Journey in Progress
Discovering music one album at a time
305
Albums Rated
3.63
Avg Rating
25
5-Star Albums
28%
Complete
784 albums remaining
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3.1
Per Week
678
Days Active
Reviews
53
Written
17%
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vs Global
0.32
Avg Diff
3.63
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1950s
Favorite Decade
Soul
Favorite Genre
UK
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Generous
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You Love More Than Most
Albums you rated higher than global average
| Album | You | Global | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yankee Hotel Foxtrot | 5 | 3.3 | +1.7 |
| Chirping Crickets | 5 | 3.3 | +1.7 |
| If You Can Believe Your Eyes & Ears | 5 | 3.43 | +1.57 |
| The ArchAndroid | 5 | 3.46 | +1.54 |
| The Atomic Mr Basie | 5 | 3.5 | +1.5 |
| The Gershwin Songbook | 5 | 3.54 | +1.46 |
| So | 5 | 3.55 | +1.45 |
| The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill | 5 | 3.63 | +1.37 |
| Ill Communication | 5 | 3.65 | +1.35 |
| With The Beatles | 5 | 3.67 | +1.33 |
You Love Less Than Most
Albums you rated lower than global average
| Album | You | Global | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
| Straight Outta Compton | 2 | 3.51 | -1.51 |
| The Marshall Mathers LP | 2 | 3.49 | -1.49 |
Artist Analysis
Favorite Artists
Artists with 2+ albums and high weighted score
| Artist | Albums | Avg | Score |
|---|---|---|---|
| Beatles | 5 | 5 | 4.25 |
5-Star Albums (25)
View Album Wall
Popular Reviews
2/5
Some music is much more enjoyable to perform than it is to hear.
2 likes
Suede
4/5
I recognize that this might not be everyone's cup of tea, especially if you have no context for these guys. This is what my radio sounded like in 1994, though, and I have very particular and long-lasting associations with this record -- in particular "The Wild Ones", which was a radio hit, and "Still Life", which feels like a farewell to that era.
1 likes
All Ratings
R.E.M.
4/5
Listened on 4 January 2024
N.W.A.
2/5
Radiohead
3/5
It sounds good (mostly) but it doesn't make me feel good (mostly). I don't think that's what they were going for, though. I think it's a record about not feeling quite right.
David Bowie
3/5
Yes
3/5
The Who
4/5
Wilco
5/5
Pretenders
4/5
Bon Jovi
3/5
I didn't like this at all when it came out, even though I was in the target demographic. Listening to it now, I will say that it's not so bad...as long as you don't have to hear it all damn day every frigggin day.
Manic Street Preachers
4/5
Shuggie Otis
3/5
Beatles
5/5
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
4/5
Sonic Youth
3/5
Justin Timberlake
3/5
Holger Czukay
3/5
Creedence Clearwater Revival
3/5
Coldplay
4/5
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
4/5
Crowded House
4/5
The Isley Brothers
3/5
Public Enemy
3/5
Queen
4/5
Richard Thompson
3/5
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
4/5
Richard Hawley
4/5
Radiohead
4/5
I want to like it more, but it's giving me a seizure.
Red Hot Chili Peppers
3/5
They're generally pretty good songs by a good band, but they kind of sound exactly like all the songs on the previous records. If I didn't know that, I would rate it higher, I guess. There are a couple of nice exceptions, though.
The Who
4/5
Tom Waits
4/5
Look, we've all known from the very beginning that Tom Waits is not for everybody, and he'd be the first one to tell you that. But he'll be there for you when you didn't know you needed him.
Sepultura
3/5
This is thrash metal, so it's obviously not going to be enjoyable to everyone. It's not really my thing either. However, if you can at least tolerate it, give it a chance and understand the subject matter and history a little bit, you may find that -- within the scope of this sub-genre -- it's fairly innovative and meaningful. It will still hurt your ears, though.
Joan Armatrading
4/5
Elton John
4/5
The Jam
3/5
Sabu
3/5
I think you had to be there.
Slade
3/5
Paul Simon
5/5
The Kinks
4/5
Janet Jackson
4/5
Pixies
4/5
Suede
4/5
I recognize that this might not be everyone's cup of tea, especially if you have no context for these guys. This is what my radio sounded like in 1994, though, and I have very particular and long-lasting associations with this record -- in particular "The Wild Ones", which was a radio hit, and "Still Life", which feels like a farewell to that era.
Björk
4/5
David Bowie
4/5
Public Image Ltd.
3/5
Traffic
3/5
Echo And The Bunnymen
3/5
Radiohead
5/5
the most terrifying album of 1997.
Bob Dylan
4/5
UB40
4/5
Frank Black
4/5
The Sonics
3/5
LCD Soundsystem
3/5
The Rolling Stones
3/5
Tom Waits
4/5
Stevie Wonder
4/5
Hanoi Rocks
3/5
It grew on me a little bit as it went along. I don't love it, but it's not terrible.
