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Sat Oct 07 2023
The Joshua Tree
U2
2
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Sun Oct 08 2023
Fear Of A Black Planet
Public Enemy
Very cool. Hadn't heard all of this before, incredibly ambitious in the variety of samples.
music: appreciated. (⌐■_■)
4
View Album
Tue Oct 10 2023
She's So Unusual
Cyndi Lauper
the sound texture of this is montage music, the sort of thing that's good when you're driving around town or getting ready for a fun event
Listening at home, it makes me unhappy and right away I want to turn it off. 'Time After Time' is a classic hook but one I've never liked
music: hated. (⌐■_■)
2
View Album
Wed Oct 11 2023
Beauty And The Beat
The Go-Go's
After listening to this I don't think I can remember the melody from any songs, but I liked listening to every one. This band has a nice style and all the instruments sound good.
Letting all the instruments sound like themselves (esp. the prominent bass guitar) makes this good, where it'd probably be dull if that stuff was mushed together like other pop rock.
I didn't know much of this band and my day is a little better for having listened to this.
music: appreciated. (⌐o_0)
3
View Album
Thu Oct 12 2023
Paul's Boutique
Beastie Boys
I love hip hop. At its best the MCing and instrumentation are so clever and full of heart. It's a worldview-changing way of looking at musical art as a pile of interrelated pieces you can collect like a magpie, rearrange, reimagine & recontextualize with respect or irreverence or both at once. The very best of hip hop is like Ulysses was to modern literature, both a 'fuck you' and 'I love you' to all the music and poetry that came before.
I did not like this at all.
music: hated. (⌐■_■)
2
View Album
Fri Oct 13 2023
The Age Of The Understatement
The Last Shadow Puppets
a supergroup with a guy from the fucking Arctic Monkeys is supposed to be one of 1001 albums I hear before I die?
It has an image of a woman in stockings on the cover, and there are no women in the band. In 2008. That might be all you need to know about how bland this is.
music: hated. (⌐■_■)
2
View Album
Sat Oct 14 2023
One Nation Under A Groove
Funkadelic
I bet there's more to this than I'm hearing right now, tired after picking up an extra shift. It was ok but I didn't really react to it. I found the sillier pieces a little annoying.
music: not given the attention it deserves. ( -_-)
3
View Album
Sun Oct 15 2023
Trans Europe Express
Kraftwerk
This was ok. It's not fair to judge this from my 2023 point of view but that's what I'm doing. It's not as pleasant as pop oriented electronic, doesn't seem as purposeful as more confrontational experimental electronic. When they edge towards either I start thinking about something I'd rather be listening to.
music: bleep bloop. (⌐■_■)
3
View Album
Mon Oct 16 2023
Henry's Dream
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
Some interesting pieces in the playing here overwhelmed by too much schtick. Nick Cave is very hit or miss for me and I don't find this one interesting.
music: hated. (⌐■_■)
2
View Album
Tue Oct 17 2023
The Stooges
The Stooges
will will have a real cool time.
music: appreciated. (⌐■ ̮ ■)
4
View Album
Wed Oct 18 2023
GREY Area
Little Simz
I thought I might like this. It's ok. There's something here, but it's a little too smoothed over. One of those things a little too in between other stuff that I think about what else I could have on.
Not fair, but haters gotta make hate while the sun shines, so
music: hated. (⌐■_■)
3
View Album
Thu Oct 19 2023
Connected
Stereo MC's
this is not good. It is not as bad as hands guy on the cover suggests it might be - at least the title track, anyway, because I'm not bothering with more than that. This doesn't quite get a 1 because it doesn't enrage me, wouldn't cross the room just to turn it off.
music: hated. (⌐■_■)
2
View Album
Fri Oct 20 2023
In The Court Of The Crimson King
King Crimson
21st Century Schizoid Man has a nice few minutes and a bunch of showing off. The rest is a little English prog-y but not as silly as you might expect with Greg Lake in the band. It's listenable. It probably fits as a soundtrack to something.
music: acknowledged. (╹⌓╹)
3
View Album
Sat Oct 21 2023
Blue
Joni Mitchell
really good guitar playing that's allowed to shine through. I've known for a long time that I would especially like Blue but my parents didn't have this one and I never got around to it.
If I had heard this as a teenager I bet it would be a solid 5 and a record I always think of. Hearing it later it's not as striking as it would have been, and the California hippie stuff is more grating than it would have been.
Something that is still very very good when you think you've heard it all before
4
View Album
Sun Oct 22 2023
Metallica
Metallica
I don't want to LISTEN TO THIS ANYMOaoRE-a-uh!
thruggadugchugdugdug thuggadugchug
its place in historeeeea-uh is unmisTAKEable YEAH
but I don't want to HEAR IT A-UH-GAIIIINNNNN! YEAH!
meedley meawuuuuh bree a wreauh mreeeeuuwwww
thruggaduggachuggachugchgchgchg
music: hated. (⌐■_■)
2
View Album
Mon Oct 23 2023
Hot Rats
Frank Zappa
I keep forgetting about the connection between Frank Zappa and Captain Beefheart. This album reminded me - it sounds like some of Beefheart but with everything smoothed over, all the weirdness and discomfort replaced with technical musicianship.
It's fine but I can't think of any reason to listen to it. Uncharitably rounding down to 2.
music: hated. (⌐■_■)
2
View Album
Tue Oct 24 2023
Sound of Silver
LCD Soundsystem
I don't have a lot of affection for LCD Soundsystem. The first three songs are obnoxious with North American Scum particularly bad, then there's two alright songs in the middle, then back to bland soulless repetition.
Besides 'Someone Great' this is the sound of being afraid to care too much, and it reminds me of the worst parts of the era when it was current.
music: hated. (⌐■_■)
2
View Album
Wed Oct 25 2023
Pyromania
Def Leppard
Started out with songs you could imagine a band with better taste playing well, then got worse. Did not finish listening. Maybe a great metaphor for the miserable day I just had.
music: hated. (⌐■_■)
2
View Album
Thu Oct 26 2023
Electric Ladyland
Jimi Hendrix
This is good and very interesting. I haven't heard much of this before at all and it's surprising how much I wouldn't recognize as Hendrix. If I was listening in the 70s and more aspects of the style or stereo production were novel it might be a 5. If I was listening in a different period of my life it might be a 5. I don't have immediate plans to revisit but I'm open to the idea that I might really love this at some later time.
Sorry you didn't make it to your mermaid years Jimi.
music: appreciated. (⌐■ ̮ ■)
4
View Album
Fri Oct 27 2023
Truth
Jeff Beck
even skipping this until weeks later it's impossible to not compare to Hendrix. There's parts where the rhythm section is very good. There's interesting bits of guitar sound are only in passing. Never gets near the rumbling earthquake of Hendrix & band.
Might be a little more sympathetic if this was earlier in history. Not at all sympathetic to taking the interesting moments of music that already happened and paving them over into blues rock. Old Man River and Greensleeves very tacky.
music: hated. (⌐■_■)
2
View Album
Sat Oct 28 2023
London Calling
The Clash
I've tried to give this one more time based on reputation. After ~2.5 listens I don't think anything is going to seem more appealing than it did. The title track is very good and there's a few others that are pretty good.
Overall I don't care that much for London Calling. If I was in the mood for a song with similar vibes it wouldn't be anything from this album.
music: hated. (⌐■_■)
3
View Album
Sun Oct 29 2023
High Violet
The National
bland. Could say it's the songwriting, which is dull. There's something else squashed about it. They sometimes try interesting stuff in the backing & yet it never makes the song sound any different.
