Definitive. This, to me, is what big beat should sound like, in sampling, production, tempo, tone, energy—everything. Even in length, as much as I don't think everything needed to be 5+ minutes. If there's anymore big beat albums on this list, I doubt I'll like them as much as I do this. I mean, you name me another album with "Fucking In Heaven"—y'can't.

Before my group had ever even gotten this album—hell, from the moment I found out this album was on this list at all, I'd already given it a 1. It was one of only two 1 I knew for a fact I was going to give, along with the Limp Bizkit album that's on here. And that's unfair, I get that. As I'm writing this, I haven't even heard the album yet. At most, I've heard the inclusion of the album's opener in Weird Al's "Angry White Boy Polka", Cledus T. Judd's parody of "Cowboy" "Plowboy", and the REGRETTING THE PAST video Rocked did on the album as a whole. And of course that last one especially would lead to me having a biased view-point going in. I'm fully aware of all this. But you gotta realize, even if I wasn't aware of the stuff I just mentioned, everything else Kid Rock's done recently would sure leave me feeling that way as well. This is the guy who would go on to release "AIN'T NOBODY GONNA TELL ME HOW TO LIVE" or whatever it's called and fully pander to the MAGA audience because those are the only people who sort of like him anymore. You give me an album by him, ANY album by him, and you expect me to go in with an unbiased mind? There's nothing listening to it could do to convince me otherwise; that I shouldn't just rate this album based on what I think of Kid Rock as a person and not what it actually contains. Because I know exactly what it is: it's shit-stupid country rap rock from a rich poser white boy selling a fantasy of being a suburban cowboy to other poser white boys. That's all this is, and the fact that it sold so much frankly kind of offends me. The hell was going on in the 90's that people just lapped this shit up? Hell, what is it even doing HERE, on THIS LIST? Normally I'm not one to ask why an album's here because I figure it has to be for SOMETHING, but in this case, I can't figure it out beyond MAYBE that it was important to rap rock? But was it really? Why is this something I HAVE to listen to before I die? Unless you wanna say it's because you can't appreciate the good without hearing what trash sounds like. I could possibly make an argument for Limp Bizkit, but not here. This IS a waste of a spot, completely. You can only imagine what else could have been included if not for this. Hell, I'm just left thinking about all of the albums my group could have gotten instead of this; from the proven timeless classics to shit I just love on a personal level. But no. We gotta waste our time with "FUCK ALL YOU HOES. DETROIT 'TIL I DIE, MOTHERFUCKER." And it's only because I wanna remain consistent in my intent to listen to every album here that I'm even bothering to taint my Spotify history with this sack of shit. So I hope you're happy, Mr. Rock. You've triggered me, at least. ---------------*****--------------- This part was written after I listened to the album, and... See, hours before I figured I may as well get it over with, I had this joke in mind. Imagine: all that preamble, 500 words worth, of me ranting on and on about Kid Rock and this album and the fact that it's on this list, all written before I even heard a second of the album. Then, when I get to the post-conceptions part of the review, I only have four words: "Well... That fucking sucked." You see the humor there, right? Oh, it would have been amusing—at least it would've been to me. Because right from the top, I didn't figure I had anything else to say about it. After everything I said beforehand, what else could listening to the album inspire me to say? Honestly, I WAS kind of considering just not listening to the album and posting that anyway. But I wanted to do my due diligence. I put YouTube in Incognito mode, started up the album, and... After a while, I got so bored of the album I just started watching Rocked's video on it and didn't even pause it. So it's entirely possible I missed some of the grosser lyrics, and, yeah, no doubt I didn't treat this album fairly. But the big singles and the occasional REALLY bad lyric aside, there's just nothing to it. Like every album that was released in the 90's, it's too damn long. There's so much stuff that could've been left out and no one would've missed it. Though unlike with other records I doubt cutting it down would help much. I mean, you'd still be left with Kid Rock's posing about being a "pimp cowboy," which only gets more infuriating every time he brings it up. All I can see is his stupid millionaire mansion. Seriously, Snow had more street cred than him—yeah, the guy who recorded "Informer". And at least Vanilla Ice was a goof so it was fun to laugh at his posing. I'm not even sure if Kid Rock's from Detroit! Lemme put time aside now to mention one thing I liked about this album, before I get into the worst thing. The instrumental for "Wasting Time"? I kinda liked it. Or at least how it sounded coming out of my iPhone's speaker. I thought it was some kinda monk chant that he'd recorded for the album, but I found out later on in the day that, yeah, it's actually a sample of "Second Hand News". I like the version I had in my head better. Speaking of the sampling, by the way, before my writing this I never 100% vibed with how Rocked talked about it on this album because I always got the feeling he thought sampling was cheap. Y'know, that sampling isn't an art form, as has been demonstrated on albums like PAUL'S BOUTIQUE and FEAR OF A BLACK PLANET. But that's just the thing—it's an art form, but the way Kid Rock uses samples is artless. I believe that's more Rocked's point; that every Kid Rock uses a sample, it's something where he could've recorded something original himself, but didn't because he's lazy and wanted to bank on recognizability. But let's get to the worst thing. Simply put, the last track on the album, "Black Chick, White Guy", is disgusting. Even if I understand that it's a true story he's rapping about here—supposedly, anyway—never in my life did I want to hear Kid Rock rap about ninth graders having sex. That's not ALL it's about; it goes from there to be about the consequences, but still. You're damn right I don't know the half of it—and I don't WANT to! So this ending up running on way longer than I thought: over 1,000 words. As I'm writing this, I have no idea if this website will even accept reviews that long; I might end up having to make a Pastebin for it. And of course it's an album as terrible as this that inspires so much writing from me. It's the frustration, and the fact that it's easier to dump about stuff you hate than stuff you love. I mean, I wish I had said nearly as much about MTV UNPLUGGED IN NEW YORK or GOODBYE YELLOW BRICK ROAD or SIGN "O" THE TIMES" or PACIFIC OCEAN BLUE or 21 instead of wasting my time on Kid Rock. Lemme, then, just summarize this whole thing the way I should have to begin with: this fucking sucks.

Part of me feels weird to like traditional country music as much as I do. Not country music as a whole; I've listened to too much Cledus T. Judd to say I don't like country. It's **traditional** country in particular I feel odd about. I grew up in the mid-/late-2000's. I became a teenager in the early 2010's. What is someone in **my** age range doing liking music this (to use this word as much as I can in the non-political sense) conservative? And if I was younger—goodness! Like, I'unno. This kind of sounds, these arrangements and instrumentations, the way they sing... It just does it for me. Like, this to me is **COUNTRY**, no extra qualifiers. I can totally see the appeal of just kicking back with a beer to this stuff. Even if the songs that aren't about heartbreak are about murder. It's not a sound I'd seek out all the time, but every once in a while, if I don't wanna put on Cledus or go the "I only listen to Johnny Cash" route... Sure. I can throw it on. Part of me wants to give this a 4 because of how much I ended up liking it despite my expectations (before we got it I was ironically hyping it up to my group), but... Eh. I like it, but I'm not in **love** with it. Definitie "It's fine" energy. Now if this had a goofy lookin' Satan on the cover like they'd have a few albums late, whoo! Five stars! A+! Six stars! Hot damn!

(NOTE: I did not stream this album. I listened to it via a CD I've owned for around a decade now. No money was given to Kanye West in the making of this review. Thank you.) Every now and then I think back to the review I wrote for THE COLLEGE DROPOUT and wince a little. Y'know, as much as I stand by a lot of what I said, there I hafta wonder, "Did I spend too much time calling out Kanye?" Like, "We get it. He's big divorced dad energy and loves Nazis. Do you **need** to keep saying you don't like him and 'Fuck him' and all that? You've talked about how much you don't like him as a person more than you have the damn music. You already gave an 'I don't condone him' disclaimer. What moral brownie points are you aiming for here, exactly?" On the one hand, I blame this on that album being my first Kanye review. I felt like I had to take the time to air out my opinions on the man. With how much he ends up talking about himself on these albums, it's not exactly an unimportant piece of context. Plus, it's better to get it all out in one burst at the start than to keep repeating myself over the course of the next two–even if I doubt most people outside of my group are gonna read my reviews, let alone in order. But on the other hand–and this is the bigger hand, I figure–I don't have much of an attachment to THE COLLEGE DROUPOUT. Preparing for that review was probably only the second time I've heard it in full over the course of a decade. Of course, then, it was really easy for me to get distracted from talking about the music to going on about something where I had more to say. Don't get me wrong, I recognize THE COLLEGE DROPOUT for its beatwork and "Jesus Walks" (even if Kanye's gone on to betray its message). But I just don't have that link that inspires me to write much about it. Unlike this album. MY BEAUTIFUL DARK TWISTED FANTASY is home to my favorite song Kanye ever made, "Runaway". I love the extended "single note" piano intro. I love the beat it turns into. I love singing along to it. I even love the "I sent this bitch a picture of my dick" line for how memorably bad it is. And every other song on the album has its great share of beats, moments and memorable lines, too. "CAN WE GET MUCH HIGHER?" "Choke a SOUTH PARK writer with a fish stick." The whole ending to "POWER". Elton John's piano playing. "MJ GONE–A [n] DEAD." Nicki's verse on "Monster". "That'll be the same day MTV plays videos. That was a little joke–voila." That guitar line before Rick Ross's verse on "Devil In A New Dress". The "Iron Man" interpolation on "Hell Of A Life". "Avril 14th". The intro to "Lost In The World". None of them, though, compare to the second half of "Runaway". The entire vocal solo. That feeling when you want to express yourself, explain yourself ("I'mma be honest")... But you can't. And it can only come out as a long, pained, anguished wail that says more than any words ever could. It's beautiful, honestly. I get close to tearing up over it. And it's damn depressing with the context of 2024. I mean, let's be clear: it needs to be acknowledged that bad people can make good art. Just because Kanye turned out to be a piece of shit doesn't mean his old music is suddenly bad. Hell, he was a piece of shit back when he made this album. Remember the whole "I'MMA LET YOU FINISH" incident? This album was made following that controversy. And he's no stranger to controversy, of course–"GEORGE BUSH DOESN'T CARE ABOUT BLACK PEOPLE," after all. But when even the president was vocally calling him a jackass... You can view the vocal solo on "Runaway" as a reaction to all that. That he wanted to say so much in response, but ultimately couldn't. That he'd never be understood anyway. And in that light, this whole album is such an underdog triumph. That he was the world's public scumbag #1 and still came out with a critically acclaimed, world conquering smash. That success just feels non-existent these days knowing there'd be controversy following this album, and much worse controversy than stealing a microphone from Taylor Swift. MY BEAUTIFUL DARK TWISTED FANTASY is a masterpiece. Kanye's absolute peak before he slid off, in my opinion. True, it's entirely self-indulgent in how damn long it is (see: Rick Ross's verse on "Devil In A New Dress", the "Blame Game" skit, etc.), and just because a lyric is memorably bad doesn't stop it from being... Y'know, bad. It's just all trumped by the fact that it's my Kanye album. The first one of his I've discovered. Where, more than once, I'd imagined one of my own characters screaming out the vocal solo in "Runaway". That aria of sadness and anger at how painfully aware they are that they're a huge fuckin' asshole. And Kanye is an asshole. A jackass, even. He was one back then, and he's an even bigger one now. But I'll always have this. Even if I don't listen to this album anymore because of how inseparable Kanye is from his music, he'll never truly take "Runaway" away from me.

Y'know, when it comes to Billy Corrgan and the Smashing Pumpkins, I'll for sure have more to say about them once my group gets to hit up MELLON COLLIE AND THE INFINITE SADNESS. **That's** the one I have some sort of attatchment to. Versus this album, which, until today, I'd only known for "Cherub Rock" and, especially, "Today". As a result, in comparison, I don't really feel like I have as much to say about this album—except for that I'd really hafta agree that it's one of the best and most unique alternate rock and grunge albums of the 90's. Goodness me, can Corrgan write a tune—and can this band **play them**. (Plus, I don't mind Corrgan's voice, so that's a hurdle I have no problem getting over.) It's an **easy** 5 from me. It's an easier 5 than MELLON COLLIE might get at least, that's for sure.

Damn, I always the guitar on Funkadelic albums was great because of how much I've heard "Maggot Brain" praised, but actually hearing a whole album's worth of it is... Woo boy!

Y'know, I don't dislike this album, or even Springsteen (I think I like BORN TO RUN more, actually), but, gawd, he really does sound like he's singing in some kind of made-up gibberish language sometimes.

aw man i love gorillaz :) and british people too ig

I can't listen to "Your Move" without singing "Semi-Charmed Life" over the end part.

I mean, complete bias about this being my favorite Elton John album must be the only reason why I give a pass to "Jamica Jerk-Off".

I thought side one was pretty good, but when it comes to me being as interested in side two... Well, let's just say that it's tricky. Well, not as much as rocking a rhyme that's right on time, true, but still.

Well, I hope I'm more into any of the other six Neil Young albums that're on this list.

I vibe with it. Eight or so albums in, this one is so far the most "I'd never listened to this one before, but I'll be sure to do so again after today" one I've come across yet.

I enjoyed what I heard during my first listen, but, honestly, I don't really see myself coming back to this beyond one or two tracks. Still, though: motherfucking pizza.

"OK Computer?" More like... "Pretty Darn Good Computer."

I love me a good rush of side one.

I kind of consider this a "chill n' vibe to" album in my head, and under that light... I mean, I have other albums I'd go to before this, but, y'know, still. Ich denke, dieses Album ist gut. Ich nehme an.

I'll just say: if it weren't for those 30 seconds on "The Kids", this 3 would be more of a "leaning towards a 4" than the "straight 3" it is. I get those 30 seconds, I get why they're there, and I can appreciate what Reed was doing there, but they were seriously one of the most unpleasant times I've had with music in recent memory. No thank you, Lou.

Boy, now don't **this** make me kick my own ass for not listening to more R.E.M.? Gawddamn. Document used to be my favorite, but now it's this, and I'm gonna look back at this four I'm giving it and I'm really gonna wish I gave it a five, dang it.

Of the first fifteen albums I've listened to from this generaor, this is the first one where I've had to spend all day reconciling how I feel about it. It's not like the others, where I give 'em, two, one-and-a-half, or even just one runthrough and I know. This one, though... I ended up interogating a lot of different topics to try and get to how I felt. "Did I listen to it wrong? Should I have listened to it in bursts and out of order, like how it was originally released?" "Was I just in the right head space, in this weird moment between accidentally falling asleep for an hour, waking up feeling off, and knowing I was gonna go to bed in another two hours? Did I not pay enough attention, even then?" "What about all of the praise critics have given it? Why's there such a divide between the 100% approval rating from them and low 2 from the people here on this website?" "Is it just because I'm not into post-punk?" "What's even the point of lists like this or the Rolling Stone 500? Does rating these albums even matter?" "How does my rating system even work?" I went on like this until I reached two conclusions: firstly, in general I'm just bad at quantifying my opinion down to a single number. Like, all of those questions, and more I didn't list, were just to figure out if I was gonna give this thing a 2 or a 3. I had no idea which number better represented how I felt. And even if decimals were allowed and I could split the difference at 2.5, would that even still accurately reflect how I feel about it? Then there's the second point, which is, simply, "What's the point in putting in overthinking your rating so much when by 00:15 the next day you'll be on to the next album?" It doesn't matter, ultimately. Just pick one and move on. So let's just finally move onto my opinion, huh? Enough blabbering. On the one hand, I feel like I get METAL BOX, or SECOND EDITION, whatever you wanna call it. I actually kind of click with what it's going for, musically. I mean, for one, the dub bass is fantastic. Absolutely the best part of the album, and all of the praise in the world to Jah Wobble for it. And, I mean, you combine that with the guitar, and... I'unno. It kind of reminds me a pre-evolved Primus? Switch out the dub bass for virtuosic slap funk and have more conventional song structures, and sure. Hell, I even really enjoyed "Socialist", "Careering", and the turn to relaxing synths for the closer "Radio 4". I can find a lot of good moments scattered throughout. But, note: scattered throughout. There's pieces and songs here and there I like. But on the whole? On the whole, I feel like it's too long. Which, yeah, relates back to the earlier question about if I listened to this wrong: this was supposed to be listened to in bursts, ten minutes at a time. Sitting down with it for the full hour was never how it was intended to be listened to. But even accepting that and disregarding its total length as a criticism, to put it simply, a lot of it just doesn't interest me. Whatever anti-rock experiments they were going for... Just didn't do it for me. I can tell why most folks here checked out after "Albatross". I mean, of course if I sat with it longer and truly let it sink in I'd maybe grow to like it more. But with only one chance to rate this album before I have another one I hafta spend the day considering... I jus' gotta go with my gut. It's a 2. Part of me doesn't like that, since I feel like experimental in particular gets a bad rap from this website's users, but whatever. "Wha'cha gonna do," eh? All I can hope for is that I like the next album better.

I put on the first disc. Nearly fell asleep. Took notice of the FERRIS BUELLER sample. Nearly fell asleep again. The first disc ended. I'm good.

I'm pretty sure I transcended listening to "Stonemilking" for the first time.

"Vibes and stuff?" Oh, you better believe it. To reference a song from a different album—I can kick it.

I'unno if I have any thoughts about the vocal tracks, but the ambient ones? Aw yeah, **that's** the good stuff. Nice to hear what Eno can do outside of "produce U2 albums."

There's other soul I'd reach to first, and maybe I missed out on something by not banging someone else at the same time, but, hey, it's still pretty good tunes.

Listening to this album today, I spent a bit of time thinking about something I'd read on Wikipedia that Steven Hyden had written about this album. He put forth back in 2018 that there's, quoth, a "reflexive bias against it from both fans and critics," exemplified in two unwritten rules. First, you hafta claim a song from the second side as your favorite—'cuz that's the side has, quoth again, the "deep cuts with credibility"; and second, you can't ever claim that this is your favorite Led Zeppelin album. Now, I bring this up because when I sat down to write this review a few hours before the website would allow me that I decided would discuss where I fall on these two rules. Y'know, it's a way—a way, certainly—to get my thoughts down and out there. Better than just rambling off the top of my head and expecting gold to fly out, I figure. Though, what's funny is that the short answer to "where I fall on these rules" is that I actually follow both. That's particularly funny in the case of the first rule, because side two isn't even my favorite side. Sure, my favorite song on the record is there, "When The Levee Breaks", but otherwise it just doesn't do much for me. I much prefer the first side, since that's where the big hits are, and, well, at heart I'm a sucker for the hits. "Rock And Roll" and the ol' standby "Stairway To Heaven"... That's the good stuff! And the other two are fine as well. I mean, "Black Dog" is a really good opener, with that awesome riff, although I'm sure a lot of my affection for it comes from the fact that Weird Al was allowed to record a chunk of it for one of his parodies. And "The Battle Of Evermore" has guitar parts that I like, though I've never really cared to learn or dive into its high fantasy lyrics; it's kind of the weakest part of side one for me. When it comes to the second rule, my favorite Zeppelin album varies between II and III, and sometimes HOUSES. On those, I truly love and have affection for every song there. Yes, even "The Crunge"; I love how stupid it is. IV, meanwhile, has songs I really like—I just stated them in the last paragraphs—but more that... Are just fine to me? "Misty Mountain Hop" is good all around; "Four Sticks", even if I don't think it's bad, is the one I always pick whenever I hafta choose a "bad song" to make fun of; and "Going To California" is pretty, though it mostly glides by me until those "AAAHHH"s during the fade-out. It's just not a strong all-the-way-through package for me. Still a four star album for me, though. Even if my tastes skew slightly off enough that I can't join the endless streak of five-star ratings I've seen... Bah, there's nothing bad or even weak enough to justify me goin' down any further. I still enjoy thing every time I put it. Ol' wedding song does a lot for me, I tell you what. And speaking of "Stairway", if you ain't heard Frank Zappa's live cover of it, do y'self a favor. The horn section plays Jimmy Page's guitar solo note-for-note, which even got a shout out in the booklet for the MOTHERSHIP compilation. It's neat stuff.

Looking at from this album from the outside, it didn't look like one I'd enjoy terribly much. To begin with, the thing's a double album. Nearly 80 minutes of music! These days I'm not really that much into albums over an hour unless it's already something I love dearly, so right away this was fighting an uphill battle. And that battle only got steeper once I discovered that the album is only four songs long, one per side. That's four twenty minute songs! An album having one song that long is usually bad enough... And that's not even mentioning that this is a progressive jazz rock album! In my mind this was really shaping up quickly to be an interminably boring slog, like that drum n' bass compilation my group got a few days ago. Just endless jazz-y canoodling that I wouldn't be able to latch on. "Oh, a higher power have mercy. This is what I get for listening to every album that pops up." However, once I actually got into it and past the first minute—which really wasn't as bad as the top-rated review warned me it'd be, honestly... It kind of clicked with me? And I very quickly realized why, which ended up being my secret to getting through it: this album sounds a LOT like Frank Zappa's jazz work. Now, that isn't an original observation; I've seen a ton of other reviews, from here and on AllMusic, that point that out. It keeps getting made, though, because it's just true. It's a lot looser than a lot Zappa's jazz works could be, true, but tonally it's very close. Hell, there's even a part somewhere on one of these songs that sounds a lot like the electric violin used on "Willie The Pimp". (Forgive me for not knowing exactly which one; these are long and dense songs and I'm going off of only one listen.) With that framework in mind, anyway, my favorite and least favorite tracks don't exactly fall into it, 100%? I've seen a lot of people single out "Moon In June" as their favorite, but on initial listen, I'm not exactly feeling the hype myself. It's the one that sounds the least like Zappa jazz, and at this point that's what I'm listening to this album for. As a result, it ends up being a bit of a disappoint for me. Meanwhile, my favorite cut, "Out-Blood-Rageous", opens with these electronic tape loops and they're actually really pretty. It sounds nothing like Zappa would compose, albiet in the best way possible. If all that could've been in its own song, absolutely it would've been the one I'd come back to. And as a brief note before I conclude, part of me hates that I keep bringing up Zappa here instuead of considering the bang's music on its own. Part of me feels like it's disrespectful. But I don't mean it as disrespect, like I've seen at least one person use the compairson. I really like Zappa's jazz work. It's not my favorite section of his discography, but it's still an important one with a lot of great tunes. Anything that sounds like it gets positive points in my book. Although, with that in mind, I'm not sure if I'll give it another listen. For a one time listen, it was a pleasant surprise, and it was nice music to have on and not fully pay attention to while I played the Nintendo 64 DR. MARIO for the billionth time. The songs are still all twenty minutes, however, and I don't really usually have much room in my regular song rotations for it. So, with all that, it's a three for me, but if I do come back to again I could see it growing into a four over time. FInally, two spare thoughts that don't have anything to do with anything: ~ For the longest time I'd assumed that Soft Machine was a band that made music like The Flaming Lips did on THE SOFT BULLETIN or YOSHIMI BATTLES THE PINK ROBOTS. Just sounds like the perfect band name for that? ~ I totally mistook this band's THIRD for Big Star's THIRD.

Doesn't 100% bring the "wow" out of me, but damn if it ain't some good-ass funk n' soul.

Y'know, I was gonna start this review with a whole diatriabe on an unavoidable topic when it comes to Led Zeppelin's music: the stealing. The undeniable fact that the band snatched a lot of stuff from other artists, black ones in particular. And I actually did initially write it all down, althoughh once I was done, well... It ran on pretty long, for one. Fourwhole paragraphs of clarifying my poisition on the whole matter. But once I stepped back and saw the breadth of it, I thought: does it even really matter here in 2024? Like, yes, the fact that they stole so much is bad, but like that's a new concept in blues music. The real problem, I always figured, was the lack of proper credit, and while I think it was pretty damn shitty that it wasn't there to begin with and that they had to be sued into giving a lot of it, most all of it's there now. So, how much does it really matter today if Zeppelin stole a few lyrics and riffs? It's not like anything can be done about what happened nearly 60 years ago. Of course I understandable completely if that's a hurdle you can't get over, but for my own money... Truth is, I've just never been bothered by it enough to not listen to them. And what a listen this is. While, as I said in my IV review, I ultimately prefer its sequels II and III, this is still a damn fine album. Good-ass proto-metal blues riffs and solos, outstanding drumming, a killer vocal performance... And just some rippin' tunes to bit. "Good TImes Bad Times" is an absolute door kicker of an opener; "Babe I'm Gonna Leave You" is a great bit of hard folk rock (with a part that sounds a lot like the riff from Chicago's "25 Or 6 To 4" in there, actually); "Dazed And Confused" has some all-time licks and violin bow noodling; I actually really like "Your Time Is Gonna Come"; "Black Mountain Side" is a neat instrumental; "Communication Breakdown" is damn proto-punk... The remaining tracks I don't really care so much for, and for me that's what mainly keeps it back from being on the all killer level of II, III and even HOUSES, but they're still jammin'. There's parts of how Plant sings "You Shook Me" that I'm pretty into. And just the fact that they recorded this all in 36 hours, too. Not that they're the first, or even last band, even in the heavy metal scene, to knock out an all-time debut in such a short period of time, but that doesn't make it any less impressive. Overall, yeah, it's a pretty four from me. Frankly, I don't think there's any Led Zeppelin album on this list I'd given less than a four. It just hits that good "dad rock" spot for me, y'know? I mean, maybe if IN THROUGH THE OUT DOOR was here... Although, that DOES have "Hot Dog", to... Anyway, I'm getting off topic. I can't ever forget all the stealing they've done, and I don't wanna underplay it (even as much as I kind of worry that "it's 2024" bit might come across that way), but I can acknowledge thing bad and love it just the same, y'know? Besides, like the stealing is even the WORST thing Led Zeppelin's done, though let's not get into THAT and drag this review out any longer, eh?

The culmination of Prince's 80's work, as far as I'm concerned. And if not that, then an impressive and sprawling sample platter of a lot of what he'd been doing that decade, with some small glimpses into the future. Just one good-ass track after another. Some cuts are a little lesser than the others, true—mostly on side two, honestly—but that's more often than not inevitable on double albums, and there's nothing I don't enjoy here regardless. The whole second disc especially is just gold. I mean, you got bangers like "U Got The Look"? Fun-ass oddities like "Strange Relationship" and "If I Was Your Girlfriend"? The epic live jam that is "It's Gonna Be A Beautiful Night"? And such absolutely and amazingly perfect tunes like "I Could Never Take The Place Of Your Man" and "Adore"? Absolutelt superb. Worth the price of admission. And let's shout out the first side as well: the stark and chilling minimalism of the title track, the absolute joy of "Play In The Sunshine", the absolutely danceable "Housequake", the quiet beauty of "Starfish And Coffee", those... Like, orchestral hits or whatever on "It" that've always sounded to me like that one instrument in TURTLES IN TIME that I've always thought of as a "turtle synth." And the part on "The Ballad Of Dorothy Parker" where he asks to get a fruit cocktail 'cuz he's not really that hungry... Inititally I wanted this review to have some kind of through line like my past couple have had. Y'know, an essay-like framework I can look at the album through. But, man, y'know, forget all that. This is just a good-ass album; one of many that've firmly wormed their way into my heart and/or soul and have gawddamn EARNED that 5 rating. And I don't need no fancy "creative writing" whatever to know or say that. 'Cuz lemme tell you, when this thing's on, that by itself is enough of a sign that there's a great time bein' had.

Damn, the guy who featured on Gorillaz' "Cracker Island" made his own music? And it's **this good**? Well, damn! And if the Genesis Sonic samples ain't the cherry on top.

I really like the rockabilly and early rock n' roll riffs that're on here (which it took me a hot moment to notice for some reason), but otherwise, eh, it's just above-fine to me. The idea of a punk album that covers domesticity and relationship issues is interesting to me, but it turns out it's more in theory than in practice.

Because I'd read that this album was inspired by PJ Harvey's affection for New York City, I decided it'd only be fitting that I spend my first listen to the album staring at video of someone driving around Manhatten. And somewhere during that, I just had to imagine the women—of course the badass kind in my mind—who relaxed by driving the long stretches of road under the bridges, just outside the jungle of buildings... It's sunny but coming on sunset, the top's down, and this album playing as the soundtrack... Yeah. It just hits right. Frankly, if I ended up getting bored at any point during the album, it was only because the footage ended up going into the city itself and, lordy me, you can't go for five seconds without havin' to stop at another light. Goodness me.

When it comes to a lot of foreign language music, as someone who's only ever known a spare few words and phrases outside of English, it ends up being essentially instrumental music to me. Which isn't to undermine or undervalue the words that're there and what they mean, of course; just because I can't understand them doesn't mean they don't mean something to a lot of people. But even if I do take the time to look up a translation, it's not like I'm gonna remember it every time I listen to a foreign language song, y'know? For me, the vocals, way more often than not, end up becoming just another instrument; another melody line. And in that light... Gawddamn, these are such great melodies, and the Brazilian Portugese is so pleasing to my ear. As a showcase for what MPB had to offer at the time, this is way more effective for me than, say, LOGICAL PROGESSION was as one for jungle. Like, for one, I'm able to tell songs apart, and that by itself is a huge advantage. This album's getting a 4 from me, but believe me, I feel it's so far the closest any album I haven't listened to before on this list has come to getting a 5.

As I'm writing this review, I'm only about midway through this album. Normally, for albums I haven't heard before I'd wait 'til after my second listen, or even halfway through my second at least, to get a jump on this, but... See, before I started listening to this album I did what I've done for a whilw now and checked out the already published reviews to find the most negative ones I could. Y'know, I guess I'm just interested in seeing the problems people have with these albums and then finding out if I disagree or not. Most of the ones I come across end up big negative "BAGHLE I DON'T LIKE THIS" dealies, but the one under this album that struck me so much is probably the most fair and balanced I've seen so far. In essence, it puts forth the following, which I hafta cop to: sure, it's good music, but is it important to music history or even notable enough on its own to be on this list of 1,001 albums? And at where I am in the album... Yeah, it sure is traditional country. Which is fine by me; I like traditional country. I know it's not the most much example, but I've listened to Johnny Cash's debut album a number of times. But—and maybe I'm just missing the larger context, I acknowledge that, but I can't hear what exactly's so special about this. Cub Koda on AllMusic claims this album is a number of things: "the last gasp of true honky tonk, the first stab at mainstreaming it into the Nashville sound of the 1960s, or country music's first country album," and, like, whichever one of those it is... I'm not getting it. Really, I'm having the same reaction to this that I did to X's WILD GIFT, where I'm not fully understanding why it's in this book. Although, I can at least acknowledge that WILD GIFT was notable to X as an in-between transitional point in their sound. Not to diss country, but what is NIGHT LIFE, this album, that a lot of other successful country albums from around the same time didn't also do? Now, my rating system is based purely on how much I personally enjoy the album and nothing else. That's why I'm giving it a 3; putting aside all of the gripes regarding its inclusion on this list, again, I like traditional country. As an album to, as Ray suggests, kick off your shoes and relax to, it does the job. Probably even better if I had a beer and a front porch to sit on. But if I was evaluating this album on whether or not it should be in this book; if I agreed or not that it SHOULD be something you listen to before you do... I'd hafta agree with that other review and smack it with a 2. Just how it is.

I didn't know much about Dennis Wilson before today. Especially if you compare it next to how much I knew about, say, Brian Wilson or even stupid Mike Love, it's pretty much nothing. Hell, the only thing I really DID know about Dennis is that he was the only true surfer in The Beach Boys and that, ironically, he'd drown in 1983. That's always been the framework I've viewed this album through, then: that it was the only solo project he released while he was alive. And going in, I felt that was kind of unfair to Dennis. Like, come on, this album should mean more to me than what its relation to the fact that he passed tragically young. I mean, hell, in my mind it always feels to me like they happened closer together than six years apart like they really did. I should be trying to see what this album provides on its own, seperated from all that. However, that turned out to be a lot more difficult than I'd thought. There's just so many moments in there that remind me of it. "Moonlight", in how it sounds to me, evokes that kind of "lost someone you love" melancholy, even if the lyrics probably have nothing to do with that. Though, speaking of lyrics, "Thoughts Of You" hit me especially hard with the part that goes "All things that live one day must die, you know." On my first liste that was the only lyric I picked up, and, gawd, I felt like it could have destroyed me if I were in a worse place. That's not even to mention "Farewell My Friend", which I found out was played at Dennis's funeral. And I tell you, learning more about Dennis and his life surrounding this album's recording certainly didn't make anything better. Knowing all that context just makes this a very sad album to me. It was never meant to be that, but looking back on it nearly 50 years later and considering all of that context... Hell, even Brian Wilson has said at point that he hasn't listened to it because there's too many sad memories for him relating to it. But then, that's still one reason why this album touched me so much. As much as I hate to admit it, it's because the album ends up being so sad that pushes it over for me from just being really good late 70's rock n' soul. It can even make me look past that one farty instrument on "Dreamer", though that break it has in there probably could've done it, too. Don't get me wrong here. If you're a big, BIG fan of The Beach Boys, and post-SMiLE Beach Boys especially, this might not do it for you. Luckily for me, I dig that stuff a lot, even if I don't necessairly think this album comes as close to SMiLE as that comparison implies. I just wish he'd had the chance to do more; see BAMBU through to completion, at least. But for what he's done here, as "End Of Show" fades surrounded by applause, for the people who know, he's really made something that'll last forever. And besides, it's better to view this album like I just did than through his relation to Charles Mansion. Wouldn't even make sense; Charley there didn't even have anything to do with this album!

I'll admit, there's probably something about the performance I'm missing—a review of the album on this website mentioned how good the interplay is between the three is if you listen hard enough. Of course, like a lot of other albums I've covered, I don't really have the time to listen to it closely enough to hear that? Like I normally notice stuff like that to begin with, anyway. And besides, even the review mentions it's not the reviewer's favorite album by this album, so... For my money, it's good jazz trio jazz (I like that sort of atmosphere), but I think I'll stick more with the A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS soundtrack.

I'll put it like this: this album reminded me of how much I like ska so much that I spent five hours at my work shift that night listening to ska. Wish I had more words or deeper thoughts, but that's really all I gotta say: I like ska.

First of all, I'll grant you—I think this is better overall than the last thing I heard Jah Wobble on, METAL BOX. Maybe attribute it to this album's pop sheen, I'unno. Although, with that said, I still find METAL BOX to be, like... More interesting? Now, yeah, the world music stuff is interesting; I'm not gonna deny that. But otherwise, it just kind of washes over me. At least METAL BOX had some parts where I perked up and went "Ah, damn that's cool!" Meanwhile, here, aside from a Sinéad O'Conner feature on the first track, I really didn't get much of anything out of it.

For some reason this has been the hardest review I've written yet. I just can't seem to find the right words to describe how I feel about this album. So maybe I shouldn't say anything. Just listen to the album, all the way through. Right to the scream at the very end of "Where Did You Sleep Last Night?", where the whole band drops out like they're shocked to hear it, leaving him to sing the last few words completely unaccompanied. Chills. Every time. And I'll probably look back at what I wrote just now and wished I'd said something else, but, honestly, that moment says more than I ever could.

I don't say this to undermine the contributions of Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris, because of course theirs are just as important—but gawd, it's always such a joy to hear Dolly Parton.

All my life I've always been a Beatles fan more than I've been a Stones fan. Blame it on exposure: when I was young I had a full-frontal blast of THE BEATLES: ROCK BAND, which inspired me to collect every one of their stupid albums and buy into the mythology the old guards had given them (which, to some extent, I still believe to this day). Contrast that with the Stones, where at most there was one song in GUITAR HERO III, a Weird Al polka, maybe some needle drops, and the knowledge that Lennon and McCartney wrote "I Wanna Be Your Man" for them. There wasn't really as much there to get me to dig through their stuff. Even as the years drew on and I became more aware of the praise given to them, a lot of their stuff has remained in a pile that I've come to label "Albums I'll Listen To One Of These Days–Honest!" Hell, it was only a couple of years ago I finally listened to the US versions of AFTERMATH and BETWEEN THE BUTTONS. So here I am, finally, with the first album in their golden period. How does it hold up to me? What have I been missing all of these years? To begin, let's pull this framework all the way through and get it over with: I prefer what The Beatles were doing in '68, which was their legendary WHITE ALBUM. Now, it's no doubt probably not fair to compare them. I mean, the WHITE ALBUM is an eclectic monstrosity of a double album born out of the turbulence the band was going through at the time. BEGGARS BANQUET, meanwhile, is a single album made under lighter circumstances except for what Brian Jones was going through, and at its core it's a return to the roots rock and blues they were doing earlier in their career. And don't get me wrong, I get that that's why this is here on this list: the return to roots. Well, the partial return, anyway, because while they were coming out of a heavy dive into psychedelic music on THEIR SATANIC MAJESTIES REQUEST they weren't leaving behind the worldly and more exotic influences. You wouldn't listen to "Sympathy For The Devil" or "Factory Girl" and say they're just roots and blues. Not to mention, I figure it's expanding on how they incorporated those influences into their regular sound that would lead them to later make LET IT BLEED and EXILE ON MAIN ST. and so on. It's just there here, at its earliest "stripped-down return to roots" form... Even with the external influences, it's still mostly just roots and blues music. Of course it's GOOD roots and blues music; it hasn't gotten all of this praise as the first album in their golden period for nothing after all. But I feel like even if I had listened to this at that young age, in the period of time between "Paint It Black" and THE BEATLES: ROCK BAND... I don't think it would've really swayed me to be a Stones fan more. Maybe another one, but not this one. To put it another way: I also find that "Hey Jude" kind of upstages this album. Sorry 'bout the birthday, Mick.

Another one where I don't have too terribly much to say. I think I like a bit more the stuff I've heard on their future albums, but this is still a fun, funky debut. And that's something I don't need to say again.

And here I am kicking myself for taking, like, thirteen years to finally get around to this. Good-ass stuff from the lady who'd go on to sing the "Skyfall" theme.

I wasn't able to give this album a second listen before I had to rate it like I'd wanted to, but, frankly, I don't think any amount of listens would make this album any less boring to me.

Between this and the LTJ Burkem compilation I got a few days ago, I've come to the realization that I just don't like jungle or drum n' bass. Sure, I can recognize merits in the genres and figure why people would like them, but for me... Nah. Not me. I mean, it just says something to me that the only track I really liked and devoted a good portion of my attention to was the third track from the first disc, which was the only one to me that didn't sound like drum n' bass. (It's for that reason, in fact, why I'm not recycling the review I gave for LOGICAL PROGRESSION like I'd honestly planned to. Believe me, though, with that **TWENTY MINUTE** nothing of a title track and opener I very easily could have.) End of the day, I just hope there aren't too many of these left on the list, if there are even anymore at all.

Of course in any context I'd probably give this album a four. It's the Beastie Boys doin' more of what they do best. Unless you were expecting more samples, I don't know what more you could want. Sure, the runtime could be a problem (peak "CD era" issue), but the way I listen to things it was hardly an issue. It's just, I feel like I was enjoying it more than I normally would this time because after the last two albums this randomizer gave me were so ass boring it was just a relief to hear the Beasties rap and yell over some good-shit beats. I'll take this over drum n' bass any day.

During the day I had to listen to this album, there was only one thing I wanted to figure out about how I felt about it: which side would I enjoy more? The acoustic half, or the electric half that prompted cries of "Judas?" That question puts aside how I feel about the album as a whole, by the way. To speak on that briefly, generally I think it's pretty good. This isn't my first Bob Dylan album (that would be BLOOD ON THE TRACKS), but it's been so long since I've heard any of his stuff that I might as well treat it as such. Under that light, and given that this record ends up being a transitional period for Dylan, I think it's a good introduction to his two most iconic styles: his acoustic protest songs and his electric folk. Of course, you could debate on how much protest there really IS in this album's acoustic songs, but that's besides the point. Though that actually does end up tying into which side I enjoyed more. 'Cuz y'gotta understand one thing about me, and that's that I'm ultimately more a fan of melodies than meaning. Not a bad thing, of course; you don't need to be a poetry scholar to enjoy music "correctly"–as if a "correct method" could exist. But you gotta look at how Dylan's lyrics are backed up on both sides. On the first side, the electric one, Dylan's words are scored by an electric band. As a result, I don't feel like I need to focus AS HARD on them. Naturally, I still do; they're not any less important here just because there's a drum kit. But if I find myself spacing out of the words and focusing on the music, then it's not as much of an issue. Compare with the second side, where the sole instrument a lot of the time is an acoustic guitar. With such sparse backing, the lyrics are the main focal point. That's all you have to focus on, aside from a harmonica line every now and then. If you're into dissecting all of Dylan's weird metaphors and obscure references, this side's way more of a treat, I imagine. And, yeah, the words are interesting as hell; please continue to not get me wrong here. It's just as a result of the presentation, it's not the first side I would reach for casually. This might be an esoteric comparison, but I like to think about it like this: Weird Al and the film WALK HARD: THE DEWEY COX STORY have both done Bob Dylan parodies. Hell, WALK HARD did two. Between them, I've listened to Weird Al's "Bob" way more than I have WALK HARD's "Royal Jelly". Or, to put it another way: consider me a Judas, too, I guess. So yeah. Now I've heard this Robert Zimmerman. And although I don't suppose I've taken in enough to fully agree with the hype, taking this as a cross-section... Yeah, I can begin to see it. I just hope I can get a little more out of his earlier, fully acoustic records whenever they show up.

It's a fine album, I guess. My main issue with it just has to do with the 90's CD-era trend of albums being TOO DAMN LONG. But this isn't a platform for me to rant about that, so I'll just say that I don't think this album needed to do over an hour.

So that's why it's in Kurt Cobain's top 50. I'll be.

It's a pretty fine album overall that's **really** elevated (by a whole star, even) by the presence of "California Dreamin'". Like, imagine how this album would play without it; imagine if Barry McGuire **did** end up recording it—and y'get it, right? I mean, if all the hype sticker covering the toilet had to bring up was their cover of "I Call Your Name"...

Y'know, I can completely hear why someone wouldn't like this album. Hell, in a lot of spots it reminds me of that needless DARK SIDE OF THE MOON REDUX thing Roger Waters did last year. But in a similar case to Dennis Wilson's PACIFIC OCEAN BLUE, when this album's in the context of Cohen's passing just a few weeks after its release... Oof. It's hauntingly melancholic. Not something I'd return to very often, but gawddamn was it powerful during my time with it.

I wish I'd caught this album on a better day; one where I wasn't operating on only three hours of sleep and could give fuller attention, 'cuz from what I caught on my two listens it sounds damn good to my ears. It's not the Madchester I expected to hear, but of course it's for the better it doesn't sound like EMF.

I like to think about this album in essentially the same way Ryan Marr does, as he wrote in his flash essay about the album for The RS 500: "as OK COMPUTER LITE: 'Subterranean Homesick Alien' with all the 'Fitter Happier' bullshit stripped away." Which, presented in that context, all by itself, sounds like an insult. Certainly it sounded that way to one member of the group I'm a part of. But it's not to say that OK COMPUTER is worse than IN RAINBOWS. Honestly, on whatever level you wanna define "objective" as, I'd say I still think OK COMPUTER is a better album overall. As for which one I'd return to first, though... OK COMPUTER is great. I just said as much. But it can also be a lot. Y'know, what with it being about the decline of Western civlization and all. IN RAINBOWS, on the other hand, is a lot simpler—and I don't mean that as an insult. It sounds like a much easier record to just throw on and enjoy without having to deal with any pigs in cages on antibiotics. That's true even if I can't really pick any one track as a stand-out like I could with OK COMPUTER ("Paranoid Android" and "No Surprises" for me). I guess to put it some way to close this out, if I'd been around for this album's original release, I wouldn't've paid nothing. Some pretty fine clothes the emperor's got there, I tell you what.

My group's 50th album. I think it's good, but I wish I could've found more things to say about it than "this is the first one to have a song Weird Al parodied," "I think I prefer when The Police have more reggae" and "I get 'Mother', but that doesn't mean I hafta like 'Mother' all too much."

Hours before I had to write this, I read another review on this website saying that the instrumentation on this album was very 70's. 70's singer-songwriter, I assume, since they'd also brought up references to Paul Simon and the like. And, yeah, that's exactly why I like this album. The 70's **are** my favorite decade, after all—or so all of the data I've collected over the last five years says. Because of that, anyway, even though I would've preferred something more around 40 minutes, I can absolutely overlook it's 50+ minute runtime.

Ah, primordial new wave! Back when it was weird, post punk-y and art rock-y! And much more palatable post-punk, too, than ‘Metal Box’! I'd probably be more into their other albums (the ones that lean more into synth pop and sound more like Weird Al's pastiche "Dare To Be Stupid"), but I really do appreciate this one for how odd it is without being a mess.

I can really appreciate how much work they put into the instrumentation and production (months worth, even—and it really paid off as far as I'm concerned), but otherwise I think it's just fine. I'm pretty sure I'll be into one of their other releases more.

While I was listening to the second track on the album, I came across multiple reviews on this website that mentioned nostalgia. Now, they were probably referring to the nostalgia they felt about when this album first came out, but I still wanted to see if it could evoke that sense in me; someone who only yesterday found out this album existed. So I leaned back as far as I could in my chair, closed my eyes, let me mind wander to earlier times... And it unlocked the rest of the album for me. Now, that doesn't let this escape the fact that this album is still too damn long (CD era bloat!), but, y'know, otherwise...

Before going into this album, I was only familiar with the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion through the song of theirs that was in BABY DRIVER, "Bellbottoms". I've always loved it, largely for its association with the film, but in general I think it's great. And it did not prepare me for this album. I can hear some elements here and there, but this is some raw, loud, live show-ass punk blues. On some Jack White shit here. And I love it so much. It's so damn fun. I can understand that its energy might be too much, 'cuz it never tones down the whole album, even on the slower songs; and even if it isn't as long as some other 90's albums I've heard it could **maybe** stand to be a little shorter... Aw, but heck. I don't even care. It's fabulous. It's groovy. It dun' make me wanna dance.

Y'know, on the one hand I don't feel like I 100% get what all of the hullabloo is about this album. Maybe I just haven't listened to enough that's been influenced by it; maybe I've heard **too much**... I can't tell. But of course what I **can** say is that this album is good. Damn good. I wouldn't say it's my favorite 70's rock album, buit it's gotta be way up there. I wasn't able to get in a second listen to "Torn Curtain" before the day ended, but from the little bit I sampled of it while I was writing this... Goodness me. So, like, in one sense at least I get this album's praise.

Before my group had ever even gotten this album—hell, from the moment I found out this album was on this list at all, I'd already given it a 1. It was one of only two 1 I knew for a fact I was going to give, along with the Limp Bizkit album that's on here. And that's unfair, I get that. As I'm writing this, I haven't even heard the album yet. At most, I've heard the inclusion of the album's opener in Weird Al's "Angry White Boy Polka", Cledus T. Judd's parody of "Cowboy" "Plowboy", and the REGRETTING THE PAST video Rocked did on the album as a whole. And of course that last one especially would lead to me having a biased view-point going in. I'm fully aware of all this. But you gotta realize, even if I wasn't aware of the stuff I just mentioned, everything else Kid Rock's done recently would sure leave me feeling that way as well. This is the guy who would go on to release "AIN'T NOBODY GONNA TELL ME HOW TO LIVE" or whatever it's called and fully pander to the MAGA audience because those are the only people who sort of like him anymore. You give me an album by him, ANY album by him, and you expect me to go in with an unbiased mind? There's nothing listening to it could do to convince me otherwise; that I shouldn't just rate this album based on what I think of Kid Rock as a person and not what it actually contains. Because I know exactly what it is: it's shit-stupid country rap rock from a rich poser white boy selling a fantasy of being a suburban cowboy to other poser white boys. That's all this is, and the fact that it sold so much frankly kind of offends me. The hell was going on in the 90's that people just lapped this shit up? Hell, what is it even doing HERE, on THIS LIST? Normally I'm not one to ask why an album's here because I figure it has to be for SOMETHING, but in this case, I can't figure it out beyond MAYBE that it was important to rap rock? But was it really? Why is this something I HAVE to listen to before I die? Unless you wanna say it's because you can't appreciate the good without hearing what trash sounds like. I could possibly make an argument for Limp Bizkit, but not here. This IS a waste of a spot, completely. You can only imagine what else could have been included if not for this. Hell, I'm just left thinking about all of the albums my group could have gotten instead of this; from the proven timeless classics to shit I just love on a personal level. But no. We gotta waste our time with "FUCK ALL YOU HOES. DETROIT 'TIL I DIE, MOTHERFUCKER." And it's only because I wanna remain consistent in my intent to listen to every album here that I'm even bothering to taint my Spotify history with this sack of shit. So I hope you're happy, Mr. Rock. You've triggered me, at least. ---------------*****--------------- This part was written after I listened to the album, and... See, hours before I figured I may as well get it over with, I had this joke in mind. Imagine: all that preamble, 500 words worth, of me ranting on and on about Kid Rock and this album and the fact that it's on this list, all written before I even heard a second of the album. Then, when I get to the post-conceptions part of the review, I only have four words: "Well... That fucking sucked." You see the humor there, right? Oh, it would have been amusing—at least it would've been to me. Because right from the top, I didn't figure I had anything else to say about it. After everything I said beforehand, what else could listening to the album inspire me to say? Honestly, I WAS kind of considering just not listening to the album and posting that anyway. But I wanted to do my due diligence. I put YouTube in Incognito mode, started up the album, and... After a while, I got so bored of the album I just started watching Rocked's video on it and didn't even pause it. So it's entirely possible I missed some of the grosser lyrics, and, yeah, no doubt I didn't treat this album fairly. But the big singles and the occasional REALLY bad lyric aside, there's just nothing to it. Like every album that was released in the 90's, it's too damn long. There's so much stuff that could've been left out and no one would've missed it. Though unlike with other records I doubt cutting it down would help much. I mean, you'd still be left with Kid Rock's posing about being a "pimp cowboy," which only gets more infuriating every time he brings it up. All I can see is his stupid millionaire mansion. Seriously, Snow had more street cred than him—yeah, the guy who recorded "Informer". And at least Vanilla Ice was a goof so it was fun to laugh at his posing. I'm not even sure if Kid Rock's from Detroit! Lemme put time aside now to mention one thing I liked about this album, before I get into the worst thing. The instrumental for "Wasting Time"? I kinda liked it. Or at least how it sounded coming out of my iPhone's speaker. I thought it was some kinda monk chant that he'd recorded for the album, but I found out later on in the day that, yeah, it's actually a sample of "Second Hand News". I like the version I had in my head better. Speaking of the sampling, by the way, before my writing this I never 100% vibed with how Rocked talked about it on this album because I always got the feeling he thought sampling was cheap. Y'know, that sampling isn't an art form, as has been demonstrated on albums like PAUL'S BOUTIQUE and FEAR OF A BLACK PLANET. But that's just the thing—it's an art form, but the way Kid Rock uses samples is artless. I believe that's more Rocked's point; that every Kid Rock uses a sample, it's something where he could've recorded something original himself, but didn't because he's lazy and wanted to bank on recognizability. But let's get to the worst thing. Simply put, the last track on the album, "Black Chick, White Guy", is disgusting. Even if I understand that it's a true story he's rapping about here—supposedly, anyway—never in my life did I want to hear Kid Rock rap about ninth graders having sex. That's not ALL it's about; it goes from there to be about the consequences, but still. You're damn right I don't know the half of it—and I don't WANT to! So this ending up running on way longer than I thought: over 1,000 words. As I'm writing this, I have no idea if this website will even accept reviews that long; I might end up having to make a Pastebin for it. And of course it's an album as terrible as this that inspires so much writing from me. It's the frustration, and the fact that it's easier to dump about stuff you hate than stuff you love. I mean, I wish I had said nearly as much about MTV UNPLUGGED IN NEW YORK or GOODBYE YELLOW BRICK ROAD or SIGN "O" THE TIMES" or PACIFIC OCEAN BLUE or 21 instead of wasting my time on Kid Rock. Lemme, then, just summarize this whole thing the way I should have to begin with: this fucking sucks.