Deep Purple
3/5
Beatles
5/5
Simon & Garfunkel
4/5
The Who
4/5
Keith Jarrett
4/5
R.E.M.
4/5
Rush
4/5
Jungle Brothers
3/5
The Divine Comedy
4/5
Serge Gainsbourg
2/5
Beastie Boys
4/5
Willie Nelson
4/5
Little Richard
4/5
Ali Farka Touré
3/5
Sufjan Stevens
4/5
Television
4/5
Creedence Clearwater Revival
3/5
Jeff Buckley
4/5
Fleet Foxes
4/5
Joanna Newsom
3/5
She doesn't TALK with a silly baby voice, so why does she sing like that? I've even seen her in concert, where she would talk to us like a normal person and then sing like a silly baby. It pisses me off. That same show also had a band called CocoRosie, with a singer who did exactly the same thing, but worse: adult woman speaking voice but deranged baby singing voice. Nope.
Joanna Newsom is obviously a talented musician, the music here is nice, and she's even got Van Dyke Parks and Steve Albini. But the fake voice....
Finley Quaye
3/5
Some people are judging this record by what the guy looks like or where he was born. I don't care about any of that -- I'm just listening to it. I can't say I love it, but I am finding it enjoyable; it sounds like driving around on a sunny Saturday.
Roxy Music
3/5
Beck
4/5
Deep Purple
4/5
I assumed this would be terrible, but I accidentally kind of like it.
Black Sabbath
4/5
Patti Smith
3/5
Devendra Banhart
3/5
Kanye West
3/5
Reading many of the reviews of this record raises once more an interesting question: Can I appreciate the art while disliking the artist? (Conversely, there are plenty of cases where I like the person but not the songs.) Do I stop liking the Milli Vanilli records when it turns out that it wasn't the pretty guys on the cover? Can I no longer watch movies I like if the actor did something terrible in real life?
It seems like Kanye is a reprehensible but mentally ill person whose career is now (2024) no longer about music -- which I guess he can't do any more -- and now requires him to say and do ridiculous things in order to get attention.
But this record is pretty good.
Sarah Vaughan
4/5
Baaba Maal
3/5
Joni Mitchell
4/5
Elvis Costello
3/5
Herbie Hancock
4/5
ZZ Top
4/5
The Stooges
4/5
a-ha
3/5
Dennis Wilson
4/5
Depeche Mode
4/5
Paul Simon
4/5
Run-D.M.C.
3/5
Buddy Holly & The Crickets
5/5
Malcolm McLaren
3/5
Ray Charles
4/5
The Mamas & The Papas
5/5
Jerry Lee Lewis
3/5
Sade
4/5
Missy Elliott
3/5
Queen
4/5
Green Day
3/5
Prince
5/5
This record is the one that prompted me to ask (as a little game), "What's your least favorite song on your favorite records?" The answer in this case is "When Doves Cry". It's still inarguably a great song, but I guess I heard it a few million too many times in 1984 and 1985 and 1986 and every day after that.
Anyway, even the filthiest songs have lovely melodies.
[Almost unrelated anecdote: The first time I ever listened to music on a Walk-Man (borrowed for a few minutes), I was standing on a ladder scraping old paint off a garage door. Suddenly, I was able to focus on this boring job in a way I had never been able to focus before. The tape in the machine: Purple Rain.]
Deep Purple
3/5
Klaxons
3/5
This record is perfectly okay, but I don't understand what inspired someone to put it on this list. Nobody else seems to get it either.
David Bowie
4/5
Pulp
4/5
Morrissey
4/5
The Black Keys
3/5
New Order
4/5
Beatles
5/5
The Rolling Stones
3/5
George Jones
3/5
It's not for me, but I do recognize the talent, the voice, the songwriting and the appeal for other people. I'm allergic to country music, though.
The Beach Boys
4/5
Miles Davis
3/5
The Police
4/5
Dusty Springfield
4/5
Dagmar Krause
3/5
A masterful performance of music that is impossible to enjoy.
Beastie Boys
5/5
Fatboy Slim
3/5
Elliott Smith
4/5
Led Zeppelin
5/5
Stevie Wonder
4/5
Ute Lemper
3/5
Doesn't the guy who made up this list owe us SOME kind of explanation? If he offered a few words about each one, maybe people would not be so pissed off and puzzled. Come on, man.
Brian Eno
3/5
Guns N' Roses
4/5
Amy Winehouse
5/5
2/5
The Temptations
3/5
Fred Neil
3/5
Beatles
5/5
Bob Marley & The Wailers
4/5
Motörhead
3/5
Violent Femmes
4/5
John Lennon
4/5
Simon & Garfunkel
4/5
Elvis Presley
4/5
The Flying Burrito Brothers
3/5
The Mothers Of Invention
3/5
Joni Mitchell
4/5
Louis Prima
4/5
T. Rex
4/5
2/5
Some music is much more enjoyable to perform than it is to hear.