I remember friends being excited about this album. It only made me like their earlier stuff a lot less which was a real bummer at a time when I didn't have too many avenues to find music I liked.
music: hated. (⌐■_■)
2
View Album
Mon Oct 30 2023
This Is Fats Domino
Fats Domino
This is indeed Fats Domino.
music: appreciated. (⌐▣ ̮ ▣)
3
View Album
Tue Oct 31 2023
American IV: The Man Comes Around
Johnny Cash
One of the funniest things I've ever seen is a friend trying to recall Hurt:
"I have an ear worm for a really sad country/rock song. I swear it's a cover of The End by The Doors, but I might be transplanting those lyrics into my memory of this song. It's some old gravely dude and I swear he's crooning about his only friend and it's all about good byes or whatever. I know this is useless but does anyone have suggestions as to what song it might be??????"
That song was so unavoidable for a while that I could do without ever hearing it again, and I could really do without Nick Cave's verse on I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry, but I'm still gonna round up to 4.
music: appreciated. (⌐o_0)
4
View Album
Wed Nov 01 2023
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman
Fast Car has a great hook, a lot of heart in the sadly timeless theme of deadbeat dads. I'm tired of it, but just because I'm tired of it doesn't mean it's not good.
The rest I find a little same-y and inoffensive. I've had this forever and never listen to any of it. Still, I'm going to round up to 3.
3
View Album
Thu Nov 02 2023
LP1
FKA twigs
I think I've heard everything this has to offer before and found it unremarkable the first time. Maybe in 2014 it was new to break into the mainstream with breathy soprano over whatever sub-subgenre of electronic this'd be called.
music: hated. (⌐■_■)
2
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Fri Nov 03 2023
Floodland
Sisters Of Mercy
This is ok. For me it suffers from being too much like Joy Division/New Order but trying to be cool & standoffish. I can see some appeal but I'd rather listen to the thing that's full of life.
music: (⌐■_■).
3
View Album
Sat Nov 04 2023
That's The Way Of The World
Earth, Wind & Fire
This started very strong, got kinda dull with the slower vocal-oriented songs. The falsetto doesn't work for me here, & I think I've heard the same chord progression underneath somebody talking about LIFE too many times.
music: appreciated. (⌐▣_▣)
3
View Album
Sun Nov 05 2023
Punishing Kiss
Ute Lemper
track 2 review: what if we took some of Nick Cave's worst impulses (bloated overwrought murder ballads) as a template for an orchestral music singer showpiece? what. if.
guessing it's basically the same for the rest of the authors. will I regret not listening to each to see if this deserves a 1 instead of a 2?
no.
music: hated. (⌐■_■)
2
View Album
Mon Nov 06 2023
Live 1966 (The Royal Albert Hall Concert)
Bob Dylan
I listened to the actual Royal Albert Hall recording, not the Bootleg series from Manchester, because it showed up first. I have no idea if that's actually right or if it's the same thing.
Really good. I'm not certain whether to review this in the context of Bob Dylan overall - could quibble that the folk songs, esp. longer like Desolation Row, really benefit from the better timekeeping on the albums, and these ones don't benefit as much from Dylan's great rhythm acoustic playing. It's still very very good compared to everything on the list so far, and I think I like the band's sound on the electric section better than any album versions.
A great piece of mythmaking from popular music's most prolific self-mythologizer.
music: appreciated. (⌐▢ ̮ ▢)
5
View Album
Wed Nov 08 2023
Infected
The The
a little bit of something here, but not enough and I hate most of the vocals.
music: hated. (⌐■_■)
2
View Album
Thu Nov 09 2023
Deloused in the Comatorium
The Mars Volta
oh good, I get to learn what prog would sound like if it came after indie rock, and even more so, emo.
by good I mean wretched.
some of the more basic guitar parts would be ok in a different context. the Zappa of its generation, collecting fragments of what's around for a monument to ego. very unlikeable.
2
View Album
Fri Nov 10 2023
Queen II
Queen
seems like even Queen's less notable stuff is still pleasant. Heavier Queen probably never as good as a good Zeppelin song, never as bad as a bad Zeppelin song. I listened to this doing something else and didn't notice it was about elves & whatever. when Zeppelin does it, you know.
3
View Album
Sat Nov 11 2023
Tommy
The Who
A rock opera turns out to be a terrible idea. I'll give the Who a little bit of an excuse for having to be the ones to find that out.
Like a lot of terrible ideas it doesn't seem so bad until it gets going and you're stuck doing something dumb. I bet in the end it didn't feel great to write & perform a bunch of this compared to a regular album. Fiddle Around a real lowlight, bad and repulsive.
music: hated. (⌐■_■)
2
View Album
Sun Nov 12 2023
Permission to Land
The Darkness
like Queen, but with all the genuine fun taken out
very 2003 in a bad way. it's classic rock but he says motherfucker! ha! ha! imagine if Freddy Mercury said hands off my woman motherfucker. ha.
I Believe In a Thing Called Love is a funny song to hear people do karaoke to.
music: hated. (⌐■_■)
2
View Album
Mon Nov 13 2023
Car Wheels On A Gravel Road
Lucinda Williams
I've spent more time on what I think about this than any other album on the list so far.
It's a surface level nostalgia trip through small town North America - probably not anywhere near as phony as Uncle Tupelo, but also way less interesting.
The most analogous experience I can think of is reading a book of short stories from an accomplished writer way past the time in their career where they wanted to innovate. It's all fine, hits sentimental notes often enough, doesn't fall into traps of gratuitous style or complete detachment. Somehow it still has writerly tells that make you hyperaware of the craft, in not just the thing but uncomfortably so for the whole format of storytelling.
music: hated. (⌐■_■)
3
View Album
Tue Nov 14 2023
Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire)
The Kinks
Victoria is from this one hey? never knew that.
Works much better than Tommy, all the songs here are pretty good. Not totally fair since writing a rock opera about a middle class English family suits the Kinks more than anyone.
Cool messy guitar in the left speaker of the last song.
I think for me as a listener 'concept album' type stuff is nearly always going to be worse. I'd like songs like Nothing to Say more if they didn't fit in a narrative sequence. Linear lyrical structure isn't what I come to music for.
Rounding up to 4 for Victoria. It is kinda funny that the best song on a nostalgia story is the first track.
music: appreciated. (⌐◯_◯)
4
View Album
Wed Nov 15 2023
Sail Away
Randy Newman
Familiar with most of the songs, never listened to as an album before. Nice stuff. The single version of Last Night I Had a Dream is a killer.
music: appreciated. (⌐□ ̮ □)
4
View Album
Thu Nov 16 2023
Microshift
Hookworms
without merit.
music: hated. (⌐■_■)
1
View Album
Fri Nov 17 2023
Jazz Samba
Stan Getz
Nice. I was going to give this a 4 guessing what I'd think about it if I heard it as a more jazz-sympathetic teen. I cannot give an album with a track called "Samba Dees Days" more than 3.
music: appreciated. (⌐□_□)
3
View Album
Sat Nov 18 2023
Grace
Jeff Buckley
Don't feel the need to listen to Grace much anymore, but just because some of it got oversaturated doesn't mean it wasn't special. Pop/rock with dissonant clean guitar chords instead of distortion, & advanced playing that wasn't a technical showoff was a big deal when I first found it.
The songs are kinda overdramatic in a way that sounds dated, like being in the grunge era did something weird to them.
music: appreciated. (⌐■_■)
4
View Album
Sun Nov 19 2023
Grievous Angel
Gram Parsons
Once I was at a party/bluegrass jam where someone sang Hickory Wind with the melody just a little different at that "it makes me feel better" chord change. It was one of the best things I've ever heard and I'll never hear it again.
This album also rules.
music: appreciated. (⌐■_■)
4
View Album
Wed Nov 22 2023
Raising Hell
Run-D.M.C.
Pretty good. Is Run DMC's Walk This Way the best thing Aerosmith was ever part of? Probably.
