Listened to the extended version (19 songs).
Johnny Cash is funnier than I thought.
Many crime songs, which is appropriate given the setting.
Rumbling, ragged baritone sounds great. The recording is very clean and clear: you can tell it’s live, but the audience noise isn’t intrusive and the acoustics are generally great. The acoustic songs are cleaner.
Lots of horror-movie sounds and soundtrack samples worked into the beats give most of this album a wonderfully creepy vibe. “Midnight in a Perfect World” is, in my opinion, a respite from the gloom (and “Why Hip Hop Sucks in ‘96,” but that’s only 44 seconds long).
I remember buying this when it first came out - don’t remember how I heard about it - but I was not prepared for its overall ominous tone. I came to love it and it holds up today.
Mostly claustrophobic but catchy. “Interzone” stands out for rocking. Excellent.
My first time hearing this band and album. Great indie rock sound. The songs vary in style, keeping it interesting throughout. I particularly liked “Grounds for Divorce.” Terrific album overall.
Love the old-timey feel to this. Sounds like every song was conceived of, written, and performed in a saloon or on the front porch of a log cabin.
An old favorite of mine. Such great jazz samples and beats. Ali, Q and Phife are such a great team. This whole album is just perfect.
Slightly poppy, slightly gloomy, post-punk. I liked, but did not love this.
The first few songs are particularly good. Lots of interesting instrumentation and ES sounds great. The album feels a bit long, but otherwise it is perfect sad indie music.
1st time listening to this. Love it. Great voice and music. Interesting lyrics.
Such a great album. The Stones moving out of the early stage and starting to experiment.
Great! Love this album. An old favorite
The Exorcist theme! This is one of those albums where I appreciate it as an innovative product of its time. It doesn’t hold up as well for me now.
Eminem struggling with fame. Some great raps and beats here, but the homophobia and violence has not, IMO, aged well.
This is a favorite of mine: I don't speak French, but MC Solaar's rap talents are undeniable and his beats and tunes are terrific. "Victime de la Mode" is an earworm, but the whole album has its charms. If you like this album, I also highly recommend Prose Combat.
When this album came out, I was about 18 and considered myself too cool for hair bands and this particular brand of New Jersey culture (I was born and raised in NYC and was listening to Sonic Youth, etc.). All of this is just to put context to why it took me so many years to appreciate this album. It is undeniably catchy, and even though I avoided listening to it, I absorbed it by osmosis because - listening to it now - I realize I know most of these songs. This still isn't something I would reach for: this type of really commercial rock is not to my taste, but I can't deny that it has its charms.
If I had to recommend just one, it would be "Wanted Dead or Alive," which is a wonderfully silly analogy equating the boys in Bon Jovi with cowboy outlaws. So self-serious, but it works.
British Synth-Pop. There is just enough differentiation in the songs to keep it interesting, but this is primarily synths and electronic drums, so it does sound a bit samey-samey after awhile. I particularly like "What Have I Done to Deserve This," which was a hit for the band and includes a female vocalist, which adds some liveliness.
Fantastic album. Some of Bob Marley's best songs, great music and recording.
In my opinion, the best version of Van Halen. The synthesizers mark this as an 80s pop rock album instead of a more timeless guitar-driven heavy rock album, but it all works. "Jump" is just a timeless earworm, as are "Hot for Teacher" and 'Panama," but the whole album is fun. As an 80s kid, the videos that accompanied this album are burned forever in my brain, and there is no greater embodiment of the rock n' roll frontman than David Lee Roth. And Eddie Van Halen's guitar work is justifiably legendary.
First listen. Dreamy indie rock. I like it.
Fantastic blend of blues and psychedelic rock. Jimi’s guitar work is amazing, of course, but the band is spectacular.
Joni Mitchell has a lovely voice, her lyrics are thoughtful, and the music is pretty, but I wish there was more variety (in terms of up-tempo vs downtempo, different styles/genres, and mixing up the instruments) because I began to get bored listening to it. The songs, for me, began to blend together. Joni and her guitar, sometimes backed by bass, flutes and some backup singers, but all the songs begin to bend together for me. I prefer "Court and Spark," which has some variety to it.
After listening to it for the first time, I am not sure this album warrants inclusion on the 1001 list. It's not that it's a bad album, on the contrary, I think it's really good. Good lyrics and flow, good beats, good guests. Everything works.