So, hey, it turns out the songs on here that aren't "Everyone Wants To Rule The World" or "Shout" are pretty dang good, too. And unless something else comes along, this might be the most 80's album I'll hear, so all around it's a real solid package.

Going into this album, the most important factor in me loving it is the fact that I also love—and a LOT more, I should add—The Flaming Lips' album THE SOFT BULLETIN. I'll save my exact opinions on it for when that actually shows up, but to put it in short, as a piece of music it's a very good contender for my top 20, if I ever wanted to make one. Anything that sounds like it would naturally appeal heavily to me. Although, with that said, while there are a rather large number of spots here that remind me of THE SOFT BULLETIN, I don't wanna act like DESERTER'S SONGS isn't its own thing. It's not a dream pop record, for one; and it's not nearly as grand as THE SOFT BULLETIN can be. DESERTER'S SONGS is way more of a rock record, with its saxophone lines and guitar parts. And while DESERTER'S SONGS is more restrained, it's still a very cinematic listen—I mean, they wouldn't master this thing to 35mm film print if it wasn't. Plus it's got a few more musically odd moments than THE SOFT BULLETIN did—just check that untitled instrumental appended to the last track. But I don't wanna act like my love for THE SOFT BULLETIN isn't a factor here. It absolutely is; I wasn't excited to listen to this thing until I saw that there was a whole section on its Wikipedia page about how they shared the same producer. Not to mention, to quote Wayne Coyne, "I think without DESERTER'S SONGS being so significant, THE SOFT BULLETIN would probably have not been followed too much." In that sense, at least, I owe a lot to DESERTER'S SONGS. Without it, it's likely I wouldn't have "Waitin' For A Superman" or "Feeling Yourself Disintegrate", or even "Fight Test", "Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots (Part 1)" or "Do You Realize??". In that sense, even if I didn't like it, I'd have to give it SOME respect. And luckily, I do like it, a lot. Not as much as THE SOFT BULLETIN, but it's up there. And me relating it so much in my mind to THE SOFT BULLETIN, by the way, is a HIGH compliment, believe me. I had such a large smile on my face during the first track when I realized how similar they sound. I can't really give anything that evokes that kind of reaction from me anything less than a 5.

Y'know, I think it's fine. Like, I don't think Bowie did soul music badly, but I know there's better out there—better soul music **and** better Bowie.

Kinda wish I had more thoughts on this album, but I'unno. The jingle-jangly guitar just really appealed to me. And reminded me a lot of the first song off of The Monkees' HEADQUARTERS, which, hey, that's a good thing.

Honestly, this album is fun as hell. It reminds me a lot of That Handsome Devil, actually; just less weird and a lot more chill. And with more raps about Gotti.

I imagine if I were goth I'd be INCREDIBLY into this. But since I'm only someone who appreciates the style and am not so much a participant, it's some pretty fine juju.

Of course I the more idealistic music Sly and company have made, but somehow I dig this stuff a lot more; the stuff inspired by drug use, paranoia, and the death of the 60's idealism that influenced their earlier music. It's some hard-ass funk music about riots that are, unfortunately, still going on.

The most liked review for this album on this website compares it negatively to Coldplay (minus Chris Martin) apeing Radiohead. Well, joke's on them; I happen to **like** Coldplay! And Radiohead, too, of course. And I mean, like either of them would write that guitar line at the front of "Assassin", anyway. Or, for that matter, monsters of album openers and closers like "Take A Bow" and "Knight Of Cydonia". Or the... **Everything** of "Supermassive Black Hole". Maybe they could've done something like "Starlight" or "Invincible", but I'll take how they sound here. I mean, frankly, the one positive "they wouldn't write" I'll grant in favor of the other two is that I don't think Radiohead or Coldplay would write "We Are Fucking Fucked", but that's not even on this album. Does really make me appreciate how good the music is here, though, considering all I've heard about Muse's decline after this—and I'm saying that as someone who likes DRONES a lot.

This review is a Missy Elliott exclusive. Y'know, I'd be lying if I said a lot of the thoughts I had while I was listening to this album didn't have anything to do with the top-voted review on this website. Well, "review" in quotes, because it's not really one. It's a track-by-track stream-of-consciousness where they list off every complaint they have, presumably in real time. That sort of method just feels unfair to me. Like, sure, it's not as bad here as the "review" of THE FRAGILE that's over on Pitchfork, but if you're gonna try and formulate and structure your thoughts, then what's the point? What does anyone gain from this? I don't wanna make this whole review about that one, but lemme at least address the point where I stopped reading: right at the top, where they say "Shut and sing ffs." Before I heard the album, I thought they meant "Stop rapping; I just want to hear you sing." However, it turns out they were referring to a minute-long spoken introduction before the first song. Which I'm fine with, myself. This is a rap album, so they're allowed to have something like that. The words and what they mean matter more in this genre than any other (except maybe folk), and I liked being given some context directly from the artist themself. If this was a rock album, I think I'd have more of a problem with it. I mean, heck, I enjoy that one she has in the middle of the album, with the bit about Prince. Although, that said, it's not like Missy Elliott is a master lyricist. I don't think she's aiming to be one, but there's a lot of weird lines sometimes. Sometimes they hit, like on "Work It" (buh-dunk-a-dunk-dunk), but then you have that weird bit in "Pussycat" where she asks if she can put her ass on your spaghetti. And it's not like the featured MCs aren't any better a lot of the time, either; you hear that "solid water" bar from JAY-Z on "Back In The Day"? If that don't remind me of Nicki's whole "duct tape" bit on "Only". Plus, I can imagine how revolutionary Timbaland's production was back in the day, but here in 2024 it can sound pretty damn wacky at times. Of course, when it hits, it hits hard. It's just, when you take it together with some of the aforementioned lyrics... It's got weak spots, to say the least. As a sit-down-and-listen-to-it experience, anyway. I'm sure if you throw these on at a party people would indeed get on the floor. The album ends with another monologue from Missy (if you don't count the remix of "Work It", anyway), where she says, among other things, that she doesn't give a shit if anyone doesn't like her album. The "review" (and I checked, just to make sure I wasn't putting anything in their mouth) I read shrugs it off with an "OK." I can just hear their eyes rolling. And it's not like I can't see why someone, especially someone who doesn't like hip hop as that person admits, wouldn't dig this. I'm not giving this a 3 for nothing, after all. My problem isn't the negativity in and of itself. It's just that I feel like it doesn't add anything to the conversation. Complaining by itself, without much substance beyond it, is pretty useless. But then again, despite all I've said, I probably shouldn't care. I mean, if Missy doesn't care what they'd say, even as hard as I know it'd be for me to ignore it, I shouldn't either.rehtie t'ndluohs I ,ti erongi ot em rof eb d'ti wonk I sa drah sa neve ,yas d'yeht tahw erac t'nseod yssiM fi ,naem I

This is the second time now my group's gotten an album with Tricky on it—and unlike the time we got a second album with Jah Wobble, I can actually give this one a pretty solid thumbs up. Like every album I've gotten from this generator, I've only given it two complete listens at most, so I can't tell you exactly what makes this so much better than MAXINQUAYE. At the very least, I can say it's more interesting. The beats and production are interesting, the samples are interesting, the lyrics are interesting—and I'm not just talking about the strings of Beatles lyrics on that one song. It's not the bloated snooze-fest that MAXINQUAYE was. Maybe it's because this doesn't lean into dub as much as that one does, but I'unno. I was only going to give this album my typical "it's fine" 3, but as I'm writing this I'm listening to the second side of the album and "Hymn Of The Big Wheel" came on, and that alone is enough for me to bump it up another star. I also wanna say—my group all seem to agree that Massive Attack's later album, MEZZANINE, is better than this one. I haven't heard it aside from from hearing "Teardrop" hear and there, but looking it up on Wikipedia, I can't help but notice a curious lack of Tricky on it. Maybe that's relevant, I'unno.

I feel like I'm giving this album a 4 largely because that's what I gave the last Bob Dylan album my group covered (BRINGING IT ALL BACK HOME). I mean, to me there's nothing really better or that much worse than the previous album that would give cause to a different rating. I think I ultimately prefer BRINGING IT ALL BACK HOME, at least the electric side, for how much more it leans into Americana melodies—I **do** tend more towards melodies than meaning, after all. And believe me, this album has a **lot** of meaning. It was way more with this album than with the previous one that I got some people's problems with Dylan. I mean, most people, especially those who're recently born, don't go to music to analyze Balzac poetry, I get it. I don't, either, and I had to go to Genius.com to help me parse a lot of it. But if I'm the mood for it, it can be pretty interesting. Heck, I was having a time figuring out what "Ballad Of A Thin Man" meant to me. If I'm not, combined with the instrumentals, it woulda felt like an absolute slog, but thankfully... And I don't know how to close this review, since I'm kind of just stream-of-consciousness-ing out thoughts I had about this album while I was at work, so, uhm... I guess I liked the "It Takes A Train To Cry" song the best? Ironically the track with the least words. And given my group got BLACK HOLES AND REVELATIONS the other day, that's two non-consecutive albums we've gotten in such a short period of time with ties to the WATCHMEN movie. Weird.

Y'know, I think I like this album a better than the previous gothic rock outing my group got, JUJU, because this one's way more New Wave-y. And it's an early example of the sound, too, given that this came out in 1980. If you didn't tell me what year this was released in, I coulda sworn it was later in the decade. And, yeah, it's not enough to raise this album up a star, but,y'know, still. I can dig it.

I haven't listened to this as much as I have TO PIMP A BUTTERFLY or even DAMM., but it's what kicked the door open for K.Dot, so... I wish I had more to say about this album, but I really don't. It's just good-ass raps around a story where a young Kendrick realizes maybe this hood life ain't so good after all. And note: a **YOUNG** Kendrick. To the guy whose response to the Eiffel tower line in "Backseat Freestyle" was "FFS grow up": did you even understand the plot? Seriously. Anyway, uhm, I'unno. "m.A.A.d city" goes hard as hell and that's the last thing I wanna say. Well, aside fro—YAWK YAWK YAWK YAWK.

Before yesterday, Dire Straits was a band I knew for only two songs: "Money For Nothing" and "Walk Of Life", which I'd been exposed to via Weird Al and ROCK BAND respectively. I really love both of those songs (a number of lyrics on the former aside), but I never really felt the need to dive deeper into their catalog beyond that. Sure, I think I listened to BROTHERS IN ARMS once a few years ago, but I know it was only once and I can't recall anything about it. So here we have the band's first album from a few years earlier, and... It's not really as complex. I mean, of course; there's no organs or synths, and there's no female backing singers and no song runs seven minutes. One runs six, sure, but still. It's just a whole lot rootsier and less pop. And I like it; it's good guitar music without all the extra frills. I mean, you hear all of those riffs Knopfler's playing on "Sultans Of Swing"? Goodness me. That being said, I did find it a little easy to have my attention swayed from it. Maybe it has more to do with things about me unrelated to the album, but it's still a fact that not a whole lot on the first album 100% pulled me in except for "Sultans Of Swing" and maybe "Wild West End". It's not entirely fair to compare this album to "Money For Nothing" and "Walk Of Life", since that's comparing two days to songs that've been in my life for years, but they got the pop hooks, y'know? And hooks, I gotta admit, are what keep me locked in a lot of the time. Good guitar playing can only do so much before I start to phase out. I'm happy I've heard this album, of course, and I wouldn't put it past me to give it another listen—and maybe BROTHERS IN ARMS, too—but I'd gone this long without doing it, so...

Before taking part in this generator, a lot of my experience with 60's music didn't go much outside The Beatles. Sure, I also have had dips into Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd and The Monkees and so on, but never a true step into **the** stereotypical sound of the decade—hippie psychedelia. The closest I'd gotten before now was Frank Zappa's satire of the sub-culture on WE'RE ONLY IN IT FOR THE MONEY. So as a first dip into the sound of San Fransico's Haight Street... Hey, I dig it. Outside of "Somebody To Love" and "White Rabbit", this is pretty much exactly what I'd imagine hippie psychedlia would sound like, and it turns out I like it a lot. The singles, of course, are just the little extra pinch of sugar on the LSD. Y'know, that's already on top of the sugar cube. Or something—I'unno, 60's drugs. Should I even be mentioning that stuff in the presence of "White Rabbit"? Big shout outs to THE MATRIX RESURRECTIONS for first tipping me off to that song, by the way. Amazing shit.

I remember this was the first Beatles album I ever got on CD, for my birthday in... I wanna say 2011? And ever since, it's never stopped being my favorite. It's just non-stop masterpieces, front to back. Yes, even "Maxwell's Silver Hammer"; I **love** all of the Moog shit on it. But especially "Something", "I Want You (She's So Heavy)", "Here Comes The Sun" and the entire medley. I get the arguments for REVOLVER as the more important Beatles album, but on a purely musical level, there's no other album that inspires as much joy in me as this one does. And I'm not even talking about just Beatles albums, or albums on this list. In general, it might be my favorite album ever made of all-time, and I cannot praise its ass enough. It's absolutely the one 6 I know I would give if I could. Now I jus' gotta hope the album I get after this can carry on this high.

There's so much things I could say about what this album makes me think about, from the fact that Marley was nearly assassinated before a concert against political violence, to my feelings about Marley's popular image is these days... But la-la-la-la, lemme just stick to the review: this is my favorite Wailers album. From all the hits on the back end to stuff I feel isn't paid much attention popularly up front. It's good to chill to, it's good to think about your spirit to... It's both sides of Bob, right here. And seriously, I'm doin' y'all a favor not writing a whole damn essay about...

I feel like the top-rated review of this album gave me the wrong impression going in. If you haven't read it—maybe you're sorting by date and not top-rated, I'unno—in short, it's not a review of the album but instead a critique of the 1001 Albums list for including the 29th album by an artist instead of, like, albums from people who're newer and more recent. Like, are the boomers really taking up that much air that a past-their-prime album can get on here instead of, like, I'unno, DEMON DAYS? That thought really set me up for the worst, and... Honestly, I really liked it. I mean, for one, I like Emmylou's voice a lot. This is the second album my group's gotten from her, after TRIO with Dolly Parton and Linda Ronstadt, and her voice reminded me a lot of Dolly's, actually. Which isn't a bad thing by me; I **love** hearing Dolly sing, so this is just a treat. And beyond that, I just really appreciate that there's more going on here than it just being a country album. With that genre label, I was expecting some shit that's like "Of course the critics would lap this the hell up, but I find it **boring as toast**," though it turns out it's kind of not even accurate. Sure, the country-ness of it is all over the place, especially, I found, in how a lot of the lyrics are structured, but there's so many more influences that've gone into it. Honestly, I'm more wont to use Wikipedia's second genre label for it, "Americana," than country—and even then I don't feel like that really taps into everything Emmylou did here. Y'know? And, I mean, despite what I just said, I actually **like** country, but I'm jus' kinda glad it doesn't sound anything like the other country from around this time that I've heard (via Cledus T. Judd's parodies). So I dug the album. That's neat. As for whether or not I think this belongs on the 1001 Albums list... No? Maybe? It's not a knock against the album, of course, and I think it **is** worth hearing if you're into country, but... Do I feel like it's omething you **absolutely** need to hear before you die? I'm not 100% sure. It's more worthy than Kid Rock at least, although it's not like **that's** a high bar to clear.

Y'know, if I'm kinder towards Morrissey than I am Kid Rock, it's not because I actually like the guy. More, it's just about exposure in relation to the quality of their music they've made. Kid Rock makes shitty rap rock that's very easy to dunk on, so of course more people have talked about him and his beliefs. Morrissey, meanwhile, was a member of The Smiths, and a lot of that stuff is generally accepted as "good" and not as fun to dunk on. Hell, the two biggest pieces of criticism of him I've seen are a recent SIMPSONS episode and a JPEGMAFIA song. And wha'd'y'know, this is pretty good, too. Musically a very chill record that brings to mind the words "atmospheric new wave" in a lot of spots. It's a sound I gel quite a bit. If this is anything like what The Smiths sounded like, then, honestly, it makes me feel a little sorry I haven't checked them out sooner beyond Richard Cheese's cover of "How Soon Is Now?". It's a bit of a wash-over, but like I don't like one of those every once in a while, eh? I was only able to give this thing one listen today, and that's largely why I'm giving it a 3, but I could totally see myself bumping it up to a 4 on repeat. Honestly, it's kind of a shame that just on principle I'm never gonna listen to this again. Like, if it weren't for the man behind it, I'd probably definietely play it a few more times. But that's what he gets for bein' a piece of shit. Boy, bet he feels bad now that I've said that. And, hey, I mean, if I want good music from people who hate Maragret Thatcher, I'll stick with Chumbawamba, thank you very much.

I'll admit, when I was listening to this album today I wasn't exactly feeling it. Sure, I recognized enough quality in it to give it an "It's fine" 3 at least, but compared to the other British 60's music I like, and even to blur's PARKLIFE, I wasn't exactly all there. But then I watched Parlogram Auction's video covering this and two other albums by The Kinks, where he pointed out a way it's relevant today: nostalgia. The album was always about nostalgia, of course, but specifically in regards to how people these tends tend to have artificial nostalgia for times they never lived in. After the video I went back and listened to the album's single, "Starstruck", and I started to feel it a lot more. 'Cuz, like, I've always kind of considered myself an older soul despite being in my mid-20's. I choose to blame it on how I spent a lot of time when I was younger and more easily influenced watching, like, James Rolfe and Doug Walker, and I ended up getting turned onto a lot of the nostalgia they expressed in their videos. I think it's largely where my love for physical media comes from, honestly. And as for music, well, I've always been a bit more fascinated by what's come before my birth than after. It might not be reflected stastically, but for as many modern albums as I love, I do tend to return to older stuff more often than not. Big surprise, when I take the lyrics into consideration I get more out of it; who'd'a thought? Anyway, it's not enough for me to bump this album up a 4, but it's certainly closer than it was before. Absolutely it's one from this band that should be checked one. And all the shout outs in the world to HOT FUZZ for turning me onto "VIllage Green", too. Love that movie!

The biggest thing I've had on my mind listening to this album has been context and its importance to the listening experience–or lack thereof. I've made it no secret in my past reviews that I find context pretty important: PACIFIC OCEAN BLUE, IF YOU WANT IT DARKER, EXODUS, even DEVIL WITHOUT A CAUSE. Nothing exists in a vacuum; what happens before and after a piece can be just as important as the piece itself. But I suppose the question is "To what point is it really necessary?" The review of this album on this website that stuck out the most to me has been one that claimed that Pitchfork's retrospective review of the album is 80% relaying the surrounding context. I skimmed the review before I read this, and that does seem to be the case. The reviewer does spend a lot of time going over the personal and professional trouble Raitt was going through beforehand and the success she found with this album afterwards. There's only a paragraph or two in there that actually touches on the music itself. And, y'know, on the one hand I get: the story is the appeal. Y'know, listening to it and knowing that Raitt was able to pull herself up from such a dark place and produce such a commercially and critically successful album. It won her Album Of The Year for goodness sake. But on the other hand, you wonder: is that it? Is that all this album has going for it: its surrounding story? What does it offer beyond that? I'll say to begin with that I had no idea who Bonnie Raitt was seeing this album pop up. Which felt weird to me. Sure, I recognized her name, the album title, and even the cover, but I didn't have a clue what it'd sound like. How do I recognize an artist so much and not know how they sound? It took me nigh on five minutes to remember she won the 2023 GRAMMY for Song Of The Year, and in the interim I legit confused this album for the Stevie Nicks one with "Edge Of Seventeen". Then, when I actually listened to the album... Despite clearly reading on Wikipedia that this is an Americana album, for some reason I kept comparing it to the country albums I've heard? From her debut she was blues and folk, but I kept thinking about, like, the Johnny Cash and Dolly Parton songs I liked, and the more modern songs I was introduced to through Cledus T. Judd. 'Cuz at least in the title track I can hear that style of writing. Musically, **Lord** no. It's not the most 80's thing I've ever heard, but it's up there. I mean, maybe that's why I thought it was country. I guess I expect Americana to be rootsier, like that Emmylou album I heard before. And with way less synthesizers. Certainly I can't hear it as **blues** like Wikipedia also claims it is. Honestly, listening to this album in 2024, I can't help but wonder why it was such a big hit. What was really so different in 1989 that this hit hard enough to win Album Of The Year? Even removing it from its context, like I often do with Axl Rose's CHINESE DEMOCRACY, doesn't make anything here terribly better. I guess her voice is nice, and I didn't think there was a song on here that was terrible, but... Beh. This is a 3 from me, but a lower end 3. It doesn't spill into the realm of 2's by virtue of not being an ass-boring drum n' bass album, and that's not entirely an impressive feat. At the end of the day, though, I don't wanna begrudge Bonnie Raitt anything. This album helped her out of a bad place, I'm happy for that. And clearly, this album and the story surrounding it holds a lot for people who resonate with it. Just a shame it doesn't do anything for me.

Ah. Good ol' Captain Beefheart. The absolute mad man who somehow got TROUT MASK REPLICA to exisit. And this is two albums before that. Y'know, only knowing Beefheart from TROUT MASK REPLICA, it really surprised me how... Compartively normal this album is. Sure, a bit of that weirdness is still there, particularly in the lyrics, but you compare, say, "Abba Zaba" to "Frownland", it's damn night and day here. And I actually like this lot. Like, yeah, this is pretty standard Delta blues compared to what Beefheart would later be known for, but he's got a great voice for it, and, I'unno, I jus' like me some good blues music sometimes. I mean, I only had to listen to this thing one time to understand it, so that's gotta be worth something, eh?

This ended up being a really evocative album for me. Not one I love, no, but one where, with just a guitar and his voice, I can just see the open London highway Bert's rambling down. And the way I figure it, how much you enjoy this album really plays into how much you buy the vocation. Either you're traveling right along with him down the road... Or you quickly fade back into reality, wherever you are. As for me, I'm firmly more in the camp where I can smell the early morning breeze.

Y'know, don't get me wrong—I love all of the single disc albums in Stevie's golden period. This period isn't so highly regarded for no reason. But... I'unno. As much as I like them, at a point the start to mesh together a little outside of the REALLY big songs. Like, TALKING BOOK is amazing, and I've actually heard it more than INNERVISIONS, but there are songs where I can't really remember how they go. Not with INNERVISIONS, though. Each song, they're all distinct from one another; I can remember exactly how they all go. Even the two songs I find the weakest, "All In Love Is Fair" and "Jesus Children Of America", they stick out so well in my mind. And, I mean, look, this album's got "Higher Ground" **and** "Living For The City". Even if this album was a 1, the presence of those two alone would raise this thing to, like, a 3 at least; they're just that good. Of course that's not to underplay the other songs; "Golden Lady" and "Don't You Worry 'Bout A Thing" both come to mind immediately. It's just, those are such masterpieces on a masterpiece in a catlog of masterpieces. Absolutely incredible, all around. Another one I could give a 6 if I could for how much it's entrenched in my soul.

Listening to this album, in a lot of spots I was reminded of Owl City. And The Beach Boys. And Barenaked Ladies. And Ben Folds. And The Flaming Lips. And "You're So True" from SHREK 2. And, like, in another person's eyes that'd be harsh criticism, but me, I'm just like, "Heck, I like all those bands; I'm down for this 100%."

Y'know, I'm sure if I heard this album in a 70's dance club—and I mean a legit dance club, too; not something that was built into a strip mall—this woulda gone off for me so much more than it did.

(Due to my strong personal convictions, I wish to stress that neither this review or how I rate this album in any way endorses a belief in Kanye West. Additionally, I listened to this album using files I'd downloaded years ago; no streaming revenue went towards West.) I don't think I'll dread writing any review more than I did this one. Even the other two Kanye albums on this list won't be as bad as this, because it's with this I have to grapple with how I'm even going to talk about or rate his music in the first place. I mean, for all intents and purposes, I should just give this a 1 and move on. A 0, if I could. I shouldn't even have listened to the album. As of late, he's done nothing to deserve praise or fair analysis for anything he's done or will do. No matter how many "bagners" he has, at the end of the day he's a raging, far-right anti-semite, and I know it's not just me, but I find it hard to enjoy music from someone like that. I mean, he's not like Morrissey, where I'm VERY aware of his views, but because I haven't had much experience with them I'm more able to fairly judge his work. It's been way more... Y'know, Kid Rock. Kanye's decline has been in my face for the longest time now, and I've made efforts not to listen to him since at least 2019 and JESUS IS KING. Once he started pushing that "prosperity gospel" nonsense, even before he started praising Hitler, it was all over for me. Aside from some degrees-of-separation stuff like toasty digital and a Weezer mashup album, that, frankly, I should cut out as well, I just couldn't put up with him anymore. So, imagine my surprise when I come out of this, his debut, and the main feeling I have is... Sadness. Maybe a little mournful, even, for what we've lost. I mean, hearing "Jesus Walks" again, all I can think of is how he later betrayed the song's message (that Jesus walks with the downtrodden; not the rich who'd set up shops in the temples if they could) with JESUS IS KING. With "Through The Wire", I just think about how he'd later reframe one of the most important moments in his life, the car crash that resulted in his jaw getting wired shut, to be some petulant "divorced dad" shit about Pete Davidson. And listening to the extended outro of "Last Call", where Kanye explains how he even got to make this album... Gawd, it just felt tragic, knowing where he'd end up. And where he'd end up is VULTURES 1. I refuse to hear it, just on principle, but even the little I've heard about lets me know I'd hate it. Just knowing that on "Carnival"—which was a **NUMBER ONE HIT**, for some reason—that for shock value he compares himself to Bill Cosby, R. Kelly and Chris Brown... I'm tired. Writing this review has stressed me and made me feel not great and I'm tired. I'm giving this album a 3 only because in the brief moments I could look past what I felt about him as a person, it's fine. Good, but not mind blowing. I mean, I'll admit openly, there's parts I like. Even as much as new context has tainted "Jesus Walks", it's still amazing. The outro to "Family Business" is prtty damn good as well. Plus, jus', in general the beatwork is immaculate. But from what I caught of the verses... Big "Eh," y'know? And, like, did it **need** to be 76 minutes long? This isn't as bad as premo 90's CD bloat, but still. Some of this possibly could have been trimmed. He'll make better stuff later on that more justifies its length—in the brief period of time when he still made good stuff, anyway. And I hope it's a long time 'fore I ever hear him again. Fuck you, Kanye, for making me do this shit.

I enjoy this album in a lot of spots, but, honestly, I feel like I'd enjoy this band more as a subject on One Hit Wonderland, y'know?

Y'know, I wanna try something different here. I'm gonna comment on each song on the album. And this decision, by the way, has nothing really to do with the album itself; I just feel like it, mostly. So, to get down to it: "Changes": The song from the album I recognize the best thanks to the cover in SHREK 2 that Bowie features on. And in fact, I like that cover a bit better? A lot better, actually. I credit it mostly to how much older Bowie sounds there. I mean, of course after 30 years he would sound older, but seriously. Maybe it's the nostalgia talking, too, I'll fully admit that, but I really think I'm being genuine here. Even with that, that's not to knock the original here. "Oh! You Pretty Things": During all of the listening I did today, this is the one I came back to the most. I kept getting the title line stuck in my head. Although, of the album's first three main songs, I think I'd put it third of three. I mean, come on, it's just hard to compare when you're standing next to two giants. "Eight Line Poem": Oh, yeah, this. This is one of those "flow over" tracks I have, where I'm pretty likely to zone out during it when I'm doing full album listens. It can be a nice listen; I just don't think it's really worth listening to outside of the full album context or as a coda to "Oh! You Pretty Things". "Life On Mars?": Best song on the album, full stop. I remember the first couple of times I heard it. I probably had the wrong expectations because I kept hearing it described as a parody of "My Way", and I was disappointed when it didn't really sound anything like it, even in a broad "pastiche" sense. I've since gotten over that, and it's just **so good**. I've naturally memorized more lyrics from it outside of its chorus than I thought I would, which means a lot, believe. And for the record: yes, I **do** believe there's life on Mars—in the metaphorical sense this song means it in, anyway. "Kooks": It surprised me to read reviews here and keep seeing people say "Oh, I don't hate 'Kooks'; it's not **that bad**." Like, I'm not sure what I'd consider the "worst song" on the album, but I never thought it'd be this one. I've always liked it, at least because it's fun to sing with the "hung up on romancin'" line. Like, I'unno. It's just a nice, cute song. And a nice little break before what comes directly next, too. "Quicksand": OK, I know I just said I don't know what I'd call the worst song on the album, but if I were hard pressed... I mean, I don't even wanna say this one, 'cuz I know I'd just be saying it only because I find it the hardest song on the album to understand. Taking a guess, I thought it was about that feeling you get when you're lacking inspiration, but it might actually be about not knowing what happens after you die? Something about the "great beyond?" I really don't know, and I'm not terribly equipped to analyze poetic lyrics like this. I like the "Don't believe in yourself" refrain, anyway. "Fill Your Heart": If there's anything I wanna comment on here, it's the same thing Abigail Devoe pointed out when she talked about this song: how Bowie jumps into his falsetto during that last "free-EEEEE." Such a joy. "Andy Warhol": Most of the time I think about this song, it's about how Metallica later quoted it during "Master Of Puppets". And about how I can't **really** hear it? I'm sure it is, but sometimes I'm bad at picking up melodic references like that. Also just the fact that, eh, I'unno. It's fine. I like the "Andy walking, Andy tired" bit, but otherwise... Oh, and of course the chorus, too. I love me my chourses. At any rate, if I were Andy Warhol, I'd like it more than he actually didn't. "Song For Bob Dylan": One time I read on Wikipedia that this was considered the weakest song on the album, and that's how I've always thought of it. Is it really? Probably not, but of every song on this side of the record, I think I'd think about it the least. Even though I did reference/quote the opening lyrics back when I talked about HIGHWAY 61 REVISITED. I mean, you name me another song about Bob Dylan to quote, huh? "Queen Bitch": The best song on side two, hands down. "Bippity-boppity hat," I love it. One time while I was listening to this song, I imagined myself back in mid-1970's New York, dancing in a silk dress around some kind of Bohemian apartment with a glass of wine in hand. I was actually in my family's townhouse wearing a housecoat and holding a cup of water with red Kool-Aid flavoring that'd been squirted in, but, y'know, still. The spirit was there. Real lucky, that Lou Reed, to get this song made about him. "The Bewlay Brothers": The song that actually has the densest lyrics on the album, but I don't mind it as much as "Quicksand" because even Bowie himself said before recording a take not to pay attention to the lyrics. And most of the time, honestly, I don't. Before now, it's been another "flow over" track for me, where I zone out right before the final bit snaps me back in. Just like on "Eight Line Poem", I mostly blame it on the instrumental not being as attention grabbing as some of the other songs. But... Y'know, when I was relistening to this album at, like, 5AM, and I was staring into some of the dark corners of my family's townhouse... With this song filling my ears at the same time, it was actually a little unsettling, imagining what could be hiding in there. Jeez. Overall, let me say first I haven't sampled the entire Bowie ouvre. Heck, I only heard YOUNG AMERICANS just this month thanks to the generator. But I'm fairly certain that once I do, this'll still remain probably my favorite Bowie album. This or ZIGGY STARDUST. It dips a little for me on side two, but come on, it's got "Life On Mars?". Like INNERVISIONS having "Living For The City", that's worth enough points by itself.

Listening to this album really makes it hard to believe that it's the only System Of A Down album here. Like, no way this is the only notable thing they've ever done. You listen to Serj's vocals and how weird their instrumentals can get in places and tell me TOXICITY doesn't also deserve to be here at least. Come on, book. They've made some fun-ass angry music, and they deserve to get a double instead of a single.

Do I like this album? Yeah, a fair bit. I don't think I like it as much as the last indie rock album my group got, SO MUCH FOR THE CITY by The Thrills; and I don't think enough to give it a 4, but I can hear why so many people were goin' nuts for it back in 2010. Do I think it's the best album of 2010, though? I mean, I think I've listened to PLASTIC BEACH a bit too much to agree.

It's albums like these I'm glad I make an effort to listen to every album twice—or one-and-a-half times, at least. Because on a first go around, I was gonna give this a 3 that was leaning more towards a 2. Y'know, I didn't really understand it, but I didn't here anything I obviously disliked: it's fine. It was only within the last four tracks that this album finally clicked for me, and relistening to the first half of the album with those in mind (plus the knowledge that this is a concept album about relationships), I enjoyed it a whole lot more. Between Kelela's vocals and the R&B futurism beats... It's a lot of neat stuff. I'm still not giving this more than a 3 'cuz it's nothing I'd really return to beyond the day it was generated for me, but I had a good time with it while it lasted. Y'know, it's a 3 closer to a 4. (Also, another thing helped me understand this album, honestly: fanmade Epic Rap Battles. Jus', keeping those beats and flows in mind really did help me, honest to goodness.)

I've been tryna think of some kind of big through-line; some essay-style framework to write this review around, but nah, man. This is just some good-ass chill music. **Really** good-ass chill music. Like, within the first 30 seconds, I dug it so hard. Absolutely something I'm gonna put on in the future to kick back to. Hell, if my sleep schedule still meant I'd get up in the morning, I'd put it alongside FRIENDS by The Beach Boys and MOTHER EARTH'S PLANTASIA as a great "wake up, start the day" album. I mean, I don't even know what to say about the album specifically; it's just vibes too hard for that, and I'm all for it. And big shout-out, too, for the fact that The Moog Cookbook, a group I **really** like, remixed one of the songs on here. That's a damn cherry on top, and I don't even like cherries.

I wanted to write a longer review or whatever for this album, but some stuff happened in real life just before I got down to it that's stressing me the hell out as I write this, so I'm gonna make this a little briefer than I was planning. This is a fun album. I mean, **I** certainly enjoyed it. I can't hear **exactly** how it influenced Nirvana's NEVERMIND, but like I wouldn't take Kurdt at his word about it. It's clearly not for everyone—see the fact that the top-rated review of the album on this website, which gives it a 1, calls the it "just noise"—but if you click with it, it's a pretty enjoyable listen. And, hey, I'm just happy the superhero Tony finally got his own song.

I'll put it like this: the band was described itself as "avant-garage," and I dig the "garage" half more than I do the "avant-" half.

The top-rated review of this album complains about the abundance of Britpop on this list—"shitty Britpop," as they put it—and, I mean... I'unno. I'm OK with it. More than OK with it, really. Turns out I'm real down for Britpop, even outside of the big two of blur and Oasis. I'd put this below blur, though. Just considering the albums my group has gotten, anyway. But I'd still put it above The Verve, so...

Y'know, I've seen some talk this is the best album of the 90's, from the best band on the 90's. Like, that's a damn claim coming from the same decade that gave us Nirvana's NEVERMIND, Oasis's WHAT'S THE STORY (MORNING GLORY?), Radiohead's OK COMPUTER, Weird Al's BAD HAIR DAY and so many more. What makes this road material so great? And I didn't go into this album with the predisposed derision that question would imply, but it was still on my mind. What **did** make so many critics claim this thing's greatness? I can't claim a defnitive answer. Frankly, no one can, but that's besides the point. All I can speak on is the moment I got the closest glimpse to what they were talking about—without reading what they actually said, anyway. I was listening to "Range Life" for the third time 'cuz I kept missing the verse where the band disses The Smashing Pumpkins, and during an instrumentral break, I closed my eyes and asked myself: "What decade does this come from?" Does this **actually** sound like a 90's album? Or is it more 70's? 60's? 2000's? I couldn't exactly pin down what decade it sounded like. Stark constrast to a lot of the other albums I've heard so far, even the ones I love more, with all my soul. INNERVISIONS and ABBEY ROAD are masterpieces of their time, but in a lot of spots they kinda sound like their time. Not in a bad way, of course; but there's just moments where I can point to and be like "That's the 60's/70's." Meanwhile, y'look at "Range Life", and the mentions of The Smashing Pumpkins and Stone Temple Pilots aside, I'd be hard pressed. I didn't relisten to any of the rest of the album after that, so I can't say how much the rest of it holds up to that, but at least from what I remember about side two (that's the one I listened to twice)... "Fillmore Jive" especially, I tell you. Wuuf. So, do I agree with the critics? No, I don't think so. But can I at least understand where they're coming from? Eh, enough, I'd say.

I've yet to sample the entire RHCP ouvere, but for the time being, hot damn, this is my favorite album of theirs. Even when I do get around to sampling the rest of them, I doubt any of them will have just that right mix for me of their typical funk jams, alt rock doodlings and Kledis's weird-ass lyrics about sex, California or both. And they **are** weird lyrics, believe you me—let's not even touch those lines at the front of "Purple Stain". Big ol' bonus for me, too, that I can't hear any of the loudness war stuff I hear people talk about, so I don't got any points for that. I'm still docking for it's **length** of course, and that's the closest reason I can articulate why this is a 4 instead of a 5 (and even then that's not really an issue for me here), but at least I've never heard what clipping sounds like. Oh, and those lines at the top of "Purple Stain". Those dock points, too.

Well, it's 70's reggae by a Wailers-adjacent. You can't really go wrong with that stuff. Like, besides relaying my own relationship to legalized weed—that my mom smokes it for medicinal reasons and I think it smells kind of bad—I really can't think of much else to say. Granted, sure, it doesn't have that same spark for me that full-on Bob Marley material has—which is maybe why I liked the song he had a writing credit on the best—but don't take that to minimize Peter Tosh, no. He was a member of The Wailers, too, after all. But then, he doesn't get his name tossed up front, so... I'unno. Reggae is good reggae is the point. Unless it's cod. And even then I have my soft spots for "Jamaica Jerk-Off" and, damn, "Rude" of all things.

Y'know, I'm just not sure if I really get what makes this one of the top 100 albums of all time accoridng to Rolling Stone (as in, it's 100 exactly as of 2020). Like, I can guess at elements—the harmonies, the communial songwriting, how it sounds like it actually sounds like guys playing in a basement... And just the fact that they were able to step out of Bob Dylan's shadow the way they did. I mean, I think of these guys, I hardly ever think that they were Dylan's backing band. Even on this album, where I'm actively aware Dylan wrote two songs. It's just, I'm not seeing the sauce. Worth a listen, sure, but I'm not sure why music from the Big Pink is good compared to music from anywhere else. Also, for some reason it really made me wanna listen to "The Chain"? I have no idea.

I don't have much to say; I'm just an absolute sucker for when symphonies get added to songs that Ilike that originally didn't have them, and S&M is one of my absolute favorites. Sure, it runs a little long... A **lot** long, yeah, but I really don't care, honestly. Not when it has "No Leaf Clover" and among my favorite versions of "Master Of Puppets", "Fuel", "Hero Of The Day", and especially "One". The way James screams "NO" before the final guitar solo is just too perfect. It's stuff like that, and the transition from "The Thing That Should Not Be" to "fuel", that makes this one of those "deep in my soul" 5's for me. Plus, it's nice to give a metal album a 5 to balance out the 1 I gave to Kid gawddamn Rock.

Gawd, the keys and synths on this thing, man. The KEYS AND SYNTHS. That was my favorite part of this whole album, with a doubt. In fact, honestly, I kinda feel like this album could've been an instrumental and I would've enjoyed it just as much. I mean, certainly, whatever barbs it has against Thatcherism don't apply to me here and now, not being in the 1980's or the UK. But, jus', play me "Hit Music" or "It's A Sin" and I'm down **good**. If I gotta pick any one reason why I'm giving this thing a 4 and not a 5, I'll say it's "I Want To Wake Up". More like, "I Want To Fall Asleep. 'Cuz It's Kind Of Boring Compared To Everything Else On Here". Yeah, take **that**.

CLOUD NINE is an album carried **heavily** by two songs: the title track and "Runaway Child, Running Away". The rest of the album, meanwhile... I mean, to tackle those first, the songs from the fourth onward are just fine Temptations fare. Good, but nothing spectacular. Kind of underwhelming, honestly, in the face of its stand-outs. And, boy, that "I Heard It Through The Grapevine" cover sure does exist, dunnit? But "Cloud Nine" is a great piece of Sly inspired music, and "Runaway Child, Running Away" is a damn sprawling epic work of psychdelic soul that helped pave the way for their daminger sprawlinger epicer "Papa Was A Rollin' Stone". It's a trip and a half, I tell you what. The album's absolutely worth hearing alone jusr for those two. And, y'know, based on those songs merits I wanted to say that elevated this album as a whole to a 4. But, like everything else that aren't those songs are so "it's fine" that I'm really feeling it's more a 3. This isn't an INNERVISIONS and "Living In The City" or HUNKY DORY and "Life On Mars?" case here, y'know? So anyway, that was my group's 100th album. A bit of a squib for the only 100th album we're ever gonna get, but there's always hope our next milestones are better bangs.

Writing a review for an album like this is hard for someone like me. Because, sure, I enjoyed the beats and the samples that made them up, and I really dug the flows. Me tending so naturally towards melody, of course I do. But ILLMATIC is an album that's all about its lyrics; complexly-formed street poetry about inner-city life in Queens, New York. And it's just, unless I force myself to spend a whole day listening to nothing but this album and focusing on the lyrics, I can't grasp them. Sure, I can appreciate how the lines their constructed and all their internal rhymes, but I don't think I've absorbed enough of the actual meanings to really be able to comment on them. And with albums like this, I feel like if I'm not able to comment on the meanings, then why bother? Not that they'd mean much to me personally—me, a Canadian living in 2024. At the very least, do I think the lyrics expressed his stories well? With how well each line is made, it's hard to say they don't. I mean, I'unno. If I can appreciate MF DOOM's technicality without really understanding a lot of what he means, I can like this album, too. Besides, my favorite Nas song is "Hip Hop Is Dead", so how much is my opinion worth, really?

Seeing this album labelled as avant-garde jazz on Wikipedia made me expect worse. I mean, I see that descriptor and I'm expecting... Like, noise, honestly. Atonal and with everyone playing in a different weird time signature, but I'm supposed to appreciate it because, I'unno, it's hard to play a trumpet in 30/31. However, it turns out I really can't hear what's so avant-garde about it. At most it sounds like the jazz Frank Zappa would have The Mothers play—and that's a big compliment in my book. The same one I gave THIRD by Soft Machine, actually. (Though give this album the benefit, only one song approaches 20 minutes, and even then it's because it's comprised of three smaller movements). I'unno, I just really dug it. It's one I'd throw on whenever I'm in the mood for something like it, sure. Sometimes I need a little THE GRAND WAZOO, y'know? And this isn't even the album by this guy that got on the Rolling Stone 500? Gosh, you can only imagine how good **that one** is.

I'unno. I get what it's doing—some kinda Roy Orbison-style nostalgia throwback—and normally I'd eat that sort of thing up, but for whatever reason it just didn't click with me the day I had it. Maybe I just didn't catch it at the right time, maybe blame it on the fact that I was too lazy to move from the room where my mom was blasting "It's Gonna Be Me"... For what it's doing, it's very good, but just for my own personal enjoyment, I'm givin' it a 3 right now. And the building on the cover isn't even Coles Corner. I'd remove a star for that alone~!

Before I listened to this album, I told my group that I wasn't gonna be listening to this album. Which is to say, I wasn't going to afford it the same level of attention I've given every other album on this list. It's ambient music, after all; it's not meant to be listened to in the same way you would other genres. And that's not a knock against the stuff, of course. That's just, bluntly, how it is by design. And I understand, for that reason, the frustration some have about the inclusion of an album like this on a list like this. Ambient music, to most ears, is essentially wallpaper. You put that next to ABBEY ROAD and THE DARK SIDE OF THE MOON and TO PIMP A BUTTERFLY, and how does it even stack up? How does it even compare? For me, yeah, I kept my word. I didn't really listen to the album; it just kind of floated in and out of my attention as I did other things. But whenever I did catch it... Damn, it's some transcendental shit. Just, these vast, open, beautiful soundscapes. Heaven stretches before your ears. There's not much there melodically, true. If you're looking for it, I get the disappointment. But just for how it evokes for me a sense of safety and calm... Damn. A++ tape loops.

(NOTE: I did not stream this album. I listened to it via a CD I've owned for around a decade now. No money was given to Kanye West in the making of this review. Thank you.) Every now and then I think back to the review I wrote for THE COLLEGE DROPOUT and wince a little. Y'know, as much as I stand by a lot of what I said, there I hafta wonder, "Did I spend too much time calling out Kanye?" Like, "We get it. He's big divorced dad energy and loves Nazis. Do you **need** to keep saying you don't like him and 'Fuck him' and all that? You've talked about how much you don't like him as a person more than you have the damn music. You already gave an 'I don't condone him' disclaimer. What moral brownie points are you aiming for here, exactly?" On the one hand, I blame this on that album being my first Kanye review. I felt like I had to take the time to air out my opinions on the man. With how much he ends up talking about himself on these albums, it's not exactly an unimportant piece of context. Plus, it's better to get it all out in one burst at the start than to keep repeating myself over the course of the next two–even if I doubt most people outside of my group are gonna read my reviews, let alone in order. But on the other hand–and this is the bigger hand, I figure–I don't have much of an attachment to THE COLLEGE DROUPOUT. Preparing for that review was probably only the second time I've heard it in full over the course of a decade. Of course, then, it was really easy for me to get distracted from talking about the music to going on about something where I had more to say. Don't get me wrong, I recognize THE COLLEGE DROPOUT for its beatwork and "Jesus Walks" (even if Kanye's gone on to betray its message). But I just don't have that link that inspires me to write much about it. Unlike this album. MY BEAUTIFUL DARK TWISTED FANTASY is home to my favorite song Kanye ever made, "Runaway". I love the extended "single note" piano intro. I love the beat it turns into. I love singing along to it. I even love the "I sent this bitch a picture of my dick" line for how memorably bad it is. And every other song on the album has its great share of beats, moments and memorable lines, too. "CAN WE GET MUCH HIGHER?" "Choke a SOUTH PARK writer with a fish stick." The whole ending to "POWER". Elton John's piano playing. "MJ GONE–A [n] DEAD." Nicki's verse on "Monster". "That'll be the same day MTV plays videos. That was a little joke–voila." That guitar line before Rick Ross's verse on "Devil In A New Dress". The "Iron Man" interpolation on "Hell Of A Life". "Avril 14th". The intro to "Lost In The World". None of them, though, compare to the second half of "Runaway". The entire vocal solo. That feeling when you want to express yourself, explain yourself ("I'mma be honest")... But you can't. And it can only come out as a long, pained, anguished wail that says more than any words ever could. It's beautiful, honestly. I get close to tearing up over it. And it's damn depressing with the context of 2024. I mean, let's be clear: it needs to be acknowledged that bad people can make good art. Just because Kanye turned out to be a piece of shit doesn't mean his old music is suddenly bad. Hell, he was a piece of shit back when he made this album. Remember the whole "I'MMA LET YOU FINISH" incident? This album was made following that controversy. And he's no stranger to controversy, of course–"GEORGE BUSH DOESN'T CARE ABOUT BLACK PEOPLE," after all. But when even the president was vocally calling him a jackass... You can view the vocal solo on "Runaway" as a reaction to all that. That he wanted to say so much in response, but ultimately couldn't. That he'd never be understood anyway. And in that light, this whole album is such an underdog triumph. That he was the world's public scumbag #1 and still came out with a critically acclaimed, world conquering smash. That success just feels non-existent these days knowing there'd be controversy following this album, and much worse controversy than stealing a microphone from Taylor Swift. MY BEAUTIFUL DARK TWISTED FANTASY is a masterpiece. Kanye's absolute peak before he slid off, in my opinion. True, it's entirely self-indulgent in how damn long it is (see: Rick Ross's verse on "Devil In A New Dress", the "Blame Game" skit, etc.), and just because a lyric is memorably bad doesn't stop it from being... Y'know, bad. It's just all trumped by the fact that it's my Kanye album. The first one of his I've discovered. Where, more than once, I'd imagined one of my own characters screaming out the vocal solo in "Runaway". That aria of sadness and anger at how painfully aware they are that they're a huge fuckin' asshole. And Kanye is an asshole. A jackass, even. He was one back then, and he's an even bigger one now. But I'll always have this. Even if I don't listen to this album anymore because of how inseparable Kanye is from his music, he'll never truly take "Runaway" away from me.

