704
Albums Rated
2.88
Average Rating
65%
Complete
385 albums remaining
Rating Distribution
Rating Timeline
Taste Profile
1960s
Favorite Decade
Psychedelic-rock
Favorite Genre
US
Top Origin
Perfectionist
Rater Style ?
35
5-Star Albums
10
1-Star Albums
Breakdown
By Genre
By Decade
By Origin
Albums
You Love More Than Most
| Album | You | Global | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Happy Trails
Quicksilver Messenger Service
|
5 | 2.8 | +2.2 |
|
All That You Can't Leave Behind
U2
|
5 | 2.98 | +2.02 |
|
Car Wheels On A Gravel Road
Lucinda Williams
|
5 | 3 | +2 |
|
American Beauty
Grateful Dead
|
5 | 3.24 | +1.76 |
|
Nebraska
Bruce Springsteen
|
5 | 3.32 | +1.68 |
|
Tommy
The Who
|
5 | 3.34 | +1.66 |
|
At Fillmore East
The Allman Brothers Band
|
5 | 3.38 | +1.62 |
|
Lost In The Dream
The War On Drugs
|
5 | 3.38 | +1.62 |
|
Pretzel Logic
Steely Dan
|
5 | 3.4 | +1.6 |
|
Darkness on the Edge of Town
Bruce Springsteen
|
5 | 3.42 | +1.58 |
You Love Less Than Most
| Album | You | Global | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Odessey And Oracle
The Zombies
|
1 | 3.42 | -2.42 |
|
C'est Chic
CHIC
|
1 | 3.34 | -2.34 |
|
OK Computer
Radiohead
|
2 | 4.1 | -2.1 |
|
American IV: The Man Comes Around
Johnny Cash
|
2 | 3.9 | -1.9 |
|
Time Out
The Dave Brubeck Quartet
|
2 | 3.84 | -1.84 |
|
Oedipus Schmoedipus
Barry Adamson
|
1 | 2.79 | -1.79 |
|
Metallica
Metallica
|
2 | 3.79 | -1.79 |
|
Off The Wall
Michael Jackson
|
2 | 3.78 | -1.78 |
|
Master Of Puppets
Metallica
|
2 | 3.73 | -1.73 |
|
Moondance
Van Morrison
|
2 | 3.71 | -1.71 |
Artists
Favorites
| Artist | Albums | Average |
|---|---|---|
| Bruce Springsteen | 4 | 5 |
| Simon & Garfunkel | 3 | 5 |
| Bob Dylan | 4 | 4.5 |
| The Who | 4 | 4.5 |
| Elton John | 2 | 5 |
| Beatles | 6 | 4.17 |
| R.E.M. | 4 | 4.25 |
| Led Zeppelin | 5 | 4 |
Least Favorites
| Artist | Albums | Average |
|---|---|---|
| Robert Wyatt | 2 | 1.5 |
| Björk | 4 | 2 |
| Nick Drake | 3 | 2 |
| Metallica | 3 | 2 |
| Brian Eno | 3 | 2 |
| Van Morrison | 3 | 2 |
Controversial
| Artist | Ratings |
|---|---|
| The Doors | 2, 5, 3 |
5-Star Albums (35)
View Album Wall
Popular Reviews
Goldfrapp
2/5
Seriously, two albums from this duo on consecutive days?! I'm still sleeping from yesterday's set! Seriously, though, this is music with a range so narrow an anorexic pencil wouldn't fit. Not annoying, just all the same - and much too wispy and soft for me.
6 likes
Bob Dylan
5/5
Brilliant song after brilliantly written song. There usn't a bad track on here. Saw a writer say Dylan left the protest songs behind - not sure he got what was being protested.
3 likes
Blood, Sweat & Tears
2/5
Ugh! Pop jazz. BS&T and Chicago - hated the sound and the instrumentation then, still sucks pond water today. Not sure there was a good reason for me to listen to this - again. But I did.
3 likes
Pink Floyd
3/5
There are a couple great songs here that we all got sick of long ago - the rest is surprisingly uninteresting filler.
2 likes
1-Star Albums (10)
All Ratings
Led Zeppelin
5/5
Smells of candle wax and bong water. Seminal guitar work and arrangements.
CHIC
1/5
I heard one good guitar riff. The rest is a study of monotony.
Nick Drake
2/5
Track 2 held a little promise, but all the orchestration, piano and flute couldn't do much for an uninteresting voice and guitar - sweet, though. I kept waiting for Judy Collins to join in.
Simon & Garfunkel
5/5
Simon and Garfunkel made the first music I fell in love with - Sounds of Silence; Parsley, Sage, Rosemary, and Thyme.....what's not brilliant about this album? Lyrics, vocals, orchestration, arrangement, command of diverse genres, heart and edge. Has it all.
Bob Dylan
5/5
Ah, Mr. Zimmerman - I was twelve when Rainy Day Women was on the radio and my brothers were changing the channel. My entry to music has always been through lyrics, poetry, and Bob is our laureate. This is a great album, tempestuous, bitter, sweet, angry, soothing storytelling. Brilliant from start to finish. A hurricane with a tear in its eye.
The Who
5/5
I have owned this album since its release on 8-track, cassette and eventually CD. That the music still holds up says it all. Still relevant, still listenable and exciting, still fun.
I have loved many U2 singles, but this albums is like so many others. A great track or two (Beautiful Day, in this case) and then a lot of filler. So, this album sets the "3-star" standard for me - palatable with a high point or two, but mostly a bill-payer for the band.
Big Black
3/5
Although "Metal" has little appeal for me, I have to say there is some good guitar work on here, some interesting vocals, and a lot more to offer than the angry-white-boy scteaming of bands like Pantera et al.
Billy Joel
4/5
Never bought a BJ album - never put one on a turntable or in a player. Yet, I know every single song on this album which speaks to the power, origiality and listenable nature of these songs. Great voice, great songwriting, but as evidenced by my lack of ownership, not really my listening wheelhouse.
Echo And The Bunnymen
3/5
Love the pace and energy, but there isn't a lot of variation, but really fun. Great work on the bass guitar. Reminded me a lot of The B-52s.
Soft Cell
2/5
I probably could have died without hearing this one. I always enjoyed Tainted Love; other than that, there is Say Hello, Wave Goodbye which was covered to better effect by David Gray and a cover of the Supremes' Where Did Our Love Go. A couple horn riffs - the rest is inane and annoying. 74 minutes - PLEASE!
Al Green
3/5
I grew up with soul music all about and never really liked it. This is very good soul, Al has a great voice and much skill, the songs are solid - I just would never choose it.
Jane Weaver
2/5
There is a lot of technology involved with this project, but it's not really techno. I saw one band Jane is involved with called "technofolk." Hmmmm.....in any case, I enjoyed a cut - but just one.
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
3/5
This is an album of Sufi (Muslim sect) spiritual music, so instrumentation, vocals, etc. are quite unfamiliar. The music is fun, exciting, varied - I could dance to it. 90 minutes is a bit much, though.
Queen Latifah
2/5
I know the Queen as a pretty good comic actress, not a musician. She has a great voice and is a skilled singer, but as rap/hip-hop goes, this is a lot more Fresh Prince than Public Enemy. Pablum for the most part. If there were such a thing as "Pop" hip-hop, this would be it.
John Lennon
4/5
Interesting to listen to these songs without all the context under which they were released. Hardly a dud on here, los of variation - a good listen.
LTJ Bukem
1/5
Hyperspeed breakbeats, jungle, house, drum 'n bass -these are not genre words in my vocabulary, but apparently they exist. I listened to all 3 1/2 hours of this, so I'm good for life. It reminded me very much of the muzak played in botiques in London. Meh......
Girls Against Boys
1/5
Post -hardcore. Maybe not "post" enough for me. I won't say there weren't pieces of tracks here and there that caught my attention, but I was never entertained. The sound is mostly industrial drone. And angry.
Tracy Chapman
4/5
This is a brilliant bit of recording. Great voice, especially good writing, as well as a complete work - 3 hits and not a dead spot on the disc. A very nice listen.
Booker T. & The MG's
3/5
Not a fan of the keyboard/synthesizer, but there's some good guitar work on here, too. Very listenable.
Isaac Hayes
2/5
The voice is distinctive, but I never liked the "sad passion and heartbreak" genre - there is some excellent and surprising instrumentation on here. Still, it was a relief to change the channel at last. And what's with that long narrative monologue? If you want to be an actor, try the theatre!
G. Love & Special Sauce
2/5
A laid-back, sloppy, funky mashup of multiple genres, the album is a total frat-boy beer delight. Cold Beverage was a massive college radio hit and responsible for the half-million sales. Reminds me a bit of the Beastie Boyz here and there. Not a terrible listen, but I wouldn't choose it.
Crosby, Stills & Nash
4/5
This is a very significant debut album by a trio that will become even more powerful with the addition of Neil Young. Probably four great songs and some good guitar on here, but some flat spots, too.
Sepultura
2/5
The band is from Brazil which contributes some unusual percussion. There is evidence here that someone can actually play the guitar, really well, which is not always the case with shredders, but there is no evidence that vocalization matters to anyone at all. Or writing. Or variation. There is also no evidence why this pissed-off-white-boy sound became popular - I like edge and attitude, but I wouldn't ever choose a full diet of this feeling - maybe a song or two.
Sinead O'Connor
4/5
I knew Nothing Compares 2 U, the shaved scalp and the torn picture of the pope, the political controversy, so Ms. O'Connor's was a familiar name, but I had never heard the album. She is a skilled singer with a great voice. There's a nice variety of pace, texture and style in these tracks from the nearly choral to rockier electric arrangements. And there's political edge - Black Boys on Mopeds is a scathing condemnation spoken in motherly simplicity. On par with Springsteen's 49 Shots. It's a good album. It's a good listen.
Parliament
3/5
Phunkadelic. Funky. Rap meets Rockin' Soul with Jazz. Fun. Fun to listen to. Not something I'd choose, but entertaining and I will speculate really fun live.
Lou Reed
2/5
Ummm, no. I like a good concept album and I like Reed, but nothing here caught my attention. Meh. Dull. I didn't even pick up a character. I can understand why it was totally panned, but not why it has since gained favor.
JAY Z
3/5
I was sirprised to find myself enjoying this album. Even let some of it repeat. Not my jam, but good within the genre.
Queen
2/5
1974....3rd album with the hit Killer Queen. Incredible vocals, amazing guitar, but not much music here to love. Unique sound, very theatrical.
The White Stripes
4/5
Own and enjoy this album - hard to give it a fresh listen, but I managed. A style change for the duo, but White us the master of many genres, styles and instruments. What other artist goes from punk rock to producing grammy winning country albums. He is a master and I really enjoy this stripped down, rocky musicality. Great live show with him and Meg.
The Stooges
4/5
Great vocalist and a really hot guitar - exciting, ramped up punk. Listened ti it twice. But not my style, generally.
Korn
1/5
Wow. Music porn? Murder soundtrack? This is really junk with no redeeming value. I kind of regret listening to it. I usually find something to like or respect - guitar work, vocals, writing - there's just nothing here.
Blur
2/5
Britpop to Cool Britannia. Mysterious genres - but this is quite innocuous. Very meh - mostly pablum. Disappearing background muzak - that's probably a bit harsh. That's what some people want from music and there's a market. I wouldn't change the station, but I sure wouldn't buy it.
Alice Cooper
2/5
There are a couple good adolescent anthems on here. Alice is at times an interesting vocalist. Some of the instrumentation is pretty good. And there's some real crap on here, too. Funny, that's just how I remember it!
Jane's Addiction
3/5
Loud, raucous and frenetic - also surprisingly musical here and there. Enjoyed JANE SAYS and HAD A DAD. Wouldn't buy it.
Marilyn Manson
1/5
I am trying to listen to this. It's difficult - I even once enjoyed some of Black Sabbath's stuff, dark and cacophonous as that was. But this is just junk with no redeeming social or musical value - it only has (had) marketability, and that fact is a little disconcerting.
Common
3/5
I know Common well as an actor - a good one. This is innocuous, listenable, musical, but if I'm going to listen to rap/hip-hop, I'm more likely to pick Public Enemy or Wyclef Jean. this has a sort of R&B vibe. A Barry White feel here and there.
Peter Gabriel
3/5
Peter Gabriel's music has always been uneven for me - huge peaks on a great plain. This eponymous album is his first solo project post Genesis and includes Solsbury Hill, one of those peaks. Caught a bit of great guitar - a lot is over-orchestrated for my taste.
AC/DC
3/5
Raucous, loud, rocky, and pretty much fun - great soundtrack for a strenuous bike ride.
Cocteau Twins
2/5
High-pitched, reedy, thin vocals, not much instrumentation to get excited about - a channel changer.
Pet Shop Boys
2/5
The opening felt like a James Bond soundtrack...and then so smooth, soft as a pair of Hush Puppies. Got some SHAFT rhythm guitar sparking there on occasion. Melodic at least. Not my choice, but listenable.
Black Sabbath
3/5
I have never been a fan of Ozzy's vocals, but this album has a bit more. The guitar work is very good and there are some layers and textures - even a very good blues riff, and a variety of sounds and rhythms - much better than most of what follows in the genre.
4/5
Nice. Good vocals, some nice bangin' rhythm guitar, a variety of moods, pace, textures - this is pretty good work. I listened to it twice which says a lot.
Charles Mingus
2/5
How many vintage B&W movies do I have to watch to get this? I am an unsophisticated lout and jazz in general bores the 'eff out of me. I did listen to this and I recognize the musicianship - I played a horn myself as a youth - but, I just don't enjoy it. Maybe it's all about instrumentation for me - I enjoyed the Spanish guitar on track 4 very much.
Drive-By Truckers
4/5
I am a Truckers fan, but have not heard this one. Crowd funded! The discs are full of good Truckers noise, but what's up with the Skynyrd obsession? Truckers' songs are full of great stories - the Skynyrd frame just seems unnecessary.
