479
Albums Rated
3.59
Average Rating
44%
Complete
610 albums remaining
Rating Distribution
Rating Timeline
Taste Profile
1980s
Favorite Decade
Funk
Favorite Genre
UK
Top Origin
Wordsmith
Rater Style ?
75
5-Star Albums
12
1-Star Albums
Breakdown
By Genre
By Decade
By Origin
Albums
You Love More Than Most
| Album | You | Global | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Atomizer
Big Black
|
5 | 2.72 | +2.28 |
|
Ys
Joanna Newsom
|
5 | 2.8 | +2.2 |
|
I Am a Bird Now
Antony and the Johnsons
|
5 | 2.84 | +2.16 |
|
A Walk Across The Rooftops
The Blue Nile
|
5 | 2.86 | +2.14 |
|
Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret
Soft Cell
|
5 | 2.87 | +2.13 |
|
Gris Gris
Dr. John
|
5 | 2.88 | +2.12 |
|
Picture Book
Simply Red
|
5 | 2.88 | +2.12 |
|
Maxwell's Urban Hang Suite
Maxwell
|
5 | 2.9 | +2.1 |
|
Merriweather Post Pavilion
Animal Collective
|
5 | 2.9 | +2.1 |
|
Walking Wounded
Everything But The Girl
|
5 | 2.97 | +2.03 |
You Love Less Than Most
| Album | You | Global | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Back In Black
AC/DC
|
1 | 3.86 | -2.86 |
|
My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy
Kanye West
|
1 | 3.42 | -2.42 |
|
Smash
The Offspring
|
1 | 3.37 | -2.37 |
|
Pretenders
Pretenders
|
1 | 3.35 | -2.35 |
|
Deloused in the Comatorium
The Mars Volta
|
1 | 3.2 | -2.2 |
|
Third/Sister Lovers
Big Star
|
1 | 2.79 | -1.79 |
|
Histoire De Melody Nelson
Serge Gainsbourg
|
1 | 2.75 | -1.75 |
|
G. Love And Special Sauce
G. Love & Special Sauce
|
1 | 2.74 | -1.74 |
|
Blood On The Tracks
Bob Dylan
|
2 | 3.68 | -1.68 |
|
Moving Pictures
Rush
|
2 | 3.59 | -1.59 |
Artists
Favorites
| Artist | Albums | Average |
|---|---|---|
| Radiohead | 6 | 4.33 |
| Pixies | 3 | 4.67 |
| Van Halen | 2 | 5 |
| The Flaming Lips | 2 | 5 |
| Prince | 2 | 5 |
| Elton John | 2 | 5 |
| Stevie Wonder | 2 | 5 |
| The Smashing Pumpkins | 2 | 5 |
| Public Enemy | 2 | 5 |
| Beatles | 5 | 4.2 |
| R.E.M. | 3 | 4.33 |
Least Favorites
| Artist | Albums | Average |
|---|---|---|
| Bob Dylan | 4 | 2.25 |
5-Star Albums (75)
View Album Wall
Popular Reviews
Tim Buckley
2/5
This album sounds so claustrophobic. Tim Buckley sounds like a white guy trying to be Bill Withers with a stuffy funky boogie. On top of that, his voice just kind of pisses me off. Pass!
8 likes
Electric Light Orchestra
4/5
If I was a teen when this was released I have no doubt that I’d have been obsessed with it. The songs are poppy and sound BIG…almost too big because after a while they all sound the same The production still sounds epic. I once read a quote from John Lennon stating that had the Beatles not broken up, they would have ended up sounding just like ELO. I can hear that. Lots to love here even if some of these songs are over played on classic rock radio.
2 likes
Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five
5/5
Early rap has a pioneer thrill to it. It feels like a hot summer day in New York City in the early 80’s and everything is about to explode into the biggest party you’ll ever see. It’s all in front of you. This album in particular feels thoroughly groundbreaking with its cool Soul, early Rap, 80’s synth manipulations and use of samples like Genius Of Love and Another One Bites The Dust. On Dreamin’ when he said “this one goes out to Stevie Wonder…because he’s the greatest” I said out loud YES! He IS!! I mean it’s such a simple and sincere sentiment to express their love for that legendary musician. The world needs more love fests like it. After repeated listens, this record holds way the hell up. 5 stars!
2 likes
Isaac Hayes
4/5
This album is smooth and creamy. Digesting a double album soundtrack should be daunting, but this one was quite pleasant and the time flew by. When the 19 1/2 minute funk fest of Do Your Thing came on, the party hit. Otherwise it’s mostly Sunday morning chill. It’s the first day of a vacation. It’s Friday night with the entire weekend in front of you. Glorious!
2 likes
Bob Dylan
2/5
Yawn. I know I’m supposed to love Bob Dylan and particularly this album. I don’t. It’s boring to me.
2 likes
1-Star Albums (12)
All Ratings
The Police
4/5
Day 1. The Police are an excellent band. 3.5/5
Ramones
4/5
Deep Purple
3/5
Jimi Hendrix
3/5
As with all legacy musicians, I respect what they have contributed towards the progression of music and art, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to connect with me. Electric Ladyland has its moments: “Voodoo Chile” and “1983” are cool, lengthy jams, and I would put “Burning of the Midnight Lamp” on a best of playlist, but beyond that, I’d need to devote more attention to it to see if it really is a timeless classic or just overhyped by time and circumstance (his death).
James Brown
4/5
Lively, impeccable recording. You can feel the energy in the room. A nice quick introduction to James Browns’ talent.
ZZ Top
4/5
This is a ZZ Top that I haven’t experienced before. Their 80’s hits are so ubiquitous that I can start singing any of them without a cue (Legs, Sharp Dressed Man, Gimme All Your Lovin’).
Tres Hombres is bluesy, testosterone fueled rock with for tasty riffs, crunchy guitar tones, solid songs and a great album flow. I’ll be putting this album in a regular rotation for now.
Guided By Voices
2/5
On paper, I should be rapturously praising this album. I’m all about mid 90’s alt rock, and I consider that time frame to be the ultimate musical renaissance of my young life after coming off of a diet solely comprised of slick 80’s radio pop, which I truthfully still adore.
Unfortunately this album falls into Pavement (the band) land for me: Style over substance. Attitude over ambition. (Or maybe I still just can’t forgive Stephen Malkmus, lead singer of Pavement, for dissing my beloved Smashing Pumpkins in the mid 90’s… Whatever. To each their own. They are VERY different bands!)
There are a few cool moments which I’d likely come back to: “Closer You Are” sounds like a lost Beatles song, (which makes sense since this entire album feels like it’s aiming to be the lazier slacker version of ‘Abbey Road’s side two). “The Ugly Vision” is a creepy acoustic number even though it is undercooked, and “Move Away”, “Hit” and “My Valuable Hunting Knife” are fun and accessible with a dash of oddness.
All in all, this album could grow on me, but I can’t see myself coming back to the whole project with so many other great albums, musicians and genres to taste and fall in love with.
The Thrills
4/5
This album is some lovely sunny 00’s California pop. I’ve never heard of The Thrills. The sometimes fun, sometimes chill vibe has me craving a beach, a sunset, a cooler full of seltzers, vegan volcano nachos and good friends. Nowhere else to go, nothing else to do.
Pixies
5/5
Black Francis’ violent scream! Those loud/soft dynamics! Super cool Kim Deal on bass!! The Pixies’ Surfer Rosa is a stone cold classic album whose influence can be heard everywhere: Bush, Everclear, David Bowie, Veruca Salt, Green Day, Weezer, The Breeders (Kim Deals awesome post Pixies band), even R.E.M, and many many more.?
Tony’s Theme makes me giggle with 13 year old glee. Something Against You and Broken Face are cathartic violence without actually hitting anyone. River Euphrates is rolling bliss. Gigantic is the best song ever made on the topic of big D. Five big huge stars for one of the best albums of the 80’s that ended up defining the 90’s.
Waylon Jennings
4/5
Excellent, tuneful album. Waylon Jennings and other old school country music reminds me of my grandparents.
Beatles
4/5
My favorite Beatle anecdote comes from a random YouTube interview with Paul McCartney that I watched sometime in the last few years of him saying that his grandson was gloating over beating Paul in Guitar Hero on a Beatles song, to which Paul responded with “well I wrote the song, you little shit, so there!”
I prefer post “A Hard Day’s Night” Beatles albums, but the earlier records are a remarkable reminder that a sugar pop boy band are not just in it for the money and has the ability to reinvent the wheel later on.
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
3/5
1/5
Definitely not my thing.
Korn
2/5
I had this album back in the day and really enjoy Got The Life and Freak On A Leash. Like Limp Bizkit, the angry, aggressive vibe isn’t always my thing, but this album feels more thought out than Chocolate Starfish…
N.W.A.
3/5
I’ve been getting into old school rap and R&B a lot in the past few years. Straight Outta Compton has been on my list to listen for some time. Good album, but I prefer their east coast contemporaries, Public Enemy. Oddly, this is great camping music.
The Mamas & The Papas
5/5
Ah the sweet life giving harmonies of the Mamas and the Papas. I know most of these songs from a compilation I bought a few years ago. Timeless perfection.
Jane's Addiction
4/5
For me, the real beginning of the 90’s rock renaissance began with Jane’s Addiction, not Nirvana. Jane’s still feel fresh, raw, real, and very cool. The groove on Been Caught Stealing is blissful and very clearly inspired “ I Am One”, the first song on Smashing Pumpkins’ ‘Gish’ in 1991, another album that could be described as being fresh, raw, real, and still very cool. This album pointed the way forward in its time, and has aged really well. There was truly something special going on in Rock music between 1988 and 1991!
My Bloody Valentine
4/5
Loveless is all about guitar texture to attain enlightened bliss. I’ve been listening to it for over 20 years and it does take a few spins to hear and enjoy the deeply embedded harmonies and melodies. It’s also one of those records that every pretentious music critic holds up and loudly declares to be the epitome of genius, art and influence, when in reality, it is good art, subject to each persons valid personal opinion. It is definitely not for everyone. Side 1 is interesting with When You Sleep being the clear standout. Side 2 is unstoppable with stone cold classics like Sometimes, Come In Alone, and Soon. All in all, I definitely dig it, but there were better albums made in the 90’s.
Radiohead
4/5
Amnesiac is a fractured, jarring, glorious mess. It contains some of Radiohead’s very best moments (PYRAMID SONG, You And Whose Army?, Knives Out, Life In A Glass House) next to songs that, even 23 years later, never sound like anything more than strange little experimental demos (Hunting Bears, Pulk/Pull Revolving Doors, Amnesiac Morning Bell). This is why it has always been tagged as leftovers from Kid A, which in reality, it is. As an album, it comes nowhere near the mind bogglingly consistent heights of OK Computer, Kid A or The Bends for me, but it is still Radiohead, and no other band I know can make leftovers sound like compelling modern abstract art the way they do.
Madness
3/5
Lots of really fun earworms here. “Mr. Speaker” is especially tasty. Madness should’ve been a bigger band in America than they were.
The Slits
4/5
This album could have been released today and it would still be fresh. It sounds like some indie group out of the Pacific Northwest. There must have been some strange art school ethic blowing through the minds of young musicians in 1979. It exists in the same vein as the B-52’s first album, which also came out that year. I feel like in the last year of each decade we get music that is truly pushing boundaries in anticipation for the coming decade. It never ends up defining the next decade but it sure does make compelling art!
Elliott Smith
2/5
Elliot Smith was christened an indie saint upon his death years ago, and I’ve spent that time trying to hear and understand the greatness, but I don’t. His delivery is so droll and completely uninteresting to me. His songs put me to sleep. He’s been compared to other artists I adore, and I’m just left scratching my head, trying to figure out if we’re all listening to the same thing. Maybe someday it will click, but for now I’ll pass.
