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Fri Jan 05 2024
Ill Communication
Beastie Boys
Definitely funkier than I thought it would be. It had more unique sounds than what I give the group credit for.
3
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Mon Jan 08 2024
I Should Coco
Supergrass
I thought it was going to be grungier like the Sex Pistols but was pleasantly surprised. Very fun guitar riffs, feels like the original/ British version of the late 90s/ 2000s misfits troupe.
5
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Tue Jan 09 2024
The Age Of The Understatement
The Last Shadow Puppets
Some pretty solid tracks on this one. Interesting guitar riffs on a couple of these, I tended to like the softer songs at the end of the album better than what felt like a rehash of the classic Artic Monkeys sound in the beginning of the track list. Overall I wasn't blown away by it, tough to even really call it an average album either.
2
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Wed Jan 10 2024
Power In Numbers
Jurassic 5
Funky as hell. I really liked all the verses, smooth, varied with the tag team style going on. Some of the verses go hard, not a ton of them though. It's hard to compare it to what would be released just a couple years later without thinking that the album just misses that last level of intensity that keeps it from being a five.
4
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Thu Jan 11 2024
Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)
Wu-Tang Clan
I understand why this is routinely voted one of the best rap albums of all time. I don't think it fits my specific taste in rap, but there are still some absolute bangers on there and I had a good time listening to large portions of it.
4
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Fri Jan 12 2024
Harvest
Neil Young
The best songs on this album make me want to rate it a five. There is a very authentic sorrow and pain behind his voice. The worst songs on this album make me want to rate it a one. He’s being such a whiny bum and he doesn’t even sound good while doing it.
3
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Mon Jan 15 2024
If You Can Believe Your Eyes & Ears
The Mamas & The Papas
There was a song or two that I liked, but overall I found this album really repetitive and boring- which isn't good because I don't really like their sound to begin with.
2
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Tue Jan 16 2024
Green
R.E.M.
I don’t know who bothered to remaster this piece of hot garbage, but clearly they wasted their time. The album was whiney and pretty annoying to listen to. I make fun of music like this all the time.
1
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Wed Jan 17 2024
Home Is Where The Music Is
Hugh Masekela
Some of the best jazz music I've ever heard. Really unique sound, great walking around kind of music. That man can make an instrument cry.
5
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Thu Jan 18 2024
Vincebus Eruptum
Blue Cheer
A truly derivative album. It’s not a good album Rolling Stones and it’s not a good Led Zeppelin. If it’s supposed to be a bridge between the two, you have to ask, what is it good for? I would say, not much of anything.
1
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Fri Jan 19 2024
Reggatta De Blanc
The Police
Message in a bottle will always be an absolute banger. Everything else essentially sounds like the same music with varying degrees of incoherent lyrics from sting likely based on how much paint he’s huffed that day.
2
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Mon Jan 22 2024
Remain In Light
Talking Heads
This album is a lot like huffing paint. It's not really enjoyable but there is something inside you that doesn't want to stop. You keep going and you still don't like it but there's some hold on you that it has keeping you coming back for more track after track.
3
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Tue Jan 23 2024
Channel Orange
Frank Ocean
Truly a masterpiece for the genre. I remember listening to a bunch of these songs as a teen and loving them. I've never listened to the entire album front to back but there were some hidden gems I had never heard before. If I had to knock it for anything it can get a bit monotonous but I could listen to Franky's voice all day every day.
5
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Wed Jan 24 2024
Darkness on the Edge of Town
Bruce Springsteen
This album wants me to work in a steel mill just so I can spit on the ass hole forman's desk when I quit and pursue my dreams in the big city. I got the spirit of small town America in my soul after this. Great album, a little too boomer nostalgic for me though.
4
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Thu Jan 25 2024
Murmur
R.E.M.
This was not the same whiney BS that Green was. It didn't sound like the lead singer was wailing his voice into the abyss but instead it sounded like some fake edgy guy who grew up as the black sheep in his small suburban town finally went to college and is playing his acoustic guitar on the quad for chicks trying to paint himself as a misunderstood, lost soul. I hate that it moves the needle for me but sadly I'll have to give it one more star.
2
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Fri Jan 26 2024
Oar
Alexander 'Skip' Spence
I don't understand why this album is so quiet. Is it because he doesn't want anyone to hear how bad it is? There was a good song or two, but most of it sounds like a frail old man on his death bed trying to sing along to his Vietnam war movie best hits soundtrack. Dude should have just stuck with Jefferson airplane.
1
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Mon Jan 29 2024
Hard Again
Muddy Waters
Feels like I'm listening to the man who made the genre. At first, I thought this was going to feel like a derivative Blues album, then I realized, oh wait, everyone else is derivative of him- he's the original. I'm utterly enchanted by this man's southern drawl. Everyone on this album is overflowing with musical talent. If everyone from Florida was like this, maybe it wouldn't be the hell hole capital of the US. Not my cup of tea but it is my shot of whiskey.
