671
Albums Rated
3.81
Average Rating
62%
Complete
418 albums remaining
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1950s
Favorite Decade
Funk
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Top Origin
Generous
Rater Style
140
5-Star Albums
1
1-Star Albums
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You Love More Than Most
Albums you rated higher than global average
| Album | You | Global | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trout Mask Replica | 5 | 2.28 | +2.72 |
| Medúlla | 5 | 2.72 | +2.28 |
| My Life In The Bush Of Ghosts | 5 | 2.78 | +2.22 |
| Vulnicura | 5 | 2.79 | +2.21 |
| Ys | 5 | 2.8 | +2.2 |
| 69 Love Songs | 5 | 2.84 | +2.16 |
| BEYONCÉ | 5 | 2.85 | +2.15 |
| Millions Now Living Will Never Die | 5 | 2.87 | +2.13 |
| World Clique | 5 | 2.87 | +2.13 |
| Swordfishtrombones | 5 | 2.95 | +2.05 |
You Love Less Than Most
Albums you rated lower than global average
| Album | You | Global | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chocolate Starfish And The Hot Dog Flavored Water | 1 | 2.47 | -1.47 |
| Get Behind Me Satan | 2 | 3.42 | -1.42 |
| Ace of Spades | 2 | 3.29 | -1.29 |
| MTV Unplugged In New York | 3 | 4.21 | -1.21 |
| Something/Anything? | 2 | 3.03 | -1.03 |
Artist Analysis
Favorite Artists
Artists with 2+ albums
| Artist | Albums | Average |
|---|---|---|
| Björk | 4 | 5 |
| Beatles | 6 | 4.67 |
| Talking Heads | 3 | 5 |
| Nick Drake | 3 | 5 |
| Miles Davis | 3 | 5 |
| Prince | 3 | 5 |
| Stevie Wonder | 3 | 5 |
| David Bowie | 8 | 4.25 |
| Tom Waits | 4 | 4.5 |
| The Smiths | 3 | 4.67 |
| Radiohead | 3 | 4.67 |
| Marvin Gaye | 3 | 4.67 |
| The Flaming Lips | 2 | 5 |
| OutKast | 2 | 5 |
| Funkadelic | 2 | 5 |
| Depeche Mode | 2 | 5 |
| Yeah Yeah Yeahs | 2 | 5 |
| Kraftwerk | 2 | 5 |
| Aretha Franklin | 2 | 5 |
| Fiona Apple | 2 | 5 |
| Kate Bush | 2 | 5 |
| Pink Floyd | 4 | 4.25 |
| Brian Eno | 4 | 4.25 |
| Leonard Cohen | 4 | 4.25 |
| Bob Dylan | 6 | 4 |
| Jimi Hendrix | 3 | 4.33 |
| The Kinks | 3 | 4.33 |
| Kanye West | 3 | 4.33 |
5-Star Albums (140)
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Popular Reviews
Tracy Chapman
5/5
That top rated review that calls this secretary rock - sure but it's the secretaries from "9 to 5"
Spoiler alert: they smoke weed and fantasize about killing their misogynist anti-labor boss, then kidnap him and stage a corporate coup to establish revolutionary pro-worker policies. Also one of them is a lesbian icon and one of them is an infamous war protester and one of them is an unbelievably talented and beloved folk singer songwriter.
30 likes
The Mars Volta
5/5
Fuck yes, another favorite from 20 years ago - the chokehold that Televators had on my adolescent mind! A great band to listen to if you're studying for the SATs, get your blood pumping while you expand your vocabulary.
This album absolutely rips. I'm just a gal who loves psychedelic, prog, weird stuff. I'm not afraid of a 60 minute jam about the nightmarish hallucinations experienced during the limbo between life and death.
In the proggiest move ever, there's a companion book that goes with this album to add further details to the "story" of Cerpin Taxt, the fictional main character based on real life artist Julio Venegas. I only learned of its existence today, so I'm glancing at it now out of curiosity, but for me the vibes of these songs are strong enough to get the point across.
Summary: a man is in immense psychological pain, takes a cocktail of drugs with the intent to die, goes into a coma and has an existential battle with his various demons while hospitalized before ultimately deciding, after he wakes up, to make the final choice to end it all.
Track 1 - "Son Et Lumiere" - The title translates to sound and light. There are droning background noises that evoke florescent lights, combined with the paranoid and repetitive beep-like note it gives the essence of hospital. The narrator vaguely describes shooting something up and says he is "not the percent you think survives" - he was planning and expecting to die. He refers to himself as a rat and vermin with pockmarked skin. All the while the music is steadily building, adding drums and louder instrumentation.
Track 2 - "Inertiatic Esp" - The first track flows seamlessly into this, with the band at full volume as the singer wails "Now I'm Lost!" - the narrator is lost in his comatose interior world. There is grotesque imagery, a possible combo of hospital horrors and nightmarish psychosis. The drums are driving, the organ is wonky, the jams are fantastic.
Track 3 - "Roulette Dares (The Haunt Of)" - This intro is the most At The Drive-In sounding to me, loud, fast, intense. The haunt of roulette dares - these ghastly hallucinations are the result of the narrator playing a game with his life. The verses refer to various forms of self harm. The pre-chorus slow down jams are heavy AF - the narrator will not be reconnecting to his body soon, the junction is delayed, he's going deeper. The end is a slow jam out
Track 4 - "Tirame A Las Aranas" - Throw me to the spiders! This is a very short and spooky instrumental track, dark plucky guitar gives way to atmospheric wails and wobbles that slide into the following track.
Track 5 - "Drunkship of Lanterns" - The Latin rhythms on this song are frantic, along with the bass. It grows more and more throughout the song, which evokes claustrophobia and isolation with imagery of submarines and tombs. "Is anybody there?" "Nobody is heard" There are multiple movements as it weaves in and out of begging for another soul, panicked descriptions of desolate scenery, and the intense locked-in horror of there being nothing but the counting of one's own blinks. The outro is another atmospheric industrial wind down, with a marching beat.
Track 6 - "Eriatarka" - The chorus of this one is ATDI reminiscent again, with hardcore edges that give way to proggy verses, more grotesque imagery - tapeworms etc. The lyrics here are particularly esoteric, but the vibe is that the narrator is an experiment, something is wrong. In this basement he has been restrained, is "cocooned meat", dark stuff.
Track 7 - "Cicatriz Esp" - I fucking love this song. "IIIIIII'VE DEEEEEFECTED" It's 12:28, it is bonkers, it is just so good for me. Just psychedelic weirdness for the middle bit. The rails have come off, "said I've Lost My Way" , it comes all the way back with a Santana style Latin rhythms and guitar moment that builds and builds from around 8 minutes to 11 minutes. The singer comes back with a vengeance and the end is massive.
Track 8 - "This Apparatus Must Be Unearthed" - weirdest (funny to write that) vibes on this one. The narrator is unhinged and wrathful, there are images of destruction, cities in ruin, and themes of vengeance and blame. A very aggressive drum outro.
Track 9 - "Televators" - I love that this was a single that I could hear on the radio in 2003, what a time. This is a beautiful, sad, slow song that uses allegorical lyrics to describe the tragic suicide of Julio Venegas, a friend of the Mars Volta founding members. He had been in a coma after a previous attempt at suicide by overdose, that experience informed the stories of the previous songs, after waking from his coma he eventually took his own life by jumping off a bridge over a busy intersection. A plea for mercy from concrete and pavement.
Track 10 - "Take the Veil Cerpin Taxt" Cerpin, or Julio, has chosen the veil. This is great closing track with more beautiful, evolving, instrumental jams. A self-guided journey to death with the tragic final call of "Who brought me here?"
8 likes
Carole King
5/5
I described this as the musical equivalent of a cozy vintage sweater. I'm very familiar with and fond of this album. Carole is a master songwriter and this album is packed with hooks. She puts the "natural" in natural woman - top marks!
5 likes
Heaven 17
4/5
"Across that great wide ocean
Reagan's president elect
Fascist God in motion
Generals tell him what to do
Stop your good time dancing
Train their guns on me and you
Fascist thing advancing"
This album certainly isn't the best example of synth pop, but then again, fuck Ronald Reagan.
4 likes
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band
5/5
I had a great time listening to this, actually! The first track is so jarring but really effectively shocked me into the mental state to enjoy my journey to Captain Beefheart's soundscape.
4 likes
4-Star Albums (274)
1-Star Albums (1)
All Ratings
The Strokes
4/5
No skips! I didn't have this cd, but I had Room on Fire, I think my brother had this one. I didn't know about the original cover, only the yellow and blue one! Someday remains an unimpeachable bop, I think Last Nite is actually my least favorite song on the album and it's still great. Is this it and Soma really stood out to me today. The story about NYC Cops is wild.
Run-D.M.C.
4/5
You can tell they were having a blast recording this. Invented rap rock and still did it better than just about anyone who came after. I love the old school trading lines flow. Perfection is the only song that dragged for me. You can hear the 1,001 hip hop memes in this album, it's obvious why it's on the list.
The Smiths
5/5
When this generated I said "Oh fuck yes!" Out loud.
Morrissey revolutionized being a cunt and this album rules.
When the titular prophesy came true I texted my brother (who introduced me to the Smiths via a burned rip of Louder than Bombs) "I say Charles, don't you ever crave to appear in front of the Daily Mail dressed in your mother's bridal veil?" Savage and iconic.
I haven't read much dissecting the additional layer of being queer in the '80s but I think this album is drenched in it. (Love is natural and real, but not for such as you and I, my love.)(Queens, Oscar Wilde, Vicars in Tutus etc.)
I Know It's Over, The Queen is Dead, The Boy With the Thorn in His Side, Big Mouth Strikes Again, Cemetry Gates! These are all fantastic songs.
There is a Light the Never Goes Out!!!
Vicar in a Tutu, Some Girls are Bigger Than Others, and Frankly Mr Shankly are just hilarious.
I own it on vinyl, I know all the words, it's a 5.
MGMT
4/5
Another album I had when it came out - it will be interesting to revisit this as I only really remember the singles + The Youth.
Also another no skip day for me. I can hear a lot of classic rock influence in here that I didn't know about when I first heard this album in 2007 - Bowie of course, there's some Jagger inflected vocals on Pieces of What, and then just a mishmash of psychedelic vibes scattered throughout.
Cool to read the wiki and find out that it really was just the 2 guys performing on the album. This definitely launched some music moments in the late naughts.
I was very familiar with the first half of the album- and Kids is still absolutely a standout track. The second half really surprised me and I felt it had a strong finish.
4/5
Another CD that I had when it came out and haven't listened to all the way through since probably 2008. Looking at the track list, again, I only remeber the singles by name. I had the CD of Absolution as well, I was expecting some of those songs. I'm excited to get into this one today.
It's like if you took the most operatic Radiohead jams and combined them with some metal flavor and deep mood Depeche Mode grooves and then poured a gallon of arena rock on top. Everything is over the top "epic" - it's very fun to listen to.
"Map of the Problematique" specifically starts off very Depeche Mode. Other stand outs for me today were the trumpet solo in "City of Delusion", "Hoodoo", and "Knights of Cydonia" which are just so OTT (epic space-spaghetti western soundtrack, Cydonia is literally an area on Mars). "Invincible" and "Starlight" are on the edge of too cheesy, but I could handle it today and I think they work in the flow of the album.
The music video for Knights of Cydonia is probably in the 1001 Music Videos to watch before you die.
It was another no skip day for me.
Blondie
5/5
I'm very excited about this one!
I'm coming into this album only knowing the three big singles, "Hanging on the Telephone", "One Way or Another", and "Heart of Glass". I had the best of Blondie cd in highschool and am excited to get into some new tracks from them.
No skips! This album is great all the way through. They do a lot of genre hopping but keep it grounded in a new wave/post punk vibe with Deborah Harry's and the bands pervasive 'tude.
Stand outs for me today were "Fade Away and Radiate", "11:59", and "Just Go Away"
Metallica
3/5
This is the first totally new one for me - I've heard some Metallica songs, but don't know many by name and have never heard of this album. My understanding from wikipedia is that the songs were pretty significantly rearranged by the band, so this will be interesting coming into this not knowing the original songs well. It's Over 2 hours long, with multiple songs in the 7 to 9 minutes range, so it will be quite the undertaking today.
The first two songs, "The Ecstasy of Gold" and "The Call of Ktulu" are completely instrumental. "The Ecstasy" is an Ennio Morricone composition, and serves as an orchestral prelude. "The Call of Ktulu" brings in the band. There is some nice, bombastic interplay between the metal riffs and triumphant orchestra arrangements. I jammed to "Ktulu" a few times today.
Then it goes into "Master of Puppets" and the crowd goes bonkers. James Hetfield starts singing on this one with some audience participation. The focus is more on the band, with some horn pops and dramatic swells provided by the orchestra. The following songs use the orchestra to varying levels of success- some were great and some were meh. Some songs had a lot of audience participation - namely "The Memory Remains" and "Enter Sandman".
"Hero of the Day" is extremely corny. So is "Wherever I Roam".
The more vocally intensive songs are disserved by over use of 1999 pitch correction - I said "yikes" out loud during a particularly autotuned part of "Nothing Else Matters"
"For Whom the Bells Tolls" combines the orchestra and the band very well to a menacing effect. Same with "Outlaw Turned" and "Sad but True". The end of "One" is turned to 11 with the whole orchestra joining the band in thrash overdrive. Likewise for "Battery"
It's a 3.5 based on the tunes which are mostly good, but I'm rounding down on the basis that it's not an album, it's a live show recorded. "Portishead Roseland NYC Live" and "Stop Making Sense" are better live albums and are not included on this 1001 albums list.
I am looking forward to hearing more Metallica as I progress in the list.
I will be using "fuckinnnnn A! Right!" in the style of "Battery" more often.
Ella Fitzgerald
5/5
The legendary Ella Fitzgerald recorded and released 8 massive albums comprising works by 8 different songwriters to make the Great American Songbook Collection. It's like the OG version of Sufjan Stevens' 50 states project.
This album, and yes it was recorded and released as an album not a compilation, is 59 songs and over 3 hours of swoony, croony, and sometimes loony tunes that showcase the exuberant composition and wordplay of the Gershwin bros and the one of a kind pipes of Lady Ella.
There is an abridged Best Of version available, if you're trying to put a time limit on your dinner party.
Drop that needle, pour that glass of wine, tap them toes, and enjoy the dulcet tones with some stimulating conversation.
The Killers
3/5
The soundtrack of the mid aughts - I had this CD and obviously Mr Brightside is still inescapable. Looking forward to seeing how it holds up.
The jams are still the jams, Mr Brightside is a pop smash for a reason. All These Things That I Have Done was the pep band song for the hockey team at my university so the grandness always hits for me. A lot of fun synth jams but overall there are hits and misses. I'll relisten but this didn't knock my socks off today.
Grizzly Bear
4/5
This was one of my faves when it came out and I still love a lot of songs from this album, looking forward to listening with intent today.
... and it's as great as I remember! No skips!
Standouts for me today were Two Weeks, All We Ask, and Ready Able.
The Velvet Underground
5/5
I was culturally aware of this and knew a few of the songs, but this was my first time really listening to this album. I loved it.
It felt very cinematic to me, the song order is essential to the feel of the whole thing. The journey from Sunday Morning to Black Angel Death Song and European Son is wild.
Doves
3/5
This is completely new to me. I've heard of the band but don't know any of these songs!
I feel like it's the missing link between Radiohead and Coldplay. Catch the Sun sounds like if early Coldplay did a Foo Fighters song.
I was walking around on a crisp fall day and enjoying this. It sounds nice, nothing blew me away. Overall it's pretty consistent in sound and I didn't skip anything.
Stand outs : Here It Comes, Rise, The Man Who Told Everything, The Cedar Room
Elbow
4/5
This is completely new to me. I've heard of Elbow but don't know any of their songs.
I listened with my son on the way in to daycare and work this morning, he was in a bad mood when we got in the car and as soon as this started it was like a switched got flipped. We had a very nice drive together to the first half of this album, and the second half brought me to work. I'm looking forward to listening again.
I love "Audience With The Pope"
I'm glad I bought better work headphones for "The Loneliness of a Tower Crane Driver"
"One Day Like This" is excellent.
I really enjoyed this album, it sounds extremely lush through a nice set of head phones. I'm looking forward to listening to more Elbow.
Anthrax
3/5
The only thing I know about Anthrax is Scott Ian's beard from when he was one VH1 back in the day.
I was expecting to hate this, but I'm having a blast. The '80s metal wailing, the thrash rhythms, the punk essence all add up to chaotic fun. The lyrics are pretty clever and funny - with references to Stephen King and Judge Dredd.
Apparently Anthrax are somewhat controversial in parts of the metal community for being included in the media- dubbed "Big Four" of thrash with Metallica, Megadeth, and Slayer. I'm not a metal head so I can't speak to any comparison, but this was super fun to listen to and the drummer is a fucking animal.
Standouts for me were "I am the Law" and "NFL" which is about the death of John Belushi.
Pink Floyd
5/5
An iconic album cover. I've heard a hundred dudes play the guitar part to "Wish You Were Here" but I have never listened to this album all the way through. Today's the day.
On first listen, I'm into it.
Shine On pt 1-5 intro makes me want to listen to Maggot Brain at first, then 4 minutes in the groove starts and I wish I was able to smoke a joint at work. It's very moody bass and organ backing track with some bluesy licks over top that just grows and grows. At 6 minutes it cools off for a melancholy synth solo. Guitar solo kicks back in at 7:30. The vocals start at 8:30. Around 11 minutes the saxophone solo kicks off and launches a heavier bass riff at 12 minutes that ends and the saxophone tapers us out. It's crazy that this is one of the top selling albums of all time, people are wild.
Industrial intro to Welcome to the Machine is very moody. The synth sounds a little dated now, but I think that's just because everyone copied these sounds after this came out. Strained vocals, acoustic strums, drones, and little stabbing synths pops and pierces and futuristic laser wobbles. The song drags a little bit but I think it's a good emotional intro to Have a Cigar.
Have a Cigar is great. I love Roy Harper's album Stormcock and knew he sang this song for Pink Floyd but had never heard it before. Sleazy and menacing.
Hearing so many amateur acoustic covers of Wish You Were Here over the years had erased how absolutely grand the song is - it really blows you away. It's crazy how with thorough and intentional all of the mastering is- you can hear this little cough, sniffle, sigh at the beginning that really sets it up. It's like the "holy shit" moment at the end of Oh Comely that grounds things for a second.
Shine One You Crazy Diamond pts 6-9 are a continuation of the jams from the first and a reprise of some of the same musical themes.
Overall it makes me want to lay on a pillow on the floor in a softly lit room with some good speakers and just vibe.
The Clash
5/5
I had blast listening to this today and cleaning the house. I was really feeling Rudie Can't Fail and I'm Not Down.
No notes, what a time!
The Beach Boys
4/5
I've seen the cover but didnt realize it was for a Beach Boys album. I know loads of Beach Boys songs, but these are all new to me.
First listen at midnight after a long Saturday. Surf's Up just ended and my only thought is "Holy Shit"
I can't wait to give this a proper listen tomorrow.
"Long Promised Road" "Feel Flows" "Til I Die" and "Surf's Out" are fantastic songs.
The rest are a combination of goofy, dated, or simply strange. They had come through the failed Smile sessions, Brian Wilson was in his bathrobe Era, new management told them to follow the counter culture and write some real shit. It's proggy and psychedelic, twisting the angelic harmonies of the Boys into dirges for the environment, laments for the working man, and existential dread (and one rocker about student protests). There's also a song about feet.
It was interesting to read about Van Dyke Park's involvement - I knew his name from his work with Joanna Newsom. What a wild dude!
The final track, Brian Wilson's Smile outtake the titular "Surf's Up" might as well be the thesis for the Beach Boys, though: beautiful music (a child's song) can get you through life.
The peppering of oceanic themes throughout, starting with Don't Go Near the Water and ending in Surf's Up really drive home the idea of "The Beach Boys are Dead. Long Live the Beach Boys." They went through the grinder pumping out hit after hit and on the 17th album they were done fucking surfing.
The White Stripes
2/5
I had White Blood Cells and Elephant on cd back in the day, but skipped this one. I think Doorbell is still a jam. This should be a good Monday album.
Actually, it kind of sucks.
Blue Orchid sounds like they were trying to recapture the jock jam power of Seven Nation Army again, it's decent.
The Nurse is meh, marimba is cool I guess but the song is not.
My Doorbell is pretty good, but not as good as I remembered.
Forever For Her is plodding and silly plus marimba.
Little Ghost is a moment of bluegrass but it's hard to listen to Jack's put-on Appalachia quaver.
Denial Twist is a proper jam.
White Moon is a bore.
Instinct Blues is just Jack White doing blues noodling on his guitar and singing about different creatures being horny.
Passive Manipulation is a 35 second weirdly incestuous refrain sung by Meg.
Take, Take, Take is not good enough for Rita Hayworth.
Ugly As I Seem is a bore.
Red Rain is bordering unlistenable.
I'm Lonely (But I Ain't That Lonely Yet) is a jokey blues tune a la "Lord won't you buy me a Mercedes Benz"
Dizzee Rascal
4/5
An hour before this generated, I used "Fix Up Look Sharp" in an Instagram story about sharpening my knives for Thanksgiving prep. Absolutely a wild coincidence! Excited to listen to this one now.
Banger after banger! I love the drippy, trippy electronic beats and the real driving intensity of his rapping. It's wild that he self produced this between the ages of 16 and 19, it's sounds fantastic and the beats still feel very fresh.
The Young Gods
3/5
I have never heard of this band or album at all. Wikipedia says they're a Swiss Industrial Rock group - sounds like a good soundtrack for greeting my visiting family the day before Thanksgiving!
I wrote a very long breakdown of each song and then didn't save it. But this was a cool listen, tracks vary from horror cabaret to Industrial metal and yet weirdly go together. The use of sampling and production effects had cool results when listening through headphones.