Alexander 'Skip' Spence
1/5
Ouch. Skip has an interesting voice and it's a mark of his talent that he wrote it all and played all of the instruments, although other artists have done the same with more ability. But this is a demo - if it had been given a full production, it might have hidden the fact that it's mostly drivel and gets worse as it goes on. I couldn't finish it, and I am a bit of a pursuitist.
Elliott Smith
3/5
Very musical, easy listening - nice voice - the album has some variety and nuance, changes of pace and mood, so from that point of view, it's good work.
MC Solaar
2/5
French rap: if this were in English instead of French, I might have understood more of it, but I probably wouldn't have liked it any better.
Tim Buckley
2/5
The music is mostly pretty good, but the writing is at times a bit insipid and full of forced rhymes. When I think of the songwriters he's contemporary with - Dylan, Seeger (Pete, not Bob), Simon, Lennon/McCartney, soon Taupin, Mitchell, Taylor......many more...mediocre.
Joni Mitchell
3/5
Joni has made better stuff, but this is good. Some amazing jazz and blues turns for this remarkably versatile and talented singer/songwriter. But, this sound isn't mine - for me, it's all pretty much - meh.
Peter Gabriel
4/5
Gabriel's music is sometimes a flat plain with great peaks - this album is more like a high plateau with peaks on it - I count 5 very good songs on here.
Willie Colón & Rubén Blades
2/5
I saw a salsa band (Groupo Fantasmo) live, once. It was great fun and this is fun music, too. But listening without dancing is rather monotonous - I guess my point is that this is LIVE music.
Khaled
2/5
I like his voice and the music is varied and fun. Not going to be a staple in my shuffle, but a decently entertaining listen.
Dolly Parton
3/5
The album consists of 10 radio-ready ditties, mostly sweet and sentimental stories with a wry twist of humor in a few. There are some good studio musicians playng a nice mix of styles - country, gospel, bluegrass and I swear I hear some rock licks bangin' along in there in places. Whether you like the warbly-country vocal style or not (I don't) Ms. Parton is a skilled singer with a great voice. I enjoyed the listen more than I expected.
Pretenders
4/5
Good stuff - bangin' rock guitar, good vocals, nice variety of mood and pace - couple very good songs. I liked it.
Meat Loaf
4/5
Never mind the purpled prose and tortured metaphors, this is good stuff. The big guy can really sing, the studio band is terrific, and the wry bit of story is sure to make you smile at yourself. Shades of Queen....
Robert Wyatt
1/5
My goodness this is bad. Frequently dissonant music accompanying vocals that range from terrible to truly awful. I'd like to say its creativity and originality kept me listening to the end, but it was my OCD, the basic pursuitist nature of my personality, and my dedication to this project.
The Zombies
1/5
One song. Just one song, and that a cult discovery. How do you call youselves The Zombies, and then make music fit for the Cowsills? Most of this is just trite pop.
Devendra Banhart
3/5
Psychedelic Folk - now there's a fabricated genre with a mysterious membership! This is folk, but nothing psychedelic about it. The vocals are good and I like the music. Some good guitar work on here, too.
Death In Vegas
2/5
Mostly instrumental and musically mostly robot noise. Death in Vegas is good at what they do, but I don't much like what they do.
Joni Mitchell
3/5
I wasn't able to listen to every song on this album, but such was unnecessary as I know them from when they saturated the radio, certain parties and even the juke box at the bowling alley. Ms. Mitchell is a brilliant singer, a superb songsmith, and a master of multiple genres. This is a very good album among her many, but it's not my listening pleasure.
Amy Winehouse
4/5
Wow! What a funky mash-up of jazz, blues and a little rock, sung by a superior vocalist with a great set of pipes. This is an unusual work, a unique sound and style. When Ms. Winehouse passed, I had no idea what had been lost.
Miles Davis
3/5
I actually listened to this twice as it's not a bad soundtrack for an hour on the Pelotón. I have had friends who are big jazz fans, but I'm not.
Elvis Presley
2/5
There is some great rock-a-billy on here, and plenty of tracks to remind me why I was never a fan. I like some songs - this version of Blue Suede Shoes, for example.
Simon & Garfunkel
5/5
This is a brilliant work by one the great writers of his generation. This is the album that made me want to write poetry, that made me question the fictions I was being sold, that showed me music as a serious art form.
Prefab Sprout
3/5
I liked a song. Not bad, but never really caught my attention. Mostly - meh.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
4/5
Odd, dark as midnight macabre - stories of murder and mayhem vocalized with terrific ability by a great voice. Reminded me of Tom Waits, of whom I am a big fan.
Radiohead
3/5
I like the Radio Head sound instrumentally, but I have never liked that, wispy, whiney vocalist and this album doesn't do anything to change that.
Emmylou Harris
4/5
Emmylou is classified as "country," but I hear a lot of rock, folk and alt-country in there. A skilled singer with a fantastic voice, she also wrote all these tunes which I enjoyed very much.
Kanye West
2/5
On a few tracks I felt I knew what he was up to, beyond offending anyone looking to be offended, but no - for me, no.
Living Colour
4/5
Great rock sound, fine guitars, real fun.
Nine Inch Nails
2/5
I am certain there were radio releases by this band that I liked. Apparently none of them were from this album. This is mostly junk.
The Mamas & The Papas
2/5
Pop radio ready, pop choir here and there; other than the covers, there's pretty much just one song here, David Gray-like. Three versions of that sound were big hits. Half a century later, it's still kind of a yawn.
Beatles
5/5
As fresh, original and brilliant as it was upon release a lifetime ago. Many, many really good songs here and massive innovation.
Dire Straits
4/5
Great voice, great guitar, good writing makes this a very good album. I enjoyed hearing some of those that weren't destroyed by MTV and radio saturation.
New Order
2/5
Insipid, repetitive, muzak - never caught my attention on a single track.
Kendrick Lamar
2/5
There are some nice rhythms and vibes on here, but that's not enough for me. Mostly, I was bored.
Genesis
3/5
Hard to judge a concept, story album like this on one listen. I like the Genesis sound in general and both Collins and Gabriel have great voices. Still, pretty meh.
Black Sabbath
3/5
This is actually pretty good stuff, fun and listenable despite the dark themes and attitude. Nice variety of sound and some very good guitar work. A great start for a band, but for Ozzy and the group, it's all downhill from here to the Osbornes.
Barry Adamson
1/5
What, a mashup of Henry Mancini, Marilyn Manson, Barry White monologues and Ye? Soundtrack for an imaginary film - know a dumb idea when you have one - no fun on this one at all.
Ute Lemper
2/5
Ute is a fine vocalist, but I don't like the songs she's singing - the album is a lot like watching a Broadway musical from behind a post. A big post.
Thin Lizzy
3/5
Is this one song or four? Live versions of all the best from this one hit wonder. Must say, I love their sound.
Gary Numan
2/5
I hate the robotic sound of techno and have never liked synthesizers, so this album never had much of a chance with me. Like I said to my brother after trying his homegrown beets - they didn't suck entirely.
Radiohead
2/5
Same whiney minor-key junk they fill all their other albums with. Don't know why I thought this one might be different, but I listened to find out - no. To be fair, there are some good sounds here, but I find the voice ruinous.
Wilco
3/5
Very uneven bit of work, from the sublime to the awful. For a moment, I thought Radiohead had broken in on track 3 - generally, I like the Wilco sound.
Metallica
2/5
There is some terrific guitar talent squandered here and a few spots with some musical layering and nuance, but mostly it's the fast loud drone I was expecting. I bet the live show is pretty spectacular - for a bit.
Dr. Octagon
1/5
Old school, scratchin' rap. Plenty of toilet humor and cheap double entendre. Rap or not, still .... meh.
Giant Sand
3/5
Saw this listed as "Alt Rock." Please. Singer songwriter all the way. Pretty good. I enjoyed it, but, given its length, not a great deal of variety.
Creedence Clearwater Revival
4/5
There's a terrific guitar on here, great songs vocalized with great skill - superb work. Amazing how well a boy from the west coast created that deep south, cajun bayou sound. No really dead spots, either.
2/5
I once read GONE WITH THE WIND and thought it must be the origin or reflection of about every rascist trope in the US. In the same vein, I think every mock leveled at country music must be on this album - except she left out her truck and her dog. This set of ditties averages just over 2 minutes - ready made for the Eddy Arnold in your 65 chevy. Mostly, it sounds like an America I was never part of, nor wanted to be.
The Kinks
3/5
This is British Invasion, "Beatles Lite" stuff. I like the Kinks' sound and this is not their best work, although I do like some of the writing on here.
Bruce Springsteen
5/5
It's Bruce - it's the voice, the band, the writing, the whole extraoirdinary package. Not the best of his albums, but, that too would be hard to choose. There's a unity in this work that makes it outstanding - moods, themes, consistent and well executed as a whole.
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
4/5
Unique vibe, great voice, still fresh after all the years - really fun listen.
King Crimson
3/5
Never liked the King C - hate synthesizer noise and I finf him frequently cacophonous. But the is better than I expected.
The Mothers Of Invention
3/5
This is early Zappa - the sarcasm is there, but the musical brilliance will develop in grand style as the years roll on. So much better styff coming!
Red Hot Chili Peppers
3/5
There's enough, bounce, hop and funk on this to make you think they're channeling the Parliaments. Liked a couple songs, but the general sound is all much the same - not a great variety of tones.
Raekwon
2/5
Some of this is pretty musical, but very little of it is entertaining. For me, no. Just no.
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
4/5
Highest selling album for all 4 - that's really impressive considering Young's catalog. And understandable - it's a great set of songs that hit the music culture at the perfect time, introducing a unique new sound totally unlike the Beatles et. al.
Bruce Springsteen
5/5
This is a truly historic album, Bruce taking a big risk introducing a whole new sound without the band, channeling Roy Orbison and American roots (routes) music to great effect for me, at least. Not everyone liked it, but I loved it and still do. They gave another guy a Pulitzer, but for my money, Bruce is as great a writer as any. Not many of the Boss's albums are less than 5-star to me, and this isn't one of them.
5/5
Brilliant, so, so fresh at the time, still a fantastic explosion of musical creativity.
Madness
3/5
I remember that song.
Jean-Michel Jarre
2/5
O please, another electronic synth robot album - or wil I be surprised? A little - not robotic, but it's clear why all his previous albums were released as soundtracks. This all sounds like watching a movie, and it's not obnoxious, but why would I pop it into my headphones? My drive to the grocery just isn't that dramatic!
Eminem
3/5
Well, I have to admit I enjoyed this pretty much walking around a major European city with it as my soundtrack. The rhythms and beats are compelling and the attitude is way forward - storytelling seems a bit - what, gotta get some cred so .... but I have to say, if you take this genre far from it's origins (e.g. Queen Latifa) it just falls flat. This is more Public Enemy style and it works.
Tom Waits
4/5
Tom is an acquired taste and I acquired it on my first listen. This album is an old friend and as good as I remember. I once tried Franks Wild Years as an audition piece.
The Young Gods
3/5
Another unheard of genre - industrial. And after listening to this loud, fast, French growl, I can agree the appelation is appropriate. Not bad - I didn't hate it. Would not choose to listen, though - could fit in a Peaky Blinders sound track.
Pavement
3/5
Like Nirvana, I'm sure these guys made some songs that really grab me or an overall sound I like, but it's not on this album.
The Black Keys
4/5
First band among this thousand albums that was new to me that I liked. This is good - nice sounds.
Radiohead
2/5
Sorry - I just dislike the Radiohead noise - especialy the vocalist.
AC/DC
4/5
Second best selling album of all time! Seriously?! There's some weighty competition out there. #1 is Thriller. Didn't see a Beatles album in the top 10. This is hard slammin', frenetic, noisy fun time, with some really flashy guitar work, sort of like Zeppelin without any nuance or layering. I could see this as one of the roots of Punk Rock.
Run-D.M.C.
2/5
Well, some surprisingly fun, good-time rhyming, but past a couple tracks there isn't much reason to listen - reminds me of Fresh Prince.
Jefferson Airplane
5/5
Grace Slick brings her sense of poetry and fantastic voice to a great set of players - greatness will follow and eventually produce Hot Tuna. There are at least five great songs here and hardly a dead spot.
Maxwell
2/5
Yawn. Wake me up if my head drops into my soup.
Stephen Stills
4/5
I didn't get real excited about this album when it came out, but listening to it now I hear several very good songs, some fine guitar, and not much filler. Steve definitely upgraded when he joined Crosby, Nash and then Young, but this is good stuff.
Leonard Cohen
4/5
Really hard to rate this fairly as it's one of my first listens as a boy and I loved it immediately.
Grateful Dead
4/5
Brilliant, soundtrack of my youth - but that feedback is totally unnecessary - costs a star.
Tears For Fears
3/5
I remember this big sound - great vocals, still kind of 'meh. I can listen to it.
The Rolling Stones
4/5
Some really great songs on here, a couple that annoy me, so, a 4!
Pere Ubu
2/5
This album has its momemts - very short ones.
Arcade Fire
4/5
I got a Spotify subscription so I might discover some new bands to enjoy - Arcade Fire is one of a few new discoveries. Enjoy them, and most of the songs I've liked are on this album.
Billie Holiday
2/5
A very skilled vocalist vocalist with a terrific voice singing songs I would never listen to.
Pink Floyd
4/5
Some really great guitar on here - lyrics and vocals are a bit of an after thought. The pretentious Roger Waters has yet to emerge. Real jam band sort of stuff, contemporary with the Dead and pre-Phish.
Franz Ferdinand
4/5
Really good, fun stuff. Guitar work is good if a little repetitive and the energy level is nice. A good find for me!
LL Cool J
3/5
There's some really listenable, musical stuff on here - great in doses, say as a soundtrack for a scene in a film - but as the genre demands, a bit repetitive.
Michael Kiwanuka
3/5
Very uneven for me - really liked some tracks, yawned through some, disliked a couple.
Goldie
3/5
Not terrible - fairly pleasant, actually. I could shop to this, or watch a film.
