The Slim Shady LP
EminemOverall quite decent due to Dr. Dre’s songwriting and production. Would love to give it 3.5, but gotta do a 3.
Overall quite decent due to Dr. Dre’s songwriting and production. Would love to give it 3.5, but gotta do a 3.
Better than expected.
Quite a good album from the early days of trip-hop. Consistently good songs from start to finish.
The first track I liked — did LCD Soundsystem sample this for Get Innocuous? The rest was pretty repetitive, although Track 5, Neon Lights was enjoyable. Not quite my cup of tea, despite the possible connection to LCD Soundsystem. At least it’s an album I haven’t listened to in the past few weeks — unlike Hendrix and Portishead.
Really dislike it — the vocals, the histrionics of the music that probably plays OK live, the lyrics, all of it. Blehhh…..
Quite liked this, liked the singing, the lyrics, the whole mood of the album. The only nitpick is that a lot of the songs seemed to have the same kind of rhythm/flow to them — I didn’t dislike it so much as that I was hoping for more variety.
Liked this a lot, especially the variety of types of music employed. If it had been 20 minutes shorter it would have probably rated a 4. I quite like her in her movie roles — e.g., Hidden Figures, Glass Onion.
Pretty good stuff. Reading about how it was recorded was interesting. I remember them on SNL. Somewhat remind me of The Jam, who didn’t get US recognition like this group did. Good job, lads
Now we’re talking. One of my all-time faves. It came out when I was 11. JB bought it and I used to listen to it over and over in front of our stereo cabinet, laying on a pillow to get the great stereo separation. Don’t love the final 11 minute track, “The End”, but still a solid 5 for me. One old blues song, Willie Dixon’s “Back Door Man”, and a song from 1927 by Brecht and Weill supplement the originals, (Alabama Song). Until about 15 years ago, I had no idea that the original album and my memories of it had the last word of “she gets high” silenced throughout the opening track, “Break on Through”. Great stuff.
An act I’ve never heard of, and was skeptical given the title (assuming it was rap) but I quite liked this. Very decent songs, interesting and enjoyable production. This sounded great through headphones. They released 5 albums in 2022 totaling 4 hours of music. I may check out one of them here soon.
Thought I’d like this more. The Stooges were too out there for my tastes and this solo disk as a collaboration with Bowie seemed more promising. Some Ok stuff on side one, but side two was meh.
Loys of good stuff here. Could be a 5 star review but some of this seems repetitive. I remember when this came out there was a link where you could put in your home address and then The Suburbs music video would play with Google Earth picture (and video?) of your house would be incorporated into the music video.
Hated this from the get-go. Plodding grunge with few melodies, I can see how this might be intriguing live in a big arena, but listening to it was painful. Even “Black Hole Sun” which I always turn up and sing along to when it comes on in the car wasn’t as fun in the context of the whole album. I hate Pearl Jam as well, except for “Jeremy”.
From the Wiki, I expected to really dislike this, but didn’t. Nothing I’d ever listen to again, but some of the tracks were reasonable melodic and the guitar work was pretty tasty throughout. Never heard of the group.
In high school, this band was very popular with the stoners and freaks (I was decent friends with many of them) and the whole purpose of the band seemed very calculated to me to appeal to such a demographic. Theatrically shocking in concert. Some of the songs are ok, but this album generally leaves me cold. Alice later (or maybe even during their heyday) became a golf fanatic and supposedly drank over a case of beer a day. School’s Out (not on this album) is a great song, though.
Didn’t quite like this as much as some of their later stuff, but this was still pretty good. Nice atmosphere, somewhat akin at times to one of my fave artists, Everything But The Girl. Would give 3.5 but can’t.
A so-so collection of soul songs. His voice is fine, nothing special.
Musically and lyrically this was fine. Knocked down a notch because many of the tracks’ flow/rhythms in the vocals seemed repetitive. For me and my general dislike if rap/hip-hop music, this was quite decent.
This seems like an album my parents might have owned, even though they weren’t country fans at all. This seems more balladeer-ish, so they might have liked it — Perry Como with a twangy guitar. I quite like his voice but too many of the songs sound the same to me.
Not as familiar with this since it came out when Maggie was a bit over one year old. A fairly plodding set of songs, not as distinctive or melodious as earlier albums (see Imperial Bedroom).