Red Hot Chili Peppers
3/5
The RHCP haven’t aged well for me. Musically they’re awesome. Anthony Kiedas as a singer and lyricist is just not my thing. He brings it all down most of the time. This album and Blood Sugar Sex Magik are both still good though.
The Dandy Warhols
3/5
Sounds like typical 90’s alt rock. I can hear Bob Mould/Husker Du, 60’s psychedelic, a pinch of electronica and a big dash of slacker. Definitely drags in spots, and could easily be trimmed to 40 minutes, but overall a good time.
Leonard Cohen
4/5
Interesting… I thought “First We Take Manhattan” was an R.E.M. song but it turns out to be a cover of Leonard. Cool! Leonard Cohen is another artist I’ve heard so much about over the years and I’ve felt he’s overhyped. This album is the best I’ve heard from him. The songs are solid and rich, and he sounds like a middle aged French playboy reminiscing over lovers past with a bottle of whiskey and a deep sadness in his heart.
Fatboy Slim
4/5
You could date when this music was made down to the month, it sounds so much like a quintessential late 90’s electronica raver revolution record. Those were thrilling times! The future was now. So much new music felt boundary pushing and cutting edge. I feel like that concept has sadly been lost to cheap disposable music in the 21st century.
This album is rock solid. The last three songs really take you somewhere out of this world. For similar music, check out The Chemical Brothers, The Prodigy, Moby or Daft Punk.
Solomon Burke
3/5
Bruce Springsteen
3/5
Nebraska sounds like the state it’s named for: sparse, lonely, can take forever to get through. For context of how shocking of a change this album is in Bruce’s catalog, it sits between 1980’s raucous double album “The River” and 1984’s zeitgeist “Born In The U.S.A.”. This is not my favorite Springsteen album but it does house one of the best songs he ever made in “Atlantic City”. Other highlights are “Johnny 99” and “Highway Patrolman”. It also shows that Bruce is truly a great storyteller who focuses on everyday, unassuming people with remarkable histories.
Madonna
4/5
I’m a little surprised that this Madonna album is on the list. There are 4 or 5 true classics from her and this one doesn’t measure up to them. That being said, this is still a very good album, and possibly great if you take off the more embarrassing moments, like the “Beautiful Stranger” retread of “Amazing”, and the career low point of “Nobody’s Perfect”, which became the template for her next album, the still awful “American Life”. This is also the point where she became obsessed with autotune bullshit, which completely ruins vocals 9 times out of 10 to my ears. It doesn’t sound futuristic anymore. It’s a lazy studio trick (that many use to mask the fact that they can’t actually sing, except Madonna has proven that she really can sing so it’s pointless) showcasing a lack of ideas and pointing out that she is no longer driving ahead of the curve, but following others.
I’m a super Madonna fan from everything she put out between her 1983 self titled debut album and 1994’s “Bedtime Stories”. Pure magical brilliance. I can more than tolerate 1998’s “Ray of Light”, and this record. Beyond this, it becomes a wasteland of overestimating relevance with a few moments of being good but never truly great again.
The Temptations
4/5
This sounds like the soundtrack to a Fat Albert caper in NYC. Gritty and funky. “Papa Was a Rollin’ Stone” is a highlight. I also hear the inspired connection of shoo boo shoo bop on “I Ain’t Got Nothin’” with the Fugees 1996 song “Zealots”. I love it!
Khaled
3/5
I never thought I’d hear an Arabic version of “Imagine”, but here we are. This album is full of strong melodies and pretty great song construction. A nice surprise!
The Youngbloods
3/5
Ive never heard of this album or this band. It’s a generous hippie buffet. That jazz section of On Sir Francis Drake took me by joyous surprise. Sunlight would be the perfect chill soundtrack to the sun lighting up a plant filled bedroom on a perfect spring morning. All in all, this is great weed music for a chill, no worries type of day.
Lou Reed
3/5
I’d love to love Lou Reed more than I do. So many great musicians and bands were born from the amazing aesthetic of The Velvet Underground. When I try to get into the source material though, I just feel dissatisfied. It lacks a fullness that I crave. Plus, Lou’s voice is too droll for me. Walk On The Wild Side is great though.
Mudhoney
4/5
I wonder if the title is a nod to The Moody Blues album, Every Good Boy Deserves Favour? Mudhoney is pure grunge. Raw, underground, and so highly influential in their local scene that totemic albums like Nirvana’s Nevermind, and Pearl Jam’s Ten exist partly because of them. Get out your flannel and Birkenstocks and go a month without washing your hair, because it’s a rainy early 90’s day in Seattle and this is your soundtrack, blasting out of your Dodge Horizon’s crummy cassette player.
Jimi Hendrix
4/5
There are a lot of great songs on this album. Highlights for me are Hey Joe, May This Be Love, Fire, and Foxey Lady.
Roxy Music
3/5
Elbow
3/5
Not too bad. Enjoyed the dynamics.
Moby Grape
4/5
Rockin’ and groovy!
Michael Jackson
4/5
This is the one those records that it seemed like EVERYONE had on vinyl in the mid 80’s. It’s definitely an undisputed classic but it’s nowhere near being “the best album of all time”, even though it’s one of the highest selling records. Billie Jean is a perfect song. Thriller is king of Halloween. My favorite is actually one of the only songs on this album that was not a hit…The Lady In My Life. Smooth and velvety. I wish MJ had more like it.
Van Halen
5/5
Lots of great songs on this fantastic album. It still sounds fresh and important. This music defines the late 70’s and early 80’s culture that I grew up in. Nobody slays like Eddie Van Halen. His importance in rock music history can never be understated.
Kelela
2/5
Yawn. This sounds like every other song/album being made right now. Not my thing. Next!
AC/DC
1/5
I avoided the last AC/DC album on this list, but I gave this a spin hoping to change my opinion on them. Nope. They suck. Like royally suck to me. Every song sounds the same and the lead singers voice always comes off sounding like he’s stuck on the toilet trying desperately to squeeze one out. Not a fan.
Kraftwerk
4/5
Kraftwerk are legendary pioneers of electronic music. They’ve worked out a futuristic, yet retro aesthetic. Most of their albums are worth a few listens, especially Trans Atlantic Express.
Maxwell
5/5
Deep neo-soulful night grooves. This, along with Sade, is exactly what my soul needs right now in 2024. So good on first listen. 5 big stars!!
The Cure
4/5
This was the first The Cure record I ever bought. It is definitely not joyfully poppy as some of their later work could be. It feels as sparse and terrifying as an abandoned haunted farmhouse in a bleak winter landscape. Highly recommended! Highlights include Play For Today, M, and In Your House.
Booker T. & The MG's
3/5
Fun early rock n’ roll instrumentals. Enjoyable but not something I’d come back to.
Nine Inch Nails
4/5
The first time I heard “Closer” was at Chu’s night club in Bloomington in 1995. It felt instantly iconic. Plus, everyone on the dance floor lost their damn minds when it came on. It still sounds like nothing else from that time. I have also always LOVED the chaotic rage of “March of the Pigs”. It put to music what my brain felt at times. This album is one of the best of the 90’s because it stood alone in its own weirdo corner raging and plotting revenge against the grunge jocks who overpowered the rest of the classroom. It truly embodies the spirit of 90’s music and culture.
Basement Jaxx
3/5
I enjoyed the beats and vibe of this record, but back to autotune. Yuck! Fortunately it’s used in a way that benefits the music here, and is not used just for the sake of using it. This album is not the total shit show other musicians make of their music by over using it.
Bob Dylan
3/5
I imagine hearing Bob Dylan back in ‘63 was a revelation, considering his poetry combined with the stripped down acoustic presentation works so well. But I wasn’t alive then and I grew up with better production, fully rounded out electric rock n roll bands, and poetry that was just as good (Though “Masters of War” hits extra hard!). Also, his voice does NOTHING for me. He’s just another good/great songwriter whose style is just another color existing among all the other intriguing musical colors I grew up with. Nothing here is revelatory for me.
The Byrds
4/5
I just watched a documentary on Amazon the other day about Laurel Canyon, and The Byrds feature prominently in the first part. They were the first band to drop root in that idyllic heaven in California, followed by totemic artists such as The Doors, The Mamas and the Papas, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Crosby Stills and Nash, and later The Eagles. The music here sums up the feeling of an endless perfect summer, gardens full of colorful flowers, and sunlight coming through a plant populated living room window. It’s almost certain the album cover was taken at a band members house in the canyon. What a time and place to be alive!
The Incredible String Band
3/5
The Beach Boys
4/5
Simon & Garfunkel
5/5
Soft and sweet. This sound epitomizes the 60’s utopian dream with social commentary peppered in. Excellent record!
Violent Femmes
3/5
This album exists completely out of time to me. Released in 1983, it sounds more 90’s than most 90’s albums, but also retains an acoustic vibe that says it could’ve been made at any time during the past 40 years. Blister In The Sun shows up often in pop culture. I recall it being a favorite song to soundtrack angsty 90’s television to. All in all a good, but not really great record.
Julian Cope
4/5
This album is too long, yet the songwriting is superb, so it never really overstays its welcome. Very early DIY 90’s sound. I’ll definitely come back again!
The Modern Lovers
4/5
I hear touches of modern indie rock mixed in with The Velvet Underground. it sounds fresh. Enjoyable!
Bob Dylan
2/5
Yawn. I know I’m supposed to love Bob Dylan and particularly this album. I don’t. It’s boring to me.
Dusty Springfield
5/5
So chill. Dusty is a sweet sweet vibe. This album sounds like the feeling of waking up fully rested on a sunny Saturday morning in May. Her voice is so rich and perfect. Yum!
Sparks
3/5
There’s a lot of gusto in the delivery of these songs. It reminds me of the band Pulp. This is a cool discovery. And, it came out the year I was born, which is a plus!
Daft Punk
3/5
Blondie
3/5
Jerry Lee Lewis
3/5
Elliott Smith
2/5
The Doors
4/5
Pavement
3/5
Stan Getz
5/5
Definitely one of the best jazz records ever made!
The Flaming Lips
5/5
This and 1999’s The Soft Bulletin are The Flaming Lips high water marks for me. Interestingly, they were a more guitar bass drums band up through 1995’s near equally excellent Clouds Taste Metallic until they did sound experiments in parking lots where they had many multiple people synchronize different cassettes to be played in tandem with each other to create all encompassing soundscapes. In fact, their 1997 album Zaireeka is actually four discs meant to be played at the same time. Only The Flaming Lips could pull that type of crazy awesomeness off. Yoshimi is the logical extension of all that but in a very digestible form with songs that touch deeply on death and mortality. Definitely a best album of the 00’s.
Stereo MC's
4/5
I enjoy the Stereo MC’s very early 90’s British electronic/rap vibe. It seemed so cutting edge at the time. This actually sounds like the soundtrack to MTV interviewing twenty-something’s about their sex lives for one of those “hip” 90’s sex documentaries they were so keen on producing back then.
I would put this on to chill to or clean the house, or to reminisce about an MTV approved life I didn’t have at that time.
Tim Buckley
2/5
This album sounds so claustrophobic. Tim Buckley sounds like a white guy trying to be Bill Withers with a stuffy funky boogie. On top of that, his voice just kind of pisses me off. Pass!