The Thrills
4/5
This is really "pop" for me, but there's a few very good tracks and I generally liked it. Good listen!
Scott Walker
2/5
This guy has a great voice and the skill to use it - but the writing is crap, the music not much better. Sounds like music for housewives waiting for the valium to kick in. Seriously, Seventh Seal - a chess match with death - was a brilliant film but.....
Elliott Smith
3/5
Pleasant, a few better tracks - could use some edge - mostly 'meh.
The Mothers Of Invention
4/5
Zappa!! Like later work, the musical brilliance just pops out from behind the sardonic wit, both of which will only get better and better. Yeah, I'm a fan.
Little Richard
3/5
This is fun, old-school, very early rock 'n roll, certainly of historical significance. Very radio-ready cuts. But I wouldn't choose to listen to it.
A Tribe Called Quest
3/5
Smoother and more musical due to the extensive use of sampling and orchestration - good, fun, but still hip-hop, so monotonous, repetitive, rather boring....
Sabu
4/5
I have owned albums from this genre and seen a live performance by Grupo Fantasma - incredibly fun live music, especially if the crowd is lively. This is a great album - I can see its influence on the US pop/rock scene. Pretty seminal being from the 50's.
Stereolab
3/5
Way soft to be termed "rock." Album has a lot of real "pop" songs on it. Not a bad, light listen. Mostly 'meh. Some is downright annoying.
Orbital
2/5
Muzak with pace. There's even a song title that includes the words "...on and on and on" and all of this does go on.....and on....and on....
3/5
I saw Bowie touring this album in Memphis and slept through the show - fans were mostly abuzz about the costumes. Listening to the album now, I find it chock full of filler tracks with a few really good ones. Like some critics at the time of the release, I find the "concept" incomprehensible.
Radiohead
3/5
Given my general dislike of the often frenetic, whiney Radiohead sound and particularly the vocalist, this doesn't all suck. I "liked" one track, and gave all of it a chance.
Dwight Yoakam
2/5
This is pure country music with none of the salubrious effects of Delta Blues or Rock 'n Roll that created Alt-Country. It's so typical, straight Grand Ole Opry stuff, it's almost a self-parody. A CM meme. I'll give this two stars only to put it above Marilyn Manson.
Sufjan Stevens
3/5
Totally inoffensive and completely......'meh. No edge, no passion....just ditties.
Brian Eno
2/5
Ambiente Music - the genre attempts to create sound as "...ignorable as it is interesting." Total success on part 1 - total fail on part 2.
Miriam Makeba
3/5
There a couple fun and a couple really interesting tracks on here - great voice and a skilled singer, but a long way from music I'd choose to listen to.
Jimi Hendrix
4/5
Nice to listen to Jimi this far from the context of the times - overlooked mostly in view of his spectacularly innovative guitar playing, is that he was a very good vocalist and this album is packed with good stuff. Also, a lot of it is too long for my listening preferences, but that, too, was a trend of that era.
Ray Charles
2/5
Props to Ray, this is a seminal album, hugely influencial on soul and pop as well as country music, historical, etc., but it's also the torture music of my childhood, the channel we begged my father to change on the car radio - he never did.
Country Joe & The Fish
3/5
Some jazz, some blues, even some CW influence on this rock album. Mostly fun with some fine guitar work. Also a couple fillers and a little of the cacophony that seem mandatory for the times.
Cornershop
2/5
There are some interesting sounds on here, but no instrumentation of note, writing or interest, and a great deal of repetitive nonsense punctuated with sudden bright spots.
The Prodigy
2/5
Didn't find anything to like on here -combines several genres I find unlistenable. A waste of artistic time and talent. This album is a lot like getting hit in the head with a hammer - feels really good when it stops.
Cat Stevens
3/5
Worn out long ago. I was never a fan of Jim Croce, James Taylor, or the Cat. But he is the best of the three.
Weather Report
2/5
Jazz....ugh. It's good jazz, but still, you know, it's JAZZ. Yawn.
Simply Red
3/5
Some good tunes on here and the vocalist is very good. Personally, I dislike the instrumentation - just not what appeals to me. Jazz, some blues.
The Police
4/5
When ot came out, this album had a superfresh sound. Listening to it, the sound remains innovative and fun. Really good album.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
3/5
Nick has a unique sound and I've loved some of the stuff I've heard on soundtracks, but I think that's key - small doses. Unique as his sound is, a lot of this sounds vaguely the same. There isn't a track on here that I want to hear again.
Gram Parsons
2/5
This album is renowned for combining country western music with rock 'n roll. I hear a bunch of country, maybe a snatch of bluegrass, but not much rock. Not a terrible listen but not my chosen style, either.
The Beach Boys
3/5
Couple really huge hits here, but mostly this was the recording technology which launched a whole, new, exciting sound. Not much of that sound on here - but promises!
The Who
4/5
The Who's first release, the album has some gritty blues at its base but you can hear the band reaching for it's own sound. There are a couple very fine tracks and the basic quality of the band is clearly there. Very uneven.
Flamin' Groovies
4/5
This album was released the same year as the Stones' STICKY FINGERS and was praised by Jagger. I definitely hear the Stones sound here and one track channels Elvis in a big way. It's a fine, rockin' album, but with 4 covers it's hard to take the band seriously as more than a great bar band.
Blur
2/5
Not any appealing noise on this work for me.
Yes
3/5
I always hated the YES sound. Tiresome, but this isn't as bad as I remember. There is some good guitar.
The Sugarcubes
3/5
This is good, and a sound that would probably grow on me.
Supertramp
3/5
A couple nice tunes, but nothing memorable - there was a hit or two, but not a sound to return to regularly.
Adele
4/5
What a tremendous voice and passionate singer. And there's a nice variety of tone and nuance in the writing. I liked this quite a lot.
Jeru The Damaja
2/5
Oh no!! Hip hop! I cannot relate to or much connect with this genre as "music." I can call it poetry set to rhythm, but this is just juvenile rhyming, so if I judge it as poetry, it's bad. Really bad.
Jungle Brothers
2/5
2 hip hop albums in a row? Please! More pleasant and musical than the other dozen or so I've listened to in this project - this is in the Fresh Prinz vein - yawn.
Fela Kuti
3/5
This is African horn and piano jazz with a long drum solo by Ginger Baker and Tony Allen. If you like jazz and percussion, it's pretty good. If, like me, you get bored with it, less so.
Foo Fighters
3/5
I like the Foo Fighters - they get a lot better than this.
Antony and the Johnsons
2/5
Ouch! Music, writing, vocals, are all bad and there's no redeeming instrumentation. There's just no reason to cue this up. The Hujar photo is the best thing the album offers!
Simon & Garfunkel
5/5
It was brilliant then, it's brilliant now.
Joan Armatrading
3/5
Hmm...did this sound inspire Tracy Chapman? Like her voice, the writing is good - nice listen.
Stan Getz
3/5
Oh no! Jazz. I am not a fan, but this is light and upbeat - I like the guitar and the samba rhythms. A surprisingly pleasant listen.
Ravi Shankar
2/5
I saw Ravi's tabla drummer live with Bela Fleck and Edgar Meyer. It was a strange exercise, as is listening to this album. There's the music, then everything the music recalls from pop culture. I have to go back to basics - how much did I enjoy listening to it? Not all that much. I simply don't enjoy this sound.
2/5
There's a good track on here. Can't remember which one - it wasn't that good! Mostly this is repetitive, monotonous and dull.
Santana
3/5
Well, Santana's guitar us spectacular and I do enjoy the Latin rhythms, but it's all about that guitar - the rest is just, 'meh.
Bruce Springsteen
5/5
Saw Bruce on tour with this album and it remains one of the best shows I have attended (Re Rocks, Morrison, CO.) There isn't a bad rack on here - all good stuff. Love Spingsteen, love this album.
Ms. Dynamite
3/5
This is a genre mashup of rap, R&B, hip-hop and a little jazz - given these are my least favorite genres, this is very well done but no more than a three for me!
David Bowie
2/5
Wow, what a yawner! Amazing he ever became a star.
Queen
3/5
I like a couple tracks - no denying the creativity, originality and quality of the musicianship on the album, but it's all a little too campy for me.
Van Morrison
2/5
The catalog says there are eight songs on here but I'm not sure I hear more than one. And a whole album of that plaintive wail is a bit much - I like Morrison, but only in small doses, apparently. Nothing here as appealing as Brown-Eyed Girl.
Soundgarden
2/5
Some of this is good, but a lot is disonant, cacophonous and repetitive. I wouldn't choose it.
Stevie Wonder
4/5
My least favorite instruments are piano and horn and among my least favorite genres is R&B, yet this is a brilliant album of songs performed by a great artist. Still, not much fun for me - the quality is obvious, but it's not my cup of tea. Still.....
The Jesus And Mary Chain
4/5
I was really surprised how fast this album grew on me - I added four songs to my "Liked" playlist. Good stuff.
The Notorious B.I.G.
2/5
Wow. Is every meme, stereotype and racist slur directed at rap music based on this album? Could be. There's a great amount of talent on here producing a great amount of....well.....junk for me. Is it a rap requirement to include a super-emotional radio-play? Just askin'.... I guess this is good rap, but it definitely ain't my genre. Gangsta Rap? Is that the sub-genre?
The Band
3/5
I like a few songs on this - I realize it's the great, iconic rock album from Dylan's band and I'm expected to jump on the Band wagon, but I never much liked their sound without him. This is mediocre stuff for me. The Weight is a keeper - Long Black Veil is a popular cover and I've heard much better versions. Jagger, for example....
The Bees
2/5
There are some unique, creative bits on here, but mostly its overly sweet and a little insipid - too sunny, all-in-all.
Ladysmith Black Mambazo
2/5
I guess if you love choral music or pride yourself on eclectic tastes this is a brilliant album. But there's not much entertainment value here for me. It's sort of Graceland without Paul Simon - but hey, it's better than Marilyn Manson. I listened to all of this.
Britney Spears
3/5
It's a little incongruous, this photo of the middle-school cheerleader on the album cover and the voice of a woman who knows how to sing on the tracks. The music is pablum, but better than expected. Some fun....
Creedence Clearwater Revival
4/5
Great guitar, great voice, good writing, but I was never a fan of that California/Bayou/Cajun/Funk sound that's the Fogerty trademark.
Frank Sinatra
2/5
Sucked on Grandpa's AM radio, sucks on Spotify. Women used to scream themselves semi-concious over this stuff - girls must have been easy then.
Elton John
5/5
Brilliant, just freaking Brilliant. Hardly a dead spot.
Fugees
3/5
I like Jean's solo efforts much better, but this is not bad considering the genre. In a way, I feel like the Fugees saved rap/hip-hop from itself. Unlike so many others, it feels like they perform for the audience rather than each other.
Love
4/5
Not sure how I missed these guys back in the day - this is good. I like the instrumentation and variation, but the writing is sometimes a little stilted and the vocals are occasionally off a bit. Overall, though, a good listen.
50 Cent
2/5
This album lives up to all the memes about rap music, but it's much more musical than the usual and I enjoyed listening to some tracks - but not many!
Robbie Williams
3/5
This is pretty good - I listened to most of it twice. Tom Petty said he found the particular "noise" of the Heartbreakers spoke to him, this artist's "noise" just never grabbed me.
Harry Nilsson
4/5
These are really good songs, well written, nicely performed. I enjoyed hearing them again. Something between Billy Joel and Randy Newman.
Blood, Sweat & Tears
2/5
Ugh! Pop jazz. BS&T and Chicago - hated the sound and the instrumentation then, still sucks pond water today. Not sure there was a good reason for me to listen to this - again. But I did.
KISS
2/5
Behind all the glitz and Halloween makeup there's decent rock 'n roll, albeit vapid, insipid and unimaginative. Sort of a groupie serenade.
Michael Jackson
4/5
This is a long way outside my genre wheelhouse, and everyone has residuals feelings about Jackson, but there are some super tracks on here and the quality and talent is simply undeniable. Good album.
Marvin Gaye
2/5
A collection of lovesick moon tunes. So much talent, ability and musicianship to produce such a thoroughly boring product.
Bee Gees
2/5
I don't know if it's Andy Gibb or not, but one of these guys went to The Sing-Like-a-Sheep School of Music with Stevie Nix. But, they're from Australia, so..... As for the music, pretty standard pop stuff, fluffy pablum. There were only one or two Bee Gees tunes I liked, and they aren't on this album.
The Undertones
4/5
Listed to this twice - really fun, high energy, simple, rhythmic rock 'n roll. Enjoyed it a lot - bit repetitive. That rhythm guitar can do other stuff!
The Rolling Stones
4/5
Classic, raw Stones. Some home runs on here, some failed experiments, couple dead spots. They get better. Paint It Black improves the US version.
Iggy Pop
3/5
Couple good tracks on here - listenable - not bad.
The Only Ones
2/5
I rather like some of the music on here and the instrumentation is good, but the vocals are mostly awful.
Carole King
3/5
These are great songs, well written and well produced by a great vocalist, but it's totally not my jam, lyrically or musically.
Fred Neil
3/5
Two great songs on here, covered to much better effect by later artists. Good writing, but obviously from another era - no one sings like that or makes albums like this anymore. I liked the instrumental track.
MGMT
3/5
I recognized a couple tracks on here - original stuff, interesting, very listenable. Not great, but good stuff.
Violent Femmes
3/5
Some good sounds on here, some fun moments, good energy - also some terrible vocals here and there.
The Smashing Pumpkins
3/5
I have a funny relationship with the Pumpkins - I love some songs, and there are a couple on here, but much is a low growl from which great music on occasion energes.
Blue Cheer
2/5
Summertime Blues - one song - a career. There was never anything more, and there's nothing more on this album.
Count Basie & His Orchestra
2/5
Brilliant jazz. Like jazz? I don't. That said, there's some fun, big band dance music on here as well as the usual Sunday sleepers.
Adele
4/5
Adele is a sort of guilty pleasure for me - love her voice, tone lyrics - just great. I listened to this album twice and added three songs to my Liked list. Not sure which is better, this or 24 - I'll give the edge to 25.