Might not have as much variety in the beats as Paul's Boutique but the vocal delivery is so much better.
music: appreciated. (⌐■_■)
3
View Album
Thu Nov 23 2023
Lust For Life
Iggy Pop
continuing to have a real cool time.
music: appreciated. (⌐■ ̮ ■)
4
View Album
Fri Nov 24 2023
The Hour Of Bewilderbeast
Badly Drawn Boy
I always like the plunk kinda sound the acoustic guitar bass notes have on the first song.
One of the later ones had a cool horn & guitar sound in it.
music: hated. (⌐■_■)
2
View Album
Sat Nov 25 2023
Court And Spark
Joni Mitchell
This is one of two Joni Mitchell albums I've known since I was a teenager. I like it ok but it doesn't move me much.
It sounds very Los Angeles.
music: appreciated. (⌐♡_♡)
3
View Album
Sun Nov 26 2023
Red Dirt Girl
Emmylou Harris
A weird thing to be in this list. Suffers from the choice to make everything sound big & full & atmospheric. Emmylou Harris's singing and guitar playing are better than everything else on this but they're kinda smothered.
a duet with Dave Matthews dropped this down to a 2.
music: music. (⌐▢_▢)
2
View Album
Mon Nov 27 2023
Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle
Bill Callahan
Sounds like it wants to be calm & resolute but doesn't have the confidence to sit still. Too many frills in the backing makes it all less memorable.
Last song sounds like Silver Jews but doesn't really get there.
music: appreciated. (⌐o_0)
3
View Album
Tue Nov 28 2023
Garbage
Garbage
Basically pop songs with alternative rock styling. But the alt rock styling is actually trying unlike 2000s-2010s era stuff I remember, so not the worst thing to be.
Some nice parts (I like the chorus on Vow), suffers from this edgy-but-not-actually-edgy nihilist Nine Inch Nails thing in most verses. The thing about pop is that you need more than a good chorus to have a decent pop song.
music: hated. (⌐■_■)
2
View Album
Wed Nov 29 2023
Nick Of Time
Bonnie Raitt
Despite a bunch of things I usually dislike (the very 80s sound of the first track) or boring (blues rock), this was ok.
but I'm giving a max of 2 for any album with zero songs I'll listen to again on purpose, so 2 it is
2
View Album
Thu Nov 30 2023
Larks' Tongues In Aspic
King Crimson
Never heard this before. I think this might be better than the Court of the Crimson King? 'what collection of sounds can we make a groove out of' is a way better idea to start from than 'how complicated can I make this riff/solo', anyway. Album name very gross.
I wonder how similar all the acoustic guitar arpeggio w/ flute ballads from these British rockers are - could you superimpose them with mild speed alteration and still have a song?
3
View Album
Fri Dec 01 2023
Lady In Satin
Billie Holiday
Starting to feel more and more absurd about ratings with this one.
I like every song on this. I don't think I'd ever listen to more than a couple of them in a row by choice. I would put the full album on at a big hall dinner where I want people to actively seek out old friends & say hello, but be contemplative & not rowdy.
Billie Holiday's voice has such a strong centre of gravity that the frilliest of the wind section parts don't detract from the songs. All-timer musical artist for sure and yet I'm only going to give this a 3
music: appreciated. (⌐□ ̮ □)
3
View Album
Sat Dec 02 2023
Bad
Michael Jackson
bad.
music: hated. (⌐■_■)
1
View Album
Sun Dec 03 2023
Otis Blue/Otis Redding Sings Soul
Otis Redding
Had only heard one or two of these songs before. Very good, will be listening again & might think that 4 is too low later.
music: appreciated. (⌐■ ̮ ■)
4
View Album
Mon Dec 04 2023
I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got
Sinead O'Connor
The style isn't for me, but there's a bravery to this absent from most other pop music on the list, a willingness to be clear, specific & uncomfortable.
music: acknowledged. (⌐■_■)
3
View Album
Tue Dec 05 2023
Figure 8
Elliott Smith
Was a big fan of Elliott Smith as a teenager, then the lyrics/whininess started to bother me, and I think it was this album the most for that. Maybe because it's later, or because it's more produced, I had a harder time tuning it out. Now it doesn't bother me as much, but I never put on a full album anymore and this is a nice chance to revisit. I still think it's my least favourite as a whole album, even with a few tracks I love.
The rock songs on here are really good. I can't think of any other examples of artists wearing the Beatles influence on the sleeve so much while still sounding contemporary, the other stuff that tried tended to sound like retro schtick.
Really dig the drum drop on Everything Means Nothing To Me. I don't like the melody otherwise here but really dig it sped up on that one RJD2 song, go figure.
The quieter/folkier songs aren't among the better Elliott Smith songs, except for Happiness which is beautiful. The other records have this cool shuffle thing going on with the acoustic guitar bass note rhythm especially when there's drums, and that's absent on this one.
I might only give this a 3 if I expected some of the others to be on here. With 500 Bowie and Bowie-related albums to get through I doubt it, so rounding up to 4.
4
View Album
Wed Dec 06 2023
Mr. Tambourine Man
The Byrds
I think the vocals drag this down. It sounds like it's going for some kind of mild Kingston Trio folk album thing. It's a good way to make Bob Dylan lyrics sound dumb.
The band is pretty good but it's smothered by bland harmonies, and I think the best parts are weakened by having to play fast enough to give the bland folky harmonies some momentum. You can hear some of the cooler little guitar arpeggio stuff show up in post punk and it does make me wonder how much influence carried through.
music: hated. (⌐❀_❀)
3
View Album
Thu Dec 07 2023
Ace of Spades
Motörhead
I have always disliked the guitar part on Ace of Spades. Take all the guitar out and I think it's a decent song. I think Lemmy's vocal on it is cool, the way it raises at the end. Like the opposite of James 'Metallica' Hetfield's 'a-uH!' at the end of a phrase, up vs. down and kinda neat vs. very dumb.
overall pretty listenable - I've dug through tracks a bunch of times to see if I like Motorhead, and I don't really, but I wouldn't ask somebody to turn this off. Motorhead understands that hard rock is best as party music.
music: acknowledged. (⌐♠_♠)
3
View Album
Fri Dec 08 2023
At San Quentin
Johnny Cash
I watched the TV special for this and then listened to the album.
I don't know what I think about the album musically. I do know what I think about a big country star understanding that prisoners are still human beings and getting serious about reform in the 1960s. I gave a Bob Dylan & the Band live album a 5 for just fucking around, so this one can't be any less than that.
music: respect. (⌐■_■)
5
View Album
Sat Dec 09 2023
Moving Pictures
Rush
don't like. music and lyrics all very silly.
music: hated. (⌐■_■)
2
View Album
Sun Dec 10 2023
Brutal Youth
Elvis Costello
something here. not for me.
music: hated. (⌐■_■)
3
View Album
Mon Dec 11 2023
Moon Safari
Air
Definitely sounds like 1998.
music: hated. (⌐■_■)
2
View Album
Tue Dec 12 2023
Led Zeppelin IV
Led Zeppelin
Band with a great basic rock sound that they insist on ruining with dun duh deeaauuh doodly doo guitar and wooahh wooahhh ohhhh womannnnn vocal solos.
ex. the first part of the guitar solo on Black Dog rules and then it does the thing.
I like the two silly folk songs with mandolin.
I'd probably give this a 4 if it didn't have Stairway to Heaven. I did listen again as part of this exercise just to check I still don't like it.
music: ...appreciated. (⌐-_-)
3
View Album
Wed Dec 13 2023
Phrenology
The Roots
I was liking this but got tired of it. I think I would like most of these songs a lot if they had more dynamic range. 70 minutes is too long for how much of this sounds the same.
This list seems to be picking these albums, where the artist got ambitious in songwriting/production/scope & yet the end result sounds more generic than what they'd done before.
3
View Album
Thu Dec 14 2023
Highly Evolved
The Vines
Not as bad as the worst grunge bandwagon jumpers, not as good as anyone who actually tried.
