Ballroom Blitz snare drum pattern and crazy story. Come for the Björk & Icelandic band, stay for the cooky fun of it all / 5

Any Bowie day is a good day! And this one has its good qualities. David Bowie, as always, was ahead of the curve - this time digging into funk/soul influences well before more other non-black musicians would do so. “Young Americans” is awesome, but my highlight here has to be “Fascination” for how much it stuck in my head and how forward-thinking it was. Bowie shows the Beatles a lot of love on this album as well, the cover of “Across the Universe” is super solid, and yet another shining example of how much he sells out on his vocal performances. At the same time, I had a hard time grasping some of the melodies and ideas in this record. All the pieces are there, excellent performances left and right. Just not the most memorable/sticky Bowie albums. I hold him to a very very high standard. Great by any other artists standard, good by Bowie standards

I have taken everything into account, including this albums background/inspiration, as well as how well I’ve been actively listening & engaging with albums this year — and I just want to say: They named the band after the rating this album gets.

Another instance of me being so happy to be born when I was, I don’t think I would be as open or receptive to how beautiful this album is if I were much older. The amount of sonic textures and different things happening on each song is amazing. BT-style stutter edits of Chester Bennington & Mike Shinodas voices. The heavy guitar powerchords. All sorts of bitcrush, lowpass and highpass filters. It’s all perfectly busy and full. Both “Crawling” & “In The End” are generational anthems with iconic choruses and lead melodies. “Forgotten” is my deep cut pick on the record. “Cure For The Itch” is incredible because it sounds like it for sure was made for the matrix movie, in a very earnest, cool way. “High Voltage” is a sweet bonus track, notable both for how it talks about what the numetal wave was experiencing in its newness at the time, and also admittedly being a bit campy. And that brings me to my only pitfall of this record - how campy, angsty, and slightly cringy it can be. I totally get it! Those things haven’t deterred me from enjoying the hell out of it, but I get it if that puts up a wall for you. Chester Bennington had such a one-of-a-kind voice, and he had it from the very start. Say what you will about Mike Shinoda’s whiteboy style of rapping, but the two for each other like a glove, such a perfect dynamic. A most respectful 4/5 stars

Maybe about as good as it gets in terms of classic rock before the total takeover of electric guitars propelled the genre into its new age. Jim Morrison has a huge vocal presence, his performances here kinda convince the listener that he was born to be a frontman. As always, there’s so much black cultural/musical influence on a rock records of this time, and it gets really hard to overlook as soon as “Been Down So Long” in the track listing here. It goes without saying but the title track has such a cool tempo pickup in its second half and probably could’ve only been done so well thanks to the treasure trove of drugs available to the Doors at the time. I really like the hypnotic keyboard playing on “L’America”! Then I really really liked the lead vocal melody right after on “Hyacinth House”. I will say, you better like Jim Morrisons tone and vocal delivery, because he kinda stays within a certain range the whole time - I could see it being hard to get through if you don’t dig his voice. “The WASP” may be your only bit of changeup for his voice, and thats also mostly due to how it was recorded and processed differently. In fact, this cut might be my non-obvious pick for the record! Great storytelling. L.A. Woman sticks the landing by ending with “Riders On The Storm”, tying the bow on an album full of character, keyboard, and just the right amount of psychedelia.

Few albums are accompanied with more baggage than this one. This is not the best Kanye record, though it makes its case for one right out of the gate, “Dark Fantasy” has such a sweet refrain from Alicia Keys. A few songs later, “Power” insists that Kanye is a corrupted, greedy, highly flawed narrator for this whole project. This songs little vocal chant lead was so pervasive that it dominated everything from radio stations to edm festivals. Just as much can be said about the following “All Of The Lights” with its simple horn lead. “Monster” and “So Appalled” have the most 2010 instrumentals of all time, they’re beats that could’ve belonged to Lana Del Rey as much as anyone. “Devil In A New Dress” is the old Kanye in a new album, backed by a slow, string-laden soul sample. Then comes “Runaway”, when Kanye pulls back the curtain to let a rare sense of true self guide him to making this opus. It’s the type of rambling honesty that makes you want to take your 2025 Time Machine and go back to have an intervention with THIS Kanye. “Hell of a Life” follows as a lowlight, with a clunky interpolation of the Iton Man melody. “Blame Game” goes on to sample one of my favorite songs of all time, with mixed results. The bit with John Legend singing right along with the melody is catchy, but I think everything else going on here kinda muddies the serenity of the piano melody. It also sort of weaponizes the same honesty on “Runaway” for evil instead of good. “Lost In The World” is such a peculiar collaboration that managed to happen well before rappers openly admitted they listened to alternative artists like Tame Impala or Mac Demarco. This is the best slice of production work in my eyes, even if it’s just a bit different with those more upbeat drum break samples and colorful bits of chorus vocal processing. It ends off with a vocal sample that leads to the last track which is all a bit hard to take seriously as a message Kanye really meant from the heart, all things considered now. It now comes across as shallow and tokenistic, ruining an otherwise powerful speech and important message. But I suppose morally ‘shallow’ is apart of the Kanye experience from this record onward. I always felt a sizable tonal shift after “Graduation, when his mom passed. Not attempting to humanize someone who’s gone off the inhumane end, just tracking the events that presented this albums sense of grand tragedy. Soft 4 stars.

