Purple Rain
PrinceAn all-time great pop album.
An all-time great pop album.
I liked Beck’s earlier albums a lot. I bought this when it was released and was disappointed by its straightforwardness and slowness so didn’t listen to it much as an album. I like a few of the songs when they come up in a shuffle but most are still skips. Listening to it as an album again now - it’s still a chore.
One of their best. Love the drum sound (esp. on Closedown) and the swirling guitars (esp. on Fascination Street). Love Song, Lullaby, Pictures of You are all great. Last Dance, Homesick, and Untitled could be lobbed off to tighten it up. When CDs first came out - the max length was 72 minutes. This album is 72 minutes…so they basically added two scraps as bonus tracks and made the album worse.
I was only familiar with one song from this album. Fine album but no real standouts. Pretty mid throughout. Seems like an odd choice from his discography to include in this list.
I like the first half/side a lot. The instrumental tracks break the flow of the album. They aren’t bad and I might not skip them but I’d never seek them out and I’ve already forgotten them except there was a pretty cool part a little over a minute into Neukoln.
Solid album from start to finish. Really good versions of really good songs. Even if the rest of it stunk, the scream at the end of Where Did You Sleep Last Night would make this a 5-star album - one of the three best vocals ever…from anyone.
The first two songs sound like U2. I like the moodiness of Spies. I didn’t care for Yellow when it came out. It is old enough to be a fun bit of nostalgic now. I don’t really like Chris Martin’s voice. Album is mostly boring - not too dissimilar from Beck’s Sea Change, really.
Fun album. Hadn’t heard it before. Enjoyed it a lot. Will listen to it more. I really like old ‘live from a club’ albums like this where you can hear the audience and the singer riffs w the audience and band. This is right up there w Jerry Lee Lewis’ Live at the Star Club.
Great album. Some really rocking tunes. Hotel Yorba, We’re going to be Friends, and I think I Smell a Rat are tops. This was the start of a big garage rock movement and a ton of two pieces also followed. Probably the last straight up rock band to have that kind of impact.
First song is musically good (kind of Black Sabbathy) but lyrically creepy. Flute solo at the beginning of track 2 makes me physically uncomfortable. Next several songs are fine. Locomotive Breath is good but too much of a flute solo.
I don’t like this one as much as their first or their next but it’s solid. Some of the songs are better than I remember. Enjoyable as an album. Perfectly representative of Smashing Pumpkins.
Solid album. I enjoyed it. Good music for a tired morning.
A few great songs. Several classics. A little long. Love Masters of War.
I don’t know what to say about this one. Enjoyable. Of its time - or it helped define its time.
Good album. Not my favorite Smiths album - not as hooky as some of their others - but still good.
Was never a favorite. Some good songs. Like the reggae influence. Respect their contribution to early punk music.
They didn’t lie - this album does rock. Great riffs and great vocals. Love the screams in Back in the Saddle and Last Child. Nobody’s Fault is great. Home Tonight shouldn’t have been the closer - it should have ended with a more rocking track.
Now that we are repeating artists - ratings are more complicated. I like this one more than Heroes so have to rate it higher. If I like the next Bowie more than this - does it automatically get a ‘5’? Good songs here. Like the upbeat, jauntiness.
Great album. Good energy. Had it in my library but never really paid a lot of attention to it. So good I listened to it twice and then listened to the rest of their discography.
Wall to wall classics. It’s a good album. Good vocals. Good piano. Good hooks.
Good album. Like the first two tracks a lot. Still mostly holds up. Was probably super innovative for its time but some of the sounds are sounding dated now/borderline cheesy.
Another fun live album.
Could never get into this and this time was no different. It’s fine. Good stuff in each son - just too much. I feel like Barbie having the guitar played at me. Quite the jam but not my jam.
A really good album. I’ve listened to the songs on shuffle with other things several times but never as an album. Enjoyed it a lot as an album but would probably never listen to it all at once again.
It’s good. Some really good songs. Some could have been left off and it would’ve been a tighter album.
This has been a favorite since its release. Listened to this on my discman so many times on the bus to/from class and work before streaming came along. I can still anticipate the next song as one ends. The production and conciseness of the songs are an obvious attempt to get some mainstream success in the age of grunge but they still kept their sound. The sequencing is great to balance the louder and quieter songs. This has some of the best Kim Gordon songs (Shoot, Swimsuit Issue, Drunken Butterfly) - all influenced 90s riot grrrl. Youth Against Fascism is a great time capsule of the H.W. Bush era. The guitarists always get the praise but Steve Shelley should get just as much - the drum sound on Sonic Youth albums always rocks and this one is no different. His drums always sound like live drums - like a good bar band. For some reason - too few bands have that normal live drum sound.
It’s fine but seems unnecessary to have two albums by this band in the first month. One isn’t noticeably different than the other. In a list of 1,001 - seems hard to justify including two by this band at the expense of so many others that didn’t even get one on the list. Is this band curating the list?
Really good. I forgot how long some of these songs are. Whole album is like one long party. I like Prince a lot so was happy to see this pop uup. Little Red Corvette was current when I first really became aware of pop music being popular - like where things stood on nightly countdowns on the radio vs just what I was aware of and listening to and watching on MTV.
Good album (by two different bands). Pretty groundbreaking in the extreme metal world. World record holder for shortest song.
Pleasantly surprised. Had only heard a couple of these songs before. Sounds like a mix of Beatles songs and Elton John songs. They can def write a hook and a melody. Marley Purt Drive and Whisper Whisper are cool songs.
Great album. Like it all a lot. Some favorites on this one.
Meh. Too proggy.
Pretty chill and mellow for my tastes but generally fine. Decent background music but nothing to get excited about.
A lot of stereotypical 80s production. Most of the non-hit/non-cover songs sound like they could be used for the montage scene in an 80s comedy. But good hooks and vocals.
Good album. Never listened to them before. Enjoyed it.
First song is good. The rest is mostly boring.
The Kinks are always a good listen. This isn’t a favorite but there are some good tracks on this. It’s hard to be great when it’s a concept album.
Couldn’t listen to the whole thing. What I heard was fine but not good enough to have to seek out the rest on YouTube.
I like it more now than when it came out. I guess it finally wore me down.
Everybody Knows is tops. Take this Waltz, I’m Your Man, First We Take Manhattan, and Tower of Song are also great. And the other songs, well, they are all good, too.
Cool album. Had never heard any of it.
Great stuff throughout. Thoroughly enjoyable.