When this was current I disliked so many "The" bands that seem to answer the question "what if garage rock happened in expensive recording studios with all the instruments in isolation booths?". Come up with half a hook & then throw some chromatic chord shift instead of finishing it so you don't have to commit.
It made music seem so stuck that when Canadian 'indie' hit the scene it seemed like everyone had been given permission to try again. It seemed as though rigid compartmentalizations had been broken through & you could try to synthesize your experiences into something you just thought was good. ha ha.
The Vines try one song with a verse aping the Clash and a chorus aping Nirvana. ha ha.
music: hated. (⌐■_■)
2
View Album
Fri Dec 15 2023
Queens of the Stone Age
Queens of the Stone Age
there's something a little interesting about this band. I think they have some decent melody hooks over the stoner rock groove sound. Not enough to make a reason to listen to it and the way it sounds makes my ears tired.
Will give them a 3 because I think this is at least somewhat unique.
music: hated. (⌐■_■)
3
View Album
Sat Dec 16 2023
With The Beatles
Beatles
There's a weird Youtube trend of uploading classic albums made entirely of covers. There's one for this that claims to be the unreleased version of the 2009 remaster.
Hearing a little of that put into context how good the Beatles sounded before they wrote any notable songs. The guitars always sound great. Lennon and Harrison have an edge to their voices that sets them apart from other good bands. After only hearing Plastic Ono Band for the first time this year I've been slowly convinced that Lennon was one of rock's very best singers.
music: appreciated. (⌐■_■)
4
View Album
Sun Dec 17 2023
American Gothic
David Ackles
The Worst of Harry Chapin.
music: hated. (⌐■_■)
2
View Album
Mon Dec 18 2023
Graceland
Paul Simon
music for vampires.
hated. (⌐■_■)
1
View Album
Tue Dec 19 2023
Catch A Fire
Bob Marley & The Wailers
probably very good. probably very fun to play this music. I get tired of it quickly.
besides not being big on Bob Marley this music is for me impossible to separate from the unknowingly conservative faux hippies that like it. I bet the political side is interesting if you can do that. I can't concentrate on it long enough to think about its context in its own era.
music: hated. (⌐▨_▨)
3
View Album
Wed Dec 20 2023
Parallel Lines
Blondie
Lots to suggest Deb Harry is a great singer. Have heard the mythology about this group's connection to underground music. Mostly I do not hear that on the record - I hear some of the pieces ground up into a paste to pour in the 80s radio rock mold.
hated. (⌐■_■)
2
View Album
Thu Dec 21 2023
The College Dropout
Kanye West
did not like the pop stuff earlier on the album at all. Indie rockers got into Kanye and I kept hearing that he was a production genius and then something that sounded like it could be Justin Timberlake would play. A bunch in the middle is ok. Nothing exciting for me, won't listen to it again.
hated. (⌐▤_▤)
2
View Album
Fri Dec 22 2023
I See You
The xx
music for YouTube ads. release date of 2017 surprising for something that'd be generic indie pop long before then.
music: hated. (⌐■_■)
2
View Album
Sat Dec 23 2023
The Velvet Underground
The Velvet Underground
love this.
Distills the appeal of country & rock n roll down to some basic elements, finds some essential quality that hadn't been heard by itself before. Has the guts to do just what's needed & leave a ton of sonic space. Full of heart.
I've neglected The Murder Mystery thinking that it's The Gift, and I'm glad to have been reminded about it again.
Makes a lot of other music sound ineffectual and silly.
music: adored. 10 out of 5. (⌐★_★)
5
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Sun Dec 24 2023
Step In The Arena
Gang Starr
I think Gang Starr's albums that came after are a stronger showing. Musically I think only Just To Get A Rep is a strong showing of the style they made. Still, there's some interesting stuff here and Guru & Premier always sound good.
I have a feeling that I'm underrating the impact given that it's from 1991.
music: appreciated. (⌐⬤ ̮ ⬤)
3
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Mon Dec 25 2023
Pieces Of The Sky
Emmylou Harris
Nice to have a good Emmylou Harris album after the disappointment of Red Dirt Girl. A voice that works best in harmonies, a style that works best with a bigger band. Originality isn't the most important thing.
is the change in country-folk style in the 2000s (3-4 instruments recorded in isolation with overdubbed vocals, as on Red Dirt Girl) a metaphor for the hyper-hyper-individualism & isolation of the modern era? perhaps! perhaps.
music: appreciated. (⌐❀_❀)
3
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Tue Dec 26 2023
A Christmas Gift For You From Phil Spector
Various Artists
1
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Wed Dec 27 2023
You Want It Darker
Leonard Cohen
More interesting than the other late Leonard Cohen albums I've heard. Goes for a fatalistic & sarcastic Coheny mix of religious/interpersonal often, seems to have less range that way than other albums. Some neat turns of phrase, steeped in nihilism in a way that bothers me more than it used to.
There's a song where he sings just a little & it sounds very good. I do wish that older Leonard Cohen had sung a bit more often.
music: ok. (⌐⬤_⬤)
3
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Thu Dec 28 2023
La Revancha Del Tango
Gotan Project
Soundtrack music & maybe even intended that way from the beginning. For 2001, this might have been somewhat original? I won't judge the group for the excitement this might have had losing its context.
I will judge the list for including it. Even with the earliest edition of the book in 2005, this was not an album you need to listen to.
music: fell asleep with the TV on. (⌐-_-)
2
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Fri Dec 29 2023
Odessey And Oracle
The Zombies
A full album of 60s Brit rock filler songs, throwing in purposeless chord changes & flute, and then Time of the Season, which might not be Good but is Interesting.
music: hated. (⌐■_■)
2
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Sat Dec 30 2023
American Idiot
Green Day
wake me up when this record ends
2
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Sun Dec 31 2023
A Short Album About Love
The Divine Comedy
chamber pop more like chamber pot
if I were a horse I'd still give this a bad review
2
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Mon Jan 01 2024
Warehouse: Songs And Stories
Hüsker Dü
Doesn't have the excitement of something like Zen Arcade. Only very good & not great.
Keeps a consistent style across a long album, still has a good deal of variety. Didn't feel like as long a listen as shorter albums on this list have been.
Always a great guitar sound, whether it's abrasive or disorienting or whatever, holding it together. Probably will not listen through the whole thing in one sitting ever again but will be revisiting tracks.
music: appreciated. (⌐■_■)
4
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Tue Jan 02 2024
Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
The famous guitar jams are good. When you hear a full on Neil Young guitar solo for the first time it's a nice experience. I wonder what that would have been like when this was released. Current era, the title track is the standout for me.
music: appreciated. (⌐■ ̮ ■)
5
View Album
Wed Jan 03 2024
Emergency On Planet Earth
Jamiroquai
some fuckin narcissistic Brit starts a funk band with a name from jam + Iroquois, prances around in hats trying to sing like a Black man from the 1970s
is stuff like this on here to make cultural appropriation by groups like the Stones seem more reasonable? this is the worst headdress-at-music-festival sort of stuff.
except for the appalling vocals + lyrics, the band is very middle of the road
music: hated. (⌐■_■)
1
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Thu Jan 04 2024
Rubber Soul
Beatles
Probably my favourite Beatles as an entire album, because it's the only one I put on routinely with the intent to play the whole thing. Lots of fairly straightforward songs that show off just how good they are as a band/recording artists at this point.
At a basic level disregarding the songs I just love how the instruments sound on most of these tracks.
The hard L/R pan with drums in one speaker vocals in the other is very cool. Love it on What Goes On (which I love everything else about also).
music: appreciated. (⌐❂ ̮ ❂)
5
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Fri Jan 05 2024
Fromohio
fIREHOSE
I swear Some Things sounds just like a Replacements song. It'll come to me eventually.
This is pretty good, covers a lot of ground in half an hour. I gave it two listens to see whether anything would jump out. The vocals pull it to a 70s rock kind of sound, and it shies away from embracing some of its best moments. It's hard not to notice the lack of edge compared to the Minutemen.