I’ve always liked this act from the Twin Cities more than The Replacements. This is a fine album, some great songs (I generally like Hart’s songs more than Mould’s) and a nice sound throughout, knocked down a notch for being too long — i.e., a single LP of the best tracks would’ve been a 5.
Some “hits” and some decent songs all round, but coming so soon after The Beatles this is a bit disappointing, as was a lot of solo work from Paul and George. Sounds great in 7.1 surround
Thought I would like this a bit more, but it didn’t quite do it for me. Very pleasant, and loved the overall instrumentation, but the vocals were a bit too mumbly for me. I can see where this would have been new and exciting in 2009. Suspect this is one you know quite well, Joe (and Maggie too, perhaps?). Would love a 3.5 option here.
This was released the month Maggie was born, so while I was aware of the band and this album I hadn’t ever heard it. Liked it a lot — fine melodies, pleasant lead vocalist (sounds like Glenn Tilbrook from Squeeze). Would listen to again.
One of the first albums I listened to when I was doing one-a-days before this 1,001 albums program started. This was fine, and I appreciate its historical significance for Bowie and the era it came out in (disco, early new wave), but this is all just OK for me. I like early Bowie better.
I really dislike Eric Clapton, always have. Never thought he was that great of a guitarist, and the quality of his work plummeted after he quit taking drugs (in the late 70’s or early 80’s?). Then of late he’s been misogynistic and anti-vaxx, further cementing my poor opinion of him. However, this is a fabulous album from start to finish — a great selection of original songs and blues covers, tight playing and good singing. We played all 4 sides of this quite a bit in high school while playing cards. Duane Allman plays a lot of guitar on this (any slide work, e.g.), proving why he was such a sought after session player. DA Anthology, both volumes 1 and 2 are well worth a listen. A solid 5 for me, despite EC.
Thought this was just OK, and outside of the two songs I was familiar with, the rest sounded a lot alike. The vocals got real old quickly.
Overall quite decent due to Dr. Dre’s songwriting and production. Would love to give it 3.5, but gotta do a 3.
I’ve always thought she had a great voice, although her warbling to show off her vocal prowess gets old quickly. I generally like the slower songs here. The album is way too long. Lop off 30-40 minutes of so-so tracks and this coulda been a 3.
I own his previous two albums (Saint Julian and My Nation Underground, both for sale on Amazon) and remember liking them. This one was unfamiliar and I liked it a lot. A wide variety of styles, tempos, melodies, etc. A bit lengthy at 76 minutes, but can’t see much I’d want to cut. A solid 4.
This did nothing for me, didn’t even finish the first disc.
Liked this pretty much. Thought I’d tire of the vocals but didn’t. Nice variety of styles and tempos. Won’t need to listen to again.
A really fine album. One we listened to some playing cards as a teenager, but it wasn’t in heavy rotation. A batch of great songs, and side 2 is killer, with 2 big hits and a great track that LCD Soundsystem would cover almost 40 years later. Plus, the album opens with the theme song from Russian Dolls! A great talent who died at 52 and recorded no more albums for the last 14 years of his life, instead indulging in booze and drugs (died of a heart attack). Have to give it a 5, even though I feel like 5s are mostly reserved (for me) for albums that I know super well and have always loved.
This doesn’t work for me, although I liked it a bit better than I thought I would. I suspect I don’t like much of anything in this genre, but of course I’m not quite sure what the genre is. Drive is a decent track.
This is pretty good stuff, 3 big Top 40 hits followed by a bunch of pretty nice tracks. Gets a bit repetitive overall. I remember she was in heavy rotation on MTV, perhaps due to her being African and MTV was trying to get more black music videos on, and she fit the bill but was pretty safe music.
This album was so big in college in the spring semester of 1976 (along with the S/T Fleetwood Mac album from summer of 1975). Either going to parties or delivering pizza and sandwiches to campus apartments, one of these two albums was played constantly. This is a great example of a double album that would have been a much better single LP. Some really fun tracks, but a lot of filler. And some of it, even big hit tracks like “Show Me the Way”seem kinda plodding and lifeless, even though it’s fun to sing along to. Haven’t listened to it in many years, thought at the outset of today’s listening that it would probably rate a 3, maybe a 4, but…
Sorry, I just can’t. Maybe this would be better as a slim volume of poetry. Almost all of these do not seem like songs, melody-wise, to me. Also, way too long. However, nice Isley Brothers sample on “I”.