Stephen Stills
3/5
This album feels like Stills figuring out what kind of musician he wants to be - there's rock-influenced country western, blues, bluegrass, gospel....or he's just showing off. For me, he could have stuck with the rocked-up-folk style he developed with Crosby and Nash - and then Young.
The Jam
3/5
60s sound, not nearly as good as the 60s. Not bad - kind of 'meh.
The The
3/5
Well, THE! Pretty mundane stuff, actually. I listened twice and nothing caught my attention.
R.E.M.
5/5
This stuff is nothing short of brilliant - I like most of REM (a lot) but I'm not sure they made a better album after this one. There are no fewer than 8 great songs on this collection.
Peter Gabriel
3/5
Really like a couple of these tracks, really dislike a few.
Lynyrd Skynyrd
4/5
As brilliant and radio-battered as Free Bird is, there are other really good tunes on here.
Rage Against The Machine
3/5
Rap meets heavy metal. I get the rage, but this is all a little cacophanous and one-nite for me.
Soft Machine
2/5
Call it what you'd like, post psychedelic rock, whatever, sub-genre as you please, this is jazz - I listened to the whole thing without opening a vein - close call.
ABBA
2/5
Whoa! For a moment there I thought zI was ushering at a Broadway musical again. I read reviews that said this was a departure from earlier, "lighter" albums. They must have been helium-filled.
Björk
2/5
Couple nice rhythms on here, but it's mostly just plaintive and weird.
3/5
Not bad - some nice, energetic tracks on this, a little nuance and variety. It made a nice soundtrack for a Peloton workout, but nothing I am excited to hear again.
Coldplay
3/5
Pleasant listening, but it's mostly all a little wispy and whimsical-sounding to me.
Suede
3/5
I let this run - twice through and nothing really caught my attention. Nothing awful, nothing exciting either.
Alanis Morissette
4/5
Very different and original from all the "Chick Singers" who preceded her - Joni Mitchell, et al. Much edgier. Some really good tracks on here, some dead spots.
Cee Lo Green
2/5
Soul! Ugh! Not sure how it gets labeled such. It's more rap/hip-hop occasionally sampling some soul sounds. And it's all pretty awful.
Roxy Music
2/5
I do not enjoy the vocal style nor much of the music. Very reminiscent of Queen, a bit less campy, but campy nonetheless.
Beach House
3/5
Very sweet, soft, cuddly pop. Not for me, but not bad. Very inoffensive in any way.
The Doors
2/5
Along with several terrific tracks, there's some very creative and original bits, some junky filler, and what seems like Morrison trying to be a blues singer. So, a very mixed bag.
Hüsker Dü
4/5
This is really fun, hard driving, post-punk hard rock 'n roll. Really good. A wee more variety on the guitar work would suit me better than strictly rhythm play.
The Style Council
2/5
Soul, jazz, and rap - doesn't portend a good listen. If you like these genres, it's good work - listenable, even for me, but quite unexciting.
Steely Dan
4/5
Great writing, great vocals - not really my style, but the songs are so good they overcome my usual tastes.
Killing Joke
3/5
Hard driving, growly, fast paced rock 'n roll - not sure why this is termed post punk rock. Sounds like straight, stripped down punk rock to me. Pretty good, too.
Queen
3/5
Less dramatic, less operatic and camp than the usual Queen. Listenable - some good guitar work. Mostly 'meh.
The Allman Brothers Band
5/5
Nothing short of brilliant. The guitar alone merits a five.
Fleetwood Mac
4/5
It's quite a journey from Peter Green and \"O Well\" to this female driven, fluffy soft, pop rock, but it's really good puff and Stevie Nix has not yet fully developed her \"sing like a sheep\" style. Well, it's coming on that last track. I never owned this record, but only two songs on it aren't familiar as my right pocket which attests to its massive appeal. Pretty good stuff, but give me back the solid rockin' blues that came before.
Donald Fagen
3/5
Oh yeah, I remember this one. We'd all be in the van and say, "What? That's not Steely Dan?" Lots of cool sounds on here, but seriously, if you're going to ditch the band, hire studio musicians, and change the name, I feel like you owe me a new sound. Wanker.
Fela Kuti
3/5
My listening tastes are hardly eclectic, and I dislike jazz and mostly hate horns, but some of this is kinda fun.
Sister Sledge
3/5
Super soft, silky smooth, R&B with that signature rhythm guitar ever present. Very good but very much not my style.
Tori Amos
2/5
Love her voice, but stylistcally she sounds like a knockoff. And this all sounds the same. Not much variation on here.
Frank Sinatra
2/5
My idea of hell is sitting in the back seat while my father drove, smoked cigars and listened to this guy and his fellow crooners. Just no.
Megadeth
2/5
I can play it really fast. I can play it really loud. I can play it over and over. No thanks.
Led Zeppelin
3/5
Love Led, and I ran this one around twice, but nothing on it really grabbed me or stuck. Just good listening.
New York Dolls
4/5
Raw, hard driving, stripped down, raucous, pre-punk rock. I enjoyed this quite a lot. Pretty awesome, high energy stuff.
The Cars
4/5
This album shocked me with one really good song after another. I remember the band and some hits, but hadn't heard the album Goid stuff.
The Smashing Pumpkins
3/5
There's a good song on here, but mostly it's the low, growling drone that's the Pumpkin usual. Just listenable....
The Beau Brummels
3/5
Predates the musical explosion about to happen. Not bad, some good writing - best track on here is Old KY Home - not sure how tongue-in-cheek it is.
Neil Young
4/5
This is a classic album, full of good songs with several great ones. Folky Neal is not my favorite of his iterations, but the quality is undeniable.
The Youngbloods
3/5
Track 1 is really good, most of the rest just 'meh.
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
5/5
Great songs, great writing, great music. Folky Neil and rocky Neil in one package with a great band.
Laura Nyro
2/5
I remember this name from back in the day and she's a fantastic singer, but jazz vocals thrill me about as much as jazz instrumentals. No thanks.
Silver Jews
3/5
These guys have a pretty unique sound, I really like some of the instrumentation, there's good writing and the cringe-worthy, but the vocals are odd at best - he could grow on one - like Tom Waits and Modest Mouse.
Led Zeppelin
4/5
Really good rock and very much full of the seeds of great things to come. LED in development.
The Shamen
2/5
There are actually some songs I like on here, so it doesn't totally suck, just mostly. Good soundtrack material.
N.E.R.D
3/5
Pleasant listening - super light, rap-influenced hip-hop and pop, a bit of R'nB. The album cover accurately represents the college boy sound within. Bet this was a big hit in the frat houses.
David Bowie
2/5
I saw Bowie on the Spiders From Mars tour - fell asleep during a costume change and woke up for the encore. There was a "costume change." No more need be said. Hadn't missed a thing - there's a decent track or two on here, but all in all it's pretty awful.
The Rolling Stones
4/5
Nice bluesy rock, old school Stones. Not their best, but there are a few truly great tracks on this album.
UB40
2/5
Pleasant enough background music, but nothing that pulled my attention away from other things - passing traffic, for instance. It's reggae, and a smidgen here and there is plenty for me.
Scott Walker
2/5
This contains some of the worst writing imaginable - and the style morphs out of Frank Sinatra and other crooners, Tom Jones or newer ones - Barry Manilow, (sp?), Neil Diamond, et. al. ad nauseum. No thanks.
Boston
3/5
I was a cook at a big hotel when Boston came to stay - the band was sitting at the coffee shop counter when I went out to snag a drink. I overheard one of them say, "We're as big as the Beatles, now." 'Effing hilarious. Laughed until tears ran. As for the album, it's really simplistic, adolescent, soft rock pablum, musically a lot like, say, KISS.
Carpenters
2/5
I could list all the synonyms I can find for sacharin, but I'll settle for that. Ms. Carpenter has a fantastic voice and she can use it well, but this sentimental schlock is way too sweet for me.
Leonard Cohen
3/5
Melancholy poetry set to doleful music. I like poetry and I am fond of Cohen's work, but this feels like more of the same but not as good as earlier stuff - one album's pretty much sufficient for me.
DJ Shadow
2/5
This album is entirely made up of "samples" from the work of musical artists layered and arranged as new music, which is an artistic and technical accomplishment in itself, but is it worth a listen and would I ever want to hear it again? Yes to the first and a firm no to the second. There are interesting segments and some melodic spots, but a lot is also mind-numbingly repetitive. For me, a hard no.
Iron Maiden
3/5
There was always a group of kids who came into my classes wearing this T-shirt, so I had a certain impression of the band but had never heard them. The album is surprisingly musical and has more nuance than heavy metal generally. I rather enjoyed it, although it's a bit "growly" in places, but there is some good writing, too.
Bruce Springsteen
5/5
Is there a weak song on here? Maybe one - is there a brilliant track? At least four. The title track alone gets it a five.
John Lennon
3/5
Working Class Hero is a great song - the rest is listenable and pleasant but falls a little short for me.
3/5
Several really good ones on here. One of the Band's better efforts.
The Beach Boys
2/5
There are two fun tracks on here. Thank God the Stones et. al. came along and saved us from all this sacharin silliness.
Curtis Mayfield
2/5
Curtis, are ya singin' or stranglin'? Is it hip-hop, soul or R'nB? No matter - I dislike all three. And Rap makes four. This is really awful.
Neil Young
4/5
Neil is a great writer and he's written at least 4 great songs for this album. Not his best, but really good stuff.
Kate Bush
3/5
Always like THE song on this album, RUNNING UP THAT HILL, but there's a lot of other, interesting and original sounds on here, too. A good listen.
Syd Barrett
2/5
This runs runs the gamut from uninteresting to pretty awful. Kept waiting for the finely written tune - never heard it.
Ananda Shankar
3/5
There's an interesting blend of East and West on here and it's a pleasant listen. Much better than listening to Ravi, brilliant as he might be. That said, I'd not listen to it again.
Leonard Cohen
3/5
Well, it's darker. Funereal. Cohen was a brilliant lyricist with an interesting voice. This is the last studio album made before he sadly passed. Not his best, I don't think.
Television
4/5
This is really good - don't know how I missed this band in the day. Great guitar work and vocals reminiscent of Mick Jagger. Very good listen.
Norah Jones
2/5
If you like jazz vocals, Ms. Jones is a brilliant vocalist and this is a great album. I do not.
The Cramps
3/5
Well, this is sorta rocky fun, not as good as Echo and the Bunnymen or the B52s, but very similar. Could use a writer and some variations of tone and pace.
Creedence Clearwater Revival
3/5
There are many hit songs on here and the guitar work is exceptional - but I never really liked the Caly Bayou sound of Credence. Listenable, but not exciting.
David Bowie
3/5
Bowie's music for me is like a huge, placid lake of 'meh with a few brilliant peaks in it. None of them are on this album.
Nanci Griffith
2/5
Nancy has a great voice and she knows how to use it, but the music is, you know, way country. I'd prefer her more folk iterations.
The Police
4/5
One whacko track, a couple dead spots, and the rest is top shelf stuff.
Bob Marley & The Wailers
3/5
I like a reggae song on occasion. There's like a bakers' dozen on here, so way too many for me. 3 stars just 'cuz it's Bob.
Electric Light Orchestra
2/5
Sweet swinging pablum. Just about everything I dislike about pop music is a characteristic of this album. Get some edge, guys!
Beatles
3/5
There's a number of lovely ditties on this, but WOW did drugs do a lot for this band's writing, music, and hair. Thank gawd!
Van Halen
3/5
There are two really good tracks on here and a great guitar on all of them.
Christine and the Queens
3/5
Rather exemplifies the 3-star album.
The Adverts
3/5
This hard rockin', fun stuff - not highly nuanced or varied, but a decent listen.
Garbage
4/5
Not garbage from Garbage, not at all. Good, rocky dtuff well performed. I liked this quite a bit.
Ryan Adams
2/5
I like a few tunes on here and Adams has made a few that I like a lot more than anything on this album - but a lot of this was just putin' me to sleep.
Steely Dan
5/5
The writing is good, the music outstanding, the vocals excellent. Lots of good songs on here.
The Gun Club
4/5
This is a good listen - fast and frenetic, but also changes pace and has a little nuance. Good musicianship, good vocals.
Red Hot Chili Peppers
3/5
Some of this is really good, some excites me a lot less, but all of it is well done.
Talking Heads
3/5
David Byrne is innovative and able to create well outside the box, but when you swing big sometimes you miss big. There's some big hits and some big whiffs on here.
2/5
So angry these boys! There's plenty of musical talent on here (a lot less writing talent!) but it's all rather wasted on inexplicable rage. There's a whole genre of this junk out there. And it's an hour and a quarter! Difficult listen. And just when you think it's irredeemable, there's a decent track or two. Not nearly enough.
Steely Dan
4/5
There are several great songs on here, really good writing and a very nice vibe. Not many flat spots.
Björk
2/5
O my. This is just awful.
Slint
2/5
Their being from my home town and my recognizing the swimming hole where the album photo was taken predisposed me to like this, but they overcame that. There isn't anything on here that I'd like to hear again.
Tom Tom Club
2/5
O gawd, there's another disk! Please stop - no fun on here at all. I think it says something when the best track on the collection is a cover.
Prince
4/5
Prince merges soul, rock, r'nb and more into his own unique sound. There's a couple big peaks here and no real valleys. Good stuff.
Fun Lovin' Criminals
2/5
There are indications that some accomplished musicians were involved in this project. All that's lacking is a writer and some vocals. Fun for them - not so much for me. I enjoyed a track and a half.
Fatboy Slim
2/5
In times of great stress, I repeat the same phrase over and over to myself until the utter monotony calms me. No more need for that - I can just play this album.
The Doors
5/5
This was fresh and unique when it was released and it's a great listen today. Morrison is a special vocalist, the writing is great, and the music is top shelf, varied and bold. It's a terrific album.
Isaac Hayes
3/5
Well, this plays like exactly what it is, a film soundtrack, but beyond the well worn SHAFT theme, there's some great soul tones and some excellent jazz guitar on here, if you care for that sort of thing. I do not.