4
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Tue Jan 30 2024
Strangeways, Here We Come
The Smiths
This album feels like a really interesting bridge album. I can hear the echoes of the synth heavy British rockers like Sonic Youth and even a little bit of glam rock like The Cure. I can also see how the indie bands of the 90s like the Goo Goo Dolls and Gin Blossoms will build on this to make the iconic sounds of the late 90's to 2000's indie summer. I don't know how impressive of an album or a genre it is, but it sure does scratch that nostalgic itch.
4
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Wed Jan 31 2024
Brothers In Arms
Dire Straits
I’m not exactly sure what to make of this album. It felt like I went from listening to the Beetles to Phil Collins to Neil Diamond to George Michaels all in the course of four tracks. I liked their least popular songs on this album the best, maybe because there was a sense of honesty about them that you don’t hear on something like Walk of Life. And for me, I think that’s the crux of this album. It feels like they wrote it for someone else rather than writing the kind of album they wanted to make. There’s a lot of great songs and some real stinkers too, but I think a lack of focus and authenticity is what makes me rate this one down a bit.
3
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Thu Feb 01 2024
Kilimanjaro
The Teardrop Explodes
There were parts of this album that felt like I was slowly falling into an acid trip…that was the cool part. Other than that nothing felt all that special or particularly special about this album. Just another 80s rock album.
2
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Fri Feb 02 2024
Trio
Dolly Parton
I wish country stayed more like this. There is such a authenticity and realness to their pain and it's crystal clear in the music. The old southern twang is so charming and their voices are angelic. Not a country lover by any stretch of the imagination, but I get the impression that a lot of folk music I like today gets its roots from this. Glad to hear an album without anyone telling me how much they love crushing monsters in their big ass truck before they mud wrestle their friends to prove how HETERO they are.
4
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Mon Feb 05 2024
Let's Stay Together
Al Green
The man’s got the silkiest voice I’ve ever heard. Everyone knows let’s stay together, but I didn’t know how much variety and range he would bring to a single album. Loved every song on here, it felt like at times he got lost in the scat to the point where it just sounded like melodic whining or like he was on the verge of nutting for the last minute of the song.
4
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Tue Feb 06 2024
Different Class
Pulp
The lead singer reminds me of an ultra horny drama kid. Produces cool and edgy art but you would be scared shitless to be in the same room alone as this guy. I get some Rocky Horror Picture show mixed with the Cure vibes off this album. I really liked the music but it's hard to shake the creep factor at times.
4
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Wed Feb 07 2024
21
Adele
This honestly just feels like watered down Amy Winehouse. Is her voice incredible. Yes. Does it lack a soul outside of the minimalist milieu that it was created in? Also yes. Maybe it’s because I’ve just been beat over the head with all the hits from this album since I was a teenager but I just find this unremarkable. I don’t think just having a good voice deserves a spot on this list.
3
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Thu Feb 08 2024
Maggot Brain
Funkadelic
I’m tired of people thinking just because something is experimental it means that it’s good. You don’t get to put 9 minutes of disparate guitar sounds over empty noise and call it art. I know this because none of my dick head friends from high school ever went platinum. You could tell me a bulk of this album was the warmup they played before they recorded the actual album and I wouldn’t have blinked.
1
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Fri Feb 09 2024
Don't Come Home A Drinkin' (With Lovin' On Your Mind)
Loretta Lynn
It's hard to imagine how a 28 minute album dragged so much. There were a couple of songs that I really liked too. Definitely a lot more complex than a lot of country music. It even made me feel like I was playing Fall Out New Vegas as times which might be why I'm rating it as high as I am. Overall I thought it was pretty repetitive and I don't know how much she really innovated on the genre.
2
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Mon Feb 12 2024
Layla And Other Assorted Love Songs
Derek & The Dominos
I think this album can be encapsulated by a meme. It’s the one with young Michael Scott giving a handshake to his old boss. Eric Clapton is the boss, everyone else in this group is Michael. Seriously, this album is like a group project where Eric Clapton did all the work and let everyone else put their name on it. World class guitar playing from Clapton, everyone else mostly felt like a warm body on this album. Doesn’t mean this music isn't great by any stretch of the imagination, but it will stop me from giving it a five.
4
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Tue Feb 13 2024
Gunfighter Ballads And Trail Songs
Marty Robbins
If there was such a thing as emo cowboys this would be THEIR guy. He's such a sad boy- I think that's what people must like about him because it definitely can't be the music. I got excited with the first song Big Iron that I might have pre-judged this album- time makes fools of us all. The Valley, The Little Green Valley, it all sounds the same. This album really dragged for me.