Sold this on vinyl for $20 in June of 2020. Have always liked these guys, and this is a decent album. A number of the songs sound pretty similar.
Liked this way better than I thought I would, given it is a krautrock group. Some lovely songs and the extended instrumentals were quite decent. Surprised we didn’t listen to anything by this group in high school. Even the Disc 2 tracks in the rerelease were enjoyable. This was released the month I started college but it (or the group) wasn’t on any of my friend group’s radar.
This was better than I expected. Some reasonably decent melodies here and there. The production at times seemed Dr. Dre-ish, but he wasn’t involved. Wouldn’t listen to again, but a pleasant surprise.
To quote you guys about some other albums — meh.
So great, but still only my 3rd favorite Steely Dan album (after Katy Lied and Countdown to Ecstasy). 11 concise songs, 34 minutes, the last disc with any semblance of being a typical “rock band”. Some admittedly weird tracks for a pop/rock album, but great rhythms, solos, and arrangements throughout. One monster hit (Rikki), one that should’ve done better (title track), and a number of others that would be great to hear on Classic Rock if they’d ever play them. As with most of their LPs it doesn’t seem like a “guitar album” on the surface (only The Royal Scam qualifies), but there is so much tasty guitar work here throughout. Lots of it from original members Jeff Baxter (who joined The Doobie Brothers soon after this was done) and Danny Dias, but Walter Becker, primarily a bass player, has some shining lead guitar moments here. Looking at the track listing before playing it today, my sense was that Side 2 was weaker than Side 1, but nah, it’s all great.
My 4th favorites Stones album, after Let it Bleed, Exile on Main St., and Between the Buttons. This was the first of 4 studio albums in a row that define the group at its peak (LIB, Sticky Fingers, and EOMS are the other 3). Founding member Brian Jones was pretty much gone from the group (and as it turned out, life) during the making of this album, so Keith took over most of the guitar work, rhythm and lead (as he did on LIB), which is always a treat as he is more of a rhythm guitarist than lead on most of their recordings. Two monster hits (Sympathy for the Devil and Street Fighting Man) plus other gems throughout. The closing track is lovely and starts out with Keith’s lovely on the first verse before Mick takes over, then rollicking piano from session player extraordinaire Nicky Hopkins. A staple of our card playing days in high school. A great album.
Most of this was unlistenable. Hated the vocals. It seems like an album any semi-talented DJ yahoo could’ve made. A couple of OK things (e.g., Damaged People), would give it 1.5, but a 2 vote I can’t do because I don’t want to help the Global Stats for the album.
Just wonderful. I was 14 when it came out. The start of more sophisticated songwriting, arrangements and production. There needs to be a deluxe box set edition of this. These guys have potential.
The weakest of the stretch of 4 albums that defines the Stones for me (Beggars Banquet, Let it Bleed, SF, and Exile on Main St.) but still a solid 5 for me because the other three are all so superb. The first album to fully include Mick Taylor on guitar, and he shines throughout, especially on Can’t You Hear Me Knocking, a seven minute, one take song that turned into a long jam. No Keith lead vocals anywhere on the album, but lots of horns. Released 6 weeks before I turned 16, this was a basement playing cards staple. I owned the original zipper cover back then.
This was pretty darn fun. I knew “Just a Gigolo/I Ain’t Got Nobody” and “Jump, Jive and Wail” from the 80’s remakes by David Lee Roth and Brian Setzer (of The Stray Cats). The rest was catchy and had my toes-a-tapping. Was gonna knock it down for having a number of songs that sounded kinda similar, which I do a lot here. But I liken this early stuff to Chuck Berry, where a bunch of it kinda sounds alike but since it’s basic rock and roll I don’t mind as much. Seems like an album my parents might have owned but it wasn’t familiar. They had either a Gene Krupa or Buddy Rich album though.
This was in surround sound, which was done pretty well. Enjoy the duo of Edward’s and Rogers, but outside of the hits this was just OK. Loved “We are Family” in its 8+ minute version. In 1979 I started my first actuarial job in June, and then in the fall, this was the team song for the Pittsburgh Pirates when they played the Baltimore Orioles in the World Series. Somehow I won our office pool on the series, picking the underdog Pirates.
I was hoping this was better after seeing the initial track listing. A really solid Side 1, and a much more lackluster Side 2. The covers weren’t as good as I expected (Do You Wanna Dance, Spanish Harlem, e.g.). Catch a clip of them on YouTube either at Monterey or on The Ed Sullivan Show. Pretty cool group.