Fun, straightforward, upbeat punk (if ever that was a thing), with a little west coast surf influence at times? Like, I really hear it on “Adult Books”, with those guitar chords and strum patterns. “Universal Corner” highlights the man and woman sharing lead vocal duties super well, they have an excellent vocal dynamic. In fact, everything this band does on the album comes off with such ease, it’s really impressive. “Some Other Time” is my highlight for how distilled and catchy the whole vocal is! But the guitar melody on “White Girl” is a close second highlight too. This one really snuck up on me! There’s just no misses here. Fun jam after fun jam. Really had a great time with Wild Gift!

Malcom McLaren doesn’t make music here as much has he orchestrated a surreal collage that demands you just have an open mind (and hope you like South African & tropical & Caribbean music). Didn’t really go into this expecting anything specific, and was quickly hit with one of the nicest, sweetest, most calming song openers I’ve ever heard - right up my alley in how calming and almost ambient it is. Then “Buffalo Gals” comes on and the placid state Ive been lulled into is quickly shattered and I’m now expecting the unexpected. It’s the type of surreal sampling technique that really sends the listener into a feverish dream state. If you like this album but have never heard anything else like it, I IMPLORE you to listen to some newer surrealist stuff. Deaths Dynamic Shroud, Nmesh, or even some Oneohtrix Point Never kinda took this surreal formula and ran with it. I am also reminded of Apex Twin in the way this album also goes from the most frenetic mess of sounds to something twinkly and beautiful in the span of a few minutes. I’m such a sucker for albums with radio interludes and radio dj’s as pseudo narrators - especially here where it provides a little through-line in the otherwise nonsensical sound collage craziness. This is an incredibly demanding listen, and probably was even more hard to stomach for it’s time, before the advent of internet media overload made something so surreal kinda normal. If this wasn’t/isn’t for you, I completely understand. But a song like “Punk It Up” mashed into everything going on here, especially given the context of its creator? So, so cool. “Song For Chango” is another highlight for me, if there even a way to sort and organize my thoughts on the track sequencing. This album ending with some sort of reverb screaming sound is so perfect. I really thought about giving this a 5/5 stars. I can’t and won’t, it just isn’t quite there, but it’s damn close. I had SUCH a good time listening to this album, and probably won’t listen to it many more times. So frenetic and fun. The dancing monkey in my brain is activated and satisfied. Everybody should listen to this album just once. You can hate it, but you have to experience it!

The appeal of this album comes almost completely in the form of what Johnny Cash is saying between the songs, not singing. He was clearly very engaging and had a super attentive crowd. My highlight is the midway point through “A Boy Named Sue” where he gets super riled up about the part where Sue meets his dad. Not much else to say for this short live album. If there’s the Folsom county live performance on the list, then I don’t really see a need for this record to be here.

What a good day. 400 album checked off, this album was a pleasant surprise, AND we got the Skrillex album/mixtape full of unreleased music. Can you believe I took the time to listen to AVV1 before the Skrillex project? I did, and I loved it! By the time “Id Like That” came around in the track list, I had an inkling that I’d like the whole project. Then “Easter Theater” came on and I KNEW I’ll be loving this whole project. Nothing gets me locked tf in like some baroque/art pop done well. Such a fantastic song, by far my highlight of the record and will be replayed many times over. “Frivolous Tonight” continues the theme of fun, silly, unique art pop that keeps the spirits high. Big fan of the quirky, arabesque instrumental on “Greenman”, which kinda feels like when a sonic game sends you into the ‘desert level’. Even the misses on here like “Your Dictionary” are very harmless and campy at worst. I love the portrait of a man “Fruit Nut” paints, how he’s so happy to just go about his hobbies. Big big fan of that. My goal of being more attentive since the beginning of 2025 paid off big on this album. Having to go to YouTube for this one was no big deal. Am I giving more 4’s as a result of this, or are we just on a hot streak? Time will tell, but this album earned its 4 with some timeless production elements, art pop, and fun vibes.

I wish I could say I got more out of this personally, but for me it was just a bit too downtrodden/mellow, even at its high points. Not that this record is bad, I’m grateful this list included it, as it’s sooo outside of my realm of music. Just not my taste. My favorite is probably “Death To Everyone” for its measured perspective on life. Really hard to listen to something this smooth/tame when that new Skrillex album is lighting up my world rn. A respectful, I’ll never listen to it again 3/5 stars.

Is this the third Beastie Boys album already? Is it justified? I have very split feelings on this album. On one hand, the production & sampling work is UNREAL here. Every beat is so well put together while still sounding so loud and reckless. Tons of little bits of samples and sound effects, fantastic drums and low-ends. The opening “Rhymin & Stealin” sets the tone with the Led Zep sample and caveman rhyme schemes (or screams). The guys have excellent chemistry too! I don’t know if this was around the time of the “jock jam” but this has to be up there in terms of quintessential jock jam albums no? It’s like if LMFAO were 3 white boys in the 80’s, it’s just all about partying and fun and being up to no good. Which brings me to the part that split my feelings on this record. The lyrics. Over and over and over again I’m jamming out and having a great time then *BOOM* an awful word then another song goes by then *BOOM* a problematic sentence. I get it, it was a different time and we are all better now, but it was really bringing an otherwise fun time down a lot. Like, near the two minute mark of “New Style” about being Jimmy Page and liking underage girls…I don’t know if that’s a self-aware lyric or not but cmon. Just cmon. I have a theory that “Fight For Your Right” isn’t just popular because it’s an incredible party anthem to easily scream, but because it’s the song that has potentially some of the least problematic stuff in the lyrics. I’m gonna say my favorite is “Girls” for how silly it is, but I do cringe in admitting it, because the lyrics aren’t good. It’s really nice to know that these guys got a bit more heady and a lot more experimental as time went on, I remember really liking “Bodhisattva Vow” from Ill Communication. If youre looking for anything that isn’t mindless, loud, reckless, sometimes problematic party music - you aren’t gonna find it here. But if you are looking for that? I’m not sure you’ll find a better album for it. The softest 4/5 stars I can give