2
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Wed Feb 14 2024
Yeezus
Kanye West
I think the best way to define Kanye's career is to split it up by which political faction embraces him. This feels like an album of transition. He's talking about everything from new age slavery to the new globalist world order. It's weird to go back and listen to this and know everything that's about to happen to him and America in the following decade. The music itself feels like the cross of narcissistic musings of an egotistical maniac and cutting social critiques of a broken society. A dark album that serves as a dark omen of what's to come. Throw is some absolute slappers and you have a very prolific album.
4
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Thu Feb 15 2024
Beautiful Freak
Eels
This guy is the final boss of the 90s angsty grunge era. It's not my favorite genre in the world, but it does feel like this album has set the standard for all other albums for this era from both a musical and a lyrical perspective. You might not like it, but this is what peak indie performance looks like.
4
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Fri Feb 16 2024
Chore of Enchantment
Giant Sand
Never before have I listened to an album and got that the feeling that I'm being stalked. The entire thing sounds like he's whispering angsty poetry written by a heartbroken sixth grader into your ear as you take the back roads home at night. There were a couple of songs that I liked, but I guess when you throw 30 songs at the wall something is going to stick. If you look at their larger discography they seem content to release quantity not quality.
1
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Mon Feb 19 2024
Machine Head
Deep Purple
You know it's funny. These guys get remembered as one of the coolest rock groups of a generation, but you go back and listen to the lyrics and they are so abstract and removed from reality that it almost sounds a little dorky in a modern context. I wouldn't knock them for it, but there is a level of imagination you don't hear much anymore from pop musicians. Even some of their more iconic rifts and solos in this album are just a bit silly. Love the album, incredible musicians, ever last one of them, but wow has this album really aged.
5
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Tue Feb 20 2024
Electric Warrior
T. Rex
You can’t be mad about an album like this. It’s well written well played and has a decent amount of variety. Nothing all that special about it either in my opinion and seems pretty lack luster in the broader scheme of this list.
3
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Wed Feb 21 2024
Blue Lines
Massive Attack
A very cool and unique album that seems to find its legs as it goes along. Each song is a deep and totally original soundscape. There is an incredible amount of variety between tracks. I listened to my favorite tracks a couple of times and picked up on new sounds every time. I can't wait for another playthrough with drugs this time.
4
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Thu Feb 22 2024
The Chronic
Dr. Dre
I think this is the first rap album of all time that can be considered a true masterpiece. Dre is a good rapper in his own right, but where this album really shines is in the production. I don't know if it can be overstated how ahead of its time these beats were and how dramatically they would shape the rest of rap history. This album is so good and so influential that Kendrick would dedicate an entire album as a tribute to this project...that album would go on to be his best project (that album is also on this list incidentally). This album is banger after banger- it's a portrayal of the struggles of daily life in the inner cities - it's an album that changed a genre forever. Mad respect for this one- would give it a six if I could.
5
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Fri Feb 23 2024
Introducing The Hardline According To Terence Trent D'Arby
Terence Trent D'Arby
Honestly this just sounds like pretty standard pop rock album made by someone who is a little better traveled than your average musician. There is a lot of unique instrumentation in this album and it add some whimsey to a couple of these songs that I found pretty fun. He's got a great voice, the horns and synth are nice but I find it to be pretty par for the course for the decade. I like it, but I don't know if there is anything that puts it above a standard bearer of the genre like MJ or sets it apart from a lot else coming out at the time other than really strong vocals.
3
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Mon Feb 26 2024
Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
Wilco
Usually I give albums that are an hour of whiny bullshit wailing by the lead singer an automatic 1 because usually the group put as little thought into the instrumentation as they did the lyrics. This album is an exception. As annoying as the singing was, I thought the rest of the music was actually pretty good and creates a lot of interesting mood. I think it lives up to its reputation as art rock. Don't get me wrong, this album still sucks due to an unbearable front-man, but I won't give it a 1 either.
2
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Tue Feb 27 2024
The Genius Of Ray Charles
Ray Charles
There are two types of jazz musicians, those on coke and those on dope. Ray Charles falls into the later camp and it shows. My personal taste is for those in the former but that doesn't take away from the fact that this is one of the best jazz albums I've ever heard. Ray Charles on the piano and vocals are stunning but every instrument in the ensemble gets a moment to shine. It feels like a very complete album, lots of different melodies, lots of different instruments taking the musical lead...I still like my coked out jazz musicians though.
4
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Wed Feb 28 2024
Dance Mania
Tito Puente
This is seriously the most fun I've ever had listening to an album before. Fuck pop, fuck trap, fuck playing anything at the club that isn't this. I want down a pitcher of Margs and dance to this with a live orchestra. Despite being a dance album, there is a really impressive amount of variety on this too for what it is. Bring back really talented musicians making dance music.