Never heard of this group. Quite enjoyed most all of this. Several of the tracks remind me of one of my fave groups, Zero 7. Listened to their most recent album from a couple of years ago — not as good. But I would definitely listen to Lost Souls again.
Was intrigued to listen to this because I recognized the artist as a big remix producer in the 90’s especially for Madonna’s Ray of Light album. I still have a couple of CD remix singles from that album, mostly because they don’t sell for diddly on Amazon or Discogs. Anyway, decent here and there, but nothing I ever need to hear again.
Well, another 5 star gem from my teen years. I remember hearing this first while visiting my brother Dan in I believe 1970. A weird, startling open number and then 4 lovely prog rock songs following. This was my first mega box set, with 20 CDs, 2 DVDs and 4 Blu-ray Discs, purportedly covering everything they recorded or performed live in calendar year 1969. A pretty fun package. Also a staple of card playing evenings in high school.
This was just ok. Lovely opening track, then the rest was kinda blah. I remember when he was a big deal when he first came on the scene. Never really took to him.
This was kind of a big deal debut from my early 20’s, anchored by Sultans of Swing. The rest of the album is decent enough but their Brothers in Arms is a much better album and Making Movies is somewhat better than this debut.
Overall I quite liked this. Some weird stuff butmmore accessible than expected. An artist I’d never heard of. Nice sampling of the 1970’s on-hit wonder “Spooky” by the Classics IV on track 2.
This was fine but nothing special. It didn’t even include the Veronica Mars theme song…
This was more enjoyable than I was expecting, with some nice use of samples of songs I knew. The flow of their vocals seemed fairly similar across a range of these songs, however. Probably no need to hear them again, but my opinion of them is higher than it was last week.
This was more prog-rock to me instead of heavy metal, so I actually liked a fair chunk of this. Decent guitar and drumming throughout. Didn’t love the singer. If it had been released in 1970 it might have made it to our basement card games in high school but can’t be sure about that.
I quite enjoyed side one, but the exactly 20 minute side two track was meandering and bleh. The vocals were buried so deep, presumably on purpose, but that didn’t work for me. Side one a 4, side two a 1, but I’ll give this a roundup to 3.
Really disliked this. I believe they were touted as the new Rolling Stones of the 90’s, but none of this has the swing/swagger of Stones music from the 60’s to the end of the 70’s. Hard to Handle is like Peter Frampton or Huey Lewis, kinda fun to sing along to, but lifeless and formulaic overall.
This was very enjoyable, haven’t listened to it since it first came out. Don’t always like Meg’s drumming, but overall the musicianship is very solid. Doesn’t have my fave WS track, “We’re Going to Be Friends”. A great performance of it when they were on SNL.
Thought this was much better than it was. Saw them with my sister in the mid-80’s in Massachusetts. Maybe it was another of their albums I quite liked. This was decent, just nothing spectacular. Sold my copy of this in July of 2017 for $40.
Listened to this a couple of months ago before we started this. Quite liked it then, still do. A couple of the songs sound the same, though. Saw a documentary while back on glam rock in the early 70’s, which featured how huge a star (and heartthrob) Marc Bolan was in his heyday in England.
So much good stuff here and more intriguing than the mega hits “Fleetwood Mac” and ‘Rumors” that preceded it. A solid 5 if it had been condensed to a one-disc LP. The McVie songs are lovely, Nicks are mixed (Angel and Sara great, Sisters of the Moon and Storms less so), and Buckingham’s songs are mostly fine, but some are really solo efforts, suffering from not having the great rhythm section of McVie-Fleetwood behind him. Side note — I bough this for my brother JB for Christmas in 1979 on a Christmas Eve whim, paying full retail at a local store near his house in CT. In an earlier year I bought him “The Koln Concerts” by Keith Jarrett. What a great brother I was…
Thought I’d like this more than I did. Very Stevie Wonder-ish which I enjoyed/appreciated, but a lot of it sounded the same.
I was not that familiar with this album, and while none of the songs seemed as catchy as those from Kid A (my fave of theirs) or OK Computer, the songs all had enough mood and lovely instrumentation, plus some cool effects via headphones, to make me want to revisit this at some point soon.