I bet this band does have a full album worth of songs that I'd give a 5. This one's a 3.5 & I'm rounding down.
music: appreciated. (⌐■_■)
3
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Sat Jan 06 2024
At Mister Kelly's
Sarah Vaughan
the parts when she's improvising lyrics about how she doesn't know the words to the song are very charming
It's all good, dunno if there's any other standouts. May not revist to see but will think about it.
music: appreciated. (⌐□_□)
3
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Sun Jan 07 2024
Siamese Dream
The Smashing Pumpkins
a few catchy grooves. probably would sound better as a recording of a single electric guitar or two actually human beings playing instead of 100 Billy Corgans smushed together
sounds absolutely like a cynical cash in. there's a My Bloody Valentine shimmer thing briefly that seems like a wink & nudge, but a completely uncharming one
it's funny that one of the most overwrought groups sounds amateurish, not in execution but in style choices. it sounds like a bedroom album by somebody that hasn't learned to cut out tacky impulses yet. the shred solos are silly and don't always work.
I like pieces of the music but won't make any excuses for this band
music: hated. (⌐■_■)
2
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Mon Jan 08 2024
Rock Bottom
Robert Wyatt
Didn't know Robert Wyatt before this year and recently heard a really lovely song. I have a bit more patience for this as a result, would probably lump it in with prog meandering if I hadn't heard that other one.
Interesting but doesn't grab me. It's got to be a personal triumph to complete an album a year after a life-changing accident, but I'm only giving out stars for music (and perhaps activism? unclear.)
I bet there's a different Robert Wyatt album that's more essential listening than this one, though I suppose I could see this as essential if you like post-rock more than I do.
3
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Tue Jan 09 2024
The Slim Shady LP
Eminem
both dull and repellent
I tried to listen to this for real to know if there's anything to this - there isn't. can't believe anyone's tried to tell me than Eminem is special. whole world of hip hop out there, absolutely no reason to put this on.
music: hated. ( -_-)
1
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Wed Jan 10 2024
The ArchAndroid
Janelle Monáe
seems like it's trying to sound like the future but doesn't have anything but cut ups of the past to fashion that together. sounds like a whole lifetime of secondhand experiences. makes me sad in a bad way.
music: hated. (⌐■_■)
2
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Thu Jan 11 2024
...Baby One More Time
Britney Spears
This is a cultural moment to be aware of, not an album to listen to.
If teenagers made this music themselves for other teenagers it'd be unlistenable but fine. For grown adults to decide it's fine to send a teenager through the grinder to sell records and soft drinks is chilling.
music: hated. (⌐■_■)
1
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Fri Jan 12 2024
D
White Denim
this list has combed through cultural moments of the last 7 decades and then picked all the albums where the band incorporated flute
I heard a catchy indie pop rock song (Heart From Us All) and a garage rock thing (Let's Talk About It) way back in 2008 and thought somewhere in between was the deal with this band. I had no idea that they were this much of a jam band.
It looks like the song I liked is the anomaly. Good moments, only amounts to ok, as jam bands tend to. I think their first album is way more interesting.
music: ... (⌐■_■)
3
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Sat Jan 13 2024
The Stone Roses
The Stone Roses
Not what I expected it to be & pretty good. Sound is just a little too 80s pop. There's some I think I would like quite a bit if the second guitar was louder, if the rhythm guitar didn't have chorus or whatever it is, and the drums were less whatever it is they are. Those are big changes so I'm basically saying this isn't quite for me.
3
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Sun Jan 14 2024
Talking Timbuktu
Ali Farka Touré
good, different from much of this list. if you are a guitarist the stuff that sounds like it would be simple to play is a wonderful learning experience. you will embarrass yourself and possibly learn something nice about the instrument
music: appreciated. (⌐□_□)
4
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Mon Jan 15 2024
Ctrl
SZA
Some of my students went to see SZA last year and one came to class having lost her voice completely from shouting, and that was very funny.
The album cover is cool.
I won't listen to this again but I can see the appeal for Gen Z, and I'm quite happy to see the Kids These Days excited about pop that isn't a complete rehash of the late 90s/early 2000s. On the flipside I think this is going to sound extremely dated in 5-10 years the way the 2000s stuff does.
music: I'm old. (⌐■_■)
2
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Tue Jan 16 2024
Red Headed Stranger
Willie Nelson
some things going for this that keep the 'concept album' thing from being annoying:
1) it's short
2) it piece a narrative between existing popular songs
3) the story doesn't really go that much of anywhere
Makes me wonder how many murder ballads are contained in this list. what a category to have. guy sings a song about somebody murdering their wife like "hey you know how sometimes you just kill your whole family", and instead of being "uuhhhhh... no??" we're all "riveting story. best not to take it literally. four stars."
music: appreciated. (⌐■_■)
4
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Wed Jan 17 2024
Bayou Country
Creedence Clearwater Revival
I always forget CCR is from California. They try hard to sound like they're from the southeast. That's kinda sleazy, CCR, and more so when you used to call yourselves the Golliwogs.
I guess there's a reason you only hear CCR's greatest hits because the hits are much much better than the other songs. Not that the other ones are bad, they're fine, just not special.
music: appropriated. (⌐■_■)
3
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Thu Jan 18 2024
Run-D.M.C.
Run-D.M.C.
Beats are kinda rudimentary in that 80s hip hop way, not as strong as the sparse beats that would be popular later. But it's 1984. And the MCing is very good. They're using a particular flow that's dated but not using it rigidly and it sounds more like good MCing from any era than, say, Beastie Boys.
I might like this better than Raising Hell, maybe? but I haven't listened to that again, and I might just be in a better mood on this day.
music: appreciated. (⌐■_■)
3
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Fri Jan 19 2024
The Dark Side Of The Moon
Pink Floyd
it's fine. the Dark Side of Oz is kinda cool to watch I guess. I like the verse in Time. When I was a teen I quite liked the wailing vocal in Great Gig in the Sky.
there's lots of better stuff out there.
popular culture: hated. (⌐■_■)
3
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Sat Jan 20 2024
What's Going On
Marvin Gaye
Great singing, great song flow. The bass playing is wild, just wild, a masterpiece in how much weird chromatic stuff you can do without distracting from the rest of the song.
This is a rarity for me, an album I think is top tier without songs that have a huge draw individually. I suspect this is the strings & stuff smoothing over the dynamic changes I want to hear - which are there, all over - and I'd like individual songs a lot if it was more sparse. I found the Detroit Mix and that's still not quite it, I want even less stuff. I want to hear the bit of drum rattle & room reverberation at every little stop, ex. Marion Black's "Who Knows". I will admit this is perhaps absurd.
music: appreciated. (⌐o_o)
5
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Sun Jan 21 2024
Songs The Lord Taught Us
The Cramps
Rhythm guitar sound is cool when it's doing simple chord stabs.
Hard not to think of worse bands that used the template when listening to this, both direct style and uninspiring 'punk as theatrical performance' stuff. Before psychobilly was an obnoxious genre it might have been fun to see the early days of the Cramps. B-movie schtick isn't for me, just didn't enjoy this and didn't make it through.
music: hated. (⌐■_■)
2
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Mon Jan 22 2024
The Visitors
ABBA
at long last a chance to seriously listen to ABBA and see whether I find anything to enjoy in this beloved pop band
I do not
music: hated. (⌐■_■)
2
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Tue Jan 23 2024
Foo Fighters
Foo Fighters
it's impressive that this was a studio project by one person and sounds like an actual (boring) grunge band
I've heard enough Foo Fighters for a lifetime just by being anywhere near a radio in the 00s, so I skimmed through. I think this is a little better than the radio hits
music: hated. (⌐■_■)
2
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Thu Jan 25 2024
AmeriKKKa's Most Wanted
Ice Cube
I like classic hip hop and this sounds good. Did not pay much attention to the lyrics. What I did catch wasn't great, Ice Cube really leaning into the misogyny. It was Interesting to have a track with Yo-Yo taking it slightly to task but I self-aware misogyny isn't much to write home about.
music: hated. (⌐■_■)
3
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Fri Jan 26 2024
Club Classics Vol. One
Soul II Soul
not the worst, surprisingly similar to dance that was popular 15ish years later, really drags in the middle
music: hated. (⌐■_■)
2
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Sat Jan 27 2024
Stand!