Kendrick Lamar
5/5
Beatles
5/5
Iconic cover, iconic tunes.
I had never listened to it straight through before or read about the making of it.
The final medley is perfect, yet I had Octopus's Garden stuck in my head for a day after.
Motörhead
2/5
Pluses for influencing the course of metal and Ace of Spades ripping/the energy getting me through the last Thanksgiving dishes.
Minuses for it mostly all sounding the same and Jailbait being truly hard to listen to.
Bonus for learning about Girlschool/the extra session musicians being a bunch of punk chicks.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
4/5
I've heard of Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds but I'm not sure I've heard any of their songs. I definitely didn't know that they had a whole album of good ol' fashioned murder ballads. This should be entertaining.
TL, DR: They absolutely 100% Commit To The Bit! Body count is at least 64, possibly in the 100s
I'm loving the drama of Cave singing "Hit It" to launch a piano solo after the intro to "Song Of Joy" ... and then repeating it again before the narrator's next victim is surely claimed. Song 1 - Guy murders his wife and 3 daughters with a knife and possibly countless more. *Body Count - 4+
Holy shit, "Stagger Lee" is an insanely obscene song, I'm dying. Stagger Lee is just cursing, fucking, and shooting motherfuckers dead. Song 2 - Stagger Lee murders a bartender and Billy Dilly by shooting them. *Body Count - 2
"Henry Lee" features PJ Harvey, who I love. A pretty tune, their voices go well together. Song 3 - The woman stabs Henry Lee and throws his body down a well. *Body Count - 1
"Lovely Creature" is the most rocking tune so far, faster drums and guitar riffs pepper the opening. This is also the least explicit song, but someone has certainly died and some wickedness has happened. Song 4 - a woman has been murdered and body buried somewhere in Egypt? *Body Count - 1
"Where The Wild Roses Grow" features KYLIE MINOGUE (Aussies stay aussin') This is the most straightforward pop structured song so far, with them trading verses and dueting on the chorus. They sound great together. Song 5 - A man murders Elisa Day, aka Wild Rose, with a rock! *Body Count - 1
"The Curse of Millhaven" is a rollicking one. The choruses are CAMP - La lala la - everyone has to die! This was a hoot to listen to. Song 6 - Lottie kills Bill Blakey's son by bashing his head in and drowning him in a creek, cut off Handyman Joe's head with a circular saw, attempted to murder Mrs Colgate with a knife but failed and got caught. Lottie also caused a group of 20 children to drown after they fell through the ice on Lake Tahoo. Lottie also burned down the Bella Vista slum. A dog is also murdered, but not by Lottie (it was Stinky Bohoon and his friend with the pumpkin sized head) *Body Count - 22+ that are explicitly mentioned
"The Kindness of Strangers" aka the ballad of Mary Bellows, a slow and sad piano crooner about the tragic fate of poor Mary who left Arkansas traveling east to finally see the ocean. This is an exceptionally bleak song about a woman travelling alone with a woman's voice crying and speaking added softly in the background of production. Song 7 - Richard Slade handcuffs Mary to her bed, puts a rag in her mouth and shoots her in the head. *Body Count - 1
"Crow Jane" is very slinky and jazzy. This is a revenge song. Song 8 - Crow Jane buys a gun and shoots 20 coal miners who robbed and raped her. *Body Count - 20
"O'Malley's Bar" is a 14 minute long account of a blood bath in a bar - it's all shuffling percussion, organ and bass with little pierces of piano while the narrator describes just killing every single person he interacts with. Song 9 - A man kills O'Malley, his wife, his daughter Siobhan, Caffrey, Mr. and Mrs. Richard Holmes, Mr. Brooks, Mr. Richardson, Jerry Bellows, Henry Davenport, Kathleen Carpenter, and Vincent West *Body Count - 12
"Death is Not The End" is, hilariously, the final song. It's a Bob Dylan cover featuring multiple guest singers, including PJ Harvey and Kylie Minogue and other.
Björk
5/5
I know this album backward and forward and love it all. I own the limited re-release on beige vinyl (as well as most of the rest of her discography).
I consider Björk to be one of the greatest artists in popular music, she is a relentless and passionate consumer of all music and her enormous catalogue of inspiration and influence has allowed her to expand the boundaries of pop and electronic music (and orchestral and acapella music, but we won't get into that now).
Her lyricism is deeply felt and her voice, a trained instrument, also shows her experience singing choir, jazz, and punk rock. Every growl or scat break or whisper is part of the emotionality of the song. I truly don't understand where the "screech" that other reviewers bring up comes from, to me it seems like a lot of preconceived ideas about her coming before the actual listening experience.
In this album the foundation of her future experimentation is set. In her "Sonic Symbolism" podcast she talked about how she had been ready to be the sole decider in her music after years of being in bands. I enjoy her pre-solo work but the jump from the Sugarcubes, essentially the Icelandic B-52s, to this work is staggering.
She blends bossa nova, bollywood, multiple flavors of jazz, Japanese folk music, ambient music, harp and string arrangments, and the pulsing throb of London's electronic music scenes into a gorgeous thesis on what is possible if you allow yourself to do whatever you want. She's been following that course for 30 years.
The Mars Volta
5/5
Fuck yes, another favorite from 20 years ago - the chokehold that Televators had on my adolescent mind! A great band to listen to if you're studying for the SATs, get your blood pumping while you expand your vocabulary.
This album absolutely rips. I'm just a gal who loves psychedelic, prog, weird stuff. I'm not afraid of a 60 minute jam about the nightmarish hallucinations experienced during the limbo between life and death.
In the proggiest move ever, there's a companion book that goes with this album to add further details to the "story" of Cerpin Taxt, the fictional main character based on real life artist Julio Venegas. I only learned of its existence today, so I'm glancing at it now out of curiosity, but for me the vibes of these songs are strong enough to get the point across.
Summary: a man is in immense psychological pain, takes a cocktail of drugs with the intent to die, goes into a coma and has an existential battle with his various demons while hospitalized before ultimately deciding, after he wakes up, to make the final choice to end it all.
Track 1 - "Son Et Lumiere" - The title translates to sound and light. There are droning background noises that evoke florescent lights, combined with the paranoid and repetitive beep-like note it gives the essence of hospital. The narrator vaguely describes shooting something up and says he is "not the percent you think survives" - he was planning and expecting to die. He refers to himself as a rat and vermin with pockmarked skin. All the while the music is steadily building, adding drums and louder instrumentation.
Track 2 - "Inertiatic Esp" - The first track flows seamlessly into this, with the band at full volume as the singer wails "Now I'm Lost!" - the narrator is lost in his comatose interior world. There is grotesque imagery, a possible combo of hospital horrors and nightmarish psychosis. The drums are driving, the organ is wonky, the jams are fantastic.
Track 3 - "Roulette Dares (The Haunt Of)" - This intro is the most At The Drive-In sounding to me, loud, fast, intense. The haunt of roulette dares - these ghastly hallucinations are the result of the narrator playing a game with his life. The verses refer to various forms of self harm. The pre-chorus slow down jams are heavy AF - the narrator will not be reconnecting to his body soon, the junction is delayed, he's going deeper. The end is a slow jam out
Track 4 - "Tirame A Las Aranas" - Throw me to the spiders! This is a very short and spooky instrumental track, dark plucky guitar gives way to atmospheric wails and wobbles that slide into the following track.
Track 5 - "Drunkship of Lanterns" - The Latin rhythms on this song are frantic, along with the bass. It grows more and more throughout the song, which evokes claustrophobia and isolation with imagery of submarines and tombs. "Is anybody there?" "Nobody is heard" There are multiple movements as it weaves in and out of begging for another soul, panicked descriptions of desolate scenery, and the intense locked-in horror of there being nothing but the counting of one's own blinks. The outro is another atmospheric industrial wind down, with a marching beat.
Track 6 - "Eriatarka" - The chorus of this one is ATDI reminiscent again, with hardcore edges that give way to proggy verses, more grotesque imagery - tapeworms etc. The lyrics here are particularly esoteric, but the vibe is that the narrator is an experiment, something is wrong. In this basement he has been restrained, is "cocooned meat", dark stuff.
Track 7 - "Cicatriz Esp" - I fucking love this song. "IIIIIII'VE DEEEEEFECTED" It's 12:28, it is bonkers, it is just so good for me. Just psychedelic weirdness for the middle bit. The rails have come off, "said I've Lost My Way" , it comes all the way back with a Santana style Latin rhythms and guitar moment that builds and builds from around 8 minutes to 11 minutes. The singer comes back with a vengeance and the end is massive.
Track 8 - "This Apparatus Must Be Unearthed" - weirdest (funny to write that) vibes on this one. The narrator is unhinged and wrathful, there are images of destruction, cities in ruin, and themes of vengeance and blame. A very aggressive drum outro.
Track 9 - "Televators" - I love that this was a single that I could hear on the radio in 2003, what a time. This is a beautiful, sad, slow song that uses allegorical lyrics to describe the tragic suicide of Julio Venegas, a friend of the Mars Volta founding members. He had been in a coma after a previous attempt at suicide by overdose, that experience informed the stories of the previous songs, after waking from his coma he eventually took his own life by jumping off a bridge over a busy intersection. A plea for mercy from concrete and pavement.
Track 10 - "Take the Veil Cerpin Taxt" Cerpin, or Julio, has chosen the veil. This is great closing track with more beautiful, evolving, instrumental jams. A self-guided journey to death with the tragic final call of "Who brought me here?"
My Bloody Valentine
5/5
It's reputation precedes it. I've never listened to this album, I think I was intimidated by all the hype. Here's what I know going into it: it's considered one of if not the best album of the 1990s by multiple music publications, it's highly experimental guitar music, and you're supposed to listen to it LOUD. I'm looking forward to finally getting into it.
Beautiful noise! I'm doing the most mundane bullshit at work and this is interesting enough to keep me in it, but ambient enough to not distract me. I think a more focused listening session after work will really pull me in.
I just keep starting it over again at my desk.
It feels like dreaming, or just waking up from a dream, or being very pleasantly high trying to remember what you were just talking about and walking through a party. The enormous distortion effects give this lucid, head-in-bag aura, out-of-body quality that I've never really heard captured musically before, closest feeling would be Cocteau Twins.
It's meditative.
I have read a little about how outrageously loud their shows were for this album, I can imagine that at ear-splitting volume this would induce intense emotion . If I didn't have a toddler, I would be cranking this on my home stereo tonight.
4/5
YES!!
I know a lot of this album, but not the whole thing. "Uncontrollable Urge" "Gut Feeling/Slap Your Mammy)" and their amazing cover of "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" are already faves. "Mongoloid" obviously has an extremely dated title and lyric, but if you ignore that it is also a jam.
I didn't know Brian Eno produced this, along with David Bowie being involved. The wikipedia for this album is great!
It's 1978 post-punk/ early new wave - it sounds like a sillier version of Talking Heads '77. I enjoyed it, first time standouts were Praying Hands and Shrivel Up.
ABBA
4/5
The hits keep coming!
I just want to start this review by saying one of the most fun nights of the last 5 years was a wine-soaked ABBA dance party with a group of friends and their parents, a group of Eastern European immigrants in their 60s. Dancing Queen is an unimpeachable slice of pop perfection.
I know some of these songs already: Dancing Queen, Money Money Money, and Fernando.
Once again, I wrote a longer piece about each song but then didn't save it. It boiled down to- other than the first song, these range from pretty tight to extremely tight pop jams.
Bob Dylan
4/5
I've never listened to this intentionally, but I absolutely remember my dad having this CD when I was a kid in the '90s.
I had it on in the background on Saturday, but waited to rate until I had time to really listen with headphones and pay attention.
It's Dylan's 30th (!!) album, released after a 7 year hiatus, that followed somewhat of a flop era. I'm looking forward to diving in.
So far in this project I've been listening to a lot of experimental, prog, electronic stuff. That's also generally what I choose to listen to, so musically this is a turn for me. The tunes are pretty straightforward blues riffs, though there are some cool psychedelic effects on Cold Irons Bound and Love Sick, for example.
All of my Dylan knowledge is osmotic, I have never listened to one of his albums straight through or even really intentionally listened to one of his songs, but he is of the culture and my father is a big fan. Through my exposures, I have always considered him to be more of a poet than a musician and I think that holds up here, as the music is pretty simple and arranged around his words. His voice is gravelly but earnest, I didn't find it to be unlistenable.
The lyrics are about as bleak as blues can get, with a wry gallows humor to them. Grappling with mortality and the shittiness of the world, classic stuff!
"I was born here and I'll die here against my will
I know it looks like I'm movin', but I'm standin' still
Every nerve in my body is so vacant and numb
I can’t even remember what it was I came here to get away from"
4 stars for when you need it.
Scritti Politti
4/5
This is a group whose name I have always had a laugh at but whose tunes I've never knowingly heard. I didn't even know they were British.
These vibes were immaculate - halfway through I found myself thinking of "I Feel For You" by Chaka Kahn and then wiki tells me this dude worked with her eventually.
DIY post punk guy gets sick of indie pretentiousness and admits that he loves pop music, reggae, and American dance music. The drums are snappy, the synths are going off, the singing is 80s boy falsetto - it's sweet and glittery like a bowl full of gumdrops.
I feel like I can hear a lot of Scritti Politti influence in some modern alternative bands (Tame Impala, mostly)
5/5
Literally an iconic album cover, all those famous faces! I've never looked closely, I love the baby Beatles on the left. I've never listened to Sgt Pepper's straight through, but I know most of the songs, and "A Day In The Life" is one of my favorite Beatles songs.
The Wikipedia page is, as usual, a great read. I did not know that "Strawberry Fields Forever" and "Penny Lane" were the first two songs recorded for this album, but the studio made them release those as a single and exclude them from the album. I would've liked to have heard SFF on here, one of my greatest music on drugs memories is of that song (through a bass amp in a college dorm room, ah).
Definitely listen to this one through nice headphones - it makes the studio wizardry much more apparent, the deep and thorough layering of sounds, and really highlights the very melodic bass parts that Paul concocted for himself.
Look, it's the Beatles alter ego band just jamming and doing drugs and changing the course of pop music. You can't underestimate the impact of every thing about this album, it's wild.
I had the privilege of meeting and watching one of the top Beatles cover bands in Japan about a decade ago. They had costumes for every Beatles era and traveled around the country (and world) performing. I spoke with "Paul" a few times - his favorite costume and album were Sgt. Pepper - it's a 5.
Ali Farka Touré
4/5
I know Vieux Farka Toure and Khruangbin album "Ali" and really like it, but have not listened to its namesake yet. I'm excited for this today.
I can see the influence Ali had on his son and Khruangbin, the tunes are bluesy hypnotic jams, with intricate guitar, African and blues rhythms and a variety of typical rock and African instruments. The genre blending makes for a unique and interesting sound but the overall vibe is very relaxed.
This is a perfect Sunday morning album.
Coldplay
3/5
Definitely had this cd and "A Rush of Blood to the Head" back in the day.
Some of these songs are still great, "Shiver" is cool, "Sparks" is very pretty.
I have never really liked "Yellow", despite otherwise being into early Coldplay.
I think "Trouble" is one of their best overall songs.
It's so funny to listen to these acoustic, piano, indie style songs and think about what Coldplay became 23 years later. Remember when Chris Martin would wear electrical tape around his fingers for fair trade or something?
New York Dolls
4/5
Epic album cover- this is a legendary group that I've known about but never actually listened to. I know more Buster Poindexter songs than NY Dolls songs.
I had a blast listening to this- the energy is off the charts and the lyrics are very real snapshots of youth in '70s NYC dealing with romance, subway trains, drugs, the war in Vietnam, and, oh yeah, Frankenstein!
This band was formed by a bunch of dudes their late teens or early 20s. Their first performance as a band was on Christmas eve '71, David Johansen turned 22 their founding member died and they got signed in '72, they dropped this bomb in the summer of '73, and played thir last show in '76.
The hard and direct approach launched punk and the lewk launched glam.
My favorite song today was "Trash"
Elliott Smith
4/5
Okay, this is THE Sad Boy.
I've never listened to a full Elliott Smith album, but know and like a lot of his songs. (Yes, I've seen a lot of Wes Anderson movies).
Listening to this after reviewing Abbey Road and Sgt. Pepper - I can understand the Beatles influence now that I missed when I was a teen.
This is my 3rd album from the year 2000. Doves "Lost Souls" and Coldplay's "Parachutes" came out the same year wearing their Radiohead influence on their sleeves - meanwhile Elliott Smith was going full Brian Wilson doing drugs, eating ice cream, and isolating himself to make depression-pop eargasms.
A beautiful set of songs, on which he played almost every instrument. What a loss, RIP.
Buddy Holly & The Crickets
4/5
Here's what I know about Buddy Holly - the Weezer song, the Linda Ronstadt cover, and American Pie. He was influential to the development of rock 'n roll music in America and died in a plane crash while on tour at the age of 22. This was the only full album he released with the crickets before his death.
I've never sat and listened to Buddy Holly - but I've heard some of these songs as covers by later musicians so I'm familiar with him as a song writer.
This was 25 minutes of fun. It's sad that he died before he could pursue further creative endeavors, wikipedia brings up a lot of influences he was exploring before his passing and I think he could've had more albums on this list.
Elvis Presley
4/5
The album currently on my record player at home is Orville Peck's Pony. As I listened to this today, Elvis's emotional operatic country/gospel/rocknroll belting was 1) delightful gravy to my ears and 2) clearly the blueprint of sooooo many singers to come, whether they acknowledge it or not.
The first listen, I thought it was too long. The second listen, I was upset it was over and my algorithm gave me some of yesterday's Buddy Holly.
Janis Joplin
5/5
"I'd like to do a song of great social and political import..."
What a legend. I've never straight up listened to "Pearl" but I know almost all of these songs. Her voice was so insane. I love to hear singers straddle the line of control and she rides that wave this whole album, emoting to the max, crooning growling roaring and howling out these jams. The band is tight, supplying bluesy funky grooves for her to excorcise her demons over. She sings with the blood.
"Half Moon" and "A Woman Left Lonely" were the only new songs to me and I was digging them even more than the classics from the canon of Janis. "Me and Bobby McGee" what else can you say, Kris Kristofferson himself would tell you it's a Janis Joplin song now. The unfinished "Bury Me in the Blues" is a haunting inclusion, she died the day before she was scheduled to lay down the vocal track. Reading her wiki and jamming to this today made me want to rewatch the Festival Express doc and get into some Janis deep cuts just to hear more of her raw power.
But seriously, folks, don't do heroin!
Missy Elliott
4/5
I asked for the cd of "Under Construction" for Christmas in 2002- I probably know every word to that album still. I'm less familiar with this one, I haven't listened to all of it outside of "The Rain" in a long time. I'm looking forward to listening to this today!
Also, Missy in general is one of the hip-hop/R&B songwriting and production GOATs of the '90s/2000s. She changed the course of popular music and this album is what launched her and Timbaland into the stratosphere after years of writing and producing and featuring on hits for others.
And, after a few rounds today I can say this album is great and it's going back in my rotation STAT. Super chill, futuristic, R&B/hip hop vibes - Missy sings as much or more than raps on this album, and even her bars are so musical. The biggest rap moments actually come from Lil Kim and Da Brat, both with killer features. You can tell she and Timb and their crew had a blast making this album. Some of Timbs coolest beats are in here, and he has production on every song. The first four songs were the singles and are all massive, Missy knows her way around a hook and has a long history of memorable/quotable lines. I also really enjoyed the duet with Ginuwine - "Friendly Skies" - the beat on that track is like the sweet friend of Pony. The duet with Aliyah is also great. And I mean, pass the blunt!
I love how Missy does the spoken thank yous, but I'll admit that Busta Rhymes' intro and outro didn't add much for me.
If you are familiar with '90s rap you can look at a list of other rap albums that came out in '97, the avant-pop leanings of this album will really stick out. She broke ground and built the foundation here.
Prefab Sprout
3/5
I know the name but dont know a single song by this group.
A few listens in: this is that category of soft '80s rock where I probably wouldn't seek out any of these songs but if one came on the radio I wouldn't change the channel.
The first song comes out swinging like a Smiths rollicker, and with each subsequent song the listening gets easier. I get moments of Smiths, Replacements, Squeeze, etc. But softer. Everything sounds tight and well made but only a few of the hooks really grabbed me.
The Boo Radleys
4/5
I've never heard of these guys - this was a cool listen. Experimental indie pop rock vibes - I could easily believe this was a band from the 2000s. Catchy and interesting tunes - definitely some major Beatles influence going on here in addition to post punk indie vibes. Some songs were more memorable than others, but it was in general a very pleasant listen with a lot of bright spots. Made me think at different times of Ben Folds, Flaming Lips, and Polyphonic Spree and a lot of other different groups - wild.
David Bowie
4/5
Hell yeah. It's been a long time since I listened to this album straight through (I had a Bowie deep dive moment some years back). Looking forward to this album today.
Half of this album is the Brain Eno show (Ol' Sourpuss as the Scotts would say). Like "Low" before it or, for example, Kate Bush's "Hounds of Love", it uses the a-side b-side record format to put two separate projects on one piece of wax. Side 1 is Bowie flexing funky new wave tinged muscle into his signature Bowie-isms and side 2 is Brian Eno weaving together beautiful, avant garde sound scapes that vary from Japanese folk inspired, to jazz sax funk, to ambient terror.
This is a certified cool one.
Gene Clark
3/5
I don't know any Gene Clark songs - so this will be all new for me today.
This is pretty collection of country tinged folk jams. His voice is nice, with a gentle twang and the folksy guitar strumming is sweet with generally sparse instruments otherwise, but used to nice effect. For example, some subtle but nice bongo work keeping the beat on some of these songs.
I mostly found it to be background music at the start, but my ears were captured by the middle tracks "Tears of Rage" and "1975". "Tears" is originally a Bob Dylan/ The Band songs, so that's sort of damning praise for Gene I guess.
His cover of "Stand By Me" is fine.
