View Album
Wed Jan 10 2024
Songs In The Key Of Life
Stevie Wonder
5
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Thu Jan 11 2024
Arrival
ABBA
3
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Fri Jan 12 2024
Moving Pictures
Rush
I used to think I really disliked this album, but it’s actually mostly the fact that I dislike Tom Sawyer a LOT and that bled into the rest of it. I think all of the big prog bands fared poorly in the transition to the 80s, but Rush probably holds up better than the rest of them. The six non-Tom Sawyer tracks are all bangers.
4
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Mon Jan 15 2024
Liquid Swords
GZA
Damn girl, are you Basic Instructions Before Leaving Earth by Killah Priest, because you are a weird and unwanted bonus ruining an otherwise perfect situation
5
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Tue Jan 16 2024
Birth Of The Cool
Miles Davis
3
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Wed Jan 17 2024
Murmur
R.E.M.
4
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Thu Jan 18 2024
Nighthawks At The Diner
Tom Waits
3
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Fri Jan 19 2024
I Do Not Want What I Haven't Got
Sinead O'Connor
4
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Sat Jan 20 2024
Bringing It All Back Home
Bob Dylan
I don’t know if it’s a full five because I find the acoustic side to be kind of meandering but damn if every song on the first side isn’t an absolute ripper.
5
View Album
Sat Jan 20 2024
KIWANUKA
Michael Kiwanuka
Hot damn, this is the first album on this list I have never heard of and am genuinely shook by how good this is.
5
View Album
Sun Jan 21 2024
Odessey And Oracle
The Zombies
The endless wars to determine who the best British Invasion band was is dominated by the conflict between The Beatles and The Stones. Fans of The Who and The Kinks continue their guerrilla war from the bushes. Yet the fear that unites us all is those fighting for The Zombies, and the small but real chance they might be right.
4
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Mon Jan 22 2024
Ogden's Nut Gone Flake
Small Faces
The second album I have never heard of before taking this on, and an almost lethal dose of British-ass whimsy. I have no complaints, but it's easy to see how many better artists built off of this framework.
3
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Tue Jan 23 2024
Doggystyle
Snoop Dogg
I liked it fine enough but there it deserves credit for how it made me, a degreed homeowner and parent who was 8 when it was released, feel like I am getting away with something I shouldn’t over three decades later.
3
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Wed Jan 24 2024
Back In Black
AC/DC
This one in particular doesn’t do a ton for me, but I will always appreciate that there is something about AC/DC’s guitar tone that makes it sound like hell music for absolute perverts.
2
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Thu Jan 25 2024
Vento De Maio
Elis Regina
A very pleasant and previously unheard compilation of fusion-inflected samba music. Frankly, this project could use a few hundred more entries like this instead of just being every Brit-pop album released between 1965 and 1998. I know what Blur sounds like, give me what the other 95% of the world listens to.
4
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Fri Jan 26 2024
Blur
Blur
Look, it’s not that I don’t get it, I just genuinely do not like it.
1
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Sat Jan 27 2024
Harvest
Neil Young
Look man, sometimes these albums don’t really need reviews. I’m not saying critics always got it right, but we have 52 years of evidence saying this is one of the greatest albums of all time and I think they nailed it in one.
5
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Sun Jan 28 2024
Copper Blue
Sugar
It’s funny that this is what most of Mould’s solo material sounds like now.
3
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Mon Jan 29 2024
Tommy
The Who
Obviously this is great but I am always going to associate this album with my friend who really wanted to try a raw egg cracked into a Newcastle like Keith Moon drank in the movie before abusing Tommy.
Unlike this album, the drink was awful and in no way a seminal moment in prog rock.
5
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Tue Jan 30 2024
Dusty In Memphis
Dusty Springfield
Alienating everyone in my life with my sincerely held and deep-seated belief that Dusty Springfield is Buffalo Springfield’s husband.
4
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Wed Jan 31 2024
Who Killed...... The Zutons?
The Zutons
We need to remove every UK music writer's contributions to this list until we figure out what is even happening over there.
1
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Thu Feb 01 2024
Aha Shake Heartbreak
Kings of Leon
A problem with the original version of this book being released in 2006 is that every awful dudebro indie group that got popular in response to nu-metal was still fresh on people’s minds and as a result I have to listen to Kings of Leon 18 years later.
1
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Fri Feb 02 2024
Shleep
Robert Wyatt
Putting a late career solo album by a Canterbury Scene veteran on this list was almost as baffling as the album itself. Filled with great compositions ruined by bloviating vocals and run times, I don’t think anyone needs to listen to this before they die but at least it’s fascinating.