Pavement
3/5
The Boo Radleys
3/5
The White Stripes
3/5
Metallica
4/5
When this record came out, a guy who had been a Metallica fan since the start told me that they were no good any more because there was a love song on it. He told me James Hetfield had insisted that they would never do a love song and, if they did, it would be about beer.
To that I said:
1) You're not listening to the words -- "never opened myself this way.... nothing else matters"; and
2) How do you know it's not about beer?
Sebadoh
3/5
In the 1990s, at the left end of the radio dial -- between the conspiracy theories and the fire 'n' brimstone -- there was college radio, and it sounded just like this.
The Go-Betweens
3/5
Leonard Cohen
3/5
The Smiths
4/5
Jethro Tull
3/5
The Damned
4/5
Wilco
4/5
Terence Trent D'Arby
4/5
Is this a great album? Sure, maybe. Does it have the ability to transport me IMMEDIATELY to the summer of 1988 like a friggin' Harry Potter portkey? Definitely.
The Doors
4/5
Aretha Franklin
4/5
The Jam
4/5
Red Snapper
3/5
Skepta
3/5
The Mars Volta
3/5
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
4/5
Randy Newman
4/5
Linkin Park
3/5
Neil Young
3/5
Public Image Ltd.
3/5
The Kinks
3/5
Garbage
4/5
OutKast
4/5
Parliament
4/5
Eels
4/5
It's very meaningful for a certain type of person of a certain age. And maybe other kinds of people can like it, too.
Suzanne Vega
4/5
Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark
3/5
As with many of these records, I can appreciate the significance and innovation of it without actually enjoying it that much.
Elton John
4/5
Nirvana
4/5
Mike Ladd
3/5
Pretty entertaining.
10cc
4/5
Def Leppard
3/5
As I have stated in several of my reviews, I heard the radio hits from this record (against my will) about 1000 times too many when it came out and didn't like it. Now that about 40 years have passed, I still don't love it, but I am able to appreciate it as "not terrible". Actually, it's quite well done...just not really my thing.
Eminem
2/5
Ella Fitzgerald
5/5
k.d. lang
4/5
The old-timey C&W swing might not be your thing, but her voice is always sublime. Why did she make this record in 1988? Because that's what she knew and loved out on the prairie in the middle of nowhere.
Kate Bush
3/5
Janelle Monáe
5/5
Holy schneikeys, I had no idea I was going to love this record.
Paul Revere & The Raiders
3/5
Pretty standard mid-60s sound. Very well done, but a half-step behind the people who were actually inventing it and writing the songs. I bet they were a blast to see in a club, though.
Here's what I really want to add: Mike "Smitty" Smith, the drummer, sings the second track "There's Always Tomorrow" and sounds like a combination of Jim Morrison and Ringo Starr, which I find pretty hilarious.
Arctic Monkeys
4/5
The White Stripes
4/5
5/5
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
3/5
Grizzly Bear
4/5
White Denim
4/5
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
3/5
Michael Jackson
5/5
Crosby, Stills & Nash
4/5
Emerson, Lake & Palmer
2/5
Saint Etienne
3/5
Not objectionable; definitely not essential.
Big Star
3/5
The War On Drugs
3/5
Quite nice, especially if you liked U2 in 1983.
Ray Charles
4/5
Aerosmith
3/5
4/5
Fiona Apple
4/5
Sister Sledge
4/5
Harry Nilsson
3/5
David Bowie
3/5
Billy Joel
5/5
Jimi Hendrix
4/5
Adele
3/5
The Dave Brubeck Quartet
5/5
Scritti Politti
3/5
B.B. King
4/5
Common
3/5
Dr. Octagon
3/5
Big Black
3/5
LTJ Bukem
3/5
Iron Maiden
3/5
This record is better than you think it will be.
Air
4/5
Pet Shop Boys
4/5
Various Artists
4/5
Donald Fagen
4/5
The sound of this record and of Steely Dan in general represents the archetype of what I found icky and intolerable about a lot of music when I was a kid in the 70s and 80s. It took me 40-some years, but I can appreciate and like it now. Maybe the people who detest this now will find that it grows on them after a few decades.
Queen
4/5
Bob Marley & The Wailers
4/5
Doves
4/5
Bob Dylan
4/5
Thundercat
3/5
4/5
Eminem
3/5
Snoop Dogg
3/5
Meat Puppets
3/5
Public Enemy
3/5
The Beach Boys
5/5
Kacey Musgraves
3/5
I don't think it's one of the 1000 greatest albums I've ever heard, but I like it.