Just a very nice, fun burst of early pop punk (I didn't even think it existed before the 90's!) that reminded me a lot of the Buzzcocks and The Clash. And Jello Biafara in some spots, weirdly.

The first time I saw this album's cover, there was just this vibe about it. Like it was going to become the new album I bring up whenever I make some of the inclusions on this list. "CALENTURE got on this list, but not something or other?" That sort of deal. Listening to the album certainly didn't dispel that feeling. And the thing is, actually, that I don't even really think this album is... **Entirely** bad. It's got moments here and there—check those Irish-sounding instruments on "Jerdacuttup Man", not to mention how its opening sounds like Pink Floyd's "Echoes". I think that stuff's neat. It's just all so few and far between is all, which really highlights how oppressively, suffocatingly "FI-I-I-I-INE" the rest of the album is. I just can't hear what makes this thing so special, and as a result it's so hard to give a shit about it. While I was writing this review, even, I got so bored re-listening to the first side that I didn't even let it finish. What would I even gain? It's not like letting "Open For You" play out a second time would change my mind. In conclusion, to be fair, this album's got more going for it than others I've found to be slogs—TIMELESS, MAXINQUAYE—but, yeah, it's definitely going to be one of my new punching bags. Sorry, Australia. Maybe give me some AC/DC or INXS or whatever next time.

I kinda wish we got more albums like this and CLUBE DE ESQUINA more often. Not that I don't enjoy a good 60's folk album or... Random whatever from the 70's or 80's whose only legacy is being on this list, but I'd love to have more dives in foreign reigional music. I mean, it's just really interesting to get an earful of Hindustandi classical music—the really real stuff, too; not just what George Harrison was doing with The Beatles. And even if it turns out it's not your thing, I still think you're enriched by having heard this stuff. So, y'know, regardless of my feelings on it, I think it's worth your time.

I remember Todd In The Shadows's best list for 2017 was the first time I didn't recognize a single song he included, nor did I feel particularly inspired to listen to any of them. That was up to and including the song he picked for the top spot: "Green Light" by Lorde. Finally listenjng to it, and the album, seven years later... Man, I'm just reminded of how much I don't really care for modern, current popular releases. Like, sure, I can't hear anything I dislike about it, and I can probably point out a few specific moments I like, but in general nothing really speaks to or clicks with me, y'know? Even "Green Light". I mean, the only 2017 album I listened to in 2017 was HUMANZ by Gorillaz. **That's** what I'm into. This... Eh. Not as much, sadly.

The album that made James Brown a star. I mean, really; this right here is "star time." Front-to-back, it's nonstop excitement. And if you think the music's energetic, you gotta imagine what moves James is pullin' on stage. I mean, that's probably the only thing I'd really ding this album for—that, and the album ends a bit too abruptly after "Night Train"—but of course that's just a general fault of audio recordings; not just this album. Otherwise, more than just his hit songs or the sample clips, this is absolutely the album to understand why Brown was, indeed, the Hardest Working Man In Show Business.

When this album first popped up for my group, my initial reaction, like with a lot of albums from musicians and/or bands I don't recognize, was "Who the hell is this?" I mean, I hate to judge a book by its cover, but something about its cover just seemed... Off to me. Like this would be another random forgettable whatever where I hafta wonder why it's even on this list. Imagine my surprise, then, when after I listen to the album a friend in the group tells me that this group has **Peter Wellers**. The guy from The Jam! and whose solo album WILD WOOD I'd previously rated highly! That guy! I wish his presence did more for me than shift my question to "**What** the hell is this?", but still! Y'know, it actually took me a moment to figure out what a specific problem I had with this album was, and I think it's this: The Jam album I listened to back when, SOUND AFFECTS, is Mod revival and power pop, and it's very good at that. WILD WOODS is very much a 70's singer-songwriter dealie in the 90's, and it's very good at that. CAFÉ BLEU is called a sophisti-pop album, but it jumps all over the damn place, and it doesn't do anything it tries well. Aside from the album's opener, most of the album is just "bleh" dives into various styles. It's very lounge-y, and not even the fun, swinging kind of lounge. And when it's not just "whatever," it's "A Gospel", and the last thing I needed to hear on this album was any attempts at rapping. It's the most memorable thing here, and for all the wrong reasons. So that's a miss in my book, Wellers. I liked WILD WOODS, and my group hasn't gotten SOUND AFFECTS but I know I'm gonna rate it highly, and I know two-out-of-three ain't bad, but... Gawd, why the hell is this here?

The thing that surprised me the most about this album, honestly, is something another review for this album pointed out: if it were released today, or at least a few years ago, no one would bat an eye at it. In a world with Billie Eillish, it (Apple's voice here especially) doesn't sound out of place. And that's crazy, because not only was this album released back in the 90's, but by a 19 year old. How the hell did this woman at that age have such foresight to make this thing? I have to marvel at it. That being said, because it sounds so modern, it's not really for me. Like I said in my MELODRAMA review entry whatever, a lot of current popular just doesn't do it for me. Even Billie Eillish; I listen to new.wav's blink-182-style'd cover of "bad guy" way more than the original. The specific vibes this album gives off just aren't for me, y'know? I'unno. And I'unno how to end this, so I'll just say that when it comes to me and chamber pop, I way prefer LIL' BEETHOVEN and PET SOUNDS to what this is layin' down.

Eh, I'unno. As New Wave, it's not as weird as Q: ARE WE NOT MEN? A: WE ARE DEVO!, and it's not polished as, say, RIO. It sits kind of in the middle, and as a result, it's fine, but not terribly interesting my ears. I 100% dug "She Is Mine", though, so you can have that at least.

Damn exciting album y'ask me. Exciting riffs, exciting drums, exciting vocals... Darn gets me in the mood to check out some more riot grrrl, I tell you what. Or maybe I'll end up just listening to "Rebel Girl" again, I'unno.

This is an album that's walking a very fine line between being annoying and... Being annoying. Between all the various influences and sources that make up the instrumentals and M.I.A.'s voice itself, it's one hell of a balancing act where, like, it never fell into obnoxiousness for me, but I can absolutely hear how it would for others. All that said, if I'm giving this album a 3 and not a 4 for any reason, it's an apples and oranges comparison kind of deal. Like, if I want music with revolutionary lyrics, I've already got Chumbawamba and Rage Against The Machine for that. Their respective brands of anarcho-punk/dance/world/folk and rap metal are way more up my M.I.A.'s dancehall material. And none of them were anti-vaxxers far as I can remember, so...

Before now, the only Lauryn Hill album I've really had any experience with was the one for her MTV UNPLUGGED 2.0 show. Defend that album all you want, I don't care, but to me it's for damn sure the worst introduction you could have to her music. I get that it's an unplugged show and that it's not supposed to be representative of her normal sound, but seriously, it's two straight hours of amateur plink-plonking on an acoustic guitar, ramble-y as hell lyrics, and babbling from Lauryn that to me sounds like the hook to Kendrick Lamar's "Real" on loop. When you take her mental condition into account, too, whatever exactly it is, the fact it was released at all just gets all the ickier and you gotta wonder, "**This** is the follow-up to MISEDUCATION?" I mean, be fair to Lauryn—if **I** put out an album as good as MISEDUCATION, I wouldn't be able to follow it up, either. On her first solo attempt, she put out a greatest hits record. I'm someone who's melody first, so I probably missed a lot of great lyrics, but just taking it as a vibe, it's pretty damn immaculate. The beats are probably some of the best from the hip hop albums my group has gotten so far. Lauryn's got a really good voice, too; it's fun to hear her rap, and it's pretty to hear her sing. I don't even mind this thing's length. I'm sure it could be cut down in a few spots, but it's still more than carried by what's here. Just on those merits alone I can hear why this was the highest charting hip hop album on the 2020 ROLLING STONE 500. I mean, do I agree 100% with it? At this stage, maybe not. It's the cliché music nerd answer, but I might still think something like TO PIMP A BUTTERFLY is better. Although, it's not just about quality, is it? It's about impact, too, The legacy. And I'm not aware of what exactly this album's done for the culture, though this just feels like an album that's changed everything. Mostly for women in hip hop, but in general, too. So, like, even if Lauryn never comes out with another album as long as she lives, she's got this under her belt. For anyone, that's damn more than enough. (And this all reads like a 5, I'm aware, but I'm giving it a 4 just because I don't think I've spent enough time with it yet for that. Once I actually do pay attention to and learn the lyrics, though, believe me, I'm gonna be wishing I gave this thing a 5.)

Aw yeah, more female-vocal punk stuff. I dug the hell out of this—maybe even a little bit more than DIG ME OUT, honestly. And for that, I think I hafta credit the Britpop sheen that's over this album. The riffs, the vocals... I jus' think it's fun stuff, y'know? I've loved every Britpop album my group has gotten so far, and this is no exception. And thus, I've paid the whole "WIRE copying" thing exactly as much attention as I think it deserves.

Coming into this review, I had a lot of thoughts about Amy Winehouse, but they weren't about this music. They weren't even really about her as a person, honestly. They were more about how the media in her time, specifically tabloids, treated her—as nothing more than a junkie barrelling to an early grave. Or how I assumed her biopic this year would treat her—I hear it's as "nothing more than a junkie barrelling to an early grave." Hell, I was thinking a lot about how the woman who co-presented Winehouse her GRAMMY for song of the year claimed that people like her "shouldn't be rewarded for bad behaviour." But going in with this mindset isn't fair to Winehouse. The treatment she got wasn't fair, either, and it's absolutely worth condeming, but that's not how I should be thinking about her. I should focus just on her art and what she gave the world. And what she gave the world was... Truly immaculate. A tight 35-some minutes of throwbacks to the early Motown sound and early rock n' roll. I love this kinda shit. Take it from someone who spun AN EVENING ON SILK SONIC back when it dropped, I love throwbacks so much. But not **just** throwbacks. Ones that, like the Silk Sonic mention implies, brings it into the current days. Give it up for Ronson and Salaam. They nailed the sound, but I'd never think this came out any earlier than the 2000s. Even when all I knew about this album was "Rehab" thanks to ROCK BAND 3, it still sounded so fresh to my ears. It's a groovy-ass track, but when this album needs to get soulful and back to black, such as it is, you bet your ass it will. And Winehouse's voice. Amy herself, so I've read, didn't regard her abilities as anything more than a party trick. But what a trick this is. If it didn't evoke "Motown diva" as well as it does while still being recognizably her own thing, it'd all fall apart. And, yeah, me being me, a lot of the lyrics didn't register in my mind. But just the tone of her voice was enough to get enough of the meaning across to me. That sounds like something most people can achieve, but to do it truly well—that takes a little something extra. Y'know, normally I reserve 5's for albums that've already wedged their way into my soul, or albums that manage to edge their way in there. I'm not sure if BACK TO BLACK is truly there yet, but regardless, it deserves a 5. Not as an "Oh, so tragic she died so young" deal. Not as a clapback against the people who treated her so poorly. But just because she made a damn good album. It was a damn good album back then, it's a damn good album now, and I wouldn't be happy if it wasn't a damn good album on the future. Gawd, I needa find the time to put on FRANK!

Oh, this one's just a blast. There's really nothing else to it—it aims to be swingin' fun and it sure as hell is. It's downright infectuous how clear it is how much everyone recording this is enjoying themselves. It makes me look forward to when/if my group gets more swing music like this. And in the meantime, I guess I'll spin this album again.

Going into this album I didn't expect to like it terribly much. After all, there was a line on its Wikipedia page about how much it influenced post-punk bands. I haven't disliked every post-punk album I've heard, but I sure as well haven't had a clean track record with it either, so I didn't have exactly high hopes. But then at the beginning of side two, there was this moment where I had to just... Stop what I was doing. Stop, close my eyes, inhale deeply through my nostrils... I have to give all the credit in the world to Brian Eno and the influence he had. Even on an album this gloomy and dark, there are moments in the soundscape I found kind of beautiful, actually. Really, it's a similar reaction I had to the two Eno album my group's gotten before, and it proves I really shoulda paid more attention to the "electronica" genre credit on Wikipedia. HUNKY DORY, largely because I've spent so much time with it, is still my favorite Bowie album, so that's why I'm not giving this a five. However, just the fact alone that it made such a strong case for that spot is incredibly noteworthy.

It's just kick-ass NWOBHM, simply put. Killer riffs, solos and vocals, front to back. It's no wonder this is the album they truly broke through with. I don't even know what else I wanna say, really. Just listen to "Hallowed Be Thy Name"—you'll get it.

I think this is the least interested in a Britpop album I've been so far. Like, I'm not gonna say it's bad, but it's not particularly exciting. For the most part, it's radio music—incredibly safe, even acknowledging some weird lines I've read about. And I don't even mean "radio music" as an insult; it can really hit the spot sometimes. I'm just not sure what makes this so special compared to any other Britpop I've heard—blur, Oasis, Manic Street Preachers, Elastica... Honestly, I'm not even sure how much I even hear this as a Britpop album; it feels way more like a straight-up pop album 90% of the time. My one big exception is "Let Me Entertain You"—not a Queen cover like I always thought it was, but still. With its very obvious Who influence, it's driving as hell and the biggest burst of excitement and energu on the whole damn album. I can shake my head to that one, seriously. And, y'know, maybe if the rest of the album matched up to that... As it stands, the album's fine, but I can do without it. Like, maybe, JUST MAYBE, this list could do with one less Britpop album, y'know? Maybe?

This album's largely carried by "Son Of A Preacher Man", yeah, but that's not to put down the rest of it. It's very nicely orchestrated blue-eyed soul and there's not really much to complain about. Or say in general. So... Yeah. Good job, Dusty.

Of all of the British invasion regularly brought up and celebrated by Big Important Music Critics™, I've always had the hardest times with The Kinks. Up until now I've never exactly had a grasp on why, but I think I've finally managed to come to a answer—simply, they're the most British. No other big British invasion group (The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Who) are as British as The Kinks. It's in the tone, the riffs, the melodies, the lyrics... It's **British**. Not a lick of American skiffle, blues or hard rock in there. It's partly why, I'm sure, they're as regarded as they are. For my money, though... Mm, I'unno. Here, on The Kinks albums we've heard so far, it just really hasn't clicked with me. Hell, I'm not sure I click with extremely British music in general until Britpop in the 90's. Y'know, there there's bombast, bigness. On something like this album, meanwhile, it's a lot smaller, restrained... And I don't wanna say it's "simpler" given that this is some premo psychedelic music hall stuff, but it just feels that way to me. Of course every now and then there's something I can fully get behind. "Waterloo Sunset" is regularly highlighted as the best song on the album and for damn good reason. That's the one where the riffs and all work for me. But for the majority, it's good stuff, but not anything I'm really clamoring to get back to. And I don't think they should've had more American influence like the Beatles, Stones and Who just to appeal to my dumb ass, but... I mean, since they don't, I'll tend more towards who does.

See, I'm giving the same numerical rating as SOMETHING ELSE BY THE KINKS by The Kinks, but believe me that this a much more positive 3.'Cuz... Man, I'unno. As much as I wanna pretend that I have good, approvable taste in music—even if I don't sway much outside the mainstream—in my heart of hearts, I can't help but be a bit of a dad rock girlie. It's nothing terribly special or memorable, but in the moment it's fun times. Plus, it's just fun that this group has a self-titled song on a self-titled album. That's the first and maybe only reason you'd put 'em next to Iron Maiden, Motörhead, Black Sabbath and Living In A Box.

Oh, sure, it's corny, it's cliché, it's... Another thing I had on the tip of my tounge that starts with "C" that I forgot. But darn it, that's what I wanted this album to be and that's what makes it so good. It's just such a delight, between Sinatra's voice and the arrangements. Man, neat my group got the Sinatra album that **isn't** depressing first, anyway.

Back-to-back-to-back loud, dirty n' heavy-ass rock n' roll that absolutely deserves to be played in a sleazy biker bar n' strip joint in the middle of nowhere off a desert highway. And I mean all that as the highest of compliments, by the way. It both kicks **and** bads asses. Next to AC/DC, you ain't gonna find a group that does one kind of rock n' roll as well as they do. Gawd**damn**!

Back when my group got MURMUR, I declared it my new favorite R.E.M. album. I was just so taken back by how much rawer that album is that I guess I got some kind "walking out of the movie theater" receny hype. Which I don't bring up to say that I suddenly think MURMUR's a bad album; just that, yeah, DOCUMENT is still my favorite R.E.M. album. It's the polish from producer Scott Litt, really. Applying it to the band's unique sound, which going too overboard with it... Gawd**damn**. The riffs and vocal melodies were always amazing, but they stand out so much more here. Some songs in the back half don't do it for me 100%, but throw on either of its two killer singles, and, woof, boy, I sure feel fine.

On the album's Wikipedia page, it says that this album is meant to be a return of sorts to their earlier sound, after all the dance and alternative they tried out for the entire 90's. So, as part of my listening today I also took in their album WAR, and... Man, I'unno. Even without having WAR in mind, this album just sounds kind of... Dull to my ears? Sure, it's not without its moments—"Elevate" is one of them—but on the whole it kind sounds like the stereotypical image people have of U2. Kind of a bummer to hear given how much I like THE JOSHUA TREE and enjoyed WAR, but eh. At least I've got those albums to go back to if I want the band's early sound.

Now this is peak Peppers. Smply put, it's the best and completest realization of their funk rock sound. It's true I haven't heard their entire discography, but I really kinda doubt anything else could match up to this. Just check "Give It Away"—besides my fondness for its Weird Al parody, if it mentioned California it'd be **the** Peppers song; the one to hear to see what they're all about. Although, all that said, I **do** kind of prefer CALIFORNICATION. Maybe I'm just a bit more fond its alt.-ier sound, I'unno. Plus, I'll acknowledge that it could be because I'm less familiar with this album, but there **is** a point where when it's not either of the songs parodied in "Bedrock Anthem", it **does** kind of blend a little for me? At least, I wouldn't be able to tell you what each song specifically sounds like aside from two or three. But I'll still maintain: this is the RHCP album to check out first. It's pure Peppers, and it doesn't get anymore red hot than this.

Lemme say off the bat, I don't think it's bad. It's a perfectly good mix of country rock, gospel... There's some R&B in there, too, I 'spose. I can hear how the melodies would do it for me. But the thing is, I gotta agree with the most-liked review of this album on this website. And even before I saw that review, there was just this vibe I got off the album that if I grew up listening to it I'd like it a **lot** more than I do. If it was there for me alongside THE WALL, ABBEY ROAD and Weird Al's complete discography, sure, maybe. But hearing it now, in 2024, in my mid-late 20's, sandwiched between all the other music I love and want to listen to more... I can only say it's just fine. I'unno, maybe you'll get more out of it than I did.

I actually first listened to this album three days ago, for comparison against another U2 album on this list, ALL THAT YOU CAN'T LEAVE BEHIND. Weird that this album shows up so soon after this one, but whatever. I don't wanna talk about ALL THAT YOU CAN'T LEAVE BEHIND too much, since I already reviewed it, except to say this: that album felt disingenious, which I can attribute largely to the "arena rock" sheen over everything. No matter how good it **can** sound in parts, it comes across as a little plastic, without even the irony of their 90's albums to justify it. On WAR, however, it's all post-punk. Raw, energetic, and **angry**. So damn angry. New Year's Day and Sunday ain't no beautiful day. And that's what makes WAR so engaging and relistenable. You can feel real easily how much they believed in these songs. It's not my favorite of U2's sounds—hello, THE JOSHUA TREE—but it's sure as hell worth your time regardless. Now hopefully this is the start of a trend and my grouo actually does get THE JOSHUA TREE three days later. Please, Randomizer? Pretty please?

Smooth, chill-ass bossa nova. There's a simple description of it, but that's all it is, really. It's an album to put on and mellow the hell out to. I really hear why it won Album Of The Year in 1965. Like either of the Barbara Streissand albums that were nom'd had a chance to beat it anyway.

Damn good agro dance music. Shit like "Breathe", "Firestarter" and, yes, "Smack My Bitch Up" just go off so hard. Really, the only reason I'm not giving it a 5 is that I prefer what the Fatboy slippin' does so much more. Still, absolutely worth your time to check. Just put it on and lose y'damn-self.

I spent quite a bit of today wondering why the Grateful Dead had the following they had—still have, even. What was their "secret sauce?" Turns out, even Deadheads don't know what it is. There's just this "intangiable 'X Factor'" about their live music, as I've read. "Vibee," in other words. It's just vibes. All vibes. The way I've heard "Dark Star" described in particular that's stuck with me is that it doesn't "start," per say—you "enter it." Conversly, it doesn't "end"; you "exit it." Like it's not a song but instead some field of energy you briefly entangle yourself in. Basically, you're supposed to lose yourself in the jams and improvisations, appreciating the near-psychic link the band members have between each other. And if you don't match up with those "vibes," then it's just a lot of pointless canoodling. Myself... I mean, I think I've listened to too much Phish to say I don't like jam bands or what they do. As "vibes" music, it's fine. Just not mind blowing like I imagine it still is to a lot of the OG Deadheads. Of course, if I wanted to hear what they do, I'd probably have needed to actually catch them live. Not 100s of times like some of these fans have, but at least once. Unfortunately, it's a bit too late for that now, so judging the music for its own sake... I get it. I just don't love it.

There's this line I remember hearing about sophmore albums. Essentially, they tend to be worse than first albums because it's on that first album where you have all of the ideas you've likely spent years and years toiling over. Meanwhile, your second probably has to be rushed out in a couple of months to capitalize on the first album—hence the "sophmore slump." It happens to even the best of 'em. Which makes it twice a miracle that LED ZEPPELIN is not only better than the first album, but in my eyes maybe the best album in their whole discography. I mean, not only did they release this album the same years as their debut, but they did it in-between tour stops. By all accounts, this should be a mess, but then they barge in here with "Whole Lotta Love", "Heartbreaker". "Thank You", "Ramble On", "Bring It On Home", "The Lemon Song", "Moby Dick", "What Is And What Should Never Be"... Even "Livin' Lovin' Maid"! From the moment you put the needle down on side one to the time it falls off side two, it's nothing but some of the best, stronger stuff they've ever done. And the most varied, too, until HOUSES OF THE HOLY. You just can't argue with riffs and melodies and a rhythm section like this. And seriously, "Thank You" might not be the first song most people think of when they think of favorite Zeppelin tunes, but it's **so high** up my list it might even be at the top, for serious. Like, if you can't tell, I don't even have anything insightful to say, really. It's just damn good stuff! Put it on! Jam out! I'unno, do **something** with it! Just don't listen to TRAIN DOES LED ZEPPELIN II. That's the worst thing you could do.

Y'know, I should be saying more about the album as a whole instead of talking about only one song, 'cuz as far as it's concerned it's probably the best rap album my group has gotten so far. The beats, the flows, the lyrics... It's all great and unique in that OutKast/ATL kind of way. But for my money, all I wanna do is gush about my favorite track, "B.O.B.". Simply, it's the hypest damn track I've ever damn heard. It's a rush, and hearing it in the context of the full album for the first time, I legit had to take a second to reorient myself. It's like I was skating along, and then this song burst in out of nowhere and I had to quickly scramble to get myself back on track. It's amazing, and so enjoyable to shout along to "BOMBS OVER BAGHDAAAAAAD" and "POW. ER. MU. SIC, E-LEC-TRIC RE-VI-VAL." Sure, maybe a couple of the lyrics are... Too unique that might be... Like, a little bad? Mostly I'm thinkin' of Big Boi's verse here when I say that, but I can hardly care. There's so much energy it carries me over all of that, and makes it just another lyric that I try to keep up with as I rap along with it. And the beat, THE BEAT. I've only heard this album one-and-a-half times, so maybe I could change my mind, but it's the best one. Kinda beat you get up and lose your damn mind to. Seriously, I can just imagine concerts where the moment it starts everyone's already turned the floor into a giant pit, y'know? It's just incredible. And I know from this review it might sound like I'm giving this album a 5 based just on one song, but, first of all, what a song it is. Secondly, I mean, a lot of this uniqueness, freshness and energy carries over to the rest of it, even if none of it's at the same tempo. It holds up insanely well even 20+ years later and the whole package is absolutely worth your time. STANKLOOOOOOOVE

Honestly, I'm kind of glad the original LIFEHOUSE pitch didn't happen. I mean, can you imagine? Instead of just nine of the greatest tracks The Who would ever make simply existing by themselves, they'd be surrounded by all of this weird whatever about people being fed entertainment through tubes or something? There's some explanation that the intro to "Baba O'Riley" is someone's DNA converted into song or whatever? I love a concept album, but nah. You don't need all that. It's a masterwork enough on its own. From the well-known songs down to even "My Wife"—funnily enough, the only song not written for LIFEHOUSE. Simply put, the album's the best The Who ever had. (THEY BEST THEY EVER HAAAAAAA....)

I wish I had more to say about this album. It's perfectly good metal, but it just didn't really grip me too hard. Maybe it's the overall length, maybe it's the specific style... I'unno. Part of me feels bad, 'cuz I'd love to have more to say about or higher marks to give non-American metal, and I do like how they incoporated an indigenous Brazilian tribe (the absurd length of the hidden track "Canyon Jam" aside), but that's just how it be.

Aahhh, it's just fun and energetic pop New Wave. "Bops," as the kids these days might put it. It's really not any more complicated than that. Sure, I can understand why people might find their voices annoying or grating, but if you don't crazy when "We Got The Beat" starts... Well, I don't even know what to tell yah.

For reasons unrelated to the album itself, I wasn't able to absorb the album as much as I would've wanted. Even with only 1.5 listens. Allow me, then, to keep this a bit short, so I didn't even up thinking of much to say. To begin with, I came into this album expecting it to be a lot... Y'know, angirer. Grungier. Punkier. Riot grrrl. That was always the impression I had of Hole, largely going by the cover to their album LIVE THROUGH THIS and maybe a sample I heard in a mashup somewhere. Color me very surprised, then, to put this on and hear California power pop and alternative. And more so to find out that I dug a lot. Hell, maybe even a little bit more than I would have LIVE THROUGH THIS. I don't have any specifics to bring up, 'cuz, y'know, as I mentioned, but the vibes are just there. And I like her voice a lot. I'unno. I just dug it a lot. Get off my back, eh?

I'unno if this is any better or worse than the last album of Hindustani classical musical my group listened to, honestly. But if I enjoyed my experience with this album any more than I did with THE SOUNDS OF INDIA—and I don't mean this in a negative sense—it had nothing to do with the music itself. Simply, because the only version of this album on Spotify is an apparently terrible re-recording, I had to listen to a vinyl rip on YouTube. And there was just something about all the vinyl crackle and pop underscoring the music that... Y'know, really, really did it for me. It makes me glad, actually that I didn't listen to this via streaming. Without the crackle, it wouldn't be the same. And I'm probably rating this album more for that than the actual music, 'cuz by itself I think it's good but the not mind-blowing "one album of Indian music you must own if you own one" I kept reading it is. But what an enhanced experience it is, eh? Kinda makes me wanna play more records, even if all I have are two portables Crossleys. So I guess I actually hafta thank Rahul Sharma. For him and his dumb re-recording being the only version available. That's something, I suppose.

I mean, come on. It's Aretha. She has such a powerful voice, she has such a pretty voice... She has such a **voice**. It's what makes her music, more than anything else. Sure, you can argue the instrumental or the lyrics or the backing vocals aren't up to snuff, but as long as she's on her game vocally, it's hard to call it bad. And, hey, this album has "Respect"—it's one of those songs that by itself gives this album a 4, so good on the rest of the album for earning that extra star.

Y'know, originally I planned to open this review with a short bit about how this album's always been referred to as and presented to me as a culturual moment, and how it's always so highly rated on "best of" lists, but let's cut straight to the point: it's a great album. An **amazing** album. On both ends, there's a reason it made grunge popular in the 90's and was ranked 9 on Apple Music's 100 in the 2020's. Lemme explain it thorugh my two favorite songs on the album. First, at the end of the album, there's "On A Plain". It's got hooks, man. "LOVE MYSELF, BETTER THAN YOU." "I'M ON A PLAIN—UHHHN, UHHHHN." Big singalong. Compared with that riff, I think it coulda been a hit. And I've always loved, too, how the lyrics end up being about the songwriting process, even referencing the fact that this is the penultimate song on the album (if you don't count "Endless, Nameless", anyway). Then there's "In Bloom". Contrasting heavy, loud choruses and interludes with a quieter chorus. Classic structure The album's big hit "Smells Like Teen Spirit" of course has it, too, and of course I love it as much as everyone else does, but I've always liked "In Bloom" a bit better for its slower pace. It's always made it and its riff feel heavier to me. Plus, the lyrics about the people in Nirvana's audience who enjoy their music without understanding what it's about... Funny my two favorite songs end up being about their own lyrics, but I guess that kind of thing just appeals to me. Point is, it's all great songwriting from Kurt Cobain, played wonderfully by himself and his bandmates Krist and Grohl. I know one of the reasons he went on to resent the album was for its polish, but darn if it ain't still heavy as hell even despite it, y'know? It's not like it was made weak by the polish; you listen to "In Bloom" and "Breed" and tell me it's not heavy. Especially "Breed", with its machine gun drum fills. It's a 5-star album from me. I kinda feel like I should've said more just now to justify that, but it's just one of those album that's worked its way into my soul and was always going to be a 5. Does there really need to be anymore explanation than that? Well, I'd prefer to hear it over not, but still, putting on the album and letting it play is just as good as an explanation as any. It's totally worth the hype, high list rankings and deeming as a "cultural moment" it's gotten.

Like the last couple of goth rock albums we've gotten, I imagine I'd be into it way more if I was a goth girl. Since I'm just a regular girl, though, it's... Fine, y'know. I'll admit, there's some stuff here that made me like this album a bit more than some of the other goth albums we've gotten—I mean, that one guitar lick that sounds like it came from a surf rock song? I dig that all the way! On the whole, though, it just had a hard time keeping my attention for too long.

Listening to this album, I couldn't help but compare Otis Redding's singing to Aretha Franklin's—for no other reason, really, than the fact that this album features three songs Aretha would go on to cover. In particular, there's "Resepect", which actually showed up on album my group got just days ago: I NEVER LOVED A MAN THE WAY I LOVED YOU. And it's not exactly a fair compairson. Like, of course Aretha's take on "Respect" knocks Otis's out of the park. Even he said she'd stolen his song. But it's also not one I wanted to do if I could help it. They both have great voices, and they're both going for their own things, so what's the use? I mean, it's probably just because Aretha's take on "Respect" looms so large over the original that it's hard to remember there even was an original. Thus, by its presence on this album, it kinda spills over into everything else—not even helped by the fact that Aretha would also cover two other songs from it, "A Change Is Gonna Come" and "I've Been Loving You Too Long". Let's take Aretha out of all this, though. Fully leave her aside like I should have done from the beginning and judge the album on its own merits. And going just by what it does, it's really great stuff. I mean, all the love in the world for how Redding sings, specifically when it gets **gruff**. That shit? Oh, I love that shit **too death**. I listened to "Otis" five times the same day just because I wanted to hear his scatting on the beat. And that samples a song from the album he released after this one, so—! He's just so much fun to listen to, and so unique. I can't think of anyone else who sounds exactly the way he does. So, hey, that alone gets this album pretty good marks. And thankfully, the tunes underneath it are good enough to carry this thing to **really good** marks. I can't really recall anything specific about any of them, but that doesn't really matter to me. As just a front-to-back listening experience, it's a rippin' time. So, I guess to close this out I may as well answer the question I proposed at the front that I didn't wanna ask. Ultimately—yeah, I prefer Aretha's singing. It's prettier when it's soulful, and I like her hollerin' better. Otis's is good, but if you had him sing, I'unno, "Border Song" it wouldn't hit the same. But again, it doesn't matter. Regardless of who I prefer, he's just as much a soul legend as Aretha, and his music (not just this album) is worth anyone's time. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go scat along to the "Otis" beat again.

Going into this album, I was ready to treat it the same way as I did PACIFIC OCEAN BLUE by Dennis Wilson or IF YOU WANT IT DARKER by Leonard Cohen, or how I'm sure I'll treat BLACKSTAR by David Bowie. In short: I tend to define albums like these, at least to one extent or another, by peoples' deaths. Even BACK TO BLACK, as much as I didn't want to, I partially defined by Amy Winehouse's death. So here we have Nick Drake's PINK MOON. Before today, I'd always thought of it as "that bleak, depressing album made all the sadder by its proximity to Nick's death." Hell, before today I thought this album was released **posthumously**—that's how much I'd had his passing looming over the album. Indeed, as I first listened to the side one and realized it wasn't as bleak as I thought it was, there was this air of melancholy I just couldn't shake. Even as I came to find out how beautiful it could be, the melancholy lingered. "How sad he died in proximity to this album's release." That's a thought I wasn't holding by the end of the day. In-between listening to side one and finally giving the whole thing I spin, I watched Abigail Devoe's Vinyl Monday video on the album. In it, she makes the following statement, which all but calls me out for my mindset: "I don't think it's intentional, but those who call PINK MOON one of the saddest albums ever made apply the end of Nick's life to his work, and that robs him of his legacy." I mean, let's consider—what even **is** a PINK MOON? I always thought it was a sad, poetic metaphor for something. However, a pink moon, from what I've put together, is actually the first moon of the spring season. The signal that winter—the hard times—is over, and that there are brighter times ahead. And with that framing in mind... Re-listening to the title track, when the piano line came—the only time on the album there's an instrument aside from acoustic guitar—I nearly cried. And Nick's guitar playing throughout, especially on "Horn"... What a talent. What an incredible talent. Although, I'll admit, if I'm not in love with this album, it's because runs a bit old on side two. It feels weird to say that kind of thing about a 28 minute album, and "Parasite" and "From The Morning" are exceptions, but that's just how it is. Maybe once I give it more time... Hell, maybe if I had given it the time it deserved today instead of realizing too late that it deserves it. As it stands, PINK MOON—and all the albums I mentioned above, for that matter, are more than just their artists' passing. And if I'm sad about anything in regards to it, it's that they didn't live long enough to see these albums succeed.

It's a pretty good album all around. I just don't have much to say about it. Like, I just can't think of a hook to base the review around. I'm pretty slow to pick up lyrics, even from albums I've listened to nearly 100 times, so there's not much I can say there. Besides, I doubt any of its content is really all that shocking today, in CURRENT YEAR 2024, compared to how it must've been in the 1970's. At most, I can say it's got a lot of good riffs, some pretty nice melody lines for the vocals, and of course "No Mr. Nice Guy" is a classic single. That statement alone might not be enough to sell anyone on this album, bult it's all I can give, so y'might as well take it.

This kinda stuff is jut really up my alley sometimes, y'know? This orchestral pop crooner thing. I'unno. I mean, don't get me wrong, it's more Bublé than Sinatra, and it wears out a quite bit during the last half of the album, but I found the first half just so much fun and the record (true to its word) is pretty short anyway at only half an hour, so I'm still able to come out of this saying I dig it. And the first track, melodically, really sounded to me like it could be sung by the guy from Sparks, and that's a non-zero factor.

Imagine being Arabian Prince, huh? You're on one of the most seminal, famous and influential rap albums of all time, and your only contribution to it is... "Something 2 Dance 2". A weak, wack-ass elecrtrodance track that sounds nothing like everything else on the album. Imagine: that's on the same album as the title track, with its driving, forecul production. It's on the same album as "Fuck Tha Police", so infamous for its calling out of the cops (even though it's really only Cube's verse) that it got an FBI letter. It's on the same album as "8 Ball (Remix)", with its amazing interweaving of samples. It's on the same album as "I Ain't The 1", which... OK, to address the lyrical content, a lot of the violence n' whatnot I've seen people ding it for can be easily excused, at least in my eyes, by the fact that they were just rapping about their reality at the time. And who am I, or anyone, to tell them how to represent their stories? But the misogyny, mm, that's a little less excusable. Hasn't aged all that well—not that it was any good at the time, but you know what I mean. That being said, though, I'unno why I'd spend in my time railing against nearly 40-years old lyrics when it'd probably be more worth everyone's time to address the misogyny still ongoing in modern rap. Although that's besides the point. Even despite that and it's weird, kinda corny beat, at least Ice Cube's delivery and flow are really good. Imagine all of that coming beforehand, nearly an hour of classic gangsta rap, and then you show up for dated production with barely any lyrics or flow with an alright sample usage at best. And as an album closer—don't get me started! If I were Arabian Prince, I'd be kind of embarased. Especially considering how hard he's been written out of the group's history. Goodness, he's on the damn album cover, but even a Wikipedia-style summary of their history like the STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON biopic can't make time for him. Although, to be fair, despite his appearance on the cover, he wasn't actually in the group at the time, so I don't know how they woulda fit him in anyway. And all that said, I can't actually say I dislike "Something 2 Dance 2". Frankly, I find it too goofy in how out-of-place it is to dislike it. And besides, I rag on Arabian Prince, but he was still on STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON. I wasn't, and you weren't either. He's got that legacy going for him. Oh, and, uh, album's a 5, by the way. Not gonna argue with the current group average. I mean, **damn**, that shit was dope.

Mm, I'unno. It's great music—all the experimentation here of course has to be comended—but I just don't dig it as much as I do the simpler pop hits and face melters on the first two Experience albums. Don't get me wrong, I do love my fair share of cuts here:there's "All Along The Watchtower" and "Voodoo Chile (Slight Return)", naturally, but I'm also all for "Crosstown Traffic" and the extended blues jam epic "Voodoo Child". But "House Burning Down", the entire second side excepting "Burning Of The Midnight Lamp"... Eh. Even "1983... (A Merman I Should Turn To Be)", as much as I recognize it as the centerpiece odyssey, isn't something I wanna listen to all the time. In short, I recognize it as Hendrix's most complete artistic statement, and I wish he'd lived longer to see what he could do next. My album preference doesn't make it any less of a 4, or even a 5. I just personally wouldn't return to this first over EXPERIENCED? or AXIS.

It was already pretty clear to me which genres I pay attention to their lyrics and which ones I don't, but it stands out more on this album than others because it has both cases. Like, when it's doing its soul jazz thing—and it's primarily it's soul jazz thing—the lyrics kind of pass by entirely in favor of the melodies and instrumentation. This is where I hafta give all the shout-outs in the world to Brian Jackson. Fantastic stuff; amazing stuff, all around. It's a sound I can really go for. But then when it's on its proto-rap thing on "H20gate Blues", and Gil Scott-Heron sounds like the guy who asked who will survive in America and stated that the revolution won't be televised—damn. The rhymes! The delivery! I don't wanna just say "Wow, it's enjoyable," 'cuz I feel like that kind of ignores what he has to say poltically, but seriously—it's really damn enjoyable to listen to. This guy, with this voice—I really like hearin' 'em go off. So, hey, that sounds like a pretty good 4 to me. If only I coulda listened to this album on Spotify, though. Thankfuly there's YouTube uploads, but I can't imagine why it's not on Spotify. Oh, and if my group could've gotten this album in winter, too, ans not the first day of June, that woulda been really appropriate. But then I'd still be in Canada, so y'know, ultimately, whatever.

It's pretty good collection of melancholic music. I'm sure if I felt the same way he did making it I'd be more engaged, but since I don't and didn't, it's a fine enough listen. Enough so that I didn't mind how it kept fading in and out of my attention. I'unno.

Until today, I've had this running joke with my group that only I've told that we weren't going to get an album longer than 69 LOVE SONGS. As far as I knew, that was the longest album in the book, standing at 172 minutes. It was gonna be the closest we ever got to three hours. After all, I knew the 1001 ALBUMS book didn't have mega-epic, 250-plus-minute box sets like AMERICAN ANTHOLOGY OF FOLK MUSIC or James Brown's STAR TIME, so once we got that we'd be in the clear. Then today happened. We got this album. And my jaw dropped a little. Look, let's make this clear: I don't have a problem with Ella Fitzgerald's voice. She's a lovely voice, beautiful. 100% deserved the shout out she got in Stevie Wonder's "Sir Duke". I don't have a problem with George and Ira Gershwin. Or the Great American Songbook for that matter, or jazz standards in general. I still occasionally spin Tony Bennett and Lady Gaga's CHEEK TO CHEEK album, and I really love "Anything Goes", the title track and "I Can't Give You Anything But Love". I don't even have a problem with the arrangements. I like myself a fair bit of vocal jazz and traditional pop every once in a while. Look at how much I liked the Frank Sinatra album my group got—and again, there's CHEEK TO CHEEK. My problem with this album, simply and solely, lies in its crushing length: **THREE HOURS AND FOURTEEN MINUTES**. That's longer than Prince's EMANCIPATION. I have no idea why they decided to record so many of these things except that they could. And truthfully, from the moment I saw its length, I knew I wasn't gonna bother listening to the whole thing. And I didn'! I heard from "Sam & Delilah" to "The Real American Folk Song (Is A Rag)", and then after that I just listened to a 40-some minute compilation from 2007. 'Cuz seriously, even listening to only the first hour of this got a bit excruciating. I don't hate this sound, but there **can** be too much of a good thing. Like, by the time I got to "Just Another Rhumba" and I heard "September" pronounced as "Septumba," I really wanted to just stop. I'd more than had my fill of Ella siiiiiiingiiiiing mooost of the sooooooongs like thiiiiiiiiiis. But there was still twenty minutes left, so—! One of the people actually did manage to sit through the whole thing. I can't begin to fathom how they did it. As I'm writing this, it's hours before we can share our reviews, so I don't know what they think of this, but I can imagine they're all too positive about the length either. Even beyond its length not every song on here is a winner. Like, some of them hafta be obscure for a reason, y'know? Again, I point to "Just Another Rhumba". Or the one that I read has the damn 20th Century fanfare. Or they're just plain indistinguishable from each other and blend together. Even on the 2007 "very best of" compilation they kind of do, but at least there there's only 12 songs and not **a billion**. And that's **still** the best way to listen to this material. Of course, by all means, if you wanna go digging through this set to find your own "very best of," be my guest. (Hell, I know I'm probably gonna do the same thing whenever I **do** get around to Prince's EMANCIPATION.) Or if you've already done it—good for you! I'm glad you were able to discover something in there that I didn't, seriously. For my money, however, I just don't have the time or patience. Ella's voice is generally too good to give this any less than a three, but believe me—I could. At least now I no longer fear 69 LOVE SONGS as much as I did before. Hell, I'll embrace it, even! The sweet, sweet feel of **SLIGHTLY UNDER** three hours. Oh, it'll be so nice.

Really fun hardcore punk with horns sometimes. Reminded me vocally of The Clash in a lot of places. I'unno, I just had a lot of fun with it. Shows what I know for giving it the ol' "Who the hell are you?" treatment.

I'unno. On my first listen, I just didn't care for it all too much. Very "boring late 2000's rock" vibes. Like, it honestly had my wondering why this album was a hit—if it even was a hit at all and wasn't just being carried by its two singles. Really, it was only on my re-listen to the first half where I began to enjoy it, and only because I saw someone compare this album to U2. Specifically, JOSHUA TREE-era U2, and, like, I'unno. I can hear it, certainly, but nothing here soars for me in the same way THE JOSHUA TREE could. Of course, that U2 comparison is the thing alone that's raising this to an "it's fine" 3, 'cuz otherwise I really could not care.

Don't ask me why I haven't heard this album before today. You'd think being the progressive rock fan I am (i.e. I love Pink Floyd and two/three Yes albums and don't hate ELP) I'd've heard this sooner. But, no. Blame it on the thing's overwhelming popularity, blame it on the fact that I wouldn't be able to have its cover shown on Last.FM... Most likely, blame that I just never got around to it. Whatever reason, it doesn't matter. I've finally gotten to this album, and, boy, am I glad I did. This is some premo-prog rock. Seriously, every song (save maybe one) scratches that exact itch. From the bombast of "21st Century Schizoid Man", to the way it quiets down for "I Talk To The Wind", to that Mellotron riff on "The Court Of The Crimson King". An exception aside, I don't feel there's a moment wasted. Impressive for an album where the shortest song of five is **six minutes**. (And that one exception, by the way, is "Moonchild". That's not an unpopular opinion, I hear; most fans of this don't like how "Moonchild" just... Doesn't end. I'm aware there's a remix by Steve Wilson that chops off two minutes and fans prefer that version—but that's besides the point. I'm not into all the free improv, in short.) In fact, "Moonchild" dragging on as long as it does is the only reason I'm not awarding this album a 5. Believe me, otherwise it completely deserves a 5. I mean, with how it lives up to being the codifier for prog? You bet your entire ass. But... Eh. If the remix were the version I listened to, maybe. In any case, I'm just happy to finally have this one under my belt. And I should actually go listen to other prog albums, too. Like THE LAMB LIES DOWN ON BROADWAY or... I'unno. TARKUS? I meant to get around to that one but never did. Maybe with this album on my mind, I can—... Eh, later.

Whenever people talk about this album, I feel like they're mostly talking about the title track. That's not to put down the other songs, of course, but "2112" is such an incredible, iconic, towering piece of prog rock (any Randian infiuence it might have aside) that it's hard to compare. But then, I don't think this album would be as acclaimed as it is if it was just a "2112" delivery system and the rest was "Who gives a dang?" The second has to, and does, hold ifs own. "Something For Nothing" and "Lessons" rock on their own; "A Passage To Bangkok" has to the hookiest hook on the album; "The Twilight Zone" is classic prog nerd topic shit with a killer guitar lick to boot... Even "Tears", the ballad of the album, comes out an enjoyable listen as some kinda 70's cheese. I wouldn't entirely blame the mindset claiming that the second side of the record is filler to justify releasing the title track on an album. Sort of a weird take on how a lot of 50's albums were constructed, y'know? But that's missing the fact that the other five songs are classics in their own right. They're worth the time, just as much as "2112" is. And all together, it makes one of the truly finest prog rock packages I've ever heard. And from Canadians, no less! My people! Now **this** is some national pride right here, I'll tell you what.

Y'know, if this were just an instrumental album, I wouldn't fully understand why it's here or the hype from mainstream, but I'd think it was just fine. Chill-type-I-guess electro-pop. Maybe a little boring to me, but otherwise it's nothing offensive. The vocals, though—**the vocals**. Like, I'm sorry, Karin sounds like a Björk wannabe. And not a very good one, either. Their voice really grated on me; enough that I had to dock this thing a star down to an "Eehhh" 2. Them's the breaks. Also, I kept reading their stage name as "Freaky Ray." And maybe it their vocals **had** been a little less freaky...

Y'know, I've never been much one to joke on Billy Joel, and this album here is pretty much why. Now, sure, before the first time I listened to this album in, I'unno, 2021, I just generally didn't have much of a reason to. But giving this thing two relistens in 2024—oof, boy. This is some amazing piano-led singer-songwriter 70's pop rock. And there's all those qualifies, yeah, but still—it's real good stuff. Maybe a little cheesy in some parts, but like I'm not at least some-percent cheese at this point in my life. I do with cheese; I enjoy cheese... This is good. Just look at "Scenes From An Italian Resturaunt". It's an epic for sure, and a fan favorite for a reason. And if I'm not giving it a 4, it's only just because it hasn't quite yet reached the "entered my soul" phase yet. I can't say I don't see this album doing it, but as it stands, it's just a really great listen. So, y'know, ultimately, no. I might not have provided a lot of explanation, but in general, that's why I won't joke on Billy Joel. Even with some of the stuff he made after this. Or some of the stuff he made **before**. You ever hear Atilla? Goodness me. Joke on that stuff all day.

Y'know, maybe it was just the state of mind I found myself in today—very tired, I guess 'cuz I forced myself to wake up earlier than I had been recently—but I'unno. This album just didn't blow me away. Of course, the one-two-three of the opening tracks are great (that's where "Just What I Needed" comes in, after all). Everything else, though... Eh. Kind of all slid together for me. And I'll grant, I could just been in the wrong head to take it in properly, although I have the impression I wouldn't even if I hadn't got conked out hard when I laid down on my bed while playing this album a second time. Still, I wanna give this thing a 4, thanks to those first three tracks. They're good times, what can I say? Otherwise, eh, it really woulda been a 3 from me.

