I’ve listened to this album 6 million times. I’ve synced it up with wizard of oz (it kind of works, kind of), smoked weed while listening, played it late at night with my friends, even listened to it with my mom. What else is there to say. It’s a classic album, and arguably it’s one of the reasons lists like these exist. In many ways Dark Side is the poster child for album as an art form; the cohesive concept, the musical variety, the album art, the posters, the mystique. So while I’m disappointed that classic rock radio and the oversaturation of Pink Floyd marketing has made many people rightly cynical about them and this album. If we’re making a list of the best albums though, really considering the album as an art form. Which to me means a cohesive work of music, separated into separate songs or movements, weaved together by mutual themes, instrumentation, and style. For these reasons, it’s undeniable, dark side of the moon IS one of the greatest albums of all time. And always will be. 5/5

Wow. In a way almost the exact opposite of In Utero. Great album. Especially since I’ve started dancing recently, it really is perfect for swinging lovers. As well Frankie’s versions of a some of these songs are still the definitive version in the American song book. I think there are better versions of some of the other standards than on this album, but frank Sinatra could making any song his own. Kind of interesting to think of Sinatra as being the progenitor of the album as art form. Another reason the album is so good is all the songs flow and work together. When all the dust settles both Frankie and Kurt will be considered some of the greatest of all time.

I’m not entirely sure why it’s on this list. Unlike the great stones albums of the seventies this (and lots of albums in the sixties) feels disjointed and more like a random mix of singles. The best song on the album, mothers little helper, was replaced by the other classic paint it black in the US. So you’re experience would be different depending on where you are! That being said, you begin to see stones coming into their own on this album. Under my Thumb with the jaunty marimba contrasting the dark lyrics is still classic stones. There were some other fun songs on the album too, like “what to do” and “out of time” the latter though, at 5:45 got really repetitive, and while I appreciate the stones earnest love for classic blues music, I’m still not big fan of how they interpret it all the time. That being said I’m sure hearing micks distinct voice over Keith’s bluesy guitar probably sounded completely different and fresh at the time, but when you consider the amazing music that would come later, much of this music is as mid as sixties it was made in.

Unlike aftermath, I loved that this album had a consistent theme. I had to listen to it a few times to get a better idea of it. On Spotify volumes one and two are combined. I think this is a bad decision. After listening to them separately I understand why “vol 1” is on the list. I love hearing Rays interpretation of these old country songs. No one else could give these songs the big band treatment and make it work. I think my favourite songs are the sad ones (this makes sense, those are my favourite country songs too). Worried mind was a big highlight. Big band songs like “just a little loving, will go a long way” sound great too. Great sax solo. The reason I give it four stars is why I would give “vol 2” 2 stars. I think the term is overproduction, sometimes the band, the chorus, AND the strings, can overwhelm the song itself. (Caveat, live, I bet it’s amazing, but at home you only have two speakers).

So up until now the only other beastie boys album I went deep on is their debut license to Ill (my sister bought it for me to make sure I became cool). This album is completely different, and I loved it, I listened to it 4x yesterday! This album proves that the concept of genre is nonsense and the lines between them are blurry at best. They do this by creating multiple songs that sound distinct stylistically but each one flows into the next like a river. Great album. Sabotage is still amazing 30 years later and bonus points for a awesome album cover. This one is going on my mountain.

I was super prepared to do a cynical take on this album: It’s self indulgent crap, overly produced, the stories lame etc. But this the first album we’ve listened to that I know very well. I remember talking about it with all my friends just like now! Trying to interpret every line and how “goodbye blue sky” was an underrated song. So instead of reviewing it like I am now: Someone scarred by years of classic rock radio ruining my favorite songs, and slowly becoming a mouthpiece for conservative radio ads. I’m instead going to review it as the 15 year old who first heard it from a burned CD Mike Mignella gave him. This album is wild! Dave is seriously one of the greatest guitarists of all time, all of his solos kick ass. Comfortably numb is great, but my favorite is definitely Hey You. It’s also so spooky. Goodbye cruel world when they say the “did you ever run for shelter….” Gives me chills. You realize there’s so much more to it than just “Another brick in the wall Pt. 2”. There’s also 1 & 3! But they’re kind of same song. Mother is good too, it’s surprisingly chill and I love when roger waters sings “for meeee” but the scene from the movie kind of freaked me out. Great guitar solo too though. Young lust is another great track, again David is one of the greats, awesome tone. The rest of album look fizzles out after comfortably numb. But I do love it when choir says “toys in attic he is craaaaazy”. As far as rock operas go, this one is definitely the best, definitely better than Tommy. Five stars, the album art is great too! I love all the creepy cartoons, maybe I could do that one day…

Know this one super well too. Solid album. Good rainy day, sad boy album. I’d give it 5 stars but Sad Lisa makes me take it down a notch.