Jeff Beck
3/5
There's some good blues and rock on here with superb guitar work, but a rather odd choice of material with Bolero, Ole Man River, Greensleeves.....it also feels oddly like a solo album - Rod Stewart is in the band, but doesn't seem very present.
System Of A Down
2/5
Two disks and in all that work these guys manage to show a little bit of range, but mostly it's just burp and growl, roar and scream. Stop. Just no.
3/5
Pretty non-descript - I remember liking a couple Kinks tunes, none on this collection. Nothing stands out - can't remember a single track that caught my attention.
TV On The Radio
3/5
Like Modest Mouse, this has a very different, innovative sound. Modest Mouse, initially a bit whack for me, really grew on me - I don't think these guys will do the same, but maybe....
The Avalanches
2/5
This plays like an experiment in cacophony and disonance. Barely listenable - there are some decent sounds, but they're all kind of mashed into a repetitive mess. I didn't waste any time beyond the first six tracks or so.
Sarah Vaughan
2/5
A skilled singer with a great voice, excellent jazz vocals - but I hate jazz vocals, so......
Tito Puente
3/5
Really good Latin jazz and mambo dance rhythms if you enjoy listening to it - up beat danceable music, fun for me for a track or two. No more.
Bob Marley & The Wailers
3/5
Reggae. Marley. For me, he IS the genre and I like the atmosphere the music creates, but I wouldn't sit down and listen to it.
Sparks
2/5
Mostly annoying.
Nirvana
4/5
Much better than I remember it. Good rock wit some variation and nuance. I liked it.
Dusty Springfield
3/5
Sounds of my childhood. Dusty sounds like she's breaking ground here, and at the time I think she was. Nice listen.
The Velvet Underground
4/5
Some interesting guitar work on here, great vocals, variety - some crap. A good listen.
Nick Drake
2/5
This guy plays a nice guitar and he has a good voice, but everything sounds really similar and he has no edge at all. I think he wanted to be a poet. The best thing about this album is it's only 28 minutes long.
Siouxsie And The Banshees
4/5
Really great stuff. Nice rock sounds, great vocals, high energy -excellent.
The Blue Nile
2/5
Really boring. Nothing ever grabbed my attention except an odd bass riff.
Kelela
3/5
Yawn. I set an alarm to make certain I woke up when it ended. Not that it isn't skillfully executed - just a genre that I do not find entertaining.
De La Soul
2/5
This has a very Fresh Prinz, frat-boy feel to it. Abd it's not just cuz they sampled Steely Dan. I enjoyed it like Saturday morning TV.
David Ackles
2/5
Music like this is why there was a music revolution. David Ackles apparently never got the hint. This is quite awful in just about every aspect. One has to wonder what the guy was listening to growing up - Pirates of Penzance? I think I enjoyed one track - but by then I was drunk.
The Killers
3/5
I rather like most of The Killers sound, and most of this is pretty good.
Bob Dylan
5/5
There at at least 5 GREAT songs on here, some world disturbing. Dylan was a brilliant songwriter from the inception of his career and it's already evident on this ealy album.
Ghostface Killah
2/5
No. Just no.
Def Leppard
3/5
This album is more the generation after me and many of my students were fans which prejudiced me against the group a bit - but on a clean, fresh listen, it's pretty good. A bit one-note at times, though.
Django Django
2/5
Couple nice sounds and rhythms on here, but most of it is just 'meh. And it suffers a bit of techno influence.
Pearl Jam
4/5
Mostly good stuff. Some great guitar work - Eddie Vedder has a terrific voice and is a skilled vocalist, but he sounds a little strained and pained at times - it's a stylistic choice, but not always a great one.
Goldfrapp
2/5
I really enjoyed about 5 minutes of this - pick any 5 as it's all about the same. Thrre were a few detestable minutes.
Goldfrapp
2/5
Seriously, two albums from this duo on consecutive days?! I'm still sleeping from yesterday's set! Seriously, though, this is music with a range so narrow an anorexic pencil wouldn't fit. Not annoying, just all the same - and much too wispy and soft for me.
Funkadelic
3/5
"These tracks are not available on Spotify." So, I didn't listen. But given my tastes concerning the genre, It could never surpass a 3, so that's what I'll give it.
Minor Threat
2/5
This isn't all terrible - but most of it is.
Pink Floyd
2/5
The best thing about this album is that the Acid Head who founded and lead the band left and got professional help and we got Dark Side of the Moon. This sounds very much like a band experimenting and floundering around, trying to find its feet.
T. Rex
3/5
The music on this has some appeal, but the writing, please - "....bang a gong, get it on...," or "...girl I'm just a jeepster for your love." Not exactly stellar.
Talking Heads
4/5
Really good stuff. Unique, original sound, variations, change of pace, great vocalist.
Moby Grape
3/5
Strangely, I like this a lot more now than when it came out in my youth. Not bad, and the guitar is excellent.
My Bloody Valentine
2/5
This reminded me a lot of Radiohead, whose sound I mostly detest.
Johnny Cash
3/5
Jail songs for an imprisoned audience. I never gave liked country music, but this is a special album, Cash has a terrific voice and wry sense of humor which elevate him above the genre. This is fun stuff.
Nirvana
3/5
There are a few very good songs on here, but mostly it sounds like a man in a great deal of pain, which he verified with deadly force not long after its release.
Arcade Fire
3/5
This is another band that for me is a broad, flat plain with occasional high peaks - there are a couple peaks on thus album.
Ryan Adams
4/5
Good writing, excellent vocals, variety, nuance and some really nice guitar work. I added 4 songs to my "liked" list.
Johnny Cash
2/5
I like Johnny Cash's voice a lot - it's warm as a wood burning stove in an Appalachian cabin. And this album has an impressively eclectic collection of songs on it. But, I can't say I haven't heard covers of these same songs by others that were much better. (Worst cover of Troubled Waters ever.) The one that stands out is Desperado - suits his voice very well. Still, some very good moments and some good guitar work - let's hear it for studio musicians. Mostly, feels like a sentimental album at the end of a career - not really great on its own.
Eagles
4/5
There are a few great songs on this and a few very good ones. I remember seeing the Eagles warming up for Procol Harem - we left after the eagles.
The Verve
2/5
A little dissonance, a little blah, some annoyance, but nothing interesting or entertaining here - nothing got my attention.
Gorillaz
4/5
I have always enjoyed this - it has a few weird spots and a few dead spots, but most of it is fresh, innovative and fun.
Crowded House
3/5
All in all, pleasant but nothing wonderful. Just good enough for a listen.
Sepultura
2/5
Pretty sure there's not enough anger in me to enjoy this. There are a couple nearly redemptive tracks late in the hour and a quarter (Gimme a break!!) but not nearly enough. Basically, it's a crap genre.
The Teardrop Explodes
2/5
I listened to this twice and I can't recall a sound - pretty bland and non-descript.
Beastie Boys
3/5
Not my genre, not my sound, but something about the Beastie Boys is just plain fun.
Dolly Parton
2/5
All three of these ladies are immensely talented, and I've liked work by all of them, mostly when they've collaborated with artists who mitigated that pure country sound. On here, it's indulged and I have a life-long dislike of that sound.
The Stooges
2/5
There's some good guitar on here, a couple good tunes, the period's mandatory sepulchral LSD track (which is a huge dead spot on a brief album), and I remember now why we never put it on back in the day. The writing is pretty adolescent.
Blondie
3/5
Very poppy but also very pleasant and listenable. More than muzac....
Circle Jerks
2/5
This is really annoying, mostly unlistenable crash rock.
Spacemen 3
2/5
2 disks of droning, soporific, occasionally annoying muzak. This never really rises above terrible. Hard to understand someone recorded this and then chose to release it. And so much of it, too.
The Coral
3/5
This is a well made album, with plenty of variety, change of pace, nuance, decent writing. That said, it's not really my sound, either.......
The War On Drugs
5/5
Best band since the 70s. Brilliant. I love this.
Pulp
3/5
Pleasant, listenable, but nothing exciting or attention grabbing. I listened twice and can't really recall a sound.
Louis Prima
3/5
Really good, upbeat, exciting fifties jazz......but, it's jazz. Latin jazz, but still jazz. Great voice.
Pink Floyd
3/5
There are a couple great songs here that we all got sick of long ago - the rest is surprisingly uninteresting filler.
The xx
3/5
This has some very pleasant sounds on it, but it's all rather mellow and sublimated for me - I prefer some grit, a little edge, but this is mice.
Various Artists
3/5
Christmas Day, Wall of Sound, secular rocky Christmas tunes - good stuff for Christmas Day, but, you know, it's Christmas music.
Neneh Cherry
3/5
There's a real nashup of genres on here with Ms. Cherry rapping abd singing - not my style, not ny preferred sound, but I rather liked it.
Prince
3/5
Some good things - mostly not for me.
The Smiths
3/5
This sounds like a guy who really wants to be a big ballad singer. Nice enough, but nothing exciting.
Kid Rock
2/5
I think there's a pretty good rock band playing on this - there is one good song on here, worthy of mi "Like" list.
The Offspring
3/5
I love the big, raucous rockin' sound and there's a couple really good songs on here - for me, a little change of pace and tone would be an improvement.
Steve Winwood
3/5
'Meh.
Gotan Project
2/5
This is quite the bore.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
4/5
Like Tom Waits and peat smokey scotch, Nick Cave is an acquired taste and I've acquired it quite easily starting with Peaky Blinders some years ago. I don't think he's as good a writer as Waits, but I largely enjoyed this.
Alice In Chains
3/5
I like some of Alice, but nothing on this album really grabbed my attention.
Youssou N'Dour
3/5
I like a little international sound on occasion and this guy has a good voice. Afro Jazz, but, you know, still jazz. Tolerable, but not something I'd cue up.
Kraftwerk
3/5
For electronic music this is a surprisingly pleasant listen. But like everything in this genre, I find myself asking, "What's this the soundtrack for?"
Keith Jarrett
3/5
There was a guy in our dorm who was a virtuoso jazz pianist. We went to see him play and our jaws dropped; he was amazing. And then we left - cuz, ya know, who wants to sit and listen to jazz piano for an hour?
Beatles
3/5
Pop, pop, pop, so very pop, and fun, bouncy pablum with a lot of variety in sound and tone. 13 songs in 30 minutes - so very commercialy prepared - the Beatles before the Stones showed them the way forward.
2Pac
2/5
The sound is mellower and less abrasive than what I usually encounter in this genre, but it seems just as limited in subject matter and approach as all the others - and let's face it, rap is repetitive as the playing cards in your kid's bicycle spokes and if you don't like that, this is a pretty boring listen.
Public Image Ltd.
2/5
The bass and rhythm guitar on this are pretty interesting, but the writing and vocals are quite annoying.
R.E.M.
3/5
I have always liked R.E.M. and the sound on this album is their good - but nothing on it rises to their best. Many great songs later, I'm not sure they've ever topped their first.
The Divine Comedy
2/5
E-Z-Listening: mostly soft and edgeless with a few exceptions. And sort of smarmy somehow, if music can be smarmy.
Bon Jovi
3/5
Lots of talent on here, especially the guitar work, but it's from that genre of juvenile writing that denies music can be anything but party accompaniment.
The Smiths
3/5
Heard an earlier album by TheSmiths that I found pretty non-descript, but I really enjoyed this one, although some of it is a little soft around the edges for me
Michael Jackson
2/5
This version of Michael is far too soulful for me.
Manic Street Preachers
4/5
This one really surprised me - never heard of the band or any of these tunes, but I enjoyed the listen quite a bit. The instrumentation, writing, vocals are all good.
Nirvana
3/5
I like some of Nirvana's work and I think they might be better unplugged than plugged. There's a couple really good tunes on here, but much of Cobain's vocals sound like a man whining painfully - not as bad as Radiohead's lead, but kind of annoying at times.
Marvin Gaye
3/5
This is a great soul album and Marvin is a marvelous singer. That said, I am not at all a fan of the genre - but props to the talent, work, and accomplishment.
Basement Jaxx
3/5
This electronic music genre is far from one I ever choose, but the layering of rhythm and vocalization here is pretty fresh and fun, if, obviously, highly repetitive.
Lou Reed
2/5
None of what I like about Lou Reed shows up on this disk and much of what I dislike about David Bowie does. At times it comes off as Lou Reed trying to be sunny - a bit grotesque. The whole thing cries out for some Cowboy Junkies or Velvet Underground.
Herbie Hancock
2/5
Am I really going to listen to this? I've been subjected to plenty of HH and he's brilliant and spectacular and he plays the sort of music I like the least. Listened to the whole thing - still don't like it.
David Bowie
2/5
Some of the instrumentation on this is interesting, but in the end the writing, vocals and production are all Bowie - pretty yech for me.
The Disposable Heroes Of Hiphoprisy
4/5
Not my genre, but unlike most this is not self absorbed fantastical tales of misogyny, corruption and violence. The writing here is smart, insightful and prescient - they understood it in the 90s, and 30 years later here it is for everyone.
Burning Spear
3/5
This is pretty good reggae, but.....it's reggae. 🤷♂️
Neil Young
4/5
I have been a Neal Young fan for a very long time - I remember the release of Harvest, but this one got a bit overlooked. Nonetheless, several of the songs are familiar from the Decades release and most of what's on here is very good - couple of dead spots for me.
Depeche Mode
2/5
Electronic music, droning vocals, not much appeal for me at all....
Tina Turner
3/5
Always enjoyed Tina - she developed her own sound and there's good stuff on this.
Ella Fitzgerald
2/5
Gershwin, jazz vocals, vibes from my parents' whitewashed generation with their goofy sentamentalism and idiotic rhyming style, despite the terrific vocal ability on display, this is my idea of a special place in hell. I did listen to a couple hours, but this isn't an album, it's a friggin' musical library section.