I don't really have much to say about this one, except that of all of the Australian albums my group has gotten so far this is the one I've liked the best. Turns out all they hadda do to win my affection was play some damn solid punk with horns on a few tracks. Who woulda knew?

I think it's a good album, but one where I wasn't in the right mood to truly love it. Like, if I was happened to come into this thing while I was feeling sad, it probably would've blown my mind. For sure, the few times I tried to put myself in that headspace, it clicked way better. Though without truly being there—y'know, not pretending... I can feel it, rumbling under the ground, but at most it's a 4 teetering on a 3, speaking in terms of personal enjoyment. At least it wasn't the slog the album covered made it look like it'd be, oof.

And just as I thought I was getting sick of Britpop, here's one that leans way more into garage rock and pop punk (Britpop punk?), and, da,mn, I just think this shit rocks. 50 is a little long, yeah, but I had my fun with this, so I can't complain too much. Or really have much to say other than what I just did. "Girls From Mars" reminded me a lot of Weezer. I'm not the only one, right?

I feel like in most normal situations I'd give this album a 3. Like, as much as I can recognize in the moment, while it's playing, all the stuff that makes it great—the production, the sampling, the vocal style, the mood—hours later, I can't remember a second of it. And that goes for most all trip hop, really. Unless it's in direct comparison to much more boring trip hop (see: MAXINQUAYE), I'm not sure what it can really do to bump up an extra star. Well, this thing found a way: a **bitchen guitar solo on the last track**. Seriously, I'unno who decide it should rip so hard, but if I ain't happy! Absolutely, it's enough to earn that extra star from me. And maybe more trip hop albums should have solos like that, I'unno. Massive Attack, it wouldn't hurt to try. You too, Tricky.

I can't 100% remember how I've rated every other goth album my group's come across, but I think it's here I wanna firmly put this genre into the "not my thing" box. Like, lemme just stop saying "If I were goth...," y'know? 'Cuz this album in particular, this album was very "in one ear, out the other; can't recall nuffin'" for me. Normally I'd attribute that to undiagnosed ADHD, or a general "if I had more time to spin it," but here, with this kinda soundscape, it does nothing for me. And I'm not particularly clamoring to remember, either. There's not even any one element I can shrug at to justify bumping it an extra star. So, all the goths of the world out there, I like your fashion, and I like your girls with the big tiddy, but your music? I jus' gotta be honest with myself here and stop giving the benefit. Maybe down the line I'll find out that appeals more to my sensibilities, but for sure it's not here.

I wanna summarize how much I enjoyed this album just by talking the weird-ass cover of "Comfortably Numb". 'Cuz its ass is **very** weird. I mean, if you didn't tell me this was a Pink Floyd cover, just from the arrangement alone I wouldn't be able to tell. Some kinda electroclash glam rock thing? Very strange! And the vocals—they sound like SATURDAY NIGHT FEVER Bee Gees, right down to "AH-HA-HA"s. Why did they even cover this song at all? What the heck even is this? I don't know about anyone else, but to me, what this is is **great**. I know I've described a lot of albums I haven't heard before as "fun listens," but this is the most I've meant it yet. It's largely thanks to how glam-y it is. I've always had a thing for glam rock, and the way it's done here—**good shit**. Combine that with how queer it is, and I kinda feel a little dumb for not checking out any of their albums sooner. Like, I can blame my mom and sister annoying me with "Let's Have A Kiki" all I want; at the end of the day, this is incredibly up my alley. I'll even choose "I got distracted by other things" as the reason why side two didn't do as much for me as the first and why I won't dock it a star for that. I don't think there's any other Scissor Sisters albums on this list, and as I'm writing this I don't feel like checking. So thank goodness we at least got this album. I can't say how "worthy" it is to be here, but it's an absolute blast regardless. (And seriously, my mom and sister were **all the damn time** with "Let's Have A Kiki" back when GLEE covered it. In retrospect, it's the biggest foreshadowing I can remember for how much they'd end up getting into stuff like RUPAUL'S DRAGRACE. And, y'know, better that than wherever they would've ended up if they got more into the "Turkey Lurkey" half of GLEE's cover.)

This is actually the first time I've heard this album with its original vinyl track listing. Before now, I've always listened to it as it was expanded in 2001, which pushed its runtime from under 40 minutes to nearly 90. Hearing how it sounded with only six tracks to its name, though... Well, to start, in either case the music was electric. This is prime Who performing live here, after all. How they sounded in the studio was always great, but in a live setting, especially in the days this was recorded, they went to the next level. It was some of the wildest, hardest rock of its time, and even still now, and I'm thankful they got an album that captured that. And in this six song format? The expanded edition was always enjoyable, but 83 minutes **is** a lot, no matter how good the material is. With just the 40, however, this is **tight** shit. No nonsense, just three covers and three hits, including the mega-medley-extended "My Generation". That thing's gracious enough to give us a little "Listening To You" in there, and, like, I understand people who balk at its runtime, but with that, and energy and playing like this, I could never come close to disliking it. Speaking about people who balk at this album, by the way—I mean, I hate to make my review about other people's reviews, but I wanna defend not just this album's inclusion on this list, but the decision to include live albums at all. It needs to be realized—they can be just as, if not more important than studio albums. Take what I said above: The Who were great in the studio, but they could only come so close to capturing their live sound in there. I think it'd be a tragedy if we didn't have this album to preserve it for people who couldn't be there. And look at enough album on this list, James Brown's LIVE AT THE APOLLO. That was the album that **made** him into the star he was and household name he remains. He put his own money for that, 'cuz he knew he needed a good representation of his live shows that studio recordings couldn't. And, hell, take a look further into the metal scenes—with exceptions, I don't think you can be a good metal band without a classic live album to your name. Iron Maiden's LIVE AFTER DEATH, Judas Priest's UNLEASHED IN THE EAST, Motörhead's NO SLEEP 'TIL HAMMERSMITH, Thin Lizzy's LIVE AND DANGEROUS, Deep Purple's MADE IN JAPAN... I could go on. Point is, they all serve a purpose and provide a sound and energy that studio albums could never hope to. LIVE AT LEEDS very much deserves its spot on this list, right alongside WHO'S NEXT and TOMMY. It's an essential part of who they were as a band that cannot be missed. If you don't like live music, fine. I don't expect everyone to be 100% with how songs get changed or expanded on stage, especially when they **can** devolve into wankery sometimes. (Bonzo, I love you, and I'm in awe of your playing intensity, but I cannot deal with your 30 minute drum solos.) But don't say it doesn't belong here. It's more worthy than a lot of studio albums I've heard, and that's a fact. Also, the album packaging's got a really cool "bootleg" design, and that's just neat shit, man. I always love seeing bands intentionally do this kind of thing—like, Aerosmith's got one, too, that's even called LIVE! BOOTLEG, and that's just great. I hear actual material on it's not up to snuff—and in fact, from everything I've come across, I don't think Aerosmith has a single good live album. But I **did** say that were exceptions, after all. Sorry, Steven.

No deep thoughts this time. I just think Celtic punk is fucking awesome. And Celtic folk, too, for that matter. I just love the melodies these have. Like, damn, I feel like I should be in a pub, five Lagers deep trying to sing along, but I'm so blitzed I can't even **speak right**, let alone sing. And when the band plays "Waltzing Matilda", I'm down on the bar sobbing. Gawddamn. Amazing stuff.

I'm just in awe of the production, mostly. Of course Chuck D and Flava Flav's rhyming and rapping is amazing and worth a five on theif oqn, but the production from The Bomb Squad? The sampling going on here? Incredible, incredible. It's this kind of sampling I would love to do if I were a producer myself. In fact, at some point in the future I gotta

Mm. I think this is one where I hafta blame my expectations. Like, as far as I've seen, this is supposed to be the bestestest Beyoncé album **ever** forever and ever. I'd always assumed it'd be LEMONADE, but, no, it's the one she surprise dropped in 2013. And I'm just wondering, "Is it actually that good, or are people still being blindsided by its release method?" And it **is** good, don't get me wrong. But the greatest Beyoncé album of all time? I don't have enough context to really answer that, though I feel I'd still fall back on LEMONADE. And is it really that amazing? Eh... I won't say "No," but it just didn't hit that level where I can fully agree. Like, I know what a 5 for me sounds like, and this just ain't it. Beyoncé's got the voice and whatnot for a 4 at minimum, but I just didn't find that certain intangiable element that'd make me 5 it like the rest of my group. Just how it goes. (Also, even if I did, "Mine" would still be boring. Take that, Drake—I guess.)

Another one from the category, "Before now I only knew it for one song, but now that I've actually heard it—damn, what took me so long?" It's gotta be one of the best albums of the 80's, as one good album with "Sledgehammer" (the aforementioned one song) should be. Like, in terms of all the various worldy-type progressive art pop songs from the decade, I doubt it got any better than this. My only real complaint is that some of the outros run a bit too long, but it's a nitpick in the grand scheme of things. To quote a bunch of teen girls voiced by an e-mail checkin' wrestlem'n, this album really is "so good." (Now, to address if it's the best album of the 80's overall—I **did** have that thought, but, I mean, as long as Weird Al's IN 3-D still exists... Though that's such a high bar to clear, I would take it too seriously, y'know?)

Definitive. This, to me, is what big beat should sound like, in sampling, production, tempo, tone, energy—everything. Even in length, as much as I don't think everything needed to be 5+ minutes. If there's anymore big beat albums on this list, I doubt I'll like them as much as I do this. I mean, you name me another album with "Fucking In Heaven"—y'can't.

Part of me feels weird to like traditional country music as much as I do. Not country music as a whole; I've listened to too much Cledus T. Judd to say I don't like country. It's **traditional** country in particular I feel odd about. I grew up in the mid-/late-2000's. I became a teenager in the early 2010's. What is someone in **my** age range doing liking music this (to use this word as much as I can in the non-political sense) conservative? And if I was younger—goodness! Like, I'unno. This kind of sounds, these arrangements and instrumentations, the way they sing... It just does it for me. Like, this to me is **COUNTRY**, no extra qualifiers. I can totally see the appeal of just kicking back with a beer to this stuff. Even if the songs that aren't about heartbreak are about murder. It's not a sound I'd seek out all the time, but every once in a while, if I don't wanna put on Cledus or go the "I only listen to Johnny Cash" route... Sure. I can throw it on. Part of me wants to give this a 4 because of how much I ended up liking it despite my expectations (before we got it I was ironically hyping it up to my group), but... Eh. I like it, but I'm not in **love** with it. Definitie "It's fine" energy. Now if this had a goofy lookin' Satan on the cover like they'd have a few albums late, whoo! Five stars! A+! Six stars! Hot damn!

Now **this** is some damn good shit. I'm not sure what I expected out of it besides political commentary and criticisms I wouldn't 100% understand (and maybe I still should, though it's maybe a little too late for that), but this funk/jazz Afrobeat thing it's got going on it just amazing. I hardly even mind the fact it's made up of two tracks each nearly 13-minute; they're just that enjoyable to listen to. I don't even have a proper closer for this little paragraph excpept to repeat myself: this is **damn** good shit.

As Britpop goes, this is fine. I guess I just can't hear those "giant steps" forward for the genre that this album is supposed to have. I mean, I do like it quite a bit, but I just can't get myself too hyped over it.

I'unno if I've said this in an earlier review or not, but I really needa stop seeing albums from artists I don't recognize and going, "Who the f**k is this guy?" 'Cuz I've really enjoyed all the ones my group's gotten so far where I've had that reaction, and this is no exception. It's really fun late-60's psych rock released in 1970. And it's twelve whole dreams! What more could you want?

The Beach Boys' output post-PET SOUNDS from the late 60's to the early 70's, from SMILEY SMILE to HOLLAND, is a very interesting stretch of albums. In the grand scope of a band like them these records are pretty obscure stuff, put next to PET SOUNDS, SMiLE and their surf material. However, at the same time, they also happen to be a lot of the best work this band ever did. For example, SMILEY SMILE could never match up to what SMiLE could be, but as an early lo-fi and bedroom pop record, it's fantastic. SUNFLOWER has songs like "Add Some Music To Your Day", "This Whole World" and the masterpiece "Forever". And FRIENDS? FRIENDS is generally one of my top three Beach Boys albums; I used to wake up to it nearly every morning, back when I actually woke up in the morning. Then there's SURF'S UP. One blemish aside, it's the best thing the group had made some PET SOUNDS. Or maybe it's even better, if you wanna go that far. Front to back, from "Don't Go Near The Water" and "Disney Girls (1957)" to the triple threat of "A Day In The Life Of A Tree", "'Til I Die" and the title track, it's near untouchable progressive pop. Especially those last three songs. I didn't wanna focus all my attention on them, but seriously, the organ on "A Day In The Life Of A Tree" alone—!! You'd never expect music this beautiful coming from an album with a record cover like, y'know, **this one**, but that's part of why it's so amazing, honestly. It's not as dark as the cover lets on, but it still somehow manages to capture a lot of the feel, I think. At any rate, no matter how much I like Cooper Black font, it's a better album cover than PET SOUNDS had, that's for sure. Now, let's address the blemish: "Student Demonstration Time". It's the only one Mike Love wrote without any other Beach Boy, and fittingly, it's the worst track on the album. It's just so out of place with everything else. Seriously, what's this rewrite of "Riot In Cell Block #9" doing in the same space as "Surf's Up"? I can appreciate the band being more socially conscious with this song and "Don't Go Near The Water", and I get having some variety, but it just doesn't land too well. All the same, though... That's also why I kind of love it? Either way I don't think it's bad enough that its inclusion drags this album down a star, but I'm just so amused by how much of a sore thumb it is. And it's dumb "BAH-DAH-DAH-DAH-DAH" blues rock. I find it hard to hate that too much. Besides, it's not even the worst Mike Love song based on another song—and I know Brian co-wrote it, but in my mind "Be True To Your School" is all Love. Just the perfect example of him as an uncool prep. But anyway, it couldn't have made me happier that this is the first Beach Boys album we got. I actually spent a lot of time today listening to material on the box set FEELS FLOWS from this album's sessions; that's how excited I was. I don't think even PET SOUNDS, where I still maintain the cliché of holding it as their best, would've inspired me to dig in like that. Naturally, then, I can't give this album any less than a 5. I'd give it a 6 if I could, and I haven't felt that way about an album since we got ABBEY ROAD. It's just a gorgeous collection of tunes. I really wish they could've kept this streak up past HOLLAND, too. I mean, I give it up for THE BEACH BOYS LOVE YOU, but I know that it's not for everyone. And just knowing that this band eventually ends up recording "Summer Of Love" and letting John Stamos sing "Forever"... Yecch. Thanks a lot, Love.

Man, it was fun to see this one pop up, 'cuz I'd heard it for the first time only a month ago—ironic, don'tcha think? Anyway, I think it's a pretty darn enjoyable listen. I'm not 100% that any of the album cuts hit as hard as "You Oughta Know" or "Ironic" (except the chorus of "You Learn"; I fell in love with it the first time I heard it), but it's not like they're that far away, all things considered. And that moment when it cuts to silence on the opening track—man, I gotta kick out of it. So, yeah. In total, I just can't hear any reason why I wouldn't rate it a 4 at minimum. And that's not just because I'm Canadian and needa rep my people, no.

Up top, I wanna say that my relationship with Jerry Lee Lewis doesn't go any further than the fact that his biopic, GREAT BALLS OF FIRE!, is one of the few I actively refuse to watch. And keep in mind, I've seen STARDUST and BACK TO BLACK, so that's saying something. It's just, I know he's a bad guy, and I'd rather not watch a movie about his life, but otherwise... Like, all I really know him for is his musicianship. And because of that, that's no doubt why I'm able to listen to this and enjoy it so much. 'Cuz, gawd, I can hear what all the fuss is about; he can **play**. Y'think you can calm down a second, man? Goodness. Sounded to me like one of those performances where the people would just straight fall apart because of how hard he's playing it. For my group's first rock and roll album, it's really good for showing off how wild you'd imagine it'd sound. I mean, there's still a part of me that'd prefer we'd've gotten something like HERE'S LITTLE RICHARD first, and not for any reasons having to do with Lewis as a person, but I don't think I can really complain about the album we got too much. As for the fact it's a 4 and not a 5, it's the usual reason—I'm just not blown away enough by it to really justify the extra point. It probably deserves it, but... Eh. I guess I'll blame that "RRRRRRRRRRR" thing Lewis kept doing; I wasn't too big on it. (Also, if anyone knows why the version on Spotify is truncated to 22 minutes... Seriously, the hell is up with that?)

*{nod, nod}* That's some cool jazz alright. I mean, I'unno. I'm no expert on what makes this jazz specifically so cool, but it's real good shit, at any rate. Gets me exicted to hear the other Miles Davis that're no doubt on here. Well, excited as I can anyway for an album as cool as this.

What a treat to get this on Canada Day. I mean, it'd be a treat to get this any day, but on Canada Day, specifically? Man, oh man. 'Cuz simply, this is one of the best Canadian albums ever released. Seriously, from the crashing opening synth of "Tom Sawyer"—damn thing's a jump scare if you're not paying attention—it's Rush at the top of their game, right on down. Like, 2112 the song is a masterpice, but as an album? Really feels like "2112 and five other songs," as good as those other five are. But MOVING PICTURES here, it's the whole package. You got your radio-ready songs like "Red Bachretta", and you got your proggier stuff like "Witch Hunt", but neither side is any more or less important than the other, y'know? It's rock damn solid. And to touch on the radio-ready material—like that's a bad thing? Hell if a prog band has some songs with hooks and that're catchy. Sorry they're not writing neo-jazz classical epics about By-Tor and honewdew, y'know? Like, my apologies, but it really stings me that the top-rated review of this album—which, I'll be up front, I didn't read in full because I come here for reviews, not creative writing exercizes—seems to be saying that Rush killed prog going into the 80's. At least that's what I gleam from the paragraph where Geddy Lee stabs prog rog to death—prog rock, who used to be about jazzy suites or whatever. Truthfully, I haven't heard enough 80's prog rock to comment on how it fared or has aged, but just talking about this album—no. No. Hard no. This might be Rush's greatest album, far as I'm concerned. This or 2112, but either way, MOVING PICTURES is a landmark album. It's simply incredible. I don't know how someone can hear "YYZ" or "Lifelight" and think this album's so bad they hafta write a whole fairy tale to express how much they don't like it. I mean, maybe I'm just mad at the form of the review. The fairy tale thing. Really, if they dislike the album that much, fine. In fact, I'd love to know **why** someone dislikes those songs as much as they do. But in the way they chose to present it... I'unno. It just strikes me as incredibly pretentious; like they think they're **so smart** for not liking this album and saying so in this way. And, y'know, apologies as well for ranting on so long about that. MOVING PICTURES has the kind of reputation where it doesn't need defending—by anyone, let alone me—but as someone who cares about hearing people's opinions, wether I disagree with them or not... It just frustrates me. So, lemme bring this back around: without any spite, I meant what I said about this album. It really is that good all around. Now, sure, I might return to the 70's hard rock sounds of 2112 a bit more than this album's synth thing, but that's not to undermine it. It's a classic from my home country, plain and simple. At the end of the day, that's really all that needs to be said. (And, hey, this album doesn't have influence from Ayn Rand, so that's another positive.)

It's... Pff, I'unno. It's just some easy listening bossa nova. Perfectly servicable. I just don't know what it's doing here on this list. Like, what exactly is so notable about it that it deserves to take up a spot? It can't be for Astrud herself, because you can already hear her singing on GETZ/GILBERTO. And that album doesn't have any out-of-place circus music, so...! Again, I'unno. It's pretty listenable; I'm just not impressed with it.

This album can be really pretty in parts. I'm not sure why this isn't as celebrated as TRANS EUROPA EXPRESS. I mean, that's all I really hafta say: I enjoyed this one **way more** than I did the other one. And people complain about this being repetitive? Please, like it doesn't evolve on itself. I swear...

This is one of those albums that's wormed its way so deeply into my heart and soul that I can't even think of anything to say about it. I mean, is it mixed like a brick? Sure, but I hardly even notice. I just throw on "Jesus Of Suburbia" and I'm, like... Still in awe of it. Top three Green Day album, for damn sure. Goodness me.

I mean, I'unno. I just have such a hard time getting invested or, like, interested in this. I'm sure there's some technical aspect about that I'm missing, like her breath control or something, but... Nah. I'm just gonna rate it how I feel: an "it's fine" 3.

Y'know, for the longest time, QUADROPHENIA was my favorite rock opera The Who had made. Attribute that to how I first experienced deep cuts from both that album and TOMMY: I saw The Who in concert back in 2016, and I was blown the hell away by "The Rock". Back-to-back with "Love, Reign O'er Me", I became an instant fan. Meanwhile, they'd played "Amazing Journey" and "Sparks" earlier, and... Well, I recognized "Pinball Wizard" at least. I'unno, at that time they just didn't really do anything for me. Fast-forward years later. I still like QUADROPHENIA a lot, but especially after having seen the film adaptation... It just feels a little more standard than it used to? Like, "Yeah, this is how The Who typically sound." And of course, that's not a bad thing, but... Eeehhhhh. It doesn't sound as incredible to me as it used to. Meanwhile, TOMMY, having seen its film version and having spun Tenacious D's medley a million times? Oh, hell yeah. This is the weird-ass rock opera shit I wanna hear. Mrs. Walker, it's a joy. Whatever problem I had with it way back when—maybe I thought TOMMY sounded smaller than QUADROPHENIA—I don't even mind. Nor do I mind its 74 runtime. I just have a blast listening to it, whenever I do spin it in full. But even when I restrict myself to the songs in Tenacious D's medley ("Pinball Wizard", "There's A Doctor" and "Go To The Mirror!")... Well, simply: "Listening to you, I get the [good-ass] music." (WHO'S NEXT still tops, though, just to be clear. And if you've never heard Elton John's cover of "Pinball Wizard" from the movie soundtrack, do y'self a favor. Honestly, I like it even better than the original. Love me all that piano stuff, goodness.)

I'll admit up front, I didn't really give this thing the proper time and attention that it—that any album, of course—deserves. Much like back when my group got COLES CORNER, for some reason I thought it'd be a good idea to try and listen to this thing in the same room where my mom was cleaning and blasting her own music from the TV. I mean, heck, even in the moment, I realized very quickly that there's only so much you can pick up on when "Houdini" and "The Real Slim Shady" are blaring right next to you, but thanks to the pure stubbornness I had for not wanting to listen to Eminem right then... The only part I remember fully picking up on (and it was only after I finally moved somewhere quieter) was the final vocal hit of the last song, and... I'unno. There was just something about the way it sounded that hit me the wrong way. Enough so that I didn't even bother giving this thing a second listen, so I'm writing this mostly based on samples and scrubbing around fan YouTube uploads. To be honest, I don't think this album's bad, really. It's a collection of soul-y late-60's tunes, very far away from the pretension I imagined I'd be in for thanks to the "folk jazz" genre label on Wikipedia. Normally, I'm very into this sorta thing. I dig Aretha Franklin, after all. And I can't say there aren't a few spots where I did find this thing kind of beautiful, even through the noise of "Mockingbird" and "What's The Difference?". On the whole, though... Look, I hate to parrot opinions, but there's just something about her voice sometimes, man. It leaves me very unenthusiastic to wanna revisit this thing. Now, I don't think I'm asking for a perfect voice here. I know I'm used to hearing voices digitally modified to be flawless, but I can recognize how much charm there is in the little human errors. That's what makes this shit alive, man. That's where the soul is! Or something like that. But Nyro here... I can tell when she wants to hit the big notes like Aretha does. She just can't manage them, though. In those moments, she sounds like Cher. I only just now realized that as I was writing this, but yeah: she sounds like Cher sometimes. And the thing is, Cher sounds like that **all the time**, so I'm at least able to let her get away with being unique. Nyro keeps fluctuating, though, and I suppose I can respect the fact that she's not trying to put on a voice, but I just wish she'd stick in one lane or the other. Now, I'd kinda feel bad about giving her a low rating. After all, from everything I've seen, she's clearly someone very influential who just didn't get her public due at the time. The album wasn't a commercial hit, but it did influence people like Elton John and Todd Rundgren, and in 2020 Rolling Stone named it one of the 500 greatest albums of all time. A more famous, well-known "greatest album"—like, I'unno, as an off-the-dome example, TALKING HEADS: 77—had to be kicked out entirely for this to be here. That's not nothing. And it's not like any of that means it should get an automatic five stars from me, but... I liked enough parts of it that I can't go lower than a 3. I don't like her voice, but again, there parts I **did** find kind of beautiful. It's just that this feels like the least enthusiastic 3 I've given since... COLES CORNER, funny enough. So I guess I didn't really miss too much when parts were drowned out by "Venom".

For me, listening to this album was about two songs: "Heroin" and "European Son". "Heroin" is pretty much exactly what I hear in my head when I hafta imagine The Velvet Underground. Stark lyrics getting at real experiences of doing drugs and living life on streets. The kind of lyrics you'd call "poetry." The arrangement is minimal, based around on chord and drums that're more being thumped than played. There's an atypical structure where there's no real chorus but it variously speeds up and grows in intensity to emphasize its words. And it's got those avant-garde-y noise elements in there as well. It's the kind of thing you listen to and give a small nod: "real music." In 2024, I don't really personally understand how groundbreaking all of this (aside from the lyrical content), but I still like it a lot. It's a bleak, harrowing listen, and the previously described way it goes up and down just appeals to me, I'unno. Then there's "European Son", which, as a closer, I think represents a lot of other things about this album. Not all of themm—Nico isn't on it, for instance—but for one, the first couple of minutes are way... Hookier than I expected it to be? Which I don't think is a bad thing. I like hooks, and I don't expect VU to be all all-caps "ART" like "Heroin" all the time. It's just a matter of expectation, y'know? Even if I do like them quite a bit. But then when it does get art-y, jamming out for the last three or so minutes, I kinda get this "noise for the sake it" feeling. Like, just play whatever you want as loudly as you want and call it "art." It's not as bad here as that description would imply, but it still leans in a little—so that's what I think about the art-y parts that I don't believe work too well. And the lyrics... I'unno, they're about somebody in Andy Warhol's circle. Or who was. As someone who has to take a second to start getting the lyrics, they're fine. As is the whole track—to paraphrase somebody else in my group, it's "a perfectly unconvential closer for an unconvential album." Speaking of closing, I suppose I should say something about Nico before I go. She's fine. I get this kind of New Wave-y vibe from her voice, and I'm kind of into that. I'unno why Andy decided she **needed** to be on here, but she's not a detracting factor. She does "I'll Be Your Mirror" very well—as I hope she would, after she broke down crying after how many times she had to record it. Overall, I can't give it less than a 4. I can't hear that special "makes you want to start a band" factor I've heard about that would make me give it a 5, but darn if it ain't good music all the same. Different from the norm, sure, though that's still what makes it so special to a lot of people. Y'wouldn't want it sounding any other way. Such as, for instance, what Billy Idol did to "Heroin". Serioiusly, if you haven't heard it before—goodness me, you're in for a trip. Recoil slowly and laugh.

Y'know, while to me The White Stripes are very much, definitionally, garage rock and blues, I did really enjoy hearing them explore sounds outside of that. Playin' around with marimba and more piano... And, hey, there's the song from the PARANORMAN credits. At my core, I'm still more a "Ball And A Biscuit" girl than anything (except maybe "CNR", honestly), but still, I'm happy they went ahead and tried all this out.

Y'know, listening to this, I was thinking back on why I gave IF YOU WANT IT DARKER a 5, and how much of it was because it was "the album he released before he died." Now, of course it's not the sole reason; that's shallow and would ignore everything being done there. The soundscapes, the mood, his voice, the lyrics I managed to catch... Like, it would have been an amazing album either way, but with the extra, unintended context of his passing, it just became all the more powerful. Here, then, we have an album on the opposite end of his life; his second ever released. The one I kept hearing described as "bleak," "depressing," "scary," "a mirror..." All that. It's probably his most famous album besides his debut or whichever one "Hallelujah" is on. A poet singer-songwriter's masterwork. And if this thing is a mirror... Well, I'unno how it reflects back on me that my second time listening to the back four songs on this album, I straight-up fell asleep halfway through. Like, don't get me wrong, there's stuff I like about this album. His guitar playing style on "Avalanche" was unexpected, but I was pretty amazed by it. And I can certainly hear, in its atmosphere, why everyone keeps saying it's so depressing. But then, that's also kind of the problem there: it's depressing, and aside from one or two songs, it hardly changes from that mood. Which is only a problem for me because I'm not in a state of mine where I can relate—or, at the very least, I don't feel like I'm smart enough to understand the lyrics well enough to get it. Like, trust me, I know there's no shame in it, but I still feel so stupid having to hop over to Genius and rely on their annotations to figure out that he's singing about Nico. I mean, I don't wanna have it come across like "sad music bad; happy music good." That's not it at all; there's plenty of sad songs I can put on and enjoy. It's just, when it comes to the super poetic singer-songwriter playing an acoustic guitar late-60's sorta deal... I'unno, I've enjoyed Bob Dylan's nonsense word salads more than I have whatever points Cohen's trying to make here. So, y'know, I wanted to give this thing a 3 at least. Like, hey, there's part of the instrumentation I enjoy, and maybe if I sat down and read all the Genius annotations... But I just gotta rate it how I feel. And to that, I **do** feel a little bad about it. Of course, I don't hafta be generous just because he's passed on, or so often called a genius, or a fellow Canadian, but... I guess combined with what I was talking about in the first sentence, it seems like if he'd passed shortly after this album and it that surrounding context I would've rated it a lot higher. And to be honest—maybe. Maybe I would have. But in a timeline where he thankfully went on to release a lot more music... I'unno. This just really wasn't my thing.

To me, this is the last of Metallica's classic period. I'm sure there's quite a few diehard metal heads who would love to debate me on that (among other topics, like if Metallica even had a classic period to begin with)—but look. This thing is full to the brim of amazing songs. And not just the singles, although let's not forget how incredible "Nothing Else Matters" is for being a 3/4 love ballad from Metallica of all bands. I'm talkin' the deeper cuts as well: "Holier Than Thou", "Don't Tread On Me", "Through The Never", "The God That Failed"... This is consistency up there with MASTER OF PUPPETS, you ask me. Sure, it's a more traditional "heavy metal" sound and not as thrash as some would prefer it, but like that even really matters. I doubt it'd bug most people while "Wherever I May Roam" is playing. Even the over-played stuff, too: they're played as much as they are for a **reason**, after all. So, big surprise, Metallica gets a second 5 from me. And if you ever have the time, check out Wax Audio's mashup of "Sad But True" and "Superstitious"; it's really good.

I can dig this. Vibe with. I really dig the beat work it's got goin' on. And... Yeah, that's all I feel like I hafta say. Which feels weird to me; I should have more about one of **the** albums of hip hop, but... I'unno. Yeah. It'd be neat if we lived in a timeline with a second album from these people.

Y'know, ultimately the first side of the album (the one with "Jesus Built My Hotrod") **is** the better half, but I really liked the second half as well. It's a departure from the "metal psychobilly" thing side one had going for it, but I'unno, I really dug these slow, heavy, epic riffs. It reminded me a lot of Rob Zombie, actually, and that's a big plus for me. I wasn't a fan of the last track, and that's why I'm only giving this 4 stars, but still, I had a blast with this album.

Y'know, I can't exactly hear what's so "grunge" about this, but for harder 90's psych rock that keeps in a lot of that folksiness—dang, it's good shit. I wish the group coulda gotten one of the albums that led to this group being named one of the earliest pioneers, alongside people like the Melvins and Mudhoney—'cuz otherwise I have no idea why this is here—but still, good tunes are good tunes, and these are good tunes.

Y'know, it's not just another amazing slice of Seattle grunge. That alone would already earn it high marks. But you factor how damn **metal** this thing is, and, oh, goodness, it's one of the highest classics of the time. That's all I have to say about it, really—it's just so good. I mean, shit, Layne's vocals and Jerry's guitar aren't praised to the Heavens and back for no reason. Combined, no one else in this genre sounds like this group, and that's damn special. My dad had really good taste buying this CD back in the day, I tell you what.

I like the downtempo and ambient parts, for sure. The rest... Well, I didn't find the more inaccessible parts to be as grating as others have. That's all I'm really inspired to say about this album—yes, sadly, I don't have any unrelated stories to tell about nearly having sex in a Joker costume. What a shame.

*{clicks fingers, finger guns}* That's country, alright! I'unno. I guess I just don't hear the "Cosmic American Music"-ness about it that makes it so important. To me it just sounds like early 70's country, which, hey, I can dig. I'll be generous enough to strike it a 4

There's a 1-star review for this album that compares Kravitz here to "Prince at home." Funny enough, I'd also compare Kravitz here to Prince, but in a 4-star way. I mean, 'ey, what can I say? I love Prince, I like the few Kravitz songs I've heard... Put 'em together with all these hippy vibes, and, hey, I can dig it. Tune in and drop out, man.

An absolute masterclass in sampling. Without a doubt, it's my favorite sampledelia album of all time. Like, seriously, the breadth of the samples used, and the way it all weaves together... I wish records like this could still be made. But short of releasing it independently, without clearing them beforehand... And I like what the Beasties are doing, too, by the way. I love how they rap, and the way they work with the samples is amazing. But the Beasties are the Beasties, y'know? Call me dumb for not catching the intricacies, but to me they don't sound terribly different from album to album. So for me, it's all about the beats, and I can hardly think of an album with better beats—not just sampled-based, honestly—than this. So, y'know, thanks for screwin' all this, Gilbert. Thanks a lot.

I'unno, I just like 50's rock and roll a lot. Most of it, if not all, sounds the same, I'll admit, but within this space, I don't think that's a bad thing, personally. I mean, getting on 50's rock and roll for sounding similar is like getting on Motörhead or AC/DC for all their songs sounding alike. If they do that one sound well, what's to complain about? And Buddy Holly and the quote-unquote "Chirping" Crickets do it very well. There can be something comforting in it, y'know? That said, if you want the **best** Buddy Holly album, go check out 20 GOLDEN GREATS if you haven't already. That's the best of the best of his work, and not just because they're all some of his biggest hits. I mean, that collection has "Words Of Love", and that alone's enough for the big thumbs-up.

LISTIE SAY yeah, it's a real good 80's album. I just wish I had a bit more time to figure exactly **why** it works so well for me. Is it just that I like synthy 80's music so much? That could be something, sure. Do I appreciate how odd this album is a lot of places? Good probability, yeah. Is it just because I recognize a lot of samples that were used in this kick-ass mashup with Iron Maiden's "Rime Of The Ancient Mariner"? I can't say no. Whatever the reason, its hits me (HITS ME) with those laser beams. Absolutely worth checking out beyond its one big hit.

Off the bat, lemme put this in the exact words that helped me clarify my opinion on this album: if SURFER ROSA is the Pixies' IN UTERO, then DOOLITTLE is their NEVERMIND. Maybe that's a bad comparison to you, but here's what I mean... I get why some people would consider IN UTERO(/SURFER ROSA) to be the better of the two albums. Courtesy of Steve Albini's production, it's artier, abrasive and very un-commercial compared to its sibling. And of course, just because something's commercial doesn't automatically mean its worse, but if the strawman I constructed in my head does exist, then that's the reason they'd cite. And it wouldn't be unfounded; even Kurt(/Francis) didn't like the polish the other album got, prferring IN UTERO(/SURFER ROSA)'s more underground stylings. Which, I don't say all this like I don't personally get why they'd think that way. I can see through the fuzz and appreciate the music for its riffs, emotion and energy. Without the polish, it's a lot rawer, and to a lot of ears, honest. I **do** enjoy IN UTERO(/SURFER ROSA) a lot. But even as much as I understand, I can't deny who I am at my core. And at my core—well, I often tend more towards polish. Poppier production. And that's why I tend to agree with the more general opinion that NEVERMIND(/DOOLITTLE) is the better album. Not only is it the blueprint for a lot of music going forward, but, damn, it's got the **hooks**, without really sacrificing any of what makes the band special. Even without all the noise, the songs and musicianship are still just fantastic. I mean, let me drop the gimmick here to say this: I think I'm gonna remember and enjoy "Monkey Goes To Heaven" a lot longer than I am "Where Is My Mind?". Naturally, "Where Is My Mind?" isn't a worse song, and I think how it sounds is interesting. However, "Monkey Goes To Heaven" has "THEN GAAAAWD IS SEVEN," and that sticks in my head. That's just how it all falls out. (Also, I think this is the album Weird Al had in mind when he wrote his pastiche of the band, "First World Problems", and me being me that alone gives it extra points. Enough for me to tell my friends and enemies Ilike DOOLITTLE better, though just not enough to push it over into a 5. Maybe in time.)

Hip hop albums always tend to [[be]] the hardest ones for me to review. I figure I've talked about this [[be]]fore, but just in case: I'm a melody girl. It's always what I tend to focus on, more than anything else. Like, I hafta **really** love an album or something to really pay much mind to its lyrics—and even then... The point [[be]]ing, anyway, that when I listen to hip hop albums, I'm mostly focusing on the beats and how the flow interacts with them. It's missing the point of the genre to not pay mind to the words, I know, but that's just how I [[be]]. And these, by man I've many times now expressed my dislike for Kanye West... Are fine. "The Corner" has the best best, and then the rest are just fine. Not even Dilla's beat wows me that much, surprisingly. So... I guess I'm at a 3? I'unno. If I allowed myself the time to really dig into and analyze the words, maybe I could rate it higher, bit with my autistic and undiagnosed ADHD ass... This is the best I can do. Take it or, I'unno, let it [[be]].

Let me just start by saying this: I haven't had ths bad of a first experience with an album since I heard Public Image LTD.'s METAL BOX . The first three tracks on this album... I had to wonder, honestly, if this guy was takin' the piss. I just couldn't comprehend that someone could have this kind of anti-flow on purpose. Like, does he know he's supposed to... At least **acknowledge** that the beat exists? That he doesn't have to stress each syllable exactly the same? That, hell, the beat should also be on beat? And I came into this knowing that British rap usually isn't very good in general, so you can only imagine my shock hearing this. I can breathe a sigh of relief, though, that it **does** actually get better from there. I can't say I ever 100% gelled with this guy's rapping style, but as the album went on I was more and more able to be fine with it. To the point where, heck, I'll say I actually liked the last two tracks, the closer especially. It does a neat thing halfway through, I feel like. Neat enough, anyway, given what this album started with. As for this thing's plot... Well, you'd probably do best to not think of it as a rap **opera**. It's more, as one of my group friends put it, a rap "TV show." I don't totally think thst saves this album's story from being a fair bit of nothing, but under that "TV show" mindset I can't be too bothered by it. So color me surprised that this thing actually managed to raise itself from a "What the hell is this shit?" 2 to a "It's fine, in the positive sense" 3. I don't really think it's something I **needed** to hear before I die—and I wouldn't call him "idiot savant Brian Wilson" like one review I saw did—but I can't really say I wasted my time pushing through it. Seriously, though, mate. Those first three tracks. It should be so easy to not sound like that, honestly.

It's 3-star albums like this I always have the most trouble with, 'cuz, like... I'unno. It's fine. I liked what I heard, but I wasn't amazed by it. I'unno what else to say, really. I guess there's that I liked the psychedelic parts the best, and if there had been more maybe I'd've bumped it up to a 4. But as it stands... Yep. That's a 3-star-ass shoegaze album. It's neat.

Did you know that ZZ Top's sound on this album was actually kind of controversial? Yeah, Dusty Hill, the bassist, compared it to the "Electric Dylan" controversy. I mean, ZZ Top, to that point, were best known for playing blues and boogie—the kind you'd hear in southern Texas, not too far from the Mexican border. So this comes along, and... What's that? Synthesizers? Drum machines? **New wave influence**? I gotta imagine their audience weren't happy with this contemporary, more-commercial sound. All these years removed, however, spinning it here in 2024... I'unno. Maybe it's not "La Grange", but it still sounds to me like ZZ Top. And that's all I could really ask from a ZZ Top album. Sure, the songs all sound like each other, but take it from a fan of AC/DC and Motörhead: that ain't a bad thing for some people. If the sound's good, distinctly theirs and they do it really well, who cares if they keep repeating it? So, y'know, I'm pretty good to give it a 4 all around. It's not a magnum opus masterpiece—gimme TRES HOMBRE if you want that—but as an early 80's rock record, it ain't one where you can go wrong.

Y'know, disco's one of those genres where I know when an album's good or isn't, but I wouldn't really be able tell you exactly why either way. Maybe I'm just not gay enough—I'unno. So, like, this is obviously a really good disco album, thanks largely to Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards's writing and production. I just can't tell you why I think it's a better CHIC album than the last one I heard, RISQUÉ. Hell, I couldn't even articulate why I was so in-the-middle on **that** album. To me, disco's just disco—if there's there, it's there, and if it ain't, well, white people who ain't the Bee Gees probably made it. I will make one specific remark: past the title track, I feel like the album starts to drag a little. I don't think anything really changes past then, and my drifint attention around then might hafta do with how much sleep I'd gotten that morning, but I'unno. It just feels like a small step down from "He's The Greatest Dancer" and the frequent film needle drop title track. I mean, that first one didn't get sampled into "Gettin' Jiggy Wit' It" for nuthin'. Anyway, I feel like I'm ramblin', so lemme jus' cap it here. The album's a 4, it's solidly in the "good disco" camp, and... I'unno. I keep thinking their name's Sledge Sisters, like the Scissor Sisters.

Off the top, I just wanna say: I get it. Y'know, why this is currently the 19th lowest rated album on the entire website. I do, honestly; I have sympathy. From what I understan, I can't imagine the Butthole Surfers are an easy band to get into. If you don't dig more experimental music—which, given a lot of the other album's in this website's bottom 20, most people don't—it's gotta be a real uphill battle. I mean, there has to be something there. Multiple publications wouldn't name this one of the best albums of the entire 1980's for nothing. Kurt must have had his reasons to put this down as one of his 50 favorite albums. So... What's, uh, the deal, eh? What did I hear? Above, I described the band as experimental. Now that I've taken in the album fully (I wrote those two paragrphs beforehand as preconceptions)... Well, it's still an appropriate word to describe them, of course. It's just not the single one I'd use anymore. They're more, like... "Noise." Big noise. Which, don't take that entirely in a bad way. There's still some melodies and riffs. It's just that they do whatever the hell they want, as long as it's noisy and abrasive. They do rock, sludge, punk... As long as it's chaotic and loud. And that, I figure, is the reason why it's rated so lowly. Some people can listen to this stuff, this noise, and hear the art of it; of the band pushing past and defying conventions and sensibilities. It's ugly, but that's what makes it so great compared to the formulaic and broadly appealing music of the mainstream. If you can't click into that, though... Well, then it's just noise. Too thick to penetrate and not worth the effort to try. And that's not laziness on their part; I mean, why waste the time when you know you're not gonna get anywhere? But that's enough essaying about other people's opinions. What about my own, eh? What did **I** think? Well, I can hear through the wall of noise and see what they're doing, but I'm not in love with it. It's just not the kind of music I gravitate towards, and there's nothing here that really convinced me to try harder. Sure, I did like a lot of the heaviness and sludginess, and that's why I can't give it lower than a 3, but it feel it says something that my favorite part of the whole album is the "Sweet Leaf" riff. And if I wanna hear that riff... I could just listen to "Sweet Leaf"? And VOL. 4? Maybe if I was sicker of the classics and the mainstream, or at least had more problems with it, I could hear this and be amazed by how unconvential it sounds. But I just gave a ZZ Top album a 4-out-of-5, and I can't tell you how many times I've listened to "Nothin' But A Good Time". I appreciate the underground—it's just not my scene.

Hearing this album for the first time, I realized—general pop culture knowledge has done WAR a disservice. Just look at their two most common needle drop and reference points, "Low Rider" and "Why Can't We Be Friends?". Both are good songs, true, don't act like I'm tryna put them down, but neither are in any way indicitive of what they're really capable of. Like, damn, you're tellin' me these same guys can also make extended odysseys like "City, Country, City", "Four Cornered Room" and "The World Is A Ghetto"? I'm not just impressed; I'm kicking myself for assuming this album'd sound like their biggest hits and not checking to confirm. This is some progressively soulful and jazzy music to get lost in. I hear this is their best album, and, frankly, just hearing "City, Country, City" alone I can agree. From everything I've read, that's not even people's favorite, although for me it **was** the moment it all clicked. Where I went, "Naw—for real? They can do this?" And I just started to imagine driving out of the city, passing all of the gas stations and rest stops and other stuff at the limits, until—bam. You hitn the country. Rolling, rolling along, slightly disturbed though still without a care. But then, the gas stations and billboards appear again, until—bam. City again. As you drive across the country, the cycle repeats. City, country, city; country, city, country... On and on. That's just wha popped into my head, anyway. So... Yeah, that's a big ol' 4 from me. It borders on a 5, but as I'm writing this it's only barely not there. Still, in any case, if somehow you've stumbled across this review on this website and haven't heard it yet... Well, damn, give it a spin. Hear for yourself the best of what WAR is good for.

Y'know, I just find it curious that this is the only Gorillaz album here. Or, if there can only be one (to nab a phrase), that **this** is the one that made the cut and not DEMON DAYS at least. That's not to put down the band's debut as a bad or unimportant record, but... I'unno. Maybe that's just me as a big Gorillaz fan speaking, 'cuz as someone who came into this group during the long hiatus between PLASTIC BEACH and HUMANZ... Their debut has just never been one of my favorites? Out of eight or so albums, I think I've commonly ranked this one around the middle. Maybe even towards the bottom. It's just that, with a few exceptions, this album is largely trip hop and dub. It's not my genre, exactly. Like, besides MAXINQUAYE on the trip hop side of things, I've yet to come across a trip hop or dub album I'm truly 100% negative about, but by that same token I've yet find one I'm 100% **positive** about. Which, to be fair, this probably the closet I've come, and not just because I'm a Gorillaz fangirl. I can't think of a better opener than "Re-Hash", "Tomorrow Comes Today" is of course incredible, "New Genious (Brother)" grooves hard, "Double Bass" is a nice roundabout, "Slow Country"... Well, honestly, "Slow Country" might be my favorite deep cut from any Gorillaz album. That synth line that preceeds the "Can't stand the loneliness" section—maybe my favorite moment on the entire album. Considering "Clint Eastwood" is on this same album, to this day one of the band's top five singles, that's saying something. And let's say some words about the rockers on this thing. "5/4", besides being a neat bit of... Whuzzit? Poly-meter? Mixed meter? Whatever word means that the riff is in 5/4 while the rest is in 4/4. I wish that one had gotten its video back in the day, but the fanmade version more than suffices. "Punk", meanwhile, is such an enjoyable, unintelligble goof that, heck, I can't help but love it. You'll always catch me yelling my own gibberish alongside it. As for the things that keep me from that 100% positivity... I'unno, "Latin SImon (¿Que Pasa Contigo?)" never really did it for me. It's just a little off my vibe—in Spanish **or** in English, for the record. Then you got "Starshine", which I've always found a bit too slowly and space-reverb-y for my liking. And "19-2000" is a fun single, but I've always much preferred Soulwax's "shot at a hit pop record" remix over the original. On the whole, too... Well, as I said above, this is their trip hoppiest album. Even with the rockers and the poppier bits, I don't think it has as much variety as some of their later albums. That variety, in my mind, is what makes them as great as they are: DEMON DAYS, PLASTIC BEACH, season one of SONG MACHINE... And also, they're poppier, and more often than not I tend towards that stuff? Which, y'know, this is probably a huge assumption about you, the reader, but don't take me as someone who looks up "without the rapper" mixes of these songs. I wouldn't live in a world without Del's verses on "Clint Eastwood", and neither should you. "Rock The House", even as a slightly lesser single in my mind, is way funner with Del's verses than whatever else could've been written. Similarly, as much as this isn't my favorite Gorillaz, there's a lot I love about it, and I hafta respect it for being as much as a success as it was. Enough of one, even, that it got to be in this book above DEMON DAYS. There's way more to it than Pitchfork's 7.6 would imply. It has "short-lasting, faddish appeal?" There's no way you coulda known where they'd go, mate, but come on. Murdoc, 2-D, Noodle and Russel deserve more credit than that. (And speaking of that review, I'unno why it kept confusing 2-D for Damon Albarn? I know they have similar voices, but continually insisting that Albarn's singing on this... Wasn't he busy making some opera about JOURNEY TO THE EAST at the time, anyway? Come on now. I expect better from you, Pitchfork.)