When I was a kid, I had this PlayStation game called “Sled Storm” which was a hyper-stylized snowmobile racing game. On of the races was this multi-level track that would wind through a demented, slightly surreal, nighttime circus world. Lots of misfiring pyrotechnics, evil clown obstacles, and some sort of race announcer yelling through speakers suspended around the track. This album reminds me of that experience. Much like I do for baroque pop, I locked the fuck in when the opening song started out with a demented circus style loop and a raspy, belty lead singer. Total personal bias, these things just always grab my attention. But I think if you’re willing to wait out the slow first half of the opening song, almost any listener will be super engaged with how the track transforms into a crazy, noisy collage. I think my highlight on here is “Longue Route” for how much is sells out with the loudness and noise, a couple cool airy sound effects, and a very good loop at the first half of the song. But honestly it’s hard to pick out one favorite, as this one of this albums best qualities is how well all of its pieces work together - songs different enough to stand out from the others, but all very cohesive in creating a very specific ambiance. I’d love to see what the production and recording process was like for this record. There’s such a unique mix of looped instrumentation and samples, almost all with some reverb or post-processing effects added to make it all sound like it came from the same centralized recording location. Lastly, this album leaves me wondering about a few things. Would I have enjoyed this as much as I do now if this were one of the first albums we had on this list, or if I listened to this at a much younger age? Maybe, but probably not as much. This does require some active listening ears. Did the language barrier help or hurt here? I don’t think it hurt, but I’m not sure it helped either. Am I giving out too many 4’s lately? Also maybe, probably. I don’t intend on listening to this record ever again, at least for leisure. But I really did get a lot out of this album. I have a tremendous amount of respect for this album, for using instrumentation we are all familiar with in a completely unique way. The Young Gods interpretation of how to make music, and their composition/production process, all deserves a 4/5.

The speed and energy at which this album operates is spectacular. The lead singer stays at an 11 out of 10 energy level that gets at the essence of what English punk was all about. “Obsessed With You” is such a great example of this constant energy. What’s really cool is that this album doesn’t sacrifice instrumental variety or melodic ideas for that high level of energy. “Warrior in Woolworths” and “Let’s Submerge” introduce a really nice saxophone, as an example of this variety. How cool it must’ve been to be young in the British punk scene to hear albums like this on their release. So much emotion fueling these performances. “Identity” for sure is my favorite off this project. It’s got such a cool start, the lead singer totally sells out with some super infectious screaming/singing. And the crazy, spectacular horn section!!! So fucking good. The little electric guitar refrains that pop in and out super quickly are a little cherry on top of this song which is genuinely one of the better songs I’ve been able to discover this far in 400+ albums on this whole list! Can’t say enough good things about “Identity”. Whatever platform this song did or didn’t have in its time, it deserved tenfold. “Plastic Bag” specifically is such a cool concept because it goes from something that sounds like a Black Country, New Roads sax jam (for all the 20-something’s out there) immediately into an explosive, speedy punk song. The only real change-up on this album is the title track, and it’s really nice! Cool processing/playing on the rhythm guitar/synth? It’s hard to tell if it’s one, or the other, or both. STRONG 3/5, but I could totally see if this was/is your punk opus. Lots of fun listening to this one!

I have no doubt that this album was way ahead of its time. It sounds like something that came from 1986, not 1976. For that alone, Oxygene deserves its props. Beyond just being an innovative synth album, there are moments throughout the project that still sound massive and impactful by today’s standards - I think that can be attributed to a tasteful balance of quiet passages or near-silent moments. I also have no doubt that there are moments on this record that have locked its sonic aesthetics in a time capsule. “Part 2” was a song I liked a lot, cool synth arp at the beginning. Then some laser sfx throughout that reminded me of the ones on “Superheroes” by Daft Punk. I loved the phased out chords on “Oart 4”. Pretty indistinguishable from an Air track, really impressive. The first 3 minutes of “Part 5” soften things up with those delicate, twinkly suspended chords. Feels like the very stereotypical introduction of the love interest in a sci-fi movie song. But it kinda breaks away from that into something more progressive with some white noise hits that sound kinda chiptuney. This album is SO French-electronica, and “Part 6” probably did a whole lot to lay the groundwork for the region and subgenre as a whole. It’s got a beachy, waiting-room drum machine loop. It’s got swells of white noise and synth pads heavily rinsed in a phaser/flanger effect again. I may not have been around for the advent of the cassette player or the giant laser disk, but I know the quintessential synth wave / electronica sounds when I hear them. This was a really good way to end the album. Good music to put on in the background at night while doing something mellow. 3/5.