5
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Thu Feb 29 2024
...The Dandy Warhols Come Down
The Dandy Warhols
I’m at a real conundrum with this album. On one hand this album feels like a tour through every 90s music troupe; you have the heavy synth, coffee shop grunge, whispering into a mic over a 3 note progression, and songs made for DreamWorks montages. Part of me feels really nostalgic about, the other half thinks they’re doing it satirically. I get the feeling that they’re making fun of me…but I also respect them for it. It's a weird thing to make an album almost entirely ironically but I get the feeling that we saw their true style in the last two tracks.
3
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Fri Mar 01 2024
Marcus Garvey
Burning Spear
There's a sort of foreign folk quality to this music, but much the same way that Europeans don't really understand American folk music, I don't really understand this music. A lot of it sounds really repetitive to me. I like a lot of the instrumentation, he's got an alright voice, but it just sort of drones on and on for me. Certainly don't hate, but other than the politics of it I don't have a lot to praise about it. I'm glad this was only 30 minutes, I don't think I could do much more than that.
2
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Mon Mar 04 2024
Deja Vu
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
I wonder if there is such a thing as too much talent in one album. This collection sounds really unfocused and I would bet changes drastically based on who was driving on the song. As a result, I really like parts of this album, other songs just don't hit for me. I also refuse to believe that this was part of the 60s counter culture when the hardest song on this album is one of them whining about not cutting his hair.
3
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Tue Mar 05 2024
Green Onions
Booker T. & The MG's
I really wanted to like this album. I thought there was so many really creative elements to this one. I can’t get past the fact of how much they just mash the synth-keyboard button though and it really starts to detract from the other performances. By the end of it I felt like I was trapped in a fun house mirror maze at a minor league baseball game.
2
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Wed Mar 06 2024
American Pie
Don McLean
This album is all over the place. It starts off guns blazing with an all time American classic. Nobody can hate that song, it is the spirit of the American folk rock genre. After that the album feels oddly hungover for a while like it couldn't quite live up to the hype of the first track. I liked some of the slower songs but there was a total lack of energy and enthusiasm about them. Then the album ends with a couple oddly religious and almost monastic songs like Graves and Babylon which I was here for. American Pie weights up the rest of the album for me and it ended strong, but I can't vote it too high for that mid album lull.
3
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Thu Mar 07 2024
Peter Gabriel 3
Peter Gabriel
I felt a lot of things listening to this album but the one constant was anxiety. The first track feels like you’re in a horror movie on LSD. From that point on I really thought I was going to hate this album but it really started to grow on me. There was such a ride range of instrumentation and I can really respect that he was making this album for nobody other than himself. I can’t walk away saying I liked this album but I do respect it.
3
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Fri Mar 08 2024
All That You Can't Leave Behind
U2
I'm still mad about waking up to find these assholes' album automatically downloaded into my iTunes. You can tell that these guys are from the era where people thought that music really could change the world. I would imagine this played better at the time, but this is the cynicism fueled 20s baby! Nowadays these guys just sound like preachy assholes. Did I mention that I think Bono is an asshole? I think he's an asshole. The music itself is fine. I think it rests on the laurels of its message, but its definitely aged out of its strengths.
2
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Mon Mar 11 2024
Bridge Over Troubled Water
Simon & Garfunkel
This is possibly the greatest folk album I've ever heard. I got a little nervous in the first couple of tracks that this album wasn't going to live up to the hype, but it really came alive down the stretch. I've heard instrumentation that I've never heard in folk before and it sounds truly innovative even sixty years later. A masterclass of the genre.
5
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Tue Mar 12 2024
Buena Vista Social Club
Buena Vista Social Club
There are two types of songs on this album. There is incredible Latin music that showcases the immense talent of the musicians in this group and there are vamp heavy songs that drone on that you'd hear in a small town Mexican restaurant played by the White to get everyone to forget who owns the place. I'm not even saying these are necessarily bad songs either, but they can clearly do better and it just makes it sound like they're phoning it in at times.
4
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Wed Mar 13 2024
Van Halen
Van Halen
I just can’t get the image of Jack Black from School of Rock out of my head screaming the face of prep school kids that THIS IS REAL ROCK N ROLL while his slobber nails some poor soul in the eye. Just like that movie, there’s a weird sense of naivety to this album. Don’t get me wrong, Eddie Van Halen is a baaaaaad man on the guitar, but other than that it feels a little uninspired. Call it being inundated with decades of rock music just like this, but if this era is defined by sex, drugs and rock n roll, I’d say these guys are in it for the former not the later.