Beatles
4/5
Radiohead
5/5
Sigh. The first truly great Radiohead album. Many more to follow, but this captures the band at their rockinest, chunkiest best. Many people will tell you much later albums are better than this but they are wrong. Take a look at stone cold classic hit songs like “Fake Plastic Trees” and “High and Dry”. So much emotion, so sad, and yet thoroughly uplifting. “Just” is an exercise in cramming as many chords into a song as possible without it sounding even slightly off. “My Iron Lung” is a remake of “Creep”, and also a scathing commentary on the throwaway nature that the band felt that “Creep” was and the general public’s willingness to suck on whatever crap is thrown at them (even though Creep is in actuality a perfect, timeless song). It is also the beating, raging heart of this album. And if that wasn’t enough, they end the record with the terrifying “Street Spirit (Fade Out)”… a song that takes you on a guided tour of the horror of humanity, then ends it with the answer to ALL of it… “Immerse your soul in love”. It’s the only option to get through life without losing your fucking mind. Big BRAVO Radiohead. You’ve given me so so much in this life beginning with this album, and I thank you from the depths of my soul.
PS. I spent a day in Ireland listening to this record while staring wistfully out at The Irish Sea. “(Nice Dream)” is now the permanent perfect soundtrack to that memory.
Fun Lovin' Criminals
4/5
I enjoyed this album far more than I thought I would going into it. It will easily go into regular rotation for me. Beyond “Scooby Snacks”, the hit I’ve already heard many times, the album takes to a nice hip hop chill easily digested at summer picnics, camping and chill days at home with nothing to do.
Antony and the Johnsons
5/5
This stunning piece of art came to me upon its release in 2005. Antony’s voice is both delicate and powerful. “Fistful of Love” is easily one of my all time favorite songs. Antony’s wild emotion in the last minute of the song always wrecks me. The emotional “Spiralling” follows and the tears flow hard. The message behind this album is captured powerfully in its cover: Candy Darling, legendary Andy Warhol actress, on her death bed in 1974 from cancer caused by experimental hormone shots to transition physically from male to female. She lived her truth out loud, to death, with grace, dignity and strength. Candy had more courage in her pinky fingernail than most people can muster up over lifetimes. She may have died young, but she won the test of life in every way possible. Every song on this perfect record is about the joys and heartbreak of the queer experience and rising high within that glorious colorful light. It brings tears to my eyes every single time. Easy 5+ stars and definitive top 3 albums of the 2000’s, and top 10 albums of all time for me.
The Jesus And Mary Chain
3/5
I once saw a Pitchfork review describe this album as the sound of someone cutting glass at high volume in the building next to you. True. Not my cup of tea, but at least “Just Like Honey” is a stone cold classic song.
Pulp
3/5
Rush
2/5
I just cannot get into Rush. I respect Prog and what it’s trying to achieve but this is just not for me. Pass.
Tom Tom Club
4/5
Fun and funky. New York in the early 80’s must have been so wonderful to experience.
Radiohead
4/5
This is the Radiohead album that so many super fans will tell you is their best. I am NOT one of them. “In Rainbows” would be Radiohead perfecting their post “Kid A” sound into a totally digestible piece. There is nothing even remotely bad about this album, but if I’m comparing it to “The Bends”, “Kid A”, or the always timely perfection of “OK Computer”, this doesn’t measure up. I don’t feel the goosebumps rise, or the uncontrollable awe that those three records bring to me, except on “Weird Fishes” and “Reckoner”, and on a good day, “Nude”. The rest feels like Radiohead by numbers.
I’m actually way more in love with their next album, 2011’s “The King of Limbs”, but that won’t show up on this list because the critical mass of Radiohead fans and instant internet culture banned that to the garbage bin for being too short and too weird when it first came out.
Also it’s worth noting that when this album was released, Radiohead issued a second disc of B-sides along with it. Those are so much better than the album proper. “Bangers and Mash”, “Down Is the New Up”, “Go Slowly” and “4 Minute Warning” could easily have replaced four lower songs on here and made this a truly great record.
The Cramps
3/5
I love The Cramps for their campy fun. They fall into whatever genre you want to call them, The B-52’s, and The Slits. Rockabilly. Or Post Punk I guess. It’s like they are all weird for weird sake.
Sonic Youth
3/5
Good noise rock album. I prefer Sonic Youth’s 1990 album “Goo” over this, but still an excellent trip into New York’s 1980’s underground art rock scene.
Kanye West
1/5
Kacey Musgraves
3/5
R.E.M.
5/5
Automatic For The People has been in my steady rotation for over 30 years because the songs are simply SO good. They miraculously never get old or tiresome. The high quality of songwriting on this record is astounding to comprehend. I still consider Michael Stipe’s plain, yet powerfully rich voice to be the best I’ve ever heard.
This album is a meditation on death and mortality which becomes more pertinent the older we get.
While I don’t consider this to be my personal favorite R.E.M. record, it is ultimately their most cohesive collection of songs. It is also considered the high water mark of their catalog in critical circles.
Perfect songs include: Drive, Try Not To Breathe, Everybody Hurts, Sweetness Follows, Monty Got A Raw Deal, Star Me Kitten, Nightswimming, and Find The River.
Fela Kuti
4/5
This live Fela Kuti album is impeccably recorded and sounds wonderful. The studio records I’ve heard from him sound claustrophobic and yet this sounds loose and free. It captures his spirit well. It could be a soundtrack to summer.
On a similar live album note, I would also recommend Elton John’s “17-11-70”. Elton is a genius and his studio albums are incredible, but this particular live album sounds amazing, and it’s recorded as if you’re standing right in front of him at a show. It captures the true energy of Elton John’s brilliant early 70’s music better than the studio albums.
The Beta Band
3/5
The Lemonheads
3/5
So alt-rock it hurts. The Lemonheads epitomize the scruffy indie band playing in a dingy basement lit with old Christmas lights while their girlfriends watch them from the shabby beer stained/cigarette burned couch. That’s not a bad thing. They are more of a vibe to me than a good band. This album is mid level decent. It is not comparable to far better alt rock bands from the same time period.
Yes
3/5
Frank Ocean
4/5
Joy Division
3/5
Marvin Gaye
4/5
Dr. John
5/5
I wasn’t sure how I felt about this music until I read Apple’s description of it. New Orleans swamp meets 1960’s San Francisco psychedelic. It puts it into perspective, and I wish I’d had this in my life two weeks ago when I was actually in New Orleans. It is a truly deep and dark psychedelic experience, and the kind of oddity that I’m always searching for and thrilled to find.
Sly & The Family Stone
3/5
Louis Prima
4/5
A swinging good time! Great for cocktail parties, and cooking, and getting your man’s coffee ready for him in the morning before he goes off to the office for a hard days work, and putting on your lipstick to go out to make a visit to your meat man.
Eurythmics
4/5
Sweet Dreams, the song, is essentially a zeitgeist song of the 1980’s. It sonically captures what everyone thinks the decade was all about. It's a lightning in a bottle perfect song that used the current technology of the time to create a futuristic, yet very 80’s sounding masterpiece. The rest of the album gives a glimpse into the reality of the time…synths, drum machines, solid songwriting and exotic androgyny. Nothing else here comes close to the perfection of Sweet Dreams. It is still a solid album through and through.
Beck
3/5
Eagles
4/5
I’m not the biggest Eagles fan, but I’ve spent time with this album in the past and it is a solid work.
Thelonious Monk
4/5
Dirty Projectors
3/5
Funkadelic
5/5
4/5
I’ve always been told I should listen to Muse because I’m a huge Smashing Pumpkins and Radiohead fan. I’ve heard bits and pieces in the past and my impression is the same then as it is now. They write excellent melodies and instrumentals, but the lead singer is pushing WAY TOO HARD. It has a quality that says “ look how powerful of a singer I am! LOOK DAMMIT!!”, Without sounding like the songs need that. Billy Corgan succeeds because he writes super complex and beautiful songs FOR his less than stellar voice, and Thom Yorke’s voice doesn’t need to even try because it’s just naturally perfect. I suppose if I invest more time with Muse, I can forgive this. Like I said, the music here is pretty interesting. Time will tell.
Metallica
4/5
Memories of Senior year in high school. This album, along with U2’s Achtung Baby, and the zeitgeist behemoth Nevermind by Nirvana were everywhere. I feel a bit of pride in knowing that I graduated during a peak year in music history.
Pretenders
1/5
Yawn. This album is so boring and overrated to me. The vocal delivery is droll, and the songs go absolutely nowhere. I find myself feeling this way about many albums released in 1979. Definitely a low point in music history for me. Hard pass.
Paul Simon
4/5
George Michael
5/5
This album ages like the finest wine. Every song hits that perfectly produced 80’s sweet spot by avoiding drum machine/keyboard cliches that were oh so popular at the time in favor of a timeless bass/keyboard urban production that feels organic.
While listening to this recently I realized that it just might be a concept album which starts with having faith that the right person will maybe eventually show up, to going through the beginning, middle and end phases of a toxic relationship.
George: Thank you for creating a perfect pop album that still sounds relevant and modern nearly 40 years later. My opinion states that this album and Madonna’s “Like A Prayer” are the two best records of the 80’s.
4/5
This is often listed as the best album of all time. I get its historical importance and impact on modern music, but I also think that you had to be there. It’s great, but I’ll take Revolver and Abbey Road over this for a more enjoyable Beatles experience.
Led Zeppelin
5/5
Nearly every song on this album is so overplayed on classic rock radio, you’d think it is a greatest hits record. I would say this is Zep’s most consistent piece of work. Definitely their most totemic, god like work.
Brian Wilson
3/5
I bought this upon release in 2004 while riding the internet music media hype machine. The Beach Boys/Brian Wilson are certainly interesting and groundbreaking but they’ve always come off as too comical and child-like for me to take them seriously. They lack an outright cool factor that other bands like The Beatles and The Rolling Stones wallow in. This album is not bad at all, its good for what it is trying to be…it’s just not the upper echelon musical experience old music critics claim it to be.
Radiohead
5/5
OK Computer is a work of such depth and complexity, layer upon layer, peeling back like an onion, that there are still new things to discover in it even after 27 years of obsessive listening and worship.
And yet, its message is so clearly communicated. The modern world is bullshit. We as humans have sold our souls to capitalism, for 24/7 instant food and entertainment. Humans will stomp on each other to be richer, to be seen as cooler, smarter…better. This album reads corporate culture for the filth it is.
The production here is unbelievably marvelous. Radiohead were going for the spaces between notes on Miles Davis’ Bitches Brew, and they nailed it, particularly on Subterranean Homesick Alien, a gorgeous meditation on wishing to escape the world.
Guitarist Jonny Greenwood took 16 violins tuned a quarter step apart, all playing the same note, and made the eerie outro to Climbing Up The Walls, a song about the voices inside the heads of schizophrenic patients clawing to get out, yet there is no escape. Open up your skull, I’ll be there, climbing up the walls. A blood curdling scream from inside a diseased brain. This is followed, geniously, by the child like bed time melody of No Surprises. You are deceived into thinking everything will now be better after that horror show, but then Thom starts singing about all the little defeats of life so plaintively that you feel every ounce of the loss in his soul. Alternatively on Karma Police, when he sings the last “I lost myself” and draws out the note, it feels like he’s crying and crumpling into a ball of despair. It’s heartbreaking and so fucking real. Then the song disintegrates into a virus infected computer.
The best song on here for me is Let Down. On first few listens it sounds like an average alt rock meditation about being let down, stomped into the ground, and hoping to someday grow wings, yet it builds and builds, listen after listen, layer upon layer to such incredible heights that you can feel your soul actually grow wings, fly above it all and forgive this life for being what it is. Miraculous songwriting. I’m still waiting for someone, anyone to try and top it.
I could go on for days. I’ve listened and obsessed so much that I can’t listen and obsess like I once did. I might not feel so strongly about this album had I not felt every emotion he’s singing about at some point in my life. This is a perfect album. No missed notes. No mistakes. Its intentions land squarely at ground zero. Pure, glorious art.