The redeeming quality of this album is how whimsical and silly it gets in its second half. As memorable as the narrated sequences were, it’s still something of a gimmick that only took the record so far. “Rene” was an early peak into how goofy everything would eventually get. Shoutout to the drum full at 1:08 in “Rollin Over” I feel like I’ve heard that as a sample a lot of times. The closing “HappyDaysToyTown” is the best song on here, for how it goes for the full-on parlor chant anthem. Even though I had a lot of fun sitting with this project, I don’t think it deserves a spot on here, nothing about the music itself is unique or exceptional

The completionists album. There are no misses in the track listing here. An exploration of love and identity through the gentle concept of a predominantly black classroom discussion. Many things are impressive about Miseducation. One of which is how every beat is great, and no beat gets in the way of Ms. Lauren Hill. But I suppose it’s hard to do that, because another impressive thing is how Lauren Hill can sing and croon AND rap all in one song, or switch it up completely from one song to the next. I hear some Stevie Wonder inspiration sprinkled throughout this album. I hear it specifically on the vocal runs in “To Zion” with Carlos Santana, which is such a sweet pairing. I also hear the influence in “Every Ghetto, Every City” with those Stevie Wonder “Superstitious” keys. Beyond the sonic influence, I hear how she can speak from the heart about matters both personal and social, both she and he could cut through lots of tropes to get to the core of what they wanted to speak on. “Doo Wop (That Thing)” is a classic that doesn’t need to be talked about, just listened to. “Ex-factor” is crazy because it’s one of her best songs for the first four minutes or so, then has a Prince-esque guitar solo at the end that makes it even better. “Final Hour” is just bars after bars after bars, it’s dizzying and so full of phrases to think on. Miseducation is a project of the heart, from the heart.

It doesn’t take a deep Wikipedia dive to know that this is an album made by a man who is bitter about a divorce he’s gone through. And honestly, I wish it weren’t so, because the result is not Marvin’s best work. This is the third album of his that this list has produced, this one comes from the most hateful and personally downtrodden perspective of the three. While R&B roots itself in such emotions, I don’t think Mr. Gaye produces any unique or memorable perspectives with such emotions. At best, it’s moody, at worst, it’s meandering, aimless, and petty. My pick to listen to from this record is “Anger” which is sort of a third person view of Marvin, where he extricates himself from the divorce emotions he’s feeling to give a more measured view on what anger does to him and others in general. None of the music is ‘bad’ here, but none of it stands out or merits a spot on this list.

I don’t wanna hear about how this album was a pioneering bastion for post-punk as a whole. If that’s the case, then the best thing I can say about First Issue is the quote from moneyball, “the first one through the wall always gets bloody”. Because this is a bloody mess at times. While the songs “Religion 1 & 2” are true to the spirit of punk music, it’s about as shallow of a criticism of organized religion as I can think of. So many songs have made more tactful, interesting criticisms than these ones. Even the rhyme scheme and delivery is clunky. The shouting toward the end of “Annalisa” isn’t raw or cool, it’s grading and doesn’t reward the listener for getting through a very humdrum track thats mostly comprised of one melodic loop. Is “Fodderstompf” a parody of more popular music of its time? I genuinely couldn’t tell or come up with another reason why the album ended that way. Hard to find anything good to say about this album other than I’m glad that post-punk developed into much more than the sounds of this project

This is the second BeeGees concept album on this list to loosely use historic maritime activities and locations in its concept 💀 haven’t even heard the disco albums yet. Much like Trafalgar, the most dazzling thing about this record is the soaring string arrangements. “You’ll Never See My Face Again” and “Whisper Whisper” confronts the listener with the idea that maybe every white band in 68-70 wanted to sound a bit like the Beatles. But fret not! You can hear the Gibb signature sound more on the next track, “Black Diamond”. “Marley Purt Drive” might be one of my favorites to pick, just for how simple and easy on the ears it is. I would’ve been happy if they trimmed this album down 15-20 minutes. It’s easy to sink into inactive listening about halfway through the album, it lulls you into melancholy without meaning to. “Seven Seas Symphony would’ve been a grand closing track. Pretty mellow 3/5

If you can invest into the melodrama he’s found himself in, you might get some mileage out of this one. Or, the melodrama he portrays. Unsure how much of this is autobiographical, and how much of this is a practice in character portraits. Which I suppose is a sign of good songwriting! Wouldn’t say this is country, but it sure associated itself with the places and folks that helped shape the albums identity. Toes the line of country, folk, singer-songwriter, Americana, etc. “Oh My Sweet Carolina” may as well have laid the groundwork for what Chris Stapleton and other acoustic folksy guys would build upon. Probably my favorite on the album. “Dam Sam” was a personal confrontation experience for me, forcing me to realize that Bob Dylan’s influence knows no bounds. From here on there’s a bit too much harmonica if you ask me. That and all the eulogizing or hyperbole about lost lovers and other familiar tropes, like “Dont Ask For The Water”. A good change of pace for this list, this record is at its best when it’s sonically spacious/minimal, and lyrically wearing its heart on its sleeve. A respectable 3/5

Good, not great imo. Hard to compete with Zeppelin 4 which would follow. Definitely more fleshed out than Zeppelin 1 though, which we’ve also listened to already. To this albums credit, it’s very textured, with just the right amount of unique instrumentation - if there’s anything it has over Zep 4, it’s that. Also to this albums credit, it doesn’t concern itself with trying to sound like the Beatles. We had a BeeGees album from around the same time Zep 3 came out and it was sooo similar to a late Beatles record at points. Zep 3 is its own thing, going for its own sound. “Since I Been Loving You” is my not obvious pick to listen to from this record. Nothing here is bad, nothing here amazed me though

Some cool moments here from Bert Jansch. Very folksy and easy to get into for a quick listen. Completely cooked me that he’s Scottish, this sounds like any other American folk record of it’s time to my novice ears. It’s so interesting to me that yesterdays record was Zeppelin 3, a project (or group of projects) that often employed the same rolling, plucky folk guitars that get played all the same on this Bert Jansch album - “The Casbah” is a good example of these similarities. “Needle Of Death” is the obvious pick to listen to, this is a super harrowing story and it’s told with such blunt sorrow. Really, really good song. Listening to that one over and over again. 3/5 straight up