Gillian Welch
2/5
Low energy, monotonous vocals accompanied by various strings including some plucking on a banjo, an instrument which belongs in the dumpster on top of the accordion - ask any bluegrasser. Pretty awful, but I pushed on through it.
Taylor Swift
4/5
With the exception of her collaborative recording with The National, which I am very fond of and which appears on this album, this is the first music by Ms. Swift I've ever heard. First, I enjoyed the whole album. The track with The National and the work with Bon Iver and several others are very nice. Second, I cannot reconcile in my head the cover art, the music and writing with all the photos and clips of her in spangles and being and tights and leotards, back-up singers and dancers and pyrotechnics. She must have a whole other style of which I am unaware. In any case, I think this is very good. It lacks the edge of Adele, but good listening.
The Velvet Underground
2/5
I have enjoyed stuff from Velvet Underground, Lou Reed and Cowboy Junkies, but this, with few tracks excepted, is one of the most annoying collections of crappola I have ever slogged through - in particular The Gift and I Heard Her Call My Name. There could be worse stuff on disk 2 - I didn't get that far. What's being passed off as "experimental" guitar "work" should have been left in the studio trash bin.
Jack White
3/5
I like White Stripes, Racconteurs and generally White's original and unique sound - he is a masterful musician and producer. That said, this album doesn't really stand out from his collection of works.
Bob Dylan
5/5
Brilliant song after brilliantly written song. There usn't a bad track on here. Saw a writer say Dylan left the protest songs behind - not sure he got what was being protested.
The Jon Spencer Blues Explosion
3/5
I can hear the blues base under all the hard rock layered over it, but this is hardly B.B.'s blues. But it's rockin' fun.
The Cure
3/5
The music is not bad and the vocalist not entirely annoying, but his whine is occasionally reminiscent of RadioHead - rather irritating.
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
3/5
There's a song on here that's in my "Liked" list, and most of this is good listening - could use a bit more variety and change of pace. Mostly good listening.
Penguin Cafe Orchestra
3/5
Rocked up classical strings - pleasant listening if not my jam.
The Cure
4/5
This is the second Cure album I have listened to and I liked it much better - mostly, the vocals were more sublimated.
Beck
3/5
Sort of rap vocals over some fairly rocky music- not terrible, but not my sound at all.
Ray Charles
3/5
This is pretty fun - like a great museum visit.
Klaxons
3/5
Not bad. Has a nice energy.
Linkin Park
3/5
This mashup of hard rock and rap is pretty nice - I've heard better from them. And I am from their home town - I can attest that they're good dudes.
T. Rex
2/5
'Meh. Realy, really, 'meh. So 'meh it wasn't even annoying.
Simple Minds
3/5
There are a few nice sounds on here, but the instrumentation is not my jam at all.
John Coltrane
2/5
Really, really good jazz - and I really dislike jazz, regardless.
Eminem
3/5
Jane's Addiction
3/5
I enjoyed dome of this, but a lot is a bit cacophonous for my tastes.
Tim Buckley
3/5
Raucous and rocky - shades of Leon Russel. The writing reveals a rather misogynist world view.
Duke Ellington
2/5
'Eff me. More 'effing jazz? I mean, it starts with a faithful rendition of The Star Spangled Banner. Please. I know for certain this is an historically important work in the annals of jazz, but it's still jazz - and there are 2 disks and even vocals. YAWN! I am really old and this museum piece predates me.
R.E.M.
4/5
R.E.M. almost always good sounds, good writing - only a couple dead spots on here.
Wu-Tang Clan
2/5
In the middle of all this raucous trash, someone actually broke into song and mouthed words that seemed to have some thought and intent behind them, but most of this is just loud-talking junk - doesn't fall under my definition of "music" and has no discernible redeeming social value. One track sounds like a committee discussing the enterprise's mission statement - why take up anyone's time with that? The dang album is 70 minutes long as it is - cut that junk at least.
B.B. King
3/5
B.B. rocks up the blues along with straight traditional renditions. Have seen B.B. on his "I am ancient now" tour and danced onstage with his daughter in a tiny blues bar in Louisville - it's always a party and this is apretty good one.
Echo And The Bunnymen
3/5
I like the Bunny men- this seems a little less camp, less B52s and more a serious rock attempt than some of their other work.
Belle & Sebastian
2/5
There are a few runs on this that are very nice, but mostly I didn't care for the writing, the music, or the vocals, so not much.
Roxy Music
2/5
Ummmm....no.
Baaba Maal
2/5
There is some great guitar work recorded here and some of the other instrumentation is very nice, but the wailing vocal does not speak to me.
Big Brother & The Holding Company
4/5
This is one of the early great blues rock albums and the genre combination is fantastically successful. Big Brother is terrific and Janice one of the all-time best vocalists of the genre. Really good.
Public Enemy
2/5
Ummm....I really wanted to like this and I did enjoy it more than most of the genre, but in the end, it's hip hop, so for me, no.
Bauhaus
3/5
Not bad - music, writing and vocals are all good enough for a dull listen. Maybe a repeat.
The Jesus And Mary Chain
4/5
Probably their best album of work - good sounds
Kraftwerk
2/5
Repetitive, robotic, mind numbing. Quite the bore. This is a genre that never improves.
Chicago
2/5
Ugh! Hate this band. Hated them then, gave them a fresh listen and I totally dislike their sound now - right up there with BS&T and Herb Alpert.
The Streets
2/5
Rap with an English accent is just rap with another name. And why do all these rap artists think music is a radio play? Just no.
Jamiroquai
2/5
This mashup of jazz, blues, hiphop, funk soul and rock is just that - a mash with little to offer.
Bonnie Raitt
4/5
Good writing, good variety of sound and mood, really good guitar and great vocals. Terrific stuff.
The Soft Boys
4/5
This is one of the big surprises on this list - good stuff, particularly the guitar work.
The Auteurs
3/5
A lot of this is pleasant listening but a lot is also a wee wispy and soft for me.
Pixies
4/5
The sounds here are very good, full throated rock with a nice bit of nuance and personal style. I like.
Talking Heads
5/5
In context, this was a huge album, very fresh, different, quite unique and the start of a brilliant career for David Byrne. The album is terrific - 6 songs made it to my "liked" list and there are other good ones on here.
Underworld
3/5
I listened to this while walking around the center of a major European city - it made for a good soundtrack. I had a friend who used music like this to accompany abstract films he made - lots of time lapse, that sort of thing. It's what the genre is best for, although this is more "listenable" than most of its more robotic incarnations.
The Dictators
4/5
Really good, raw, raucous rock 'n roll. Fun.
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band
3/5
Spotify would only let me listen to one (really weird) cut from this work, so I listened to a couple other Beefheart albums - I like the Captain and I like Zappa, so I'll give this a 3 on that basis.
John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers
4/5
This is terrific rocky blues with Slowhand's unreal guitar work, great vocals, and Mayall's signature harp. Not much to dislike - a dead spot or two.
The White Stripes
4/5
Hotel Yorba was my entry to The White Stripes and this was the first album of theirs that I bought. Fresh sounds, interesting vocals and writing, good variety of tone - I like this album quite a bit.
Paul Simon
5/5
Most musician's forays into international and broad genre collaborations devolve into cultural appropriation or gimmicky tropes. Simon's simply enhances it all with a brilliant melding on this collection of songs. Simply brilliant, all the way through.
Fairport Convention
3/5
Much prefer Over the Rhine.....
David Bowie
3/5
I never liked Bowie much. I didn't much like this.
Ali Farka Touré
3/5
Some interesting sounds on here, but for me it's mostly unrelatable.
The Doors
3/5
Nothing to really grab you on this.
3/5
Most of these songs are rubbish - a few things caught my ear, but mostly it was an edgeless stream - kind if a blur, actually.
The Mars Volta
2/5
Raucous, cacophanous, disonant - no. Junk.
Joni Mitchell
2/5
Apparently she's a great writer with a wonderful voice, but I find her voice and her music a bit annoying.
Billy Bragg
3/5
Dude - shut up and play that big guitar. The music, writing and vocals are much less interesting.
D'Angelo
2/5
Whoa, whoa, so woefully soulful. It's just sex dude, nothing to moan about.
CHVRCHES
2/5
Wispy and soft and totally edgeless - and a little electro.
The Isley Brothers
3/5
There are some really exciting tracks on here, memorable sounds, but it's a long way from the instrumentation, vocals and writing that appeals to me.
The Libertines
4/5
This was a surprise. I really liked several songs on here and the rest of it was quite tolerable.
Heaven 17
2/5
Pretty forgettable, even the first track. To be fair, I'm pretty sure Spotify only brought me a truncated version of the album.
Culture Club
2/5
Highly orchestrated, sweet adolescent dance rhythms. Pablum for the most part.
Hawkwind
3/5
I started out really liking this raucous, high energy, rocky sound, but then the tracks of weird, narrative monologues started. I suppose it's the influence of the times, Revolution #9, the acid tests, but even in the 70s someone in production should have known enough to take away the microphone.
Animal Collective
2/5
This is mostly just annoying.
3/5
Appealing at times but not really very good - tolerable rock.
3/5
I love Bob Dylan, I think he's a brilliant song writer, but I also wonder how many people slept through that first set. Great songs, but so much softer and more sublimated than the studio versions. The second picks up with some percussion and electrified guitar.
2/5
Please drown instead of recording this crap.
TV On The Radio
2/5
This is mostly junk - there is a small bit of musicality.
Suzanne Vega
3/5
Inoffensive, mildly entertaining in spots - I think she's released some better stuff.
Mike Ladd
2/5
Crap, with no redeeming entertainment value.
Cypress Hill
2/5
I can't listen to this - boring, annoying, terrible.
Merle Haggard
2/5
Old tyme Nashville Opry rural country pablum, simplistic, goofy, the reason to change the radio.
The Waterboys
4/5
Really good all around - writing, vocals, style, variety, a little like the Lumineers mashed up with a bit 'o Dylan. I believe I heard tones of Great Big Sea as well. A few dead spots, but mostly a good listen.
David Holmes
2/5
At my gym they loop repetitive, boring, annoying junk like this. I just put music on my headphones and drown it out.
Ice T
3/5
Rap. Ice T, but still rap, man Despite my dislike of the genre, it's clear this is a better one.
Black Flag
2/5
This was pretty disappointing when it was released. It still is.
Bonnie "Prince" Billy
3/5
Spotify does not have access to these tracks, but I listened to anorther album from about the same time and I can say I rather like his sound. So, for lack of data, I'll give this a three.
Afrika Bambaataa
3/5
Phunky hip hop raspster jam that I couldn't really get through - I quit. Got totally irritating after about 20 minutes.
3/5
Not available on Spotify, but judging by his other albums, it's instrumental jazz - good instrumental jazz, but "jazz" and "instrumental " are both strikes for me.
Fleetwood Mac
3/5
I have enjoyed Fleetwood Mac through all its various iterations from the hard blues led by Peter Green through the fabulous Oh Well to the chick-pop days of McVie and "Bleat-like -a-sheep Stevie," and I know this was an acclaimed release but for me it's all a bit muddy - nothing distinctive or outstanding.
Pink Floyd
3/5
Good tunes with a lot of pretentious 'meh.
Eurythmics
4/5
Good writing, original and entertaining, great vocalist, good instrumentation. I like it!
3/5
Not bad - the music and vocals are quite tolerable, but nothing truly exciting or a reason to come back.
Joy Division
2/5
Rather funerial, rather dull, not much fun.
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
3/5
I like Elvis and I like some of his work a lot, but none of the great stuff is on this album.
Emerson, Lake & Palmer
2/5
I bought this album when it was first released - didn't like it much then and it's pretty much grandiose and annoying now.
Travis
2/5
Singer/Songwriter is pretty much my go-to genre and the music and writing on this are fine - but did he finish second in the Radiohead audition because his voice wasn't high-pitched and annoying enough?
Joy Division
2/5
Some good music on here but the writing is crap.
Drive Like Jehu
2/5
Noise. Just noise. Occasionally, a track began with a bit of musicality, but, then more noise. And not fun noise, eitger. To be fair, I listened to the whole 'effing mess and it's just noise.
Elbow
3/5
Sweet, soft, nondescript - the sugar cube on the cover is appropriate.
Led Zeppelin
3/5
I am a fan and there are some great tunes on this but there's some dead air as well.
The Sonics
2/5
Standard British invasion stuff, nothing very original or different - the best tracks are cover versions of blues and early rock standards also covered by other British artists of the time.
Sonic Youth
2/5
There were virtually no sounds on this that I found appealing.
John Cale
2/5
Quite a bore.
Kanye West
2/5
When "Ye" ran for president we all should have seen it coming after he revealed his god complex on this disc - and here we thought it was all a front! Delusional. Anyway, this is probably pretty good, but SO not my genre.
Aerosmith
3/5
A good tune....
Cocteau Twins
2/5
Really light, wispy, high-pitched and annoying. No fun here.
Dinosaur Jr.
2/5
Raucous, cacophanous, dissonant, terrible.
Aphex Twin
2/5
My life is not a movie. I have no need for a soundtrack.
Stevie Wonder
3/5
Sweet, soulful pablum. Well done, but so not my thing.
The Lemonheads
4/5
This is very good - let it loop several times and enjoyed it all the way through.
Grant Lee Buffalo
3/5
This is good - he has a good voice and the writing is accomplished.
Ramblin' Jack Elliott
3/5
American roots, country Cowboy dust bowl folk music - there's even a guest spot for Woody Guthrie - bunch a good ole' songs.
Leftfield
2/5
More vocals on this than is usual for the genre which render it inappropriate for its best uses, elevators, boutiques, and sound tracks.
Quicksilver Messenger Service
5/5
I have always loved this album. It's a fantastic musical ride. I own a bootleg copy on CD that arrived from Russia wrapped in brown paper and tied with hemp twine. And I bought that shit on Amazon! A total 5!
Björk
2/5
Uniformly awful and annoying.
Grateful Dead
5/5
There is a song on here I dislike, but otherwise it's great song after great song. Is one dead spot enough to make a five a four? I think not....