Charles Mingus
4/5
One of my favorite quips from reading Charles Mingus’ biography was the story of how he would stop a show if people were talking or clinking glasses, and if they didn’t cease the noise, he would pick up the mic stand and throw it violently into the audience demanding silence. A bit too far? Yes, but they sure shut the hell up after that. He was there to put on a show and felt it was highly disrespectful to interrupt it by not paying attention. That energy absolutely makes its way into his avant-garde jazz.
Charles plays an aggressive bass on 4 very well constructed ballet movements that feel graceful and violent at the same time. This is top notch jazz for anyone who doesn’t know the genre well and is looking for a more unconventional place to begin exploring beyond the well worn standards.
The Doors
5/5
The Doors are the OG of psych rock and they still sounds incredible. The stars here are Jim Morrison of course, and that organ playing, which creates a dark purple acid trip swirl.
The Auteurs
3/5
It’s always interesting listening to music from a time period that I love, but I have never even remotely heard of the band. This is some moderately good alt rock that drips 1993. Maybe in some parallel universe, this album is talked about over 30 years later like it resides in Valhalla. Parallel universes will warp your mind if you think about them too deeply, just like the concept of eternity. Go read “The Midnight Library” by Matt Haig for more on that.
Prince
5/5
I received the Purple Rain cassette for Christmas, 1984. In hindsight it was probably a little brave of my parents to get that for me as a 10 year-old, considering some of the lyrics travel into risqué territory (Darling Nikki), but they surely didn’t know that when they bought it. Purple Rain is a universally regarded brilliant and perfect album, so digging further into Prince is weird because it reveals that there are exactly zero of his other albums that sound anything like it.
The closest you’re going to come would be 1999, created the year before in 1983. It has the big pop radio hits but instead of the classic rock all-time great album vibe of Purple Rain, it presents an early 80s dance/club aesthetic that truly rocks a persons world once they get into it. Many of these songs stretch past 6 or 7 minutes and dig their 5” purple velvet heels deeply into the groove.
This album is just as important as Purple Rain, and once you get into this as well, you’ll discover that Prince’s catalog is full of mind blowing albums that never repeat themselves, that don’t always take themselves seriously, will get a little (or a lot) nasty, and will reward repeated listens ten-fold.
The Avalanches
3/5
This is not what I expected. I thought they were some rock band along the lines of The Strokes. Very pleasantly surprised but I don’t know if it’s intriguing enough to come back to very often.
Nirvana
5/5
Elton John
5/5
Elton John is a treasure. His 70’s records are among the best made by anybody that decade. Goodbye Yellow Brick Road is a beast with some of his biggest hits, but also some of his better deep cuts such as Sweet Painted Lady and Dirty Little Girl. For more Elton greatness, I’d recommend Madman Across The Water, Blue Moves, Honky Chateau, and Tumbleweed Connection. What a gift of a musician!!
Amy Winehouse
3/5
Iggy Pop
4/5
Iggy Pop and David Bowie, whom Iggy worked with deeply here, go hand in hand at this point in their careers. They may as well just be considered the Hall & Oates of the 70’s, only more inventive of a world unique to them and not necessarily following others (no shade to H&O…I love them). The Idiot is a fantastic escapade into art dance and club music. The astounding thing about Iggy is that he was a pioneer of punk music in the late 60’s with his band The Stooges, and later became a pioneer of electronica music with his work here with Bowie. This music, along with bands like Kraftwerk led to the electronica and goth explosions in the 80’s and 90’s. This album is definitely a very important historical document and worth every second of a persons attention.
Norah Jones
2/5
Janet Jackson
5/5
I wore the hell out of this cassette in the late 80’s. It’s the Janet album I always go back to. There is not one bad song, though I will say that Escapade has a hissing sound in it that always makes me feel queasy. I can’t explain that. This is Janet at her best: catchy dance bliss.
Tom Waits
4/5
Def Leppard
4/5
Johnny Cash
5/5
Nirvana
4/5
The Stooges
4/5
Pixies
5/5
Quicksilver Messenger Service
4/5
Screaming Trees
4/5
Excellent grunge from when grunge was dying out. “All I Know” and “Sworn and Broken” are excellent songs that I return to frequently.
Kate Bush
4/5
I don’t love Kate Bush. I get the appeal for many but overall she is not for me. That being said, this album is decent. Nothing special, just mildly interesting 80’s art pop.
My Bloody Valentine
4/5
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
5/5
Wow! Just wow! Everything I’ve heard from Nick Cave couldn’t have prepared me for this album. It’s almost surreal how much I instantly fell for this. His impeccable songwriting, those background female vocalists, the topic at hand…all extremely well done. My ONLY gripe is that it’s too long, but that can be said for any double album. It doesn’t take away from the overall greatness of what’s being offered. Big huge highlight is the song Breathless. It is an instantly perfect favorite. I will be diving deeper into this record.
R.E.M.
5/5
Spiritualized
4/5
Tracy Chapman
4/5
David Bowie
4/5
Bruce Springsteen
3/5
Sufjan Stevens
5/5
Kendrick Lamar
3/5
Paul McCartney
4/5
Patti Smith
4/5
David Bowie
4/5
George Harrison
5/5
Talking Heads
3/5
Culture Club
4/5
The Stooges
4/5
A Tribe Called Quest
4/5
Cyndi Lauper
5/5
Beatles
5/5
The Cure
3/5
Talking Heads
3/5
Pink Floyd
5/5
Duran Duran
4/5
Portishead
5/5
Pixies
4/5
Björk
5/5
Teenage Fanclub
3/5
Jimi Hendrix
4/5
Air
5/5
Neil Young
4/5
David Bowie
3/5
Dr. Dre
3/5
Miles Davis
4/5
Elton John
5/5
Janelle Monáe
4/5
David Bowie
5/5
Pink Floyd
4/5
Tricky
4/5
Queens of the Stone Age
3/5
Jeff Buckley
3/5
Foo Fighters
4/5
Metallica
4/5
Franz Ferdinand
4/5
Paul McCartney and Wings
4/5
Stevie Wonder
5/5
Tears For Fears
5/5
ZZ Top
4/5
Fleetwood Mac
5/5
The Black Keys
3/5
Pentangle
4/5
The Rolling Stones
4/5
Kate Bush
5/5
True to its name, this is a sensual (late 80’s) ride. Luscious instrumentation throughout, it feels like a bare assed romp through silk sheets. My only beef with Kate is that her songs veer into the obtuse abstract realm just for the sake of it. This album is very well executed though, so it’s totally forgivable, and even welcomed because it suits these songs, unlike others I’ve heard from her.
OutKast
4/5
The Notorious B.I.G.
4/5
Van Halen
5/5
Al Green
4/5
The xx
3/5
LCD Soundsystem
4/5
The United States Of America
4/5
I LOVE late 60’s psych rock. This band is new, excellent discovery for me. Their sound is experimental and wide. Not every song is a win, but they are interesting enough to keep an open mind to them. I will absolutely be coming back to this.
The Police
5/5
Bruce Springsteen
5/5
Einstürzende Neubauten
1/5
Lol This reminds me of Psychocandy by The Jesus and Mary Chain, but at least those songs had a pop structure underneath the sound of glass being run through a table saw sound. This is complete garbage. In fact, including this on the list pisses me off because so many truly great albums are not on it. 0 stars if that were an option.
New Order
4/5
The Smashing Pumpkins
5/5
Nick Drake
4/5
John Lennon
3/5
Radiohead
5/5
Nas
4/5
John Martyn
4/5
The first half of this album is incredible. Great vibe despite the mumbles. Side two is good, but gets a smidge uninspiring in a few spots. All in all this is a fantastic find!
The Band
3/5
Solid bluesy rock, but nothing super special going on here.
The Byrds
3/5
KISS
4/5
I went into this album expecting to be thoroughly unimpressed, but it’s time to eat crow. It’s got that big dick dumb rock n roll energy, yes, but some of the songs are really good. The album cover is cool too.
Def Leppard
5/5
Blur
3/5
I respect Damon Albarn’s ability to cover a lot of ground with his songwriting, but on Parklife, it mostly just doesn’t sit right with me. It’s all too wink wink in a smarmy British way. Maybe it’s just trying too hard to be a Sgt. Peppers for the 90’s. I’ve tried on many occasions over the years to get into this record, but I just can’t. A few songs hit well: “Girls & Boys” is a stone cold classic 90’s banger, “Far Out” and “Too The End” emit cool psychedelic vibes, and “This Is A Low” is a solidly written, mature tune. Had the album been full of those, then it would be a perfect record.
Belle & Sebastian
3/5
This is enjoyable in a very non-threatening way. The songs are melodious and yet still quite unmemorable. There’s certainly a time and a place for this music. Rainy days, doing your taxes, driving through soybean fields, or maybe washing dishes. Highlights include “You’re Just A Baby”, “We Rule the School”, and “Mary Jo”.
Hawkwind
2/5
I shouldn’t go into live albums from artists I don’t know very well with such a bad attitude but I do. I hate slogging through SO MUCH music that I wasn’t there to witness, and is rarely indicative of whether the band is good or not within a formal recording. Live voices are typically sloppier than polished recordings. I don’t even like live recordings, for the most part, from my holy trinity bands.
Hawkwind is a good prog band. The songs unfurl in epic fashion, as prog goes. These songs are groovy but they don’t torch my soul. Decent enough stuff, but being a live album, I won’t come back.
Arcade Fire
3/5
I’ve always viewed Arcade Fire as THE cool band for Millennials…the band that all of the art students were in love with during their prime. My time was during grunge, so listening to this makes me feel like I’m missing out on something. My idea of cool, artsy music is Smashing Pumpkins, Radiohead, The Flaming Lips, and R.E.M.
I do like Arcade Fire. They made one of the most perfect, instant classic songs in the form of “The Sprawl II” from The Suburbs. And yet there are elements of unresolved anxiety and claustrophobia throughout their catalog that keeps me from loving them. Maybe it’s the too tight drums, or the slightly off kilter songwriting, or Winn Butler’s too urgent voice. Maybe that is all their point.
Nevertheless, there are a lot of good songs on Neon Bible. Just nothing life altering for me. I would still take The Suburbs over this album.
Bob Dylan
2/5
The instrumentation on here is mostly immaculate, creating a bluesy, even modern vintage vibe throughout. That’s a 5/5.
I’ve said it before though…Bob Dylan’s voice is not for me. His vocal style is so incredibly, mind crushingly, soul suckingly boring. There is only one dynamic to it and that ends up sounding like a tired grandpa struggling to shit on the pot. “Highlands” goes on for 16 1/2 pointless, repetitive minutes of sonic drudgery. I kept needing to remind myself why this project is fun during that runtime. When others cover his songs, the results are much more intriguing.
Various Artists
5/5
What a gift, Phil! This is definitely one of the better Christmas albums to grace the ears. Something to be truly grateful for.
Marty Robbins
4/5
This album is another example of the universe sending a wink. I recently watched an interview with my current pop obsession, Chappell Roan, who is truly freaking awesome btw, saying she chose her name by combining her grandfather’s last name and his favorite song: The Strawberry Roan by Marty Robbins. Lo and behold, here we are.
This is the version of country music that I’m 100% in love with. Melodies! Talent! Simplicity! As a kid I would’ve balked hard at this, but age sometimes brings maturity through experience and keeping a mostly open mind. That open mind comes from chilling to grandma’s country records after she passed away 10 years ago, and connecting to her soul through the music she loved. This album wasn’t in her collection, but some of these songs, recorded by similar artists, were. There's not a skip to be had on this.