The end of the album is more pleasant folk rock tunes, but no more big stand outs except the closer, "Winter In"
I would probably throw this on again. It's mellow, heartfelt, and easy to listen to, a nice warm voice and delicate guitar pluckin' jams. I think it has the potential to really grow on me.
The Teardrop Explodes
3/5
I have never heard of these guys.
"Ha Ha I'm Drowning" (killer title for an opener) comes in hot with the big synths and British shout-singing. Funky ass New Wave track - "Ha ha, I'm drowning in your love" with synthed out horn pops and bouncy bass. Sounds about right, this should be a fun listen.
I'm generally liking the sound - dancey New Wave bops, some goofy OTT horn pops and synth flexing throughout, funky bass runs and a very energetic vocalist who delivers some choice bratty talk singing. Some tunes are better than others, but it's all pretty fun.
Pulp
3/5
I know "Common People" but don't know any other Pulp songs. I'll admit that I actually prefer the William Shatner cover of that song though. I'm looking forward to this today to learn more about Pulp.
This album had some cool moments and some profoundly annoying moments.
Strong opener in "Mis-shapes" and then immediately annoyed by "Pencil Skirts" - the creepy lounge thing didn't work for me here, maybe it would work better for me if Shatner was talk-singing this one.
"Common People" is such a great song, but I prefer the bombastic Shatner cover, the instrumentation and his rage filled performance sell this song a lot harder than Cocker's breathy whine.
"I Spy" and "Disco 2000" are both okay, some cool moments. "Live Bed Show" has a cool slinky beat, the creepy lounge crooner vibes work better here than on "Pencil Skirts".
The "ooooh oooh" parts in these songs are surprises but probably would make for a fun sing along if I was really familiar with all of these.
"Something Changed" is a fine tune.
"Sorted for E's and Wizz" sounds pretty different from the rest of the album, it has a psychedelic back sound under a very poppy track a la some Flaming Lips tunes, and is very explicitly about drug/rave culture.
"FEELINGCALLEDLOVE" is 6 minutes - it starts out spoken word over a throbbing menacing riff and then poppy synths stab about halfway through and launch a fun chorus that gives way to more spoken word that resolves with plaintive singing and piano before another big pop chorus that involves spelling out the name of the song. This one is a pretty fun listen.
"Underwear" is a sad jam about infidelity and committing to saying the words "underwear" and adding to the record long tally of using "girl and boy" which has really stood out to me for some reason.
"Monday Morning" has a bit of a Ska bop to it at moments. It's decent.
"Bar Italia" is a good poppy closer.
The Temptations
5/5
Yes!
I reliably love a Motown situation, so I'm excited to finally get some in this challenge. I know "Papa Was a Rolling Stone" already but the rest of these tracks are new to me.
"Funky Music Sho Nuff Turns Me On" is a jammy funk intro, there are big echoes of Sly and the Family Stone. This is a cover of fellow Motown artist, Edwin Starr.
"Run Charlie Run" is a scathing take down of racism, specifically white flight. There are verses about white folks preaching love at church on Sunday and teaching their children to hate black people on Monday, and abandoning neighborhoods when black families move in. The chorus is unforgettable.
"Papa Was A Rolling Stone" is a 12 minute source of frisson for me, I love this song. The song is mostly instrumental with a hypnotizing deep pocket bass line and wahhed out funky guitar as the rhythm for the stew of horn solos, strings, harps, and claps that weave in and out to build the drama. The Temptations break in for a minute or two here and there to soulfully croon out the story of Papa as an ensemble of brothers, asking their mama for the truth about their deceased father. I had no idea this was a cover of another Motown artist, sorry to The Undisputed Truth.
'Love Woke Me Up This Morning" is a sweet, falsetto palate cleanser of a love song after the heavy hitters of Run Charlie and Papa. It's the first track of side 2 if you're listening to the record, which makes sense. Damon Harris performs the hell out of this short song.
"I Ain't Got Nothing" is a soulful sad one about not having nothing. It's got a great, iconic, shoo wop shoo wop bit.
"The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" is a folk love song from the '50s that has been covered by loads of people. It's a sweet love song that Ewan McColl had written for his eventual wife. I knew the Roberta Flack version, which is great, but there are a bunch of covers (Elvis, Jonny Cash, Celine Dion, etc etc etc) This version is good, it's just a pretty song about falling in love.
"Mother Nature" goes back into a bit more of the brooding, funky, soulful vibes of the first side of the album. Dennis Edwards powerfully leads this one, belting about wanting mother nature to take her course and free us from the bullshit.
The closer, "Do Your Thing" is a funky mission statement about the importance of doing your thing - it's an Isaac Hayes cover. The Isaac Hayes version is wayyy funkier, but it's cool to hear The Temptations harmonize over this popped-up version.
My favorite thing about a mo-town sesh is the music that comes up on my spotify algorithm after. There is just an unbelievable amount of great soulful, funky, music. I always inevitably learn the original source of some famous sample, discover a new singer, or hear a crazy good song by a classic artist.
Todd Rundgren
2/5
A large, immaculately crafted portrait of the most annoying guy ever.
Best songs are the opener, "I Saw The Light" and the Mario Kart instrumental "Breathless"
Todd Rundgren already appeared in my project as the producer for NY Dolls, my understanding is that he is a prolific virtuoso musician and producer. This album is actually 4 short albums (1 for each side of a double LP), for me the first two are stronger than the last, with the last side being the most irritating. I listened three times today, and the last three songs got more annoying to me with each listen.
There are some bright spots, and it's always impressive to take in something that's almost entirely self produced. He played every instrument for the first 3 sections.
David Holmes
3/5
My mate Paul was driving to Winchester when a lorrie jack knifed in front of him, and he was hurtling towards it and everything went slow-mo.
And Paul, who's never been religious, spoke to Jesus and said, "I promise if I survive this, I'll believe in you." And he did survive, but he fractured his skull and broke both his legs.
Why did Jesus do that to him?
See, Paul never forgave him. He said "If I ever see Christ again, he's a dead man."
Talking Heads
5/5
One of my all time favorites for my 50th album! Feels special, man.
"Born Under Punches (The Heat Goes On)" is a disorientingly funky opener- this is a song that I can comfortably say changed my life and the way I listen to music. There are so many layers of sound and rhythm driving this one, I've been a fan of Talking Heads for most of my life and I still feel like I focus on new rhythm loops each time I get into this song.
And that's what this album is all about- rhythms on rhythms inspired by Afrobeat and filtered through Talking Heads anxious post punk sensibility and Brian Eno's atmospheric production prowess.
For a different spin check out Beninese singer Angelique Kidjo's song for song remake album released in 2018 - it also slaps!
Lou Reed
3/5
A Boxing Day road trip jam - traveling with an actual kid meant that I skipped the end of "The Kids" but otherwise this was a cool listen - a sort of punk folk cabaret musical - complete with piano, orchestra and even a reprise.
Germs
4/5
I had a bootleg of this from Limewire or something similar back in high school. In appropriately punk fashion - this is not available on any streaming services so I found a youtube rip with no ads and let it rock. Still satisfies the punk itch gloriously.
Germs are a seminal source of punk rock's influence - Belinda Carlisle of the Go-Gos and Pat Smear of Nirvana and Foo Fighters were both members, although the former only briefly. This album was produced by Joan Jett!
It's raw and chaotic AF, nihilistic, brutal, funny - distilled punk from the OGs.
Add this one to the list of "Don't do heroin" kids - RIP Darby Crash
Various Artists
4/5
Darlene Love forever
Common
3/5
I had this album in heavy rotation back in 2005/2006. Common is such a smooth lyrical MC and weaves tight and uplifting stories throughout this album.
The early aughts Kanye production sounds are all there. The Alvin and the Chipmunks-ified soul samples sound a little dated now, but so do a lot of things from almost 20 years ago.
Judas Priest
3/5
BREAKIN THE LAW BREAKIN THE LAW
ABBA
4/5
My second ABBA album! The divorce album!
Once again, all of these songs are perfectly structured pop crystals. There were some moments of new wave intrigue that made me wish they'd stuck together to get weird in the '80s.
Today's faves: The Visitors, Soldiers, and The Day Before You Came
Eminem
4/5
And since birth I've been cursed with this curse to just curse
And just blurt this berserk and bizarre shit that works
And it sells and it helps in itself to relieve
All this tension dispensing these sentences
Getting this stress that's been eating me recently off of this chest
The Byrds
3/5
A consistent collection of pop folk steeped in country twang - every time I hear a country song that isn't about tequila or intimidating minorities I rejoice.
The cover of "The Christian Life" had me hooting - the original by The Louvin Brothers has the most bonkers album art!
Belle & Sebastian
3/5
I'm familiar with some Belle & Sebastian songs, but none of this album. A nice collection of folky pop tunes that would probably grow on me with repeat listens.
Nick Drake
5/5
Dolly Parton
5/5
A stone cold classic that shows the range of Dolly's singing and songwriting - classic country themes and womanly wants and woes are delivered genuinely by Dolly's signature angelic warble.
The one two punch of "Coat of Many Colors" followed by "Traveling Man" is an outstanding way to open the album. This is what I want to hear when I think of country music - strummy or plucky, bluesy or funny, tunes about real life, where a mother might be stitching a worn coat and reciting the Bible one night and running off with a no-good salesman the next.
DJ Shadow
5/5
One of those albums that I've been meaning to listen to for a long time. Honestly, it's strange that I haven't as I've spent a lot of time with other sample based instrumental albums, e.g. Kid Koala, Avalanches, Girl Talk and I enjoyed the David Holmes album from earlier in this project.
This is so fucking good. Put on headphones and walk around cranking this and try not to feel like you're the coolest character. It's atmospheric, cinematic, jazzy, rich, and groove-forward. It's thorough.
Shadow is an obsessive master, reading about how he made this was fascinating, spending days and days in record stores hunting obscure samples to process and stitch together. I'd like to check out the documentary referenced in the wiki.
Coincidentally, this is the second appearance by Björk in my overall 1001 project as one of the only contemporary pop samples in the mix is the use of her song "Possibly Maybe" in the track "Mutual Slump".
Miles Davis
5/5
Abso-fucking-lutely
Carole King
5/5
I described this as the musical equivalent of a cozy vintage sweater. I'm very familiar with and fond of this album. Carole is a master songwriter and this album is packed with hooks. She puts the "natural" in natural woman - top marks!
Death In Vegas
3/5
Decent collection of late '90s electronic jams
The Sabres Of Paradise
3/5
This is a 76 minute collection of chill beats - I put on headphones and cleaned my house and grooved. No words, no hooks, just vibes. "Planet D" and others are a predecessor to the Lo-Fi Hip Hop girl era. Good Sunday cleaning tunes.
"Wilmot" is not on Spotify, I pulled it up on YouTube and was glad I did - more lively with some dubby horn pops.
"Tow Truck" has surfed out guitar and a slinky spy-noir sound like some Portishead songs. According to Wikipedia, Portishead collaborated on some of these songs, so that adds up.
Pink Floyd
4/5
I watched the movie back in the day and Bob Geldof's poor nipple has been burned into my memory ever since, but I have never listened to this album straight through.
I'm familiar with "Another Brick in the Wall", "Hey You" and "Comfortably Numb" and am fully aware that I can't have my pudding until I eat my meat. This feels appropriate for a Monday.
This is Pink Floyd's second appearance on my 1001 albums project - I listened to "Wish You Were Here" previously and loved it. While "Wish You Were Here" is only 5 long songs, this is a double album of 26 mostly shorter tracks that serve as sketches and interludes, with spoken words and sound effects, to advance the overarching story of Pink - a self-insert rockstar character who serves as a conduit for Roger Waters' reflections on childhood trauma, authoritarianism, the pressures of the rock and roll lifestyle, and the urge to isolate oneself from the sick sad world.
Any dad who loves this album but then says they don't like musicals or disco is a liar, because this is a rock musical/opera and one of the most popular singles, "Another Brick in the Wall pt 2", is built on a foundation of disco.
As a total project with the imagery, film, and stage adaptations it is a gargantuanly influential piece of rock history, but as an album it's a bit of a slog to get through. Just when I would want or expect a song to explode, I'm instead rewarded with a cut to a new interlude, a notable exception being "Comfortably Numb" which is the most satisfying breakdown to close out side three.
The sheer camp of "The Trial" absolutely slayed me. Listen, as a queer who would be up against the proverbial wall from "In The Flesh", a part of me gives a little sneer at the boohoo troubles of rockstar being judged for having human feelings, but as an emotionally developed adult I can understand that these dudes went through some shit. You'd have to go through some shit to make an hour and a half rock opera about building a wall of bricks made out of all the shit that's happened to you to protect you from more shit happening to you.
It's long, its self-aggrandizing, isn't this where we came in?
John Lee Hooker
3/5
I know the name of John Lee Hooker and his status as a classic blues man. I don't know any of these songs - but I know the famous collaborators like Carlos Santana and Bonnie Raitt.
The first half is slicker and pop-collab focused, the second half is pared back blues grooves.
The Velvet Underground
4/5
This is my second Velvet Underground album and 3rd appearance by Lou Reed for this project. I've never heard any of the songs on this album.
With the exception of "Murder Mystery Party" this is way less experimental and dark than "Velvet Underground and Nico" was. The sound and content is still very poetic and raw, but this album alternates between lighter sounding folk-pop and garage tunes. There are more songs about love and relationships and fewer songs about obtaining and using heroin. They still have the same hypnotic quality and the tracklist has the same cinematic build as "and Nico".
This was a really good listen, I'm definitely starting to appreciate Lou Reed's position in the halls of great songwriters.
I was going to write favorite tracks, but realized I couldn't pick one and that one of my favorite things about this album was the transition and building from track to track. Some songs were almost like punchlines to the previous song ("Jesus" into "Beginning to See the Light" lol). It was cool to hear the rest of the band singing, too, but these are all songs written by Lou Reed.
Boards of Canada
3/5
David Bowie
3/5
Lupe Fiasco
4/5
I haven't listened to this in ages - this is hitting today! The 12 minute outro was a little egregious to end the album when "Kick, Push II" was right there.
The first half is a little weaker for me, but from "Daydreamin'" on, it is excellent (excepting aforementioned too long outro).
Fela Kuti
5/5
Felt Kuti has influenced a lot of my favorite music, and yet I've never listened to this - very excited today! Also, the wikipedia for this album is BONKERS.
On repeat all afternoon, hell yes.
Jimi Hendrix
4/5
Obviously, I'm familiar with Jimi Hendrix as an artist, but I have never listened to this album. The only song I know here is "Castles Made of Sand". Happy Monday!
The one song sung by Noel Redding threw me: I thought the album ended and the algorithm sent me a hard af Beatles song for a second.
Overall a cool melding of r&b, blues, psychedelic, and 60's pop rock with naturally some epic guitar work. I was delighted and surprised by the very experimental intro, "Exp"
Eels
4/5
I know a lot of Eels songs and had some of their later albums on cd, but this one is a first for me, although I know some of the songs here. It's a snowy slow Tuesday and this feels like it's going to be just right.
Okay, Eels are one of those bands - I'm into this, I like every song.
Cypress Hill
4/5
Super creative old school beats, cheeky Rhymes about smoking weed and gangter shit, memorable hooks that became quotable refrains throughout the '90s.
This is so fun to listen to - some lines hold up better than others, but the west coast party flow and funky ass beats are supreme.
Roxy Music
3/5
I know and like a lot of Roxy Music songs, but have never listened to one of their albums - today's the day.
It's, as expected, glammed out maximalist rock for the most part, with little dips into some surprising territory (honky tonk, German cabaret?!). I love to imagine bands being like "what about this, this sounds cool!" for a whole album.
The glam jams worked best for me, The Thrill of it All and Casanova.
Ramones
3/5
Blitzkrieg Bop rules and everything else is trying to catch up.
Maxwell
4/5
A smooth as fuck concept album about being sexy and falling in love.
The Disposable Heroes Of Hiphoprisy
4/5
I did not know that Michael Franti had been in a hip hop group prior to Spearhead. I have never heard of these guys.
It's like Gil Scot Heron and Public Enemy had a baby who was cursed with prophetic visions - this came out 22 years ago and I'm three songs in like damn ain't that the truth.
Only 9 of the songs are currently available on Spotify or Tidal - not sure why.
Ray Charles
4/5
Oasis
4/5
Machito
4/5
Metallica
3/5
My second Metallica album in the project (first was the live album S+M). I've never listened to this album and only know the songs that were on that live album, which was hit or miss for me.
It's been interesting for me to learn just how anti-war Metallica's tunes were - I've always associated them with the very cop-minded fans I know, another case of poor media literacy I guess. These are long, dark, brutal songs about needless violence compelled by cruel leaders. I preferred the tighter thrashier songs like "Battery" to some of the longer slower ones.
GZA
5/5
FUCK YES!
This is my favorite solo Wu-Tang project, I think. I've also been in a real samurai movie phase so I've been thinking about this album a lot lately.
Energy is felt once the cards are dealt/ with the impact of roundhouse kicks from black belts/ that attack the microphones like cyclones or typhoons/ I represent from midnight to high noon
4/5
Anyway, here's Wonderwall!
The Youngbloods
4/5
I've never heard of these guys but I was feeling this melodic folk/jazz/psychedelic/country/rock today
Pixies
4/5
I'm familiar with Pixies and some of these songs, but this is my first time listening to a whole Pixies album.
Joan Armatrading
4/5
I've never heard of Joan Armatrading, and I am really enjoying this.
Her voice is great, and the songs range from sweet and folky to bluesy to downright funky.
Tracy Chapman is a clear stylistic descendent, but there's a lot to chew on here even though the production is very clean and pop-minded.
Primal Scream
4/5
Cool early '90s indie electronic music - I've read the name of this band but had never listened to them, I was not expecting such chill vibes. It feels lile this is the blueprint for a lot of bands happening 30 years later, these days the blending of house beats and synth pop into indie rock has become very typical, with a little psychedelia as a treat. A lot of albums and artists are influenced by drugs, add this one to the list ("Higher Than The Sun").
Dr. John
4/5
I know a good amount of Dr John's later work (his epic cameo in The Last Waltz cemented his place in my brain at a young age) but I have never listened to one of his albums. I do love to talk/sing in his voice.
This is a 33 minute voodoo ritual. I was expecting more r&b "right place" vibes, so I was very surprised by this swampy spooky NOLA acid jazz situation.
Taylor Swift
3/5
I'm a millenial woman. I've never listened to a Taylor Swift album because I've never needed to - I knew all the words to half of these songs purely by osmosis.
The Max Martin huge arena pop production here combined with her nursery rhyme hook sing along lyrics has obviously been a winning combination - these are surgically precise ear worms and 10 years later she's a damn billionaire.
For me, "Welcome to New York", "Bad Blood", and "Shake It Off" are some of the most annoying songs I've ever heard. On the other hand "Style", "Wildest Dreams" and "Clean" give it to me. The rest are decent, straightforward pop jams. Everything is 3:30 and perfect for shouting along to in the car (or the sold out stadium).
I listened to the original version first and then followed it up with Taylor's version. They mostly sound the same. Oh, but there's nearly a whole album of extra songs "from the vault" tacked on at the end. None really stood out to me, although it was fun to read "Slut!" on the tracklist.
I've chosen to live in an alternate universe where the supreme pop album of the 2010s is E•Mo•Tion.
Blue Cheer
3/5
River Bottom Nightmare Band!
Rod Stewart
3/5
The Flaming Lips
5/5
I stood up and I said, "Yeah!"
One of my favorite albums of all time - I'm literally wearing the shirt right now.
Put on headphones and feel yourself disintegrate.
The Fall
3/5
I've heard of this band, but never listened to them.
This was pretty cool - bratty, dark, British post punk. The playlist that started up after the album was even better.
Supergrass
4/5
I know the name Supergrass, but I'm not sure if I know any of their songs.
Jk I totally know "Alright" - great tune!
This is a really fun album!
Iggy Pop
5/5
Hell yeah, I know the title track and Siouxsie and the Banshees version of "The Passenger" but I've never listened to this album (despite intending to for ages).
This is fucking great, Iggy and Bowie making sick garage glam hit after hit.
Songhoy Blues
4/5
I just really dig African blues music - these grooves are getting me through night shift work. I need to check out the documentary about this group, "They Will Have to Kill Us First" - badass rebel music always wins.
The Go-Betweens
3/5
100th album!
This is a decent collection of acoustic indie pop tunes - gave me moments of Belle and Sebastian and The Smiths.
Bob Dylan
5/5
This is my second Dylan album in the project. I know "Tangled Up In Blue" and "Shelter From The Storm" already, and I know the reputation of this album as one of his best works. I'm looking forward to this.
5 stars for "Idiot Wind", good lord!
Beatles
4/5
Hard Day's Night was the original \"more cowbell\" song, lol, Ringo's smackin' the udders off of that thing.
This is my 3rd Beatles album in the project, but my first collection of pre-acid Beatles pop jams. This is half an hour of 3 minute or less bops that I know all of the words to just from a lifetime of exposure. These lads knew how to write a pop tune.
Sgt Pepper's was only 3 years (and 4 albums) after this - it's insane how prolific they were in such a short span. The Beatles' timeline always blows my mind.
The Modern Lovers
4/5
I'm a Jonathan Richman fan, but I mostly listen to the music he made after Bermuda made him realize how stiff he was.
I haven't listened to this album in a few years. I'm excited to return to the Astral Plane today.
Such a fun listen - and basically everyone in the group went on to make even more awesome tunes.
The Kinks
4/5
Super fun listen!
This was my first Kinks album and these were all new songs for me. Based in this, I've developed a sort of understanding that the Kinks are to the Beatles as Devo is to Talking Heads. Similar sounds and songwriting, they're just a little goofier! I'm digging it!
Important question: which came first, "Lazy Old Sun" or "Strawberry Fields Forever"? Both released in 1967 and have a lot of the same psychedelic sounds going on.
OutKast
5/5
The album that had everyone shaking like a Polaroid picture. I was thinking about Fonzworth Bentley earlier today, when is that style going to make a comeback?!