“Sober white guy yells at cloud” 3/5

SZA made a new fan. She has such a great voice and her lyrics are funny, personal and sometimes dark/sarcastic. Loved the vibey beats in the background. Listened to it the whole day!

Really with I could add .5 to some of these ratings. But 4 stars for that AMAZING version of summertime. RIP Janis.

Led Zeppelin is so good they emerged from the trash fire of classic rock radio unscathed. It’s so good people listened to it backwards. Rock n roll baby. 5 stars.

Classic.

This is the first time I’ve actually listened to a REM top to bottom. If I’m being honest I was always turned off by their terrible album covers (maybe a bold statement, but I stand by it). I gotta say, I immediately heard “the influence” so many people claim they have. Wild to think music like this was being made while Def Leppard was still out there making sure hair metal stayed somewhat relevant. I also love that REM is a Georgia band, within those jangly Electric guitars you can hear the influence of the weird south. There’s even a dulcimer and reference to lightning hopkins! Two of these tracks are radio classics, but the album works as a whole. I especially loved disturbance at the heron house and exhuming McCarthy. As well the cool jazz break in fireplace was really cool. This is definitely an album I’ll return to, and maybe It will teach me to not judge an album by its Cover.

I’ll admit I only listened through once. But I’ll give it 4 stars because it was loud and awesome.

Let’s stay together is a classic song, one of the greats. For me personally though this album was another situation of think one song could carry a whole album.

I never understood why this album was so popular. I love Dylan, but some of the “radio” hits on this album like “I want you” and “just like a woman” don’t hit the same way they did when I was younger. I actually find some of the longer tracks (sad eyed lady/ stuck inside of mobile) to be great classic long form Dylan, but the rest of the album feels like long form rambling. Skip this one and go straight to John Wesley Harding.

I’ve listened to this album 6 million times. I’ve synced it up with wizard of oz (it kind of works, kind of), smoked weed while listening, played it late at night with my friends, even listened to it with my mom. What else is there to say. It’s a classic album, and arguably it’s one of the reasons lists like these exist. In many ways Dark Side is the poster child for album as an art form; the cohesive concept, the musical variety, the album art, the posters, the mystique. So while I’m disappointed that classic rock radio and the oversaturation of Pink Floyd marketing has made many people rightly cynical about them and this album. If we’re making a list of the best albums though, really considering the album as an art form. Which to me means a cohesive work of music, separated into separate songs or movements, weaved together by mutual themes, instrumentation, and style. For these reasons, it’s undeniable, dark side of the moon IS one of the greatest albums of all time. And always will be. 5/5

So with the exception of Paranoid this is the first album of black sabbath I’ve gone deep on. And even then, I haven’t listened to paranoid since high school. I really like the album on the whole. I thought all the guitar riffs were really great. The opening track and snowblind are stand outs, heavy riffs paired with Ozzys unique voice which then explode into the dark and melodic guitar solos/jams. My only beef with the album was all these Cool sounds got interrupted by sub par ballads/instrumentals! I wanted to keep rocking, and as a result I left the album wanting more. So in a way maybe it was a successful album, since I’m definitely going to put on some more Black Sabbath after this.

The albums songs manage to string together a story that really makes you feel like you’re in the old west. These days cowboy has become a trope that’s implies “sexy redneck”. But Cowboys in these songs are cardboard cutouts, they’re real people shaped by the harsh landscape they find themselves in. They’re fights, heartache, and revelations are revealed through the velveteen voice of Marty Robbins, an Arizona native, who lets the transient world of big irons and untamed horses come alive.

Sigh. Not my thing. Really hard to listen to, giving it three stars because I’m not sure if it was actually bad, just not music I would ever listen too and just didn’t understand. But shoutout to all the art students who make weird experimental music. I might not like it but it’s definitely original

Good but not the best Springsteen. I like a lot of the live versions of these songs from the album that was released after this