Peter Gabriel
4/5
“In Your Eyes”, “Sledgehammer” and “Mercy Street” are peak 80’s art and place this album firmly in the top 10 of 1986 even if some of the other songs on here don't reach such heights. I’ve had this album in fairly good rotation for almost 20 years and it is still impressive. It vascillates between upbeat pop rock and rainy day moody. I regularly use the above mentioned songs in my yoga or water exercise classes. They feel of their time and timeless all at once. Beyond the hits you’ll find some weird little treats: “This Is The Picture” and “We Do What We’re Told” show Peter still indulging in the proggy creativity left over from his Genesis days. “Don’t Give Up” is a decent if somewhat mewling ballad with fellow British artiste Kate Bush.
The Adverts
3/5
No punk album should last longer than 20 minutes if It’s always going to be the same song over and over and over and over. At least these are catchy. I’m ok with it, just not blown away as with nearly all punk.
Massive Attack
4/5
I enjoy Massive Attack. They are without doubt one of the most thrilling set of musicians to come from the 90’s, helping to create the trip-hop genre. This album deserves its lofty accolades for its overall vibes but it’s not their best. Like any good set of musicians, their first album is a warm up, and it is regarded so highly by the critical masses because the style is so new to the ears.
Steely Dan
3/5
I read an interview once with modern rock star, Annie Clark, aka St. Vincent, stating that anybody who works for her at setting up her equipment and sound gear for her concerts must use Steely Dan records to compare to because they are so pristine in their production.
This album is impeccable in sound. My issue with Steely Dan has always been that their songwriting is just so bland. There’s little in the way of a great hook to latch onto, “Rikki Don’t Lose That Number” aside. I truly want to love them, and believe me, I’ve tried. They’re just one big snooze fest to me.
I’m also convinced that my birth year, 1974, was one of the absolute worst years in rock music. There are very few albums I’ve heard from that year that hold up as any truly great piece of art. That makes me so sad considering all of the years surrounding have some of the best records made throughout recorded history.
Duke Ellington
3/5
Newport is a lovely, old money town sitting on the Atlantic Ocean in Rhode Island with huge gilded age mansions, so the subdued politeness heard from the 1956 audience in the beginning feels authentic, then a damn riot breaks out later in the show because that’s just the power of Duke. The recording is so clean and crisp, and full of life. It’s a generous historic document on the vitality of live jazz.
Again, live albums are A LOT. I love jazz though, so I approached this one as if I was a spectator sitting on the lawn of the well manicured park on a warm summer afternoon under a big oak tree with a picnic basket, some booze, and a few cultured friends. It was a lovely day, then shit got wild and we partied. It was a day I won’t soon forget!
Hugh Masekela
4/5
This is pleasant jazz. I listened through several times: while reading, while making art, while cooking. The longer it goes on, the more lived in it feels. Excellent!
The Dave Brubeck Quartet
4/5
Time Out, named for each piece being in a different experimental time signature, is truly a classic album of jazz. I have it on colored vinyl and it gets spun often. This is definitely high quality mood music so turn down the lights, shake up a cocktail and bliss out to the vibes.
Amy Winehouse
3/5
I don’t understand the overwhelming hype for Amy Winehouse. I feel like her death at 27 overshadows much of this. She’s undeniably talented, and her songs are vibrant and creative, but her style falls flat at times for me considering she resides along other more awe inspiring musicians in the 27 club. I think it’s her vocal style that irks me. She seems to have a tinge of Mary J. Blige in there, but I like Mary J’s voice in its hip hop/R&B setting. Amy’s voice doesn’t seem to sound natural to her, but more like an intentional sarcastic sneer, which has only inspired an army of far less talented female singers to do similar things in the 22 years since this came out.
These songs are definitely loaded with good to great sonic flourishes and the groove songs are phenomenal, but her voice doesn’t always measure up to that. This is a 3.5… not quite average of a three, and not quite a 4. It may grow on me over time.
Highlights here are ”Stronger Than Me”, “Know You Now”, “Moody’s Mood For Love”, “In My Bed”, “Amy Amy Amy”, and “Brother”
Neu!
2/5
I can’t think of anything to say about this. Not horrible and not interesting.
Peter Gabriel
4/5
Peter is always interesting even if some of his experiments don’t hit hard enough. This album starts off sluggish with “Intruder” and the unnecessary “Start”, but then those songs morph into some really great 80’s bangers like “No Self Control”, “I Don’t Remember” and “Not One Of Us”. “Family Snapshot” sounds like the full version of a random dramatic sitcom theme song from a 1980 parallel universe. “Biko” seems like an attempt at making his magnum opus. That would actually be “In Your Eyes”, but this epic, brooding song is admirable and still an A for effort. Onward from there it’s all art rock, Peter style. Good and weird, but not best of on any list. I truly respect Peter for always reaching for something bigger than can be put into words. He is a true artist.
Alice In Chains
4/5
I’ve had this CD since the 90’s. I know and love so many of these songs. “Them Bones”, “Dam That River”, “Down In A Hole”, “Rooster” “Angry Chair” and “Would?” are all top tier from the era and have aged remarkably well. It’s a pure distillation of grunge. This album is great on its own, but next to the titan records from their contemporaries (Pearl Jam “Ten”, Nirvana “Nevermind”, Soundgarden “Superunknown”, STP “Purple”) it’s not an all time classic to me. That doesn’t really matter though since no other band from their group sounds anything like them.
Lambchop
3/5
They sound like a far less dynamic version of Mercury Rev, a band from the same time period. This is pleasant, sunny day music to chill to on a long leisurely drive, or to sit with a drink in the park on a warm quiet evening. Nothing really stands out except for the chill vibes. I’m ok with that.
I’ll note as well that with this project, I’m noticing that Apple Music only offers the extended reissue versions of many albums. I’m not interested in anything further than the original album for a band I’m not familiar with so I won’t be listening to extras unless I fall in love with an album. This album is originally 49 minutes, but the reissue puts it at 74.
Madonna
5/5
There’s so much I could say about this perfect album, but it’ll all just end up sounding too simple. This is Madonna’s greatest achievement, and that says much considering she has about four or five more albums that could compete for title of “her best”. Also, if you look at her 80’s output you might marvel at its near surreal perfection. Like, you have to step back and wonder how the F she made SO MANY bangers that not only bang for their time, but have not lost even an ounce of relevance 40 years later, and will still bang 100, 200, 500 years from now. Whatever you think of Madonna now doesn’t matter because she did the seemingly impossible then and time can never diminish that. While I do consider Like A Prayer to be her best album overall, since there are zero fuck-ups here, my PERSONAL favorite is 1992’s Erotica for its supremely underrated dark alley deep house vibe. Both, as full album experiences, are as close to perfect as album experiences can possibly get.
Like A Prayer has not been outside of my regular rotation for the 36 years since I bought it. This little gay boy still thrills at the incredible confidence and honesty Madonna emits in every song (wishing the same confidence and honesty for myself), the incredible songwriting, the danceability, the freedom I feel from living inside songs that never seem to age and always make me feel like I’m 15 again; full of hope and the excitement that comes from all of the possibilities that life might have to offer. Isn’t that what music should be?? The ultimate expression of a persons true inner self, and the ability to return to hope at any point through it despite life chugging along and becoming more banal and used up with each passing day? Music was, is and always will be the fountain of youth and the key to believing that something even greater is just around the corner.
5 stars. 10 stars. 100 freaking stars all day, every day.
Muddy Waters
3/5
The blues are fine as an art form and they are so influential on most music moving forward, but I don’t seek them out and this album won’t change that. Muddy hits hard though. There’s a lot of power in his delivery.
Jethro Tull
3/5
This is a pleasant rock experience. Jethro tend to ramble on with very few hooks, but over time I could see this growing on me. The flutes presence is always a plus. The guitars shred in spots. The singer doesn’t seem to have a lot of range, but still alright because it serves the music.
The Good, The Bad & The Queen
3/5
Sheryl Crow
4/5
This is a well worn album for me. So much to love in this confident debut album from Sheryl. The huge radio hits are catchy and hold up strong still. Outside of those you have some real deep cut delights in Run Baby Run, No One Said It Would Be Easy, and especially the final one-two jazz influenced punches at the end of the album, We Do What We Can, and the absolutely gorgeous I Shall Believe.
Radiohead
3/5
This album was an interesting revisit because it is my least favorite Radiohead album and least listened to for several reasons. It came out at a particularly bad point in my life so it just conjures up bad memories. Second, it always felt rushed out and slapped together rather than so thoroughly thought through like the previous 4 albums. The tracklisting feels out of order. Lastly, this feels like a greatest hits album from a parallel universe. These songs range from The Bends rockers to the more experimental art pieces of Amnesiac, to the paranoid meditations of OK Computer to the pretty otherworldly compositions of Kid A. Problem is those albums did all of that way better.
At the end of the day though, a less than perfect Radiohead album is still better than 99% of everything else out there. Hail To The Thief has many great moments. There There is the best song here, Sail To The Moon is a sister to Pyramid Song, whose otherworldly perfection still astounds. Sit Down Stand Up works its way towards electronic climax, and Scatterbrain and A Wolf At The Door end the album on a sublime, artistic note. A Punch Up At A Wedding is uninspiring. Its rightful place is in B-side land. And Jesus Christ, We Suck Young Blood is still God-awful! I understand it’s meant to be ghoulish, but damn. If Radiohead set out to produce the most irritating and grating song to ever exist, they succeeded with in every conceivable way. This review would be entirely different if you took those two songs off and rearranged the others.
Call me spoiled, but after witnessing the supernaturally great run Radiohead had from The Bends through Kid A, and Amnesiac by association to it, I’d hoped they’d just keep getting better and better. This was the first time Radiohead proved they were human and not aliens creating a new musical art form.
Alice Cooper
4/5
School’s Out, the song, will always remind me of the movie Dazed and Confused. That soundtrack feels like puberty in the 70’s, and so does this album. Rockin’, raw, full of restless, sometimes violent, energy. Gutter Cat Vs. The Jets feels odd but creative. Blue Turk sways and swaggers. This album is a very cool discovery.
Isaac Hayes
4/5
This album is smooth and creamy. Digesting a double album soundtrack should be daunting, but this one was quite pleasant and the time flew by. When the 19 1/2 minute funk fest of Do Your Thing came on, the party hit. Otherwise it’s mostly Sunday morning chill. It’s the first day of a vacation. It’s Friday night with the entire weekend in front of you. Glorious!
Herbie Hancock
4/5
Count Basie & His Orchestra
4/5
I love the calm that this brand of jazz brings to my mind. Even when it’s souped up and wild, it all still feels just right. I couldn’t listen to this all day, every day, but when I need a brain cleanse from other songs and albums that get stuck too deeply in my regular rotation, this is absolutely the best antidote.
Björk
3/5
Bjork is never dull. When this album was released in 2004, I was enthralled by her hyper creativity. Who else makes a popular album where most of the instrumentation is created using only a human voice? Still pretty interesting. The songs are fine enough, but in retrospect I find this be a mid album for her, and it definitely drags in parts. If I had to pick one Bjork album to keep for all eternity, this isn’t it. Highlights include Desired Constellation and Oceania, which if memory serves me correct, was the official song of the 2004 Olympics.
Pet Shop Boys
3/5
I like the Pet Shop Boys overall, but they lack something deeper. They should be iconic to me and yet I feel like they’re just good musicians who happen to have only a couple truly timeless classics in them…West End Girls and What Have I Done To Deserve This being it. Oh well, it doesn’t matter. There are plenty of LGBTQ+ artists who do get the job done more consistently. This album is good, achieves greatness in spots, shines when it discusses the realities and sadnesses of gay life in the 80’s, then moves on.
Sade
5/5
Damn. That smooth as melted chocolate voice. Those sensual grooves. Sade doesn’t have anything less than a 5 star album, including Diamond Life, and it isn’t even their best. Her band is ABSOLUTELY one of the tightest and most original from the 80’s.