3
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Thu Mar 14 2024
Tubular Bells
Mike Oldfield
I listened to this album twice through back to back and I'll say the second time through really helped me to understand what the hell is going on with this strange beautiful thing. I think it's really impressive that he's able to convey so much feeling and theme without any lyrics (possible werewolf growls aside). It sounds like a rock opera that doesn't need the actors. The instrumentation on this goes hard, the man is overflowing with talent. I think this is a really well done album that would have bordered on pretentious if not for the whimsical breaks where album doesn't take itself too seriously. I was on the edge of a 4 for this one, but the final skit pushed me over. It's blinking well baffling!
4
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Fri Mar 15 2024
Alien Lanes
Guided By Voices
This album feels a lot like a beer flight or scrolling your phone for a while. Nothing lasts long enough to make an impression on you. It’s like 30 tracks of a minute each. The music isn’t all bad but they’re more like incomplete thoughts than songs. It’s more of a scratch pad of chords and high thoughts than a continuous musical idea. I get the feeling this album could have been at least mid if they took the time to flesh some of these out.
2
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Mon Mar 18 2024
Either Or
Elliott Smith
This must be what all those emo sad boys that fueled the early 2000s must have listened to in high school alone in their rooms as they cried alone at night. This album seems to be a perfect bridge between grunge and emo rock but still carves out a very haunting minimalist sound all its own. I dig it, but there are some limitations to the style of music and it can get old pretty fast. Still I can always appreciate another bleeding heart sad boi.
3
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Tue Mar 19 2024
Ágætis Byrjun
Sigur Rós
First Icelandic album I've ever listened to. It sounds a lot like My Morning Jacket if they went full send on the post-rock idea. Overall, I really liked this one, but I was surprised that for as an alternative of an album as it is, it can be limited at times. They are perfectly fine breaking of ton of conventional rules but oddly paint themselves into a bit of a corner. They break the rules in the same way on each song. I think for me, as cool as this album was, it lacked variety within the album itself. There were songs where they break out some very cool instrumentation, but they always seem to quickly get back into their comfort zone. I'm the slightest bit disappointed because I think this album could have been even better than it was.
4
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Wed Mar 20 2024
Wish You Were Here
Pink Floyd
This album is a masterpiece by a band that does nothing but produce masterpieces. For me, this album is second only to Dark Side. With an album this good I find it hard to say anything of substance - some of these speak for themselves and enough said is enough said.
5
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Thu Mar 21 2024
Ctrl
SZA
This is the album equivalent of a meeting that could have been an email….this could have been a single and saved us all a ton of time. Not a ton of variety here. She’s got a really nice voice and I liked the production on it, but I got tired of it pretty quickly.
2
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Fri Mar 22 2024
Stripped
Christina Aguilera
I’m having sweet 16 flashbacks from high school. Easily the most talented singer I’ve heard on this list so far. Those vocals are so good I’d give it a 3 if there was no other lyrics or song writing behind it. That rasp is iconic. That being said the production doesn’t do a ton for me but is overall still memorable for a pop album so I respect it. The lyrics are pretty good and I imagine would do more for me if I was actually the target demographic. Still, I’m not sure if you can tell the story of this era of music without knowing this album. For me, that’s enough to bring it up to a 4.
4
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Mon Mar 25 2024
Paranoid
Black Sabbath
During the COVID years me and my roommates would get get stupid high and play Battlefield while blasting this album - so I have very fond, albeit hazy, memories of this album. The irony of this is not lost on me. I think this album is revolutionary in several senses of the word. They pioneered the metal genre with this album. It's crazy to think that this came out just a year after Abbey Road and I think this album pushes rock forward in a meaningful way. It's also revolutionary in concept. They come after just about every axis of power in modern society. Fuck them war pigs, this is a nearly perfect album.
5
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Tue Mar 26 2024
25
Adele
This is my second Adele album on this list- I thought I might have an idea of what is was going to sound like before I put it on. Sadly, I was spot on. Adele is pretty predictable, it's always power ballad after power ballad. She's got a beautiful voice but it's not enough for me. Some of the songs had interesting instrumentation but these all seem to blur together as a pretty standard Adele song. I also think she took a step back with this album. She's narrowing in on a single type of song which she didn't do in 21 and I generally get the impression that she's willing to try less. A little disappointing because I know she has a better album in her.
2
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Wed Mar 27 2024
Strange Cargo III
William Orbit
I have a separate collection of albums I've saved from this list just to get high to. This album is 100% making that list. At its best, this album can put out some incredible soundscapes with really rich instrumentation and is surprisingly funky. At its worst sounds more like his definition of ambient music is literally just soft noises to fill space. The change in effort from song to song is confusing to me. Still, I would say that the good outweighs the bad on this one.