THE WALL has always been a hard album for me to talk about in terms of why I like it. Of course, I rattle off about the autobiographical-inspired elements from Roger Waters, the general amazing muscianship, the flow of the narrative, how incredible it is we even got this album at all given the state the band was in... And for the record, it's not even because I'm more melody-first than lyrics so I don't know what to say about this. This was my first Pink Floyd album; it's the one I've lived with the longest. I can rattle off nearly every word of it by heart. It's my third favorite behind THE DARK SIDE OF THE MOON and WISH YOU WERE HERE, in that order. I love, love, **love** THE WALL. Hell, it was Doug Walker's shitty "review" of the movie adaptation that got me to **finally** stop watching him. No, no, I've always struggled to talk about why I like this album is because I don't know what it means to me. Note: what it means **to me**. Not **generally**; I well understand that. What do **I** get out of it, personally? THE WALL, more than any other album I've encountered, feels like one where you **need** to talk about what it means to you. You can't just point out bangers or say "It's a bit comfortably shit, innit?" and move on. You need to have at least **some** self-reflection on what it says about **you**. And that's probably just a load of pretentious shit, I realize that. I'm probably just over-thinking and over-worrying about not enjoying this album "correctly." I know I won't be looked down upon if I don't bare my soul as part of this review. Certainly, looking around at a lot of other reviews, not a lot of people share my feelings. But that's just kind of the person I am, y'know? 'Cuz sometimes I think about this piece of creative writing I did for myself on THE WALL, inspired by The RS500, where all I did was talk about how my dad bought it for me at a book store, and I feel bad. 'Cuz it's like, "Really? That's all you get out of it? That you own it? There's really no deeper significance to you beyond the fact of your possession?" And knowing what the album generally means, and the elements taken from Roger Waters' and Syd Barrett's real life... I mean, is it any shallower than Doug Walker interpreting "Goodbye Blue Sky" as an Oscar bait song about "World War II with monsters?" There wasn't even a word in there about how I enjoyed it. So, maybe I'm just concerned that over a decade later the only other meaning this album's gained for me is "Doug Walker's a shithead." 'Cuz it's not like I haven't had experiences with isolation, or with how easy it can be to descend into far right points of view (and how hard it can be to completely rid yourself of them, goodness). It's just, I've never really made the connections back to this album. So what does that say about me and music, then? Believe me, THE WALL isn't the only piece of music I don't derive personal meaning from. Is it a lack of personal experience? Do I need more? How do I get more? Will I ever? Will I just be stuck behind this waist-high wall I've built for myself, that I could easily get out from behind but just refuse to for one reason or another? **Will I ever truly touch grass**? And it can go on like that, spiraling forever and forever further down the line of "What's wrong with me?" But that's probably a bit deeper than even this album calls for, honestly. And again, I look out at every one else who enjoys this album; all the people who blast "Another Brick In The Wall (Part 2)" and "Comfortably Numb" without playing the rest of the album around them, or who go to concerts and make the "hammer" sign... Is enjoyment not enough meaning in and of itself? To experience a story, grasp its theme, delight in its melodies... Even if it's not as deep a meaning as I want it to be, it's still **something**. It's no less valid than relating personally to the album's themes of isolation, war, abandoment and cycles of violence. Just because I'm not engaging with the album, or art in general as a mirror doesn't mean I'm engaging with it wrong. So maybe that's the part of my soul I mentioned above. Or maybe it's not, and I still need to dig deeper to find it. In any case, THE WALL is deeply entrenched in there. For my money, it's the greatest rock opera of all time. I doubt I'll ever get sick of it. From the crashing, epic riff of "In The Flesh?" down to the hopeful words of "Outside The Wall"—followed then by the realization that the album loops, and that the cycle of walls being built and demolished will never end... It's a masterpiece among masterpieces. An amazing end to their imperial period that started with DARK SIDE. Bless THE WALL, and everything it does or could stand for.

The awfully presumptuous title aside—I'unno, a lot of this sounds to me like it could've been in the SCOTT PILGRIM VS. THE WORLD movie soundtrack. Y'know, put it next to the Sex Bomb-Omb songs... They're garage rock, The Hives are garage punk... Makes sense. And I really love that movie, and I really like those songs, so on that basis alone... They're not my new favourite band, but yeah, I'm happy with a 4. (Also, a fact: my favorite Hives song is "Tick Tick Boom". Thanks, LEGO ROCK BAND, for that one.)

Off the top, in response to the top-rated review of this album, lemme just ask this: is it THE CHRONIC's fault gangster rap got as popular as it did in the 90's? Like, should we be mad at it for being the thing that popularized the genre, if you're the kind of person who gets mad at gangster rap as something that "killed hip hop?" Personally, I take the same stance as I do when I talk about SHREK being at fault for a lot of bad animated films in the 2000's: you can't blame the originator for everyone else copiyng it poorly. After all, it could have been anything, and getting mad at and blaming the album or film that randomly won the draw feels a bit like a waste of energy. I get the desire and the impulse to have something to rail against, but I'unno. With that off my chest, we can talk about the album proper—and already, I need to pull out another "off the top." We need to get the lyrics out of the way, first and foremost. Putting aside the rhymes and flow (both of which, honestly, Dre isn't terribly good at), this album can be terribly misogynistic and homophonic. That's not a new statement, of course; pretty much everyone who talks about THE CHRONIC address it at one point or another. It's not most can easily get over, if at all. So, y'know, I understand people who would rate this thing a 1 based on that alone. But at the same time, as much as I understand, I'm not here to pearl clutch about it. This album is some 30 years old. In 2024, I don't see the use, really, in getting too worked up. That kind of stuff is still happening, after all, and I think it'd be more worth everyone's energy to deal with it now then make a big show condoning it back then. That's enough moralizing and talking about what I think people should and shouldn't do. This is an album with a song called "Deeeeeeeez Nuts"; I should get a soap box if I **really** wanna go off. In the end, I jus' wanna express why I, myself, like this album as much as I do. It's really simple, and, point of fact, doesn't even have anything to do with the lyrics: it's the beats. What can I say? Dre's a great producer; an **amazing producer**, and G-funk beats... The **synths**...! If I had to pick any one reason why I generally tend to like West coast hip hop more than the East coast stuff, it's that the West gave us G-funk, simply. Next to sample-heavy beats, they have my favorite kind, period. And this album was where it started. They're all over this thing, and that makes me so happy. Like, 2001 has its own, iconic beats, sure—just look at "Still D.R.E.", but on the whole, nothing matches up to a good G-funk synth. Hell, if there was a purely instrumental version of this album, I'd be all over that. Of course, though, to stay consistent within this review in my beliefs, I must also say that I can't give this thing too much credit for being the thing that popularized G-funk. It could have been any other album; it's likely someone else could've stumbled onto what Dre did. Or, hell, some other sound could've defined Cali if THE CHRONIC or G-funk. But all the same, just because I can't give it credit, that won't stop me from being happy that this album **did** popularize it and loving the beats. So maybe I'm a hypocrite, just getting mad at people who like a thing I do, I'unno. You make the call. Me, well, I can't give this thing a 5, because... Well, yeah, its lyrical content (though, let's be real, it's not **all** just hating on women and gay people—there's hating on Eazy-E, too, after all). But as an album I put on to bump to its beats, damn. Near untouchable.

I don't think I've heard another album that so perfectly—and beautifully, honestly—captures the exact sound of late 60's psychedelic baroque pop. I'm in awe, quite frankly. So... Damn, I ain't got no choice but to give this thing a 4, at least.

If I half-points were possible, I feel like this is the first one (that I can remember right now, anyway) I'd give a 3.5 to. See, on the one hand, I like this quite a bit—this kind of snotty 70's British punk does it for me. I mean, heck, I still like the Sex Pistols' album despite a lot of their... Y'know, problems. (I don't need to hear "Bodies" ever again, and we'll never forgive them for necessitating the Dead Kennedys to record "Nazi Punks Fuck Off" years later.) The sound of the guitars, the shout-singing, the pace, the energy... That's what I come here for. On the other end of things, however, there was the problem that I've run into with a lot of albums on this list from more obscure artists: what makes this thing so special, anyway? 'Cuz as much as I like it's British punk-ness... Yeah, it's sure British punk. What exactly sets it apart from all of the other British punk that I presume is on this list? 'Cuz it doesn't have the prestige of the Clash's debut, nor the historical impact and infamy of NEVER MIND THE BOLLOCKS. It's just... A good punk album? That's it? That's all it takes to get on this list, over innumerable albums that're just as, if not more worth? And I don't wanna turn this into another one of the endless million screeds on this website about the fact that MADVILLANY or whatever isn't on here. Again, I wanna stress: I **like** this album. Enough to tip that 3.5 over into a 4, even. Jus', I'unno. Maybe if I had the book in front of me to explain what makes this album so important to listen to before I die, I'd get it. But in the absence of it... I enjoyed my time with it, yeah, and I might revisit it in the future. It's not like I'm gona to my grave, though, feeling like I missed some important part of music history because I never heard The Adverts.

Modern retro soul. I've seen a lot of other reviews describe this album that way and, I mean, really, it's the best way. It's like if "golden period" Stevie Wonder was making albums five years ago, it's great. There's not more I can really think to say than that, honestly. It's just a good reminder that I should probably be going out and listening to more recent music. Even if "recent" here means "half a decade old."

I wanna put aside that this is an album from Paul McCartney. Throw away any comparisons you'd be unconsciously making to the legacy of The Beatles—how do you consider this album on its own? If it was just a release from a band called Wings? Simply: it's one of the absolute greatest 70's rock albums of all time. Up there with A NIGHT AT THE OPERA, HONKY CHÂTEAU, HUNKY DORY, OUT OF THE BLUE, LED ZEPPELIN IV, THE DARK SIDE OF THE MOON... I could go on. It's just masterful: hit after hit after **hit**. The only one I can think of that I like better than BAND ON THE RUN is BAT OUT OF HELL, which, I mean, that's a high bar to clear, but just that it's even in the same conversation...! And I just wanna take a second to say: "Jet" might be the best song on the whole album? I'm not sure what consensus says about it, but for me, gawd, the opening of "Jet" can excite me like nothing else could ever hope to. And the synth lines on it, too? **Damn**. Jus', I'unno. I'd talk more, but specific words fail me. It's really an album where I'd rather just play it for someone and let them experience what makes it so great than try to describe it myself. So... Y'know, go on, if you haven't already.

Look, I gave this thing the best shot I could, but... I'unno. I just really didn't care for it. Like, the first three tracks were fine, I guess. But after that, it was just a whole lotta indie rock nothing to my ears. Nothing I could really grasp onto. Sorry.

I don't have many words to say about this, honestly. It wasn't as noisy as I was worrying it'd be, and thank goodness for that. Going by the reviews and the samples Spotify provided, I was worried I was in for "noise purely for noise's sake." While I still don't think it adds to much, it's not completely unbearable. And what they're playing behind all the noise... Yep, it's 2000's garage rock revivial. Ultimately, I think I'd rather be listening to The White Stripes, bit as the "we have it at home" variety... It's not gonna "save rock n' roll," but in a pinch, it's fine. And that's my final verdict. "It's fine." A big ol' down-the-middle 3. Which, hey, I was expecting to give this thing a 2, or even a 1, so if I were The Icaris Line I'd be happy with a 3. I also, as well, wouldn't be surprised that I was taken out of later editions of the book.

Well, samba continues to not "wow" me too much, but just juding what's here: yeah, it's nice. Relaxing. Pretty in parts. I can see myself throwing it on again, and, I'unno, at this moment that's enough for me to score this thing a 4.

Eh, first, let me just say I wasn't able to take this album in as well as I wanted to the day my group got it. I'unno, things happened. But I will say, from what I did manage to take in—yep, that continues a lot of the stuff I loved hearing on the first side of HOUNDS OF LOVE. That's an easy 4 stars from me.

Y'know, on its own I woulda given this thing a 4. It's really good, soulful pop, but nothing that really blew my mind. But consider that I played this album's cover of "They Won't Go When I Go" three times. That alone moves it up to a 5 for me, goodness. So, so good, goodness.

Y'know, when it comes to Billy Corrgan and the Smashing Pumpkins, I'll for sure have more to say about them once my group gets to hit up MELLON COLLIE AND THE INFINITE SADNESS. **That's** the one I have some sort of attatchment to. Versus this album, which, until today, I'd only known for "Cherub Rock" and, especially, "Today". As a result, in comparison, I don't really feel like I have as much to say about this album—except for that I'd really hafta agree that it's one of the best and most unique alternate rock and grunge albums of the 90's. Goodness me, can Corrgan write a tune—and can this band **play them**. (Plus, I don't mind Corrgan's voice, so that's a hurdle I have no problem getting over.) It's an **easy** 5 from me. It's an easier 5 than MELLON COLLIE might get at least, that's for sure.

I'll admit, the only reason 100% on this album is because of how many times I've listened to MY AIM IS TRUE (and, as well, Weird Al's pastiche "I'm So Sick Of You"). Now, don't get me wrong: I still liked this album a lot. Enough to slap it with a 4, even. Compositionally, it still sounds like Costelo, and I like his writing a lot. It's just, instrumentally, aesthetically... In short, I prefer his new wave/pub punk sound. This alt. rock/power pop sound... It's **good**. It's just not what I'd reach for first. Ain't no "Miracle Man" or "(The Angels Wanna Wear My) Red Shoes" on here.

I'unno who I heard say that UK rap sucks, because, honestly, I thought this "banged"—as the kids say. "Ladies Hit Club" or whatever it's called kinda sucks, but otherwise, yeah, I'm happy I heard this.

I could give this thing 1 star just for the damn headache I put myself through before I heard even a second of this thing. See, I found out that there are two songs on this album where the writer and singer, a very white guy, uses the N-word. With a hard "R" both times, too. (Genius.com claims the second one's a soft "a," but let's not split hairs; the first four letters are the same.) So, me, myself, for my benefit, before I could put this album on, I felt I had to answer one simple question: is this guy racist? Catch me, then, doing Google searches and reading articles from websites I'd never heard of, about not only this guy, but about punk's use of the N-word in general. See me find a Reddit thread where someone references a biography from a third party who says the songwriter regretted those N-words. Find me doing some soul-searching to figure out if the use of the word even bothers me, and what that might say about me as a person—after all, I still listen to Billie Joe Armstrong, Elvis Costello, Axl Rose, Ben Folds and Richard Cheese despite all of **them** using it. Eventually, after what felt like an **hour**, I just hadda stop. 'Cuz what was I even doing this for? Simply put: I don't know him. I'll never know him. Even if he hadn't passed away twelve years ago, I'd never get to know him well enough as a person, personally, to know if he's racist or not. I didn't even know his name before today—and even as I'm typing this, I can't recall it. All I'm left with, then, is the art. And I don't know if I can judge a person's entire soul based on forty minutes, let alone one word among many. And, yes, of course: it's a bad word. I don't like that he used it. But I can't just see it and call him racist entirely on that alone. Like, what's the context of the line? Does he **really** mean it? Is he playing a character? Or does it even matter in the first place? And for my money, I'm willing to give the benefit of the doubt. This is punk, after all. Unless you're one of the groups the Dead Kennedys wrote "Nazi Punks Fuck Off" about, I believe, generally, you're against racism. Of course, there's plenty of exceptions you could list, but for this man alone, I didn't see anything to suggest otherwise. In the songs where he used that word, I'll grant he was probably just playing a character. If other people don't, that's fair. Interpretation and all. But as awkward as I feel about it, I just can't agree. So that's settled then. Although first, before I actually talk about the damn music, I wanna state the funny thing about those previous paragraphs. See, if my group had never mentioned it, or I just didn't see them mention it, chances are I never would've known about those N-words. After all, as I've stated in previous reviews: I'm melody-first. I hardly register lyrics the first time I'm listening to something unless I'm staring directly at them. And there's no guarantee I would've been for this album, so it might have flown over my head completely. I could've saved myself the headache and however long I just spent writing these nearly 600 previous words. Let's get to the actual point, then: the music. What do I think of it? Eh. It's fine. Like, I'unno. I saw one that Wikipedia had given "psychobilly" as one of its genres, and that got me really excited for something that, frankly, isn't here. This isn't the Reverend Horton Heat. No, I should've been paying more attention to the **first** given genre: "punk blues." And on that front... Sure? I guess? I'unno. There were a few parts of it that rocked, but on the whole it just didn't impress me terribly much. It's not **bad**; I'm willing to give it a 3 at most. I suppose it's just that I had misplaced expectations. Although believe you me, I'm **very** tempted to give this thing a 1 on the fact that I spent all that time reading articles and worrying just to end up at an "Eh, it's fine." Especially given that I didn't do nearly as much worrying over listening to Kid Rock or Kanye West, and I know for a **fact** over how terrible **those guys** are. So, I'unno. Take it or leave it. ("It" meaning either "this album" or "this review," frankly.) I'm just gonna hope whatever my group ends up getting tomorrow won't tire me out as much as this one did before I even pressed "play."

Y'know, while I was listening to this album I wasn't sure what exactly I was gonna say about it. 'Cuz, I mean, come on. It's TO PIMP A BUTTERFLY. Without a doubt, it's the most important and highly praised hip hop record I can remember. I know there's a lot of people who'd **heavily** disagree with that, but for my money, nothing else comes close. And therein lies the problem: I'd want whatever I'd say about the album to match how big I feel this thing is. But even after nearly ten years of living with it, I struggle to really come up with the words. It's not even a typical case where I can excuse myself 'cuz I don't really "understand" the album, because I do, and pretty well. Maybe I just don't have the vocabulary? I'm not sure, and I don't wanna bore you with speculation, so allow me to get to the one definitive thing I know I have to say. This album begins with a spectacular run. "Wesley's Theory" is... Like, maybe the best track on the album, honestly? "King Kunta" bangs so hard. "u" is, exactly as it set out to be, fucking depressing. And "Alright" is such an incredible groove that I can't even. But then we hit a strerch of songs where... Honestly, they just don't do too much for me? Excepting "How Much A Dollar Cost" and "The Blacker The Berry" (phenominal, both of them), the stretch from "Momma" to "You Ain't Gonna Lie (Momma Said)" just doesn't do it for me. Even understanding their place in the narrative. Now, of course, I don't not enjoy them enough to not give the album as a whole the 5 I believe it fully deserves, but... I'unno. I think it's just the beats? Comparing it to every think that comes before it and everything that comes after—well, there's some outros I love, but as a whole, they're just too laidback for me. So much smaller than what I expect from the rest of the album. It's always been a sticking point for me, and it's probably why whenever I listen to stuff from this album it's usually just the first three or five songs or just "Alright". Ultimately, at the end of the day. though, it's a nitpick. Not nearly enough to knock this thing upon the towering pedestal of importance where I've placed it. It deserves all the praise it's gotten, and whatever more can be said about it. So... I'unno, yeah. That's my perspective on that. What do you think about that, Pac? Pac? Pac—?

Welp. You know what time it is. Let's get this over with. As far as I'm concerned, there are two big "whammies" on this 1001 Albums list. Just, two albums that are "1/5" awful without a doubt, and are the only two where I legit wonder why they're here. First, there's Kid Rock's DEVIL WITHOUT A CAUSE. A solid hour of shitty rap rock from a complete poser wannabe-cowboy-pimp-gangsta. Completely irredeemable even if Kid Rock wasn't a MAGA shithbag. And second, there's... Well... To me, Limp Bizkit isn't a band. Literally, yes, of course, they are. But in perception, they're a joke. A meme. Completey incapable of being taken seriously. Which isn't the fault of the instrumentalists or the DJ, let's be clear. They're all great players. The instrumentals on this thing are actually kind of kick ass. Especially "Take A Look Around"—the MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE theme as a metal riff? Hell yes! No, the problem is, of course, Fred Durst. I didn't wanna lay the blame entirely at his feet, but that's just the truth. He gets his Durstiness all over everything and drags whole thing. He can't rap—when he doesn't sound smarmy, he's whiny, or he's putting on that "tough guy" voice. He can't sing—he's nearly completely flat and soujds like he doesn't care. And his lyrics? Goodness, they're petulant and stupid. I'm actually kind of offended he claims OTHER PEOPLE need to "get some better rhymes." And when you put him next to actual MCs like Xzibit, Method Man and DMX, Durst's shortcomings as a rapper only become that much more evident. Believe me, I wanted to be kind to this album and give it a 2, if only for the musicianship. None of them deserve to be stuck here backing up an idiot like Fred Durst. But Durst's the face of the band. He's the only member, besidee maybe DJ Lethal, most people know by name. He's the draw. And on that basis—yeah, no, this sucks major shit. This fully deserves the 1 I was always going to give it. I'm not as mad at this album as I was at DEVIL WITHOUT A CAUSE, but it's a chocolate hot dog nonetheless, and neither of them should be here. Fuckin'. (Man, can you believe my group got this album back-to-back with TO PIMP A BUTTERFLY of all things? Crazy.)

Honestly, after the last three albums my group got, I'm just happy to have one where I know I'm not gonna spend so much time reading, writing or thinking about it. (Seriously—way too much preliminary reading for FIRE OF LOVE of all things. Goodness.) This is a solid up-the-middle "it's fiiiiine" 3. Nothing great about it, but just enough that I wouldn't spin it down to a 2. I mean, honestly, it was nice to hear some good, punk female vocals. The abrasive kind, too, that for sure is gonna offend some people's sensitivities. It kind of reminded me of Yoko Ono's experimental warblings (which I mean in a positive way, I feel like I hafta point, 'cuz I know how some people would read that). All the same, however, I don't think it's a voice I'd regularly come back to. And besides the voice—unless I missed some stand-out lyrics, of course—there's just nothing else here I find terribly interesting. So, yeah, a generous weak 3 from me. I can applaud the fact that they apparently made all of this as teen-agers, which, goodness, I could never. But I can only hope they found some more interesting material on future albums.

I feel like there's a lot I could write about this album, but let's cut straight to the point: this is some the funkiest-ass funky ass funk I've ever heard. Grooves to interstellar degree. Jus', goodness me. Put this on, put on some sunglasses, and get the hell down. 'Nuff said.

Y'know, I don't have much a defense against this thing being one of the lowest rated albums on the website. Like, yeah, I'm not gonna blame aggregate taste for putting it down here; sonically speaking, it's for sure the absolute hardest album I've heard yet to get into. But I don't think it's **as bad** as its status would imply? For one, I expecting it be nothing but noise: no melody, just clattering and shreiking for the sake of it under the excuse of it being "experimental." But there actually **is**, however, composition, and some kind of melody line to latch onto. It's an incredibly **unusual** melody line to most ears, but it's still **there**. It's not completely thoughtless and thrown together like I'd've otherwise assumed. Then there's the second factor here, and that's the fact that it absolutely belongs here on this list. Like, there's two things I personally want out of this list: albums generally considered the greatest of all time (RS500-core), and interesting shit from around the world. This **absolutely** scratches latter. Believe me, chances are more than likely you're not gonna come out of this album liking it, but I garuntee you you've never heard anything like it before, and you'll be all the better for it. I mean, seriously, I can't tell you how many American and British albums my group's listened to that're flat 3 and I've gained nothing whatsoever from them. "That's sure **this** genre," "that's sure **that** genre," etc. I want more stuff like CLUBE DE ESQUINA, CALL OF THE VALLEY, RUM SODOMY & THE LASH, ZOMBIE—and, yes, this. Random, obscure 80's New Wave or post-punk albums won't broaden your horizons. But this will. It's absolutely worth at least one run-through. And at any rate, **this** is the lowest rated album on the whole website and not **Kid Rock**? The heck are we doin' here, people? Goodness me.

I'unno. As I'm writing this, it hasn't even been that long after I finished listening to this, and already I can't remember a second of how it sounds. Is that a critique of the album, or is it just me getting distracted and forgetting? Take your pick, I guess. Either way, I feel generous to slap this thing with a 3. There were enough spots I liked that prevent me from going lower—if only I could remember them.

The biggest question I feel like I've had to ask myself in trying to talk about this album is "Is it dated?" That being, "Is it dated in terms of its production and genre?" and "Is it dated in terms of commentary on the real world?" Of course, my answer to both variations of that question is "Yes." This thing was released in 1989, after all; I'd be surprised if either one had aged terribly well in 2024. But let's pull in and address each one separately. I wanna start with the thing I feel like most people would take issue with: the commentary. Naturally, there's gonna be a few issues it tackles that maybe don't apply... As well today? Although, if I've learned anything from history, a depressing amount **does** carry through across centuries. But that's not actually why I think most people would have a problem with it, despite "datedness" being the thesis. Moreso, I imagine they'd take issue with the fact that Janet Jackson is a celebrity, and, as such, who the hell is she to try and talk about the problems of the "common folk?" Given the pedestal she's been placed on, can it come across as anything but fake? To be blunt, personally, I don't care. I often talk to myself about the "power of music," but it can only do so much by itself. If Janet brought attention to some issues through some sick jams, then that's a good thing. I mean, I'm not sure what else she could or is really supposed to do besides jump to the extreme of "quit music entirely and spend the entire fortune she's amassed to fix it herself." I don't believe that'd be as effective as some people would want it to be, and generally I don't think that's what most people would want her to do, really. Frankly, I'd just be happy that someone with a position like hers would be speaking about this stuff at all. And besides, if I can listen to all of her brother's socially conscious music and never get put off by "fakeness," then it's not a problem for me here, either. And let's switch over to talking about the music, and to get back on the thesis. I'm not gonna front here: this album sounds incredibly dated to the late 80's and early 90's. But, like, I'unno—is that a problem, really? This is New Jack Swing. Maybe I'm just too much of a sucker for modern throwbacks to older sounds, but to me this is just what it's supposed to sound like. And frankly, it sounds **incredible**. It's maybe—no, **definitely** the single best collection of New Jack Swing I've heard. I mean, sure, it **can** get a little tiring because of how long the album runs. (64 minutes? Oof. I kind of wonder if the original vinyl version, which edited the album down a bit to fit, runs any better, but let's stick with how we were supposed to listen to this thing.) On the whole, though, I can only think of a handful of songs from other artists that I'd classify as more definitively "New Jack Swing." I can't think of any other **albums**, that's for sure. I'm still knocking it a star for its length, but regardless, I really enjoyed my time with this album. If you're the kind of person who's bothered by datedness in music, I maybe wouldn't recommend it, but if you take it as it comes like me, it's a hell of a time. No wonder there was a point in time where Janet was bigger than Michael, oof, goodness.

Y'know, I'm mostly just curious why **this** is the only Foo Fighters album on this list. Like, let me clear: this isn't a bad album. It still rocks, and hat's all I expect from them, ever. Long as they have the tunes, I can hardly complain. And of course, they are here, and the fact that Dave played it all by himself is impressive. I can tell why this was big. Me, though—I'unno. I just figure it's not the best of Foo. Like I know System Of A Down's debut shouldn't've been their only album on the list. Good grief, I'm not even the biggest fan of either band, or even that up in arms about it, but just knowing about their discographies all my life... But here we are, so... I'unno. It's just curious to me, that's all. Still, for their breakout, I can't give it less than a 4. In times like these, I don't figure it's anything **that** special, but honestly, it doesn't owe me anything. For what it gives, yeah, I'll stick around.

Y'know, maybe I had wrong expectations going into this. 'Cuz when I read that this thing with dream pop, my mind jumped to the example it always does: The Flaming Lips, circa THE SOFT BULLETIN and YOSHIMI BATTLES THE PINK ROBOTS. And those are both masterpieces of their times, so it's probably not fair, either, to compare this album to those. But I listen to this thing, and, like, honestly, there really isn't too much of a comparison? Like, it's dreamy in parts, although nothing to the extent that BULLETIN or YOSHIMI could be. Y'know, there's no "Buggin'" or "In The Morning Of The Magicians". Frankly, I think I'd hafta stand with what I've seen so many other people say and call this thing more "2010's indie." Which, if you consider that a knock against this album, it might just be a "blaming SHREK for all the terrible kids movies that came out after it" situation? Or maybe not; I haven't heard enough 2010's indie music to say. But just judging this... Pff, yeah, I'unno. It's fine. Kendrick Lamar got a good sample out of it, but otherwise... I'unno, I'm just waiting for THE SOFT BULLETIN to show up.

See, this is more like I wanted from the dream pop album my group got yesterday. Beautiful, etheral... Absolutely dreamlike; as if you could float away on it. And as far as I can remember, this is the best "vocals as an instrument" album I've heard in a while—where, yeah, there ate lyrics, but they maybe don't really matter? They're another melody, to help everything else flow along, and they're great at that. Jus', mm. I'm in love. It's real good stuff.

Way back in my review of The Who's LIVE AT LEEDS, I made a big deal vouching for the inclusion of live albums on this list. In short, if you haven't read it: there are just some bands where the studio setting didn't do their sound justice. Sure, they could sound **good** in the studio, but what they could do on stage is another level entirely. The Holding Company—as far as I'm hearing from this video I'm watching as I type this—was one of those bands. After their smash hit show at the Monterey Pop Festival and their debut studio album, the people were **clamoring** to hear the band's live sound captured on record. For some people, it was a hotter, more anticipated release than The Beatles' White Album. And come August 12th... Well, they sort of got it? Kind of, technically? Maybe not, depending on how you look at it? Most people these days probably know this, but in case you, the reader, don't, lemme jus' rip this off: this is a studio album. And it's not even a funky hybrid case like Frank Zappa's SHEIK YERBOUTI, where he overdubbed the shit out of live tracks. Despite what the cover claims, only one song on this album was recorded live, and it wasn't even where the cover says it was supposed to have been. This album is "live" in the same way "Bennie And The Jets" is, or Richard Cheese playing a royal wedding or Mos Eisley Spaceport. But putting that aside—would you know if I didn't tell you? They still kill it. They still rock to shit. Sure, even the **crowd noises** were recorded in the studio, but it's all put together so well, and the music is so good, I can hardly care. It's like the accusations lobbied against KISS's ALVIE! or Thin Lizzy's LIVE AND DANGEROUS being a studio creation. Sure, they lied about what kind of album this was, but I'm pretty sure I'll be able to get over it, y'know? Generally, I'd still enter it into the same pantheon as NO SLEEP 'TIL HAMMERSMITH and MADE IN JAPAN. And with it being at a nice, tight 37 minutes, too, there's no reason why you shouldn't give it a spin and try it out. It ain't a ball and chain; y'ain't got nuthin' to lose.

I'll keep this short, since I wasn't able to get to this album the day my group had it and I just **need** to hurry on to listening to Country Joe & The Fish—oops, I'm not supposed to know that. But anyway, before now, I had no idea what Bobby Womack had done besides "be on a Gorillaz song." So to discover that he used to make lush-as-hell funk and soul... Oooh, this shit is incredibly up my alley. The soul stuff especially, it's so pretty. Honestly, I really wish I'd been able to spin this yesterday instead of having to hurry along like I feel I hafta. This is shit I really adore, goodness. Country Joe could never.

Unlike other people in my group, I'd recognized Country Joe & The Fish right away: they're one of the bands who played Woodstock. Yeah, these guys were there on the same bill as Jimi Hendrix, Santana, Sly & The Family Stone, Janis Joplin, The Who, Joe Cocker, Joan Baez.. They shared ground with all'a those people. Although, honestly, from what I can remember of the movie soundtrack, I feel like I'd probably put Country Joe & The Fish more on the... Y'know, Arlo Guthrie and Sha-Na-Na side of notability. Which makes it even crazier than Country Joe himself got a solo performance on the album **alongside** his performance with the band, but that's besides the point. Neither song is on **this album**, anyway, so let's get back to the point. This, apparently, is the first psych rock album to come from the Bay Area. Right at the top of the Summer Of Love, these guys were there, and I hafta imagine that's why they were invited to Woodstock. By that same token, I also hafta imagine that's why people today wouldn't be too kind on it. Even accepting its place in history and its importance, it can be hard to go back to the first of something while being actively aware of all of the tropes and clichés it helped spawned. Now, I already made a case in my review of Dr. Dre's THE CHRONIC for why that sort of thing doesn't bother me. In short: I don't think you can blame the originator for everyone else doing its thing poorly or for everyone else tiring its thing out. Although... I'unno. This thing ended up going back and forth for me a lot. On one end, you got the stuff that leans more into acid rock, and that's the stuff that really got me to sit up and go "Yes! I can dig it, man! Tune out, drop in, whatever." But then on the other end, you got tracks where all I can think to myself is, "I've heard this a million times before—so maybe I just didn't like this kinda stuff to begin with? Or maybe they just didn't do it that good to begin with?Especially the song that explciity mentions LBJ, jus', **wow**..." Like, maybe it sounded better back when it was more special; when it existed more by itself and there wasn't as much similar material to compare it to. After being to absorb so much and come to a conclusion, though... Boof. I mean, lucky for them, I'm probably gonna remember this more for the acid rock stuff, but still—boof. And that's why I'm at a 3. "Section 43", by itself, is too good for me to really rate it any lower. And being 100% honest, the psych stuff isn't all **that** bad. Even if it's not very special, I can still be a real sucker for that keyboard sound. On the whole, however, besides the Woodstock notoriety, I'm not sure why you'd come back to these guys **first** over a lot of the other stuff that came out afterwards. At least they had a better set than Sha-Na-Na did.

Elvis was an amazing singer. Elvis **is** a **helluva** singer. We can have discussions for days about the people he took his voice from, or the system that caused his in particular to catch on over others', but that doesn't change how much of an incredible performer he was. It's evident even and **especially** as far back as his debut here, which was cobbled together from random RCA and Sun sessions. Truthfully, this isn't my favorite era of Elvis–I'm more excited for FROM ELVIS IN MEMPHIS to pop up–but regardless, it's always such a treat to hear him do his thing and adapt seamlessly to each style he tries while still sounding like himself. Jumpin' rockers, walkin' R&B, weepin' country... I can't help falling in love with his voice. Of course, let's calm down here and address some realities about this album. Primarily, as enjoyable as I think this album is, I believe, firmly, that it's more on this list for historical reasons than for "you **must** hear it" reasons. This **was**, after all, the first 12" record teen-agers bought in droves. Prior, the long-player was strictly the domain of serious classical and jazz, while the teen audience stuck with 45's and singles. As a result of its popularity, it's essentially **the** album we can point to as where rock and roll was popularized, alongside "Heartbreak Hotel" being the single. But as an album experience... Well, remember what I said above: it was thrown together from random RCA and Sun sessions. So, while it's a very enjoyable listen, it's not even where most people would recommend you go to discover why Elvis was as big as he was in the 50's. For that, you'd hafta turn to collections of his Sun recordings, such as THE SUN SESSIONS and SUNRISE. Heck, even the quickie "we need Elvis product while he's away in the army" albums FOR LP FANS ONLY and A DATE WITH ELVIS contain stuff like "Mystery Train" and "Baby Let's Play House". (Shout out, by the way, to the British being lucky enough to get "Mystery Train" on **their** version of this album.) FROM ELVIS IN MEMPHIS was also cobbled from sessions, but at least it feels a bit more purposefully put together. So, yeah, in 2024 there's better ways to understand Elvis than this album, and there's better Elvis album experiences than this album. Hell, there's better ways to take in this era of Elvis than this album (check ELVIS' GOLDEN RECORDS). But all that, of course, doesn't change how fun this album is, from Elvis's singing down to the band backing him. Seriously, let's not forget Scotty Moore, Bill Black and D. J. Fontana; they're as important as Elvis himself is. And if you wanna hear the exact songs, in the exact order, that caused America to fall so in love with Elvis, you're not gonna regret it. I mean, it's only 28 minutes, anyway; you don't have much to lose. All I know is, whatever way you choose to engage with this material, you're bound to be having fun on record with Elvis.

Slick, professionally played blues music. Compared to other albums we've gotten recently, it's not as energetic as LIVE AT LEEDS or LIVE AT THE APOLLO, or as jammy as LIVE/DEAD, or even as wild as CHEAP THRILLS (for all that album's "recorded in a studio"-ness). B.B.'s a consumate showman, and he can play the **hell** out of his guitar, even if he never lets himself get **that** out of control. Still, it's an album I've enjoyed a number of times before, and it's one I know I'll enjoy again. (Although, I'll also remark: crazy that this is here and not the Cook County Jail one. I know this one is regularly cited as a performance primer, and that's probably why it was here, but, man, that whole "performing in front of a prison crowd"t hing adds so much, you don't even... Jus' a bit of a shame is all. Seriously, check that album out if you dig this—or, like, AT FOLSOM PRISON, I guess.)

Indie garage rock. Ho-hum. It's perfectly fine; I found it really hard to care. I hate to leave reviews this short, but I really can't think of anything else to write up. No frame, no lens, nothing to write a faux-essay about. Just, "Ho-hum. Indie garage rock."

Holy shit. Now **that's** some fuckin' **blues**. The kind so hard it'll blow your speakers out if you play it too loud. Like, goodness, it's such a contrast from the last blues album my group got, only just a few days ago. 'Cuz, I mean, yeah, B.B. King's professionalism is something to be admired, and his playing is amazing even under his restraint, but you put it next to a band playing so raw and so electrically it's like they're gonna cause a blackout just on their own... Jus', oh, goodness. In short: it's the kind of blues I like the best (i.e.: "it sounds the most like Weird Al's 'Generic Blues', which is a **huge** compliment in my book, believe me). It's so much a 5 in my book, I won't even take the easy erection joke set-up the title gives. Good-ass job y'did there, Muddy.

Y'know, for most of my time listening to this album, I was all ready to give it an "Eh, it's fine" 3 and move on. 'Course, that's 'cuz I spun side one twice before I got to side two. And side one... I mean, it's good, but... Eh, I'unno? I was just expecting to have my mind more blown by "the album with 'Heart Of Glass'," and nothing on side one was really clicking into that. Even "One Way Or Another", although that might be because I'm so more familiar with it as "the Swiffer commercial song" than I am with it as a Blondie song. Then I slapped on side two... Oh, wow, "11:59". Now **that**'s an amazing tune. It aligns so much with the kind of energy and tone I normally enjoy that, g'y'ah, I hope it's the fan favorite deep cut, 'cuz it's sure mine. I'd put it with Elton John's "Have Mercy On The Criminal" on my "list of amazing side two openers that I can think of/remember as I'm typing this." And wouldn't y'know, the rest of the side kept pretty well around the bar "11:59" set—and "Heart Of Glass"goes without saying, naturally. So, that's a 3 for the first side, a 5 for the second side (I was at a 4 'til I heard the "WOW" leading into the guitar solo on "I'm Gonna Love You Too")... Well, hey, that's an 8/10. And I'll have you know, I woulda still rounded it up to that even if I gave side two a 4. Good that it all evens out for you either way, eh, Blondie? (Also, next time I'll listen to the two record sides closer together, promise.)

Hrm. OK, see, here's the thing: ARULAR was obnoxious. Incredibly so. That's what my review on this website of the album was about, and thinking back, it's really the only thing I can remember (besides "g'lang-a-lang-alang"). Despite that, however, I never found myself crossing over into annoyance at it. For sure, I got close a few times, but at the end of the day, I kind of just recognized that this was thing and I hadda accept it. KALA ended up being a different story. On the whole, I actually found it a whole lot less obnoxious than ARULAR. Although, as a result... I was kind of bored by the whole experience? Perhaps it's because M.I.A.'s whole "world music dance hall," "nasal monotone voice" thing isn't as shocking as it was the first time? Honestly, as much as I know I should, I can't muster up enough of a hoot to actually check. Hell, I don't even care enough to interrogate the thought I kept having throughout that it felt like big critics go gaga over this kind of music specifically because it's obnoxious on purpose (I **really** can't see what Robert Christgeau saw in this). Frankly, the only song I really paid any attention to was the big single, "Paper Planes", and that's just because, instrumentally, it remindedme of Post Malone's "Sunflower". And maybe I recognized a vocal performance from a mashup? But otherwise... Like, y'know, some part of me wants to be generous and give this thing the same 3 I gave ARULAR. M.I.A. doesn't **deserve** that kind of generosity, but that's besides the point. I could slap it with a "maybe it'd go off better in the club" and use that as the justification, 'cuz I really don't hear how it's any better or worse than ARULAR. But let's not underesimate how damn uninterested I was in this album. I hear this kind of beat work on the last album, I heard these nasally monotone vocals on the last album... For sure, there's something about this album that I'm missing. Something in its conception, or just some "media literacy" intepretation that'd make me like it a lot more. I just really don't care, though. Lemme jus' cross this shit off with a 2 and never hafta think about this damn anti-vaxxer ever again.

According to Wikipedia, this album's legacy has very little to do with its music—as in, the compositions, or what these songs about. Instead, its legacy is that it's a favorite among audiophiles. This album was a popular demonstration record for speaker sets. It, especially its opener, has been used to test studio and front-of-the-house systems. I'm sure the only list besides this one where it sits besides PET SOUNDS and SGT. PEPPER'S is EQ's list of the ten best recorded album of all time. Not that any of that matters to me, really, I should say. I'm the furthest thing from an audiophile. I listened to this album on, like, $20-some headphones. I can't tell if something's bricked or clipping unless I'm looking at it. And, generally, as long as what I'm listening to doesn't sound like unmistable **total ass**, I'm fine. I just find it curious that this album's biggest impact was to became a tool for testing speaker quality. 'Cuz listening to the music... Well, it's not bad. And maybe I actually kind of like more than a fair few moments on it? But it's wholly unremarkable; completely inoffensive jazz pop that, at points, sounds like it should be playing the background of a Sega CD pool FMV game. During two different songs, on opposite sides of the album, I yawned out loud, no foolin'. And, y'know, I don't wanna make any assumptions and say I "understand" what pepople are talking about when they say Steely Dan is boring, 'cuz this is from only one member of the group.... But he is, notably, the only currently living member, so... Look, if this thing **is** one of the best recorded albums of all time, then maybe it's been recorded too clean. Y'know? Nobody's doing anything terribly interesting; there's no risks being taken; there's no **edge** to it. It's been polished to be a smooth nugget. And, sure, I can admire and appreciate all the effort that went into getting it that way, but it's not even that shiny. It's there. It's something to fill your time for a moment. And then you move onto something more interesting.

Y'know, I'd just like to pull up two terms from one of the reviews of this album I read on this website: "Flaming Lips vibes" and "baroque-grunge." That about sums this album's appeal to me. It's the dreamty, contended sigh of melancholy, sometimes wrapped purely in the instrumentation of angst, and other times mixed in with more unique spices. Which, reading that back, sounds like a really pretentious way to put it, but that's the best way I can think of to describe it. Plus, of course—it has a song in SHREK. Nostalgia for that alone already garunteed this thing points, so it's nice to hear that the rest of it holds up as well.

Mm, I'unno. For me, it was all just a bit too low-key. What mean is, I just didn't find the beats terribly interesting, and being the "melody first" kind of person I am, if I'm not interested in the beats, then I'm probably not gonna be able to pay much mind to the lyrics. I figure GZA's a good lyricist—this album wouldn't be one of the big two solo Wu-Tang albums otherwise—but overall... I'unno. It just caused me to zone out too much, and not because the flows were hypnotic or whatever.

Look, let's get one thing straight: I review music, not musicians. If I wanted to just rant about how awful someone is, there's Twitter for that. I mean, consider Kanye West: these days, I hate that man with a burning passion, the divorced dad, Nazi-lovin' fuck. But despite that, I still gave MY BEAUTIFUL DARK TWISTED FANTASY a 4 because the music still resonated with me. Sometimes, bad people make good art. That's not a rule, but it **is** a common fact of life. But I don't wanna sound like I'm pro-"separate the art from the artist," because let's make this clear as well: you can't. As much as people out there would want to, I personally believe you can't fully understand an art unless you take into consideration the artist. That's why, as much as I gave MY BEAUTIFUL DARK TWISTED FANTASY a 4, I'm never gonna listen to it again, because Kanye is a fuck and I don't wanna give him my time. Like, usually it's never enough to affect my rating (unless you're Kid Rock), but if you're gonna come in here and be like, "Well, if you just look past their past transgressions," I feel like you're being disingenuous, at best. So, look, this guy's a child rapist. He was found guilty of raping a 15-year old, and that was the first thing I knew about him (because despite this album's appearance in this book it's apparently still not even notable enough in the English world to get a Wikipedia page). I could easily give this thing a 1 and move on with my life just for that alone. I don't blame others for doing that, but, myself, I just had to dig deeper and know: what's this thing actually like? Boring. This thing is fucking boring. From the first second, all I could picture in my head was commercials for cruise lines and it never let up the whole time. That's what this thing sounds like: chintzy background music for advertisements. And I don't know if that's what all rhumba music sounds like, or just what this guy sounded like by 1992, but I sorta refuse to let **him** be the representative, so... And none of these songs have enough going on to justify them being as long as they are. A 7+ minute average for track? Jeez! What gives him the right? Trust me, if you've heard the first thirty seconds, you've heard the last thirty seconds, and every random cluster of seconds in-between. Where in the world does this thing get off? Now, of course, there **are** parts I like. There hafta be; nothing's 100% bad. Even Kid Rock's stupid album had at least one or two parts I could begrudgingly say I like. But then, here's a good question: "why would I listen to **this guy** for it? Why do I **have to**, when there **has** to be someone else doing this who also **hasn't** been found guilty of any heinous acts?" Like, don't tell me there's no other album in the world that could've represented rhumba music better; I doubt **this guy** is the only one worth considering. So, like, this shit's a 1. A big, fat 1. And I don't hand those out easily, lemme tell you: you hafta **offend me** on some level to get one. Kid Rock's, well, Kid Rock. MAXINQUAYE was such an intermittently boring waste of time that I couldn't help it. And Limp Bizkit... Well, I was kind of hard on that Limp Bizkit album, but that's besides the point. If this guy had made better music, I woulda grumbled and complained about it, but I still would've given him the credit. Or, hell, if he wasn't a guilty child rapist, this thing would've been a 2, at best. But I feel no desire to give him any benefits. All I hear when I listen at this is this man's crimes. And frankly, given that I didn't know about him yesterday and I'll forget about him tomorrow, that's **all** I'll ever hear. Allow me to rate this thing accordingly, then: it's a 1. He's not worth anyone's time.

I think it's pretty good, but I don't think I'm as interested in it as I was in the last Pavement album my group got. Maybe because I can pin it more to the 90's, whereas they'd achieved something not as easily pinnable on their follow-up? I don't really find myself as interested in interrogating as I did the last time. I'll nod, acknowledge that it had some nebulous good influence on indie that I don't have the experience to figure, and say that there's quite a few moments and a couple of songs on here that I enjoy, but I can't do much more than that. It's a "minimum 3 and no lower" in my eyes.

"The Pretenders" was a name I'd already known, but when it popped up, I couldn't figure out why for the life of me. I knew they were an important band for **some** reason... It just alluded me at the moment. Or maybe I never knew, I'unno. Well, after listening to the album, I can tell you the exact reason: these are just real good tunes. It's not any more complicated than that. Although, I will say in agreement with Robbi Miller (from SOUNDS): yeah, the second side's better than the first. I listened to the first side while I was taking a walk, and, sure, I could hear **something** in there, but overall nothing really struck me. I can't even think of a specific song to bring up as an example. Listening to the second side hours later, however, after taking a second to warm up to it... Damn, goodness. "Brass In Pocket" and "Lovers Of Today"? Absolutely incredible, both of them. Listening to this album was worth it alone for discovering those two. **Especially** the last minute or so of "Lovers Of Today", I swear. For most of the day I was feeling a pretty decent 3, but after taking in the second side, yeah, I'll give it a 4. I've been made happy enough to be generous and do that.

SKA. I LOVE SKA. Seriously, at the moment I'm writing this, I can't think of another genre that makes me as happy as ska does. I'm such an unironic fan of the stuff—so why have I never heard Fishbone before today? I'unno. I suppose it's just a case where I already have albums lodged away as "my ska albums" (LET'S FACE IT by The Mighty Mighty Bosstones and TURN THE RADIO OFF by Reel Big Fish), and given how much else I listen to as it is, I just don't have the want or time to find more. But dammit, I'm a fool. This Fishbone album, sonically, is everything I want from ska. It's damn near perfect—or maybe it just is, flat out. And, frankly, I should be giving Fishbone the respect they deserve, given how hard those previous bands I mentioned knocked their style. So, here I present it now: thank you, Fishbone. Not just for paving the way for stuff like "Sell Out", but for being the first among those mentioned here to make kickass music. (Seriously, though. You shoulda seen the smile on my face and felt the happiness in my heart. Gawd**DAMN**, I love ska!)

Y'know, I've actually heard this album. Yeah, I know this kind of album isn't exactly in my normal wheelhouse, it's true. I heard it one time, years and years ago—I'd wager at least six or seven of the buggers. I believe I was tryna start listening to the entire 2012 Rolling Stone 500 list, and this was the only album I heard before I got distracted and forgot, but it's been so long, and with a memory like mine, I can't really say for sure. I'll say this much: I remember exactly as much about it from hearing it six or seven years ago as I do from hearing it an hour ago. Like, I'unno. Maybe I was just in the wrong headspace when I put it on, but it kinda just washed over me. Perfectly pleasant, except for some, like... Dips into jazz, I think? They were out of place and I didn't like them, whatever they were. But other than that, I remember better the fact that this guy made a shitty anti-COVID restrictions song with Eric Clapton than a single second from this, his most acclaimed album. Honestly, I just can't bring myself to care. Still, I'm willing to be generous and give this thing a 3, because even how forgettable it was, I don't think I disliked enough about it to go full-on with a 2. It's teetering, though, believe me. Sorry, Van. Y'jus' ain't "the man" to me.