This isn't really an Outkast album, it's a Big Boi album and an Andre 3000 album, but I'll still take it because I love these dudes. Are Stankonia or Aquemini on the list?
I haven't listened to this in years outside of the singles - excited to revisit this over 20 years later.
Close to Spectacular!
Speakerboxxx is a damn good album, cool experimental beats, great flow, cool features from some big names. It sounds like an Outkast album minus Andre rapping on most songs. Very good - I was especially feeling Bowtie today.
The Love Below is a damn good album too! It's a lot longer and stranger than Speakerboxxx, with funny interludes and just strange moments like a drum and bass cover of Favorite Things?! It brings in a lot of Prince and pop influences, whereas Big Boi was digging into southern hip hop and funkadelic energy (plus some second line horns). You can hear a lot of influence from The Love Below in newer artists, who have embraced weird R&B.
I like when folks get weird with it! And Outkast always get weird with it!
Snoop Dogg
5/5
I had this CD in highschool. Iconic!
The George Clinton spoken intro is perfection. I love that Lady of Rage is actually the first one to drop bars on this album, and she destroys the G Funk Intro.
Snoop just has the perfect voice for this, his flow sounds like tendrils of blunt smoke
personified- so easy and smooth coasting along Dre's absolutely outrageous funky beats. Gin and Juice is a classic for a reason, this song is awesome.
The Shiznit is such a crazy song - like there is jazz flute here, and the bass and drum are so huge.
The Doug E Fresh and Slick Rick cover/tribute Lodi Dodi is hilarious - would've been funny if Dre tried to beat box, but instead he just supplies another eeeeezy beat.
Murder Was The Case is so good. And then into Serial Killa bringing in the Dogg Pound - simply too hard.
And then it's the single, Snoop Doggy Dooooooooogggg. The Atomic Dog bit, the insane bass, the unforgettable jingle. NINE TRIZZAY'S THE YIZZEAR.
For All My N****z & My Bitches, is the Dogg Pound at it again, mostly Kurupt tearing it up here.
Ain't No Fun (If The Homies Can't Have None) features Nate Dogg singing about getting his balls licked. When I saw Snoop Dogg perform live, it was shortly after Nate Dogg died and they included this in a medley dedicated to him. People went nuts. Warren G just has the cutest voice, "just start juggling" makes me laugh every time.
Chronic break - jokes, bong rips, Snoop's friend laughing his ass off.
Doggy Dogg World - "You'se a flea, and I'm the Big Dogg/ I'll scratch you off my balls with my motherfuckin' paws" - Snoop's delivery never fails.
The classroom intro to Gz and Hustlas, lol - and then that huge beat drop, so good. This beat gives me frisson, absolute banger. The original song the sample is taken from is "Haboglabotribin" by Bernard Wright - listen and marvel at how Dre turned that into this.
Pump Pump is an odd closer - the chorus is lifted straight from a Dr Dre song and Mr Malik actually has the last verse on the album. It's still got a fat g-funk beat so it's fun to listen to.
This album rules. I was worried that it wasn't going to hold up, but there were fewer skits than I remembered and content-wise it's pretty tame compared to some shit I've heard. Mostly, it's just Snoop and his crew smoking weed and talking shit with mad skill over some absolutely bruising beats.
Madonna
4/5
I went into this only knowing the song "Music" - I really enjoyed this album apart from the last song which is a truly unnecessary cover of "American Pie".
The rest of the songs are experimental electronic pop gems that range from club bangers like "Impressive Instant" and "Runaway Lover" to slow jams like "Paradise (Not For Me)" and country samplers like "Don't Tell Me", "Amazing" mixes house beats with surfed out guitar.
Happy Mondays
3/5
Today I learned the term "Madchester"
I've never heard of this group, but this was a cool collection of dancey low-fi new wave. Apparently they were very into Ecstasy, good for them!
I could see myself putting this on for a dance sesh or something. These are consistent energetic tunes but nothing really grabbed me today.
Billy Joel
4/5
This is my first time listening to a Billy Joel album, but I already knew most of these songs just from radio/the culture.
This was a strong collection of tunes, I liked the ones I hadn't heard before as well.
David Bowie
5/5
Hell yeah, I love this album. "Sound and Vision" is one of my favorite Bowie songs.
This is the first of the Berlin trilogy, and like the sequel, "Heroes", it is divided into an a-side of art rock singles and a b side of instrumental pieces. I like this album better than "Heroes" (which is still great) the a-side is more consistent and the b-side is more cohesive.
It was interesting to read the background on Wikipedia- particularly about the production effects used on the drums that became highly influential to music in the following decade.
My Bloody Valentine
3/5
This is my second My Bloody Valentine appearance in the 1001 albums challenge and my first time listening to this album. I loved "Loveless" and am excited to dig into this today.
This is like if you used several rounds of paint stripper to peel off all of the additional layers of fuzz and distortion and feedback off of Loveless. There are actual discernible words and instruments here that layout some (still very loud and distorted) pop punk tunes. It's cool, but not as engrossing as the sonic tidal wave of Loveless.
The Rolling Stones
4/5
Have you ever been to a karaoke night and watched someone learn the actual lyrics to a song they thought they knew?
Don't do "Brown Sugar" at karaoke, friends.
The Rolling Stones
3/5
Back to back Stones!
This has higher highs and lower lows than "Sticky Fingers". Everyone knows what the highs are here, Jesus Christ, "Gimme Shelter" is such a good song. Weird that this album opens with a black woman singing about rape and the "Sticky Fingers" opening lyric is about black women being raped.
Anyway, I want this album to be more consistent, but you can't always get what you want. Time to rewatch "40 Feet From Stardom".
Butthole Surfers
3/5
I know the song "Pepper" by Butthole Surfers, but these are all new to me and this is my first time listener to a Butthole Surfers album. I do like to drop the name of this band into music conversations as often as possible because it's simply too fun to say out loud.
This was cool! Super experimental music with a really raw punk edge.
Beck
4/5
I forgot how gorgeous this album is - my most listened Beck song in recent years has been "Debra" so this was a nice reminder of what else he can bring to the table.
R.E.M.
3/5
I like a lot of REM songs and I'm familiar with a few songs here, but I have never listened to this album before.
"Orange Crush" is one of my favorite REM singles and "Stand" is one of my least favorite, and this album kind of follows that trend. There are beautiful slow mandolin songs like "Hairshirt" and then too maudlin for me "The Wrong Child". There is the awesome political rocker "World Leader Pretend" and the less good "I Remember California".
I listened to the Scotts and Lance Bangs talk about this album, it was cool to hear some of the background of the release (first album for Warner Bros and trying out lots of new sounds).
Alanis Morissette
4/5
I recently went to a party with a '90s cover band and when "You Oughta Know" came on the audience lost its collective shit - an absolute banger that is so cathartic to shout along to (BUT YOU'RE STILL ALIVE!!!).
There are loads of hits in here, but I haven't listened to this entire album in a long time.
I think this album was the first time I heard a woman say "fuck" in a song. Also maybe still the only time I've heard "wine dine 69" or "friend with benefits" - paving the way for other horny angry Queens like Fiona Apple 🙏
This is a super consistent album that is pure '90s - grungey guitars mixed with pop drum machines and hooks and Alanis absolutely wailing about this fucking asshole*
*Dave Coulier, but also Life, Catholicism, and Patriarchy
Orange Juice
4/5
I have never heard of these guys - but on first playthrough I'm into this.
It's got the jangles and croon of the Smiths, plus the fat rhythms and genre bending of the Talking Heads, plus some of that sweet sweet '80s cheese.
Standouts were "A Million Pleading Faces" which sounds like if could've been on Stop Making Sense, the sax solo at the end of "I Can't Help Myself", and "Hokoyo".
John Grant
5/5
I had never heard of John Grant before and I love this.
I'm a fan of Harry Nilsson and Father John Misty and this fits squarely into that niche of grand pop/psychedelic folk rock with real lyrics that go from achingly raw to bitingly funny in a blink.
Prince
5/5
It's been a while since I listened to this absolute classic.
One of my favorite genres is "Genius just fucks around with a Fairlight until they're done with an album"
I recently watched a video about the Orchestra Hit sound on a Fairlight and how it took over the '80s - it's been fun to clock it all over this album, it's big in its classic form in "Housequake" and "It".
We'll try to imagine what silence looks like.
The Smashing Pumpkins
3/5
I'm a '90s kid - I never owned a Smashing Pumpkins cd or listened to one of their albums straight through but I know most of these songs from alternative radio/my brothers' cd collections. Cherub Rock, Today, Rocket, Disarm, and Mayonaise were the singles. Disarm especially stands out as the song with the church bells and string arrangement- very grand!
This is a consistent set of 90s alt rock jams
The Who
3/5
I know most of these songs already - early Who - '60s pop rock with a little bite. Standouts for me today were "My Generation" (the performance from the Monterey Pop doc is awesome) and closer, "The Ox"
Funkadelic
5/5
When other albums give you a side A of singles and a side B of weird, Funkadelic feeds you a singles sandwich on weird bread.
The title track, a 10 minute wailing guitar dirge, and the final track, a 10 minute psychedelic second line freak out, are the weird bread that hold this meal together.
The middle songs bring their own funky flavors, with "Can You Get To That" and "You And Your Folks, Me And My Folks" being my favorite cold cuts.
Paul Weller
3/5
I have never heard a solo Paul Weller song as far as I know - I've heard of his former bands The Jam and The Style Council but I'm not very familiar with their music. This is all new for me today.
This was mostly just a nice collection of dad rock songs - but I'll admit that the jam at the end of "Shadow of the Sun" grabbed my attention.
The Mothers Of Invention
4/5
I love this album like America loves cream cheese.
Gang Starr
4/5
Not my first Gang Starr experience, but this is my first full Gang Starr album. So smooth.
Metallica
4/5
It's such a fine line between stupid and clever
Wu-Tang Clan
5/5
WARRIORS! COME OUT AND PLAYYYYAYY!
John Martyn
4/5
This was my first timing hearing of or listening to John Martyn. I really enjoyed this eclectic collection of experimental folk songs. I only got one listen in today, but I think I'll revisit this one soon.
ZZ Top
3/5
First time listening to a Zz Top album - this is a nice collection of western inflected guitar blues. These guys do some crooning here too. There are a handful of songs here that I had heard before but never knew the name of (La Grange being the big one, a haw haw haw haw)
Lenny Kravitz
3/5
I know the song "Let Love Rule" and a lot of Lenny's singles already but have never listened to any Lenny Kravitz albums before.
This was okay - I liked the title track and "Mr Cab Driver" (fuck you) the rest were mid - a lot of Lenny Kravitz doing a very unsubtle Prince/Jimi pastiche. Nothing too clunky, except some of the Jesusy bits, but nothing that really excited me either.
Love
4/5
I was about to write that I had never heard of Love and then I realized immediately that I know the first song on the album, "Alone Again Or" - great tune!
I liked this album - frustrated folk with lovely string and horn arrangements to add a twist.
Ute Lemper
3/5
This so strange and so fun to listen to.
German stage legend Ute Lemper recruited an avengers squad of her alt-lounge songwriter bros to provide covers for a frothy, raunchy, funny, and violent modern cabaret.
There's almost as much drama as a Metallica album, but she's leaning into the camp on a song like "Die Dreigonschenoper" a duet about a couple missing that old whore house where they used to live. "The Part You Throw Away" and "Purple Avenue" are stand outs, both Tom Waits covers.
A Tribe Called Quest
5/5
It's like butter, man
Jethro Tull
3/5
I've never listened to this album before except for the title song. There were some cool moments, I liked a lot of the psych folk interludes. It didn't grab me today but I may revisit with headphones sometime.
Kanye West
4/5
Here's a toast to the douchebags 🥂
Violent Femmes
5/5
Goddamn this album is great. I've been a fan of Violent Femmes for a long time (Blister is one of my go to karaoke songs) but I haven't listened to this album straight through in years. Every song is so urgent, the acoustic bass sound is so unique, and I just love every song here - this was a great reminder today to go back into their catalogue and rediscover some deeper cuts.
AC/DC
3/5
3 beers deep at a hockey game : hell yeah
5:30 am on the way to work and actually paying attention : woof
Decent - Rod Stewart should've sang all the songs but it'd still be a 3 for me. Stay With Me is a rude crude bop, haha.
Miles Davis
5/5
I've never listened to this album before! I love "Kind of Blue" and know that this is much more experimental/controversial than that album, so I'm looking forward to digging in today.
I was so excited to get started that I made the sacrilegious blunder of starting to listen through my phone's speakers - do not do this! I knew my mistake and switched to good speakers for "Spanish Key" and hearing the beefed up rhythm section fight for the steering wheel all over that song had me hooked. I switched again to headphones for a nice walk starting with "Miles Runs the Voodoo Down" that ended just in time for me to veg out and drift away with the drippy trippy "Feio".
Also, I'm just a slut for bass clarinet, gotta be one of the coolest sounding instruments.
I've learned that I need to listen to a lot more Miles Davis, I've added his albums "In A Silent Way" and "Jack Johnson" to my list of stuff to check out - and then keep going from there.
David Bowie
4/5
Flamin' Groovies
3/5
This might be what I throw on next time I play cards with my father-in-law 👍
Björk
5/5
The Doors
3/5
This is my 12th album from the year 1971.
For me, Pearl and Sticky Fingers did the blues better, Surf's Up and Aqualung did psychedelic weirdness better, and Maggot Brain rocks harder and pushes the envelope further.
I know all of The Doors singles here but never listened to this album. I feel like the hype about them and Jim Morrison being such a legendary frontman let me down here. I know this was their final album before his death and more of a return to a live blues sound, so I'll look forward to hearing more of their earlier work to get a fuller picture of this group.
I do want to give a shout out to the keyboard player, he rips it up in some of these songs.
B.B. King
5/5
B.B. King and his band burn the fucking house down on this killer live recording. This was so fun to listen to. He's a legend for a reason - the talent and charisma are off the charts.
Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark
4/5
The only OMD song I know is "If You Leave" which is a sweet sip of synth pop - I'm looking forward to listening to this, the reviews are great and I'm very partial to New Wave.
I really enjoyed this!
Peter Frampton
3/5
I have a memory of being around 10 years old, riding somewhere with my friend Greg in the back of his dad's car and his dad was playing this CD.
During "Do You Feel" he turned up the volume and said to us "He's making his guitar talk!!!"
I didn't realize until years later that Peter Frampton was actually singing through a talk box and thought he had figured out some wild technique to produce those sounds. It's still a cool sounding effect though.
Depeche Mode
5/5
All I ever wanted, all I ever needed.
Beatles
5/5
Anita Baker
3/5
The Mamas & The Papas
4/5
Fats Domino
4/5
Sunday mornin' my head is bad
But it's worth it for the time that I had
But I've got to get my rest
'Cause Monday is a mess
Joni Mitchell
5/5
The only song I knew from this album was Coyote. This is a tremendous collection of folk jazz epics about travellin' and gettin' some strange. Way to go, Joni.
Stevie Wonder
5/5
I love this album.
The first time I listened to it, I couldn't believe "You Haven't Done Nothin" was a number one single, I had never heard the song before and I think that's a great example of modern corporate radio completely neutering popular music. Stevie has a lot of bite in addition to his talent and this album covers so much ground.
"They Won't Go When I Go" gives me chills every time. And "Bird of Beauty" is just straight up about tripping with Stevie Wonder, what's not to love.
The Cars
4/5
This was great, of course, it's basically The Cars greatest hits.
I'd like to use this space instead to shout out newer artist, Chappell Roan, who put on a great show tonight in Pittsburgh 💖🐴
John Coltrane
5/5
Listened to this to and from New Orleans, smooth af
Culture Club
4/5
Radiohead
4/5
Bought this cd when it came out - but I haven't listened to it in ages outside of "There, There"
I forgot how many of the slower electronic songs populate this album, but There There and Drunken Punch Up both have some booty. I forgot Go To Sleep is on this, another cool song.
I feel like everyone put out anti-Bush albums in the early aughts, I'm disappointed that there are fewer overt protest albums being put out (by big acts)
Throwing Muses
5/5
Oh yeah, this is squarely in my wheel house. I found this album on YouTube and am eager to dive into their catalogue because this tickled that part of me that considers Sleater-Kinney (up to The Woods) to be the best American rock band. I loved it and I want more of it.
Guns N' Roses
3/5
I just love Slash as a cultural touch point - Slash doing a solo during "I'm Just Ken" at the Oscar's was a delight.
David Bowie
4/5
Sigur Rós
4/5
Oh I was OBSESSED with this album when I was in highschool.
The Slits
4/5
I've spent too much time listening to riot grrl music and '90s Ska punk to not have a blast listening to this
Khaled
4/5
Had to listen through a YouTube playlist because it is not available on any streaming services in my area. The Imagine cover is corny but otherwise I was digging this album. Standouts for me were Trigue Lycee and Ya Aachkou
The Temptations
4/5
This was good but didn't hit as hard as "All Directions" for me. I'm shocked that I had never heard their version of "Through The Grapevine" - I just had the Slits version the other day - I wonder how many more takes on that song are represented in this collection.
Nightmares On Wax
3/5
Oh yeah, this is the chillness.
Van Morrison
4/5
The KLF
4/5
The wikipedia about this group was fantastic : dead sheep, burning piles of money, the illuminati, pranks, releasing a book about how to make a number 1 single, legal battles with ABBA, building pyramids out of human ashes, the list goes on. Apparently they were huge and the lore is deep but I had never heard of them ('90s kid from America, wrong time wrong place)
This was also a great listen, weirdo indie pop-house, I cleaned my house on the first listen and chilled with my dog on the second while i read the wiki. I'm super curious about this group now and feel like I may have to dig into their catalogue/history just based on what a blast I had listening to and reading about them.
Led Zeppelin
4/5
I've never listened to a full Led Zeppelin album before - but of course, I know many of their songs.
There were some highs and lows, e.g. i felt You Shook Me was pretty weak and wished that Good Times was given the proper jam length that that was given. Still had a good time listening to it overall.
1/5
It's normal for adolescents and people from Florida to be angry and confrontational and stupid but this is like if you turned doing whip-its into an album.
Public Enemy
5/5
I knew most of this album already but had never listened to the whole thing before - so good.
Bruce Springsteen
4/5
I don't really consider myself a Bruce fan, he's just not really my style musically, but I love him as a cultural institution and a lot of the best dudes in my life are big fans. I knew most of this album just from a lifetime of exposure. The storytelling and overall narrative structure of the tracklist are great, they way it builds to the title track is monumental. Plus, I'm not ever mad about a sax solo. Jungleland is a great closer.
Tortoise
5/5
This is such a good headphones album - I walked my dog while listening to the opener, the 21 minute long "Djed". It was so hypnotizing that I kept my headphones in and took in the rest of the album on my couch. The combination of really driving almost punk drums, with textural guitar and bass, playful and jazzy xylophone, and electronic atmospherics made for a uniquely cool listening experience. Loved it!
Saint Etienne
3/5
Very chill sample heavy electronic music - pretty sure I've heard the cover of Only Love Can Break Your Heart while shopping at Gap or something.
I actually spent most of today revisiting the early catalogue of The Aquabats - tremendous.
Silver Jews
4/5
Punk rock died when the first kid said
"Punk's not dead, punk's not dead"
You know Louisville is death, we've got to up and move
Because the dead do not improve.
Rip David Berman
This was great - I've been meaning to listen to Silver Jews for ages. A beautiful, if weary, y'allternative album. Good storytelling, with a mix of dark poetics, honky tonk blues and clever punchlines, just the way I like my country. The backing band is Lambchop - who I also have been meaning to check out based on recs from friends.
Rush
3/5
I just learned that Geddy Lee's instagram handle is @GeddyImages
This was somehow both more and less cheesy than I was expecting based on only knowing Tom Sawyer/limited other Rush knowledge.
YYZ made me want to play Mario Kart.
Tracy Chapman
5/5
That top rated review that calls this secretary rock - sure but it's the secretaries from "9 to 5"
Spoiler alert: they smoke weed and fantasize about killing their misogynist anti-labor boss, then kidnap him and stage a corporate coup to establish revolutionary pro-worker policies. Also one of them is a lesbian icon and one of them is an infamous war protester and one of them is an unbelievably talented and beloved folk singer songwriter.
Jamiroquai
4/5
Today, I learned that Jamiroquai is a portmanteau of "jam" and "iroquois" ... which is unfortunate.
However, the grooves are still good.
Rage Against The Machine
4/5
Super familiar with this album, my oldest brother was a big fan. I've seen Tom Morello's side project, the Nightwatchman, live as well.
There is a definite formula here, the band finds a big riff and Zach finds a sufficiently potent line and they repeat the line and riff with increasing fierceness until its time for the next one. It mostly works (Killing in the Name, legendary) but on some songs it gets a little boring, either the line isn't the skewering refrain the riff deserves or the riff falls flat on the 17th replay. The sound is definitely more developed on Evil Empire, "Bulls on Parade" started up right after the last song from self-titled and it hit so right.
Either way, badass group, love when right wing authoritarian ding-dongs don't realize that they are the Machine against which we Rage, no one says "UHHNNNN" like Zach De La Rocha.
John Cale
4/5
I've never listened to solo John Cale but i know him as a member of Velvet Underground.
This is very dreamy, orchestral pop. It reminds me at times of the John Grant album that I loved earlier in this project.
Girls Against Boys
3/5
I've never heard of this group, they sound like a harder version of Eels (mostly bc of the singer/general 90s vibes I guess).
Radiohead
5/5
I was a big Radiohead fan in highschool. A couple of years ago, I tried to do a Radiohead discography run for nostalgia's sake and gave up during Kid A. It was summer and the vibe wasn't right. I haven't really listened to them since, except for having "Hail to the Thief" come up on the generator a few weeks ago. (outside of this project, I'm in a bit of a disco/Funk era).