3
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Thu Mar 28 2024
Machine Gun Etiquette
The Damned
I'm impressed by any punk rock album that can avoid the Sex Pistols trap of making an entire album that essentially says, "We're young, we're mad at the system, we're horny, AND WE'RE YELLING!" Not that doesn't have a place, but there comes a point where you do that for an hour and people get tired of it. This album is a lot more creative than a lot of punk music and they're crazy talented. Not all the risks panned out, I'm looking at you clown song, but I respect the risks nonetheless. Really solid album.
4
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Fri Mar 29 2024
Diamond Life
Sade
I have very vivid memories from when I was a kid of smashing my head against a wall waiting for my mom to finish up shopping in the Lord and Taylor in the mall a few towns away. I am convinced this is the album they were playing in the store. I associate this type of music with that stale department store smell and the cinnamon from an Aunt Annie's pretzel. That's all to say that as oddly nostalgic as this album feels, it's so safe. I can't speak to whether or not this was 'revolutionary' when it came out, but nowadays it sounds pretty unremarkable. Pretty standard commercial music coming out for the decade.
3
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Mon Apr 01 2024
At Mister Kelly's
Sarah Vaughan
It's very cool to get a live version where they don't cut out the emcee. The crowd interactions gave a sense of authenticity to the album that I really enjoyed. If you listen really closely you can hear a man suck down his third Manhattan while downing a prime rib while his wife looks on with disdain. I don't know if it's an incredible jazz album though. I think it speaks volumes that my favorite song on this album is when she did an Ella Fitzgerald impression - I don't think she stacks up against the greats of the genre but it's a very solid performance. Very nice voice, smooth as hell back up band but nothing that's really going to stick with me.
3
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Tue Apr 02 2024
Time Out
The Dave Brubeck Quartet
I never thought I'd say this but this jazz album is a certified slapper. I knew this album going into listen- my old roommate played this constantly in March of 2020 so I associate it with a lot of sitting around and looking at the Apple Music visualizer while getting crossed and pretending like I don't exist. On a more sober listen though there is a lot going on here that I didn't appreciate about it before. I really like the weird time scores and how off beat any individual instrument can sound while still making a really coherent song. This is kind of like the album equivalent of those pictures you have to cross your eyes up to see. Focus on any one part and you start to lose the music is actually trying to do. All respect in the world to these musicians.
4
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Wed Apr 03 2024
Technique
New Order
Cue Squidward lying on the ground yelling, "FUUUTUUURE, FUUUTUUURE, FUUUTUUURE." This sounds like what every 'new age' band thought they were going to be putting out when they embarked on modernizing rock and it is a truly innovative album. They tried a lot of really wild sounds. Sometimes it feels like a every changing soundscape that keeps you interested in the song Fine Time, other times it sounds like the soundtrack to the game Bust-a-move like in Round & Round. Something you can definitively say is that they don't take a song off. I give them points for creativity and really good execution.
3
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Thu Apr 04 2024
Pearl
Janis Joplin
This has got to be among the most iconic voices of a generation and certainly one of the most iconic voices in the rock genre. It's almost like her raspy voice was handcrafted to be a rock singer. Loved the album, could listen to her sing all day. I understand that this is a solo album, but the only thing I would knock this for is that the back up band was a little meh for most of the album. I think I would have rated this higher if every song was as fun as Me and Bobby McGee where there is a good balance struck between the vocals and the band.
4
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Fri Apr 05 2024
Henry's Dream
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
Everybody knows that kid from high school who went out of their way to be in your face edgy. It wasn't enough to be edgy, they need to constantly remind you how edgy they are at all times. For me, our edgy kid used to make people dare him to snort wasabi even though nobody wanted to dare him in the first place. Well, this is what happens when that kid gets to make an album. I thought I was going to really despise this album but edge lord does folk Americana became oddly endearing by the end of it. I don't hate it.
3
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Mon Apr 08 2024
Court And Spark
Joni Mitchell
This album is a lot like being on the edge of an orgasm. I spent the entire time waiting for her to do something musically that would really put me over the top and call this a great album. It’s just too soft and steady. I got close a couple of times, but never got there. It was a mostly enjoyable experience but I’m walking away feeling a bit blueballed.
3
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Tue Apr 09 2024
A Girl Called Dusty
Dusty Springfield
She's got a pretty good voice...that's where the compliments for this one end. When you compare her to a lot of contemporaries in the genre she's missing that added dimension of soul. Large parts of this album felt disingenuous- I got the feeling that recording this album was just a 9-5 for her and she was trying to get home on time. I didn't think the backing band was all that creative either. A couple of interesting songs, mostly pretty boring. The back up singers sounded like Alvin and the Chipmunks half the time. If hell were the cabaret on a cruise ship, this would surely be the headliner.