I think this is how you should evolve your sound without biting too deeply into whatever sonic trends are cool & current. Peter Gabriel leans into electronics and synths in a mostly understated, utilitarian way that hasn’t aged so terribly badly, unlike some of the 80’s experiments other artists took on. “Games Without Frontiers” is a good example of this - just a few synths and a drum machine, nothing overdone. This is really a great song, super great for Kate Bush to come on, she adds a lot to it (I also though this was an Eno collaboration with those guitars and that drum machine, but I was wrong). “Lead a Normal Life” is probably my pick from the album. I love the bell synth loop at the beginning (same with the bellish sounds in “No Self Control”). It’s super interesting, this bell sound has kinda been used into the 90’s and then repurposed to be used in some more modern IDM stuff (hate that genre moniker). Not his best work, but still a respectable listen with moments that’ll make this album at least slightly worth your time

Snuck this one in by 5am before Spotify went down today - all the while I was rejoicing to myself “Bobby finally locked in!” It only took him an affair in which he ruined his marriage to drop the rambly “leopard skin pillbox hat” style jingles. The contents of Blood On The Tracks are relatively more streamlined, accessible, and most of all, grounded. Not only did I enjoy the grounded nature of these songs much more than his previous works, I even found some of them to be very forthcoming and blunt. It seems like Dylan’s focus for this album rotates around three people: himself, his wife at the time, and the lady he is having an affair with. There’s a handful of reframings and fantastical stories, but all of those tales are clearly about this pod of three people. “Simple Twist Of Fate” is probably the first example of that forthcoming nature of this album (it’s so funny that he’s denied these songs being autobiographical in the past). “You’re Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go” is another favorite of mine and maybe the most catchy of this bunch. “Lily, Rosemary and the Jack Of Hearts” is the most fun song for sure. Lastly, “Buckets Of Rain” has is a great closer, with a little acoustic riff that sounds like a melancholy version of that “In The Summertime” song and Reddit confirms that I’m not alone in hearing it. Thank you Bob for planting your two feet back down on earth and singing from the heart

The further along we dove into this list, the more you begin to look at albums like MLB front offices evaluate relief pitchers: weird is good, deviating from the norm is of significant value. Everyone can get through a 2-3 star rock album like every hitter can hit a 6’1 righty with a three-quarters arm angle who tops out at 92 mph on his fastball. This album is the Chad Bradford of the list. A completely unique delivery thats good for a few innings. The novelty of it in the context of this mostly British and American list is hard to ignore. That novelty does ware down a bit towards the end of the record. The opening few songs sound so firm, militaristic, and almost nationalistic in a sense. Chanting choruses, march-able drumloops, jaggedly cold melodies. What captivated my attention the most, though, was the more intimate moments on “Koza (Skin)” with its whispery vocal recordings and echoey, dissonant chamber sounds. It shows to me how the group was in touch with the track sequencing aspect of this project, as the novelty of the loud choruses was starting to lose its welcome a bit. I won’t go back to this album for a casual listen anytime soon, but am appreciative of its inclusion. Music completely unique to a region, culture, and period of time

The first song, “Roadhouse Blues” had me confirming my expectations and preconceptions that I had coming into this album: The Doors were hard at work making an album that leaned into a classic bluesy, parlor rock sound. But what lies beyond the opener proves to be a bit more nuanced and well-performed. "Waiting For The Sun" has a surprisingly timeless instrumental, with a nice little crunchy keyboard texture, some saturated guitar licks paired with with punchy drums that all sound like something out of a prime yeezy-era sound pallet?? That's genuinely what it reminded me of. "Blue Sunday" is has an airy, mirage-like, stumbling nature to it that's a great change of pace. Lastly, "Indian Summer" is a very endearing love song that's mellow and does nothing more than it needs to. It's the embodiment of being in love and the emotional foundation that love can provide a person - simplicity and assuredness. One of the best songs I've had the pleasure of listening to from this list so far. I know I gushed about this not too long ago on the L.A. Woman record, but Jim Morrison had an insane vocal presence. It's not like he could hit every note low to high with perfection, it's more that he had such a fullness and ability to inject character into how he sang about things. I feel like he could've been one of those singers-turned-actors with some real success, you can hear his sense of showmanship and knack for vocal delivery that just cant be taught. Not perfect, but once again The Doors proved that they were operating in an echelon above the rest of their classic rock peers

I have no context for what it's like to be in LA state, New Orleans, or anywhere close for that matter, so to my untrained ear this sounds like an honest attempt to captivate the sounds and vibe of the area/time. What this album succeeds at is capturing the listener and sending them on a boat ride through a mystical bayou swamp, full of olde-timey, grizzled characters. What this album doesnt do...is much else beyond that honestly. I really appreciate the record on the whole, but it didnt have any standout songs to me. A good, quick listen, nothing more, nothing less. If I had to pick a song to listen to, I suppose I liked the instrumental "Croker Courtbullion" the most 2/5 cool but not much else

I understand the need to feel like you should include an album like this on the list - I don’t know if I’ve heard much American punk yet. But this wasn’t a good listen. I’m sure it was probably super entertaining and engaging live! Like, the strange sound they make 1:40 into “Manimal”? Probably pretty fun to hear at a show. I can imagine how lively the crowd could be. And that’s all I can muster up to say for this record!!!

From one Pat Smear associated group to the next! This album kinda flew right by me. And I’m not sure that’s a good thing. There’s some things worth celebrating on In Utero; I think Kurt Cobain sings about things in a very measured mature manner. I think the cello on “Dumb” and “All Apologies” is AMAZING. I also believe the MTV Unplugged record gives me the best parts of In Utero and leaves out all the rest. I couldn’t grasp a lot of the deep cuts on this project, unfortunately.