Yes
2/5
If, like me, you hate keyboards, moogs, and synthesizer, this album never had a chance. The best track on it was written by someone else and has no keys!
My Bloody Valentine
2/5
The dissonant and cacophanous portions are a relief from the sublimated, unfocused, muddy remainder. I didn't hear a reason for this band to have reunited.
Laibach
2/5
So Operatic! So Teutonic! So Martial! So Ridiculous!
Lucinda Williams
5/5
The poet's daughter crams this full of great writing. A winner.
Paul Weller
3/5
There's some good stuff on here, but I dislike the vocal style in some places.
The Dave Brubeck Quartet
2/5
Piano, brass and reed jazz with no vocals. No thanks.
Fleet Foxes
3/5
Not bad, but a little soft and round for my tastes - considering the genre and the stir this album caused in the press at it s release that's a bit surprising. There is one song from it on my "liked" list.
Miles Davis
3/5
I really dislike jazz horns for the most part, but this is surprisingly pleasant listening.
Morrissey
3/5
Just 'meh. Never really got my attention.
Solange
2/5
There are several genres on here that I don't enjoy and no really interesting sounds.
The KLF
3/5
Better than most of whwat I have heard in this genre - good soundtrack for a treadmill workout.
Butthole Surfers
3/5
I remember liking a song by these guys - it's not on here and everything that is, is total junk. Fail. Truly a one-hit-wonder in the real sense.
Terence Trent D'Arby
3/5
I remember the plaudits this guy debuted with, quite a bit of noise in the press. I didn't get it then, and I don't get it now. I enjoyed a few tracks, but the musical and vocal style is really not to my taste.
Kraftwerk
3/5
Better than average and more listenable than most of this genre.
George Jones
2/5
I have always disliked a lot about country music, the writing, the vocals, the sounds, the reeking sentimentality, and this album encapsulates all of it.
Frank Black
4/5
Frank is new to me and getting acquainted was a pleasure - I don't like everything on this, but I like a lot of it - interesting vocalist; flashes of Neal Young, echoes of David Bowie, but mostly just Frank.
Christina Aguilera
3/5
This is a highly skilled singer with a great voice, but the musical styling is not at all to my taste.
Traffic
4/5
Good tunes, good sounds, but some of it leans into jazz a bit much for me.
Megadeth
2/5
It's loud, it's fast, it's repetitive, it's juvenile, it's head-banging pissed-off-white-boy music. No thanks - it's hard to distinguish where the tracks change.
The Fall
2/5
A little cacophonous, a bit dissonant in places, overly rap-like - mostly the writing and vocals are poor. A"no" for me.
Duran Duran
3/5
Too soft, too pop, too edgeless, pablum - okay for a radio track here and there, but I'd never pick it on a playlist.
Q-Tip
3/5
This is oddly musical and more enjoyable than anything else I have heard in this genre, whatever it is - hip-hop, rap, R&B, all the above.
Randy Newman
4/5
Newman is a brilliant writer and a great vocalist. I like someof his stuff better than what's on here, but this is really good, especially SAIL AWAY and KEEP YOUR HAT ON.
Manu Chao
3/5
Interesting and lightly entertaining - not horrible.
Marty Robbins
2/5
Someone had to make music for Saturday westerns in B&W. Roy Rogers and Dale, Tex Ritter - does this genre even exist anymore?
Hot Chip
3/5
So totally inoffensive - I think I'll go check out the clearance section.....
Tom Waits
3/5
Waits is an acquired taste and I am a big fan, but 4 or 5 of his albums that are better come quickly to mind. Hard to understand why the author would include this one which is far from his best.
Brian Wilson
2/5
I only ever liked a couple Beach Boy songs. This is actually pretty bad.
The Icarus Line
2/5
Noisy and uninteresting.
Rocket From The Crypt
3/5
Some nice guitar on here - mostly, just 'meh.
Dizzee Rascal
3/5
Actually, more entertaining and less annoying than its genre, but, it is rap.
Rufus Wainwright
2/5
Singer-songwriter is my go-to genre, but this guy seems to be another loser in the Radiohead auditions. He has a great voice, but his vocal style is a little nasal and often quite whiney. I can't say I enjoyed more than a few minutes of this one.
Elton John
5/5
When this album was released, we knew the Elton of Tiny Dancer and we liked him. This let us know he was a real rock star. One brilliant song after another. One of the great ones.
Dusty Springfield
3/5
So soft, so wispy, so edgeless - girl can really sing, if you like that musical style. I don't.
Beastie Boys
3/5
There's several very fun tracks on here - closest I come to liking the genre.
Lenny Kravitz
3/5
I have liked a few Kravitz songs - nothing on here really stood out for me.
Kings of Leon
4/5
Love the Kings - good instrumentation, good vocals, good writing - there are at keast 3 very good tracks on this one.
Serge Gainsbourg
3/5
Not bad - interesting sounds, a bit sublimated.
Slipknot
2/5
Holy screaming bullfrog! Just shut the 'eff up!
Hookworms
3/5
Pretty non-descript, noy very interesting or fresh, never really caught my attention anywhere.
Richard Hawley
2/5
So soporific - I almost fell asleep on the treadmill. No one else could turn "BORN UNDER A BAD SIGN" into a lullaby.
Holger Czukay
3/5
Pretty fresh, different. Not bad....
Green Day
3/5
This is mostly rocky fun.
Buddy Holly & The Crickets
3/5
Chirping is exactly right. I realize it's historic, seminal rock 'n roll, but it's also not really good, either.
Sonic Youth
3/5
Some good sounds with a lot of junk.
Steely Dan
3/5
Big Star
2/5
I got as bored with this as the lead singer
FKA twigs
2/5
This is just way wispy and soft, a bit whiney and occasionally annoying.
Rod Stewart
3/5
Decent writing, interesting vocalist - not bad.
Grizzly Bear
3/5
No, not for me.
Beck
2/5
I like a song and a half on here - the rest, not much.
Kings of Leon
3/5
I am a big Kings fan and, being old, am late to the party, but this is not their best stuff. I can testify that they get better.
Aretha Franklin
3/5
I have disliked the sounds of soul my whole life - I can take a song or two, but as a gente, no thank you.
The Rolling Stones
3/5
This is pretty straight Brit invasion stuff - couple interesting covers. Mostly, the Stones are already doing a bit more with guitar solo riffs and leaning into that blues influence. Historically significant, it's primarily a harbinger of better stuff to come.
The Prodigy
2/5
Guess I wasn't jilted 'cuz this ain't fer me.
Funkadelic
4/5
Well, this is rocky and raucous and funky as all hell - some very funky guitar going on. Fun stuff.
The Associates
2/5
Cacophonous, dissonant, sometimes overly dramatic and operatic, repetitive and oftentimes annoying. Never cared for Queen or David Bowie, but neither of them were ever this bad.
Beastie Boys
3/5
There are Beasty Boys sounds I like, but I didn't enjoy this very much. Props for an openness to experimentation but it's still rap music.
The La's
3/5
I was starting yo like this when it turned stupid on track 13 or so.
Van Morrison
2/5
Van made a couple good songs - and he keeps making them over, and over, and over.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
2/5
Have listened to a few of Nick's albums hoping to find more of RED RIGHT HAND, but apparently that recording was an aberration. Reminds me a bit of Leonard Cohen's last album, but he had an excuse - he was dying. This is one long doleful hum - quite funereal.
Portishead
2/5
Not that much of a dummy....
Miles Davis
2/5
Jazz: Strike one.
Horn Jazz: Strike two.
Instrumental music: Strike three.
Small Faces
2/5
'Meh - and I hate albums on which people talk. If you're doing radio theater, I'll pass.
Fiona Apple
3/5
A bit zany, nicely written, good vocalist - enjoyed it, mostly. A bit one -note.
The Clash
3/5
I enjoy The Clash, even saw their show at Red Rocks although I'm way older than their crowd - this one is good, fundamental rock, but much better stuff comes on later albums.
Elvis Costello
4/5
Elvis is unique as a singer and the writing on this and his other works is creative and interesting. I bought this album back in the days when I couldn't afford it.
Black Sabbath
3/5
I really liked the first Sabbath album and Irinman was interesting. This is a bunch of hit and miss - in particular, I find the guitar work really uneven and uninspired. But it doesn't totally suck, either.
Willie Nelson
2/5
Dope-smokin' Willie was popular with my generation in a cultish sort of way, but for me it's just old style Texas swing or some such, the Western in C&W, and pretty intolerable.
Bill Evans Trio
2/5
Jazz. Piano jazz. Just an awful genre. Burn the piano and get that bassist some guitars to play with.
Anthrax
2/5
Headbanger, metal, whatever, I always called this pissed-off-white-boy music since anger and outrage seem the singular emotion expressed - "What do white kids have to be so pissed off about? They were born white already." And it's a fairly large genre.
Todd Rundgren
3/5
Not my jam. There's a Rundgren song I really like - it's not on here. This is all sort of, "Yeah, whatever."
Robert Wyatt
2/5
How sheeply awful! Brings a whole new level of dissonance with some of the worst vocals I've endured.
The Specials
4/5
Reggae or SKA if you will is not built with rhythms or melodies that I enjoy, but these boys make it very well. Rather fun stuff.
Van Halen
3/5
Really great guitar and the singer is good. But this band will never escape the adolescent aroma of "Hot for Teacher."
Ali Farka Touré
4/5
Great acoustic sounds from two great string players. This was really good.
David Bowie
2/5
I liked a song on here.
Ash
3/5
Not bad - some good rock sounds and grooves, but not outstanding.
3/5
'Meh - doesn't suck. Too instrumental for me.
Sebadoh
2/5
I liked a couple tracks but a lot is cacophanous and dissonant - didn't like the vocalist much.
Meat Puppets
4/5
Good music, good writing, excellent instrumentation, but a lousy vocalist - not as bad as the douche from Radiohead, but he's working on it.
Madonna
3/5
I like Madonna, always did.
Orange Juice
3/5
A pleasant listen - sounds a bit like Talking Heads here and there.
The xx
3/5
Fun and different for the time.
Tom Waits
4/5
Waits is an acquired taste, like really peaty Scotch whiskey and I have fully appropriated it - this isn't his best, but it's damn good. As always, the writing is great and there's some fine instrumentation. "There is no devil, that's just God when he's drunk." That line alone is worth a four.
Dr. Dre
2/5
Misogynistic Gangsta' Rap. The vocabulary doesn't offend me, it's just pointless. There is some social/political commentary, but most of it is just wannabe gangster dudes holding their thangs. No thank you - nothing to appreciate or respect on here.
PJ Harvey
3/5
I very much like the work of the trio on this and I have enjoyed Ms. Harvey as a vocalist on subsequent albums, but on this disc she seems a bit over the edge.
Adam & The Ants
2/5
No.
Donovan
3/5
2 good songs on here - the rest is just troubadour 'meh.
Erykah Badu
3/5
It's always hard for me to review albums like this - talent and quality musicianship are obvious, but it's music I would never choose to listen to.
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band
3/5
Always liked the captain - this is nice and bluesy, pretty raw.
Fatboy Slim
3/5
Within this genre, this is pretty good - I didn't feel like a film was about to start or an elevator door was about to close.
Sonic Youth
3/5
Interesting, rather different from the mainstream, some fun.
The Beach Boys
3/5
I never liked the Beach Boys sound, and,while this is different, I didn't like it any better.
Paul McCartney
3/5
I remember this album well - Paul and John stopped writing together, and, while John wrote cutting social commentary, it seems Paul set out to prove good instrumentation can accompany simplistic, edgeless lyrics.
Metallica
2/5
This is pretty one-note. They play ut fast, they play it slow, they play it loud, they play it all with the same attitude. Never liked this sound much.
Björk
2/5
I definitely could have died without hearing this. A few good sounds interrupt the dissonance and wailing. Björk, blech!
Stevie Wonder
3/5
This is really fine soul/R&B. I dislike both.
Nitin Sawhney
2/5
This is rather unusual and doesn't fit well into any genre - I had hopes, but in the end it was mostly annoying.
Dire Straits
4/5
The sound is unique, the vocals quite fine, the writing good, but mostly it's the guitar, that brilliant freakin' guitar.
Led Zeppelin
5/5
This is all very good - writing, vocals, brilliant guitar work. "Staircase" alone is worthy of a five.
Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark
3/5
Keyboards and vocals, electronic percussion? 'Meh ...
Kings of Leon
4/5
I love the Kings and this is very good - I let it run twice. But they have made much better stuff on later disc's.....
Hole
4/5
Good raucous rock, good vocalist- I liked most of it.
The Pogues
4/5
Really good stuff - like Great Big Sea, a huge kitchen party!
Randy Newman
4/5
Randy Newman is brilliant. His music is fun and delightfully toungue in cheek, and, as a writer, there's few singer/songwriters in his class. This is a good one.
Nightmares On Wax
2/5
At the start this was inoffensive, and then it became hella boring.
PJ Harvey
3/5
I like a lot of the music on this, but I'm always iffy about Ms. Harvey's vocalizations. Mixed feelings.
Marianne Faithfull
3/5
Ironically, I remembered this name because of a song I didn't like much that was a radio hit. I never heard much else by her and I was pleasantly surprised. The girl's got some edge which I didn't expect.
Sisters Of Mercy
2/5
Not really horrible, but really sombre, quite doleful. And not really fun.
Buena Vista Social Club
3/5
Good Latin rhythms, really nice vocals, some piano jazz which is a downer for me.
Fairport Convention
3/5
Pretty folksy - felt like at was at a rennaisance festival here and there. Doesn't suck.
Rod Stewart
4/5
Really good songs delivered by a powerful singer and driven by a really good band. Hurt a little for me by over-exposure.
Super Furry Animals
2/5
I tried to like this but it's mostly pretty awful - way too "fuzzy and furry" for me.
The Electric Prunes
2/5
Truly a one-hit wonder by definition - maybe 1 and a half.
SAULT
2/5
I really dislike R&B - and this endeavor doesn't change that much. Not saying this isn't well done, it's just not for me.