I have to admit, I didn’t enjoy this album beyond Smooth Operator and Cherry Pie when I first listened to it decades ago, but after buying their entire discography on vinyl and forming an intimate relationship to them, Diamond Life proves itself to be the best possible introduction to this unmatched set of musicians. It feels like deep night flickering neon in a 1984 city.
For as beloved as Sade is, it’s interesting that very few have since matched the quality of this vibe. Prince could and did do it but didn’t do it as often as he should have. 90’s Rap and R&B strive to groove like this and end up doing it differently and in their own amazing way. Others who try just come off sounding very clearly like they are ripping off Sade. Hell, they’ll admit it and then go on a long verbal love sesh about their intense infatuation with Sade.
Nowadays, on the rare occasion when they release new music, their fan base collectively loses their shit, which happened recently with their new song called Young Lion, dedicated to Sade’s Trans son. This project is great when it sends a reminder that incredible bands like this exist amongst all the hubris out there. At the end of all of it, EVERYday could be a Sade day and the world would be happy and harmonious.
Cat Stevens
4/5
These songs mostly follow the formula of starting off lightly acoustic then erupting into an infectious sing along chorus. This children’s music style is lovely, but I just don’t care for Cat’s voice. Had that been different, I’d be in love with this album. Wild World has always been on my list of most annoying songs ever. On the other hand, Father and Son is lyrically and acoustically perfect. Overall, the songwriting is fantastic. The added strings totally make these songs soar. Repeat listens prove solid growth.
Billy Joel
3/5
Buffalo Springfield
3/5
This is an example of an album I feel you needed to be there to appreciate it fully. The songs are good, but after decades of repetition and being copied, by Neil Young himself, the original fire has dimmed. Moreso, production quality has gone way up. This sounds murky. If this hasn’t been remastered, remixed or reissued, it needs to be.
Van Morrison
4/5
Manic Street Preachers
2/5
Musically this is ok. It is mundane 90’s alt-rock but does have some nice orchestral touches here and there. His voice is awful. It sounds so overly earnest and lives in that space between nails and chalkboard.
Living Colour
4/5
This is a very interesting combination of mostly late 80’s hair metal and a touch of that early 90’s street vibe which would put this ahead of its time. Nearly four decades later, “Cult of Personality” still headbangs righteously with its phenomenal melodic aggression and passion. The guitar player, Vernon Reid, shreds better and harder than most more famous guitarists, and I’m not sure why he’s not a household name. Hearing “Glamour Boys” was surreal because I literally haven’t heard it since 1989. I forgot it existed, and I like it! Overall, I’m a little on the fence here simply because my brain has never even considered a hair metal/hip hop hybrid, Run DMC’s take on Walk This Way aside, because I’ve never liked that song, and certainly not enough to think deeply about its dynamics. I’m gonna go high here because I believe the more I let this digest, the more it will become a favorite.
Thin Lizzy
3/5
Another live album. The songs are fine. Nothing here that doesn’t sound like every single other band from the entire decade. Completely unremarkable to me.
The Mothers Of Invention
1/5
This is ridiculously all over the place. Frank Zappa’s satirical take on the hippie culture of the time doesn’t hold up, but it does shine a light on a phenomenon that happens during any zeitgeist moment…lots of people act like they are a part of a movement just for the attention, when they don’t actually believe in the actual movement…as much as Frank Zappa does, I guess. In other words, SELLOUTS!! He hates them.
Musically it’s just a unlistenable mess. It sounds like he simply picked a random 39 minutes of his life, picked up whatever instrument was next to him and hit the record button. He’s sniggering all the way to the bank by making money off of the people he’s laughing at. If he’s trying to get his point across by sounding like shit, he’s missing the real point. You don’t change peoples opinions on societal issues by mocking their intelligence towards an art that he perceives as being sellout, because that art has value to some people regardless of what he thinks or feels. If that “sellout” art changes even one persons mind for the better and the world brightens a little because of it, then it matters…including HIS art. But here it is coming from such a pessimistic point of view.
I love the late 60’s psychedelic movement. It was a time of extreme innovation in music in general that has held up more than well, and all he’s doing is saying nobody else could ever be as “real” as he is. Piss on that. Now that I’ve listened through this album for this project, I am grateful that I never have to sit through it again.
Primal Scream
3/5
Vanishing Point feels like a transitional album between the raw bluesy rock of the Primal Scream of the early 90’s and the electro metal aggression they move towards with 2000’s very awesome album, XTRMNTR. This album has some fine groovy moments, and it feels very 1997 electronica, but overall it also feels like their true vision hasn’t quite sharpened up yet. All great bands have these transition albums, and that takes nothing away from their greatness, but only solidify’s the perception that their intent is pure because they explore and pursue.
Flamin' Groovies
3/5
The Rolling Ston…oops, I mean the Flamin’ Groovies really outdid themselves on this record! Sticky Finge…oops again, I mean Teenage Head masters the raw, rockin’ and rolling blues that made them famous.
This is a good album (“Whiskey Woman” is fire), but to be honest, this brand of rockin’ and rollin’ doesn’t do much for me. All I hear are skinny white guys blatantly ripping off the black progenitors of the blues and rockabilly and laughing all the way to the bank. Of course art works that way, but give the flowers to the real innovators. At the end of the day, this band is third generation blues rock, so for comparison, they’re like the 90’s band Bush compared to The Pixies or R.E.M., Nirvana being the glue between them. I guess movements in music wouldn’t be as huge if they didn’t spawn so many copycats.
Supergrass
4/5
90’s POWER POP!! I really really dig this. I already know the song “Alright” from Clueless. There’s a nice sheen to these alt-pop gems. It’s making me feel like I’m 20 years old again.
Ryan Adams
3/5
Donovan
5/5
I’m loving the free spirited, semi-hippy, whimsical vibe here. It’s poppy and super trippy, mainly due to the use of a LOT of sitar.. These songs have lovely orchestral touches and other interesting instrumentation going on throughout. I learned that Jimmy Page plays on Season Of The Witch. I went deep into this pool and came out baptized a Donovan fan.
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
4/5
I enjoyed that this album picked up significantly in its second half. Hey Hey My My is the standout track. I like and truly respect Neil but don’t love him.
Badly Drawn Boy
3/5
This guy clearly worships at the altar of Elliott Smith, whom I consider to be the wet dream of scruffy white hetero hipster men. There’s a lot to like here. His songs are good, interesting and full of variety, but his voice never truly wavers from the very limited range of Elliott Smith apathy. I doubt I could ever fall in love with this album because I don’t feel like his music is meant for me personally, but overall it is a lovely contribution to the world.
Jane's Addiction
4/5
More than anything, I credit Jane’s Addiction with bringing into the world of overwrought hair metal and shiny pop a resurgence of the cool 1970’s style of rockin’ and rollin’ that has an updated late 80’s flair which eventually just became the early 90’s sound overall. In this album, you can hear future Black Crowes, Blind Melon, most definitely Smashing Pumpkins’ first album, Gish, and a thousand scruffy grunge/alternative bands copping a Venice Beach boho style and swarming L.A.’s sunset strip. Again, the 70’s.
It’s super cool for sure. The songs are good to great but I wouldn’t place this album on my all time best list. It’s more important to me for being a reset in musical culture.
Highlights include: Ted, Just Admit It…, Summertime Rolls, Idiots Rule, and of course, Jane Says.
MGMT
3/5
Queen
4/5
Beck
4/5
I’ll start by saying that Lost Cause is a perfect song. Its simple melody and glorious melancholy make it one of the best pieces of art from the ‘00’s. When this album came out, I recall critics losing their shit over it, but to my ears this project was simply a sadder, more desperate take on his very excellent 1998 album, Mutations. Both records strip back the glitchy studio experimentation and funk of Odelay and Midnite Vultures for simpler songs but on Sea Change, the gorgeous strings shine through brightly as a light in the deep deep dark. There’s no doubt that on this record Beck was experiencing a dark night of the soul after his long term relationship ended.
I feel like this is a slow burn album. It’s message is crystal clear on first listen, and sonically, over time, it just seeps in deeper in a profound way as most people experience this level of heartbreak at some point in their lives, so this is a go-to album to weep and soothe to. I still prefer Mutations but this is a hugely honorable record in Beck’s catalog.
Fiona Apple
5/5
Tidal pops up and my heart sings. This review will write itself. Fiona is a one in a billion musician. Her honesty and truth speak so loud and clear and beautifully, and I find that to be the rarest of qualities among the vast majority of popular musicians that are crammed down our throats by the media these days. She’s special. BEYOND special.
This record was made by an emotionally damaged yet fierce of soul 18 year old girl who had already lived some shit. Sullen Girl lays it out. She’s sad beyond her precious years because some asshole took from her the most prized possessions she had; her youth and innocence. I can’t imagine how many girls who’d been raped found this and healed by simply having someone put a real voice to it.
Fiona comes with that voice and poetry so powerful it can move mountains. My first thought in 1997 was “who is this amazing black girl with the voice of a warrior?” When I saw she was a frail looking white girl, I was astonished. Shadowboxer lets that husk come to the forefront. It has an old school jazz vibe that wraps the package up in a big beautiful bow. Criminal is the big, still uber cool hit with hip hop earnestness and hyper confident delivery.
On the other side of the coin, the piano melody of Never Is A Promise sounds so fragile it feels as if a feather could break her, but again, her voice is the powerful reckoning to the trauma inside her.
This may not be a perfect record in terms of each song hitting its mark exactly as some songs drag on unnecessarily, but it is a perfect record in tone. It’s a perfect record of introduction to a force of nature in pop music. Fiona can take 8+ years between albums now, if she even feels like making anything at all, because she’s got nothing to prove. When she does drop an album, it’s a titan of modern art. 2020’s Fetch The Bolt Cutters is just that. She was the real deal in 1996, and she still is now.
Prince
5/5
I came to Sign O’ The Times 25 years ago expecting more rock God awesomeness ala Purple Rain. I was very disappointed, but as time went on this album and its R&B flavors and pop varieties grew hard on me. Play In The Sunshine...Wow, what a great high energy pop song! Next up, Housequake buries itself under the skin and forces you to shake your booty like no one is watching. It still sounds cool as F. The Ballad of Dorothy Parker is sublime chill and quite arty for 1987. Onward, it’s all Prince gold. Every song hits and owns its place on this double album.
In hindsight, this album is far more indicative of Prince’s greatness than Purple Rain. That album was a one off to show the masses just how great he really was when he wanted to be. This one is the masterpiece for the true Prince fan and what he really stands for.
Bonnie "Prince" Billy
3/5
DJ Shadow
2/5
This is a highly influential album but it mostly falls flat for me. Much of this sounds claustrophobic. Just a lot of going nowhere. I did hear a Bjork sample and an Underworld sample which sent me on over to their FAR superior albums.
Ozomatli
3/5
This is definitely not my cup of tea. There’s nothing bad about it, just not my genre.
The Beach Boys
4/5
The Beach Boys always deliver on the sunny layered melodies. I really appreciate the simple, easy going So. Cal vibe presented here.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
4/5
I’ve never heard any of this album before. I’m blown away. It’s dark in an ancient and modern way all at once.
John Coltrane
3/5
The Rolling Stones
3/5
The Rolling Stones always leave me feeling unsatisfied. Their bluesy, whiskey soaked music feels like the morning after a night of binge drinking. That’s cool in your teens and twenties, but the older a person gets, the longer the headache lasts. This album has some great songs like Brown Sugar, Can’t You Hear Me Knocking, Bitch, and Sister Morphine, and yet still I feel like I’m missing some fuller overall experience.
Every song on here sounds like it’s trying to be the most important song to ever be made. This version of U2 sounds too generic to me. I prefer The Unforgettable Fire, The Joshua Tree, Achtung Baby and even Zooropa and Pop, where the highs are super high, the lows are at least interesting and the hits are timeless.