All that to say, I didn't know how I was going to feel about this album after having not listened to it in about 15 years. I put it on for my drive in to work and by the opening notes of "Pyramid Song" I was in love again. There's a lot of variety on this album, glitchy Electronica, piano ballads, guitar moments that are heavy and menacing and light and jangly, oh and some jazz trumpet. Somehow, it all flows together. It has a groggier version of the same heady psychological effect for me that "loveless" had. Here, the dense production and desultory tracklisting gives the feeling of just waking up and trying to remember a dream (nightmare) that is fading or coming up from anesthesia - a very heavy high.
Portishead
5/5
Fugazi
5/5
YOU ARE NOT WHAT YOU OWN
WE OWE YOU NOTHING
YOU HAVE NO CONTROL
Bob Dylan
4/5
I know a lot of these songs but have never listened to this album. This is my 3rd Dylan album in the Challenge and I've really enjoyed how absolutely scathing and funny some of his lyrics are. There was a lot of urgency in this one.
Adele
4/5
I hadn't listened to this in years, I forgot how good the non-singles were. I really enjoyed He Won't Go and I'll Be Waiting Today. Someone Like You remains a GOAT breakup anthem.
Brian Eno
4/5
The most surprising thing about this album was that I could actually identify that I had heard 2 of the songs before in the wild, with suspicions confirmed by the wikipedia page.
It's a sound bath. It's music for airports, backgrounds, interludes.
Richard Hawley
4/5
The only Richard Hawley song that I know is "Tonight The Streets are Ours", which is from the album after this one. I like his sound, very classic but done very well.
Simply Red
3/5
Come To My Aid is pretty cool opener. Picture Book is a pretty cool closer. The middle varies.
The cover of "Heaven" in the style of an androgynous '80s Joe Cocker viscerally upset me on the first listen but was good on round 2 once I got over the shock.
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
5/5
I got this cd when came out in 2003 based purely on reading articles from Rolling Stone and other publications. This was before Maps became a hit, I had maybe heard "Date With The Night".
I became so obsessed that I had a picture of Karen O taped in my locker and did a class project about her that involved drawing a magazine cover with her face on it. I was in middle school and this was the coolest shit I had ever heard.
"Maps" has gone on to be a huge hit, featured in video games and referenced by Kelly Clarkson and Beyoncé. It's an excellent song and more in line with the direction the band followed, but I have a soft spot for the grittier tracks from the front half of the album. The energy is off the charts on "Date With The Night" and "Tick", for example.
To this day, one of the most fun live shows that I've attended was Yeah Yeah Yeahs on the "It's Blitz" tour in a tiny bar venue. I got into them because pre-Youtube, written concert reviews inspired me to buy this cd and they absolutely delivered.
Cream
3/5
Siouxsie And The Banshees
4/5
Meat Loaf
3/5
My first thought was "Knock off Springsteen musical" and then I read the wikipedia and found out that it was adapted from a musical, produced and performed by several dudes who overlapped with the E Street Band, and was contemporaneously compared to the boss as well. I will never get over the glory of "Meat Loaf" as a stage name.
Stereolab
5/5
I've listened to several random Stereolab songs over the years, but never a full album until today. They keep getting recommended to me and now I know why. I friggin' loved this.
Donovan
4/5
Sunshine Superman (the song) is like the go to '60s psychedelic meme song and I never knew the name of it despite hearing it a zillion times. This was a cool album, I especially liked the jazzy breakdown at the end of Bert's Blues.
David Ackles
4/5
A lusciously orchestrated cabaret musical set in America's old west. This album contains a set of vignettes that cover such classic topics as prostitution, falling in love, racism, hook up culture, life on the road, domestic terrorism, California, Montana, and cannibalism.
Stevie Wonder
5/5
One of the best from one of the best, what else is there to say. You can feel it all over.
Cornershop
4/5
First grill sesh of the summer, bopping to this while I watch the sunset and tend to some chicken thighs that are destined for a gourmet makes yinzer salad (leftover fries are crisping up). The wine is good and there's a brimful of Asha on the 45.
The Triffids
3/5
This was nice but didn't grab me today. Very emotional '80s piano pop rock
David Bowie
4/5
Supergrass
4/5
Album #201!!
These guys are a blast. This is my second Supergrass album in the challenge and I really liked this one as well. Very fun and energetic.
Tricky
4/5
I'm familiar with Tricky from my general interest in other so caller "trip hop" acts like Portishead and Massive Attack, but I've never listened a full album from him. I really liked this, some really slow sexy grooves like opener "Overcome" and energetic rockers like "Black Steel". I'll admit it is perhaps a bit too sexy for an album named after the artist's mother!
Elvis Presley
4/5
It felt good to listen to this in the same week that the news story dropped about the fraudulent loan company that got busted for their attempt to auction off Graceland. Elvis is a bit of a punching bag these days; I get it, there's a lot of tragi-comic gold to mine from his life. Listening to his albums is a good reminder of the talent and charisma that made him one of the first megastars. He covers a variety of genres on this album, and I hadn't heard any of these songs before. It was a delight to listen to.
Thelonious Monk
4/5
I'm familiar with the name Thelonious Monk, but I haven't listened to any of his albums before. I've been enjoying my dips into the jazz canon through this project, so I'm excited for this today.
Frank Sinatra
3/5
This is camp, can't wait to sneak it onto a date night dinner playlist this summer.
Cocteau Twins
5/5
I can't sing along to it for shit but I still love this album
Lorde
4/5
"Green Light" has been one of my perennial jams since it came out, but I never listened to the rest of this album. Solid, moody synth pop throughout.
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
4/5
I've listened to this album before but not in a few years. This is definitely a foundational text of New Wave and a super fun listen. Corporate radio still sucks.
Milton Nascimento
3/5
This is pleasant, dreamy Brazilian pop - might throw this on for coffee on the deck on a weekend morning vibes.
Klaxons
3/5
A couple of these songs were familiar sounding - particularly "It's Not Over". This was a fun listen- definitely brought me back to the dancey indie rock vibes that were big when I was in high school.
Arcade Fire
4/5
I was obsessed with the first three Arcade Fire albums - they are a very dramatic band and they came out when I was a dramatic adolescent/young adult. The single that came out in 2022 was among the most crap songs that I've heard in the past few years and it turns out that their frontman has joined the hallowed pantheon of dirtbag rock singers, but I think this album will give me the good nostalgia feels today.
Cowboy Junkies
3/5
A smoky, sultry collection of country crooners, Margo Timmins purrs out these slow jams about lonesomeness and silicosis.
Gene Clark
5/5
I previously had "White Light" by Gene Clark in this project. I gave it a 3 after one day of listening, but then it wound up being one of my top albums last winter. I'd retroactively up that rating for sure. I later talked about it with my brother and he told me that this album was a must listen.
I was primed to enjoy it between that recommendation and the Rollercoaster wikipedia page, but this album blew me away on its own merits. It starts with that same warm country inflected balladeering that grew on me from White Light, and then it grows in wild and exciting directions with the heavily Stevie Wonder influenced title track and the sprawling Strength of Strings. The country is more pronounced on True One and Lady of the North is a perfect closer.
Simon & Garfunkel
4/5
I knew about half of this album already, and "America" is one of my favorite S&G songs. On the first listen it dragged a bit for me and the interlude of recorded voices was strange, but the album is only 28 minutes long so I jumped right into round 2 and it came together better for me.
Wish I was an English muffin
'Bout to make the most out of a toaster
Einstürzende Neubauten
3/5
This was cool - a lot of it is more like motifs or experiments than what a typical listener would call a song but the sounds and energy are visceral to say the least. I read a bit about Einstürzende Neubauten (Collapsing New Buildings) - seems like their later work is less abrasive, I'm curious to check it out sometime.
Earth, Wind & Fire
4/5
I know Earth, Wind & Fire's hits so I knew what to expect here, but there were still some surprising moments like the outro of All About Love and Africano.
Van Morrison
4/5
I grew up with my folks having this album on constant rotation - excited for a sweet hit of nostalgia tonight.
"Into the Mystic" is one of my favorite Van Morrison tunes.
Funkadelic
5/5
This was the first album that I had to buy a physical copy of in order to listen to and I have zero regrets about that. I got a vinyl reissue with the bonus EP, as George Clinton would want me to. My toddler and I danced like lunatics to this and he shouted "I LIKE THIS MUSIC" and it brought me great joy.
Wilco
4/5
One time, a long time ago, one of my brothers got mad at me after he played a live version of Misunderstood and I told him I thought Wilco was overrated.
Wilco is one of those perpetually 3.5 groups for me, I'm between liking them and really liking them. I'll be generous today because I wound up seeing them years later and it was a pretty good show and this album has some good tunes I had forgotten about.
Morrissey
3/5
I really like the Smiths and I know and like a lot of solo Morrissey work. This one was new for me today and I was just not in the mood for this asshole today.
OutKast
5/5
Yeah, inslumnational underground
Thunder pounds, when I stomp the ground (woo)
Like a million elephants or silverback orangutans
You can't stop a train
Who wants some? Don't come unprepared
I'll be there, but when I leave there
Better be a household name
Weatherman tellin' us it ain't gon' rain
So now we sittin' in a droptop, soakin' wet
In a silk suit tryin' not to sweat
Hittin' somersaults without the net
But this'll be the year that we won't forget, the 1-9-9-9
Anno Domini, anything goes
Be what you want to be, long as you know
Consequences are given for living the fence is
Too high to jump in jail, too low to dig
I might just touch hell, hot
X-Ray Spex
5/5
I'm so mad that I had never listened to this album before - this fucking rules. The riot grrl blueprint plus ripping sax solos. Kathleen Hanna definitely got some inspo from Poly Styrene. Identity is such a good song. I love this album - all grilling no chilling.
Kraftwerk
5/5
I've never listened to Kraftwerk before, but knew about them and immediately clocked their influence on a lot of music I like. Beautiful electronic jams, dancey rhythms, funny lyrics. I knew I would be into this because of the legacy but I was even more delighted than I expected, I thought this would be moodier but I was surprised by its lightness. I really enjoyed my pre-dawn drive into work to "Neon Lights"
Gillian Welch
4/5
I was already familiar with Gillian Welch and feel like I had heard 1 or 2 of these songs before. This was a beautiful album, the opening track grabbed me right away.
Foo Fighters
4/5
Dave Grohl's solo bolo. I knew half of these songs already, the singles hold up and I enjoyed the melodic stadium punk that makes up the back half of the album.
Portishead
4/5
I hadn't listened to this album since it came out - not as consistent as their '90s output but still so good. The second half of this album really shines for me - basically Machine Gun through Threads.
The Auteurs
3/5
It's fine 🤷♀️
Steely Dan
3/5
The last minute of the song Aja is pretty sweet, but for me it's not really worth sitting through the previous 6 and half minutes of, admittedly opulent, yacht rock.
Quicksilver Messenger Service
2/5
2 stars for this jam.
5 stars for the jar of Guava jam I just bought, so good.
Hüsker Dü
3/5
I've never intentionally listened to Husker Du before, but I'm familiar with the name. I liked a lot of this collection of melodic punk tunes.
Scott Walker
3/5
A collection of twisted chansons about such charming subjects as sexual harassment, sexually transmitted diseases, and being cute in a stupid ass way delivered in an over the top theatrical bellow - this was a strange hoot to listen to.
Blur
3/5
Ravi Shankar
3/5
Steve Winwood
3/5
Charcuterie at sea 🧀 🛥
Led Zeppelin
3/5
Bob Dylan
4/5
How come nobody ever asks Bob Dylan, "Why you sound so much like Dewey Cox?”
Abdullah Ibrahim
3/5
Smooth af
Crowded House
3/5
Fine collection of Beatles influenced '90s indie rock - some tunes made me think of Guster
The Smiths
4/5
Ladysmith Black Mambazo
3/5
Listened to the 30th anniversary re-recording because that was all I could I find to easily listen to. I knew about Ladysmith Black Mambazo before from Graceland/having hippie parents who listened to a lot of world music so this was about what I expected. Pretty, hypnotic, acapella African gospel music.
4/5
I've never listened to Yes before, but was immediately able to clock them as an influence on a lot of bands I really love (eg Flaming Lips). I think with more listening this album could become a fave.
Deep Purple
3/5
This was super fun to listen to! Thudding thundering drums and the rock singer waaaiiiiiiiiil and some wild solos of all varieties. Sweet sweet cheese.
Michael Jackson
4/5
There's a lot of best parts of this album, but my favorite has always been the inner gatefold photo of MJ with a baby tiger. A classic, the pop blueprint for a generation, even the cheesy Paul McCartney duet is just so well made that I love it.
Simple Minds
3/5
Leonard Cohen
4/5
This hypnotized me in a very pleasant way. I've never listened to a Leonard Cohen album before but know his reputation as a songwriting icon (hallelujah, lol) - this was great.
Aretha Franklin
5/5
5 stars for this legendary album, and an 5 auxiliary stars for Latrice Royale's legendary lipsync to "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" on Drag Race season 4.
Al Green
4/5
G. Love & Special Sauce
3/5
Great stupid summer fun - delighted to discover that I still know 80% of the words to "Cold Beverage" . This isn't consistent enough to play through as an album but there are some good playlist tracks in here for an easy breezy vibe.
Sarah Vaughan
5/5
This was great - the final song cemented the 5 🌟 rating.
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
4/5
I knew most of these songs but had never listened to this album before.
The Dictators
3/5
Sweet dumb fun - I particularly enjoyed the cover of "I Got You Babe" and the final track, the Beach Boys parody "(I Live For) Cars and Girls"
Manu Chao
4/5
Very chill vibes here - mentally taking note of "Bongo Bong" for... reasons.
Hugh Masekela
5/5
My only previous exposure to Hugh Masekela was documentary footage of him absolutely melting faces on the Monterey Pop stage. This was just as awesome.
The xx
5/5
Not to date myself too hard, but when I was a sophomore in college, I was very obsessed with a dubstep remix of "Shelter".
I'm nostalgic about this album, sure, but I listened today for the first time in many years and absolutely loved it.
This is a great album to make out to. It's basically the sound of millenials brains that were permanently altered by the music video for "Wicked Game"
Dinosaur Jr.
4/5
I didn't think I knew any Dinosaur Jr. songs until about 5 seconds into the first song. I knew "Feel the Pain" and "Start Choppin" but I didn't know the name of either of those songs - just heard them on the radio loads. Anyway, these guys have a very distinctive sound, just grimey enough
The Clash
4/5
I knew a lot of these songs, but this was my first time kistening ti the full album.
Muddy Waters
4/5
Aerosmith
3/5
Sonic Youth
4/5
I've never listened to Sonic Youth before - but I expect that I will enjoy this based on the ecosystem of musical influences that surround the group (I like punk and I like experimental stuff, ergo I should like their highly regarded experimental punk)
Yeah, I'm into this.
Little Richard
4/5
My two year old son absolutely loved dancing to this while I made us pancakes for breakfast!
The Jesus And Mary Chain
3/5
The Stone Roses
4/5
The name of this group was familiar, but I didn't think I knew any of their songs. Of course, I immediately recognized "I Wanna Be Adored". This was really good, and I see from Wikipedia that it was hugely popular and widely acclaimed - it just missed my millenial American radar.
Marty Robbins
4/5
I knew a couple of these songs already (El Paso was the big one) - this was a great listen, he had a marvelous voice and the songs are all vignettes about love and violence in the wild west.
De La Soul
4/5
Very fun album - I knew "Me Myself and I" already but had never listened to more from De La Soul despite their excellent reputation.
The Beta Band
3/5
I've never heard of or listened to these guys. This was fine 2000's rock vibes, some strong tunes in here but overall it didn't grab me.
The Bees
3/5
I'd never heard of these guys before - I really liked some of the songs here, especially in the first half of the album. The Os Mutantes cover was a fun surprise, I just listened to that album the other day. Very chill vibes all around.
AC/DC
3/5
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
3/5
Os Mutantes
4/5
The Isley Brothers
4/5
I put this on while I was making dinner and had the best time jamming the fuck out to Who's The Lady pt 2 - why didn't anyone tell me that song had the most kickass synth outro?
The Rolling Stones
3/5
Listened to the UK version and then realized the US version has Paint It Black as the opener and the UK has Mother's Little Helper and those are both of my favorite songs from this album. Too bad they weren't both on the same album. I knew several of the other tunes here (I am waiting, under my thumb, stupid girl). A lot of the songs here felt way too long (Out of Time made me stop what I was doing and look to see how much was left). A lot of good sounds in here, but I probably would've preferred to listen to the shorter US version, which means I would've liked to hear a little less of this album.
System Of A Down
4/5
I listened to this cd so much in middle school - if you had asked me yesterday which SoaD cd I jammed to I would've guessed Toxicity but as soon as I saw the tracklist for this self titled album I realized this was actually my jam (specifically I remembered suite pee, sugar, spiders, and PLUCK). The album that taught me about Kombucha! Definitely my first cd with multiple multiple F Bombs, very transformative!
Anyway, it's been 2 decades since I listened to this the whole way through and all of my recent System of A Down interaction has been shouting "YOUWANTEDTO" with my wife. I wasn't sure how I would feel about this one but it actually fucking rules.
David Gray
3/5
Johnny Cash
4/5
Coldplay
4/5
Stan Getz
3/5
N.W.A.
3/5
Obviously hugely influential, but this is a bit of a chore to listen to these days. Express Yourself and Fuck The Polics still hit though 👍
Bon Jovi
3/5
This is basically a fondue tower - just a cascade of steaming hot '80s cheese.
I knew almost all of these songs already, despite never intentionally listening to a single Bon Jovi song. Way to go, boys!
The 13th Floor Elevators
3/5
Nice proto-psychedelic garage rock
Brian Eno
5/5
I haven't listened to this album in years - either I liked it a lot more this time around or I forgot how good it is. The last time I listened to this was about 10 years ago when I read David Byrne's book "How Music Works" - I remember reading about his experiments with found sound sampling and rhythm sampling that led to the creation of this album and later "Remain in Light", including recording late night radio preachers as heard on this album, and how their stylized sermons influenced songs like "Once In A Lifetime"
As a Talking Heads fan, this album is a perfect amuse bouche for "Remain in Light". Or maybe it's more like the unfinished Michelangelo sculptures that guide your way up to see the David at the Galleria Accademia. The iconic piece is amazing, of course, but it is just as interesting and beautiful to see the artist's process.
Eminem
3/5
Some strong highs and some truly cringe inducing lows. I'm glad Marshall had Slim to help him survive, but that doesn't mean I want to listen to an hour of Slim.
Willie Nelson
4/5
Nas
5/5
The Dave Brubeck Quartet
5/5
There are some pieces of music that become so embedded in the culture and emblematic of a vibe that everyone knows them whether they know it or not.
I once had this conversation with a group of guys about the opera "Carmen" - through the power of Looney Tunes and other pop usage these dudes knew almost every single song from that score and never knew they were all songs from an opera, let alone the same opera. "The Nutcracker" has a similar chokehold on the musical themes around the holiday season.
Jazzwise - whether folks know the artist or not, there are a handful of tunes that everyone can recognize. Take Five might be number one although it's probably in stiff competition with selections from Kind Of Blue and Vince Guaraldi's Charlie Brown music.
What I'm getting at is, I knew this album without knowing that I knew this album. Iconic.
Nirvana
3/5
I'm a child of the '90s and was way overexposed to this album. I was famously a bit of a Nirvana hater in my youth.
I haven't gone out of my way to listen to Nirvana much since their heyday, but I went into this with an open mind. It's a good recording and they don't sound bad, but it's repetitive at times and the songs I liked the most here were all covers.
Ramblin' Jack Elliott
3/5
I'd never heard of Ramblin' Jack before - he was sort of mid evolution figure in folk music from Woody Guthrie to Bob Dylan. Early folk's Charmeleon or Wortortle, if you will.
This is a plucky collection of traditional tunes about traditional topics: animals, insects, cocaine, etc.
Count Basie & His Orchestra
4/5
This has to be one of the most badass album covers ever.
David Bowie
5/5
IS THERE LIFE ON MAAAAAAAAAAA-AAAA-AA-AARZ?
Also, Changes has one of my favorite intros in the classic rock canon.
Weather Report
3/5
I know the name of Jaco Pastorius, but never listened to Weather Report or any other Jaco projects. The fretless bass sound is certainly distinctive, I'm mostly familiar with the sound of fretless bass from Kate Bush's music. It does lend itself to a sprawling Funk inflected jazz riff. The other instruments here are nice as well, percussion stands out but the horns and keys get moments to shine as well. Some of the songs here are a bit too cheesy for me, honestly, and others are like the most virtuosic Mario Kart jams ever.
Alice Cooper
3/5
Would not expect a horn filled jazz rock jam like "Blue Turk" to be the centerpiece of this album based on only knowing the famous title track. There's a lot going on in here!
R.E.M.
4/5
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band
5/5
I had a great time listening to this, actually! The first track is so jarring but really effectively shocked me into the mental state to enjoy my journey to Captain Beefheart's soundscape.
Steely Dan
3/5
Simon & Garfunkel
5/5
Duran Duran
4/5
King Crimson
5/5
I had never listened to this album or any King Crimson jams before today. This was fucking awesome.
Wire
4/5
The best and worst thing about short awesome punk songs like these is that they always leave me wanting more.
I knew some of these songs already (the algorithm has been pushing Fragile on me for years) but this was my first time listening to this album in full. It definitely sounds way ahead if it's time.
Nick Drake
5/5
I hadn't listened to this in years - absolutely mesmerizing.
The Roots
4/5
The legendary Roots crew!
The Stooges
4/5
Four stars for the sheer audacity of I Wanna Be Your Dog -> We Will Fall
Sepultura
3/5
I knew the name Sepultura but had never listened to them before. It was cool reading about the band exploring their Brazillian heritage and spending time with an indigenous Amazon tribe during the development of this album.
The Doors
3/5
I think I liked this more than L.A. Woman, but I there were still some highs and lows. The keys still slap and there are some very cool moments.
Haircut 100
5/5
This was great - super funky and horn packed British new wave. This was like a lovechild of Joe Jackson and Talking Heads. I loved listening to this today.