Variety like this has been much needed! It’s the spice of life! I love their take on an album, and of course this has Brian Zeno’s fingerprints on it. There’s no frills and no adhesion to genre or hopes to land a radio hit, just a thorough front-to-back listen. The way the opening track slows to an end is so smooth and so pleasant! I have a bit of personal bias in liking “Surface Tension”, the rhodesy keyboards sound just like something off zedd’s Clarity album, both in their sound and chord structure. Probably my favorite off the album for that little nugget alone. Lastly, "The Sound of Someone You Love Who's Going Away and It Doesn't Matter" has such a sensible little guitar riff, it’s so placid and perfect. While this album may not blow your socks off, it might help you ease into a morning or ease into bed. Give this one your time :)

I’m an American whos been exposed to ten times more Gorillaz music than Blur music. I’ll happily admit that and all biases that come with it. But maaaaan it’s so clear that Gorillaz was a freeing, more fulfilling channel of creation for Damon Albarn. You can even hear the Gorillaz creativity wanting to claw out of its early stages, “Theme From Retro” shares some sonic qualities with “Glitter Freeze” from the Plastic Beach album. Albarn is said to have wanted to take a more serious angle to his songs with Blur, so naturally the first two songs on here are “Beetlebum”, then a song that goes WOOHOO! LOL. I liked the ending minute of “On Your Own” as a nice singalong anthem. Maybe that’s my pick from this project. Also, “Essex Dogs” has a super cool intro, but doesn’t really feel apart of this album. I thought Spotify auto-played some sort of Massive Attack song after the album just ended. Can’t say I got a ton to take with me on this musical list journey. This record *blurred* right by HAHAAAAAA. 2/5.

Very conflicted about this one. The instrumentals are SO cool. Each one sits at a nice intersection of melodic substance, compositional variation, vibrant guitar textures, and general sonic fullness. There’s this driving, heavy beat on “Let Me Come Back”, for example, thats so visceral and energetic! At the same time, the lead singers vocals are just about a deal breaker. It’s nearly tragic thinking about these instrumentals under the vocals of the Sleater-Kinney girls — listen to the background vocal refrain on “Learned It”, it’s made for them, or for any riot grrrl group worth their stuff. Where is this guys voice even sitting in “Satin Down” or “Get Down”? thats not a charming inside voice, it’s grading and creepy. The record’s apparent hit, “Bulletproof Cupid” is the best example of how close this music comes to something huge, only to be muddied by some poor vocal work. I don’t even think this is a matter of me desiring for something more poppy, I just don’t like this vocalists performances. Mourning the possibilities this album was poking at. Could’ve been 4/5 stars.

I think that on the whole, we have not celebrated this album enough. Is it because it’s a movie score? You could’ve fooled me. This record is full of harrowing lamentations of the black experience, coupled with some of the most vibrant, beautiful, dramatic instrumental arrangements. Hearing this album with ears trained by 2020’s pop/hiphop/rap makes me think about how ripe for sampling and referencing these songs are. The string ending of “Little Child Runnin Wild” sounds like it inspired Kanye Wests “Flashing Lights” a good bit. And my goodness how many times has “Pusherman” been interpolated or referenced throughout the lexicon of rap and hiphop culture - I’m looking at you, Pusha T. No record of its time is complete without a bossa-nova-leaning love song, and “Give Me Your Love” does it well. I think the passage in “Freddie’s Dead” sums up Superfly’s messaging best: “We're all built up with progress But sometimes I must confess We can deal with rockets and dreams But reality What does it mean? Ain't nothing said 'Cause freddies dead” Powerful, colorful, substantial, soulful, and groovy all at once!

Eminem uses one beautiful instance of storytelling in “Stan” to show you how to craft a thoughtful, memorable, substantive response to stardom — then nosedives the rest of the project into a hateful, vitriolic mess of how NOT to respond to newfound fame/infamy. The doubling down on slim shadys whataboutism is full of dates references that doesn’t clear his name or meaningfully divert the attention to the systemic failures that led to so many kids (namely white teenage boys) relating to some sentiments on this record; “Who Knew” is the best example of these misdirections. Dr. Dre’s production doesn’t hit as hard on most of this project imo, the best beat on the album to my ears is “Drug Ballad”, which Dre doesn’t even have his hands on. There are moments of introspection that almost make you sympathetic for Marshall Mathers the person, but it seems like each time he comes up for air, he quickly devolves back into some mixture of slurs and hatred. Did this album shed a light on the awful underbelly of middle America, white men, and cycles of poverty? Yes, in many ways. Did it have to do so with nasty, awful language and aesthetics? Nooooooo no no no no no no noooooo. My two stars all go to Stan.

Nick Drake was an artist so enigmatic that he has a song ABOUT him. And what a good friend in John Martyn, to make such a thoughtful single about his friend. This is kinda like what a lively lounge album should aim to be. A bit of acoustica, a bit of free-form percussion. Airy, soulful vocals. The occasional musical tangent, like the midway point of "I'd Rather Be The Devil", which get pleasantly trippy and experimental all at once. I really enjoyed the journey that song took me on. It hit me, during this song, that this all sounds surprisingly timeless for something from 1973 (outside of those Shaft-style guitar grooves on "Dreams By The Sea"). Same thing applies for the album cover though! Not that it matters, but I do think it's worth noting when a piece of art defies or removes itself from the tropes of it's time of creation. To stay on the same point in the track listing of the album, I think the transition from "I'd Rather Be The Devil" to "Go Down Easy" locked my attention in a bit more. Something about how smooth the transition was, the use of space and quiet ambiance, it was all really impactful. It's a shame this sequencing shows the least amount of plays on spotify for this record, it's some amazing work. On the note of spotify plays, the masses got it all wrong the whole way through this album. "The Man In The Station" deserves more than the 5th most popular song from Solid Air. The mumbly, buttery-smooth delivery of that step-down melody in the verses is stellar. If I could come up with some sort of signature award to give out for my listening experiences on this list, it's my "instant replay" award - where I stop the tracklisting from playing out like normal to replay a song immediately - "The Man In The Station" gets my instant replay award. Bossa nova inspired brilliance! My rating on this is hard to pin down. I think most of the easily accesible acoustic guitar ballads on this are just kinda ho-hum, especially the closer. But when John Martyn let's his creative inclinations run off into different directions, this album elevates to something special. Tracks 3-5 and track 8 really did it for me. Soft 4/5 stars. Nice hidden gem here!