Sly & The Family Stone
Have known Sly & the Family Stone were gigantic influences but not heard much of them, glad to have changed that.
Could do without the long jam on side two. Love the guitar playing on the tracks that are more soul than funk.
music: appreciated. (⌐■_■)
4
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Sun Jan 28 2024
Unknown Pleasures
Joy Division
I don't know why they chose to record an all time great bass line on Disorder with an amp that flubs out on the low notes. There's some live versions that have a better bass sound. There's bass tracks on this very album with a sound that'd work great. Still, great great song. Absolutely love the guitar sound.
Not many bands can have a completely different on-record & live sound and have both be very cool. The cold & distant studio production sounds great, so does the frantic mess of live Joy Division.
I think every time I hear I Remember Nothing I'll think of the 'Ian Curtis rides a rollercoaster' video. wheeeeeeeeeee.
It's hard to overstate how important this one is for its "You have permission to take yourself seriously." vibe, historically important but also just embedded in the sound. Of course some groups tried to use sonic aspects directly, but it's more a vision statement: look around, find which of your own experiences speak to you, warts & all, and the result might be amazing. Maybe it'll be offputting - just go with it. Love it.
music: appreciated. (⌐■_■)
5
View Album
Mon Jan 29 2024
Apple Venus Volume 1
XTC
what is orchustic supposed to mean. how do you think orchestras make sound buddy
& you ain't Paul McCartney. frig off
music: hated. (⌐■_■)
3
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Tue Jan 30 2024
My Generation
The Who
Besides reviewing Tommy for this list (bad), I've never seriously listened to the Who, don't care for their hits much.
It's funny that if you try to imagine exactly halfway between the Beatles and the 1960s Rolling Stones, you wouldn't be far off My Generation.
I dunno if there are great songs here but there are some great sounds
music: appreciated. (⌐■_■)
4
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Wed Jan 31 2024
Rio
Duran Duran
not as bad as I thought it'd be
music: hated. (⌐■_■)
2
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Thu Feb 01 2024
Olympia 64
Jacques Brel
if one of my half-hearted attempts to learn French ever took I might understand why this is on the list
music: hated. (⌐■_■)
2
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Fri Feb 02 2024
Birth Of The Cool
Miles Davis
music: cool. (⌐■_■)
4
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Sat Feb 03 2024
MTV Unplugged In New York
Nirvana
The last time I listened to this was on cassette in an Econoline van. I thought it'd be good driving music but I was underwhelmed.
It's not underwhelming on headphones. It's very good, and very interesting as a historical document. It makes the country & blues influence on Nirvana's songwriting more obvious. It was not obvious to me until listening to a lot of Nirvana that Kurt Cobain was an incredible singer, or that the songwriting uses a lot of neat harmonic substitutions/tonal ambiguity.
Buncha cool things going on with the song choices, the decision to pick keys that are hard to sing on purpose, doing it all in one take.
This is only a 4 & not a 5 because Nirvana is a band where I think 'this is good' and then I notice more & more of the things that make it good. It doesn't have the immediate impact of the stuff I'd give 5 stars but it does get stuck in my head as often.
music: appreciated. (⌐■_■)
4
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Sun Feb 04 2024
Dirt
Alice In Chains
it's funny to get this right after Nirvana. it's so silly in comparison that I'm not going to spend time reviewing music I don't enjoy
music: hated. (⌐■_■)
2
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Mon Feb 05 2024
Out of Step
Minor Threat
When I was a teen Minor Threat were a band I'd read about on the internet and had some mystique to them. I listened to some terrible quality mp3s with terrible headphones on the school computers. I was more into melody and harmony then and through a couple layers of quality reduction they didn't sound far off from the contemporary straightahead punk bands I thought were boring.
I gave them another go years later, but they're still not really a 'songs' band so not much to latch onto.
Now I like to hear groups that take advantage of distinct rhythms, and Minor Threat's vision seems coherent more than it does limited. This was cool. The guitars are great, like an American response to Wire. Lyrically and 'songs'-y, it's a bit slight, but style is worth a lot.
music: appreciated. (⌐■_■)
4
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Tue Feb 06 2024
Dusty In Memphis
Dusty Springfield
pretty good, will probably listen again. between a 3 & 4, rounding up
music: appreciated. (⌐■_■)
4
View Album
Wed Feb 07 2024
Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath
Never heard this album in full before.
often silly lyrics. one of very few bands that can have a silly song about wizards that's not a low point
Black Sabbath knew how to make an awesome groove right out of the gate. The guitar and bass playing similar lines weaving in and out of time with each other is so cool. My biggest gripe is that this would be even better if it dropped some of the guitar solos.
very impressive for something recorded in one day
music: appreciated. (⌐■_■)
4
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Thu Feb 08 2024
In The Wee Small Hours
Frank Sinatra
yeah it's ok. it's fine. I was grumpy and didn't even finish listening.
music: hated. (⌐■_■)
3
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Fri Feb 09 2024
Illinois
Sufjan Stevens
it can be hard to know where to draw the line on dark subjects in art. I feel comfortable saying that using John Wayne Gacy's sexual assaults & murders for a sad boy folk song is completely tasteless. there's ways to show empathy for the grotesque and this ain't it.
this album condenses down a lot of things I hated about being part of my generation at college age.
in Ulysses there's a bit where the young Joyce stand-in viciously rips on his younger self for having an idea as dumb and pretentious as writing books with letters for titles. it's a perfect little summary of the youthful arrogance of imaging the praise you'll get for completed works for which you have no content, & one of the great things about art is that you can experience this vicariously without having to be such a twit.
hearing that this stuff was 'genius' was right about when I stopped believing my generation was going to be any emotionally stunted than the boomers/Gen Xers we were supposedly learning from the mistakes of. it's the sound of ironic moustaches becoming an unironic(?) norm. it's feminism getting cool but relationship norms staying the same, men with ironic(?) moustaches expecting their girlfriends to take care of them, imagining praise for work that got halfway through coming up with titles.
music: hated. (⌐■_■)
2
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Sun Feb 11 2024
Guitar Town
Steve Earle
It's not Steve Earle's fault that you can hear Nickelback and modern country coming. But you can.
Never liked his songs as much as I feel like I'm supposed to. There's a tacky Bruce Springsteen thing going on trying to emphasize vocals with phrases that don't have much hook.
Having never looked at release dates before it's striking to me that Steve Earle's appearance in Heartworn Highways is so long before his first album. I like the Heartworn Highways stuff more than any releases I know.
music: hated. (⌐■_■)
3
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Tue Feb 13 2024
Led Zeppelin III
Led Zeppelin
Sometimes playing guitar makes you appreciate music more and sometimes it makes you appreciate music less - Bron-Y-Aur Stomp is probably good, but it sounds like what you play fucking around in a new blues alternate tuning for the first time.
If I didn't know about all the blues musicians Brits of the 60s & 70s ripped off I'd probably find this stuff amazing. Don't think I like any of the rockers on here as much as the other albums.
That's The Way is on my Shuffle Zeppelin road trip playlist, and I maintain that Shuffle Zeppelin driving down some coastal highway is the best Led Zeppelin 'album'.
Led Zeppelin III is very III.
music: hated. (⌐■_■)
3
View Album
Wed Feb 14 2024
The Message
Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five
Some of the songs I'll never listen to again, but they're all interesting. The only one I disliked was Scorpio. Started out really strong on the first track, lots of dynamics that early influential hip hop doesn't always have.