Randy Newman
5/5
Randy Newman is one of America's GOAT songwriters - taking history, politics, religion, humanity, and family to task with a scathing yet subtle wit on some songs and bathing us in warm wholesome ditties on other. This album rules.
The Avalanches
5/5
"Frontier Psychiatrist" permanently altered my brain chemistry as a tween, so this album holds a special place in my heart. I have never listened to the full album before, just the singles and most recently just the title track. I didn't realize that the whole thing flows like one song/crossfaded set list. I love picking up the repeated samples that callback to other movements throughout the album (NEIGHHHH). This is an enormous effort that is super fun to listen and dance to. Great vibes, you could throw it on in the AM or the PM.
YOU'RE A NUT! YOU'RE CRAZY IN THE COCONUT!
WELL WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?
THAT BOY NEEDS THERAPY!
Aerosmith
3/5
What a creepy album cover!
This is the Aerosmith album with Walk This Way and Sweet Emotion. It's about what I expected.
The Crusaders
3/5
The first song was a pretty good jam, the rest of the tracks are easy listening disco flavored pop jazz that kind of just floated right past my ears.
Heaven 17
4/5
"Across that great wide ocean
Reagan's president elect
Fascist God in motion
Generals tell him what to do
Stop your good time dancing
Train their guns on me and you
Fascist thing advancing"
This album certainly isn't the best example of synth pop, but then again, fuck Ronald Reagan.
Lynyrd Skynyrd
3/5
Mylo
3/5
Pink Floyd
3/5
REAL EYES
REALIZE
REAL LIES
Steely Dan
4/5
I'll give it to 'em on this one. Hit city from Steely Dan here.
Radiohead
5/5
50 Cent
3/5
I remember going to a middle school friend's 13th birthday party and he got this cd as a gift, lol.
10cc
4/5
I need to dive into this more - only time for one listen today but this was giving me major Sparks/ELO bonkers pop/proto new wave energy. Lots of variety and energy.
My default for all ratings is a 3 and you can either earn or lose from there - this is earning one because it tickled my ears enough to make me want to come back and check it out some more.
The Smiths
5/5
I've been a fan of The Smiths for a long time, and a fan of Radiohead for a long time. But listening to this album tonight was the first time it really hit me how influential The Smiths were on them and like, it's VERY obvious and I cannot believe I never put it together until the end of this evenings listen of "Death of a Disco Dancer".
Black Sabbath
4/5
First time ever listening to a full Sabbath album, and I only know some of their later songs (War Pigs 🤘) - gonna give it to Ozzy and the boys today (especially since my more recent hard rock selections have either been Aerosmith or nu-metal which are considerably less to my taste).
The Byrds
3/5
The most neutral pretty 60s folk rock, close your eyes and imagine "60s folk rock" and this plays. At the time, the concept of folk rock was new and astounding amd the Byrds obviously are chockablock with influential characters from music history! A few generations later, this is just a nice collection of mostly covers.
Creedence Clearwater Revival
4/5
When I learned that CCR was actually from San Francisco I remember being truly shocked. Authenticity questions aside, I still jam to Creedence. Looking at the timeline now - 3 albums recorded in one year and basically all of the dang hits in 1969-1970, John Fogerty was NOT fucking around.
Christina Aguilera
4/5
I've never listened to a Christina Aguilera album, but I'm a millenial American woman so I know half of these songs already. When this came out, I was spending my time eschewing popular music in favor of being a pretentious teen with my Björk and Sleater-Kinney cds. These days, I'm much more of a poptimist.
At the time, the prevailing sentiment was that it was very important to Not Be Like Other Girls. This is, of course, a very toxic mindset. Through adult eyes I can appreciate the battle that Christina and the other pop girlies of the late '90s and early 2000s were waging against the truly brutal cultural pincers of a controlling music industry, vicious media ecosystem, and regressive patriarchal norms that ping-ponged between hyper-sexualizing and hyper-demonizing young women. It's still not great (ask Olivia now, ask Chappell now, ask Sabrina now) but it's certainly better, because Christina and the girls put their safety and sanity on the line to push the culture forward (Like Janet before, like Madonna before, like Mariah before).
I remember the controversy and crudeness that surrounded the release of this album. People focus on the Dirrrty Xtina looks, but listening to it now the theme is less raw sexuality and more the triumph of growing and succeeding in spite of a lifetime of abuses. It has since become a template for young female artists to cast off the shackles of a rigidly saccharine, industry contrived image and launch themselves as multifaceted adult artists. This confidence and independence, in addition to divine pipes, is what really makes a legendary diva.
Anyway- if you ain't dirrrty, you ain't here to partayyyy!
Def Leppard
3/5
Pure corn
Coldcut
4/5
Not available on the usual streaming services - I'm guessing it's a sample clearance issue. This was super fun, sample driven, bouncy house music. A had never heard of this group, but lot of the grooves sounded familiar - such is the experience with sampled tunes.
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
5/5
I've said it before and I'll say it again, this tour was one of the most fun shows I've ever been to. I havent listened to this full album in years but "Dull Life" is one of my favorite Yeah Yeah Yeahs songs. Holds up! Dance jams, rockers, and Karen O slow ballads, I just love this crew.
The Sensational Alex Harvey Band
2/5
Everyone in this room is now dumber for having listened to it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.
Tangerine Dream
4/5
I've never heard of Tangerine Dream before but this was a cool ambient album. I listened to it while walking around in an airport and felt like i was in a movie.After digging into them a bit, I've learned that they were very influential and are still very prolific. I have to check out some more of their work.
Herbie Hancock
5/5
I've never listened to this album before, but had a feeling that I was going to love it. This immediately made my morning better - fantastic.
Kelela
3/5
I missed this when it came out - I like it, very chill spacey r&b.
Rush
3/5
One thing I've learned in this project is that while I can draw a straight line from Rush to a lot of bands that I really like, I just don't really like Rush.
Leonard Cohen
5/5
This was completely absorbing. I had heard about this album and have enjoyed everything that I've heard from Leonard Cohen but this blew me away. It is a complete piece.
Cat Stevens
4/5
I've never listened to this album before. I like several Cat Stevens songs but I actually dislike the only song I know from this album- "Wild World"
As soon as I heard "Father and Son" my first thought was "Holy Shit, this sounds just like Flight Test, I bet the Flaming Lips had to pay up for that one!" - lo and behold the lawsuit has its own section on the wikipedia page. Beautiful song, an album standout even though I had a backwards nostalgia for it.
Pantera
3/5
I've never listened to Pantera before, but this was exactly what I expected.
Big Star
4/5
I haven't listened to this album in years. Last night, my wife and I slow danced in the kitchen and sang "Thirteen" to each other. That is a truly special song.
Eagles
3/5
When I lived in Japan, so many dads would tell me that they learned English by listening to The Eagles. Like, in terms of ranking English-language pop culture that adults referenced to me it went #1 The Eagles, #2 The Beatles, #3 American baseball #4 anything else (Mariah Carey, Lady Gaga, various blockbust movie franchises, etc).
Anyway, that's my weird Eagles anecdote in lieu of quoting The Big Lebowski for the millionth time. This album was exactly what I expected to hear after only knowing the singles.
The Cardigans
5/5
I know several songs by The Cardigans and love them all (Lovefool is a spectacular hit) but I have never listened to a full album by this group.
I love this even more than I expected to. There's the blending of pop and '90s indie rock that I expected, and Nina's voice is perfect of course, but the sum of it is really perfect to my ears - good flow track to track and no skips. This scratches my Rilo Kiley itch and makes me want to dig into more albums by The Cardigans.
4/5
This way exceeded my expectations, very raw and full sounding bluesy psychedelic rock that tickled my ear bone just right.
The Waterboys
3/5
This was nice, very raw Irish folk inflected rock tunes - or rock inflected Irish folk tunes. The front half was stronger than the back half for me, the 7 minute chaotic fiddle jam "We Will Not Be Lovers" was a highlight.
Kendrick Lamar
4/5
I'm less familiar with this album than with To Pimp a Butterfly - I forgot about some of the great tracks here and laughed my ass off when I heard Drake on "Poetic Justice"
The Yardbirds
3/5
I've never listened to a Yardbirds album. Standard '60s blues rock stuff, not too shabby but didn't grab me.
The Stooges
4/5
Hell yeah
Louis Prima
5/5
Life's a bitch and then you die, but sometimes you get to improvise a song and do a little scat break in the style of Louis Prima while you're cleaning the kitchen and it makes things a little better. I can't recommend it highly enough.
I probably jam to, or in the style of, Louis Prima more often than the typical millenial but I have never listened to this album before. He's just having so much fun with his wife and his band making funny upbeat tunes - what's not to love!?
(My usual go to Louis tunes for a scat break moment are Pennies From Heaven, That Old Black Magic, and of course I Wanna Be Like You)
Rufus Wainwright
3/5
I know some songs from Want One but I had never listened to Want Two. Either way, my favorite Rufus Wainwright project is his Judy Garland Live at Carnegie Hall cover album.
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
3/5
More cheeky tunes from Elvis - I'd never heard any of these songs before. This was fun but not urgent for me. I think with more listens I could get more into it, his wordplay and attitude are always fun.
The Who
3/5
The original track listing vs what is on the streaming versions of this album is very very different- regardless it's The Who recorded live so no surprises here.
David Bowie
5/5
I hadn't listened to this since it came out amd forgot just how good this album was. I have a distinct memory of being in a bar with some friends the week Bowie died and talking about him and this album. A genuine icon.
Bruce Springsteen
3/5
I've never listened to this album before, but it's another instance of me simply liking Bruce Springsteen as an American icon more than I actually like his music.
Britney Spears
3/5
I understand that it's easy to get hung up on the bubble gum of it all, or the occassional nonsense lyrics, or the painful and confusing mythology of Britney. While I was never a fan, I can mark periods of my life based on memories of Britney (this album, Oops, head shaving, leave Britney alone, Toxic, til the world ends, emancipation, knife dancing on Tiktok etc etc). She's an icon and a cornerstone of millenial pop culture and this debut album is mostly good with one absolutely perfect first single that understandably launched her to pop Stardom.
Also, if you played her cover of "The Beat Goes On" for some too cool music nerd types without telling them it was Britney, they'd eat that shit up!
A fun game that my friends and I used to play was reciting pop lyrics like dark emo poetry and to this day nothing has topped "My Loneliness is KILLING ME"
Beastie Boys
4/5
a-ha
3/5
Beyoncé
5/5
I woke up like this!
I was living in Japan when this album surprise dropped, so I got to watch it earlier than all of my friends in America. I remember being skeptical during "Pretty Hurts" but I was immediately sold by the next track, and video, "Ghost". I proceeded to watch this album regularly. I was in my first solo apartment and in a foreign country so I had a lot of time to just jam to Yoncé. If you have time to watch the visual album, I recommend it. It's beautifully done and adds a lot of context to the arc of the tracklist.
Towards the end of my time abroad, a friend and her boyfriend (now husband) came to visit. We road tripped around and listened to a burned cd of this album. I have a distinct memory of us turning it up and belting "Rocket" more than once. How could you not want to sing that opening line?
The Mothers Of Invention
3/5
I had actually heard a few of these songs before - goofy and strange and funny but this didn't grab me as heard as Freak Out did.
4/5
U Talking U2 2 Me?
Willie Nelson
4/5
There's something so wholesome about this being the most popular album by America's most house-hold name stoner. Willie is such a vibe, this made unloading my dishwasher on an October evening very pleasant. September Song and Moonlight in Vermont made me take a break and listen.
Amy Winehouse
3/5
I loved "Back to Black" when it came out and still listen to several songs from it. I never really got into "Frank" and haven't listened to any of these songs in years. It was nice to revisit this debut. The overall sound is good, certainly unique from a young pop singer in 2003 and a preview of Amy's potential, but it mostly just made me want to listen to her later music.
The Cure
5/5
T. Rex
3/5
This was fun - I already knew "Get It On" so I sort of knew what to expect. I was surprised to hear some quieter songs and orchestra features. It did get a bit repetitive toward the end of album.
Sufjan Stevens
5/5
Hole
4/5
I listen to "Live Through This" more but this is still a damn good '90s power pop punk album.
Regarding Courtney Love, all I can say is that in this house we support women's rights AND wrongs.
Michael Jackson
4/5
We need to bring back the word "boogie"
Killing Joke
3/5
SZA
4/5
Summer 2019 - floating in a pool on a hot day, a lil bit toasted with some family, absolutely vibing to "Prom" - this is one of my top visceral mood music moments - a happy place that I go to led by a spectacular pop song.
The rest of the album is damn good too.
Special second shout out to "Go Gina" because it is so fun to sing ~picking up a penny with a press on nail~
Van Halen
3/5
This was my first time listening to a Van Halen album - but I knew a lot of these songs already from the culture. High energy glam metal with some classic Van Halen shredding - no surprises here.
The Afghan Whigs
3/5
JAY Z
4/5
Tom Waits
4/5
This is a perfect Halloween album.
I wanted to play this while we sat on our porch and passed out candy but, tragically, it was no match for my neighbor's playlist of dubstep remixes of songs from "The Nightmare Before Christmas"
Beatles
5/5
I GOT BLISTAS ON ME FINGAS
Talk Talk
4/5
I know Talk Talk's hits but this was all new to me - I really liked it! A lot of surprising instrumental flourishes that made it stand out from typical new wave to me.
The Beach Boys
5/5
Nick Drake
5/5
If there's one thing I've learned from doing this project, it's that I really love Nick Drake.
Sly & The Family Stone
4/5
Whoa, this is my album for Election Day in the US in 2024.
Update: Fuck
Sex Pistols
4/5
There's a lot of Sex Pistols lore that I've never bothered to dig in to, obviously Johnny Rotten has turned out to be a massive shit but this is still a great record.
Finley Quaye
2/5
There were a couple of good grooves in here (Sunday Shining e.g.) but several clunkers. The intro song made me think of those old "shreds" videos on YouTube it was so clunky. I could pick the good out for some summer playlists but I wouldn't listen to this full album again.
Fiona Apple
5/5
Man, Fiona Apple is so good. I mostly listen to her more recent work, but going back to this debut really illustrates how strongly she started and how she has just gotten better with each release. To listen to this and then realize for the thousandth time that she was under 20 years old writing these songs and recording this album is still so shocking. She has always had a wisdom and weariness that is familiar to any woman but hard to confidently convey.
And she was right: this world is bullshit - go with yourself.
The Fall
3/5
This was different than the last album I listened to by The Fall - this made me think a bit more about Sleaford Mods. I'm starting to get really curious about this Mark Smith guy.
The Jesus And Mary Chain
4/5
I listened to this while I put together a miniature book nook and drank tea and just had a grand time.
Dusty Springfield
4/5
RIP to chaotic lesbian Dusty Springfield, you would've loved the 2020s
Paul Simon
4/5
TLC
5/5
I've never listened to this full album, and I can say this morning that it is fucking flawless. No skips, amazing production & hooks, the interludes and skits are short and funny, the singles are perfect, and it deservedly went diamond and changed the course of pop r&b.
The Sugarcubes
5/5
There's just something about the way Björk sings "THIS IS HOT MEAT"
Iron Maiden
4/5
I knew "Run to the Hills", but had never listened to any other songs from this album. Super fun, high energy, lots of wailing. This isn't a genre that I'm really a fan of but I can recognize that this is a strong example and major influence, with a tight and consistent tracklist.
The Byrds
3/5
Just the sound of the '60s - lil folky, lil poppy, lil country, lil psychedelic.
Booker T. & The MG's
3/5
Organ and guitar - smooth instrumental covers, slinky and groovy fun. Everyone knows Green Onions.
CHIC
4/5
This was great - and the playlist that auto-generated after was great too. The only downside was that some of the grooves were a little too extended, but I know that there's a technical reason for that at the ol' discotheque and a nice unintentended consequence of easy sampling.
Steely Dan
3/5
I think this is the 4th Steely Dan album that I've generated. I get it, virtuoso musicians weaving pop and jazz into the most well executed yacht rock around.
Kate Bush
5/5
It's in the trees! It's coming!
Iconic, a genius with a fairlight synthesizer remains an unbeatable genre of album for me.
Lambchop
3/5
I've never listened to Lambchop before, but they've been recommended to me by several people so I'm excited to get into this.
This was nice, I was expecting more of an alt country sound so I was surprised by the lounge and soul vibes that kept popping up.
The Flaming Lips
5/5
This is one of the albums that changed my life. I've loved "Yoshimi" since I was too young to drive. At first exposure, I liked it because it was weird and fun and different. As I've gotten older the existential and emotional themes masked by time travel and giant pink robots and karate sounds have become more and more potent. The compositions also stand without the gimmicks - but there is something so healing about this group singing these often tragic songs with joy and humor and some of the most outrageous stage props you'll ever see.
The first time I saw The Flaming Lips perform live, there was an enormous disco ball on the ceiling and everyone was given a laser pointer, at certain points the crowd would be directed to laser point at the disco ball or other props to create a DIY light show across the auditorium. At the end of the main set, we were told to point our lasers at the front man, Wayne Coyne. His suit had a sort of coating on it that made him radiate light from all of the laser pointers. He gave a speech about love and loss and life while bathed in this celestial glow, and then the band started playing "Do You Realize??" There was a girl next to me who was wearing a giant fuzzy bacon costume, she was rolling on ecstasy and we briefly hugged while she cried.
Life is sad and funny and surprising and weird and mysterious and full and brief and everything all at the same time. Everything matters, but we don't have to be serious about it.
Björk
5/5
The first 6 songs on the album are presented in order of when she wrote them and subtitled on the album’s liner notes with the actual timeline they were written before and after her divorce. This is such a raw and personal inclusion and really adds heartbreaking context to the songs.
Stonemilker (9 months before) – “And if one feels closed, how does one stay open?” The opening track is admission that the relationship is fraying and a plea for her partner to be open with her and match her effort in their partnership. There is a reference to the Biophilia track “Mutual Core” which is about tectonic plates and volcanoes but also certainly about friction and fighting in a relationship. The strings on this song give me goosebumps every time.
Lionsong (5 months before) – “Maybe he will come out of this loving me, maybe he won’t… somehow I’m not too bothered. I’d just like to know.” This song is almost word for word a conversation that I’ve had with a friend who was a few months away from her own divorce. That feeling of will he let me leave/admit that he wants to end it or is something going to change to keep this thing together. The frustration and exhaustion gives way to just wanting a little bit of closure.
History of Touches (3 months before) – “I wake you up in the night feeling this is our last time together” – She still has love for her partner, but knows that the relationship is ending. She reminisces about their passionate past.
Black Lake (2 months after) – This 10 minute track is just grief and fury, starting and stopping, it’s like she was talking it out in the shower “You fear my limitless emotions, I am bored of your apocalyptic obsessions” sob, thought, “Family was always our sacred mutual mission which you abandoned” shampoo, rumination, “I am a glowing shiny rocket, returning home, as I enter the atmosphere, I burn off layer by layer” This is a pure musical exercise in getting it out, it’s basically a diss track at her ex and moment of self assurance. The stuttering freezes and shifting movements and musical punctuation add to the sense of long suffering giving way to that “AND ANOTHER THING!” sort of emotional release.
Family (6 months after) – “Is there a place where I can pay respects for the death of my family?” A reflection on the end of their family unit and how the need to protect and love their child even though the love between mother and father has ended.
Notget (11 months after) – “If I regret us, I'm denying my soul to grow. Don't remove my pain, it is my chance to heal” – this song sounds like a future version of a song from Homogenic in its aggressive composition - marching beats and stabbing strings and distorted declarations of the endurance of her capacity to love and survive after heartbreak.
That ends the “Divorce Suite” of Vulnicura, the final three songs do not have the timeline laid out but are thematically linked both in the musical composition (strings and beats!) and personal connection.
“Atom Dance” was a song that was initially conceptualized for Biophilia, sung here with longtime friend and collaborator Anohni, it becomes a swirling tribute to connectedness. The tempo and strings on this song are so peculiar, and I love Anohni and Bjork’s voices together.
“Mouth Mantra” is about recovering from vocal chord surgery after Biophilia, and the introspection that came with not having access to her voice during that time.
“Quicksand” was conceived before any of the other songs on this album, in 2011 after Bjork’s mother suffered a heart attack. Here it becomes a reflection on complicated family relationships and how they permeate generations. As a closing track I think it so interesting – lyrically it ends with long reaching thoughts of the future, while musically it ends abruptly in the middle of the string coda. To me it gives this cinematic feeling of “this is the end of my story, but also this is a story that has happened and will happen and is happening to people everywhere right now too” Love starts and ends, families grow and change, daughters become mothers. If you struggle against the reality, you will only get more bogged down by it.
I love this album. I’ve been a Bjork fan for a long time and have experienced all of her eras over the past 2 decades. My first thought when I heard this was excitement that she had returned to some of the musical motifs from the “Post” and “Homogenic” eras, namely using string arrangements with her signature experimental electronic beats (shoutout to Arca taking the place of previous Bjork collaborators like Mark Bell etc.). My second thought, and it is one that she has said herself in interviews, was that it was interesting to hear her take on a break-up album. It is such a convention of pop music but something that she had never really done before. In true Bjork fashion, it is not a typical break-up album, and in the way of her more recent albums I’m tempted to refer to it as a piece of music rather than a pop album, especially the first suite of songs.
I really enjoy her more avant garde style compositions (like Black Lake) they eschew the norms of verse chorus verse bridge pop structure to develop a rich emotional language and tell the story in a new way, the slow burn and development of movements across that song are very rewarding for me and I’m glad she leaned into that more free structured music on the following albums, Utopia and Fossora.
The Beach Boys
3/5
Ah, so this is that transitional era of The Beach Boys where they were starting to get real weird and experimental with the production (love how it sounds) but the lyrics are mostly about girls girls girls (varyingly annoying or fully creepy). Half of this was tremendous and the other half was skip. I did grow up in a household that would exclaim "Help me, Rhonda!" a lot, and that one still holds up.