All rappers should hope to have a tenth of the personality that ATCQ inject into each song on this album. All rappers should also be hopeless when they hear how easily the bars are delivered on this album. "Luck Of Lucien" was such a fun, linear story that was so easy to go along the ride for. It is in this track that I can practically hear MF DOOM taking notes - he strikes me as one of the few rappers to ever honorably iterate on the blueprint that ATCQ laid down here. My song of the record is probably "Rhythym (Devoted To The Art of Moving Butts)" for that beautiful, futuristic beat under some fun rhyme schemes.

I feel like a 3/5 stars is always a cop out for anything this old. But Ive said this before and I’ll say it again - it’s hard to judge records like these and feel like I have anything meaningful to contribute. So I try to treat these as opportunities to be thankful for how much variety is at my fingertips - I listened to some very cool 90’s dub techno right after this. The best song on here, to my ears, is “Beautiful Brown Eyes”. It felt the most complete and varied from start to finish. 3/5.

I was soooo excited, so happy, so hopeful that this record could finish the tightrope walk that it set out on. The first few songs were unique and defied a lot of the 60’s rock tropes of the time. Thoughtful lyrics about how one death leads to another life, etc. I was particularly a fan of “Orange Skies” for how simple and happy it was - the flute was a nice touch. But it all had to come crashing down eventually. “Revelation” closes the album in such a needless manner. No, this isn’t a noteworthy opus just because it’s over ten minutes and features a bunch of instrumental solos. It’s a bit boring, the looped melody it lulls into is a bit derivative. Who felt the need to do this? I’m having a hard time getting the hype for this record.

I read the description for this album which gave me such a sense of hope for my listening experience. That was a mistake, I should know by now that it is often the album I don’t expect anything of which end up surprising me the most. There were a pleasant few times where Foxbase Alpha lived up to the hopes I had for it, but what came between those moments left me wanting more. There’s also an interesting dichotomy going on with this project. Is it impressive and well-produced for its time? Yes. Did I find it largely toothless and safe? Also yes. The opening tracks sampling technique had me hoping for some four-on-the-floor beats and colorful loops to come, but it wasn’t until “Spring” that I really settled into enjoying this album for what it is. Then it once again took me a while to be pleased with anything I was hearing. “Like The Swallow” toward the end of the track listing is by far the best song on here, it actually commits itself to a unique song idea that takes its proper time to develop. Some much needed variety! I’m a bit sad this one didn’t pack as much punch as I’d hoped for. It’s not bad, but it’s not crazy. It’s the opposite of crazy. Not my cup of tea for electronic music, although it checks off some of those boxes to get close

One of the prettiest listening experiences a person can have, anywhere, anytime. Much like other boundry-pushing electronic works of the 90's (DJ Shadow's Endtroducing comes to mind), Selected Ambient Works is greater than just the sum of it's parts. The album starts with one of the greatest, most arresting, transcendent songs anyone's ever made. "Xtal" has a perfectly muted kick pattern, a shiny female vocal loop, a melancholy set of chords, and a PERFECT additive/subtractive progression. These all come together to make something so ethereal, calming, and other-worldly. Sometimes, I think this is what a journey to the afterlife could sound like. Sometimes, it feels more like a rave in some crystalized palace - like the round room where the organization 13 meets in Kingdom Hearts. Wherever this song takes you, there seems to be a collective understanding of how incomparable it is. No drug can ever take me where this song does. "Tha" is next, and gets overlooked due to it being preceded by a contender for greatest track of all time. This track buries itself further into the liminal, repetitive, muted space. I've just recently come across early dub techno, specifically the "Radiance" tracks made by Basic Channel. Those songs are the only fair comp i could give to "Tha". It's like listening to a rave going on above ground while you're 15 feet under shimmering ocean water - echoey, glistening, but very much muted. I was listening to this album on a sunny, warm run, and the world almost felt too alive for these first few songs. Luckily, the album methodically ramps things up for a bit. Then "I" comes on and its just over a minute of completely placid, slighlty somber ambient chords. This project couldve been an EP that stops here and it wouldve already been generational. What follows is some acid!! "Green Calx" sounds more like what an early 90's uk warehouse was probably like, after the advent of the strobelight, but well before the american usage of an LCD screen, or even a culture of facing the dj, at raves. "Heliospan" is fairly notable for being one of the more compositionally active tracks. None of this music gets anywhere near pop radio, but I could see this one being the closest - if you put a vocal on top of it maybe? "Ptolemy" is for sure adjacent to the "rave stab" trope. Usually done with pianos, those little windy, slightly atonal whistle synth hits are so 90's dance music. "Hedphelym" is the last song that really stands out to me for it's apocalyptic sound pallet. Those dissonant horn/synth notes come together to make things seem like you're hiding out in a cave waiting for emergency sirens to stop, waiting out some alien cataclysm with that thumping kick and those noise hits/SFX. If you like this song, u-Ziq's "Hasty Boom Alert" is a wonderful iteration of this sound -- very similar but with some faster, more frenetic jungle-adjacent drum sampling. All the words I know and using them to attempt to describe the feelings of this album are like having a wardrobe of clothes that dont fit right. In it's best moments, I am sent to places in my mind that dont exist in real life. Places that are liminal, empyrean, unearthly, beautiful, and perfect. I haven't even touched on how I think this album created a subculture of gen Z's eventual fascination with "liminal spaces". And I WON'T mention the stupid genre moniker "IDM" for this review, even though it did kinda birth the genre. I understand if Selected Ambient Works isnt for you - there was a time where I didnt understand the appeal of Aphex Twin at all! I wanted music that hit me in the face and matched my energy. But if you can be patient and spacious, and meet this album in the mysterious places it takes you, then you'll be rewarded with a sonic journey to places that go beyond description