The title track used to sound really really dated to me, both in the backing and in the lyrical flow, and now it doesn't so much. I don't know what that means.
This one's a big deal for 1982 and I have some qualms about not rounding up to 4.
music: appreciated. (⌐■_■)
3
View Album
Fri Feb 16 2024
Channel Orange
Frank Ocean
Good bit of variety, still coherent. If the region in your brain that enjoys pop music works I bet this is nice.
music: hated. (⌐■_■)
2
View Album
Sat Feb 17 2024
Pretenders
Pretenders
A little on the wrong side of the 80s radio rock/postpunk line for me. Grooves along too much where there should be a little more dynamic range, has too much flanger where there should be none. Something neat in most of the songs. Probably won't listen to the album again, probably will listen through a track if it comes up.
music: hated. (⌐■_■)
3
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Sun Feb 18 2024
Bridge Over Troubled Water
Simon & Garfunkel
I do not like this.
2
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Wed Feb 21 2024
Peggy Suicide
Julian Cope
There's some things I like or find interesting in this, lots that I don't. I'm rounding up to a 3 because I haven't heard of Julian Cope before, and most of the Brits I haven't heard of on this list so far have been really dull.
music: hated. (⌐■_■)
3
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Fri Feb 23 2024
Music From Big Pink
The Band
yeah it's ok
5
View Album
Sat Feb 24 2024
Aftermath
The Rolling Stones
When the Beatles are being kinda awful you don't think about it as much because the songs are good and there's some charm. I'm Looking Through You is very mean, and also very good.
Take away the charm and song quality, triple down on misogyny, and you've got Aftermath by the Rolling Stones.
Sure, lots of it has nice sounding 60s rock backing. Musically, Under My Thumb is better than I want to give it credit for. I have never liked Paint It Black, which isn't on the version of the album I just listened to anyway.
I suppose this is an album to listen to in order to understand who the Rolling Stones were (real assholes), and how low the bar was set to call their stuff a masterpiece compared to more interesting contemporaries.
music: hated. (⌐■_■)
2
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Sun Feb 25 2024
Armed Forces
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
there's really 6 Elvis Costello albums on here, hey?
same thoughts as the other one, somehow the more that goes into this the more generic it sounds. not surprising that I don't like Elvis Costello trying to make his most commercially successful record
music: hated. (⌐■_■)
2
View Album
Mon Feb 26 2024
The Bends
Radiohead
There's something inescapably adolescent about Radiohead and this album is the most undisguised about it.
There's a few songs that are about as good as you can do for their thing, turning college rock into highly polished hits. Just about everything on High and Dry sounds great, the atmospheric guitar accents in the verse, the rumbly power chords underneath that come in. The ascending melody hook in the chorus is instantly memorable in the way of timeless classics. But there's something a little hollow about it, and it isn't gonna be a timeless classic - too structured? Whatever it is, it's not a "oh yeah, that one!", it's a "ok sure, but enough of it already" or a "yeah it's cringey but I love it".
Conflicted about how to rate this. I think it's very good at being what it was, mass market music for moody teenagers. If you look at it only in the context of the mainstream where 90s rock was dominated by grunge and Britpop, it's refreshing. When you get more into the rest of what was going on in the 80s/90s it's kinda unremarkable. When you learn how to deal with your emotions in a way that's not moping you don't need this music so much anymore.
I think there should be good music for moody teenagers going through an especially moody phase, but I feel weird about it being made by adults. If you still feel the mood of these songs throughout your 20s, you are stuck in a way that's concerning.
but then also adults have to be the ones make this because teenagers don't know fuck all about making anything yet.
a predicament.
5 stars minus one star for every 10 years you are past 16.
3
View Album
Tue Feb 27 2024
White Blood Cells
The White Stripes
wasn't into their kind of retro rock thing when they were current. it was obviously more blues influenced and I liked that it was stripped down, but it didn't stand out enough from all the The <...> bands
We're Going to Be Friends is very nice. It could've ended up too twee and cutesy but it didn't. Evocative, impressive to make a G C D song that's instantly recognizable. I have seen the music video exactly once, the first time I heard the song, and I still remember that, is how good a simple tune this is.
I don't like that much else on here. I think the blues garage sound is kinda dull with the distortion cranked all the time. kinda obnoxious. The guitar on De Stijl sounds way better.
music: hated. (⌐■_■)
3
View Album
Wed Feb 28 2024
Marquee Moon
Television
Here's a dumb thing I did: thinking that this album held the secrets of how to play electric guitar (the smart part of this idea), I put the entire thing with bonus tracks on my mp3 player to absorb it as much as possible.
I only listen to music on shuffle walking around, which is Correct - but this shitty old mp3 player had a shuffle that didn't really shuffle, and it'd only have 2-3 different sequences. Most of the tracks on Marquee Moon ended up in an ill-suited sequence.
Unlike the unskippable title track, they're not for every mood - they're kinda trebly and in your face, right? So instead of listening to these songs when I wanted they came up randomly when I'd be grumpy with a headache. My association with the songs is 'ehh not right now, skip' instead of how good they are.
If I were a wise person I'd have taken them off the non-shuffle shuffle. Instead I used that same thing for 10 years. Now I listen on a thing that actually shuffles and try not to skip.
The song Marquee Moon alone makes the album deserve a spot on a lifetime listening list. That moment where the guitar solo shatters into birds chirping is unbeatable, and then Television understood that it would be awesome to repeat the first verse. If you asked me how long it is without looking it up I'd have guessed 4 minutes. Never the slightest bit dull.
music: adored. (⌐★_★)
5
View Album
Thu Feb 29 2024
In Utero
Nirvana
I've never listened to most of the songs on this album before.
I first heard Heart-Shaped Box outside at a party in junior high, thinking that I found Nirvana kinda ehhh, and I still remember hearing the chorus come in.
It's funny that there's so much mystique about alternate mixes of this album.
It sounds like a band making an admirable effort to do their thing under tremendous pressure.
music: respected. (⌐■_■)
4
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Fri Mar 01 2024
Winter In America
Gil Scott-Heron
There was a little bit where I was like 'hmm maybe Gil Scott-Heron has a consistent vibe and you only need to hear the best few', and then I changed my mind shortly after. I think I didn't fully grasp this but I'll be coming back to it.
music: appreciated. (⌐■_■)
4
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Mon Mar 11 2024
Low-Life
New Order
I think early New Order has one of the coolest guitar sounds ever. It gets increasingly buried under louder synths and drums, so this album is as far as I got in their discography. I don't like it as much as the first two.
music: appreciated. (⌐■_■)
4
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Tue Mar 12 2024
Kid A
Radiohead
The reception of this as a weirdo album is so funny to me. Sure it's got lots more electronic stuff, but it doesn't sound thaaat much different from OK Computer. It's full of songs, not experimental tracks. I bet it was very hard for the band to figure out how to make music differently but they still sound like the same group.
I think the title track is a beautiful tune. It's so catchy that even John Mayer sounds alright doing it.
Have always loved the Idioteque chords, and that Paul Lansky sample (from an 18 minute track that doesn't repeat anything) is inspired.
On this one I have more use for the role of a megasuccess like Radiohead, distilling cultural moments to something with broader appeal. When they do it with college rock it's not that far off, you may as well explore their inspirations instead. When I first heard Kid A (2004?), my brother was big into electronic dance music, I was really really not, and it was something of a gateway to appreciating the parts I could appreciate. There were other people filtering those influences but none so easy an entry point.
This kind of melancholy mood music is useful into your early twenties, or at least the best of it is. Asymptotically trending down to 3.5 over time.
4
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Wed Mar 13 2024
You're Living All Over Me
Dinosaur Jr.
Only heard a handful of the tracks off this one before.
It has the energy of going to see a local band you've heard about or know somebody in, and you're maybe a little apprehensive, but then the show rules, just absolutely rules. Later Dinosaur Jr. is catchier, this has more wild spirit.