3
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Sat Feb 03 2024
This Is Fats Domino
Fats Domino
Another unreviewable album. If you have any interest in music made in the last 70 years, it’s worth a listen to compare where it came from.
3
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Sun Feb 04 2024
American Pie
Don McLean
I resent being made to listen to any album where the best song is American Pie by Don McLean
1
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Mon Feb 05 2024
That's The Way Of The World
Earth, Wind & Fire
The fact that this is the only Earth, Wind & Fire album on this list but there are two by Kings of Leon should put both this project and the concept of ranking things in serious doubt.
4
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Tue Feb 06 2024
You've Come a Long Way Baby
Fatboy Slim
I get how this is Important and maybe even Good but you have to understand that I am the exact age where this album and everything it influenced has just become the soundtrack to payday loan commercials my entire adult life.
Also, why does Fatboy Slim look like a lost member of Whose Line Is It Anyway in any picture
3
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Wed Feb 07 2024
The Fat Of The Land
The Prodigy
Look, my most prolific internet presence is posting screenshots and video clips of PlayStation 1 & 2 games. You cannot play the amount of early PSX games that I do and still give this album an unbiased review.
4
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Thu Feb 08 2024
John Prine
John Prine
At the time of writing this, Toby Keith has been dead for less than 48 hours and the story where Kris Kristofferson says what Keith did to country music is what pantyhose did to finger fucking is making the rounds. Appropriately, the debut album by Kristofferson’s protégé is a pure example of going commando and getting right in there.
5
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Fri Feb 09 2024
A Wizard, A True Star
Todd Rundgren
It’s fun when you listen to something for the first time and immediately realize this is the album all your favorite artists glommed onto when they were weird teens.
5
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Sat Feb 10 2024
Licensed To Ill
Beastie Boys
License to Ill is no Paul’s Boutique, but it’s my understanding that most albums aren’t.
3
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Sun Feb 11 2024
Master Of Puppets
Metallica
Did you know the guys from all those SalesForce conferences and podcasts used to have a band?
3
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Mon Feb 12 2024
Tuesday Night Music Club
Sheryl Crow
3
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Tue Feb 13 2024
The World is a Ghetto
War
It’s very cool to hear music so vibrant and exciting while simultaneously knowing that it influenced a list of artists so awful that it should be framed and put on public display in The Hague.
3
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Wed Feb 14 2024
My Generation
The Who
4
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Thu Feb 15 2024
Bongo Rock
Incredible Bongo Band
I signed up for this project to expand my musical horizons and I gotta say that unfortunately giving an album with a seven minute long bongo-centric cover of In a Gadda da Vida is pretty par for the course for me.
5
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Fri Feb 16 2024
Bryter Layter
Nick Drake
4
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Sat Feb 17 2024
Brilliant Corners
Thelonious Monk
3
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Sun Feb 18 2024
D.O.A. the Third and Final Report of Throbbing Gristle
Throbbing Gristle
Its a small but important distinction to note that it’s called 1001 Albums To Listen To Before You Die, not 1001 Albums To Enjoy Before You Die.
Three stars.
3
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Mon Feb 19 2024
The Modern Dance
Pere Ubu
A very good album that becomes even better when you hear David Thomas’ vocals and your broken brain transports you to a world where the entire album is being performed by Muppets.
Four stars.
4
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Tue Feb 20 2024
Pearl
Janis Joplin
4
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Wed Feb 21 2024
Mermaid Avenue
Billy Bragg
This is the first album on here that I’ve given three stars where it feels like it is a failure of imagination on my part.
3
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Thu Feb 22 2024
The Velvet Underground
The Velvet Underground
4
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Fri Feb 23 2024
Peter Gabriel
Peter Gabriel
This is the most British-ass thing I am giving five stars, except for all the other Genesis albums I’m going to give five stars.
5
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Sat Feb 24 2024
Music for the Masses
Depeche Mode
4
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Sun Feb 25 2024
Ghosteen
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
Utterly beautiful music that does absolutely nothing for me.
3
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Mon Feb 26 2024
3 Years, 5 Months And 2 Days In The Life Of...
Arrested Development
Sure, it’s an evolutionary dead end for hip-hop but evolutionary dead ends can be super cool. Just ask the platypus.
4
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Tue Feb 27 2024
Green
R.E.M.
I know this album is perfect, you know this album is perfect, so instead of wasting your time I want to give a shoutout to the user that wrote a cover article length treatise on why you should watch the Chris Elliot sitcom Get A Life for their review instead.
Five stars.