Well, I figured it had to happen eventually. Here it is, what I considered to be the wall of my group's walls before I had the displeasure of discovering that Ella Fitzgerald album: 69 LOVE SONGS. A nearly three-hour triple album consisting of... Well, just as the album's title says, with 23 of these suckers a disc. It's a tall order to ask, and there's not any way to cheat like there was with the Ella Fitzgerald album and its decades-later "best of" compilation. Hell, a lot of people in my group were talking about taking the album one disc a day at a time. And that's probably the most sensible solution here. Me, though? I decided, "Aw, fuggit. I'll get this album all out of the way now." And thus, I broke these nearly-three hours into twelve chunks (following the six 10" disc vinyl release) and listened to them across how-many hours. My goal, then, was simple: treat this thing like Prince's EMANCIPATION and try to find a good single album in this mess. Which kind of defeats the point of why this thing was made, but I doubt I'm ever gonna come back to the whole package, so... How did I fair? To begin with, lemme speak generally about this album: I actually like quite a fair bit of it. Yeah, a lot of songs on here remind me of They Might Be Giants or Sparks, with some of the weird angles it takes love songs at. As well, the woman who sings sometimes sounds like she comes direct from Chumbawamba, and I love the woman who sings in **that band** a lot, so that's another thumbs up from me. Reminding me of any of those bands is a big "plus" in my book. I wanna credit the TMBG and Sparks comparison, too, for why I ended up paying so much attention to the lyrics. Like, as I've stated so many times in my reviews, I'm "melody first, lyrics second," so if you've made music where I can actually pay attention to the lyrics... Jus', wow, million points in your favor. And I'd forgotten how much a song's melody can be improved by some good lyrics, 'cuz there's some songs on here I found legit beautiful. Pretty, at least. Like, goodness, it's sure been worthwhile for me to dig in. But let's narrow in on that. "Digging in." Unavoidably and obviously, the biggest problem with this album is that there's too much album. If you're willing to take the time to sift through it, you're bound to come out with a lot of material you like. But that's a tall, tall order to ask anyone, to sit through 69 songs and nearly three hours to find the smaller album within. It's why I haven't actually done this sort of thing yet with Prince's EMANCIPATION, even as much as I want to. Like, even accepting this thing's concept, I shouldn't **have** to play album editor, y'know? Sure, I can find it fun, but it's not something you should be asking of everyone. And especially if you listen to this whole thing in one straight shot instead of breaking it up into chunks like me... Like, even before I started playing this album I didn't agree with the 1/5 reviews I saw, but I can't act like I don't know where they come from. It's very easy for the ambition you'd hafta have to make something like this to be mistaken for complete and unashamed ego. Or maybe it's the other way around–who knows? For my money, though... Aw, hell, even if I know I'm never gonna listen to this thing in full ever again, I'll slap this thing with a 5. Not every song on here is perfect or even all that special (which would be a miracle if they were given there's 69 here), but way too many of them appealed to me specifically to really mind those lesser ones too much. Besides, this thing's such a unique experience. There's only maybe two or three albums I can think of that could provide something like this, and I doubt any of them would be as enjoyable or live up to this thing's level of consistency and quality material. I'm completely sympathetic for anyone who'd hate this thing, but, hey: at least the songs on here weren't all soul-drainingly similar like that Ella Fitzgerald album was. Seriously, goodness, now **that's** a slog... Now, about that "single good album" I said I'd whittle this thing down into... Well, unfortunately, it'd require a bit more time than I really had today. I will probably make one down the line, certainly—I didn't put all this effort into consideration for nothing—but for this review, allow me to close things out with my two favorite songs from each chunk. The "24 Song Loves," if you will. I'unno. (Also, apparently Daniel Hader, aka Lemony Snicket, played on this thing? I literally didn't find that out until the last few seconds of the last song. Well, I'll be damned.) A: "I Don't Believe In The Sun"; "All My Little Words" B: "Let's Pretend We're Bunny Rabbits"; "The Book Of Love" C: "Fido, Your Leash Is Too Long"; "The One You Really Love" D: "Nothing Matters When We're Dancing"; "Sweet-Lovin' Man" ==(23)== E: "Grand Canyon"; "No One Will Ever Love You" F: "(Crazy For You But) Not That Crazy)"; "Promises Of Eternity" G: "Washington, D.C."; "Papa Was A Rodeo" H: "Epitaph For My Heart"; "The Way You Say Good-Night" ==(46)== I: "Busby Berkeley Dreams"; "I'm Sorry I Love You" J: "The Death Of Ferdinand De Saussure"; "Wi' Nae Wee Balm We'll Me Beget" K: "Queen Of The Savages"; "Blue You" L: "How To Say Goodbye"; "The Night You Can't Remember" ==(69)==

Y'know, I like this album quite a fair bit—I think it'd be weird if I liked Weird Al's pastiche of this album and not the album itself—but I'm not as gaga for it as I know the others in my group are. Sure, I like a lot and appreciate how it meshes together all of these harsh elements and melodies and makes it sound seamless, but it all comes down to that ever-so-intangible and unexplainable "X factor." Simply, industrial rock isn't my thing, and I didn't hear anything on here that made me wanna explore more. Johnny Cash's cover of "Hurt" is more up my alley, y'know. Still, I don't feel I can give this thing less than a 4; it's just that well put together. Still gonna bring down my group's average, but, hey, not as bad as I could have.

Y'know, I can understand why people would prefer the simplicity of PINK MOON to this. If the arrangements don't go off 100%, well... It kind of undermines the lyrics, doesn't it? And if you're already not feeling them—woof. I mean, heck, I can tell you I wasn't feeling the flute on the instrumental title track. But lucky for me, I actually found a lot of this album to be incredibly pretty. "Fly" in particular was gorgeous, goodness. I read that the arranger's goal with this album was to try and evoke PET SOUNDS, and, well, I say 'e got real damn close. Not to mention, Nick Drake's guitar playing is as amazing as always, so... Yeah, I'unno. I'm feelin' happy enough about this whole thing to give it the 5 I didn't give PINK MOON. (Although, I mean, given what I hear about the lyrics, feelin' happy might not... But whatever.)

Y'know, I don't believe this album should be here. And it's actually not because of what I think about its musical content—I'll get there in a moment—but more its recency. Which, yes, I know, I'm not the first one to bring it up in the reviews on this website. I'm sure one of the top five rated reviews brings it up, or more; I don't feel like checking right now. Regardless, I stand pretty firm in my idea that albums under five years old should be disqualified from lists like this. Simply put, we've had no chance to see if they stand the test of time. Like, in thirty years, we could be looking back on this album as a complete wreck, if we even remember it at all. Of course, all the same, we could be praising it as the modern SGT. PEPPER'S or PET SOUNDS, but, goodness, give it a chance to stew for a second first. This album was only six months old when it got added to the book—in human terms, it probably couldn't even crawl yet. And as I write this, it's currently three-and-a-half years old—still probably shaking on its legs a little. Now, here's the thing: I'd maybe be willing to forgive all of that. I don't normally like talking about what should or shouldn't be in this book, 'cuz more often than not it's irrelevant to my reviews. I'm not here to talk about something's inclusion; I'm here to talk about the music. So, if you catch me bringing it up... Woof. Yeah, I'm sorry to the people in my group who were excited to hear this album; this thing's boring as shit. Like, I always had this assumption in mind that I wouldn't like Lana Del Ray, and finally actually hearing her for myself, yeah, I was right. I mean, maybe her other albums are better, but as an introduction, I don't think the randomizer could've picked a worse one. It sounds like so many other random pop songs I've stumbled across, with its cooing, baby vocals that I don't think she can really pull off, and all these atmospheric "vibes" instrumentals that nearly put me to sleep. And after, like, the first two tracks they all sounded the same to me. I only remember "White Dress" 'cuz of this bad vocal inflection she does, and because she tries to fit way too many words into one of the lines, and the title track... Well, I'm already forgetting it as I write this, so... Like, she really wants to call this shit "wild at heart?" This is as wild as room temperature milk. And it's not like I dislike modern music, either. That's an assumption I feel like I'd have, but there's a fair number of new albums, of new material, that aren't even five years old that I can safely say I love. Coheed And Cambria's VAXIS II, BABYMETAL's THE OTHER ONE, Gorillaz' CRACKER ISLAND... Hell, The Weeknd's DAWN FM, to bring up an artist who's popular in the mainstream. It's just that this sound is **extremely** not for me. People who're into this artsier sort of stuff... Sure. All this "art deco chamber pop nostalgia vibes" stuff. And I'm not even against vibes, but... Blurgh. I wanna give this thing a 2 just because I feel like a 1's too harsh. Like, that's the rating I reserve for shit like Kid Rock, or for convicted child rapists who make boring rhumba music for cruise line ads. Hell, I probably shouldn't have even given Limp Bizkit or MAXINQUAYE a 1. Like, this album's worst crime, speaking about its music, is that it bores me pretty badly. I'm sure if I knew more about Lana Del Ray's politics I could see how it influences my view of her art and **maybe** justify lowering the score, but honestly, I'd rather not. Like, honestly, the worst thing I can say about it is just what I started this review with: I don't think this album should be here. And as much as I'd like to say it's more for reasons of recency than for subjective reasons of "quality"—being 100, there's a good chance it's not.

I wanna put aside any debates about how much of this album was recorded live or in the studio. If I can still consider CHEAP THRILLS a live album despite how much I know for a fact was done in the studio, then to me this is 100% a live album. A pretty fun one at that, too. I mean, Thin Lizzy just rocks hard. There's really nothing more complicated to them or this album than that. And being as much of a sucker for dad rock as I can be sometimes... If Thin Lizzy is even normally considered dad rock, but that's besides the point. I enjoyed myself listening to this, and at the end of the day, that's all I ever wanted from it.

Maybe my problem's just that I've heard Nirvana and NEVERMIND too much. That's not to imply right out the gate that I disliked TEN; far from it. For as dark as it can and does get lyrically, this thing rocks to hell and back. Goodness, "alive" is downright anthemic despite what it's **actually** about. Then there's Vedder's voice. I know, especially from a lot of the reviews I skimmed here, how much of a sticking point it can be for people. Either they've heard one too many bad imitations, or maybe they just don't like it... For my money, however, I can't imagine these songs without it. Vedder's voice, even after all of the copycats, is still unique, and it's damned **impassioned** as he sings. In short: yes, I like it. So what's with that sentence at the top, then? The heck do I mean by that? Very basically, it's just that for much as I accept it as one of **the** defining albums of the grunge and alt rock movement of the 90's... I'unno, it just doesn't sound very grunge to me? Alt rock, for sure, but when it comes to grunge, NEVERMIND has always been my benchmark. "In Bloom", "Come As You Are", "Breed", "Territorial Pissing"... **That's** grunge to me. Maybe it's because Nirvana takes so many cues from punk, whereas Pearl Jam, as I've read it, sounds way more classic rock. And maybe if I'd spent years listening to TEN I'd feel the opposite way. Either way, ultimately, despite the fact that the sentiment's my opening sentence, it doesn't really matter too much to me. Both albums are incredible, front to back. I don't think grunge could've gotten two better albums to get launched by. And for me, it's the fact that it lives up to its reputation that bumps it up that extra point from a 4 to a 5. S'only fair if I've also given NEVERMIND a 5.

As a melody-first music listener, lemme say up top that the beats are pretty fresh. Fly, funky, phat... Whatever word you wanna use. On that front, it gets a pretty good rating from me. As late-80's beats, anyway. You compare this to where the rest of the 90's went, and, woo, no competition here. But considering this is a late-80's record, really, yeah, it does good. Now, speaking about LL as a rhymer and a flower... Mm. Honestly, to me he's got a voice where, like... I don't feel like I hafta take him too seriously? Besides the title track, it often sounds to me like a typical "party jam rapper" voice. Y'know what I mean? I'unno, I hear him and I think of Young MC. Like, I'm not saying it's unenjoyable, or that some of the rhymes can't be good (even putting aside some of the ones that've, well, "not aged well"), it's just... I kinda feel like I'm missing something. 'Cuz it's not bad; it's a 3 at minimum. I just don't know if I'd say it's one of the 50 best rap albums of all time. In short: I can't say he knocked me out.

Yep, that's 60's music alright. ... What else do you want me to say here? What else **can** I say? Like, sure, I guess it can be kinda pretty in a few spots (the title track is the best song here), but otherwise it's just... So blandly fine. I don't wanna go so far as to call it "generic," but there's really nothing here as far as I can tell. White-ass, lightly psychedelic "soul" with a cover drawn by a 6-year old. It's pleasant enough, and I don't feel mean enough to give it a 2, but goodness, if there ain't a billion other 60's albums I'd've rather spent my time with than this.

Right from the words "indie folk," I'll admit, I was a little worried. See, I tend to have this association in my mind between it and, like, insufferably pompous and hipster twee shit. The kind of stuff contemporary critics will just eat up for one reason or another, but for everyone else it's just a nuisance. Now, of course I went into this project with hopes that that line of thought would be proven wrong. I'm not **that** cynical. I just... Had some doubts otherwise. After listening to it, on the one hand, I can hear where I was coming from. "Lookit us with our flannel and our mountain-man beards–aren't we so **cute**?" That sort of sound. If someone upchucked hearing this music, I'd completely get it. However, looking at the other hand, I gotta admit: I'm happy my doubts were largely proven wrong. I tolerated it way better than I thought I would–heck, I wouldn't even say I "tolerated" it. I actually liked it quite a fair bit, thanks largely to this kind of "beautifully dreamy" atmosphere it has. It reminds me a lot of The Beach Boys' PET SOUNDS. I jus' kinda sank into it, and, well, while I never had that same feeling of "Damn, this is the greatest music of all time" I have with PET SOUNDS, it was just so nice to float along this thing's current. It's not too dissimilar to what I get out of some of my favorite dream pop songs. So, yeah, I gotta hand it to Fleet Foxes. I went into this album expecting it to be a "3 at **best**" deal, but listening to it here in the dark as I write this review... Goodness, no, I may just hafta give this thing a 5. It just hits such a wonderfully good mood for me. I can't say "no" to it. And I guess I should take back what I said about their beards, too. Not the flannel, though. Flannel's a bit much. Like, I'm sorry; I know it fits your aesthetic and all, but that's just how it is.

This album sounds like it was recorded in a sort of cramped space with only one, low-quality microphone. And I only assume it was a cramped space because I hafta assume the saxophone player was placed right next to the microphone the way it blasts over everything every time it appears. But, I'unno, it adds to the charm. This whole "garage proto-punk" thing they got. I mean, I feel like it tends to play out better when they're doing their few originals over the covers—which is a bit of a shame given that the album's 1:2 originals to covers. Like, even with their ramshackle recording, the covers just don't sound too terribly special to me? Honestly, in some parts it sounds like the parodies of garage rock Frank Zappa would have The Mothers do. And, yeah, it does feel like at least 25% of the words spoken on this album are just the lead singer going "WWWWWOOOOOAAAAAAAAWWWWW!!" But I still think I can nod at it as a good enough time to give it a 4. I can understand an argument for why it could go lower—that it's just noise that later bands would refine into less noise—but I'unno. Here are The Sonics, and here I am pretty satisfied.

My first time listening to this album, I didn't get it. Like, sure, I thought it was... Fine, I guess, but in a really underwhelming sort of way. I just couldn't figure out what was supposed to be so notable about it. That changed once I read Stephen Thomas Erlewine's review on AllMusic and I realized: this thing's largely acoustic. There's one electric guitar that comes in every now and then, but otherwise, it's largely driven acoustically. I could go so far as to call it folk, even. In that light, it's actually kind of amazing how hard this thing rocks, all without a hint of fuzz or distortion. Just Rod singing the hell out of these songs and the band playin' similarly. Color me impressed, I gotta say. It's enough to make me feel justified giving this thing a 4. Good job, Rod. I just hope your next album is more immediately understandable.

I'll admit, I cheated a little on this album. Before I even heard it, I went and watched an old video about it by Polyphonic. So, no, I didn't hear this thing with clean, unaware ears. But honestly, I'm glad I did, because knowing ahead of time what this album's deal was allowed me to appreciate it a lot more. Like, it is just damn impressive that these guys play in so many unusual time signatures (9/8, 3/4, 5/4) and yet it's still an album you can throw on at a dinner party. Most people would use that fact as an insult, but I really like that its rhythmic complexities don't get in the way of it being a great listen. You can enjoy it either as a super-intense jazz listener, or just casually. It's not at all what I expected from a famously "complex" jazz album. Although, it's not like this is THE SHAPE OF JAZZ TO COME or anything; don't let me get too ahead of myself here. Plus, most of the songs end up being in 3/4 "waltz time" anyway, so... Still, I'm perfectly happy giving this thing a 5. It's just stellar playing and great jazz melodies all around, with an added layer to keep it interesting beyond that. And once more, shout outs to Polyphonic for explaining that layer to a dummy like me.

Puttung aside a lot of what I could say about Courtney as a person, sympathetically or negatively—hot damn, now this is the kind of angry punk grunge I dig the shit out of. Those rockin' guitars, those crashin' drums, and goodness **me**, when Courtney Love's voice gets that "yelling strain" on it... I'm all for it; I'm all over it. Like, I can't remember exactly how CELEBRITY SKIN sounded, though I can tell you for sure that this has gotten me more into Hole than that album did. Jus', goodness, it's amazing this thing came out as good as it did despite everything that happened around it, both before **and** after. (And to be clear, of course this album isn't 100% wall-to-wall loud and angry grunge guitars. It gets softer musically every now and then, and I like those moments a lot as well. They keep this album up at the 5 where the louder songs put it. I'm just being honest about what I'm probably gonna remember this album for, and it's gonna be for the louder, angrier songs.)

Post-punk has never been a friend of mine. Check my profile—no matter when, you're probably bound to see that it's my worst rated genre. Any time the randomizer gives us an album that's classified as one, unless I already know it, I tend to groan. You can probably blame METAL BOX for that. Even though I have given good reviews to albums labeled as "post-punk," I still come back to METAL BOX as **the** sound for me of the genre. Which is to say: artsy nonsense. Throwing together every dull, irritating anti-music idea you have and acting like we're supposed to be impressed because it's "anti-commercial." It was the first album I ever gave a 2, and since then, I've never felt like being too kind to the genre. Shit like DUB HOUSING didn't help. So, what about Killing Joke, then? How do they stack up against METAL BOX? Do they break the mold? I'm happy to say that, yes, they do. This whole albums fairs a **lot** better than METAL BOX and I dig these songs a lot—hell, I'll even say they "bang." "Rip?" Whatever word the kids these days use (I'm in my late 20's). They groove in just the right way for me, I like the guitar riffs and rhythms, I **love** whenever the keys come in... And I can totally see the complaint that some of these songs maybe run a little long, but it didn't bother me. Heck, I kinda liked getting a little lost in them. They rock so hard, I don't even care. This is just really good, heavy punk shit. No wonder bands like Metallica took inspiration from them. And to narrow in my invocation of Metallica... Yeah, it's not just because they covered "The Wait". Moreso, they're the umbrella I feel like putting it under over post-punk: that is, heavy music adjacent to metal and grunge. And heck, that sort of logic follows through to the albums I mentioned I'd given 4's. They were by DEVO, Talking Heads and Television, and I'd consider them all more New Wave or just straight rock than post-punk. So, perhaps that's really why I have a problem with the genre, truly: I keep finding reasons to separate out the stuff I like, leaving me to think of it as just pretentious crap. Hell, even this album, chances are good I'd refer to it as "industrial rock" to people before "post-punk." And that's not fair to post-punk, I realize—assuming it even is anything beyond an arbitrary label, but let's not get into that. Instead, I'll say this much: KILLING JOKE is the best post-punk album I've heard yet. It appeals so directly to my love of heavy music, and I think it bangs hard. If you like bands like Metallica or Nirvana, it's worth giving these guys a shot. And I can only hope that moving forward, albums like this can become the rule for my image of post-punk rather than the exception.

Listening to today's album, I ended up playing both the mono and stereo mixes of the first side. Basically, there was some small talk in the group about the general difference between the two kinds, and I figured it'd only be right to give them each a shot. In short: they're both fine. Generally for albums released in the 1960s, I tend towards the mono mixes, since the ones in stereo were usually an afterthought, but they both do the job fine. I understand the remark from one of my colleagues that the mono mix is a bit muddy, but, personally, it sounded just fine to me. Kinda made the songs sound a bit more powerful, honestly. And boy howdy, I'm glad I got so familiar with side one, 'cuz that shit's great. Amazing psychedelia that rocks like hell, front to nearly the back. My group hasn't gotten far enough in the list yet to be sick of 60's psychedelia, and I'm glad we aren't, 'cuz I'd've hated to throw this aside just because we got a bunch of mediocre ones. And this stuff's actually not even just psychedelia; there's a whole lot of garage rock and even some proto-punk tones in here, which is for sure probably why I like it so much. Like, seriously, draw some attention to "Son Of A Baker" and the guitar thing it has going on there. Goodness! There's only one song I wasn't all for, "Lazy Sunday" (it's nearly a bit too cheeky for my tastes), but regardless, I feel like I could give this whole album a 5 just for this first side alone. But then there's the second, and... Look, I like a bit of narrative in my stories. I love concept albums and even a bit of musical theater. And, heck, even the songs on this side are pretty good. Nothing **quite** on the level of the first, but nothing that'd drop the album down a point (and even still, I'd put it back up just for some of its organ sounds). It's—wuff, it's just the narration. It's just... Dumb. With all of its made-up British words, sounding like it's meant to be read to young lil' lads n' lassies. And, I mean, I regularly engage with young peoples' media, but this sounds like it's for **young** people. Kindergarteners or preschoolers, really. I mean, I'll put it like this: I have a lot of love and respect for BLUE'S CLUES as **the** show of shows I watched growing up, but even on my most nostalgic days, I don't think I'd go out of my way to rewatch any of it. (I **am** an **adult**, after all—I watched THE IRISHMAN and nearly fell asleep!) I'd be a real dummy to mark this album just for a little bit of narration on the second side, though. In the grand scheme of the record, it's more a nitpick than anything else. The music here is still incredibly stellar. Like I said, my group luckily hasn't gone too far that this would be lost in the shuffle aside a billion "Who gives a shit?" albums from this decade, although I still wanna believe even if we were, I'd still be able to recognize this material as stand out. At the very least, it's the best album I've ever heard packaged in a metal tin—yeah, that's right, PIL's catching another stray. How about that, eh? Now **that's** nut-gone, innit?

Y'know, I'm really glad that there's another blur album on this list, and not just because I enjoyed the last one of theirs I heard as much as I did. No, I'm glad I have a second chance to review them, after my first was some Letterboxd/Stan Twitter-type nonsense that amounted to "hurr, Gorillaz, am I right?" These days I kinda really hate that style of "review," so it's nice to have an opportunity to say something more. Though, to be 100% to start: I still kinda just hear 2D whenever Albarn sings. Like, yeah, I know, that's just how he sings, but you spend as long listening to PLASTIC BEACH as I have, it's hard to hear anything else. That said, I really do like that voice in this musical context, all rock-y and pop-y and... British. Come to think of it, maybe I just like Albarn's voice in general, or at least the beds of music he chooses to place it in. And let's talk about that music by switching lenses, from Gorillaz comparisons to Oasis ones. For the longest time, I'd always tended to listen to Oasis more because of--well, to be blunt, their Beatles-ness. As much as that's an insult hurled against them, it **is** why, alongside the general hugeness they aim for, I'm more likely to put one of their songs. The fact that general Western pop culture is aware of more Oasis songs than just one like blur doesn't help. But actually putting on blur, honestly, they interest me way more. I feel like they're more keen to experiment than Oasis is, who, meanwhile, tend to stick in their Beatles-inspired wheelhouse (from what I've heard, anyway). It's something I can hear clearly carried over to Gorillaz and their tendency to play genre roulette. Of course, blur still fits pretty nicely into "Britpop" (and they're **very** "Brit", goodness), but I really enjoy their willingness to try other tones, textures and soundscapes. Of course, that experimentation (not to mention, again, the Brit-ness of it all) is probably why Oasis won the "Britpop wars" over on this side of the pond, and why Albarn didn't really get his time to shine until he put himself behind cartoons. That's really a shame. Don't get me wrong, "Song 2" is great, but I kinda wish a few more blur songs had become hits. Wha'cha gonna do, though, eh? In all... Y'know, from what I remember, I believe I gave PARKLIFE a 4. I liked that album a lot, but I think what kept me from pushing it over into a 5 was... Like, I think you got the sound of this album pretty early on, and I don't recall very many exceptions or deviations except for a few. PLus, if you care about lyrics but you're not a Brit at that specific point in the 90's, you may as well not bother with 'em. Lucky for me, I don't tend to, and this album has way more sonic variation than PARKLIFE. So, yeah, I'll happily give this one a 5. Makes me feel pretty "heavy metal," as one might say. "Woo-hoo," indeed.

This album's two sides are labeled as such: "Hard Rock Cafe" (that's the first five or six tracks, depending on if "Blue Sunday" is separated or not) and "Morrison Hotel" (the rest, from "Land Ho!" on). "Hard Rock Cafe" is the "blues" half of the album. Now, I was ready to write off this half because The Doors have always been a psychedelic rock band in my mind's ear. So, this whole "return to roots" blues thing... I didn't think I'd be too much for it, but y'know what? It's good stuff. I won't say I'm amazed by it, but there's some pretty good stuff here. Well, aside from the opener "Roadhouse Blues", anyway. I'unno, for some reason it didn't do anything for me, either time I heard it. Maybe it's just too generically "60's blues rock?" I dug everything else, though. "Peace Frog" is a bit of the Doors sound I come from, and "You Make Me Real" is a rollicking piece of garage blues. "Waiting For The Sun" is a pretty neat stand-out, too. I'd give it a 4 in total. As for the second half, "Morrison Hotel" (the psych half)... Y'know, this is the half you'd expect I like more. It's the sound I come to expect from the band, after all. But then, the sound I expect comes from their hit singles and Weird Al's pastiche. "Light My Fire", "Love Me Two Times", "Riders On The Storm"... Heck, even "Touch Me", from the album whose negative reception was the whole reason this album, and side one in particular, was made. That kind of fun psychedelia, or at least atmospherically ethereal enough. And "Land Ho!" is the former for me; I'll point that one out as a favorite. But everything after that... I'unno; I'd be hard pressed to remember anything specific from them. I suppose "Indian Summer" comes closest to the "ethereal" point, and my lack of ability to pay attention could be more general and blamed on a tiredness I've been feeling all day, but I'll say it again: I'unno. I didn't hate any of it, so it's worth a 3 at least, but I think this side could've stood to be a bit more... More. Balance the two sides out, it's a 3.5, which... Mm, honestly, I'd bump down to a 3. Even as much as I liked the first side and "Land Ho!", looking at the whole package... I don't think it would've been my first pick for my group's first The Doors album.

Y'know, I can't say I really dug this album the first couple of times I heard it. I'unno, putting in contrast against the two Bowie had released before this—HUNKY DORY and gawddam **ZIGGY STARDUST**—mixed with the fact that, for some reason, I just couldn't get a handle on it... That's why, at the same time, I was both looking forward to giving this thing a second chance and worrying I still wouldn't find anything to speak about. So, I wanna thank this four-star review of the album I found on this website that said, simply, "Elton John if he was edgy." And it all clicked. Like, this is glam. This is heavy glam rock—why didn't I hear that before? Holy shit, it's heavy glam, and it's **so good**. All the heavy guitars and the melodies and the horns and the background singers and... Well, the everything. And there's so much everything, goodness. And I wanted to say it didn't have the same sense of theatrical greatness that the last two albums had, but then "Time" happened and shut me right up. If I can reference another review, a negative one this time: it **does** sound like a rock opera. And that, on top of the glam, is why I feel so happy giving this thing a complete 5/5. Which kind of feels strange? I mean, check my history; I didn't even give HUNKY DORY a 5, and I said that was my favorite Bowie album. So, is this my favorite now? I mean, for as great as I've found ALADDIN SANE to be, it doesn't have "Changes", "Oh! You Pretty Things", "Queen Bitch", or "Life On Mars?". I'm not sure if any individual song on here quite matches up, so for that reason alone, I'll keep saying HUNKY DORY's my favorite Bowie album. But as a complete album experience, until I get to hear ZIGGY STARDUST again, ALADDIN SANE will hafta be happy with second place.

(THE REVIEW BEGINS... NOW.) Alongside its older sibling THE SOFT BULLETIN, YOSHIMI BATTLES THE PINK ROBOTS sets my benchmark for dream pop. And believe you me—that's a pretty high bar. A collection of eleven beautiful songs about life and love, all leading up to "Do You Realize??", perhaps the most poignant song I've ever heard about accepting the fact that you will die and making the most out of life while you have it instead. It's another one of those albums where I wanna have more to say about it, but it's wedged itself so deeply in my person that I struggle to really come up with the words. I mean, I guess the album kind of dips a little between the second part of the title track and "Do You Realize??", though ultimately it's a dip from a perfect 10 to a 9.5, and either way it rounds up. Now, if you'll excuse me, I hafta go beg the randomizer to give my group THE SOFT BULLETIN as soon as possible. (THE REVIEW IS OVER... NOW.)

These days, my opinion of the Sex Pistols runs a lot more negative than they used to. The fact they're a punk rock boy band. The mere existence of "Bodies". The idea, which I subscribe to, that it's their fault the Dead Kennedys eventually had to write "Nazi Punks Fuck Off". And I'm not even gonna get into what Mr. Rotten's been up to recently--let's just leave it at "I'm disappointed." But like I've said many times before, I review music, not people. I hate Kanye, but I've given his albums positive scores. The people in my group know this well enough, so I won't dwell on it. I will briefly mention "Bodies", though. An anti-abortion song? Ew! No! As much as I'd wanna pretend I don't let my politics get in the way of my enjoying things--THE INCREDIBLES, for instance, is **incredibly Randian**, but it's still one of the best Pixar films ever made--but sometimes, I just have to put my foot down. This is one of those times, and honestly, I didn't even listen to it this time around. OK, OK, OK. All of that stuff talking about politics is out of the way. Let's actually get to the damn music on this thing. Which--it's sort of weird to not wanna talk about its politics, honestly. Part of the reason why it's famous, or infamous, is for how shocking songs like "God Save The Queen" and "Anarchy In The U.K." were at the time. I mean, calling the monarchy a "fascist regime?" Oh, my monocle! Hell, even the fact that the cover used the word "bollocks" was controversial. And maybe it still is, who knows? Of course, it's 2024 right now. The only thing shocking about the Sex Pistols is the general fact that way too many punk rockers have turned hard conservative. So, finally, finally, lemme finally get off this kick and actually talk about the gawddamn music like I said I was going to ten minutes ago. Frankly, there's a part of my brain that's still 13 or 14, that still likes this music as much as I did back then because it's loud and bashy, with some snotty British voice shouting over it. Surely, I may have been vaguely aware of what these songs were about, but I couldn't tell you exactly what. There were just a lot of parts I liked to shout along to, or imitate to myself, even when I wasn't listening to the music. Although much of my opinion about the band and its members has changed and evolved over the years, I think I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy my time with the music. That said, however, now that I have way more experience with punk than I used to--your Clashes, your Green Days, your Bad Religions, your Ramoneses--this album jus' feels... I'unno, maybe a little too simple? I mean, yeah, it's punk, and given the skill level of some of the band members... Plus, y'know, it **is** basically the grandfather of punk, so it can be cut **some** slack. I'm just left thinking about what other bands would do with this style in the future, and... Well, I don't think it's any surprise that these days I mostly engage with the Sex Pistols via covers of "God Save The Queen" and "Anarchy In The U.K.". Check out Motörhead's cover of the former, by the way; Lemmy does it great. All in all... I think when it came to Sex Pistols, I think they were more concerned about being shocking to the establishment of the time than anything else. Sure, they managed to bang out a couple of good tunes, and ("Bodies" aside) I won't say this is a bad album. Like, clearly it still resonates with people enough that it made a top 100 placement on the 2020 Rolling Stone 500. Goodness, Kurt Cobain even claimed that they were more important than The Clash--y'know, "the only band that matters," as they were dubbed. For my money, however... I guess I'm at a 3? More specifically, a 3.5, but I just can't bring myself to round it up. It's fine for what it is, and I'll never be able to say I don't enjoy it, but there's been so much better punk music since. (I mean, this ain't worth much, but I'll take it over PIL anyway. Yeah, that's another shot at METAL BOX fer yah. Truly, the worst thing I could say about Mr. Rotten these days.)

And right after I'd given KILLING JOKE 5 stars, too. Like, I was pretty hopeful, honestly, that after that point I would actually start to hear more in post-punk. Like, I don't **want** to hate it; I don't wanna hate **any music**. There just has to be **something** there that I'm just missing. Then this album waltzed in. And maybe I'm not missing anything. Maybe I just don't like post-punk. I'll give this album one thing: it doesn't have any of the apparent dub influence that's colored so many other post-punk albums. At least The Fall left that style out of this. The rest, though... I mean, it really felt like a lot of these were written in the studio. As if one of them just started playing a riff that everyone else liked and they just went off on it, expecting to be able to pull a fully-formed song out of thin air. Unsurprisingly, they don't, and these songs often sound like they're just going around in circles trying and failing to find a point. It's not even a cool moment when the riff comes back in; it's like they're just returning to the only concrete part of the song they have. The mixing's ass, too. I hardly comment on mixing, and I know this is still punk, even if it has the "post-" prefix, but I'm sorry, this is bad. And if **I'm** noticing how bad it is...! Like, goodness me, you guys couldn't have even found a bigger closet to record in? You really had to stick the drummer in another room? And, jeez, at least get a mic that can produce a sound better than "1920's radio." Oh, sure. Maybe if I had more of an appreciation for abstract art, maybe I'd understand and like this better. That's how James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem came to love this album. And I'm not gonna say every riff here is that bad. But... Jeez. It's not as abrasive as METAL BOX was, but I don't think I've disliked a post-punk album this much since METAL BOX. And at least METAL BOX did have some nice songs, as rare as they were. About the "abstract art" thing, too. I don't wanna let this get away with being a mess just because it's "artsy." That's an excuse, not a reason, like Tommy Wiseau claiming THE ROOM was always a black comedy. Like, yes, it's art; I'm not saying it's not. But all music is art, good or bad. And this is bad. Honestly, maybe the only good thing that came out of this album's apparent success was that it led to Mark E. Smith featuring on a Gorillaz song. "Sch-tick?" yeah. Not my kind of schtick. I'll pass, thank you. And maybe--unfortunately--I'll remember not to get my hopes so high about any post-punk albums my group gets in the future.

I don't ask for much from jazz. What I mean is, I'm not a scholar. I can't tell you tit from tat about modal jazz, or about how exactly anyone here is playing. If I tried, I bet I'd come across as a huge poser. At best, I'd just be repeating something I might've heard in a Vox video. But even if I did have the ability to identify specific keys, modes and notes, I don't think I'd want to listen to jazz like that anyway. Putting it on specifically to analyze the music theory of it? Sure, I can appreciate complex playing, but I've never been one to tend towards music just because it's complex--or abstract or experimental, or however else "real, important jazz" is supposed to be impressive. I've grown up listening to pop and rock. Older stuff, mostly, but that's besides the point. As such, I generally tend more towards... Y'know, melodies. As long as I'm provided a good melody; something I can focus on or just have play in the background--and there aren't any external, non-music factors that'll discourage me from listening--I can't really complain. Now, that's not to say I'm a complete sucker; that as long as a melody's pleasing I'm perfectly pacified. There **has** to be more going on there. I mean, I can't tell you how many albums I've heard from this list that sound pleasant, but really had nothing else going for them. There needs to be a deeper layer, and that's where the complexity comes in. Even if I don't focus solely on it, just being aware that it's there really does a number for my enjoyment. The ol' "Ooo, I'm so smart" "big brain" feeling, y'know? And it's always appreciated where it's not too present; not distracting if you're not specifically listening for it. "Great players playing great melodies and solos." That's all I really ask for, in short, and that's what KIND OF BLUE provides. I mean, if I'm being 100%, I'm not sure if I'm gonna hold any specific differences between this or the other Miles Davis album my group listened to, BIRTH OF THE COOL. Like, if I ever listen to either of these again, it's probably gonna be a coin toss. In that sense, I don't think I can rate this any higher than I did BIRTH OF THE COOL--which I gave a 4, but still. Either way, this is some of the greatest work from one of the jazz men and group of jazz players to ever exist. If you're willing to not be such a jazz snob about its "simplicity," it's absolutely worth your time.

Coming into this album only knowing Satana only for "Smooth" probably gave me the... Well, not the wrong mindset coming in, but different expectations, for sure. I mean, to be clear, I'd always known that Santana existed for a **long** time before "Smooth". Hell, they'd played Woodstock--just like Country Joe! So, here we are only a year after Woodstock and 29 years before "Smooth". What do they sound like at this time? There's two I think I hafta keep in mind about this point in this history. For one, prior to their first album, they were a jam band. Even though--according to whoever wrote the Wikipedia article for their first album--they'd largely give that up for more conventional songwriting, they still kept a lot of the improvisation inherent to jam bands in there. Secondly, there's this genre tag that Wikipedia (them again) applies to this album: jazz fusion. And I think that goes a long way to explaining why this album sounds the way it does. "Smooth" had set me up for way more energy. Not so much, y'know, high tempos, horns and singing like Rob Thomas of Matchbox Twenty, but... Energy, y'know? But ABRAXAS, I find, is actually a pretty laid-back album. Sure, it can kick it up a notch when it wants to, but I'm pretty sure that when I think back on this album, I'm gonna think of the more chill tracks. The ones that rely on the groove **heavily** to carry things forward. I do like it quite a bit, lemme say. If I'd caught this at a better time, it would've been nice to just max and relax to Latin grooves. Note, though: "if I had." 'Cuz this was another one of those rare days where I finally woke up at the time I normally want to, but since my body's used to me getting up later, I spent a lot of the day being all yawny and tryna keep my eyes open... So an album like this was incredibly easy to space out on. To which--I mean, I don't think a lot of albums would be able to completely, 100% hold my attention when I get like that, but goodness me, this could've done better. And I think that's why I'm feeling a 3 on it? One that I could see myself going up to a 4 on, by the way. I recognize, the state of mind I was in today wasn't this thing's fault, and I shouldn't judge it for that. All the same, however I do think it kind of highlighted how... Nondescript I found it? I mean, I'm sure I'll come back to this in the future and find a lot more to enjoy--Carlos Santana's guitar playing, for instance. I mean, hey, if anything carried over to "Smooth" nearly three decades later, it's that he can rip a mean guitar. But at this stands... Pff, yeah. Man, it's only a warm one.

In 2003, this album won the Mercury award--essentially, it'd been deemed the best album of 2003. This was a fact I'd stumbled across way back when my group had gotten Coldplay's A RUSH OF BLOOD TO THE HEAD, where I discovered that it'd lost to this album. In fact, albums from Radiohead and The Darkness, and The Thrills' SO MUCH FOR THE CITY (which, hey, I like that album) had **all** lost to this album. This album, which--OK, I'm not British, and I was a little kid in 2003, so it's not like I would've known about this thing at its height. I can't throw the "Well, **I've** never heard of this album before" card at it. But I still hadda wonder the obvious--what **is** this thing's deal? What did British critics see in it? According to whoever wrote this album's Wikipedia page, it was its success that helped grime music gain mainstream exposure. So, hey, let's look at it like that--this is the album that brought grime to the common folk's attention. This album, more than any other, should explain the appeal of grime. And, honestly, it's because of this album I think I finally know why people don't like grime so much. In short: it can be pretty obnoxious. Every song this album is just... Loud. And kind of repetitive. I get the feeling that they were supposed to be "hype," but I don't get that feeling. I'm just... Kind of tired, honestly. And wondering, with every new song that pops up, how long it'll be 'til this album is over. Seriously, I do **not** think this thing needed to be just shy of an hour. The fact that way too many of the beats are kind of complete ass doesn't help. Seriously, the bass on some songs sounds like a bad, extended fart. Like, goodness, once I get over the novelty of this all being rapped in a Cockney accent... And, boy, don't even get me started on some of the obnoxious vocals and vocal effects sprinkled throughout this thing... What's funny to me is that this is actually the first UK rap album I can say I dislike. Like, A GRAND DON'T COME FOR FREE started out atrociously, but by the time it ended it'd actually managed to win me over. KONNICHWA, meanwhile, I think is just plain good aside from its lead single. They both had me wondering, in different ways, what UK rap and grime had done to make it so infamous to Western ears. And, well, I get it now. At least I have my own understanding of it. So, y'know, even if I'm never gonna listen it again (unless I wanna get a headache), I **am** happy I heard it, in some weird way. I wouldn't **recommend** anyone else to listen to it, but still. And, like, the only reason I'm not giving it a 1 is because... I'unno, a "1" always feels to mean unless I feel like an album **really** deserves. I figure if this album was shorter, or at least if I'd taken it in smaller doses instead of taking the brunt of it all at once, I wouldn't have been so down on it. Or maybe I would have, who knows? It's pure generosity that this thing might not actually deserve. So... Take it or leave it, I guess. (Speaking of things this album don't deserve, by the way--seriously. This album over the one with "Clocks"? Goodness me, British people have weird tastes.)

This band's history is kind of fascinating to me. Did you know that their third album was a collection of religious mass songs sung in Greek and Latin? Which, for the record, wasn't even the band's idea--Reprise Records thought a classically trained musician should arrange their third album, and then the only reason they went through with this idea was because the band's producer (who owned the rights to their name) agreed with Reprise. The recording and release of that album, by the way, went so badly that the band dissolved afterwards, and wouldn't reform until the early 2000's. Of course, that didn't stop the band's producer from releasing two more albums under their name before the 60's ended. From all the reading I did about the band's albums (and albums credited to the band), the impression I had is that they never really got control of their own sound. And that extends to this one, by the way. They'd been composing material for an album, but their producer decided to bring in two outside songwriters to compose a majority of the album: seven out of twelve. In the end, the band's two main songwriters ended up being solely responsible for only one track, "Luvin'". Before the 2000's, it seems the only time the band really got to dictate their own sound was their second album, UNDERGROUND--and even then... Hell, before the 2000's, the only Electric Prunes album written entirely by band members was JUST GOOD OLD ROCK AND ROLL, and by that point the band was just a random group of musicians their producers slapped the name on. So, that's a lot of preamble and context for this band I'd never heard of before yesterday. Again, it's all just so fascinating to me, the ups and (mostly) downs their group had. It's honestly a lot more interesting than the actual music on this album, 'cuz, like, at the end of the day, it's just 60's garage psych. It's not bad stuff, or unenjoyable, but even the band members will tell you that some of the stuff on here is filler and didn't belong. Sure, I liked the two big singles ("I Had Too Much To Dream (Last Night)" and "Get Me To The World On Time") and the two songs that the band's actual damn songwriters had a hand in ("Train For Tomorrow" and "Lovin'"). The rest, however... It's either nondescript stuff I imagine my group is gonna hear a dozen or so more times before this list's over, or "The Toonerville Trolley". And I really do hafta feel bad for any band who has to record something like that. It's like when Elvis was forced to sing "Old MacDonald". And that's really the feeling I come out of this album in general with: I just feel bad for the band. Like, not horrible, and I'm not sure how much this album would've been if they'd been allowed to use more or all of their own material (AllMusic, for instance, rated all the albums that came out later that did slightly worse than this one), but... Y'know, still, it sucks that they got jerked around so much by their producer. At the very least, I can tell you if the band had more creative control they wouldn't've had some random classical musician make them record gawddamn church music. The music on this album is fine at best, not particularly inspiring in the middle, and "The Toonerville Trolley" at worst. I wouldn't have ever seeked it out on my own, but, hey, at least I ended up having more to talk about and comment on than just their name. "The Electric Prunes"--seriously. Only in the late-ish 60's could a band get away with calling themselves something like that.

This album is Cyndi Lauper's legacy. Besides the title track from the follow-up album, TRUE COLORS, I imagine if anyone thinks about Cyndi, they're gonna think about this album--and its big hit more specifically. From the quick overview I did, it just seemed nothing else she did (besides "True Colors") could really ever compare to how big and explosive her debut was. Which I don't think is a bad thing, entirely. Like, if you're gonna have a legacy, this album is a pretty good one to have. For one, as overplayed as "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" may be... It's still "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun". It's one of the biggest and most iconic songs of the 80's, and not for no reason. It's huge, it's anthemic, and, dammit, it's just plain fun. And "fun" is the word I'd apply to the rest of this album. Sure, it's all pure bubblegum. No one's suggesting you should live off of it. Take it from someone who chews a lot of Juicy Fruit, though: it's really tasty gum. Produced in the most superbly 80's New Wave pop kinda way. Lauper sounds like she's having an absolute blast recording this thing. Add on top of that a pretty good of my favorite early Prince single... Honestly, I have a hard time thinking of any negative points I feel worth bringing up. Maybe the fact that "He's So Unusual" is hard-right panned? And then in that same ear on "Yeah Yeah" you've got this squeaky Harley Quinn voice? And "Witness" might be the weakest song? I'unno. None of that makes me want to give this album any less than a 5, anyway. It's just fun, and that's all I, a girl, want.

These days I don't really believe in "irony." To paraphrase Todd In The Shadows, hitting your hand with a hammer still hurts. Maybe back in the day I subscribed to it, 'coz I felt like I hadda justify watching things that were widely disliked. But these days, if I like something... Heck, maybe I just do. I bring that up because that's what U2 was doing here: ironic rock n' roll. After the public declared the band firmly up their own asses following the mess that was RATTLE AND HUM, the band figured the best way to get their cred back was to drop all sincerity. No more of that JOSHUA TREE Americana, no. We got twelve slices of Eno-produced irony rock for the 90's. Which ended up helping them in the long run, of course. That's what allowed U2 to survive the arrival of Nirvana and grunge that killed so many other bands--the idea that they weren't really serious about any of this. That this is all some satire of the culture, expanded especially in the accompanying tour and the album they recorded during it, ZOOROPA. However, I'm writing this review 33 years later. Irony may be coming back in vogue in some small way, but I like to think in general people're allowing themselves to be more sincere about things. So, let me be sincere about this: this is my second favorite U2 album. I mean, let's not act like the appeal of this thing was entirely just the irony. This is U2, not too long after THE JOSHUA TREE and a long ways off from ALL THAT YOU CAN'T LEAVE BEHIND. The Edge plays a great guitar. I like the way Bono's voice moves. Eno can produce like a muh-fuh. This thing's got great singles, and it's got great hooks from all of them. "Even Better Than The Real Thing", "Who's Gonna Ride Your Wild Horses", "One", "Mysterious Ways"--oh, goodness, "Mysterious Ways". I suppose the only thing it's really missing for me, and why it's second behind THE JOSHUA TREE, is that anthemic quality. "Where The Streets Have No Name", "I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For"--I just need to bring up those two and you get what I mean. It's just something they had to give up when they traded their sincerity for cred via irony. And I can't say it was a bad move. Again, irony is what helped them survive the 90's, and what allowed them to eventually crawl up their own asses again with stuff like SONGS OF SURRENDER. Besides, even if their attitudes gave the idea they weren't taking any of this rock star posturing seriously, it's very clear that they were still 100% serious about the music. They put a lot of work into these songs, and it paid off in dividends. Enough so, even, that they were able to have a residency at the stupid Las Vegas Sphere that ended just last March where they played the whole thing, front to back. If that's not some indication of this thing's legacy... Either way, I really love this album, completely and sincerely, and that's enough. Don'cha think?

Y'know, as much as I'd want to pay this group some respect by not comparing them to Talking Heads--to be judged solely on their own merits as a New Wave act, at least... I find framing my listening that way kind of unavoidable, honestly. 'Coz the only question I have going into it, really, is "What do these guys sound like when David Byrne **isn't** around?" As it turns out: "less nerdy Talking Heads." Even if it still has quite a few of those weirder edges (particularly in the back half), it's way more polished than any Talking Heads song I've heard. Heck, I'd go so far as to call them a bit more mainstream--and I don't mean that as an insult, knowing how some would use it. I mean, you just gotta look at their biggest hit, "Genius Of Love". That's such an incredible synth hook it has. It's no wonder why Mariah Carey eventually had it sampled up for "Fantasy" (and then **that** got sampled up and knocked off for "Big Energy", but let's stay on topic). It's synth-y, 80's fun, with this crazy danceable groove, and just the right amount of weirdness to give it that aforementioned edge while still keeping it commercially appealing. I'm not surprised it became **the** song people know this group for, even if the rest of their catalog's seemed to have faded away from public knowledge. And if I could bring up a deeper cut favorite... "As Above, So Below" was probably my favorite. It reminded me the most of Talking Heads, which is maybe why I like it as much as I do, though I don't think I'd ever mistake it for one. Thanks largely to Tina's vocals (which, in spots, reminded me of lower-vibe ABBA songs), it can stand on its own. Plus, hey, it's also got a good groove, so... ("Lorelei" gets an honorable mention as runner-up favorite. The "Under The Boardwalk" cover is real good, too.) There we go, then: I like this album. It's not as much of a New Wave masterwork as the last New Wave album I heard (SHE'S SO UNUSUAL), and I'm not blown away stupid by it, but it does its job well. If I have only one gripe about it, "Wordy Rappinghood" probably wasn't the **best** way to kick off the album. Sure, it has a pretty good instrumental, but... I mean, maybe I just don't like New Wave rapping? I haven't gotten to that one Blondie song everyone seems to like, so we'll see if my opinion changes, but from the ones I **have** heard... Look, all I'm saying is that interpolating "Old MacDonald Had A Farm" kinda makes your song lame. I mean, "Old MacDonald" was the lowest point of Elvis's career; you really wanna hitch onto **that** legacy? As you've seen, I've given this album a 4, but even if the rest of the material was good enough for a 5, I'd still drop it to a 4 just because this song is so lame. I mean, seriously, goodness... But let's bring it back up a positive note. As someone who's only a casual Talking Heads fan, I'm happy to've heard this. I feel like I have a new appreciation for the non-Byrne band members now. I never figured he was the sole genius behind the group, but it's nice to have evidence that the rest of them could carry their own weight. Ultimately, however, I do think I still prefer Talking Heads for its nerdier, awkward-er edges, though if you're a fan of the band, or New Wave in general, I think this is worth your time. At any rate, it's better than NO TALKING, JUST HEAD. Goodness.