Tangerine Dream
4/5
Without ever hearing them, I’ve always thought that Tangerine Dream was a psychedelic rock band. Boy was I completely wrong! I’m surprised in the best way possible because it turns out they are pioneers of ambient electronica who dropped a futuristic art piece the year that I was born, and I’m down with that. Phaedra sounds like it was made somewhere in the mid to late 90’s, which is truly a testament to how important and ahead of it’s time that this album is. I don’t live with ambient 24/7 so this could never be an all time great for me, but in the realm of ambient when I am in that mood, it’s a 5 star album.
The Mars Volta
1/5
Here’s another singer whose voice exists in that super annoying, whiny upper range. There is nothing pleasant about it. Nails on chalkboard. Musically it’s a bit frantic and lost, like an intense anxiety attack. I will never listen to this again.
Carpenters
4/5
My God, her voice is stunningly beautiful. Karen Carpenter is most definitely at the top of the list for the best voices in the history of music. In addition, the music is so gentle and pitch perfect. I remember being young and full of grunge angst and thinking that The Carpenters were lame because they were too soft, but my opinion has definitely flipped. These songs have such well written soaring melodies. This is super high quality songwriting. My only beef is that the cover of Help by The Beatles seems unnecessary because it’s not really in the style of song that works for the Carpenters.
Grandmaster Flash & The Furious Five
5/5
Early rap has a pioneer thrill to it. It feels like a hot summer day in New York City in the early 80’s and everything is about to explode into the biggest party you’ll ever see. It’s all in front of you. This album in particular feels thoroughly groundbreaking with its cool Soul, early Rap, 80’s synth manipulations and use of samples like Genius Of Love and Another One Bites The Dust. On Dreamin’ when he said “this one goes out to Stevie Wonder…because he’s the greatest” I said out loud YES! He IS!! I mean it’s such a simple and sincere sentiment to express their love for that legendary musician. The world needs more love fests like it. After repeated listens, this record holds way the hell up. 5 stars!
Supertramp
4/5
My only knowledge of Supertramp is Breakfast In America, and specifically The Logical Song and Goodbye Stranger…two songs so wildly overplayed on classic rock radio that I have absolutely no interest in listening to either of them ever again. This was a refreshing listen as I don’t know any of these songs, so I’m approaching it as if Supertramp is a band that I’ve never heard before.
These songs meander a bit, and usually start off unsure of where they want to go. Otherwise, the instrumentation is amazing, the singing is emotive and passionate at times, and ultimately the drama of the song structures makes it worth coming back to. Another bonus point is that it was released a week after I was born, so we are nearly the exact same age. I like this!
Eric Clapton
3/5
Eric Clapton has a signature guitar sound that is pretty cool and generally laid back, but he also gives off an air of douchiness in being considered one of the best guitar players of all time by big corporate media, which to me, he is not. There are so many other guitar players, even a plethora of unknowns, who are better than Eric. I guess overrated is the best term to describe him. This album is nice for a chill day on the patio but it wouldn’t be my go-to for that vibe.
Sebadoh
3/5
I enjoy the early 90’s lo-fi sound going on here because I adore the time period, but these songs just seem too lazy and sloppy to be taken seriously. Based on sound alone, this album is the equivalent of some skinny, strung-out white dude waking up to discover he’s pissed himself and doesn’t seem to mind so he just lights up a cigarette and turns on the tv, in a position he’ll stay in until he falls asleep again in 15 or so hours.
The Smiths
5/5
It’s been a while since I’ve listened to The Queen Is Dead. This much needed revisit reveals that this album is definitely The Smiths most consistent. I rank it highly for There Is A Light That Never Goes Out alone, a song so perfect that it outshines any deficiencies in the songs that surround it, not that they have much of anything wrong with them. Elsewhere, I Know It’s Over and Never Had No One Ever sway sadly, and in typical Morrissey fashion discuss his dissatisfaction with life so crisply and directly. His lyrics are a literal dramatic slap to the face. Johnny Marr’s awesome inventive guitar work shimmers effortlessly throughout all of this. This album definitely deserves its place in the lists it is in for being one of the best of the 80’s and of all time.
Bebel Gilberto
3/5
Pleasant bossanova beats and a chill delivery. Delightful summertime music!
Metallica
4/5
This live album differs from most others in that it uses a symphony to accompany a certain well known thrash metal band into realms I couldn’t have ever imagined for them. I’ve made it clear I’m not a fan of live albums as a means to get into a band, but this one takes the original music and glows it way the heck up. Granted, I’m already well aware of Metallica’s music, but not a huge fan. Respected up to this point, and now moreso.
Nico
2/5
If this album were released today, it would be violently ignored. It’s quite boring. I don’t think I care for Nico’s voice. She sounds like a little girl looking in the mirror playing dress up and pretending to be a proper adult in her game of make believe…oh, and she’s wearing a RIDICULOUS amount of makeup. Or it just sounds like she is just desperate to enunciate every single syllable properly in an effort to be completely understood. Aside that, the music is lovingly orchestrated in parts but all very insignificant and non-threatening.
Common
3/5
The Rap/Jazz and occasional Soul combo sounds incredible to me. Lyrically this leans into Gangsta Rap, with violent verbage tossed around like a salad. It’s good for its genre, but overall it’s not for me.
G. Love & Special Sauce
1/5
The longer this went on, the more I questioned if this is just one big joke and I’m not in on it. It’s Kidz Bop Rap made for cocky 12 year old white boys who just got their first bottle of Axe Body Spray. Musically I don’t mind it and in parts good, but G. Love ‘s voice is annoying enough to want to punch him in the face for trying to be something he isn’t: a good rapper. I wouldn’t doubt that he HAS been punched for making this album He sounds like he’s just trying to make a joke of the entire genre. Thumbs way down.
Leonard Cohen
3/5
YAAAWWWWWNNN! Diamonds In The Mine was interesting. Otherwise, no.
Alanis Morissette
4/5
Great revisit! I bought this album in ‘95 just like a billion other people. There’s a lot of comfort and nostalgia in listening to these massive songs again. The hits are awesome. You Oughtta Know and Right Through You still slay uninvested men dead. You Learn and Hand In My Pocket are such great endearing alt hits. Ironic is a scream-it-all-out in the car sing along. The album cuts are interesting but not always perfect. Overall this album deserves its high accolades. It’s not the best of the 90’s but it certainly deserves its place in the zeitgeist of it all.
Bad Company
3/5
One thing I truly appreciate about many records from the 1970’s is that they rarely extend themselves beyond 9 or 10 songs and 40 minutes. Get in and get out because the next record will be out in 6 months time anyway. It makes it enjoyable and easy to digest them in a modern schedule. Honestly, that is the perfect album length even by today’s standards but so many want to cram double or triple that down your throat. Unless you’re a super fan of the artist/band, it’s too much.
Anyway, Bad Company is solid rock ‘n roll. Bluesy, chunky, meaty and dripping with testosterone. It’s all too familiar from solid rotation on classic rock radio for 50 years so there is nothing to be surprised by on here.
Cornershop
4/5
I picked this album up in a used CD bin a few years ago and ended up being pleasantly surprised by how much I liked it. It is an album that I was well aware of when it came out in ‘97 but was never compelled to seek it out. It definitely has the de rigeur slacker vibe of the time with an Indian twist. I’d say listening to it now that it’s far more of a vibe record than it is a record full of great songs, which it is lacking, and that is ok by me. The vibe is cool enough to stand up on its own. Brimful of Asha is the clear highlight.
Grateful Dead
3/5
This album is really amazing when you’re high as a kite. I took that trip a few years back, and listening sober now, I hear the importance of going deep here. These jams are absolutely meant to lose your F’ing mind in. That’s the appeal of The Grateful Dead. If you’re not high, this is just background music.
Hanoi Rocks
4/5
Apple Music mysteriously does not have this album on its platform, so I picked another, Two Steps From The Move, released shortly after this one in 1984. Finnish Glam Rock, let’s go! Sounds Motley Crue-ish. I’m not slamming it. I love the Crue. These songs are pop metal, full of hungry vigor and I highly approve.
Bob Dylan
2/5
I’ve tried. I just can’t. Bob Dylan does absolutely nothing for me. I’ve had this album on CD for decades from an earlier attempt to understand the “greatness” and I’ve simply never been impressed. Next!
Adele
3/5
I still don’t enjoy Adele’s overly showy voice but whomever is writing and producing these songs is mostly nailing it. I’m surprised because i’ve always placed her brand in the wildly overhyped category of my head. Some of these songs drag as expected, but then some of these songs are a genuinely nice surprise.
Public Enemy
5/5
Fear If A Black Planet is definitely culturally and historically important. My first trip through felt very disorienting, yet as it flowed it started to make more sense. Second trip through I’m a fan. They’re laying down the absolute truth on racism in America, and it’s brutal. Sadly, America hasn’t grown much since 1990, and has regressed in some aspects. Fight The Power alone sums it all up perfectly. This album is still remarkably relevant.
PJ Harvey
5/5
I went through my PJ Harvey fanboy era about ten years ago and at that time I had Rid of Me at the top of the list for her best album. It’s gritty, raw and the best example of what made the early 90’s alt scene truly great. She’s not a follower, but exists in her own fucked up world. This record is solidly from a female perspective. It gives off a thick air of darkness, claustrophobia, urgency, anxiety and the sense that she’s in the process of taking full control of her life. The chorus of Dry still makes me snicker but what better slap down to a man could anybody ever possibly say other than “YOU LEAVE ME DRYYYY!!!”? 50 ft. Queenie was the hit if you want to call it that. It’s not really a household name song. Most of the other songs start off timid then explode into a thrilling chorus of full throttle emotion. Listening now, this album is still an artistic masterpiece. My ONLY complaint is that the mix was always so low and muddy, hard to hear and feel fully, but that is likely the point. This is just the beginning of PJ Harvey’s greatness, as further albums take her into completely different, glorious territories of female empowerment and rage.
Taylor Swift
3/5
This music is a textbook example of the term “middle of the road”. It never wavers from being solidly safe. That’s alright but I’m not sure there’s any reason to ever come back to this. My favorite moment was the collab with Haim, because I love them even though their presence is almost too light to notice that they are even there, and nothing else. It was as bland as watered down white skim milk.
The Charlatans
3/5
Wow! Did Oasis make a secret good album in 1997 under the assumed name of The Charlatans? This kind of blows Be Here Now (still a major disappointment to me) out of the water. These Britpop songs are poppy, crunchy and shimmery. Everything Oasis’ album should’ve been but wasn’t. It does get a little samey in the second half, but that is forgivable. I love receiving albums by bands I’ve never heard of that capture the zeitgeist of a time period I kind of love. This is a nice addition to my life!
Pink Floyd
3/5
Listening to Piper at the Gates of Dawn confirms that I definitely prefer Pink Floyd from 1971’s Meddle onward. What is highly respectable about this album and Syd Barrett is that they went all in on the Psychedelic sound. It’s weird even by psych standards. Many drugs were consumed to get to this. I’d argue that Pink Floyd went from being a band for your acid/mushroom trip on Piper to being a weed band once the 70’s hit. This album takes multiple listens to sink in fully and eventually appreciate without the drugs.
The Residents
3/5
Oookkkaaayy… I’m not completely offended by this. It’s late 70’d arty and meant to be super fucking weird. This is actually perfect Halloween music and will likely show up on my next playlist in October. It has that cartoonish quality that easily turns people off, but sonically there are some really interesting things going on. Snippets of sonic brilliance burst outward all over the place. Everyday listening? Hell no! This is that curiosity of an album you pull out on unsuspecting people to prove that your taste in music is deeper and more interesting than theirs, and they just look at you with a side eye and think “you REALLY need a therapist!”.