5
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Wed Feb 28 2024
Thriller
Michael Jackson
I try to save a 5 star for something that was truly transformative for me but this music has been in the background since I was born, who am I to say it wasn’t?
5
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Thu Feb 29 2024
Scum
Napalm Death
Actually, you know what? I already listened to music before I came over. Yeah man. I’m good, really.
2
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Fri Mar 01 2024
Funeral
Arcade Fire
I was 19 when this album came out, and obviously it felt like the most important piece of music ever recorded, as things released when you are 19 tend to do. I really resent who I was at the time so I expected to hate this, but it brings me no pleasure to announce I am incorrect and misty-eyed while listening to it in my driveway. Five stars.
5
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Sat Mar 02 2024
Catch A Fire
Bob Marley & The Wailers
Not for me, but that’s fine.
3
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Sun Mar 03 2024
Ray Of Light
Madonna
It was extremely brave of Madonna to release an entire album of PlayStation 2 boss fight anthems a full three years before anyone on the west had access to a PlayStation 2.
Four stars.
4
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Mon Mar 04 2024
Throwing Muses
Throwing Muses
4
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Tue Mar 05 2024
Live And Dangerous
Thin Lizzy
It's weird that the powers that be chose a live album but at least it's an absolute banger of one.
4
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Wed Mar 06 2024
Shake Your Money Maker
The Black Crowes
I don’t know if this is an album to listen to before you die but it definitely feels like an album you’d have to listen to while you die at the hands of the most chinless white man in a fedora to ever exist.
One star.
1
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Thu Mar 07 2024
Better Living Through Chemistry
Fatboy Slim
The good: I just met this hot girl and she wants to take me to a rave?
The bad: They put blood in the emergency sprinklers? How do you even keep it from coagulating?
The good: Oh hey, is that Wesley Snipes?
The bad: Why does he have a katana?
Two stars.
2
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Fri Mar 08 2024
Tago Mago
Can
5
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Sat Mar 09 2024
Young Americans
David Bowie
Ironically, this album would have been an easy five stars before this project jumpstarted a love of soul music inside me. It’s still good I think, but the self-imposed “plastic soul” descriptor is incredibly apt. I love Bowie, but I don’t see myself coming around for this one all that much.
Three stars.
3
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Sun Mar 10 2024
Meat Is Murder
The Smiths
Fucking fine. Four stars. Whatever.
4
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Mon Mar 11 2024
Bossanova
Pixies
I don’t know if the worst Pixies album from the original lineup is really essential, but I guess it’s fine to say people should really hear an album where they are very good but also kind of boring.
4
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Tue Mar 12 2024
The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Honestly Bob, I could have done with a lot more structured wheelin’. I generally enjoy Bob Dylan and can understand why this was a landmark album, but I struggle to enjoy this 62 years later, especially over some of his later material.
2
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Wed Mar 13 2024
Pink Flag
Wire
Another 4 star classic I have nothing to say about. It’s good!
4
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Thu Mar 14 2024
3 + 3
The Isley Brothers
Its extremely fun to know the studio versions of all these songs having absolutely face melting guitar parts left off the singles.
3
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Fri Mar 15 2024
Born To Be With You
Dion
I get why people who know and care about how music is produced love this Phil Spector-backed album, but the only real enjoyment I got out of it was imagining people’s shock when they looked at the cover and then found out that it was actually the guy in the liner notes that was a murderer.
2
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Sat Mar 16 2024
Cheap Thrills
Big Brother & The Holding Company
This album gets so much worse when someone besides Janis does vocals
3
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Sun Mar 17 2024
If You Can Believe Your Eyes & Ears
The Mamas & The Papas
3
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Mon Mar 18 2024
It's A Shame About Ray
The Lemonheads
Perfectly fine.
3
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Tue Mar 19 2024
C'est Chic
CHIC
Lives up to the name
4
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Wed Mar 20 2024
The Gilded Palace Of Sin
The Flying Burrito Brothers
4
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Thu Mar 21 2024
They Were Wrong, So We Drowned
Liars
4
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Fri Mar 22 2024
Picture Book
Simply Red
You know how the British press lost its mind for like a half decade because Pippa Middleton had a visible ass which was seen as manna for a starving nation? Including this album on the list is the blue eyed soul equivalent.
One star.
1
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Sat Mar 23 2024
Coat Of Many Colors
Dolly Parton
Obviously this is five stars. Come on.
5
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Sun Mar 24 2024
Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots
The Flaming Lips
The Flaming Lips were one of the most perfect bands of the 90s, releasing a string of all-timers from 1990’s In A Priest Driven Ambulance to 1999’s The Soft Bulletin. Eagle-eyed readers may notice that this overproduced and cloying album was released in 2002.