1
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Wed Apr 10 2024
Eagles
Eagles
Hot start and finish to this album- the middle was a bit meh. This really is the pinnacle of dad rock. I don't know if the Eagles really do anything spectacular or innovative other than being one of the most commercially successful bands of all time - I've sold 0 albums so who am I to say that this isn't impressive. I suppose popularizing country rock isn't to be understated. At the time, most people didn't know what the album sounded like other than the singles before they bought it and true to form the singles were awesome on this one but everything else was pretty average.
3
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Thu Apr 11 2024
Pet Sounds
The Beach Boys
Here's a hot take, Brian Wilson has more talent and creativity than any other single member of the Beetles and this band could have been as big or even bigger than the Beetles if he didn't have to single handedly carry the groups creative load. His genius is on full display in this album. I think that this is an album where it stands up today but you have to take a step back and realize how revolutionary this style of recording and songwriting was for the time. Brian Wilson and the Beetles stand alone as the only ones doing anything this innovative with the recording technology available at the time. The rich harmonies and orchestral sound was unlike anything anybody heard in pop music before. Is it my favorite collection of songs? Not really, I do like a bunch of them though. But the historical significance of this one is hard to understate.
4
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Fri Apr 12 2024
Go Girl Crazy
The Dictators
I love a satirical album as much as the next guy but I do think there is a point where you go over the top with it. It’s a lot like SNL, we get it you’re being satirical about people you don’t like, it doesn’t make you clever. And a lot like SNL I’m sure that it hit better in the 70s than it does today. Music does rock though.
4
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Mon Apr 15 2024
Oracular Spectacular
MGMT
When I was a senior in high school my best friends and I got green out high and locked ourselves in a beach house bathroom after prom. We put this album on and when it ended we were all so high we could have sworn that we all heard a “secret” track at the end of the album. As a kid, I never felt closer to anyone else in my life at the time. There’s some music you just can’t separate some of your best teen memories. This album is that for me. Hard 5.
5
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Tue Apr 16 2024
From Elvis In Memphis
Elvis Presley
I really loved listening to this album. The only problem is that I really enjoyed the accompanying band a lot more than Elvis himself. I read up on this one and he specifically chose this studio due to the fact that the back up band's soulful sound and to me it really carries the album for him...and isn't that the whole gripe with Elvis stealing the sound of other musicians in the first place? I think it's an amazing album but it feels weird to give Elvis all that credit.
2
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Wed Apr 17 2024
Sulk
The Associates
If I had to describe this as anything I would call it teen emo punk in space meets the 80s synth addiction voiced by Dennis from Always Sunny singing the Day Man song. If that sounds all over the place it's because this album is trying to do everything at once and is overwhelming. I thought this one was a chore to get through and I had to listen in multiple parts. This guys definitely think they are music's gift to the world because they released all their songs in triplicate assuming that anyone would every want to listen to this more than once.
1
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Thu Apr 18 2024
The Sounds Of India
Ravi Shankar
It's very cool how accessible this album is- I love how he explains all about his kind of music before he plays it. It adds a lot more context than I would otherwise have. It's hard for me to really judge this without much of a frame of reference to put it in because this is the first time I've ever intentionally listened to Indian music rather than just hear it in the background of something so I feel I can only really judge it based on enjoyment and it was a lot more fun than I thought it would be.
4
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Fri Apr 19 2024
Don't Stand Me Down
Dexys Midnight Runners
I wanted to hate this one. I think the general affect of the people in the band is that they think they're better than you and that they couldn't be bothered to stop their sidebar conversation to record an album. I don't think I could stand to be in a room with these people for more than five minutes before wanting to smash my head against a wall. Unfortunately for me, they're really talented and damn good musicians. I said out loud 'Oh you fuckers' half way through This is What She's Like when I realized how good they were. I hate it.
4
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Mon Apr 22 2024
Lust For Life
Iggy Pop
I think I’m really starting to understand punk music after listening to this…because if I had to live in a world where this was popular I would want the antithesis of this created yesterday. Iggy is a self indulgent pop star who gives off the feeling that it’s more about him making the music in particular than making good music. Because on top of all this it’s pretty generic music. I don’t see that much creative or innovative. More than anything I get the feeling that this album was made more for iggy’s p
2
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Tue Apr 23 2024
Madman Across The Water
Elton John
I was really shocked for how much variety there was on this album. When I think of Elton John I usually think of him wailing on a piano and singing his heart out for an hour plus- and there was a lot of that. But there was also a lot of really unique instrumentation that I wasn't expecting. He had a damn sitar! On top of that it's the standard praise of Elton John, crazy talented song writer and very soulful voice. Great listen.