Things I liked about this album: - the vocal processing - most of the post-recording effects - “Corrosion” is the best song easily for it’s surrealist feeling - the message of “Hero” - “Jesus Built My Hotrod” is goofy - metal albums often sound like they’re adhering to some impossibly high standards of masculinity, this one doesn’t seem to care as much! Things I disliked about this album: - it’s adherence to some basic metal tropes on “Hero” - songs are too long at times, repeating the same loops without really achieving anything (I’m looking at you, “Scare Crow”) - a little too atheist, occasionally cheesy Maybe the most interesting, engaging pre-2000’s metal album I’ve heard so far! Almost a 4/5 stars, I loved that it leaned more towards the crazy experimental sounds towards the end. Appreciate it!

Well aren’t we just on a roll through our 90’s albums lately. Supa Dupa Fly is a smooth, forward-thinking project that sets itself out from its contemporaries. The introduction by Busta Rhymes is so effective in making it seem like he’s rolling out the red carpet for Missy Elliot. I can’t think of many songs that are as nocturnal and as chill as “The Rain”. The stoner anthems dont stop there; “Pass da Blunt” isn’t as easy on the ears, but has a just as anthemic chorus. I’d also like to highlight this song as it sounds like a grand coming out party for Timbaland. Most people who are millennial-aged or younger are all too familiar with that pseudo-beat-boxing mouthy production style at the end of this song. “Best Friends” maybe meanders a bit too much for my ears, but thats about the worst thing that happens at any point on this record, which is so impressive given its hour run time. I feel like anyone that has a lot to pick apart about Supa Dupa Fly probably has some biases to get over. Missy Elliot facilitates an atmosphere that made me feel like she was pulling punches — not shorting the listener, just letting the stories she tells or bars she delivers all ride out over incredible production.

Not even halfway through this list and this is the third Peter Gabriel album to pull. “So” was incredible and makes a third PG album feel justified, but “Melt” was a little lackluster and makes a third PG album seem redundant. Unfortunately, this was a bit of a redundant addition as well. Peter Gabriel’s lowlights (in the context of this list, at least) are still fairly admirable. My biggest takeaway here is that PG was sooooo happy to express himself outside of the limitations of a band. What comes of this freedom is something that’s almost too sprawling, too grand and too all over the place at times. I didn’t realize “Solsbury Hill” was Peter Gabriel - it always sounded like some sort of “Cecilia” Simon & Garfunkel copy. “Excuse Me” is a very fun barber-quartet-style song, my favorite and pick to listen to from this album. It’s one of the musical ideas that hits its mark. There are many that dont hit their mark, or dont really add any cohesion to this project. “Down The Dolce Vida” is a fun, massive song, but after so many different musings and explorations of different styles, I was ready to pack it up after this one. Peter Gabriel is exercising his freedom, and sometimes I can’t keep up with his pace. Maybe a 3/5 in a vacuum, but I have to give it a strong 2/5, he doesn’t need 3+ albums on this list

Moments of good, moments of shit. Such is the life of an “experimental, trail-blazing album”. All I can really do is break this project up into moments, as its format & songs evolve in such abnormal ways. Good moments: - the first minute or so of “Oh Yeah” with those reversed vocals - the first half of “Aumgn” is incredible. Eerie and atmospheric, love the guttural chamber vocals at the 7+ minute mark. Like something out of Dune! - the beachy, wavy drum machine pattern 3 minutes into “Peking O” The bad: - most of the first half of the album just feels like it’s figuring itself out and going nowhere in doing so - the second half of “Peking O”. Eminem is shaking in his boots! The rambling nonsense took me out of the listening experience a bit. - even for an intense, attentive headphone listener, it’s hard to grab on to many sonic ideas. Kinda like a really strange, hazy dream that you don’t remember Somewhere between 2 to 3 stars

I enjoyed this, but I do not revere it. There is so much fun to be had, so much energy packed into every corner of this album. I also had the realization that this is basically David Byrne all amped up and fast-paced. The opening “Uncontrollable Urge” is recognized by all people my age as the Ridiculousness theme song. “I Can’t Get No Satisfaction” is an interesting cover that’s unique and separated enough from the original that it’s worth a listen. I appreciated “Too Much Paranoias”, as it leaned into the spirit of this record - high energy, high chaos (for pop standards). The same can be said for the passages of hollering towards the end of “Gut Feeling / Slap Your Mammy”. I’d pick that song as my highlight of the album. Maybe it’s not to my taste, maybe it’s a matter of time and place, but I wasn’t jumping for joy after this one was finished. I think many people hold this album in high praise, and I can sorta see that. I respect it but dont love it