Y'know, I like country music. The old stuff, anyway. 'Coz, I'unno, modern country music is just... Modern music. And I hardly listen to that in general. But old music? The old country stuff? That's up my alley. And, no, I'm not an "I only listen to Johnny Cash" type. Most anything from the 1960's to the 2000's is up my alley, especially if it's been parodied by Cledus T. Judd or recorded by Dolly or (yes) Johnny Cash. And this album came out in the late 80's, so... Yeah, it's all my alley. And I like it. ...I'm not sure what else to say about it, honestly. "It's good country music." That's all I can muster. I mean, you want me to get into the specifics of why I like it? I'm not sure why. I know there **is** differences between artists, but for the most part, being 100, besides which decade it came out in, I have a hard time telling a lot of country music apart from each other. Which is fine by me; that means if I like one song from one decade, I'm bound to like more. And that's not to say I don't have specific favorites, but... I'unno. Country is coming to seem like it's gonna be the hardest genre for me to talk about, unless there's something particularly special about it—AT FOLSOM PRISON, for example, to bring up Johnny Cash again. So, yeah. It's a good album, I like it enough for a 4. I just don't have anything specific to say about it. First time in a while I haven't been able to blabber on and on about an album, but that's just bound to happen. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have this urge to go to Woolworth's.

Like a lot of people, pretty much the only reason why I know and remember the name Moby is because Eminem dissed him in "Without Me". Don't ask me why; it's 20-some year old beef and I don't care. But if you asked me—and Moby, for that matter—this diss was actually a great thing for Moby. It got (and is still getting) his name in a lot of ears. "Without Me" **is** one of Eminem's most well known and played singles, after all. And, goodness me, in 2024 it might be slightly better advertising for him than his music. I mean, let's be clear: I don't dislike it. Far from it, actually. There's a lot of stuff I like a lot, **especially** the piano parts. They're gorgeous. And letting myself vibe out to this album while I'm playing DR. MARIO... Yeah, it's a great time. But actually listen closely to the album, and taking it as a whole... Frankly, I don't think it really needed to be an hour long. Like, so you can maybe understand what I'm talking about, let's just focus on the songs built around samples. He takes a snippet of a blues vocal, lays down some dance drums and piano around it, sometimes inserts some synth strings, and lets it flow up and down. It's not bad, and it's where some of my favorite piano lines come from actually. He just never really builds on that set-up. I mean, take Fatboy Slim's YOU'VE COME A LONG WAY, BABY—which, yes, is built on more samples than this album, and is going for a different sound, but hear me out. Fatboy Slim does a lot with his samples, not just between songs, but even within them. They're always switching up into different sections to keep things moving along and interesting, and no two songs pull the same tricks. This album, meanwhile, opens with the same trick twice. Sure, I don't think either one's bad, but did they really both need to be here? Or at the very least, more could've been done to make them unique besides their sample and tempo. And it's not like there's not exceptions across the album. As I was writing this, the closer, "My Weakness", came on, and that's a beautiful track. As a whole package, though... This kind of feels like a casualty of CD bloat; like there wasn't any restraint in what to include. Just throw everything on there, even if it doesn't have any more ideas than the five other songs it sounds just like. Maybe I'm overthinking it. Like I said, if I allow myself to just vibe to it, it's fine. And, hey, there's no shame in that being your relation to an album. I'm not even sure why I would've been expecting too much, anyway, given where I know Moby's name from. But I can only be honest with what I heard, and what I heard is a pretty "it's fine" 3. One that could've been a 4 if it's tightened up its runtime, 'coz, seriously, I really do a lot of its piano stuff. The way it is now, though... Yeah, I doubt I'll ever again give the whole thing a play.

If this is proof that God doesn't exist, then I guess there really didn't need to be that much in the first place. This really isn't even bad, honestly. I feel like maybe the worst thing I can say about it is that Ian Dury's vocals are a little more lowkey than I'd like. A little too sleepy, maybe, even. It's not like it doesn't work at all atop a lot of these disco and music hall instrumentals, thanks in large to his accent, though I don't feel like I was really into the album until the last three songs. That's where it gets incredibly punk and pub rock, and it kicks ass. Even with "Blockheads" having this massive synth fart. It's maybe a case where the fact that I'm melody first is really doing this album a disservice. It's apparently filled with these stories of love and working class people from Essex, so perhaps if I'd dug into those more I'd've gotten more out of the majority of the album. Inevitably, though, I am who I am, and unless it's something I'm particular into... Yeah. At the very least, this album's musically good enough that I wouldn't give it lower than a 3. The only thing that holds it back from a 4 in my book is that the vocals could've stood to have been more interesting. And it didn't make me question my faith in a higher power in the universe, anyway, so that helps.

This is an album in two modes. In its first mode, it's superb 90's power pop. Incredibly hooky with an infectious, driving energy. It's really as Pitchfork put it: it's one of the best Britpop albums I've heard, and it isn't even British. Seriously, it ranks right up there with the best stuff I've heard from blur, Oasis, and at least some of the dozen random Britpop acts this list has given up. All it's missing is a snotty, Cockney accent—though I imagine some people are pretty thankful it's nowhere to be found. In its other mode, it's space rock. Now, I haven't heard very much space rock. There's the stuff in Pink Floyd's early catalog that could be called such, and that's really about it. So, getting to hear a 90's take on this genre... Gosh, I'm floating. It's such a good sonic soundscape. I can just picture being at the helm of a spaceship, lazily drifting among the stars through the cosmos. Seriously, any song on this album, not just the space rock half, could have been on a GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY Awesome Mix, as far as I'm concerned. If I hadda pick one mode I liked better... I believe I'd pick the space rock mode? Largely 'coz it's stuff I haven't heard before. As good as the power pop stuff is, I honestly couldn't shake the feeling that it all sounded like some other band I'd heard before, and I could never exactly place my finger on it. On top of that—and I might be speaking more about my preference for album length than I am CD bloat—I'm not sure if this really needed to be 66 minutes. Somewhere in the middle, I kept spacing out (no pun intended). Now, normally I'd chalk that sort of thing up to my attention span and not dock the album any points, but I'unno. This is one of those rare times I wanna be kind to an album, but combined with the remark about feeling like I'd heard some of this stuff before from others... Yeah. O course, it's still ultimately a 4 out of 5, and a heavy recommendation from me. The space rock stuff and the power pop I didn't space out on are too good to give it anything less, I figure. Like, it wasn't terribly consistent, but on the whole I'd still say I had a great time coming down with the Dandy Warhols. From where or what, I'm not sure, but, hey, it's the climb and all that...

Abigail Devoe doesn't like RUMOURS, and that helped me understand why I like it and so many others love it. Now, to be clear, Abby likes the **songs** on RUMOURS. She could point out a number of those to you, from the opener "Second Hands News" to the closer "Gold Dust Woman". Her problem with the album lies in the way it's produced. Lindsay Buckingham's goal with RUMOURS was to produce a perfect pop album, and he went far out of his way to do it. Just check out the anecdote about how he had his guitar strings changed three times every hour while recording "Never Going Back Again" so they'd retain their brightness. And to Abby, this method of production devalues the material — as she puts it, it's "manufactured magic." She prefers a break-up album like this to be way grittier, rawer, looser — see BLOOD ON THE TRACKS or BLUE. In other words, a more subtle genius that confronts the audience with its emotions, rather than pave over it with a layer of pop polish. If things were more like "Gold Dust Woman" or the outro of "The Chain"... Of course, that's all a fair and valid opinion. I won't even say I disagree with her, and I very much recommend you seek out that video to hear her opinions from her own mouth. However, I find myself much more siding with a comment I saw below the video that stated that, yeah, no, it **is** this album's production that made it as beloved as it is. The emotional heft would've always been there. The cacophony of three or so voices all yelling over top of each other to try and convince you that "No, **that person** is the asshole." It still would have struck a chord with people — I mean, hell, BLOOD ON THE TRACKS and BLUE are both top 10 albums on the 2020 Rolling Stone 500, right alongside RUMOURS, for as much as that's worth. At the very least, it shows that rawer emotions can absolutely hit it off with people. But neither of them had a song resurge on TikTok like "Dreams" did. N', heck, look at this very website: RUMOURS has the second-highest average, beaten only by ABBEY ROAD. From what I've read, it even used to be **number one**. And if I can attribute any one specific reason to why that is, it's that production makes it go down easier. To be 100, I'll recognize, maybe I'm just speaking through my own "melody first" likes and preferences for production. I do often find myself gravitating towards stuff with a lot of production. There's no orchestra or anything, but I eat that kinda shit up. Especially if it can make the music feel "grand" or "huge" or "epic." And I wouldn't say any of those three descriptors necessarily apply to RUMOURS, but look at "Never Going Back Again". Lindsay's insistence on replacing the strings as often as they were paid off. It ends up one of my favorite songs on the entire album **because** the strings are as bright as they are. It adds a level of beauty to the song that wouldn't have been there if it'd been any gritter. Or look at "Dreams" — it might not have resurged the way it did if it wasn't as laid-back and, for lack of a better word, dreamy as it is. It's that perfection, too, that I think helps a lot of the looser moments stand out. "Go Your Own Way" and especially "The Chain" wouldn't go as hard as they do if the songs around them weren't as shiny as they are. And you really do have to be in awe at the fact that this album was even released at all. Not just because the tapes it was recorded on were apparently run so thin the risk was run of having the whole thing tossed out, but... Y'know, the band turmoil. Of course the band turmoil. Everyone knows the band turmoil; it's **the thing** it's known for. But seriously, you hafta admire the fact that even though these people were going through such a rough and bitter break-up, they were still able to devote themselves to the music — even if they were playing on songs about how much of a jerk the other person thought they were. That's commitment right there. This has all made me appreciate and like RUMOURS more than I had before. I **had** liked it; I'd just never really gotten the hype around it. Again, just four years ago it was named a top 10 album on the Rolling Stone 500. To my eyes, even knowing it's just a list among lists, that's not nothing. And maybe some of it was resentment at TikTok, 'coz I've never liked that platform, so, of course, anything **it** popularizes... And, well, even now, I'm not gonna say this new listen-through and this new understanding has suddenly made it a top 10 album for me. There's other albums, in and outside of this website's top 10, that for one reason or another I'd place over RUMOURS. I will still agree with its reputation of greatness, though, of course. For all the hardship the band went through to make this album, and given what they produced, I don't think it deserves much less than a 5 — a 4, at worst. It's just the right combination of emotional weight and perfect pop polish. Which, for the last time, I get why the latter fact would turn people away from this album. Abby's just as right in **not being** a fan of it as anyone else is for **being** a fan. We can all go our own way about it. For my money, though, it deserves all of the acclaim and success it's gotten. It's one of the best albums of the 70's, and I won't be surprised at all if future generations keep that chain of praise unbroken.

Well, this is a better album to convince me of the Bay Area psych scene that Country Joe & The Fish were. (And I can't even remember anything about that album except for, like, some song about LBJ? I'unno.) Now, the funny thing is, I know it's not the "psych" part of this album that makes me like it so much. No, it's the **power pop** part. The way these songs drive, the way these guys' vocals harmonize, the way the drums bang, the way the guitar jus' **play**. It's front-to-back excitement. Even on the slower songs, or the ones that're full-on country, which I can get carried through thanks to, again, those vocal harmonies — and of course the fact that I just like non-modern country in general. Honestly, I don't even hear any traditional "psych" elements in here; it's way more folky and rootsier. Which, hey, is fine by me; I don't think my group really needs another one of those "generic 60's psych albums" I keep seeing reviews complain about. In short, this album's a winner in my book, and it's further proof that I should probably dig into these 60's bands a bit further than just The Beatles, The Beach Boys and The Monkees. Now if only this thing could be completely uploaded to streaming so I don't hafta listen to this thing on YouTube between Chips Ahoy!'s stupid twerking cookie ad, goodness.

I spent a lot of time over the course of this album thinking about the myth and legacy of The Doors. Which is really to say, "the myth and legacy of Jim Morrison," 'coz even though the band released a few more albums after Morrison passed... They don't count. Not really. Which isn't to discount the rest of the members, but that's besides the point. If there's one thing I remember hearing about The Doors, more than anything, it's that they were pretentious. That, y'know, Jim Morrison was some stuck-up, head-in-his-ass, "sensitive poet laureate," and that made The Doors's music incredibly lame and wince-y. That's certainly how the band's biopic (the one where Val Kilmer played Morrison) put it. And as much as I'd wanna proclaim that I'm a free thinker who doesn't fall into accepting public opinion like that, I feel like I still kind of did? 'Coz even as I enjoyed a lot of Doors music (mostly their hits), there was always this thought in the back of my head that if I dug any further, I'd uncover those pretentions everyone was talking about. The poems and whatnot. So besides a greatest hits compilation album, I never really did go any further than "Touch Me" and "Break On Through" and, at most, "The End". This is another album where I hafta thank Abigail Devoe for helping me find a better way to think about this stuff. See, Jim Morrison was a fat kid. He loved poetry. His father was a Navy man. His birth name was James Bouglas Morrison. He wasn't cool — he was kind of a square, actually. And, sure, he might have slimmed down by the time The Doors recorded their first album, but... Well, at heart, he was still that same fat kid. That slim appearance was never going to last. Just check out how much he still liked blueberry pancakes. So, instead of viewing Morrison as some big, important, up-his-arse poet, I took to him more as, y'know: a nerd. One who still wanted to be a serious poet — and he was one; he wasn't buried in Père Lachaise for nothing — but who probably wasn't **as** much of a jerk as the biopic made him out to be. (Though he might've still been one, I'unno.) And while I'm sure I still would've enjoyed this album either way, viewing this album through that framework did a **lot** for me. Heck, for one, it helped me accept and like The Doors' blues tunes a lot more. I wasn't so hot on them when I heard MORRISON HOTEL, and for all I know maybe the ones here are just better, but I really dug what I heard. Of course it's nothing like what you'd get from the traditional blues masters, but, damn, you put Ray Manzerik's keys on just about anything... And, oof, boy, Morrison's voice. It's **really** good on this stuff. Then there's the lyrics and poetry. As per usual, I didn't take them in as well as everything else. I'm "melody first," let's remember. But let me tell you, accepting the fact that the poetry was here, like... Just because he wanted his poetry to be put to music, I was actually able to take it more seriously than if "taking it seriously" was the expectation to begin with. I still probably didn't get much out of it, 'coz I'm bad at deciphering poetry, but, hey, still. That's better than I figured I would've done before. I actually **liked** "The WASP". I also wanna specifically spotlight "Riders On The Storm", the album's closer. For my money, this is the best song here — big shock I pick the song most people regularly consider the best on the album, I know. But, y'know, I think it's the best because, in my eyes, it's to The Doors what "The Show Must Go On" was to Queen. Of course, it's not a 1:1 comparison (the rest of the Doors didn't know that Jim didn't have much longer), but as the songs that ended up being the final songs on their respective final albums... I really can't think of better songs for them to end on. "Riders On The Storm" is the ultimate culmination of everything The Doors had done, and listening to it this time, I couldn't help but imagine this cinematic shot of Morrison riding off down a desert road, trailed by snakes and desert lizards. Which is maybe a bit too reverent of an image for how I now perceive him, but it's just what came to mind. (Also, shout out to "Hyacinth House"; I might honestly pick that as my favorite "deep cut.") I really think I understand and appreciate The Doors and their music a lot better than I used to. I'll tell you for sure, before I gained the new frame I did, I would've enjoyed this album, but at best it would've been a good 4, elevated to such by the presence of "Riders On The Storm". But coming out of this listen... Yeah, damn, it's a 5. It's a good-ass 5. The Doors were way more than the psychedelics and pretentious I'd originally pegged them with. Really, the only complaint I can think to have is the same one Abby had: that the title track should've been the opener. Seriously, just put it there in front of "The Changeling" and don't do anything else and it's perfect. But, yeah. Morrison, like every other member of the unfortunate club way too many are a part of, deserved to live longer. To have had a chance to play revisionist with his own history instead of the people like those who made his band's biopic. But as unfortunate and tragic as his passing was... Damn, if he and the rest of the band didn't leave a damn good musical legacy, and one hell of an album to close their book on. (Again, ignoring the ones the band released after Morrison passed; they don't count.)

I really miss this era of sampling. These "sampledelia" records. It's frankly incredible what people like the Bomb Squad (and the Dust Brothers on PAUL'S BOUTIQUE) could do, taking all these tiny snippets and stringing them together to make something that's not only new, but goes hard as hell. I feel like Chuck D and Flava Flav would've always been as good as they are — the former's message combined with delivery, and the latter's ability to be the hype man of hype men — but it just wouldn't be the same without the bed of samples under them. Like, goodness, who would have even thought to add a Slayer sample to the beat? It's an awe to behold. And it's not like this kinda sampling went away completely after O'Sullivan's lawsuit against Biz Markie caused the general price of samples to rise considerably. J Dilla's DONUTS exists, after all. And even using less samples, people have been able to do really good shit: look at MADVILLAINY, for instance. Besides, online mashup artists, not beholden to sample prices, have been able to do amazing things. Just look at Girl Talk, Titus Jones, The Kleptones, or Danger Mouse's THE GREY ALBUM. But still, this era of sampling was special, and I don't know if it could truly be replicated, even if price wasn't an issue. So, y'know, I cherish very much what there was. Believe the hype — this brings the noise.

In 1977 and 1978, respectively, TALKING HEADS: '77 and Q: ARE WE NOT MEN? A: WE ARE DEVO! were released. They, to me, are the definitive sounds of early New Wave: this quirky or artsy punk music... Particularly DEVO's album. Songs like "Uncontrollable Urge", "Jocko Homo", "Mongoloid" — that kinda stuff, right there. Unlike post-punk, this wasn't music that was entirely adverse to being pop hits (Talking Heads had "Psycho Killer", and Blondie's PARALLEL LINES from '78 had quite a few), but I feel like a lot of it still made an attempt to have higher artistic intentions or follow punk's ethos more than any other pop songs at the time. Early New Wave, to my mind, was the domain of punks, nerds and arty folk. It's four years after ARE WE NOT MEN?. DEVO had been bringing synths more to the forefront of their work. MTV had launched just last year. And Duran Duran has released RIO. What does New Wave sound like now? Like, OK, lemme break from my essaying for a second to make it clear that I'm no musicologist/music historian. I can't tell you the exact evolution of New Wave and where RIO fits in — or if it's even actually that important at all. Besides, New Wave's a pretty arbitrary label, anyway, let's be real. But I'll tell you this: I really thought RIO had come out later on in the '80's than just '82, 'coz looking at this album, I'm thinking it's **the** sound of New Wave everyone recognizes. I mean, obviously, I don't think that early New Wave went away overnight. DEVO, Talking Heads and Blondie were still around and having their successes. Early MTV was filled with punks, geeks and art weirdos, and a number of them, even later in the decade, would get hits on the Hot 100 — as much as that's worth. Although, I think by that point, that's when the 80's truly became the "greatest decade for one hit wonders." Heck, this list might have an album or two from them; I haven't checked lately. Then we have RIO: slickly produced, very synth heavy and way more radio friendly. These are songs with hooks destined, maybe **designed**, to be pop hits. Just listen to "Hungry Like The Wolf" — you've **probably heard** "Hungry Like The Wolf". That song alone says it all. Like, I read on this album's Wikipedia page that it's supposed to be more experimental than Duran Duran's debut, but for the life of me I can't hear it. I suppose there's, like, the bridge of "Hungry Like The Wolf", though I'd hardly even consider that "experimental" if I wasn't actively looking for examples. And I don't keep bringing up MTV for nothing, by the way. Out of the nine songs on this album, six got music videos. This was the first album to really be marketed heavily on MTV, and from what I can tell I think it helped paved the way for how image-focused the channel would become later on in the 80's. I mean, the members of Duran Duran sure didn't **look** like geeks, lemme tell you that much. Now, pop isn't a bad word to me. I don't bring any of this, necessarily, to slam the band. Heck, I like "Hungry Like The Wolf" as much as everyone else does, and the title track "bops," as the kids say (I'm 26). I even really like this "synth-pop" style of New Wave — more than a lot of the earlier, artsier New Wave I've heard, actually, even. This album so specifically scratches any itch I'd have for it, and, honestly, I kind of love it for that. I just find the difference between late-70's New Wave and early-80's New Wave interesting, with how hard it got glammed up in the mainstream not even half a decade after DEVO's debut. Blame the record execs, I guess, I'unno. This album's a big 5 in my book. It's definitive 80's British synth cheese. I'm not terribly surprised it's what really kicked the second British Invasion into gear. Obviously, if you're not a fan of this sort of sound, or you just don't have the stomach for cheese, you should avoid this album at all costs. The synth flutes on the closer will probably do you in if the sax on the opener doesn't. Me, though, I love this kind of sound a lot.

There's been quite a few albums my group has gotten where I've found myself thinking about Kurt Cobain and, more specifically, his last list of his 50 favorite albums. Pretty often, I find myself wanting to refer to it when I'm listing an album's accolades: "Not only did ROLLING STONE name this one of the 500 greatest albums of all time, but Kurt Cobain dug it enough to write it down on a list!" That sorta deal. And I find myself wondering, why **do** I keep doing that? Do I really hold Cobain's opinion in the same high regard that I apparently do ROLLING STONE? Which, even as much importance as I throw on it, I still recognize as just being a list like any other. Well, this is the first time I've thought about Cobain's favorite albums list and it's actually mattered. After all, Cobain did have Nirvana cover three songs from it during their MTV Unplugged special. They even had two of the band members join them. Like, really, consider: out of 50 minutes, Nirvana spent 1/5th of it, ten straight minutes playing the Meat Puppets' music. They must have meant something to him. And even if it weren't for that, I think I'd still always think about the Meat Puppets in relation to Nirvana. I mean, as far as I know, Nirvana's the big (or maybe only) reason why they got picked up by a major label. (Just like the Butthole Surfers — although in their case, Nirvana was absolutely the only reason.) However, this album was released **long** before Nirvana blew up, so let's just rewind the clock and allow me to ask myself the simple question: what even **is** its deal, anyway? To begin with, I wasn't expecting it to be as... Country and bluegrass as it was. Like, the three songs Nirvana covered probably should've clued me in, and it's not like I was expecting Snot, but I really did think that, on average, the tempos here would be a little bit quicker than they are, y'know? That said, though, I did like what I heard quite a bit. You can attribute that to how much I do like country music, so a lot of this clicked pretty snugly with me. Particularly on the instrumentals — which, that's another thing I didn't know there would be, but they're so nice. "I'm A Mindless Idiot" especially, goodness. And hey, most of this album being country and Americana tinged does a big favor to the songs where they **do** get louder and/or faster; they're a nice change of pace. So, hey, I suppose you can call me "pleasantly surprised" with this whole endeavor. I can't be 100% on what Kurt might've seen in it, but whatever he did, hey, I'll probably agree. (And it's actually funny I keep bringing up Kurt and his favorite albums list, 'coz as it turns out, this album isn't actually on there. Yeah, surprisingly. Public Enemy's IT TAKES A NATION OF MILLIONS is, but not the album he devoted time on his band's big MTV special to. Crazy.) But even that aside, this gets a pretty big thumbs up from me and... Aw, heck. I'll give a 5? Why not? Maybe it's just because I wanna keep my streak of 5's up, but I really can't think of anything that'd make me wanna bump it down. Maybe the lead singer's vocals if I wasn't already pretty used to that kind of tone. And I suppose it didn't exactly wow or amaze me like so many other 5's do, but, hey, I'm wanna be generous with an extra point. This music vibes, bangs... And whatever other words the kids these days use to describe music (I'm still 26). It wouldn't make **my** list of favorite albums, but it's one I'd be happy to come back to.

Y'know, I really can't imagine hating country music just **that much**. I mean, hating it so vehemently that you give an album like this a 1 on sight. I suppose I can understand taking issue with some of the more... Erm, "modern patriotic" sides of the genre, let's call it ("WE'LL PUT A BOOT IN YOUR ASS; IT'S THE AMERICAN WAY"). But classic-ass country music like this? I suppose if you just **really** hate this sound... Lucky for me, I don't. And thank goodness I don't, 'coz of the other reason I'd suppose: I'm not really sure how this is different from a lot of other country albums — specifically classic country like this — that I've heard. The arrangements, the instrumentation, the topics, the voice... It's all a sound I love, but without a loudly defining character like Johnny Cash's, I find it a bit hard to figure out why I'd pick one country album over another. And maybe Merle has one and I'm doing him a disservice by not looking into him to find it, I'unno. Like, the only thing I knew about him before today was that Cledus T. Judd mentioned him in one of his originals. In fact, that's why I'm even talking about this sort of thing. I knew early on that eventually I'd run out of things to say about albums in this genre, and... Well, after managing to actually pay attention to some of the lyrics for once, I liked the title track. I dig its melancholy, and the way it describes the narrator's situation. For sure it's a good "feelin' down" song. But then once my attention inevitably slips away from the lyrics... Yeah. So maybe it's my problem for being as melody-first as I am, I'unno. I'm willing to put that forth, at least. I get the feeling, though, that even if I wasn't, I still wouldn't hear much terribly unique about this album. That's why I'm feeling a pretty nice 4 on this. Jus', I'unno. If I didn't already like country music the way I do, I don't think it would convince me, but since I do... Yeah. At any rate, I don't think it deserves a "1" on sight. It's just a bit too harsh, y'know? Goodness.

I was feelin' pretty under the weather I listened to this album and wrote this review, so jus' keep that in mind if it doesn't end up bein', like, **super long**. Honestly, for the first three songs, I just spent a lot of time thinking about the live versions that would pop up a year later. Not that I think any of them are bad, of course. It's just, y'know, a little hard to go back to how small the original "No Woman, No Cry" is when its live performance is so perfect, down to even the bit of microphone feedback seeming completely purposeful and intentional. Then there's the rest of the album, which is also pretty good — classic Marley stuff — but none of it exactly matches up to the deeper cuts on something like EXODUS. It's another case where if I paid attention to lyrics I'd probably get more out of it all, given this one review that says this album's a big "Here's who I am, here I am" thing for Marley. This **was** his first as sole frontman of The Wailers, after all. But, y'know, me being me — even if I **didn't** have this pressure on my sinuses and a soreness in the back of my throat. Still, like all good reggae, the groove can still absolutely carry, so ultimately I don't have much to complain about. Y'know, I'll give this thing a 4. A lot of my experience listening to it probably had more to do with my sickness and how tired I felt than anything the album actually did. I'm sure if I had a clearer head I would've had a better experience. So, in all fairness, it's a 4 at least. Now hopefully what I caught can clear up before my group gets another great album, goodness.

Paul Simon's first album after he got himself detached from the guy from the funny last name, and... See, I can understand why this is supposed to be so special. Simon is, evidently, a phenomenal singer-songwriter, and his inclusion of world elements was particularly unique at the time. Ain't no American artist in those days using a cuica. However, as much as I acknowledge and accept that — and as much as I did, honestly, try to pay attention to the lyrics and stories... This album just didn't do terribly too much for me. Maybe I just feel like it's lacking a little edge? The world elements aside (and maybe some of the deeper political meanings I missed, I'unno) it just felt kind of safe and typical. I mean, jeez, at least when he was palling around Garfunkel they had those beautiful harmonies, and that was interesting enough to carry me through. By himself... Yeah, I suppose he **is** a 70's folk singer-songwriter. But I'm not gonna act impressed by that, y'know? I'unno, it's an "it's fine" 3. I can appreciate some nice guitar and some of that 70's flute sound, but other than that, there just wasn't enough to really keep me engaged. Maybe when he takes a trip down to Graceland and I can call him Al there'll be more there. In the meantime... I'unno. Me First And The Gimme Gimmes did a cover of "Me And Julio"? Check that out, I guess? Sure.

I feel like progressive rock gets a bad rap for being... Y'know, wanky. "Ooo, lookit me noodling away on my keyboard and doing whatever the hell I want for 20 minutes in this 40 minute song; I'm sooooo boundary challenging." Stuff like that. Which, mm, I'unno. I think I've listened to too much Pink Floyd and Yes to truly feel like that about prog rock, though I do understand where it's coming from. I mean, you just look at ELP performing the entirety of "Pictures At An Exhibition" and tell me that's not... And I doubt today's album would really help anyone's opinion of the genre. You just need to look at the two part title track that opens and closes the thing, particularly part one: there's no clear structure or form. It really just sounds like... Ideas, and the band's just randomly flowing between them. To ears already inclined to hate prog, this kind of experimentation is pure self-indulgence. Why would anyone wanna put themselves through this — to get to the more conventional vocal tracks on the other side or, like, at all? It's just jerking around and hiding behind experimentation and progression as an excuse. Y'know, it's not something I really like I could argue against. Or that I'd even want to; I don't write about music to argue. But... I'unno. I've probably just listened to so much of Frank Zappa's experimental work and Primus's general discography that a lot of this doesn't strike me as overly indulgent. In fact, I think it's pretty interesting to hear how it shifts and evolves. There's a portion of myself that might prefer the more conventional songs because — well, yeah. I don't think they're really as interesting, though. Sure, there's a lot of parts in them that makes me go "Ooo, that's something" but none of them are really the complete journey that part one of the album's title track are. You feel what I mean? Even if I'd come back to something like "Easy Money" on its own first. I'm pretty happy getting this a 4. Prog is a genre where, as much as I like it, I figure the deeper I go away from what's generally accepted as "the best stuff," the more and more I might understand the detractors. Never enough to point where I'd fully dislike it, but I'd probably end up with more than a few examples of lousy playing and/or structure masked as "experimentation" or overly standard shit that tries to mask itself as deep by calling itself "progressive." That general feeling is probably true about any genre, though I feel with prog it's something I hafta worry about more often than not. But if this album proves anything to me, it's that I might not have such a problem with it as I'd figure. I mostly stick to convention, but I like a lot of the experimental and Eastern influences here. And if I can listen to all of this without blinking an eye, I can handle anything. I'm not gonna call it the best prog I've ever heard — I might not even like it as much as IN THE COURT OF... — but it's a damn fine showing of the more experimental side. If you dig prog and you somehow haven't already given this a shot, well, what're you waiting for? Dig yourself larks' tongue in aspic. Whatever "aspic" is.

Gawd, this album just hits the floor running. The moment you press play, it's already going at top volume and showing you the magic. Not even an **instant** to let you prepare yourself. Which I don't think is a problem, actually. To be 100, it was my first indication I would love this album — it just kicks down the door and gets going right away. I kind of admire it for that. And, yeah, like I just said: I love this album. I don't think I've heard Britpop that aligned this well with me since... Goodness, blur's self-titled? And that makes all the sense in the world to me given how much this album reminded me of blur. It's like, instead of the experimental turns they took on that album, they got way into 70's glam and late-60's psychedelia (and more so the glam than the psychedelia). This shit rules. And I think I generally like the glam tracks better, 'coz, well — I just like glam a lot. Simple and plain. But the psych hits off pretty well, too, even if it's not done as often. (Legit, I counted how many psych songs there were to glam, and it's 1:2.) It's a real strong 5 in my book. I don't even have anything particularly complex or essay-y to say about it. This album just rocks and it rules. Turns out I shoulda checked out this band sooner after hearing its lead vocalist on a Gorillaz song.

Y'know, there was a moment listening to blur's eponymous debut album that I thought they were my favorite Britpop group. And not just because their frontman went on to co-create Noodle and the rest of Gorillaz, of course. I'm just staring at the quantity of great material they have, and how much of it is absolute quality. Heck, how much of it sounds unique from each other. Like, I don't consider blur to have "one sounds," necessarily; they kinda jus' do whatever they want, while still being able to fit under the "Britpop" label. It's great stuff, and it's interesting to hear what they're gonna do next. Versus today's subject, Oasis. While I can name a number of blur albums of note, there's really only two Oasis albums I figure are worth consideration. Maybe three if you wanna include BE HERE NOW as "the album that killed Britpop." As for their sound... Yeah, they have **a** sound: Beatlesque Britpop that's huge to the point of potentially being to blame for the Loudness War. Not really as interesting to consider as all of blur's various turns from song to song. So, obviously, in my mind blur wins the Britpop War. They're just more sonically intriguing. And that's just that, right? But then I actually fully listened to today's album, for the first time in a while. And... Y'know, there's a very good reason why Oasis was more of an international success than blur. Why, for example, people might know more Oasis songs than "Wonderwall", then they'd know more blur songs than "Song 2" (besides that blur might be too obviously British). And simply, it **is** their sound. Not just the comparisons you can make to the Beatles (which are a "plus" in my book, anyway), but their hugeness, and How anthemic they can be. They sound and feel like the biggest songs in the world, demanding to be made classics. And, hey, lookit — they did. Now, I wanna make clear, it's not **just** the bigness; the songwriting behind it plays just as important a role. If you want proof of that, just look at BE HERE NOW. In a haze of cocaine and conflict ("wibbling rivalry," even), the quality of their songwriting went straight out the window and... Well, like I said: "the album that killed Britpop." The songs there just drag on forever, largely because they just hit the same hook over and over and over again. After a while, it can get draining. And the thing is, I **do** kinda like "All Around The World" for how monstrously big it grows over its **nine minute** runtime. Even then, however, it still kinda exists in my mind as "the template for the overgrown, overstuffed and overblown mess of a song one of my characters would create in a horribly misguided attempt to make something big and important." Y'get what I mean? Whereas on this album, the songwriting is so much tighter and more focused. They can go on a little, but they never overstay their welcome, or at least they do enough new or the hooks are just that good that it's never really an issue. "Wonderwall" didn't get played as much as it did for nothing. Plus, y'know, "Some Might Say", "Don't Look Back In Anger", "Champagne Supernova"... Even the songs on here that aren't singles! Like, as much as I wanna act all "big brain" and smart and prefer blur for it's my eclectic turns, in the end, I can be a bit more simple than that. Some times, a lot of times, I turn on to big hooks, and this album has that in spades. blur, as much as I like them (and Gorillaz), they really can't compete on that front. "Woo-hoo" just don't stack. So while, thanks to this list and a compilation I've heard, I do have a lot more love for and interest in blur than I used to, I'd still probably reach for Oasis first. Oasis just tickles my "melody first" brain so much better. Of course, this Oasis album is getting the same 5 I gave the last blur album my group got, so it's not like there was really ever any competition to begin with. They're both fantastic, just for different reasons, and I'm happy they've both provided us with so many wonderful songs. Besides, neither group has Noodle as a member like Gorillaz does, and that alone means Gorillaz win in any imaginary war I'd make up. That's just fact.

I remember the first time I came out this album, some three years ago, the only thought I had was to ask myself, "How many more times **should** I hafta listen to this?" Now, obviously, I had Matt Groening's quote about the album on my mind, the one about how he had to listen to this record several times before he really "got it." And coming into this album all this time later, I still wondered: "How much time **should** I give this thing?" 'Coz I've always had the impression that this was an album you've really had to sit with for a while before you can decide if you like it or not. Which, y'know, might be kind of a dumb way to think of things? I don't think you should be forced to sit with an album — or any piece of art, really — for so long before you're allowed to decide if you like or even "get" it. It's the line about video games: "It gets really good 15 hours in." Like, OK? So it sucks for those first 15 hours, then? So why would I play it if it sucks for that long? It can apply to albums like this: why would I force myself to replay it over and over if I'm not digging it the first time around? What could I possibly gain from multiple replays except, I'unno, sunk cost fallacy? 'Coz if you're gonna spend **that long** with an album and you're not getting anything new out of your **tenth** play that you didn't already get on your **first**... Not that replaying, rewatching, rereading or re-anything-ing art is necessarily a bad thing. You can rewatch a movie, for example, and notice little details you weren't looking for the first time. Similar goes for an album. It can only help you appreciate a work more. But I figure if you're doing that, you already like the movie or the album or whatever, and not because you're trying to find reasons to justify why you've spent hours with this thing. First impressions are important, and if something doesn't give you a good reason to go any further with it... Well, that's as good a reason as any not to. TROUT MASK REPLICA lays all of its cards on the table within the first minute. Like, "Frownland", far as I can hear, is **the** sound of the album. Guitars, bass and drums seemingly playing whatever they want, in what time signature and key they want. They only barely sync. Hell, the vocals feel like they come from a different song altogether. It's the kind of sound where if you're not gawking, slack-jawed, at it now, you will be when you find out that it sounds like this **on purpose**. Like, this isn't The Shaggs amateur hour; this stuff was all specifically composed to sound like this, and they spent **weeks** **rehearsing** this material so they could record it all in one straight shot. On that level, I'm kind of impressed that Beefheart managed to carefully compose his band to sound like a bunch of first year music school dropouts playing in their garage band for the first time. I imagine if you're a music nerd, there's a lot to dig into here. Polyrhythms, polytonality... Stuff like that. Or, hell, even if you're not, maybe you just have a weird enough ear that all this stuff just clicks perfectly into place. Got some kinda special x-ray ears that can hear through the noise and find some kind of odd beauty underneath it all. And, well, clearly enough of both types agree that this thing is as acclaimed as outsider art as it is. As for me... I remember back when I first heard it, I thought it was strange to begin with. Again, "Frownland" is a hell of an opener. If you can't make it past that, you're probably not gonna do well with the rest. As I came closer and closer to the end of the album, though, my ears acclimated more to this album's way of doing things, and by the time I was done... Honestly, I was kind of disappointed? When you're able to look past the layer of weirdness covering this thing and hear what's actually going on... I'unno, it just sounds like blues music? Incredibly atypical blues, sure, like you fed an algorithm the genre (to reference a comment I saw), but... Really, once I got to "Veteran's Day Poppy", I couldn't even begin to guess what was supposed to be so special about this album. (And boy howdy, this thing being nearly 80 minutes...) And for this listen-through, with very different ears than I had those four years ago, I fell into that even sooner. Like, some moments aside, nothing terribly grabbed me. It just flowed by. Honestly, besides "Frownland", I think the only thing I'd probably remember is "The Blimp" — and that's probably mostly 'coz Weird Al quoted it in a CD bonus feature. (Also, the anecdote that Beefheart's band isn't even playing on it, but The Mothers; check the song "Charles Ives" on YOU CAN'T DO THAT ON STAGE ANYMORE, VOL. 5). So, y'know, I guess I have weird ears, but not ones that can hear this material and be too wowed by it. (And the runtime didn't bother me as much this time, but it's not like it helped this music **not** fall into the background, y'know) Frankly, I think I enjoyed SAFE AS MILK a bit more. The music there was just as strange as I expect a Beefheart record to be, but there was no expectations of it being some outsider, experimental, avant-garde, "You gotta listen to it 50 times to get it" masterpiece. It was just good-ass blues. And, like, of course I'm happy this guy got to make the exact album he wanted to make with this, but... Y'know, I can't say I agree with TROUT MASK REPLICA being the eleventh lowest rated album on the entire website, but I can understand why it is. It's not like I'd rate it that highly, either: a 3 outta 5. But to me, it's not because I think it's noise acting like it's more important than it is 'coz it slapped itself with an "experimental" label. I **can** kinda hear through to what Matt Groening might have heard his seventh time around. But I don't think I'd be willing to put in the effort to get to that seventh listen, myself. Just the two is fine enough for me. I suppose it just wasn't fast n' bulbous enough for me.

Y'know, it's not that I dislike a cappella music. That one album by The Bobs I heard, that arrangement of Richard Cheese's "Gimme That Nutt" cover, the CRASH TWINSANITY soundtrack, that version of Lil Nas X's "MONTERO"... Those are all goofy, quirky examples, yeah — maybe not the best frame to go into a serious, artsy Björk album with — but still: I can and do tolerate mouth music. So, if I have any problem with this album; if there's any reason I kept hesitating between putting on the next side, it's not its concept, experiment and/or gimmick, but more the fact that I largely think the music's pretty boring, actually. There's exceptions, naturally; I rather dug the dancier tracks, like "Where Is The Line", "Who Is It", "Triumph Of A Heart"... Y'know, the ones with the beatbox behind them. But the rest... Ehh, it might all just be a bit too serious and artsy for my taste. I'm really not much one for solemnly considering music, and that's probably why all of my previous a cappella experiences are so quirky. Like, goodness, at least VULNICURA had those gorgeous, transcendental strings to pull me through. I do think the human voice can be very pretty, but moments of that for me are few and far between here. "Sonnets / Unrealities XI", maybe "Ancestors"... Those are really the only two I can think of. Like, I don't wanna be too hard on this thing and call the experiment a complete failure. There's a small handful of tunes here I can say I dug, which automatically disqualifies it from a 2 or lower. But on the whole, I just wish my group could've gotten something more engaging for our 300th album generated. Well, I can always hope for #400.

For the longest time, I actually avoided listening to KID A. Not that it was necessarily difficult for me to avoid or anything like that, but I didn't wanna listen to it, for one simple reason: I wasn't sure if it would live up to the hype. After all, this thing has been praised to the moon and back several times over. I'd heard so many times, over and over again, that it was the greatest album of the 2000's — of the entire decade, if not the millenium. Rolling Stone included it at 67 on their 2012 500 list, and it was the last album on there released past 1999. Heck, on their later list focusing on just the 2000's, it was number one with a bullet. It inspired that one guy over on Pitchfork to write that... Whatever the hell about watching stillborn babies playing in the afterlife on IMAX. These are just the examples that're important to me, and I could go on with more, but you get my point. KID A is a big, big deal. I mean, it lost Album Of The Year to a Steely Dan album barely anyone remembers, but still. It's perhaps the single most famous left turn in music history, let alone alternative rock. And, like, it's hard to hear all of that and not have expectations to the heavens and beyond. Like, this album must really be something if it'd garnered **this level** of universal acclaim. What exactly **is** this thing's secret sauce? And that's where we come to the reason why I didn't wanna listen to this thing for so long: what if I couldn't find it? Or what if I did and I didn't like what it was? Or even if I did, and I didn't like it as much as the hype led me to believe I should? In any situation, I figure because of the expectations I had I would've been much harder on the album than if I hadn't had any. And I just... Didn't want that, y'know? I didn't wanna be let down by an album I'd heard so many good things about — or, worse, become someone willing to crow about how it's "overrated." Generally, I'd rather avoid being like that. And it's not like I could just throw away all of my expectations and listen to the album simply for its own merits. Frankly, it's impossible to go into anything without preconceptions, no matter how big or small they are, or how conscious you are of them... And having ones like I had... Jeez, it simply wouldn't be fair to the album. So, I avoided it. Better to just not find out at all how I'd react, I figured. And again, it's not like it's hard to. Ignorance was bliss for me for the longest time. Eventually, though, I did check it out. I can't recall exactly when, but I know I've listened to it a few more times since then. Even as recently as earlier this year, during the same work night where I listened to the other album that lost Album Of The Year to Steely Dan, THE MARSHALL MATHERS LP. And I can't tell you what I thought of the album back when I first heard it; it's been too long and I simply can't remember. But as for how I'm feeling about it now, here, in 2024... If there's any reason I wouldn't go so far as to call this "the greatest album of the 2000's," it's because I'm not sure if I have enough experience with that decade to make that call. Besides, there are albums that resonate way more personally with me than this does — Weird Al's STRAIGHT OUTTA LYNWOOD, for instance, to use a really personal example. Heck, for my tastes, THE MARSHALL MATHERS LP might've even been my pick for Album Of The Year. But that doesn't stop KID A from making an incredibly convincing argument in its favor. For one, KID A sounds like it could've been made now. Even as painfully aware as I am that this album is from October 2000, there's not a single note I'm hearing in here that ties it specifically to the 2000's. It could have come out, exactly as it is, last week, and even though it might not have had the same impact, the music still would sound as good as ever. And that's all while still being recognizably Radiohead. Before I put on this album, I listened to two cuts from OK COMPUTER ("Paranoid Android" and "No Surprises"), and, sure, yeah, there's big differences between the two of them, but I wouldn't mistake either of them for another band's music. Which, yeah, it's probably largely Thom Yorke's voice. I don't think you hear much of it anywhere else, generally, save for his solo material or stuff he features or guests on. But it still anchors the music to this band and it keeps it unique to them. And even without it, I don't think I could hear another band making exactly this kind of stuff. And to talk about the stuff itself — the music — directly... Me being me, I think I'd probably listen to OK COMPUTER more for its alt.-rock-ness. And for what's on here, of course I gravitate the most towards the Eno-y "beautiful ambient" stuff as my favorites. As a whole, however — gawd, lemme use the word "unique" if I haven't before, and also throw "interesting" as well. Or "intriguing," if that's a stronger word. They're such fascinating soundscapes, without ever being too harsh. I'd say maybe the "most" moment for that is the horns on "The National Anthem", and they're really not even that bad. I wouldn't call any of this "commercial" since it clearly wasn't their goal — you wouldn't switch styles like this after something as big as OK COMPUTER if you wanted commercial potential — but the word "accessible" still comes to mind. Nothing here would necessarily alienate me if I was a fan of OK COMPUTER in the 90's and I then came into this. And even if I did think the style switch-up was strange at first, I'd like to think I'd still quickly click into what it's doing. It's amazingly good stuff, regardless of whatever expectations and preconceptions I might have had. I can totally hear why it's as highly praised as it is. Sure, of course, though, my tastes and conceptions might keep me from being rapturous about it on that scale — and certainly not to that point of that Pitchfork guy — but I think I'd be a fool to not still sing its praises. To reference the way-too-short I wrote for OK COMPUTER: "KID A? More like 'KID A-OK with me.'"

I don't pretend to know how the Randomizer works. I mean, yeah, to be completely literal, of course I do: it's RNG. But how it works in, like, a **cosmic** sense... **That's** what I'm completely in the dark about, 'coz I'm not sure why exactly my group would be given this album before AT FOLSOM PRISON. In fact, I'm not really sure why this album is here when FOLSOM PRISON is as well. Even looking at them from the outside, I couldn't really figure out the difference between them aside from the track listing and where they were recorded. I understand that's the appeal of its original release, at least from the label's perspective: "you liked the first time Johnny Cash played a prison, so here it is again!" As for this list, though, we already have AT FOLSOM PRISON for that, which also happens to be Cash's best **and** most famous album. His biopic ends with the album's recording, for goodness sake. So, what exactly does this bring to the table that the other one doesn't — again, aside from different songs? Not much. However, honestly, despite how much of a stink I made about it in the previous paragraph, I don't really care **that** much. It's still Cash playing to a prison audience, and it's incredibly clear how much he loves doing it. I mean, there's a reason there's **four** albums of Cash playing to prisons. And that's another defense of live albums being here, alongside all the others I made. Most live albums are here because they capture a sound that a band just can't replicate in the studio — The Who, Thin Lizzy, Big Brother & The Holding Company, and so on. But the ones where the artist has such a rapport with the audience... They're not as common — I can't even think of any others, besides B.B. King's own prison live album — but, oh, they're so great. I mean, I'unno who else would play the same song twice in a row just because the audience wanted them to. It's stuff I kinda didn't wanna talk about here, 'coz I still needa have some things to say about AT FOLSOM PRISON whenever my group gets it, but whatever. And, I mean, between those two albums, I'd still recommend you listen to that one first. You even get way more songs than this one does (only ten songs feels like the record company being like "Eh, they like the concept so much anyway, we don't hafta put too many on there"). Still, there's no reason why I wouldn't give this thing the same 5 I'd give AT FOLSOM PRISON. Johnny Cash never sounded better than when he was playing for inmates, and that's a fact.

This album is a coin. Two sides n' all that, y'know? Heads: I'm honestly surprised by this album. I went into this thing expecting nothing but boring-ass loud noise. Y'know, just because they put the volume and reverb all the way to 11, I'm apparently supposed to consider this "good" because it's "not mainstream." But then there's actually a number of tracks where, through the reverb (was this thing recorded in the Grand Canyon?), I actually think it's kinda pretty? It's these '60's pop group melodies where, like, if these songs had been recorded conventionally, this might as well be bubblegum. And of course, those ended up being my favorite. Besides the reverb, I feel like the worst thing I can say about them is I maybe would've liked a different vocalist. Something that actually fits that '60s pop aesthetic instead of... Well... Tails: I'm honestly not surprised by this album. I went into this thing expecting nothing but boring-ass loud noise. Y'know, just because they put the volume and reverb all the way to 11, I'm apparently supposed to consider this "good" because it's "not mainstream." And yep — that's what it is alright. Harsh buzzsaw guitars and faceless post-punk vocals, all slopped into a mushy mush thanks to a way-too-thick level of reverb. The reverb's really just a step away from how it sounded on Stan Freberg's parody of "Heartbreak Hotel", and only a small one at that. Like, I can't even really think of any specifics to comment on because the reverb makes it just that hard to. Although, hey, I'm pretty sure if you **did** get rid of it there still wouldn't be anything to talk about. Like, "Ah, cool, more post-punk nonsense — my **faaaavoriiite**~." Of course, this album isn't exactly a coin flip. It's "tails" more often than its not, unfortunately. Even when it **is** "heads," I don't find myself really thinking that I'd wanna return to these songs. In fact, being 100 with y'all: I didn't even finish this. Yes, I listened to the first side (the first seven songs), then I tapped out. I just couldn't fathom what I'd gain listening to the other seven tracks. Like, how could this album possibly different in the back half that'd make me go, "Oh, no it's actually **genius** and I **love** having noise blared at me." Look, maybe I have baby ears that are just too used to pop and traditional production methods. I recognize fully that I was never gonna be in the audience for noise music like this. But I gotta rate this how I feel, and... Oh, I so wanted to be generous and give this thing a 2. Like, just on the merit of those couple of '60s melodies I liked so much. However, given the fact that it actually caused me to stop listening halfway through... Yeah, no. On that alone I have to give this thing a 1. Even albums I was feeling less generous towards, I could still get through to the end. Hell, I finished shit like DEVIL WITHOUT A CAUSE and MAXINQUAYE. Not here, though. I'm tired and I don't wanna yawn my way through more solid walls of noise. "Poetry-noise?" I suppose. It's just not worth my time to make heads or tails of it.