From “Summer of Taylor”: A solid album, but the influence of Martin and Shellback as co-writers is starting to wear thin. Way too many repeated lyrics on a bunch of the tracks. The last 4 songs were a real drop off. Pleased to see it's a totally non-country album. The whole "this song is about one of my exes" motif is getting old.
This wasn’t as good as their second album, but is still pretty fun. Bonus for the Kinks song “Stop Your Sobbing”. Christie Hynden and Ray Davies (Kinks singer and songwriter) have a daughter together.
Liked this better than I remembered it and expected to. 2 big hits, 2 minor hits and other side one tracks were quite nice. Fun to sing to and move to. A solid debut effort.
Not my jam, as you know…
Thought I would hate this, but didn’t. Some catchy tunes, decent lyrics. Don’t need to hear again, though.
I remember when this came out and then Bowie died a few days later. Then and now I appreciate the album dealing with his death so close to the event. Listened to it twice this weekend, and on second listen decided to bump it from 3 to 4. Some catchy and nicely atmospheric tracks. The video for the title track is a trip #buttoneyes
This was a very important debut album, and like the Ramones debut caused quite a stir, but it’s nowhere near as good as London Calling, or maybe even Combat Rock. I am more familiar with the US version with I Fought the Law, even owning the initial edition that came with a bonus 7” single. Sold that for $16 seven years ago. Solid, but not that great.
This wasn’t as good as their later stuff. I even listened to part of their latest from 2023 and it was better than this. Some nice stuff, a solid debut.
A group I’m aware of but had never heard before. Started out OK, liked the track She is Suffering, but things declined after that. The vocals were kinda screechy on a lot of tracks. Not my jam.
This is the first of 5 albums consecutively released by the group considered by many, myself included, to be the group’s peak. This is by far the weakest of the 5 but still has many fine moments, especially Sunny Afternoon, perhaps the finest example of Ray Davies’ chronicling of middle class British life in the 60’s. Albums 2-3-4 of the 5 are part of the 1001 albums, so hopefully we’ll get them down the line. They are all masterpieces.
The two instrumentals and “Changes” keep this from being a 1. Out my cup of tea.
I like how they did what they wanted to for this — almost no hits, three Meat Puppet covers, Leadbelly — but a lot of this sounds the same. Fine, but no great shakes.
Except for Genius of Love, this is a pretty lame album. In the Stop Making Sense concert movie, this is performed by the whole band to give David Byrne a rest midway through and it is joyously fun.
Side 2 stronger than side 1. The two Peter Tosh written tracks on side 1 were a nice change of pace. I like Bob just fine, but a lot of his stuff sounds the same to me. A greatest hits album is more my speed for an artist like this. The recent Bob Marley: One Love movie (on Paramount, as Jackson would say) is well worth watching.
This came out when I was 22, my senior year of college. A great debut — quirky, fun, rhythmic. Their first 4 albums are among the 1,001 (all in the 380-480 range) and will all be 5s for me. Their 5th, Speaking in Tongues would qualify as well. After that, things drop off for their last 3 studio albums, when discord in the group impacted the music. The best concert I ever attended, part of the Stop Making Sense tour. The concert movie, directed by Jonathan Demme, is a must see, available through the DMPL on DVD.
Bruce has 5 albums in the 1,001, but of course my favorite 2, his first 2, are not among the 5. This does not surprise me. His 3rd, 5th, 6th and 7th albums (BITU is #7) are in the 1,001. Born to Run (#3) has some great moments but things head downhill in his discography from there. This album has some decent hits, but the non-hits are pretty weak, and side 2 is kinda blah overall. And where is his underrated guitar playing? Cover Me hints at his guitar prowess, but check out album 2 (the Wild, the Innocent and the E Street Shuffle, my fave) for some great guitar work. If you want to see what the fuss was all about with his live act, see if you can get this from the library, or maybe watch on YouTube — Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band: Hammersmith Odeon, London '75 (Video 2005). Eye opening stuff.
This is a wonderful album all around. Still like Kid A better, but not by leaps and bounds. Lovely songs, great guitar work by Greenwood, vocals and lyrics understandable throughout. Their most “normal” album?
Outside of Hallelujah I’ve never understood the appeal of him. The lyrics are ok, but the songs are mostly pretty lame. Not for me.
I liked this OK, kinda cool it’s just DJ, bass, and vocals. The tracks with Muhammad as a co-songwriter mostly seemed alike. Would never need to hear again.