My problem with the album is just that it sounds like other artists making similar albums around that time (2006, so Kanye, Nas, Jay-Z, etc.), so it doesn't stand out to me as something groundbreaking or the pinnacle of a particular genre or style. I don't have an alternative suggestion because I just don't have enough knowledge about that genre and artists at the particular time, but I would guess there are better hip-hop albums than this one that have stood the test of time, regardless of the particular year. This just seems like a recency bias pick.
Dream pop. I like it in smaller doses, or as part of a mix, but listening to an entire album is too much of the same for me.
Post-Punk with a menacing tone. Super heavy bass, piercing guitars, and Johnny snarling. Delightful.
Worth it for "Jet" and "Band on the Run" alone. Not everything else works for me, but the band is trying out a lot of different things, which makes it interesting.
First Listen. Missed out on listening to these guys back in the day. This is a really good album, somewhat dated to the early 90s (something I can't quite put a finger on reminds me of Big Head Todd and Pearl Jam with some of the vocalization stylings), but the musicianship is great and I like the nearly alt-country songs.
Feels like being in a dive music club late at night and with a surprisingly great blues/jazz band. All of which is to say, it's a great album, if you like that sort of thing, which I do.
Love Neil Young and love that fuzzy electric guitar sound. Such a great album.
Fantastic album. RC's vocals and piano are wonderful. The only drawback are the 1950s strings arrangements, which date it a bit.
I didn't appreciate this album when it came out because it was so sprawling. But this is really great overall. Like the White Album, there are plenty of hits and misses, but overall, you get the sense that these guys are incredibly talented.
First listen: I love these guys. Garage rock / punk. Very fun.
A favorite of mine. The musicianship is tight, all the instruments stand out in the mix, the songs are good (even if not all hits), and "On Any Other Day" is just a good time.
First listen for me. Lush-sounding album: the duo's vocals are great. I particularly liked "On Hold", which has the catchiest tune.
Such a great album. "Heroes" is obviously a standout, but the other songs are fantastic too, and there is a lot of experimentation with moods, which makes for a captivating listen.
Great stuff. Don't remember my HS French, but this has a midnight cafe feel to it.
Accessible electronic synth music from Kraftwerk. Robots and Model are my favorites, but the whole album is great.
First listen. Pretty good psychedelic rock album. Nothing really stood out to me.
First Listen. I like this one much more than the Moby Grape album - much more fun and variation in songs.
Good modern soul album. This works more in a mix of other music for me than as a record that I want to listen to straight through. Basically, the autotune, while not as over-the-top as T-Pain, i still omnipresent enough to where I begin to find it grating.
I really like this one: Twangy vocals, unadorned folk and country music blend, and really great songwriting.
My first listen to this album. This is a really great pre-controversial Kanye album. Lots of variety, interesting guests, and great songs/raps. Too bad he went nuts: I have trouble separating the art from the artist on this one.
My first listen to this one. In 1997, I was listening to ska, swing revival, hip-hop, and various indie/alt bands, not big-beat rave music. In retrospect, I think I missed out on some fun raves and some fun music. This album is delightful. It is extremely danceable, with all kinds of samples, weirdness, and fun guests. This is an overlooked winner for me.
Nothing to say that hasn't already been said: This is a brilliant album.
Good Indie Rock album. Sounds like it was made with the explicit purpose of stadium tours in mind rather than just for the artistry.
Live interpretation of Mussorgsky's piece. The band and audience sound like they are having a good time. My father, a classical music enthusiast, would hate this. I like it.
Lovely singing voice and guitar playing.
Great harmonies and a very unique style.
This album is not made for me: it sounds as if it were created in a lab by a committee and aimed directly at love-struck teenage girls. Having said that, it is undeniably catchy, and the producers try a bunch of different styles, so it doesn't get boring. The album is so overproduced that I am not sure I could identify what Britney Spears actually sounds like without seeing her name on the title. But again, this isn't for me. There is lots to like on this album. I particularly liked the final song - a 60s-sounding "The Beat Goes On."
I like Astrud Gilberto's voice when matched with bossa and samba, but too much of this album is influenced by USA music trends of the time and the parade song is just terrible.
First time listening to this. Droning and feedback-infused noise. I like it, but I live somewhere where crickets exist, so when the crickets started up, I was momentarily convinced there was one in my house.