It kinda bums me a bit that electronica has ended up being such a low rated genre for me. I mean, before yesterday, before I gave PSYCHOCANDY a 1, it was number three in my bottom three genres. Only post-punk and (surprisingly) world music beat it out. And it just gets me because that's not even remotely close to how I feel about electronic music. I love it a lot, actually! Like, yeah, of course there's Daft Punk, but I also have a good love for Moog music and a lot of synthesizer work and electronic ambient soundscapes... I'm all for all of that kinda stuff. I suppose I've just been getting too many bad draws: those drum n' bass albums, MAXINQUAYE, FEVER RAY, KALA... All boring albums (or annoying, in KALA's case) that I couldn't help but give a 2 or lower, really bringing the average down against the fewer 5's I've given to Fatboy Slim and AUTOBAHN... I just don't find it entirely fair to 'em, y'know? So, y'know, I thank the powers above that this album isn't another bad draw. This album consists of long, ambient, space-y excursions, and oh, I mess with it so hard. Just lying back on this soft bed of stars and letting these beautiful sounds carry me across the cosmos to wherever they may. Believe me, it's absolutely not for people who want things to... Y'know, happen. To my ears, it's an album for relaxing. Letting these sounds fill up your mind, pushing out all the bad stuff in the process. Close your eyes and don't even think. Just let the sound envelope you; wrap you up tight. And more new age meditation jumbo like that. But you get what I'm talking about — that's just what this album means to and does for me. It's music I'd put on to calm down or focus. And in that lane, jeez, not since I heard the music Brian Eno did for airports. So, hooray, another 5 for an electronica album. The average goes back up and the genre gets further away from where it doesn't belong. Not that placement or averages really matter, anyway. Like I said, they don't reflect how I truly feel about electronica. And certainly, the 3.47 it currently has doesn't reflect how I feel about this album at all. All I need to do is turn off my mind, relax, and float down stream. 'Coz these numbers — they're all in the mind, y'know. They're nothing to get hung about, and nothing's gonna change my views about electronic music. (Lotta random Beatles quotes at the end there, goodness. Point is: this is a 5. Big recommendation if you're like me and love ambient music. I'd've maybe hoped for a spookier album to end October with, but, hey, I can't complain about what my group was given.)

As much as I like ELIMINATOR, I wouldn't exactly call it **the** ZZ Top album. I mean, ELIMINATOR gets placed 398 on the 2012 edition of the Rolling Stone 500, whereas this album only gets 490? Sure, ELIMINATOR has "Sharp Dressed Man" and "Legs" — undeniable hits and great songs, both of them — but if I were in charge of things, their positions would be reversed. See, the thing about ELIMINATOR is that it's just got this... 80's sheen about it. I'm not even just talking about the synths; it's just... The vibe coming off of the whole thing. That step away from what I choose to know 'em best for and more towards more typical hard rock. Which, yeah, I'll stress: it still rocks. I gave it a 4, after all. I just don't find it definitive is all. For that, we have TRES HOMBRES, and **the** sound of the band, in my ears: Southern-fried Texas boogie blues, blasting from just north of the Mexican border. It's the kind of album I could legitimately cook a steak to. Or, I'unno, fajitas, if I ate those. It's the kind of music you'd hear coming from the local tough guy biker bar. In my head, I kinda compare the material on this album to AC/DC or Motörhead. Y'know, this isn't complex material; you're not gonna break yourself in half tryna figure it out. Sure, if you really dig hard enough you could find something, and that's one part of a reason why I wouldn't call it "simple," but it just doesn't try to be anything more than what it is. And when it comes to being what it is — oh, goodness, it's so good at it. So incredibly good. Really, I can't think of any reason why or how someone could hate this unless Texas boogie blues just gives them a **really** bad taste. Which, at that point, I think they more have a problem with the genre itself than this specific album. It's just a good rockin' time. That's all you could ever ask of it, and that's all it ever provides. On those merits, I could give this thing a 5, for delivering so well on what it promises. But in the grand scheme of things — the grand tapestry of life — I think a 4 better fits its position. It's never not a fun spin, but it won't blow your mind. Regardless, of course, it's still a hard recommendation from me. Put this album on, fire up the grill and cook that shit well done. Or however you like it. Me, I prefer my meat juicy (and, actually, I like pork chops more than steak), but, hey, you do you.

DJ Premier's got the chill, funky beats. Guru's got the smooth flow... And yeah. That's about the size of it — or at least as much as I can see. I'unno, it was just a really nice album to come to and put on after a long day out and about. It might be my favorite East coast album I've heard so far, and it didn't even hafta do much. I'm perfectly happy giving this thing a 4. I'm sure on a worse day I woulda harder on this album for not being engaging, but yeah. Not bad from an MC I'd never heard of before.

OK, so, to begin with — so we're clear — I only listened to the songs that were included on the original 1956 LP, in the order they were presented in. It's not that I didn't have time or want to hear the complete concert. Much like The Who and LIVE AT LEEDS, I wanted to hear the album as it was originally released (as much as I could, anyway),so... Here we are. And for my second "to begin with," let it be known that all of the material here is amazing. This band is just superb and tight as hell. Hearing these concert recordings specifically instead of the studio versions makes it all the better; knowing that they were doing this stuff live in one go in front of a crowd. I mean, hey, that's part of the magic of live albums, innit? And in terms of jazz live albums, goodness, this big band stuff is so much more my shit to listen to than that "Sunday at the Village Vanguard" album by some trio I can't remember the name of. Seriously, them horns and that drummer. It'd make me wanna watch WHIPLASH again if that movie wasn't so much... A **lot**, y'know? But that's off-point; simply put, none of the material here is worth missing. Now, of course, I say all that because... Goodness, "Diminuendo And Crescendo In Blue". I can't imagine anything else being the climax of the album. It's— wow, what a showstopper. Especially knowing that the solo Gonsalves played was apparently so exciting that the entire audience couldn't help but get up and cause a big ruckus dancing to it. That, and that one Gonsalves finished his solo he **collapsed**. On its own, without this extra context, it still would've been an awe-inspiring solo. With that extra info, though... Yeah, goodness, I can hear why this performance is so legendary, even without hearing all of it. Needless to say, I'm a big 5 on this album. Goodness me. I really gotta return and hear this thing in full sooner than later, I swear. A masterwork, pure and simple.

On the one hand, I imagine this might be a bit of an odd Willie Nelson album to start with. I don't know him for much (mostly "On The Road Again"), but if there's anything I would expect... It wouldn't be pop standards. "Georgia On My Mind" and "Unchained Melody"... Heck, it's even the return of the Gershwins, which my group last tangoed with when Ella Fitzgerald spent three hours covering their entire songbook. And as I said in that review, I do quite love me some pop standards. When they're interpreted right, they can be amazing. It's just that I imagine for someone like Willie Nelson, you'd wanna hear more of his traditional outlaw country to start with. Get a sense of what he's more and mostly known for, y'know? That said, consider the other hand: I'm actually really glad that this was my first Willie Nelson album. I feel like it was a good chance to experience Willie as a musician first before considering him as a country artist, and, well... To put it in short: oh, these were all interpreted so right. These are just incredibly beautiful, plain and simple. So much credit has to go to Booker T. Jones, of Booker T. & The MG's fame, for producing and arranging these. I just... Had such a big, happy, peaceful smile on my face. And of course, Willie sings these beautifully — and really, the fact that he defied the expectations of his record label to record this, and it came out as beautifully as it did... Jeez, I have nothing but respect. And I can't give this album anything less than a 5. Jus'... Damn.

===< PART 1/2: SPEAKERBOXXX >=== It's hard to not feel bad for the Garfunkels of the world. You know what I mean: the second bananas. The other half of the duo that just don't get no respect — or at least not as much as the guy up front. Of course there's Art Garfunkel, but there's also John Oates, Kyle Gass, Meg White, Luigi Mario, TV's Frank... And lots more I can't even think of right now. They're people whose impact and importance to the group isn't to be undervalued, don't get me wrong. It's just that it's hard to escape shadows as large as the ones they live in. Big Boi is another such person who finds himself in this situation, and it's not hard to see why. Like, Andre 3000 is just... Out there. So much wilder in the stuff he releases. I mean, goodness, just the other year he released an instrumental flute album and everyone went nuts over it. Simply, his stuff is just generally more interesting than Big Boi's, who I've always viewed as the more "traditional rapper" of the group. The guy who brings Andre's energy down to a more reasonable level. An important role, naturally, but not one that's gonna get many eyes on you. So when Big Boi and Andre 3000 dropped their debut solo albums on the same day, I don't think it was a surprise that Big Boi's went pretty overshadowed. His didn't have a pop hit like "Hey Ya!" or "Roses", after all. But, still, let's put that aside and take this thing seriously. On his own, what did Big Boi create? As it turns out: I think calling Big Boi the "traditional rapper of the group" kind of undersells him a little. I don't believe that assessment is entirely wrong; it's certainly way more straight hip hop than I imagine Andre's would be. But this album, if nothing else, makes it clear to me that Big Boi is not just the "grounding factor" of OutKast. At every turn on this album, there's always something interesting going on. The hooks, the beats, the flows, the lyrics... No song sounds too similar to each other, and they're all a blast. All these groovy, funky-ass tunes... Seriously, I can't think of a track here I can say I didn't like. Not all of it blew me away, but more than a fair share of it did, particularly "The Rooster", "War" and "Church". Like, damn. This is some good-ass shit. And it was actually between "The Rooster" and "War" that I realized: this doesn't sound too terribly off from an OutKast record. Some of the odder edges that a true OutKast album would have aren't here, yeah, but a lot of the time I didn't think any of this would sound out of place on one, even with Andre largely being absent. On an initial listen, I'm really feeling a 5 here. Sure, I imagine on subsequent listens, as I get more familiar with it, I'll think I was being too generous and that I shoulda given it a 4, but I'unno, I'm just really impressed here. Without a doubt, it proves my line of thought that Big Boi is just as important to the duo as his partner. Which, I probably didn't really **need** proof of this, and I could've just always assumed this from the beginning, but... Yeah. It's just nice to have proof anyway. And what fine proof it is, goodness. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ( * ) ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ===< PART 1/2: THE LOVE BELOW >=== If there's any reason I feel like I keep coming back to OutKast, it's Andre 3000. For some reason, I've always subconsciously attributed everything I like about the group's music to him. To the point where, honestly, in my mind Big Boi can kinda come off like a feature on his own group's songs. Just take "B.O.B." for instance. Andre's verse is masterful, front to back. Flow, energy, wordplay... Mmm, it's so good. Compared to Big Boi's verse, which, like, still has a lot of the flow, but I also consider, like... Kind of weaker overall? Y'know? And I can't even remember what Big Boi did on "Ms. Jackson", to bring up another hit from the same album. And it doesn't help that I also attribute the beats to Andre, too, even if I'm sure someone else actually produced them (as I'm writing this I don't feel like looking it up). Y'know, in short: Andre's the pop maverick; the auteur. And Big Boi's also there. Like, I don't wanna completely undermine him; I get what he adds to the duo. He's the grounding factor that keeps Andre from going fully off the rails. I mean, goodness, you leave him to his own devices for long enough and eventually he'll put out an instrumental flute album after years of nothing. But that's **compelling**, y'know? That's the kinda stuff that really grabs my attention. So, an album that's strictly Andre 3000 should be right up my alley, right? He dropped his solo debut on the same day as Big Boi, and of course Andre's was the bigger hit. It had "Hey Ya!" after all, with all of its wackadoo pop stylings. A pretty depressing song masked as one of the grooviest things of the summer — "Y'all don't wanna hear, you jus' wanna dance" and so on. But I've actually never heard the album in full before now. Like, as much as I like "Hey Ya!" and the stuff he did with OutKast, I guess I was just never enough of a fan to actually wanna check it out in full. Of course, though, that changes today. Let's see what Andre put together when left entirely to his own devices. As it turns out: Prince. I saw a review mentioning that this album sounds a lot like Prince and... I don't think it's 100% accurate (it goes back and forth a bit if I could hear him play it or not), but, yeah, I think that's the quickest way to put it. The album is all of these excursions into psychedelia, progressive soul, jazz, funk... Sometimes multiple at the same time. Sometimes it's smooth, sometimes it's sensual, sometimes it's dance-y, sometimes it's beautiful... It's fascinating. Every new track that comes on is like, "What's he gonna do next?" (I know **I** wasn't expecting a breakbeat take on "My Favorite Things".) It's a selection of songs and sounds where if you're not down to follow Andre wherever he wants to go, you're probably not gonna have a good time. Especially with how some of these run on maybe a bit more than they should? But, hey, I'm happy to let the beat ride sometimes if I'm enjoying myself. And believe me: I was. Y'know, going into this album, I had the thought I'd come out the other side thinking Andre 3000 was a self-indulgent jerk. It seems like having him knocked down a peg would have been a natural arc ending given what I was coming into this with. I mean, I try not to think too highly of "auteurs" these days... But no, no. If anything, my preconceptions are reaffirmed. I don't think I'd go so far as to call him an out-and-out "genius," but damn, if he don't make some good and interesting shit. It's an absolute 5 from me. Downright ice cold music — y'feel me, right? Right? Alright. Alright. Alright. Alright alright alri— ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ( * ) ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ===< EPILOGUE >=== Of all of the reviews I'm gonna write for this website, I can't imagine any of them are going to be harder than this one. Which, yeah, it's largely my fault for taking the angle I did: writing reviews of both halves of the album as if they weren't released together and I hadn't heard the other. That's for sure way more work than I really **needed** to put in. Besides, I can just imagine someone going through these reviews and thinking to themselves, "Both of these reviews bring up and repeat points between each other. Like, why did you even bother if they both weren't going to be more different?" And I'm not gonna act like I'm a master writer who pulled this off flawlessly, but simply put: I'm interested in how those points change depending on the perspective they're viewed from. On the one, you got Big Boi and SPEAKERBOXXX as "the other guy in the group"; and on the other, you have Andre 3000 and THE LOVE BELOW as "the maverick auteur." I took this album as a chance for me to hear what each member brings to the duo by listening to what they made when largely separated from each other. On that front, for sure I succeeded. I've a much greater appreciation now for what Big Boi brings to the table, and... Well, jeez, I might actually check out Andre 3000's flute album, let's put it like that. As for if I succeeded in writing good reviews of each album... That's up for you to decide. Either way, the whole album package gets a 5, honestly. I can completely see how, like... These two maybe didn't need to be released together like this? But in pairing them up, it leads to such an engaging and iconic two hours of music that I can't even really complain. I don't think I'd really say it's a better album than STANKONIA — but then, that's an OutKast album. This release is a Big Boi album and an Andre 3000 album. And on that front, as showcases of what they can do... Goodness, I can't imagine it getting better than this.

Before I even started writing this review, I realized I wasn't gonna be in the state of mind to give a review of a length I'd find fitting. Which is a shame; this really feels like an album where I should be able to produce a long review. But, ah, well, it happens. To put it in short, then: I thought this was a very pretty album, verging on and even passing into "beautiful" in some spots. Thanks to my state of mind, outside of a few spots I'm not sure exactly how much this album's sound varies over time to really justify the whole "varied instrumentation" thing, but, eh, I don't mind either way. As someone who digs stuff like PET SOUNDS and THE SOFT BULLETIN... I don't believe I'd say it's an album of either of those calibers, or if those are even apt comparisons, but still, this album's up my alley. If I were a state (and didn't just have one of mind), I'd be proud to have an album like this about me. It'd a pretty good 4 from me.

From the onset, this seemed like an album I would not really enjoy. I mean, "martial industrial?" The "military industrial-music complex," as I call it. That just sounded like... Not a very fun time at all. Even before this year's U.S. election I would've thought, but living in the aftermath of who actually won? "Solvenians yelling at me in German over dark, military-inspired industrial beats sounds" like the last thing I would have wanted. Which makes it all the funnier, then, that I actually did kind of enjoy this a lot. Like, one more thing to begin with, you also gotta understand my conception of industrial music. Whenever I hear the term, I always imagine music that's loud and harsh. Music that's abrasive for the sake of it, though not enough to actually cross over into noise. Now, don't ask me where I got that perception from, I have no idea. But if I don't imagine that, usually I picture something just... Like, clanky and boring. In short, I have a bit of a predisposition to disliking industrial music. And that's not even to get into what I feel about the military. Let's not even get into it, for the sake of keeping things focused if nothing else. So color me surprised that this album isn't loud, harsh or abrasive. It's actually a lot of trumpets (I imagine trumpet synths) over these marching beats. I'd had this assumption they'd be slower than they are, and maybe they are still slow, but they're not so slow as to be a boring crawl to my ears. And with a little mix of guitar in there sometimes... Honestly, this sound kind of kicks ass? I would have never seeked this out on my own if not for this Randomizer, not in a million years, but... Yeah, no. I can really dig this. That title track and "The Great Seal" especially — oh, gawd, those triumphant horns. Oh, I love it. I absolutely love it. It actually reminds me a lot of RAMMSTEIN. Sure, yeah, it's partially just because these guys are largely singing/speaking in German, but I feel like if you added some heavier guitar riffs and sped up the tempo a little it wouldn't be too far off. I don't think you'd even need to change the lyrics. (For the record, by the way, I didn't translate. That's bad practice, I know, but besides the fact that it's been, like, a decade since my last high school German class... I'unno, I haven't translated any other foreign-language album my group has gotten, so why would I start now, y'know?) Y'know, besides the optics of getting this album when my group did, my biggest worry, honestly, would be that I'd hafta give this album a 2 or, goodness forbid, a 1 and plunge Metal right out of my top three genres. Like, I'd finally gotten it back in there after stupid DEVIL WITHOUT A CAUSE caused it to be out of there for so long... And I wouldn't even actually call it "Metal," but regardless, it makes me really happy to give this thing a 4. I even almost wanna give it a 5 just for how surprised I was that I actually liked it as much as I did, though let's not get **too** excited here. And, yeah, still, the optics of my group getting this album when we did aren't great. It only could've been worse if we'd gotten this thing yesterday, right after the American election. And, yeah, any "ironic" use of Nazi iconography in the lyrics isn't... Good? I mean, I don't give the Sex Pistols a pass for that shit, so I don't know why I would anyone else. Once again: bad practice that I didn't do my diligence to translate the lyrics and find any of it. But all I know is that from what I **did** understand... Aw, heck, I enjoyed this thing a lot. I'll even give it the highest compliment I can give an industrial album that isn't by Nine Inch Nails: I'll probably listen to some of this stuff again. Goodness, you don't even know how much that means...

The last time I reviewed a Simon & Garfunkel album, It was PARSLEY, SAGE,ROSEMARY & THYME, and I gave it a short review and a 3. Simply: as much as I appreciated the work they put into their orchestrations, I didn't think the music was any much more than just fine. Maybe it was just a bit too folk for my taste; I didn't go back and check that album for this review. Now, I also said at the end of the album that I'd probably like their other ones more. So, did I? I have no idea what changed in the intervening four years between that album and this, but goodness. Goodness. This album is actually incredible. Beautiful in some parts, like with the title track; fun in others, like with "Baby Driver"... Mostly, though, it's pretty beautiful. Jus', goodness me. And, like, besides these songs just being written and arranged amazingly, if I could attribute anything to that, it's the fact that... Well, this was their last album. Much like something like ABBEY ROAD, it just hangs over the whole record until the end, where it finally can't ignore it anymore. I mean, the last two songs, "Bye Bye Love" and "Song Of Asking", are basically the two of them saying goodbye to each other and extending an olive branch if they ever wanted to get back together (or at least Paul is). Which, I don't think they ever did, given that Wikipedia still lists this as their last album, but still. The fact that the album ended like this is sweet. And this is coming from someone who hardly cares about Simon & Garfunkel outside of "The Sound Of Silence", so, hey, if this album's able to pull off making me feel like that... It's a hard 5 from me, and a heavy recommendation. I'm happy they were able to go out on top with something like this. And, hey, this album has the song that provided the title for my second-or-third favorite Edgar Wright movie, so that's worth something at least.

This is actually another album I didn't listen to in full — fun fact! Like, I tried to give this thing a fair, full shot, I really did. Honestly. I don't **want** to only listen to half an album and act like I know everything about it. That's just bad practice right there, 'coz for all I know, there could be something in the second half that redeems the first half, and it's my due diligence to see if it's there or not. At the very least, it's only fair to the artist. But, like, I started listening to the second half of the album, "Hunting Song", and, jus'... Oh, goodness, I was so interminably bored. I legitimately could not stand how boring I found this music. I mean, seriously, you hafta understand: most music I find boring just kinda fades into the background. Y'know, it's wallpaper, whatever. Not interesting in the slightest, but I guess it keeps the ears occupied. But this was a weird kind of boring, where... Y'know, I swear it was on the verge of something. This light renaissance faire thing, I could be down with it — if it ever went anywhere! Like, if they went whole hog with it, that'd be one thing, but note: "LIGHT renaissance faire thing." They found one, soft, turgid pace and are determined to stay there the whole time. With these vocals that're, like... OK, in parts they remind of Church Of The Cosmic Skull, and if the music behind them was more exciting, I'd be really into that. But again: it's not! And from the moment the lady on the first track went "la-da-dee-da" or whatever, I was already annoyed by them. Maybe the problem is they're taking themselves too seriously? Maybe if they loosened up a little and picked up the damn tempo or volume sometimes, they could have something. Like, I'm just frustrated, mostly, honestly. I can hear potential in this! I can hear something where, y'know, I'm not in **love** with it, but goodness, it's something I could stand to listen to for its entire runtime! Frustration and disappointment. Maybe the worst two feelings you can have with an album. Goodness. Like, I'm giving this thing a 2 'coz I didn't **hate it** like, say, DEVIL WITHOUT A CAUSE, but understand how much worse this 2 is than that album's 1. 'Coz I never had any expectations for Kid Rock. At most, I figured he'd suck, and what a surprise, he did. Now, I didn't have any expectations for this album either — in fact, Wikipedia giving it the label "folk jazz" had me already feeling predisposed to not liking it — but... It teased me with an idea of what it could do. And it never did. Jus'... Urgh. It's boring and it sucks. Another day, another 60's folk album. Who cares?

Y'know, I'm just taken by the fact that this album was apparently held in the vault for 20 years after it was recorded because Cooke's label thought this show was too raw and would damage his pop image. And I just gotta wonder: are they stupid? Like, maybe I'm missing something about how Cooke was publicly perceived at the time. Before now, I'd only heard one Sam Cooke song, on the GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY, VOL. 2 soundtrack, and it honestly took me a second to remember that. And I especially don't know anything about the landscape in 1963, over 60 years ago, so, yeah, for all I know, maybe it would have hurt his pop image. But at the same time: who C-A-R-E-S about his "pop image?" This is the single most exciting and electrifying live performance I've heard in a hot second. Cooke is **amazing**, the band behind him doesn't miss a beat, and the audience... Oh, goodness, I kinda wish I coulda listened to the version where the crowd sounds were louder? I can only imagine how this thing woulda felt if it had crowd mixing like James Brown's LIVE AT THE APOLLO. OK, maybe not **that** extreme, but still. I can't even really think of any specifics to gush about. It was just an incredibly entertaining 30 minutes, and I feel like it was such a crime to keep this from the world until **1985**. And if you couldn't tell, this is a huge 5 from me. Another notch in my "live albums deserve to be here as much as any other" argument. Seriously, I can't imagine how anyone could listen to this and not get into it, goodness. Expect me to spin it more than a few times more after today.

I really wanted to like this more than I did. Like, in my mind, this is **the** blues album, y'know? Not even just Chicago blues; blues in general. It inspired everyone from Led Zeppelin to Jimi Hendrix. It's an important album, and from everything I've heard, maybe Muddy's best. Only his first greatest hits album might pass it. And to be clear: I don't **have** to like it just for those reasons. After all, I'm sure I've disliked plenty of albums that're just as important to their genres as this one is. That's to say nothing about common critic consensus. And of course, I recognize as well: it's high expectations. I shouldn't be coming into any album with expectations that high, but, hey, it's not like I can easily stop having them once I get them, so... Y'know, if there's a short answer to why I feel the way I do, it's just that I expect a different kind of energy from blues than this album provides. I'll admit: maybe I was spoiled by having my first Muddy Waters album be HARD AGAIN. The blues on that album is loud and hard as hell; the kind that'd blow up your speakers without even needing to turn it up too high. Meanwhile, this album's a lot more, y'know, laid back. It's quieter, the tempos are lower... Neither really picks up 'til they play "I've Got My Mojo Workin'" twice in a row. That's when the album peaks for me, and the energy carries after that, but it's so late in the album by that point that it hardly matters. Of course, I realize that there's probably a lot of nuances I'm missing, from how they're playing to Muddy's charisma and personality. And I wanna emphasize, I hardly think this is bad at all. It's still Muddy Waters, and he does a damn fine blues tune. On top of that, its context as part of the Newport festival, where I believe this was the last show played before the other two days got canceled, does add a narrative weight to the whole thing that I rather enjoy. Ultimately, however... Eh, it's largely just not what I really look for in the blues, y'know? Still, I wouldn't feel right to give it less than a 4. I suppose you could chalk it up just to how much I liked "I've Got My Mojo Workin'" and that otherwise it'd be a 3 — Muddy didn't work his mojo to the point of complete exhaustion, after all — but I'unno. I still think it's worthy of a 4, even if it's not exactly what I want from the blues. I still had a good time with it, and that's what matters.

Of all of the rap albums I've heard so far from this list, this might have some of the best damn beats. So many shout-outs to the producers Ghostface got for this thing — up to and including MF DOOM and J Dilla! Which, yeah, true, their contributions came from previously released albums (DOOM's SPECIAL HERBS series and Dilla's DONUTS, respectively), but still, they're good-ass beats, and regardless I'm glad they still get to be on this list in some small way. So that's me complimenting what I mostly get out of rap albums: the beats. What about the actual rapping, though? Well, to begin with, compared to the last Wu MC we got, I like Ghostface better than GZA. I like his voice better, I think his flow and lyricism is more interesting... All of that. I actually wanted to pay attention to him, unlike GZA. Now, my problem with the album: its subject matter can get a little tiresome to my ears. Like, yeah, it's a concept album with an organized crime theme, and I've heard that that's Ghostface's thing, so it's not like I wasn't expecting it. It's just that, after an **hour** of it... I'unno, I jus' got a little bored by it. There's only so much you can say about dealing drugs before I begin to lose interest. But I don't think it's really a huge problem, honestly. The beats and the way the vocals interact with them were enough to carry me through, even after I stopped paying attention to the lyrics. And I **did** last longer than I thought I would, so... Hey, y'know? Still, however, I feel like it's enough to ding this album down to a 4. It really was almost there, but... Ahh. Blame my usual preference towards albums under 60 minutes, I guess. At any rate, I'm just glad I got to hear these DOOM and Dilla beats. I wish they coulda been on this list proper instead of being relegated to this album, but, eh, whatever. I'll take what I get, and what I got is pretty dang good. Of all of the rap albums I've heard so far from this list, this might have some of the best damn beats. So many shout-outs to the producers Ghostface got for this thing — up to and including MF DOOM and J Dilla! Which, yeah, true, their contributions came from previously released albums (DOOM's SPECIAL HERBS series and Dilla's DONUTS, respectively), but still, they're good-ass beats, and regardless I'm glad they still get to be on this list in some small way. So that's me complimenting what I mostly get out of rap albums: the beats. What about the actual rapping, though? Well, to begin with, compared to the last Wu MC we got, I like Ghostface better than GZA. I like his voice better, I think his flow and lyricism is more interesting... All of that. I actually wanted to pay attention to him, unlike GZA. Now, my problem with the album: its subject matter can get a little tiresome to my ears. Like, yeah, it's a concept album with an organized crime theme, and I've heard that that's Ghostface's thing, so it's not like I wasn't expecting it. It's just that, after an **hour** of it... I'unno, I jus' got a little bored by it. There's only so much you can say about dealing drugs before I begin to lose interest. But I don't think it's really a huge problem, honestly. The beats and the way the vocals interact with them were enough to carry me through, even after I stopped paying attention to the lyrics. And I **did** last longer than I thought I would, so... Hey, y'know? Still, however, I feel like it's enough to ding this album down to a 4. It really was almost there, but... Ahh. Blame my usual preference towards albums under 60 minutes, I guess. At any rate, I'm just glad I got to hear these DOOM and Dilla beats. I wish they coulda been on this list proper instead of being relegated to this album, but, eh, whatever. I'll take what I get, and what I got is pretty dang good.

Well, the album opens strong at least. "Karma Chameleon" is a stone classic, and without a doubt the best song here. That harmonica line it has does so much for me, whether it's fake or not. As for the rest of the album, though... I wouldn't go so far as to call it bad — the 1's and 2's I've seen people give it are a bit too harsh — I wouldn't exactly day I was all that interested in it, either. Over the rest of its runtime, I found it very easy to space out and let my mind drift elsewhere. And unlike other albums, where I feel very bad about doing that sort of thing... Not here. Besides "Karma Chameleon" and "Victims" (which I managed to rejoin the album in time for; I think it's a nice ballad), nothing here sounds terribly special to me. Like, jeez, at least RIO had hooks, y'know? I'm at a 3 with this. I don't think it deserves lower. Like, maybe without "Karma Chameleon" to kick down the door... But still, nothing here's that offensive to my sensibilities, so... Yeah. I like y'wears at least, Boy George. Y'did real good with y'did there.

I feel like the Randomizer's just being cruel at this point. Seriously, this is the third solo album from a Wu Tang member my group's gotten now. First LIQUID SWORDS, then FISHSCALE, and now this, only two days later. It's just incredible how many of these we're getting before we've even gotten 36 CHAMBERS. It's like watching THE MANDOLORIAN before A NEW HOPE,y'know? Obviously it's not bad, but I feel like you'd appreciate it more after seeing the original. Which, I feel like I have more to say about that than the album itself. Like, I'm not gonna say it's bad, or that I didn't enjoy it, but until it hit me in the face with the "I Will Survive" interpolation on "Release Yo' Delf", I really didn't have much to latch onto. The beats are fine, Method Man's raps are fine... It's all nothing that really inspires me to wanna say much. Honestly, part of me can't help but compare it to FISHSCALE album my group got two days ago. That had some incredible beats, and in general I found Ghostface Killah to be a more interesting MC. It jus' kinda... Pales a little. And maybe if I'd been allowed to have more space in-betweenI wouldn't be thinking that, but since the Randomzier decided that I needed to hear it **now**... And I don't have much else I really wanna say about it. It's a perfectly fine 3. I just hope the Randomizer decides to give us 36 CHAMBERS sooner than later — though, watch, we're gonna get ONLY BUILT 4 CUBAN LINX... tomorrow, I guarantee...

Y'know, first of all, besides how good of an album I think this is, I gotta say, it does make me pretty happy just that the Randomizer finally gave my group a samba album that has nothing to do with Getz or Gilberto. Seriously, as much as I liked them (except BEACH SAMBA, honestly), it's just nice to move outside of the 1960's, y'know? And, yeah, like I said: I think this is a good album. I mean, it was good enough for Rod Stewart to rip off for "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy?". As it's one of those "world" albums (as in, "it's not from America or Europe"), I'm not really sure what the lyrics are about. The top review of the album on this website tells me it's some pretty important stuff, although I don't think it really matters if you actually know the lyrics or not. Like, sure, it's probably better if you don't pull the "Y'all don't wanna hear me; you jus' wanna dance," but as just an album to dance to, absolutely, it's great. Like, sure, I don't think any of the songs really evolve once they get started, but I don't think that's a problem. As long as you can lock into its groove, that's all that matters — and fortunately, I can, especially because of its samba and MPB rhythms. It's a pretty solid 4 for me. And, uh, I don't know what else to say that I haven't already. It's just good, funky samba music — and, again, it's not BEACH SAMBA. I can't think of anything else I would've asked of this album.

This is just Oasis. Like, this — that's all this is. It's just Oasis. And I feel like normally I wouldn't have a problem with that sorta thing; if I like a sound, I'm generally not gonna complain about it. But this time around, I'unno. Maybe it just caught me in a bad mood, but I had a lot less tolerance for this album. Like, we already have an Oasis album on here, and it's MORNING GLORY. "Wonderwall", "Don't Look Back In Anger", "Some Might Say", "Champagne Supernova"... After including an album with as many classics as that, what in the world could this one possibly add? And not to mention, I'm pretty sure DEFINITELY MAYBE is also on here, so we already have a second Oasis album anyway. I'm probably missing some context here in the relationship between this band and Oasis. I mean, The Charlatans actually pre-dated Oasis by, like, four years. It's entirely possible possible I should be getting on Oasis's shit for ripping off **these guys** — not that there seems to have been any bad blood, given that The Charlatans played the support slot for Oasis at Knebworth. Like, consider: the biggest show in Oasis's career, and these guys were right there with them. Crazy. And the thing is, I don't even think this album's that. Sure, it sounds like "Oasis at home," but The Charlatans don't do a bad job at it. It's just, living in the shadow of MORNING GLORY, I find it hard to really think of any of this as that special. Now, sure, there's a few songs here where they break away from that, and I think those songs are much better, but I know that's not what I'm gonna remember this thing for. It's a "me problem," for sure, but it's still a problem for me, so... I'unno. After listening to this, I think all of the people giving this a 2 or lower are being a bit harsh, although I wouldn't rank it much higher. I'm giving this a 3. Like, I was thinking about giving this a 2 — for the fact that it's "hip hop soul," if nothing else — but ultimately, I'm not actually that offended by this. At worst, I'd return to Oasis a million times before I'd ever come back to this, if at all.

From the onset, I didn't think this album had a terribly good dance to win with me.. Even before the website goofed up and allowed me to think about The Monkees today, seeing Wikipedia label this album as "dark wave," "experimental," "avant-pop..." "POST-PUNK..." Yeah, not a prayer I'd give it higher than 2 at most, far as I could see. I figured at best it'd just be a thing I'd hafta get out of the way before I got to what I actually wanted to do. Color me surprised, then, that I actually liked it a lot more than that. I'unno if I've explained this before, but for some context, whenever I see something labeled "experimental," I'm typically expecting, like... Y'know, noise and atonal nonsense, that I'm supposed to be impressed with because it's "art." Similar feelings go for post-punk — it wasn't my lowest rated genre for as long as it was for no reason, after all. It made me all the more surprised to actually hear convention in here. Beats, melodies, guitar and key parts... Stuff I could actually latch on to Sure, none of this would land on the Hot 100; it's too odd and minimal for that, but I was actually getting engaged in some of these songs. Someone else in my group compared it to early Gorillaz, and, honestly, I can hear it. Really, my biggest problem with the album is that the songs can be a bit too long. Even as much as I enjoyed them, I don't know if they generally do enough to really justify each song having an average length of, like, five minutes. I suppose the point might've been to lose yourself in the atmosphere — and it's not like that's something I can't accomplish — but for some reason here I wasn't really able to. I guess I just clicked with this album too late for that? I'unno. Either way, honestly, I'm feeling a 4 with this thing. I never would've guessed that's where I'd end up, and I might look back on this and think I was too generous, but for the right now, I really was just that pleasantly surprised. So, hey, good on TV On The Radio for that. Now — hey-hey, it's onto Monkee business! Woo!

It's interesting to me how much of The Monkees and their legacy is based around the fact that they were created as a prefabricated band for a sitcom. Like, before this album, they basically had no control over their own direction. The songs were all written by pros, they were all played by session musicians, their producer had complete control over track listings... And, heck, if one of them hadn't put their first clean through a wall, they well could've been the ones to have recorded "Sugar, Sugar". The four of them were trapped in a black box, with nothing to do but smoke in-between flopping around on camera. I can only imagine how crazy that would drive someone. Like, sure, if this were the 1950's and they were Elvis, singing other people's songs wouldn't really be such a bad lot. But unfortunately, this was the late-60's — where, funny enough, Elvis found himself in the same spot as The Monkees. I mean, The Beatles were the entire reason The Monkees were created in the first place, and they set the standard for bands writing their own songs. The Rolling Stones had moved to penning their own material, Brian Wilson was crafting masterworks, Bob Dylan... And yet, here these guys were, faking songs for a teen-age audience that didn't care about the artifice. They had hits upon hits — but what does it matter if none of them were theirs? That's where HEADQUARTERS comes in. See, their next single was supposed to feature a compromise: the A-side would have the group singing on one of their producer Don Krisher's tracks, and the B-side would feature something the boys had written and performed themselves. Krisher had seemingly agreed to this — until the next single came out and it featured two Krisher tracks. It caught everyone off-guard: not just The Monkees, but also the show producers and the **label executives**. Needless to say, the move wasn't exactly worth it. Krishner was out, and finally, **finally**, The Monkees were able to record an album under their own direction. So, after all of that preamble — how does the album itself actually play out? See, I don't wanna front and say that the surrounding context isn't a big reason why I'm as much a fan of the album as I am. It's a great story of fighting for freedom and achieving it. Honestly, there's some part of me that tends more towards the prefab artifice of their previous two albums. I mean, come on, **the hits**: their TV theme song, "Last Train To Clarksville", "(I'm Not Your) Steppin' Stone", "I'm A Believer"... It's all bubblegum, factory-made and everything, but if it ain't fun to chew, y'know?, they can be so **garage**, I love it. I'm not sure if there's a song here that really matches up to any of those — or even their later hits, like "Daydream Believer". But that's speaking on a song-by-song basis. As an **album**, absolutely, this is the band's greatest achievement. 'Coz, look, as much as their debut and MORE OF THE MONKEES had great singles, and some amazing garage-type rock, as a complete experience... Well, there were some notable low points, to be sure. There's some part of me that gets a kick out of shit like "I Wanna Be Free" and "The Day We Fall In Love" in spite of themselves, but I can't act like they're not... Y'know, **good**. That's not even to mention the stuff that just feels tossed off, like, "Eh, this episode needs another song, sure." HEADQUARTERS is a more consistent experience. The highs might be lower, but the lows are higher, and it all balances out pretty nicely. It's just... A really good listen, y'know? Which I feel is all it needed to be, to prove they could make it on their own. At the very least, I've put this on more than I have the previous two, and not out of any sort of "this is the one where they gained autonomy" obligation. Goodness, there was one night this year or last last where, for some reason, I listened to the first side of this record, like, three times in a row. If that doesn't tell you how I feel about this album, I don't know what else will. Oh, and if I can quickly name the best song on this album before I move on: "Randy Scouse Git". Just, 100%, it's "Randy Scouse Git". It even went all the way to no.2 as a single in the UK — with the alternate title, uhm, "Alternate Title",'coz... Well, you look at what it's more commonly known as. Following this album, The Monkees would meditate once more on being a prefabricated band, with the movie/freak-out trip HEAD. That movie's a whole extended essay unto itself, so I'll refrain from going on about it. Just to say that, hey, The Monkees wouldn't have been able to try and kill off The Monkees if this album and its success allowed them the freedom to do that. For that alone, it's their most important, and thank goodness it had the tunes to back that up. I mean, if this had turned out to be the 60's NICK OF TIME... I mean, goodness, I don't even know. For me, this album's a solid 4. Honestly, I'm not sure if The Monkees were ever capable of making a straight 5/5 album, but as the best they've ever done by themselves... It coulda been worse, y'know? Plus, hey, they had Frank Zappa's approval, and in my eyes that counts for a lot.

To me, 70's Yes is, like, "ur-prog." Y'know, the prog that's just... Always been around, always. The first sound you think of when you think of prog; the genre at perhaps its basest level. I'd call it timeless, too, but... Ehh, naaaah. It's still pretty pinnable to the 1970's. Which is just as well; if the 70's ain't prog's decade, then no other is. FRAGILE lands itself smack in the middle of what are, in my eyes, **the** Yes albums — ten months after (funnily enough) THE YES ALBUM, and ten months before CLOSE TO THE EDGE. And, like, it's crazy, you know? There's not too many other bands I can think of who can pull off something like this. Of course, in the case of FRAGILE, it helps that there's really only 4 "main songs." Now, that's not to put down the other five songs here, which are each composed individually by the five band members. They're all fun, and give a good sense as to what they bring to the group. I even really dig "Cans And Brahms", even if, for stupid contract reasons, it's just an arrangement of a classical piece. I guess my problem is just that... I'unno, as much as I like 'em, they make the album feel shorter than it actually is? Like, FRAGILE is only a minute shorter than THE YES ALBUM and three longer than CLOSER TO THE EDGE, but because 5/9 tracks jus' kinda breeze by, it makes it feel like there's so much less there on the whole. But, hey, despite that, the four "main songs" are still as good as ever, particularly "Roundabout". I mean, putting aside that one anime whose name slips my mind, it's not as iconic as it is for nothing. A sick bass line, virtuoso keys, great vocal harmonies... Across the board, it's simply incredible. Much the same goes for the rest, with a special highlight to "Heart Of The Sunrise". Goodness. **The** second song I tend to think of from this album. So, hey, it's all good stuff. However, ultimately, I think when you put these two halves of songs together... Honestly, as a whole package, it could be stronger. Like, my favorite Yes album is CLOSE TO THE EDGE, and that one wastes no time. It's simply three of the best songs the band would ever make, with not a second wasted, as far as I can hear — lot more beautiful vocal parts and harmonies, too. FRAGILE, on the other hand... Like I said, the solo composed tracks just do weird things to the pacing to me. That's my big problem here. If the album was weighted more towards the main songs than the solo fragments, sure, but as it stands... Yeeeeaaah. Still, I can't give it less than a 4 at minimum. It's still Yes in the middle of their best period, and I don't think they deserve much less. This is referencing the wrong album, but despite some of my misgivings, I can still get up **and** get down with this. (Now hopefully it's not, like, what, ten months until we get **that** album? Or more, goodness. I hope not!)

And just like with yesterday's album, my group returns to an artist we got very, very early on in our journey. The seventh album we'd ever gotten was Neil Young's RUST NEVER SLEEPS, a live album he did with Crazy Horse. I'd written a very short 3/5 review for it, which I can reiterate in its entirety here: "Well, I hope I'm more into any of the other six Neil Young albums on this list." As you can see, it's not very insightful. Back then, I guess I just didn't have the words to explain how much I wasn't into Young getting his Dylan on. Well anyway, it's taken 317 albums, but, hey, here's another one of those six. His most acclaimed, to boot — 72 on the most recent Rolling Stone 500. So... Was I actually more into this than RUST NEVER SLEEPS? Absolutely. This is a great album, comprised mostly of what I've taken to calling "country comfort." Y'know, to me most country music evokes late evenings, porches and bottles of beer. A whole "the modern man unwinds" kinda thing. This album also evokes unwinding to me, but it's not just confined to the porch — it's out there, on the ranch or in the prairies. There's this larger scope to it all that I really dug. It's just top-notch music, all around. And, sure, maybe a few lyrics on here are a bit too depressing to fit that "country comfort" vibe exactly, but, look, I can't just not imagine sitting on a horse, looking out over the canyons, or just resting on the fence watching the sunset. It's that vibe that does this whole thing so well. Which just makes it all the odder when I get randomly interrupted by another album. Like, OK, let's talk about the London Symphony Orchestra songs. To begin with, I'm not opposed to the orchestra being here. Hell, I love a bit of orchestral accompaniment. You should see how much I love Metallica's S&M, or even those Royal Philharmonic Orchestra albums where they RPO all over Elvis and Beach Boys songs. And if they were accompanying Young on, like, "Old Man" or "Alabama", that'd be one thing... (And can you imagine Skynyrd calling out the London Symphony Orchestra alongside Young? Goodness.) But like I said, the songs they're on both sound like they come from different albums. They're so grand and sweeping, and I like them, but they're just at such odds with the rest of the package. Especially because there's only **two** of them, one on each side. Like, maybe I'd understand it more if the LSO was on half of the tracks, or all of them, or if they just weren't here at all... I'unno, it's like taking Aerosmith's ROCKS and throwing two "I Don't Wanna Miss A Thing"s on each half. Y'get me? And I **like** "I Don't Wanna Miss A Thing"! Like, the country comfort stuff by itself would've been a 4 verging on a 5, but with the LSO tracks, as much as I did enjoy them... Yeah, it pulls the whole thing down to a 4 solid. Good stuff, of course, just... Could've been the slightest bit more cohesive. Alright, well, that leaves five more Neil Young albums left to get through. Fingers crossed it doesn't take **this long** 'til my group sees another one — and, hopefully, I dig it as much as this.

Y'know, I never woulda been able to guess what I'd get from a Frank Black solo album. Heck, before this album I didn't even know this album existed — or who Frank Black was, for that matter. For real, I'd known about the Pixies and I at least knew the name Kim Deal, but it turns out I had no idea who Frank Black was. So, learning that this guy fronted the Pixies, I suppose my initial expectation going into this was that, like... It'd be more? And exactly "more" as in "more of the same," but like "a more extreme version; more concentrated." Which, to be clear, I liked the two Pixies albums I heard. I didn't **love** them; I still think I generally enjoy Weird Al's pastiche more, but I did enjoy my time with them. So, there was a small part of me that wasn't really looking forward to hearing a more concentrated Pixies. But goodness me, I never woulda guessed that **this** is what the frontman for the Pixies would've made. Like, it's way popper than I would've guessed. I mean, I suppose this **is** indie rock, whereas I'd always pegged the Pixies as alternative and punk. (And, yeah, genre definitions are loose, so the Pixies are also indie, but you get what I mean, right?) It's catchy stuff. It also reminds me so much of a specific band which, for the life of me, I can't think of the name of, but I know it's one I like, so it's still a good thing anyway. So many key and synth parts I liked, goodness. I think what surprised me most is how much I actually paid attention to the lyrics. I normally don't do that the first time with an album; not even with the Pixies albums. But here, they jus' kinda captivated me. LIke, there's songs about PONG and the aqueduct. I'd never heard the word "aqueduct" outside of a Monty Python. movie. It's just interesting stuff — kinda quirky and specific, which I guess just captures me way more than conventional and broad. But together with the music especially — goodness, it's great stuff. Honestly, I'd be pretty happy to give this thing a 5. It worked for me just that well — and it's a higher rating than I've given to any Pixies album, even. So, hey, good on you, Frankie. And big congrats on that Teenager Of The Year award, by the way. I'unno how **you** got it, but, hey, maybe the judges were working off of "casting for a high school drama" logic. Y'know, I never woulda been able to guess what I'd get from a Frank Black solo album. Heck, before this album I didn't even know this album existed — or who Frank Black was, for that matter. For real, I'd known about the Pixies and I at least knew the name Kim Deal, but it turns out I had no idea who Frank Black was. So, learning that this guy fronted the Pixies, I suppose my initial expectation going into this was that, like... It'd be more? And exactly "more" as in "more of the same," but like "a more extreme version; more concentrated." Which, to be clear, I liked the two Pixies albums I heard. I didn't **love** them; I still think I generally enjoy Weird Al's pastiche more, but I did enjoy my time with them. So, there was a small part of me that wasn't really looking forward to hearing a more concentrated Pixies. But goodness me, I never woulda guessed that **this** is what the frontman for the Pixies would've made. Like, it's way popper than I would've guessed. I mean, I suppose this **is** indie rock, whereas I'd always pegged the Pixies as alternative and punk. (And, yeah, genre definitions are loose, so the Pixies are also indie, but you get what I mean, right?) It's catchy stuff. It also reminds me so much of a specific band which, for the life of me, I can't think of the name of, but I know it's one I like, so it's still a good thing anyway. So many key and synth parts I liked, goodness. I think what surprised me most is how much I actually paid attention to the lyrics. I normally don't do that the first time with an album; not even with the Pixies albums. But here, they jus' kinda captivated me. LIke, there's songs about PONG and the aqueduct. I'd never heard the word "aqueduct" outside of a Monty Python. movie. It's just interesting stuff — kinda quirky and specific, which I guess just captures me way more than conventional and broad. But together with the music especially — goodness, it's great stuff. Honestly, I'd be pretty happy to give this thing a 5. It worked for me just that well — and it's a higher rating than I've given to any Pixies album, even. So, hey, good on you, Frankie. And big congrats on that Teenager Of The Year award, by the way. I'unno how **you** got it, but, hey, maybe the judges were working off of "casting for a high school drama" logic.