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
4/5
Tom Petty once said he liked "... the particular noise the Heartbreakers make." Me too, Tom, me too.
Gang Starr
2/5
This album has been ballyhooed as the greatest in the hip-hop genre and I have to say it is one of the least annoying of the many foisted on me in this list - but I got bored very, very quickly.
Lauryn Hill
3/5
Is it wrong of me to say Ms. Hill really needs Mr. Jean? Props to her for bringing this level of musicality to the genre, but the genre still leaves me cold. Kind of a mashup of two genres, neither of which I enjoy. But she's a very good vocalist in need of better writing.
The Darkness
2/5
The instrumentation on this is right up my alley if a bit simplistic, and I enjoyed bits - but, please someone, stop hurting that vocalist.
The Yardbirds
3/5
Not many loveable songs on here, but a spectacular blues/rock guitar is there subliminally as well as featuring on some tracks - Jeff Beck.
Beatles
5/5
Brilliant for so many reasons - variety, nuance, range of composition, execution, writing, instrumentation.....just great stuff.
The Psychedelic Furs
3/5
No, not for me. Inoffensive, but no.
Brian Eno
2/5
Not bad, but I can't say I enjoyed it.
Queens of the Stone Age
3/5
Pretty standard head-banger stuff - better than a lot, but mostly tedious.
Turbonegro
3/5
Full throated, straight-up hard rock. Fun for a bit but rather lacking in nuance or variety - pretty "one note."
Skunk Anansie
3/5
Can't say I enjoyed much of this - no more screaming vocals, please. Other than that, just okay.
Bad Brains
3/5
Not bad - didn't care much for the writing or the vocals.
Nina Simone
3/5
Some blues, some guitar, some piano accompanying a skilled, quality vocalist mostly singing jazz, so two of my least favorite things - jazz vocals and piano.
Germs
2/5
Like DaDaism, punk had a political and artistic statement - it had its moment, but like DaDa it wasn't really a genre and had nowhere to go. Notice, the punk bands worth listening to started incorporating more and more of the traditional musical techniques they "rebelled" against. These guys never got the message - the biggest question was who would barf first, me or the vocalist. This is mostly junk.
Supergrass
4/5
Not bad - I liked it more than a lot I've given 3 stars.
Jethro Tull
5/5
I remembered the hits from this album, which I have owned in multiple formats, but I'd forgotten all the little gems. The unique use of the flute, the variety and nuance make this a flute.
Baaba Maal
3/5
Some unique and interesting sounds on here - variety, nuance, but as someone who concentrates on lyrics it's hard to review something in another language.
Brian Eno
2/5
I love David Byrne for his originality, uniqueness and innovation and this is all of those. What it's not is entertaining, interesting or fun.
Beatles
4/5
Wow! Talk about radio-ready: 14 songs in 35 minutes. Good, though. Some great songs. Here we hear the musical maturation of the band beginning (no covers on this one) - on Revolver, they begin to mature intellectually.
Ice Cube
2/5
In his interview, Cube says he wants rap to open communication and understanding with white people. Decades of this repetitive, rather boring preachifying, while accurate, recitation has done nothing to advance that agenda - and it's no fun for me. There's not enough musicality here.
Kacey Musgraves
3/5
A singer songwriter, nominally country, inoffensive unlike many vocalists in the genre who are primarily annoying, but also nothing really memorable on here either.
The Who
4/5
Very good vocals with a great guitar - and the band just keeps getting better from here. It's a little difficult to review as the "expanded version" provided by Spotify includes a lot of material not on the original. However, I owned the original in multiple formats and I remember it well - totally a four-star work.
Joe Ely
2/5
I laughed listening to this - it's like a self-mocking meme. There are several good moments, but there's also "....pickup truck is actin' up, the sewer is backin' up..." and a reference to "...mah dawg...."
X-Ray Spex
2/5
I enjoyed the piledriving rock, especially the use of the sax, but the vocals are awful and the pace and sound are relentlessly consistent.
Screaming Trees
3/5
Not bad, pretty listenable - but nothing to come back for.
Haircut 100
2/5
The album cover pretty much gives it away - this is soft-pop pablum and not worth the time.
Jacques Brel
2/5
If this were in English, I'm certain I would still hate it.
Beck
3/5
Sorry about your failed relationship and props to you for the introspection and willingness to change style, but this is all a little wispy and soft around the edges for me.
Otis Redding
3/5
Otis is a brilliant singer of soul music - I very much dislike the genre, so great as this it, it ain't fer me!
Stan Getz
2/5
Jazz...soft, silky bossa nova jazz, with vocals and some piano, too. Bad recipe for me. I mean, it doesn't suck, I would just never choose to listen to it.
Leonard Cohen
3/5
Cohen's a brilliant poet who decided to sing his work. I love his writing, but his music is all rather one-note in terms of sound and mood. He is very over-represented I this list.
Pavement
3/5
Acceptable rock 'n roll, although I have to ask myself why this trend of talking over the band endures - monologues are for another form. And there's nothing to make thus stand out from the crowd while, 3/4 of my way through this list, several superior groups have yet to appear.
Van Morrison
2/5
Another Van Morrison? The guy only made one great song and then recorded it over and over in multiple arrangements. Making this list once was more than enough for him! Qué cancion más aburrida! One critic opined that many "lame" studio cuts were much improved in live performance. 'Nuff said! (There's a good guitarist hiding in the band.)
Leonard Cohen
3/5
4th Cohen album? Seriously? The compiler's prejudices are really showing - and I like Leonard Cohen. But 4 albums is absurd - it's not like there's a progression or real development - all his music is fairly similar.
Rufus Wainwright
2/5
This has no sounds on it that I care for.
Hugh Masekela
2/5
It's jazz - horns and there's a piano. No thank you.
Eels
3/5
I liked some of this, some of it was annoying. I disliked a lot of the writing. To be fair, there are several songs that could grow on me, but, initially, no.
Siouxsie And The Banshees
3/5
The cover of Helter Skelter is pretty good - the rest is all about the same.
M.I.A.
2/5
Reviewing tge genre more than the album - I will say this is more musical than most, but never my choice.
2/5
Fatuous. That was the word that swirled up from my vocabulary and I had to look it up to make sure it fit. It does. So much dramatic orchestration for such Insipid writing. There's a horn riff that's pretty good.
The Flaming Lips
3/5
This is good, but not far off nainstream pop - I know the Lips to be a little rockier and more off center. I like that iteration a bit more.
Dead Kennedys
2/5
It's fast, it's loud, it's rocky and cacophanous - it's punk rock and it's all kind of the same.
The Incredible String Band
2/5
Went to a renaissance festival once - dudn't enjoy this any more than that.
Femi Kuti
3/5
I hate jazz, but Afrobeats isn't all that jazz, and this is a bit of fun.
Peter Tosh
2/5
It's reggae, a fad genre that never attracted me - there are a couple Marley songs, and, for me a couple is plenty.
The Go-Go's
3/5
I knew the two hits from this platter,
but the rest was not the puerile, pop pablum I was expecting. What can I say - They got the beat!
Ice Cube
2/5
Because of this list I have listened to more rap than I'd ever choose. It seems to me the genre is mostly black men preaching about politics and society to their community and a bunch of white, suburban wannabes. I totally feel that - but I find a great irony in that four of the five most successful (black) rappers I know of leaned into the racist stereotypes employed against them, and all five, once successful enough, signed big contracts with corporate film/TV producers and hardly rapped another word. Two, in fact, are now big right wingers. What money can do, eh? So, enough about the genre - this album, for me, is repetitive, boring junk - Cube's a pretty good actor, though!
Lana Del Rey
2/5
Wispy, soft and soporific.
Dion
3/5
Dude has a good voice and great vocal skill - and I can hear his influence on voices in the ensuing years, voices I didn't much care for. So, this is good eork, but, for me, a real bore.
Ministry
2/5
I remembered this name right off - got your growling burp vocals over crashing drums and two cacophanous guitar chords played loud and fast with a tone that never changes. White kids never had this much reason to be pissed off. This is junk.
Skepta
3/5
The saving grace on this is that it's British and zi can understand the words. But it's still rap music.
The Residents
2/5
This is one of the worst things I've ever heard. The music accompaniment for super-annoying vocals is marginally tolerable, but the conceptualization of whatever it is that's in their heads is irredeemable.
The Triffids
3/5
Soft Aussie rock - nothing to get excited about.
Christina Aguilera
3/5
There are a bunch of genres smashed onto these discs, from rock to hip-hop to pop and blues, and Ms. Aguilera is a highly skilled vocalist, but the material she's working with leaves me cold.
Janet Jackson
3/5
Janet's having a nice time, but I can't get past the incongruity of speaking about the condition of the world, homeless people who can't find enough to eat, accompanied by joyous dance beats. Also, not my genre at all.
Fugazi
3/5
Seriously hard rock with some change of pace and nuance - not bad, never annoying.
Sonic Youth
3/5
I enjoyed large portions of this. Then there were the droning, industrialized, cacophanous bits which I liked a lot less.
The Zutons
2/5
Didn't really like this much. The writing all feels a bit insouciant and goofy with a few exceptions.
Metallica
2/5
As is typical of this band, there are impressive musical interludes preceeding the ensuing junk which indicate a high level of musical ability followed by repetitive, a-melodic, unimaginitive, flatly consistent, angry growling accompanied by drums and a percussive guitar. Go away please.
Pet Shop Boys
2/5
The cover is perfect - I bet I get as bored as the guy on the right. And I'm unsurprised - very capable vocalists singing pop pablum over what sounds like mostly digital drum beats. Yawn.
The Cure
2/5
Hardly shop worn, but hardly entertaining, either. About the time I started liking a bit, there'd be a bunch of cacophany and dissonance.
Emmylou Harris
2/5
Ms. Harris has a fantastic voice and there's some really good string work on here, but the material is straight bluegrass, old thyme gospel, country - right there with Dolly Parton and Loretta Lynn. For me, the best thing on here is the Beatles cover. I enjoy Emmy Lou much better in collaboration.
Public Enemy
4/5
Not my genre, not my style, but I listened twice and appreciated it. Unlike the vast, vast majority of rap artists, PE has something to say and they say it effectively.
R.E.M.
5/5
Every song on this is good or great. Definitely a five.
Waylon Jennings
4/5
In 1973 I was working as a cook in a restaurant attached to an arcade. In those days (maybe still!) there were pinball machines you could play for money. Every night after work, I would play there and every night a man would pull up in a white Cadillac, get $100 in quarters and play until it was gone. I usually didn't last that long. Everyone said he was Waylon Jennings. I don't know - we never introduced ourselves. Maybe he was working on this album - speaking of which, this a fun listen except for the Johnny Cash sounding bits.
George Harrison
3/5
The ex Beatle surprised us all by sounding way less Beatleish than John or Paul. There's a lot of good guitar work on here but also a general sound that I find unappealing. And it's there on every song - too much orchestration, too little variety and nuance. And long - way too long. It was a disappointment to me then, and again today.
The Birthday Party
2/5
This album was recorded at a time when the musical world was seeking a new direction and releasing its failures. This is crap.
Traffic
3/5
This starts well enough, then descends into keyboard hell. Way too much jazz influence for me. One brilliant song, that's how I remember it. Still just the one.
Koffi Olomide
3/5
The vocals are nice and there's some interesting instrumentation, strings I didn't recognize. Pleasant listening.
Anita Baker
2/5
What a fabulous voice singing music to which I'd never choose to listen.
Morrissey
3/5
Rather uninteresting - a lot of it was just a bit of a roar with vocals to me.
The B-52's
3/5
The 52s are slways fun - I enjoy the insouciance of their voice.
The Fall
3/5
Not bad.
Morrissey
3/5
Nah, not for me. Somewhere short of Bowie and I don't much like David Bowie. I kept waiting for those big hits to jump out. Not so much.
The Replacements
4/5
Good, solid rock.
Primal Scream
3/5
Awfully sublimated for a "primal scream." Very little of this caught my attention.
Dinosaur Jr.
3/5
Pretty good. We were traveling, so I didn't get a close listen, but I liked what I heard.
ABBA
2/5
The writing, the music, the vocals all exemplify what I hate most about genuine "pop" music.
Cheap Trick
3/5
Not bad. 2 songs.
The Kinks
3/5
I remember liking some of the Kinks' stuff. None of that is on here.
The Who
5/5
I did not listen to this because I owned it in 3 formats over the years, saw all the video adaptations, and am pretty worn out on the songs afret decades of radio play. It's brilliant in all aspects, writing, vocals, music, execution.
Nick Drake
2/5
I believe this is the second Nick Drake album on this list. The first time I didn't care for his vocal style, didn't much like his writing, and found the music uninteresting, otber than a couple spots that suddenly sounded like Bruce Cockburn.
Janis Joplin
5/5
Janis has a fantastic voice and she sings brilliantly. Maybe what's most overlooked is the very high quality of the band.
Frank Ocean
3/5
Smooth, soft-soul R&B with a bit of hip hop - couldn't get further from my wheelhouse. I quit listening before I fell asleep at the wheel.
Doves
3/5
Not bad. At least one good track.
Justin Timberlake
2/5
No.
Wild Beasts
2/5
Liked some, hated some, some was just annoying.
4/5
There isn't a lot on here that I disliked, and quite a bit that I liked. Very driven - didn't change pace much.
The Pogues
4/5
This brings to mind Great Big Sea and a grand kitchen party - I love the sound, although there are a few flat tracks on here.
Miles Davis
3/5
I deeply duslike jazz. This is brilliant jazz, but it's a bit unfair for me to review the album when I hate the genre.
Frankie Goes To Hollywood
3/5
Well, RELAX is so worn I couldn't give it a fresh listen after the bowling alley juke box played it to death. The cover of WAR is interesting - and then there's the karaoke version of BORN TO RUN. Not forgiveable.
Nas
3/5
Please stop. I'll give this a 3 because it's unfair to hold the genre against the artist. I will say it's more listenable than a lot because of the quality of the backup music. But, rap it us.