Beastie Boys
4/5
YOUR MOM BUSTED IN AND SAID
"wHaT's ThAt NoIsE?!"
AWWWWW, MOM, YOU'RE JUST JEALOUS
IT'S THE
BEA!
STIE!
BOYS!
Giant Sand
3/5
I'd never heard of this group before. I liked this, it gave me 'if Eels went country' vibes at times. I may need to return to this one for a closer listen.
Jungle Brothers
3/5
I had a great time bopping to this at work, upbeat and funky rhythms abound. I will revisit.
Fishbone
4/5
Listen, I've been playing a lot of Pro Skater and reminiscing about 3rd wave ska and the '90s this week (we had an accidental Reel Big Fish Thanksgiving last year when we lost the phone that was connected to the Bluetooth speaker) - Anyway this album was great and it hit me at exactly the right moment this December.
Van Halen
3/5
For a few years, I worked as a wedding bartender. One of my coworkers was a hilarious mom whose favorite band was Van Halen. I always asked the band or DJ to play "All Night Long" by Lionel Ritchie and she always asked them to play "Jump" by Van Halen. Good times!
George Jones
3/5
Country heartbreak crooners and one rolicking roasting the tabloid industry. I've never listened to George Jones before but knew his stature and can't deny that voice one bit!
Big Black
4/5
I've never listened to this album, although I believe I have listened to a few Big Black tracks before. Steve Albini died earlier this year and I read a few retrospectives on his influence, so I was somewhat primed. This still surprised me a lot, it was twisted and grating and excellent.
Television
4/5
I had never listened to this full album before, despite knowing the epic title track and general reputation. I really liked this and expect it will grow on me with more listening.
Harry Nilsson
5/5
I've been into Nilsson since I was a kid watching The Point and The Popeye Movie - I didn't know it but this dude was shaping my musical brain. This album is all over the place stylistically, piano plonky tonks, blues rockers, folk jams, ballads, and the coconut song. I think what makes it a great album rather than just a weird one is the apparent talent and palpable emotion that goes into each wildly different song. He's having a lot of fun too, and fun really matters!
My favorite summer cocktail is a Harry Nilsson and my kid lit up and started automatically swaying at the first bars of 'Driving Along' - I've gotta give it a 5.
Pet Shop Boys
4/5
The only song I knew on this was "What Have I Done To Deserve This" but I really enjoyed the rest as well! Cheeky synth pop is very much in my wheelhouse.
Happy Mondays
3/5
These guys are fun - grillers and chillers in here.
The Allman Brothers Band
4/5
Listened to the original album tracklist - not the supersized reissue. I think that was the right choice - 2 to 6 hours of jams is too much for a workday, but an hour 20 of jams is just right for cranking out some paperwork. These fellas could certainly jam.
Ice T
3/5
There are a lot of really powerful moments in here, but the whole message is diluted by some of the tracks that have not aged as gracefully.
Genesis
3/5
At the start of this album I was really surprised and into it, and then I found myself getting less into it by the end of disc 1. Disc 2 had some cool moments but I had already kind of lost the plot.
Todd Rundgren
3/5
I feel like I should like Todd Rundgren on paper, but something just doesn't work for me. I liked this better than the first album I got by him (Something/Anything?) but this still left me hanging a few times. I'm willing to return to this one and try again though.
Underworld
3/5
I've never listened to this group before, I love the story behind the title of the album.
Trancey dancey jams - I put this on while I painted cabinets and it was perfect for that flow state.
Massive Attack
4/5
Massive Attack is o e of those groups whose music I always enjoy but I've never sought out and listened to a full album before. I enjoyed this a lot, they always sound so cool.
Beatles
4/5
I love a lot of these songs but I can't stand the breathing sighing in Girl.
Beck
5/5
This is such an excellent album. Beck's creativity and genre exploration are so natural, and certainly helped me and countless other 90s kids understand that punk, hip hop, folk, country, disco, and any other shape of music can work together and sound fascinating and even beautiful.
I whistle the intro to "Sissyneck" regularly.
Sugar
4/5
I thought I had never heard of these guys, but I had heard "Helpless" and "If I Can't Change Your Mind" before. This project is turning me into a Bob Mould appreciator, I'll definitely throw this on next time I'm in a pop punk kinda mood.
Barry Adamson
3/5
I'd never heard of Barry Adamson before, but I knew of some of the groups he is associated with. This was a very strange collection of funky jazzy motifs plus one quasi erotic spoken word fairytale. Some good jams in here but overall it was hit or miss.
Kid Rock
2/5
As expected, this mostly sucked, but I did laugh out loud at "Used to call me funny/ when my nose was fucking runny/
Now i'm fuckin' bunnies/ gettin' fuckin' Matchbox 20 money" and it was still a more musically and lyrically competent album than Chocolate Starfish, so the streak will continue!
Hole
5/5
I want to be the girl with the most cake.
The Who
3/5
I've never listened to this full album before, but I of course knew a few of the songs ahead of time. I also knew the story/concept beats, although I was not expecting the lyrics to be as explicit as they were. I was excited going in, but this sort of let me down as an actual listening experience.
Jazmine Sullivan
4/5
Whoa, this was all new to me and I really enjoyed this. Funny, smart, sexy r&b songs and interludes about desire - the climax, "The Other Side", was great.
Tom Waits
4/5
My kid said this was too loud at first, and then I said "Doesn't it kind of sound like Cookie Monster is singing?" And then he was into it. I wonder if that's how my dad got me to listen to Tom Waits when I was a kid? I knew a few of these songs already but this was my first full run through on this album, maybe my kid will inherit appreciation for Tom Waits like I did.
Red Snapper
3/5
I've never heard of this group before, the wikipedia references a review of this album calling it a "revved up Massive Attack" - I think that's a fair shout. Electronic jams, with the occasional vocal feature. I lost it at the The Rough and The Quick, can't wait to sneak that one onto a playlist. The final track, They're Hanging Me Tonight, had a very satisfying heavy breakdown.
Spiritualized
3/5
I've never listened to Spiritualized before, but "Ladies and Gentlemen, We Are Floating In Space" has been on my lost to check out for a while. This was mostly cool, although definitely some moments that dragged a bit. I was really expecting the last song to just be counting to 200!
Jeff Buckley
5/5
I'm giving this a 5 for nostalgia / my personal cut of the album that ends with "Lover, You Should've Come Over" being repeated 4 times.
I had a burned cd of this that was later transferred to an iPod and I still have the old skips from that cd etched into my audio memory - a classic.
The Streets
4/5
I knew "Fit But You Know It" and "Dry Your Eyes" but had never listened to this album before. I didn't know that it was a sort of concept album/slice of ife hip-hopera about getting pissed, falling in and out of love, a broken TV, and a missing £1,000. Super fun listen- creative, raw, and goofy.
Jack White
3/5
I knew the singles and like "Love Interruption", but I had never listened to this album in full before. It was pretty good, I thought it started stronger and then sort of petered out at the end for me.
Caetano Veloso
4/5
I've never heard of Caetano Veloso, but reading the wikipedia threatened to send me down a whole bunch of rabbit holes of '60s art and music movements in Brazil. I'm short on time, but I'm tucking this album and the Tropicalia genre in my pocket for warm weather, great vibes.
The Jam
4/5
I really enjoyed jamming to this this afternoon, hehe. I know a couple of songs by The Jam, but this album was all new for me. I love a new wave/power pop moment. The Kinks cover was great as well.
Devendra Banhart
4/5
Oh yeah, I was into this back in the day as a blossoming hipster into so called "freak folk" - still a big fan of Joanna Newsom but I sort of fell off the Devendra Banhart wagon. This held up better than I remembered and makes me want to explore some of his more recent work. Also, interesting that I just listened to Caetano Veloso for the first time and that is one of Banhart's named influences on wikipedia.
Kanye West
5/5
It's truly tragic what the cult of celebrity, unmedicated mental illness, and who knows what else has turned Kanye West into. Listening to this I can't help but think that 2004 Kanye would absolutely hate 2025 Ye.
Yeezus has been my go to Kanye album in recent years, but this was a fantastic listen today. I found that despite not listening to many of these songs since I was a teen I still knew almost all of the words, particularly to faves like "Spaceships".
His production remains unimpeachable. He'd been making hits for bigger acts for years and saving and tweaking these beats for his own debut and it shows, these aren't just beats they are entire songs built off of his prodigious drum programming and distinctive sampling style.
Lyrically, this is definitely his funniest and most coherent album. At the time these sort of self conscious, introspective bars were far from mainstream. Also, there are so many clever and hilarious quotable lines. The outro in "Last Call" describing the challenges he experienced trying to get this album released is a great historical snapshot of the culture at the time, and prophetically lays out how influential this album would come to be.
Deerhunter
3/5
Had the weird experience where I was sure I had listened to at least some of this album before but then the only thing that was familiar was the intro to "Revival" - 2010s indie sleaze, I was there but I missed this one I guess! Nice tunes.
Frank Black
5/5
I've never listened to a solo Frank Black Album before and, goddamn, I loved this.
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
4/5
I've never listened to this album, but I knew a few of the songs (Helpless). Each of the CSNY dudes has their own thing going on here, the tracks alternate between leads but they all work and flow together. Beautiful harmonies and nice guitar work are the name of the game.
Fleetwood Mac
5/5
A goddamn classic.
One year my siblings and their spouses and my wife and I had some drinks and played "Fuck Marry Kill: Rumours"
Results, by a poll of 8 Gen X and Millenial adults:
Fuck: The Chain (runner up You Make Loving Fun)
Marry: Songbird, Dreams, Go Your Own Way, Never Goin' Back Again, Gold Dust Woman, Second Hand News
Kill: Oh Daddy (runner up Don't Stop, just because of overuse)
I get why it's the highest rated album on here, a high water mark in pop and classic rock.
Tom Waits
5/5
Emotional Weather Report 2025
My little fluffy dog's got an appointment at the salon and I've got my Ugg boots and black Columbia puffer jacket on. It's winter with no hint or notion of spring or suntan lotion, just snow showers and snow plowers and a slow two hours browsing spare parts in Target instead of driving around in the slushy mush. There's a weak warm front coming in the form of a Starbucks Cortado, no rush in this suburban El Dorado. This coffee's not strong enough to defend itself from the hurricane of Karens tropical storming the shelves. I'm on a mission for diapers and a new brush for my windshield wipers. Listening to Nighthawks at the Diner and laughing at each one-liner. Yeah, Saturday morning expect things to be uncool but cold, that's getting old, that's life but I'm still better off with a kid and a wife. From Monday to Friday, we anticipate high pressure and slogginess, Friday night may bring a pleasant fogginess and the weekend's precipitation is familial frogginess, so I'm slogging through errands while I wait for her dogginess. It's freezing. Sneezy breezes with a high percentage of drips and coughs and congestion will recede following Mucinex ingestion. They're calling for 4 to 5 inches of the white stuff, and 20 minutes of labor shoveling out my neighbors because I've still got the right stuff. The emotional forecast improves with the introduction of tunes that move and groove, an album that is boisterous and humorous for a morning moisturous and cumulus. “Shopping music that's not too interruptive” might not have been the goal, but I'm a cold woman in need of chili in a bowl and Tom Waits for the soul and a warm beer. It's a high of ‘25 with a real feel of feeling real good this year.
Buzzcocks
4/5
First Buzzcocks album - fast catchy and fun - no complaints here.
Dire Straits
4/5
My folks are big Mark Knopfler/Dire Straits fans and I am high key nostalgic for this album - classic tunes!
Soft Machine
3/5
Cool, but also a little bit Spinal Tap Mark 2 : Jazz Odyssey written by Derek Smalls on the bass.
D'Angelo
4/5
This made my morning blueprint review and cup of tea extremely sexy, recommended!
Digital Underground
3/5
I had no idea that the album with "The Humpty Dance" was actually a speculative fiction concept album about the proliferation of a drug that replicates sexual satisfaction!
Talvin Singh
3/5
I recognized the name Talvin Singh, but this album was entirely new to me, wikipedia says he played with Siouxsie and the Banshees and Björk and Madonna, so that's where I know him from. Electronic music with Indian traditional influence.
American Music Club
3/5
This was really nice, felt like it could be a more current alt-country album than one from 1988. I like the singer's voice and think this one could grow on me with more listens.
The Band
4/5
So many classics in here. "The Weight" was number one on my local radio station's annual big listener voter countdown for two consecutive years, and I think as far as popular classic rock tunes that's a pretty cool pick.
Neil Young
4/5
I knew a couple of the songs here, like Walk On and Revolution Blues, but I had never listened to this full album before, nor did I know the lore of it as a lost album. I really enjoyed this, toward the end it started to drag a bit for me, but I think that may have been more to do with me being less familiar with those songs and it being January so everything just kind of drags around here anyway.
Nine Inch Nails
5/5
I'd never listened to this full album before, even though I knew I was going to love it. The Downward Spiral is a concept album that is about as raw and dark as it gets but, thanks to fantastic songwriting and incredible production, is still catchy and captivating. Its status as an iconic album of the '90s is well-earned.
Anyway, my favorite story about this album is one time I was in the car with my dad, a noted music lover who listened to industrial and electronic and experimental music before I was even born, and "Closer" came on the radio (absolutely love that THAT song was the runaway single from this album that had constant airplay). The song had been out for years but it seems old dad hadn't heard this one, despite my brother definitely having this CD. He was vibing with the tunes and decided to turn the volume up. And then the chorus hit. He looked at me with an embarrassed face that made me laugh but then, rather than turning it off or changing the channel, he just turned the volume back down to keep listening. A few years later he famously walked in while my bros and I were watching "Oldboy" - similar embarrassment but respect for the art ensued.
The Verve
3/5
This was fine - a consistent moderately psychedelic brit pop sound. I know a few Verve songs because I'm a child of the '90s but I'd never listened to one of their albums before. It was fun to read about their shenanigans recording, fighting with Oasis, crashing cars, doing Ecstasy etc etc.
Erykah Badu
5/5
I had never listened to this full album before, this was absolutely fantastic. I wasn't expecting the Betty Davis style Funk opener, "Penitentiary Philosophy" hit so hard! And then into the absolutely classic "Didn't Cha Know". And then it just stays perfect all the way through the epic closer, "Green Eyes". This was a great reminder that I need to listen to more Erykah Badu.
Björk
5/5
I became a Bjork fan in 2002, my brother gave me a burned copy of her Greatest Hits and Vespertine after we watched her perform something on TV and agreed it was cool as fuck. I became obsessed and bought each of her previous albums and listened to them constantly. I was in middle school. When it broke that she was coming out with a new album, I had a mental calendar on which I was crossing off the days. I remember buying this CD at a local music store and eagerly opening the package to look at the booklet and art while my mom drove me home.
This is not an album for a young teen to identify with, but I was determined to enjoy it. For years I loved the more straightforward (lol) pop structured tracks. “Who Is It?”, “Triumph of a Heart”, “Mouth’s Cradle”, and “Oceania” were favorites, and I would mostly skip through the rest.
I got older, she released newer material that wasn’t acapella, and I kind of forgot about this album entirely.
In 2022, Bjork released a series of podcasts that dove deep into inspiration and production of each album called “Sonic Symbolism”. I listened along and re-explored each album after hearing her description and discovered that now, ages later, Medulla has become one of my favorite Bjork albums.
A few main points to get out of the way – yes, it is insane that this is an almost entirely acapella album, and this certainly contains some of her most abstract compositions to date, but I think the strength and cohesiveness of the production, arrangement, and themes are perhaps second only to Vespertine. This is her pinnacle as far as committing to the bit; recruiting unique and exemplary voices from around the world, including Rahzel, Mike Patton, and famously just missing getting Beyonce involved.
This is an album about traditions and motherhood, the empowerment it can bring as well as the hysterical lengths women go to emotionally, physically, and spiritually, to provide all.
Her reflections on this are tongue in cheek on tracks like “Pleasure Is All Mine” or “Where is the Line”, heartfelt on “Desired Constellation” or “Who Is It”, proud on tracks like “Oceania” and “Mouth’s Cradle”, and downright joyful on “Triumph of a Heart”. “Submarine” is a haunting duet with Robert Wyatt. “Sonnets/Unrealities XI” is a heartbreaking arrangement of an e.e. cummings poem.
This album also contains multiple songs in her native language, Icelandic, again linking to the themes of heritage. “Ancestors” is a bit of a notorious song in its unusual fusion of Inuit throat singing by Tonya Tagac. I think it is a valuable inclusion both as an on-theme spotlight on an indigenous artform traditionally performed by women but also, in the flow of the tracklist, I think it sets up the vocal ‘percussion’ that throat singing provides on the following track, “Mouths Cradle”.
This is a headphones album because if you listened to it out loud people would be like “What the fuck are you listening to?”, but also because the atmosphere it produces is uniquely engrossing and deserving of a close listen.
Dr. Dre
4/5
I absolutely love the sound of Dr. Dre's prime era g-funk production and this album is chocka block with fat fat beats that changed the sound of hip hop.
Snoop Dogg is recently disgraced for performing for motherfucking Donald Trump, but this album came out before his classic debut, "Doggystyle", was released and he has excellent features on almost every track.
This album is great and iconic, but for my listenability, I think this one suffers compared to Doggystyle in that the performances, the skits and songs, don't have the same consistent playful delivery that energizes the songs and overcomes some of the aggressive and outdated lyrical content.
John Lennon
3/5
I was expecting to roll my eyes a lot during this, and I did. The Phil Spector production is great and there are still a lot of good tunes, but also John Lennon just comes off as a massive wanker pretty frequently.
Talking Heads
5/5
I was excited to throw this record on the turntable on Sunday for a dance party, only to discover in shock that this is one of the few Talking Heads albums I don't have a physical copy of! A lot of my favorite tracks are on this one: The Good Life, Found a Job, The Big Country... if I keep going I'll just list all of the songs.
Billy Bragg
4/5
There is power in a union 💪
Justice
4/5
I haven't listened to this album in years! Good shit!
Gram Parsons
3/5
A plaintive twanging cry from one of America's founding alt-country fathers, released posthumously (kids, don't do heroin). This was a very pretty call back to times when country wasn't about trucks and beers and jeans, also shone a major spotlight on Emmylou Harris. A nice listen.
Charles Mingus
5/5
A frantic and furious jazz ballet, this paired perfectly with my attempt to digest a day's worth of institutionalized violence, oppression, and injustice.
Robbie Williams
3/5
Harry Style v 1.0 - british boy band bad boy goes solo and pumps out popped up brit pop knock offs - I do want to see the monkey man movie
2Pac
3/5
I have tried many times to get into 2pac. I like a lot of hip hop, but for some reason, I just don't really like 2Pac. Listening to this a few times, I think what it comes down to is that in both old school and gangster rap, I prefer the more dynamic and musical flows of rappers like Biggie, and in lyrical conscious rap I prefer the deeper and more consistent messaging of artists like Common. I listened to this album and many of the most popular tracks repeatedly over the weekend and still don't have any particular lines stuck in my head, no hooks in the bars grabbed me and made me pay attention like many songs from other rappers can. To my ears, on this album, 2pac delivers a more predictable and repetitive old school flow combined with content that I know was honest to him in the '90s but now comes across as surface level posturing toward cultural commentary. He also doesn't benefit on this album from any standout beats.
Stevie Wonder
5/5
My kid's reaction to hearing "Superstition" for the first time - amazing.
Elvis Presley
3/5
This album reminded me that when I was growing up, my family had a door mat with a picture of blue suede shoes on it.
Anyway, this debut is a hoot. Elvis has never sounded like more of a caricature of himself on some of these songs and I love that for him. Little Richard rocks circles around most of these though (I literally skipped this version of Tutti Frutti, it has absolutely zero ass).
3/5
Never listened to this album before outside of the title track. It was fun to read about the label/media frenzy over the notorious KICK OUT THE JAMS, MOTHERFUCKER. This was about what I was expecting, lots of high energy rockers. I was surprised by the weirdo last track, "Starship".
Sade
3/5
This is one of those times where, like, I know Sade and can sing the chorus of "Smooth Operator" but I literally have never actually listened to that song intentionally or even in full. Way to permeate the culture Sade! This was some eaaaaaasy listening.
Muddy Waters
4/5
Today, I learned that Muddy Waters' real name was McKinley Morganfield. Anyway, he's a legend and this was a dope live blues recording. I think blues is a genre that benefits greatly from the live experience and the charisma of the band leader, Muddy's giving it here.
Wilco
4/5
Definitely watched the documentary about the making of this album with my brothers back in the day, buy I haven't listened to the full thing in years (Heavy Metal Drummer shows up on a lot of my playlists).
Anyway, sure in 2025 this is catnip for millenial dads recovering from craft beer dependency, but it's still a very nice album that I was happy to revisit today.
Leonard Cohen
4/5
Something about Leonard Cohen just hypnotizes me. His deliberateness about every line always hooks me and pulls me in, and the sparse accompaniment seals the deal.
Pentangle
3/5
Saw the name Pentangle and I was expecting some satanic metal, instead I was surprised by a English folk jazz group with a renn-faire twist. Fun fact- they provided the theme song and music for the first BBC TV show in color?
Brian Eno
4/5
Turning into more of an Old Sourpuss fangirl by the minute.
Weirdo funk, melancholy synth noodling, ambient excellence. I wasn't sure how I felt about this one on the first listen, and then the second round had me hooked. I expect future listens will only bring more appreciation.
Mudhoney
3/5
There were some good tunes in here, I liked "Poking Around". I recognized the name Mudhoney and I'm sure I've heard some of their songs before, but this album was all new to me.
Pixies
5/5
GOT ME A MOVIE
AH HA HA HAAAAA
SLICIN' UP EYEBALLS
AH HA HA HAAAAA
Calexico
4/5
I know some Calexico tunes, and their collaboration with Iron & Wine, but I have never listened to a full album by them before. I had the Giant Sand album a couple of months ago, I didn't realize that the guys from Calexico started out in that group - it makes sense listening. I really enjoyed this album.