Meat Loaf
3/5
CHIC
4/5
Jack White
4/5
The Sabres Of Paradise
3/5
Wu-Tang Clan
3/5
As some others have indicated, I know that this is a record of historical significance, etc., but it's still not that nice to listen to.
Otis Redding
4/5
Caetano Veloso
4/5
Steely Dan
4/5
I have a MUCH higher tolerance for music from the 70s than I did in the 70s. This used to make me feel a little ill, but now I kind of like it. I guess I could say that about numerous things.
Scissor Sisters
4/5
Prince
4/5
Judas Priest
3/5
Beach House
4/5
I like this a lot, but I recognize that the songs are essentially identical.
Morrissey
4/5
I can like the music without loving the musician. Right?
The Birthday Party
3/5
Wait! Give it a few minutes before you turn it off in disgust!
This is not my favorite thing either, but it's a young Nick Cave sounding like Tom Waits if Tom Waits were a young angry Australian fellow who just came back from a tour of shitty bars in Southern US college towns.
So think about that for a few minutes, and THEN you can shut it off in disgust.
Simon & Garfunkel
4/5
Count Basie & His Orchestra
5/5
The Verve
3/5
The Allman Brothers Band
3/5
The Rolling Stones
4/5
Blur
4/5
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
4/5
The Velvet Underground
3/5
Steve Winwood
3/5
It's not terrible. It lands somewhere among Genesis, Steely Dan and almost everybody else who made a record in 1980.
Sometimes it's hard to know whether you don't like something or just heard it too many times when it was new. Having been granted about 20 years of reprieve from having to listen to this, I can say that it's not terrible and I simply got tired of hearing it everywhere all day every day. It's innovative and retrospective at the same time, by a band that had been together for almost 25 years at this point.
Neneh Cherry
3/5
Ignore the one-star reviews. This sounds like late-80s hip-hop because that's what it is, except more European. It's not my favorite thing, but three stars because "Manchild" has been mesmerizing me since 1989.
OutKast
4/5
Jimi Hendrix
5/5
Frankie Goes To Hollywood
4/5
Peter Gabriel
4/5
fIREHOSE
4/5
Prince
3/5
Coldplay
4/5
Just because you heard it way too many times doesn't mean it's no good. You just need a break from it for about 10 years. Maybe 20. Then you can appreciate it.
Neil Young
3/5
Grateful Dead
3/5
David Bowie
4/5
Radiohead
3/5
Robert Wyatt
3/5
Imagine Pink Floyd (in about 1971, before they turned dreamy) tried to make a record with Nick Drake and, say, Neutral Milk Hotel. The process maybe didn't go as well as they hoped, and nobody actually loves it, but they managed to come up with 5 or 6 mildly interesting tracks.
Gang Of Four
3/5
Suicide
2/5
Influential but not actually enjoyable.
Gene Clark
3/5
Curtis Mayfield
4/5
Peter Gabriel
5/5
Neil Young
4/5
XTC
4/5
The Smashing Pumpkins
4/5
Lauryn Hill
5/5
Sleater-Kinney
4/5
Electric Light Orchestra
4/5
Portishead
4/5
AC/DC
3/5
Listening to this makes my throat hurt.
Supergrass
4/5
John Prine
3/5
Kid Rock
2/5
Is it possible to dislike the artist but like the art? Of course, but this prick doesn't make it easy.
Green Day
4/5
Bob Dylan
4/5
Bruce Springsteen
4/5
John Lee Hooker
3/5
Paul Weller
4/5
The Vines
3/5
They DO sound a lot like Nirvana, but, you know .... about 12 years after Nirvana.
The Police
4/5
Van Morrison
3/5
A month or two ago, I started listening to my own copy of this record. After a few minutes, I got so irritated that I stopped it, removed the CD and threw it away. (EDIT: I didn't actually throw it away; I donated it to a charity shop.)
Van Morrison's voice is a dull blade sometimes, and you can feel it tearing at you. You really need to be in the mood or in the right setting for it, and I was not. I'm giving it another chance today, and it's not terrible, but he does still stab at my eardrums in a way I don't appreciate like I think I should.
The songs are interesting, though, and the music is nice. I especially enjoy the prominence of Richard Davis's bass.
I'm not going out to buy it back, and it might not be one of 1001 records I needed to hear, but I think Mr. Morrison and I have achieved a certain level of détente.
Slipknot
3/5
This is not my thing, so I can't really like it, but I can tell that they're good at what they do.
And they were from Des Moines? Hilarious!
Paul McCartney and Wings
5/5
The White Stripes
4/5
The Smashing Pumpkins
4/5
Travis
4/5
Run-D.M.C.
3/5
This record changed the world. I recognize this; I just don't really enjoy listening to it.
U2
4/5
The Pogues
4/5
Van Morrison
4/5
The Jesus And Mary Chain
3/5