2
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Mon Mar 25 2024
Metal Box
Public Image Ltd.
Obviously great, and a fun companion piece to all the whinging people do about basically any remotely challenging album in the reviews.
5
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Tue Mar 26 2024
Doolittle
Pixies
You do not need me to tell you this is five stars.
5
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Wed Mar 27 2024
Only Built 4 Cuban Linx
Raekwon
4
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Thu Mar 28 2024
Tellin’ Stories
The Charlatans
2
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Fri Mar 29 2024
The Message
Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five
3
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Sat Mar 30 2024
Ten
Pearl Jam
This is a rough one because I understand how important of an album this is, the members of Pearl Jam seem like genuinely good people, and I can understand how structurally this is supposed to kick ass, yet this album does absolutely nothing for me whatsoever.
2
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Sun Mar 31 2024
Electric Prunes
The Electric Prunes
4
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Mon Apr 01 2024
For Your Pleasure
Roxy Music
4
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Tue Apr 02 2024
It Takes A Nation Of Millions To Hold Us Back
Public Enemy
Obviously an unimpeachable classic but I get even more enjoyment out of imagining what this sounded like to conservative parents in the late 80s. If it sounds like the album was made with a suite of dental tools to us, it must have been like a Victorian child exploding after tasting Doritos.
5
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Wed Apr 03 2024
Sail Away
Randy Newman
4
View Album
Thu Apr 04 2024
Ritual De Lo Habitual
Jane's Addiction
The most annoying album I’ve given four stars to.
4
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Fri Apr 05 2024
Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes
TV On The Radio
4
View Album
Sat Apr 06 2024
The Joshua Tree
U2
A quintessential two star album for me. I get why it’s Important but dear lord what a slog.
2
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Sun Apr 07 2024
In Utero
Nirvana
4
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Mon Apr 08 2024
Colour By Numbers
Culture Club
With all due respect to Boy George, an incredibly brave individual who did incredible work in normalizing queerness in a time notoriously unfriendly to the concept, this album is basically unlistenable.
1
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Tue Apr 09 2024
S&M
Metallica
I did not enjoy this but at least it was over 2 hours long.
1
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Wed Apr 10 2024
The Holy Bible
Manic Street Preachers
4
View Album
Thu Apr 11 2024
Dear Science
TV On The Radio
5
View Album
Fri Apr 12 2024
Oar
Alexander 'Skip' Spence
Wish I liked it mate.
2
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Sat Apr 13 2024
Brothers
The Black Keys
Imagine devoting your whole career to essentially making multiple demo reels proving you are the perfect band to make the opening song to a James Bond film and yet you remain unselected.
One star.
1
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Sun Apr 14 2024
MTV Unplugged In New York
Nirvana
5
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Mon Apr 15 2024
Something Else By The Kinks
The Kinks
4
View Album
Tue Apr 16 2024
Ellington at Newport
Duke Ellington
5
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Wed Apr 17 2024
Definitely Maybe
Oasis
Easily my favorite of the 800 or so britpop albums on this list, which only sometimes feels like saying “this pebble permanently lodged in my shoe is surprisingly smooth”
3
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Thu Apr 18 2024
Cut
The Slits
A perfectly for. Album and maybe one of the first punk albums by a pure nepobaby?
3
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Fri Apr 19 2024
Darkness on the Edge of Town
Bruce Springsteen
Obviously five stars, I don’t have anything else to say about it.
5
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Sat Apr 20 2024
Joan Armatrading
Joan Armatrading
4
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Sun Apr 21 2024
The Wall
Pink Floyd
A difficult thing for me to reconcile has been how so much of the music from the late 70s and 80s that I love was a response to the prog and hard rock from a few years earlier that I also love, but relistening to this bloviating mess has been shockingly helpful.
1
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Mon Apr 22 2024
Beautiful Freak
Eels
Not the best album from the 90s to get five stars from me, but it is the most album from the 90s to get five stars from me.
5
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Tue Apr 23 2024
Either Or
Elliott Smith
5
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Wed Apr 24 2024
Never Mind The Bollocks, Here’s The Sex Pistols
Sex Pistols
2
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Thu Apr 25 2024
Natty Dread
Bob Marley & The Wailers
4
View Album
Fri Apr 26 2024
Beauty And The Beat
The Go-Go's
4
View Album
Sat Apr 27 2024
Lust For Life
Iggy Pop
3
View Album
Sun Apr 28 2024
System Of A Down
System Of A Down
4
View Album
Mon Apr 29 2024
Getz/Gilberto
Stan Getz
3