Emerson, Lake & Palmer
3/5
I mean, that has got to be one of the goofiest, most awesome album covers of all time. And the fact that the 20 minute prog epic first side/title track is an allegorical anti war jam about the birth, adventures, and transformation of the human-engineered armadillo tank named Tarkus (Tarkus is dead, long live Aquatarkus!?) is driving me absolutely wild. But, while influential and entertaining in its OTT prog-noodliness, this album low-key sucks to actually listen to. There are some excellent keys and rhythm moments; unfortunately, they are too often interrupted or overshadowed by copious amounts of cringe.
Pink Floyd
5/5
In our tween years, a bunch of friends and I gathered in a friend's basement to check out the infamous Dark Side/Wizard of Oz mash up. We excitedly told our parents the plan and settled on an array of beanbags to gaze in wonder, nary a mild altering substance to be found in our innocent viewing. I can officially confirm, having attentively watched as a sober and clear young mind, there are a few moments that have cool coincidental synchronization but these two masterpieces are meant to be enjoyed separately.
Years later, with a bit of the ol' green stuff, I got to see the Flaming Lips cover some of these songs and enjoyed the whole experience much more.
Ice Cube
4/5
I only knew the singles from this album, so I wasn't expecting it to be really a cohesive examination of racial tension in America tied together with soundbites from 30 year old news broadcasts and interviews (and Predator movies). The blatant racism and ignorance and the increasingly frustrated response remains a familiar theme.
3/5
Just a major major orchestra hijinks era Beatles pastiche, not ugly to listen to but executed with a little less finesse that makes me want to tune in for more.
Marvin Gaye
5/5
What an amazing album. Obviously, "What's Going On", "Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)", and "Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler)" are the major standouts and three all time Motown songs, but the songs between do so much to tell the story and build to the peaks that those songs bring. Beautiful, devastating, and as poignant as ever.
Who really cares? Who's willing to try?
Dion
3/5
Streaming services will combine this with the additional Dion album "Streetheart", but the actual tracklist for "Born To Be With You" is only 8 tracks, ending with "Good Lovin' Man" - this is an artifact from a CD reissue that combined both albums.
Anyway, this was fine.
Johnny Cash
5/5
That cover of "Hurt" was deserving of the constant play it got back in the day and is deserving of the praise it gets now. I was delighted to find out the rest of this covers album keeps up with it. These stripped down arrangements, his iconic voice that only got better with age, and the story of the songs selected make for an excellent listening experience.
There's maybe a morbid listening day in my future of this, "Blackstar" and "You Want It Darker" - beautiful works all that tackle mortality, legacy, and reflections on the troubled yet triumphant lives of legendary artists.
The Electric Prunes
3/5
Lou Reed
5/5
Boomer 'phobes will really say that trans people are a new phenomenon while living in a world where "Take a Walk on the Wild Side" was on the billboard hot 100 in 1972.
If you ever get a chance to go to the Andy Warhol museum, they have an incredible rotating display of their collection of films from the Factory that feature all of the folks from that song, Candy, Jackie, Holly, Lou Reed himself and more.
Anyway, the more I listen to Lou Reed the more I love him, and the more albums I listen to on this list the more I appreciate the expansive influence of David Bowie.
The Beta Band
3/5
I have been tricked twice by the name and branding of this band. I go in expecting some funky disco situation and am given Scottish chillwave. It's not bad, but I'm just shocked by the disconnect that's going on in my brain. Is there another Beta Band? Why do I always think these guys are going to serve me disco grooves?
Neil Young
4/5
Neil furiously and wearily adding to the chorus of "Hey kids, don't do heroin!"
Ride
3/5
This is all new to me, very sweet melodic shoe gaze with a few edgy moments, it washed over me like the wave on the album cover.
Meat Puppets
4/5
This is my first time listening to Meat Puppets not in the form of a Nirvana cover. This was great fun, raw and folkier than I expected, with several roots/punk instrumental interludes that give the varied tracklist a more intentional and meditative quality as the album progresses. Gave me moments of Wilco, of Big Thief, and of course many hardcore moments for the grunge boyz.
William Orbit
3/5
Chill '90s electronica - nothing to stand out but i was bopping my head while I worked on some paperwork
Röyksopp
3/5
I know some other Royksopp tunes and collaborations, but I've never listened to one of their full albums before. Good, chill, electronic tunes abound.
Baaba Maal
3/5
David Crosby
3/5
Lots of pretty moments that just washed over me - famous folkies doin' drugs and jamming, alright.
James Taylor
3/5
About as easy listening as it gets. I went to high school with a guy who looked exactly like James Taylor and that's the kind of sexy scandal this album needs.
The Lemonheads
4/5
Just solid 90's pop rock all around, good tunes for the morning!
The cover of "Mrs Robinson" was not on the original album tracklist, but that's how I ended my listen.
Shivkumar Sharma
4/5
Took note from other reviews here and listened to the original album recording on Youtube rather than the weird re-recording that is available on Spotify. I dipped my toes into the Spotify version and it was notably different and worse. The original was very good, a suite of pastoral and contemplative ragas - the addition of the flute was a bit much for me at times but I reliably love a tabla beat drop.
Marvin Gaye
4/5
Sexy and sad, funky and soulful, the Marvin Gaye divorce album that I didn't even know existed until now.
Terence Trent D'Arby
3/5
I thought I had never heard of this guy- but I actually knew a few of these songs (Wishing Well being the big one). 80s synth soul, not earth shattering but not horrible either
2/5
Chill brazillian inflected electronic beats - some good grooves but also some clunkers that distracted from the mood of the overall album flow for me.
Gang Of Four
5/5
This is my first time listening to this full album, even though I love every Gang of Four song I've ever heard and am generally a sucker for any bass-driven punk situation. Then you swirl in some anti-capitalist theory and, well, I'm on board.
Here's what wikipedia says to summarize Situationist theory, which is a central theme of this album:
"Essential to situationist theory was the concept of the spectacle, a unified critique of advanced capitalism of which a primary concern was the progressively increasing tendency towards the expression and mediation of social relations through images.[2] The situationists believed that the shift from individual expression through directly lived experiences, or the first-hand fulfillment of authentic desires, to individual expression by proxy through the exchange or consumption of commodities, or passive second-hand alienation, inflicted significant and far-reaching damage to the quality of human life for both individuals and society."
The 2025 version of this album would be called "Content!"
THIS HEAVEN GIVES ME ME-GRAINE
The Magnetic Fields
5/5
I've listened to every song on this album, but never in one focused sitting. I'm always charmed by a self-imposed artistic challenge and the story of Stephin Merritt listening to Sondheim covers at a gay bar in New York and being inspired to write a massive collection of songs exploring the theatrical and pop music traditions that comprise "love songs" is iconic.
Tongue in cheek yet tender, the album is a thesis statement on different kinds of love and the concept of and motifs used in love songs from a broad spectrum of musical genres and tropes.
To sum up:
"The book of love has music in it.
In fact, that's where music comes from.
Some of it is just transcendental.
Some of it is jut really dumb."
Marvin Gaye
5/5
Tragic hottie Marvin Gaye - this is the third album I've listened to from him this month and the more I get into him the more I want to dive deeper into his legacy and lore.
Yes this album invented the sound of sex on wax, but the inspiration was Marvin navigating his own sexuality that had been corrupted and stigmatized by his abusive father. That relationship famously ended as poorly as a father-son relationship can end.
It's a shame that "Let's Get It On" basically became a meme song, like it plays during Super Bowl commercials for Hot Pockets, because it's a great fucking song but it's almost embarrassing to listen to out loud at this point.
The rest of the album is also excellent. I think I slightly prefer "What's Goin' On" but I wouldn't kick this out of bed.
John Lennon
4/5
I was kind of expecting not to like this, even though I know and like the opening track, "Mother". There are definitely some moments of eye rolling but I'll be generous and chalk those up to this guy inventing a lot of the things that are now cliche.
Marianne Faithfull
4/5
I know the name and some lore of Marianne Faithful, but I've never listened to one of her albums. I was expecting something folkier, but this was raw as fuck. She lived hard and came back to tell the tale on this one.
I had John Lennon's original version of "Working Class Hero" yesterday and it really set me up to enjoy her anguished cover. "Why'd Ya Do It" contains the immortal line: "Every time I see your dick, I see her cunt in my bed" - that and other gems had it banned from release in many countries on release.
Ali Farka Touré
4/5
Coffee on the deck tunes - can't wait to water my tomatoes to this all summer. Pure vibes.
Pet Shop Boys
3/5
This was a pretty little synth pop gem. I prefer the other Pet Shop Boys album that I have listened to so far, it was a little sassier and groovier than this one.
Rocket From The Crypt
3/5
Cee Lo Green
3/5
I was very obsessed with Cee-Lo's first album, "Perfect Imperfections" when it came out and thought that was what I was getting today. I haven't listened to Cee-Lo in years and was excited for a trip down memory lane. This is not that album, it's the follow up album.
This one is more straightforward hiphop-r&B featuring Cee-Lo's unique voice. It's more consistent in sound but, as a result, less interesting to my ears. I listened to both today and I still prefer the earlier album, "Perfect Imperfections". That debut is full of weird freaky funky hip hop similar to albums by Outkast.
The Undertones
4/5
I've listened to a few Undertones songs before, but never a full album. This was exactly what I expected, a tight collection of fun pop-punk jams.
Public Image Ltd.
3/5
There were a lot of things I liked here and a lot of things I didn't. I could see the influence that came from this, but I just didn't love listening to the whole album.
PJ Harvey
5/5
I haven't listened to this album since the year it came out, it didn't stick with me back in 2011 but I was absolutely gripped this morning in 2025.
Maybe I'm just older, maybe I've been hankering for a meditation on war, colonialism, and nationalism, but I was excited to listen to this today and was blown away.
(Sidebar, I always read reviews and honestly, people writing that this album is some sort of pro-England propaganda piece must also think Born In The U.S.A. is a rabid patriotic anthem.)
The Saints
4/5
fun australian punk with some horn pops for flair, nice
Frank Sinatra
4/5
Roxy Music
4/5
Glam jams - but make them a little paranoid and creepy. Brian Ferry's voice is so over the top, but it somehow is working for me.
Elton John
4/5
The one-two punch of Tiny Dancer into Levon - Sir Elton was cooking with gas there! The rest of the album uses a lot of the same grand flourish, so it goes down easy but whew when some of the lyrics caught my ears I rolled my eyes hard (Indian Sunset).
Dennis Wilson
4/5
Hell yeah, Dennis Wilson. These are just good jams.
Genesis
3/5
Some excellent moments, some awkward moments, I think if I spent a lot of time with this I'd probably grow to like it more. Similar to a lot of other classic prog groups there is just so much going on sometimes and they really dig into some goofy themes that kept me from easily sinking into the tunes.
My Bloody Valentine
3/5
Fine, but then when it stopped playing Loveless automatically started and it was so much more immediately compelling to listen to.
Ray Price
3/5
Easy breezy classic country crooners - this was swell.
Joe Ely
3/5
This was fun!
The Replacements
4/5
Rod Stewart
3/5
Isaac Hayes
4/5
Has there ever been a better album title?
Has anyone ever vocalized an "mmmmhmmmm" better?
Creedence Clearwater Revival
4/5
"Proud Mary" is one of the GOAT modern American standards - the 12 minute Ike and Tina live at Carnegie Hall version that spans two sides of an album is one of my favorite incarnations.
Creedence is just a very consistent band, all the songs sound similar but they are all good and have that little something that somehow sets them apart from other classic rock/roots groups.
The Chemical Brothers
4/5
The xx
3/5
Nothing this group did ever captured the heat that their first album stirred up for me. The ingredients seem to mostly be the same, but it just doesn't have the zhuzh that the debut had. Not bad but if I'm going to listen to xx I'm going to listen to self-titled.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
4/5
This could probably turn into a 5 for me after a few more listens.
Moby
5/5
Brian Eno
4/5
First time listening to this, despite being fond of a lot of things ol Sourpuss dipped his fingers in - I almost turned it off to listen to something else during the first song but then it got hooks into me and I listened to it while I tackled a little diy project. I need to return with headphones and focus.
Paul McCartney
4/5
This was extremely cozy and charming to listen to, with the occasional wow moment
The Zutons
3/5
Christine and the Queens
4/5
Femi Kuti
4/5
Billie Holiday
4/5
Smooth like satin - easy listening but every now and then a line jumped out and punched me in the fucking guts.
CHIC
4/5
Afrika Bambaataa
3/5
Rufus Wainwright
4/5
Nirvana
4/5
Laura Nyro
4/5
I know the cover versions of a lot of these songs and I love Kate Bush too much to not vibe with this.
The Band
4/5
Electric Light Orchestra
4/5
Madness
3/5
Jerry Lee Lewis
3/5
Can't knock the energy, he's slapping the shit out of that pianer like (redacted) but on almost every song I thought, "Man, I wish I was listening to Little Richard right now"
I'm not taking points off for being a piece of shit, even though he was an exceptionally shitty one, music history is basically a wall smeared with shit tbh.
The Dandy Warhols
3/5
The Psychedelic Furs
3/5
Leonard Cohen
4/5
Jean-Michel Jarre
4/5
I've been listening to Mort Garson's Plantasia and watching the show Carême a lot lately - this is the perfect blend of those two and I will not elaborate further.
Dexys Midnight Runners
4/5
Arcade Fire
3/5
I remember being so excited for this album to come out and then trying really hard to like it before it got relegated to the untouched realms of my cd booklet.
Taylor Swift
3/5
I love a murder ballad, so No Body No Crime gets a 👍 outta me
The Residents
4/5
The Residents are the missing link between The Beatles and The Butthole Surfers.
Sebadoh
3/5
Deee-Lite
5/5
The Rolling Stones
3/5
Green Day
4/5
My preferred 2004 pop punk protest album is Shake the Sheets by Ted Leo and the Pharmacists, but honestly 2 decades later I'm just glad an album like this was so insanely popular. Where is this energy at right now?!?!
Suede
3/5
The Thrills
3/5
Morrissey
3/5
There are no guilty pleasures... except for Morrissey.
I had this CD when I was in highschool, a few songs fall a bit flat these days but there are still some solid tunes in here.
Joy Division
4/5
Tried to listen to this one my way home from work on a sunny day in June - let me tell you that is not the way. This shit absolutely slaps at 4am in the dark dark world.
The Undertones
4/5
Paul Revere & The Raiders
3/5
Chicago
3/5
LL Cool J
3/5
Arrested Development
4/5
LCD Soundsystem
5/5
I WOULDN'T TRADE ONE STUPID DECISION FOR ANOTHER FIVE YEARS OF LIFE!
The Notorious B.I.G.
5/5
For some reason the link on the generator goes to a version of this album with a different track listing which completely omits GIMME THE LOOT.
Luckily, I knew something was horribly wrong right away and was able to sleuth out the correct version.
Yes, the skits are unfortunate but I just love Biggie.
Led Zeppelin
4/5
I had a goofy fun time making breakfast to this. I knew most of the songs and certainly rolled my eyes at some parts but there's just something about that ~NYEEEEeeeeeer~ guitar part in Whole Lotta Love that is too iconic to ignore.
Fred Neil
3/5
Folk pioneer turned protector of dolphins - I'd never heard of Fred Neil before. This was nice, he had a great voice.
Hot Chip
4/5
The Icarus Line
3/5
I'd never heard of these guys before - noice
Megadeth
4/5
I've never listened to Megadeth before. I have nothing but respect for this album - it absolutely shreds.
Venom
3/5
Kraftwerk
5/5
White Denim
4/5
The B-52's
5/5
Now, doesn't that make you feel a lot better!?
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
3/5
I didn't like this one as much as Murder Ballads or Abattoir Blues - still aiight but not as capturing for me.
Sonic Youth
4/5
Stereo MC's
3/5
If you make sure you're connected
Writing's on the wall
But if your mind's neglected
Stumble you might fall
STUMBLE YOU MIGHT FALL!
Throbbing Gristle
3/5
I was expecting this to be so abrasive but really it is just different. There are visceral tracks like "Hamburger Lady" (read the letter it is based on and flash on the carpet) followed by synth pop grooves like "AB/7A" - interwoven with spoken word, early industrial and haunting ambient sound experiments. I get why people don't rate this highly, but I enjoyed learning about this group and am curious to listen to this again.
Jimi Hendrix
4/5
Goddamn, so many legendary bangers. Ending on Watchtower and Voodoo Child (Slight Return) is such an explosion. I knew a lot of these songs but not all of them, there were some fun surprises but also a couple of imo duds that took me out of the flow.
Buena Vista Social Club
3/5
Holger Czukay
4/5
Sonic Youth
4/5
Joanna Newsom
5/5
"We could stand for a century,
staring,
with our heads cocked in the broad daylight,
at this thing, joy,
landlocked in bodies that don't keep,
dumbstruck with the sweetness of being."
(I asked for this cd for Christmas the year it came out. I was wearing a Joanna Newsom shirt at the hospital the day my child was born. This album contains so much meaning and it means a lot to me. I know every word and just belted out "Only Skin" in the car like I was in a stadium.)
Suicide
4/5
The Prodigy
4/5
Le Tigre
5/5
I haven't listened to this album in years - and its definitely going back in rotation! So raw, so funny, so dancey, so good!
Creedence Clearwater Revival
4/5
Les Rythmes Digitales
3/5
Scissor Sisters
4/5
Happy Pride Month!
I had this CD when it came out and I still had to come out!
Take Your Mama is timeless.
3/5
Aimee Mann
3/5
The Pogues
4/5
Red Hot Chili Peppers
3/5
I had fun focusing on the instrumentals for the first few tracks and admiring the funkadelic influence but then this really beat me down with the Anthony Kiedis of it all.
Gary Numan
3/5
M.I.A.
3/5
Bob Marley & The Wailers
4/5
Grew up listening to this - I saw the 2000s touring version of The Wailers twice - good stuff.
Grateful Dead
2/5
The Soft Boys
4/5
Fiona Apple
5/5
Kanye West
4/5
Brian Wilson
4/5
Tom Tom Club
4/5
Talking Heads
5/5
GOT SOME GROCERIES
SOME PEANUT BUTTAH!
5/5
Bob Dylan
4/5
Malcolm McLaren
3/5
LCD Soundsystem
4/5
Kate Bush
5/5
I have not one but two shirts with this album cover on it.
Depeche Mode
5/5
The Black Keys
3/5
Beck
3/5
I had this CD when it came out. It was fun to revisit today but it doesn't stack up to my favorite Beck albums.
The Human League
5/5
I only knew two of their songs going into it, but this album passed the ultimate test with flying colors: I did dishes and cleaned the kitchen and made dinner while jamming to this bad boy, and then I started it over again!
Jimi Hendrix
5/5
The Fall
4/5
The Who
3/5
Orbital
3/5
Kings of Leon
3/5
Screaming Trees
3/5
The Jam
4/5
Prince
5/5
Big Star
3/5
3/5
Goldie
3/5
Manic Street Preachers
4/5
Sisters Of Mercy
4/5
Shuggie Otis
4/5
Kacey Musgraves
3/5
The Damned
3/5
The Byrds
3/5
Waylon Jennings
3/5
Tom Waits
5/5
Ah, the sounds of my childhood ❤️
Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five
5/5
Dwight Yoakam
3/5
Steve Earle
3/5
Miriam Makeba
3/5
Black Flag
4/5
TV PARTY TONITE!
Arcade Fire
4/5
One of the key albums of my adolescence
The Hives
3/5
I had "tyranosaurus hives" on cd back in the day - this was a fun throwback but I'm not sure why this compilation is included rather than one of their actual albums. This got me through a very busy morning with some much needed pep.
Miles Davis
5/5
U2
4/5
Derek & The Dominos
3/5
Nirvana
4/5
The Rolling Stones
4/5
Lana Del Rey
3/5
Mercury Rev
3/5
Soft Cell
4/5
Frustration is such a perfect opening track and Tainted Love is one of the best covers of all time. The rest of this has highs and lows, but unfortunstely the theme is more consistent than the sound.
k.d. lang
4/5
The Blue Nile
3/5
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
3/5
Traffic
3/5
New Order
4/5
The La's
4/5
Good Autumn vibes, the big hit was actually probably my least favorite moment here, although it's still a pop gem.
I recently rewatched "So I Married an Axe Murderer" and 'There She Goes' plays, no joke, at least 5 times during that movie. Top notch '90s content there!
Adam & The Ants
4/5
Teenage Fanclub
4/5
George Michael
3/5
Fairport Convention
3/5
Franz Ferdinand
4/5
The Associates
3/5
Club Country and Love Hangover were bops, the rest of the album was a bit more hit or miss.
New Order
4/5
The Specials
5/5
Bonnie "Prince" Billy
4/5
Nanci Griffith
4/5
Bob Marley & The Wailers
4/5
The Kinks
4/5
The Black Crowes
3/5
Echo And The Bunnymen
3/5
Curtis Mayfield
4/5
Air
3/5
Yes
3/5
Frank Sinatra
3/5
Janet Jackson
5/5
3/5
Sheryl Crow
3/5
Aretha Franklin
5/5
Mike Ladd
4/5
If you asked me yesterday which afrofuristic alt-hip hop album from 2000 I want to listen to, I'd tell you Deltron 3030.
I wasn't expecting to dig this album, but there are some really exceptional grooves in here and some hard hitting lines. It seemed a little inconsistent, but maybe I need to give it some more attention.
Baaba Maal
3/5
John Martyn
3/5
Some cool bits, some cheese bits, it does sound ahead of its time for a record from 1977 - I know a lot of jam bros who would probably really love this.
Richard Thompson
5/5
Whoa!
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
3/5
Mariah Carey
4/5
Mariah is the blueprint for all divas, I prefer some of her other releases on pure listenability but this is getting the "Fuck Tommy Mottola" bump.
I don't think so, honey, overhead lights.
Prince
5/5
TV On The Radio
3/5
I was very fond of TV on the Radio at the time, but these days they feel like a song band more than an album band for me. It was good to revisit some old faves - (Lover's Day 😘)
Pretenders
4/5
4/5