4
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Wed Apr 24 2024
This Year's Model
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
Another talented song writer lost to a tragic synth addiction. I started out really liking this one. I thought he was a lot like a zanier Joe Jackson but he just kept hammering and hammering and hammering the synth. One album ruined by a synth addiction is a tragedy- a whole decade of them is a statistic.
3
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Thu Apr 25 2024
Buffalo Springfield Again
Buffalo Springfield
I think it’s so hard to create an album that’s both rich with variety and has a consistent theme. A lot of albums try to to have a lot of variety and come across really unfocused, this album is an exception. There’s so much going on thematically, there’s folk, acid culture, funk, and rock all perfectly weaved into a really consistent and interesting album, great listen.
4
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Fri Apr 26 2024
Elastica
Elastica
It’s so weird that someone put the entire hot topic playlist onto a single album. I can’t shake the image of knee high converse boots, skirts over jeans, and RAWR XD when I listen to this. As a mid 2000s angst lord I do like the music, but it also sounds a lot like everything else that came out in this time span. I just don’t think it’s anything too memorable.
3
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Mon Apr 29 2024
That's The Way Of The World
Earth, Wind & Fire
It’s so hard to rate this album knowing that they’re about to make one of the best albums of the century in just a few years. I am grading them against themselves and I know that’s not totally fair but it feels hard to give it a five compared to what comes three years later for them. Still loved it but I know they’re music is about to get a lot better then this.
4
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Tue Apr 30 2024
Doggystyle
Snoop Dogg
It’s cool that the chronic came up a few weeks before this album. This serves as a pseudo sequel to that album that continues to build on its creativity but has much stronger rapping (sorry Dre). It’s so cool to listen to an album like this in a genre that’s so self referential because you can hear this album’s influence on so much of modern rap. This and the chronic truly set the stage for the next 20-30 years of rap music. I don’t think their singular influence can be understand, one of the true masterpieces of rap music for the 90s.
5
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Wed May 01 2024
The Stranger
Billy Joel
It’s total mom rock and so I definitely came in with some priors but I was really pleasantly surprised. It’s hit after hit on this album and I can’t think of many more albums I’ve had so far that have been so prolific as this one. It’s got a lot of variety too and billy Joel is one hell of a songwriter. I also danced to just the way you are at my wedding with my mom and almost every track reminds me of her so I’m probably more than just a little biased.
5
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Thu May 02 2024
The Atomic Mr Basie
Count Basie & His Orchestra
Yet another example on this list of how dance music used to be way cooler than it is now. Albums like this make me truly tired of getting packed into a small dark room with 18 dollar cocktails just so that I can gyrate in my allotted square foot of space. I also think that there is a really cool level of fatalism present in this album. The world could end any day now in nuclear Armageddon, let's have four martinis and swing! Our fatalism today is much more depressing. Let's make fatalism fun again.
4
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Fri May 03 2024
McCartney
Paul McCartney
I thought this was a really good album but I don't know if I see the hype about McCartney being one of the greatest song writers of all time. I think a lot of it was elevated coffee shop music, but I will say the instrumentals showed off a lot more creativity than the tracks with vocals and I do think that deserves a lot of credit. By 1970 though, I don't know if any of this is true Earth shattering.
4
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Mon May 06 2024
A Hard Day's Night
Beatles
This was my first Beetles album on the playlist and I have to say I’m disappointed. I’ve not listened to a lot of their stuff so I’m hoping this album is the exception not the rule, but this was so underwhelming. For a band that gets so much hype and credit for shaping the musical world, this album came off as cabaret at best. There were some interesting songs and some cool musical ideas here but nothing that lives up to the reputation of this band.
2
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Tue May 07 2024
Low
David Bowie
Seriously some of the coolest music I've listened to on this list so far. I've never heard a lot of Bowie so it was surprising to me just how much range he has. Everything he does is weird, but he keeps finding new ways to make weird music on the same album. I liked the instrumentals on this one the best because he makes such deep soundscapes and really transports you somewhere with his music. There are a lot of people who try to do what he does and for the most part it sucks and there's a reason why there is only one David Bowie.
5
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Wed May 08 2024
m b v
My Bloody Valentine
My headphones died in the middle of listening to this...that was the happiest I was in this last hour listening to this piece of hot garbage. Are they trying to be edgy and make bad music to make a point or are they just really bad at this? I don't know if it makes a difference for me from a rating perspective but I need to know that people don't unironically think that this is good. This is the worst kind of emo music.
1
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Thu May 09 2024
Femi Kuti
Femi Kuti
My enjoyment of this album went down the longer I listened to it. It started off as a really fun listen with really talented musicians creating really unique stuff from a continent that I don't hear a lot of music out of. But there's only so many of these ten minute songs you can listen to before it all starts blending together. I didn't think there was a ton of variety between the songs and for as much as I loved the first couple I got really bored by the end of this very long album.
3