Rating is relative to this list and for being from 1987. Would probably not be a 5 on the list of underground albums to hear before you die, but it is here.
music: appreciated. (⌐■_■)
5
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Thu Mar 14 2024
Being There
Wilco
Sunken Treasure of course very good.
I like Wilco trying to rip off Big Star's Kangaroo quite a bit. Strum some melancholy chords, let a rumble of electric guitar threaten to take over, great formula. I don't like Wilco jamming on rockin' tunes, or on country/blues, for the most part. It's probably a Good Time if you're a dad looking for good time music.
music: hated. (⌐■_■)
3
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Fri Mar 15 2024
Goo
Sonic Youth
I don't think this is as good as either of the two previous Sonic Youth albums. Sister and Daydream Nation have more memorable songs.
Sonic Youth has an offputting element of cool kids gatekeeping that seems to come across more on Goo. If they weren't masters of making this kind of guitar music it'd be a dealbreaker.
but they are, so.
music: stole its sister's boyfriend, killed its parents and hit the road within a week. (⌐■_■)
4
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Sat Mar 16 2024
Back In Black
AC/DC
The riff on Back In Black sounds massive. It's the only thing worth listening to on this album.
music: hated. (⌐■_■)
2
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Sun Mar 17 2024
One World
John Martyn
expected not to like this, it was fine.
however I do not have any use for a song called Big Muff that isn't referencing/about the fuzz pedal. I probably don't have use for one that is, either, but I definitely don't have use for one that isn't.
3
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Mon Mar 18 2024
Eliminator
ZZ Top
take the groove out of ZZ Top and put a steady 80s beat underneath, with predictably mediocre results. energy without heart.
music: hated. (⌐■_■)
2
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Tue Mar 19 2024
Hard Again
Muddy Waters
In university I took a popular music class that was early in the morning, and one day before class some version of Hoochie Coochie Man was playing. It sounded sparse and gigantic. I've never heard a version that sounded like that did, but maybe it was just from being played loud in a big auditorium.
or maybe it was actually a version of Mannish Boy?? does my search begin anew??
no. it was Hoochie Coochie Man. ok.
I have trouble figuring out where to place this for 1977. Is it an essential blues album? Is it even an essential Muddy Waters album? Was it a big deal in 1977 to get a nicely recorded traditional Muddy Waters album? I am not sure, but I will go up to 4 because there's too many mediocre British blues imitators on this list.
Johnny Winter on 'miscellaneous screams' is a great credit.
baffling choice for an album title.
music: appreciated. (⌐■_■)
4
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Wed Mar 20 2024
There's A Riot Goin' On
Sly & The Family Stone
rules. love the first track. great name in response to What's Going On. great weirdo yodelling. will be listening again.
music: appreciated. (⌐■_■)
5
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Thu Mar 21 2024
Sunshine Superman
Donovan
started ok.
then trying to share an insider's view on the 60s pop scene by... singing about medieval times. buddy. get it together.
parts of this without harpsichord sound are quite good, all driven by the bass. nearly all of it also has something obnoxious. the lyrics and vocal phrasing on Season of the Witch are bad, and bad enough to detract from a song about nothing.
just when you think Donovan might have got the renaissance fair out of his system & moved on, "Guinevere of the royal court of Arthurrrr". buddy. fuck off.
there could have been a 60s pop album by Donovan that was alright. it's not this one.
music: hated. (⌐■_■)
2
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Sat Mar 23 2024
The Downward Spiral
Nine Inch Nails
both the music and the edginess are boring. a Hollywoodized version of what was happening in industrial music, depoliticizing & taking out any depth from the connection to transgressive art, complete with changing the creation narrative from collaborative projects to lone genius in a mansion.
perfect soundtrack for a movie where somebody goes to a vampire nightclub. the vampires are torturing and eating humans right in plain sight!! doesn't the evil decadence have so much to say about the decay of the modern world?
no. it's a fuckin vampire movie. do some kinda meta analysis of edgelord culture if you want but this itself has got nothing to say.
music: hated. (⌐■_■)
2
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Sun Mar 24 2024
Legalize It
Peter Tosh
lots going on in the band here, very together. probably alright, if this music is for you.
it is not for me. I fall asleep with the TV on. I eat spaghetti for breakfast.
plus I have too much experience with chill vibes reggae being a major warning sign. not all the white hippies who love reggae are narcissists. but.
music: hated. (⌐🌿_🌿)
3
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Mon Mar 25 2024
Sound Affects
The Jam
Had only heard That's Entertainment before. This is cool. A bit too poppy for me when it doesn't have something striking in the guitar or bass. Only one song is missing that edge, and perhaps a song for dreaming about Monday shouldn't have anything exciting.
music: appreciated. (⌐⬤_⬤)
4
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Tue Mar 26 2024
Songs Of Leonard Cohen
Leonard Cohen
When I was 18 I'd have given this 5 stars easy. It's nice but melancholy doesn't seem to have as much range or depth now that I'm getting old.
I've always liked the Stranger Song. In retrospect it seems like one of few times Lenny tries to do a human woman's perspective, not some mythologized muse thing - best he can do is a song about either being used as a mythologized muse or a reprieve from chasing muses though. "he'll say one day you caused his will to weaken with your love, and warmth, and shelter", because of course he will, this dude who thought "I told you when I came I was a stranger" passes for emotional awareness. very evocative of relationship dynamics everybody knows in some fashion
music: appreciated. (⌐■_■)
4
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Fri Apr 05 2024
Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea
PJ Harvey
This is disappointing compared to the other PJ Harvey I've heard. Too much about New York. I bet in 2000 it seemed like a good idea to have Thom Yorke on your record, now it seems comically bizarre to have the guy from Radiohead sing when you could have PJ Harvey.
All the same I don't want to downgrade it for being disappointing, and PJ Harvey singing over rumbly guitars is better than most of the stuff on this list.
music: hated. (⌐■_■)
4
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Thu Apr 18 2024
Junkyard
The Birthday Party
There's something fucked up about Australia & this band built that into a guitar sound template.
I think knowing about Nick Cave's career of many silly & bland murder ballads holds me back from appreciating his contributions more here. When I want to hear this vibe I go for the Drones or Rowland S Howard solo instead.
They do the rumble & screech thing real good and I am grateful for this sound template.
music: appreciated. (⌐■_■)
4
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Sun Apr 21 2024
Cut
The Slits
This has to be the best music ever made by a white person who grew dreads. (are there even any other contenders...?)
Clear vision, inventive, invigorating. What more can you ask for?
They sound a fair bit like the Raincoats tilted more aggressive, upbeat & silly, and I think I will mostly continue to go listen to the Raincoats instead.
but like the Raincoats this is as cool as it gets. There's plenty of art of all kinds that takes itself too seriously, plenty that's irreverent & not much else. Every once in a while there's something that takes both itself and its audience the exact right amount of seriously to be fun, a little challenging, moving.
music: rules. (⌐■_■)
5
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Wed Apr 24 2024
Entertainment
Gang Of Four
rules, absolutely rules. there are legends of guitar playing who have never done anything half as cool as the line on Ether.
what else is there to say?
music: I smile, I think music is my friend. (⌐■_■)
5
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Sat Apr 27 2024
Surfer Rosa
Pixies
very cool sound, love all the dynamic range & separation, lots of fun. like River Euphrates, seems to show off all the best aspects of the Pixies with the least amount of 'song'.
something holds me back from fully enjoying the Pixies, and I think it's Frank Black's reputation as an asshole. does Frank Black have a reputation as an asshole, do I even remember that right? whatever it is, there's some kinds of music that don't hit right if you think the author is a jerk, and this is one.
until today I've never been sure where Surfer Rosa ends and Come On Pilgrim begins. both are very good.
music: appreciated. (⌐■_■)
4