4/5
Funky white boy pop from the 80’s. Yes, I love this! The musicianship here is very tasteful and luscious. It sounds like they are going for a high class musical theater sound. I would definitely come back to this.
FKA twigs
2/5
This album is over 10 years old now and it feels like it’s been 50 since I was into it. Looking back on it now, it’s not as good as I once thought. I no longer enjoy such arty sparseness. It all feels hollow. Also, the vocal effects just make me want to punch a wall. This has a place in the world for some, but for me its place is set firmly in the past.
Electric Light Orchestra
4/5
If I was a teen when this was released I have no doubt that I’d have been obsessed with it. The songs are poppy and sound BIG…almost too big because after a while they all sound the same The production still sounds epic. I once read a quote from John Lennon stating that had the Beatles not broken up, they would have ended up sounding just like ELO. I can hear that. Lots to love here even if some of these songs are over played on classic rock radio.
The Zutons
3/5
This sounds like almost every Rock band circa 2002-2006. The songs are varied and relatively interesting, but there is nothing super special going on here.
Django Django
4/5
I’m totally loving this! Great modern poppy psych songs with interesting, forward looking instrumentation. It feels like the natural progression music should have taken in the mainstream post 2000 had vapid, soulless pop and rap not been crammed down our collective throats.
Steely Dan
4/5
More perfect production from Steely Dan. As goes their catalog, Aja showcases jazz rock jams that don’t always hook you in, but damn, do they sound impeccable. If the songs on here were better, it would definitely be competitive with Dark Side of the Moon for one of the best albums in Rock history.
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band
2/5
Well that was interesting. This is not on Apple Music, so I had to go to YouTube. The comment section alone was high quality entertainment. I’ve heard noise rock more atonal than this but this is still a challenge. Comparable to Frank Zappa, this is still far better than his bullshit. I like to think that this is one of those albums that you have to listen to many times through then suddenly it clicks and becomes one of the best albums ever made, much like In The Aeroplane Over The Sea by Neutral Milk Hotel was for me. Still, right now, it’s a mess.
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
4/5
Is Pump It Up the inspiration for Wild Wild West by Escape Club? Sure sounds like it because I can sing “I love your eyes and your wild wild hair, dance to the beat that we like best, heading for the 90’s, living in the wild Wild West” right on top of it. Production throughout is cool and modern. Does every song hit? Of course not. Overall, I like it though.
Boston
4/5
This album is the soundtrack to the random party that would pop up at the semi-reclusive park at the edge of your town on a Friday night, where someone has scored a couple keggers, people are showing off their cars, and everyone is mingling and trying to hook up, smoking pot, and/or just wasting their life away. I just described the party scene in Dazed and Confused. This album could’ve played over that, but Richard Linklater already did an incredible job with that without the help of Boston. Stellar record. It is one of the best general rock records from the 70’s. So good that it plays out like a Greatest Hits album.
4/5
The vocal interplay between female and male here is awesome. The songs are good, and the production sounds of its early 80’s time. So yes, I like this quite a bit.
Soundgarden
4/5
I love days like this when the album is one that I know well and have a strong relationship with. Superunknown is a powerhouse record of the 90’s grunge scene that has aged REALLY well. I recall thinking then that it was a generally depressing record even by grunge standards but now, in light of what has happened, it feels like a more detailed look into Chris Cornell’s troubled mind. He was one hell of a songwriter, talented beyond belief and along with Kurt Cobain, central figure to the entire scene. These songs groove hard, have desperate emotive pleas for understanding, and they most importantly rock in a classic, thunderous 90’s by way of the 70’s way. There’s not a single bad song on here. I wouldn’t have rated this as high as other albums from the time 30 years ago, but listening now I realize how much I miss BIG rock records like this being released on a regular basis.
Dolly Parton
4/5
Moby
4/5
This is a good album, definitely overhyped at the time, with a LOT of filler. His formula is to take that old blues singers sample and extend it into a 3 to 4 minute modern electronic dirge, just like Primitive Radio Gods did with “Standing Outside A Broken Phone Booth With Money In My Hand” three years earlier in 1996. It works stunningly and brilliantly on Porcelain, Why Does My Heart Feel So Bad, and My Weakness. Bodyrock and Machete feel completely out of place being hyped up dance tracks, but they are still great songs. As the album marches to its second half, songs feel more like sketches of ideas he just didn’t finish. I always got the sense that Moby was better at promoting this great idea of blues being mixed with techno than he was at actually pulling it all off flawlessly. Whittle this down a bit and it is a 5 star album.
Miles Davis
4/5
Bitches Brew sounds incredible and is definitely a high water mark for jazz, but it is long and not easily digestible. I have the highest respect for it as it has influenced some of the greatest albums in rock history. It’s a five for artistry alone.
Oasis
5/5
Oasis may be loud assholes, but they made two classic albums in the beginning of their career, so they are often forgiven for being assholes. Definitely Maybe is the first, full of cocksure riffs, confident snarls, and a rock god sheen that makes these songs eternally cool. This was thrilling to hear back in 1994. I recall a guy in one of my art classes in college saying he’d just gotten back from an extended stay in London and that Oasis/Britpop (Blur, Pulp, Suede) were blowing WAY up. I was young and eager to be at the front of a “scene”, so i is snapped this album up. Fortunately this holds up decades later. Whatever a person feels about Oasis as a whole, it can’t tarnish the greatness of their first two albums.
John Lee Hooker
3/5
The Blues are like certain ethnic foods. You love it and you look forward to it, but there is absolutely no reason to eat it every day when there are so many other great cuisines out there to love. The Blues are too niche to want to eat on a regular basis. I would be ok with these songs in a live setting because they have a vibrant, kinetic energy, but I have no desire to sit down and listen to the Blues all of the time because everything else (sans modern country…BARF!) interests me more.
David Bowie
3/5
Young Americans is seemingly a tribute album to John Lennon. John shows up in several ways: the background singers in the title song singing “ I heard the news today, oh boy” which comes from the Beatles song ‘A Day In the Life”, David later covers John’s song ‘Across The Universe’, and then to cap the album off, John co-writes ‘Fame’, sings backup with David and plays the main guitar riff. They were clearly close friends at this point in time.
I always wanted to love this album but I just don’t. Other than the title song and Fame, these songs lie flat. Bowie is a true artist, so the intent here is great, and it’s not for a lack of trying. This album certainly has plenty of love thrown its way. I just prefer so many of his other albums from the 70’s to this.
Iggy Pop
3/5
Iggy is the godfather of punk music with The Stooges, and later in 1977 he became a godfather of goth with The Idiot. Here on Lust For Life, he grooves and rocks pretty well. Also worth noting, David Bowie produced this album. His influence is clear as day. In fact sometimes it can be hard to differentiate between his and Iggy’s voice. This would be during Bowie’s Berlin trilogy era (Low, Heroes, The Lodger) where he was creating some of his most successfully experimental music. I’m giving this a 3.5.
Ice Cube
3/5
On the one hand you have Ice Cube rapping on the injustices towards the black community, which I am 100% united in solidarity with. On the other hand you have Ice Cube occasionally rapping misogynistic and homophobic bullshit. Ugh! Being angry at cops and “the man” is justified beyond words. Taking it out on women and gay humans is NOT ok. Fortunately, with a little internet research, it appears he’s matured on those topics since these albums came out. Take all of that away, and I ask myself “would I come back to this?” Probably not. His brand of gangsta rap seems clunky to me. I certainly recognize his importance for its time. Highlights include Check Yo Self, Wicked, and It Was A Good Day.
Dexys Midnight Runners
2/5
Im a little surprised that I’m not really liking this album. I enjoy Come On Eileen enough. The use of horns on this record feels aggressive and confrontational…like you get punched for every time a negative thought about the music crosses your mind. How dare you not love what we’re cooking up here. POW!! This album borders on ska, which I’ve never really cared for. I enjoyed Geno though.
PJ Harvey
4/5
PJ Harvey, who is mostly known for 90’s rockin’, changed her sound up drastically on 2007’s White Chalk where she was mostly accompanied by sparse piano, a harpsichord and her fragile voice. That morphed into Let England Shake in 2011…an album about England during WWI. Talk about taking an artistic urge to the extreme! The music exists out of time. Sometimes these songs work beautifully, like the ethereal and sublime On Battleship Hill, and also on sad closer The Colour of the Earth. Elsewhere it seems really strange to have a battle call horn out of time on The Glorious Land. That has never sat right with me. This is not a perfect album, but it really does show an artist “going for it” and largely succeeding.
King Crimson
3/5
I’m on the fence with King Crimson. These songs can be very interesting. Book of Saturday is short and emotive, and Easy Money almost feels like a great sister song to Pink Floyd’s Money, but then you have that loooong opening song that seemed ALL OVER the place. I was so ready to write this album off after it, but it got better quickly. On The Talking Drum, the intro moves at sludge pace getting warmed up before a bass groove finally comes in to make it interesting. Then it segues right into the last song which was cool too. I’m just not sure that I love prog music. It has great intentions, but it rarely gets pulled off enough for me to be thoroughly WOWed. I guess I’m just spoiled by the timeless perfection of Dark Side of the Moon.
Cowboy Junkies
3/5
This album always comes up when I do a Google search for bands that sound like Mazzy Star. I’ve heard it before and my impression has always been and still is that it’s not even remotely close to sounding like what I’m obsessed with in Mazzy Star. Just because it’s slow and has a female voice doesn’t mean that adds up to the ethereal magic of Mazzy. The difference is that this is more countryish and Mazzy is dark purple swirling incense psychedelia. On its own, this album is good enough. Simple songs with a simple delivery, but nothing remarkable at all. They feel like the kind of band you’d hear at the average bar on Wings night in your college town.
Lightning Bolt
1/5
Hell to the no! I got through 1 song and thought oh shit, struggled halfway through the album, and off to the trash bin this goes.
Jorge Ben Jor
5/5
Tropicalia is an incredible genre of music from Brazil, driven by resistance to a fascist regime during the late 60’s and into the 70’s. I discovered this incredible genre through a Tropicalia compilation from 2006 which featured Jorge Ben and many others who also bring the intensity and passion to the cause. Great rhythms, vocals and pop hooks with a message that still sound urgent. This album is an easy win for the ears.
David Bowie
4/5
Late period Bowie albums are interesting because he still has so many great ideas and he pulls them off really well most of the time. The Next Day, Dancing Out In Space, (You Will) Set the World on Fire and Boss of Me are great jams. When he doesn’t, the songs just kind of hang in the air going nowhere and sounding like a hazy dream (Where Are We Now?, You Feel So Lonely You Could Die, Valentine’s Day). I’d Rather Be High is a cool song to discover on 4/20. All in all this is very good. It doesn’t reach the experimental greatness found on Heathen (2002) or his farewell art piece Blackstar (2016), but that is not worth losing any sleep over since Bowie’s body of work is so vast, interesting and full of successful searching.
LTJ Bukem
3/5
I’ve come to love drum and bass, and electronica over the years. Being high sure helps to understand its complexity more. This might seem like a bunch of noise, but taking a drug (or better yet, achieving a deep meditative state) is like turning a dial on the radio. What you couldn’t hear or see before, now becomes crystal clear and it makes perfect sense. I imagine this music is how aliens communicate with each other.
The Afghan Whigs
4/5
This sounds like a parallel universe record where Trent Reznor sings early 90’s alt-rock as Nine Inch Nails, rather than the decade defining jndustrial electronic music they are known for. Songs often start with interesting flourishes but then the vocal melody marches on earnestly to nowhere. My Curse shook things up by being a solidly written song with powerful lead female vocals. Overall, not bad at all, also not quite earth shattering. With multiple listens, it has the potential to grow hard on me. For that reason, I’ll give it a 4. Other highlights include Gentlemen, Debonair, Fountain and Fairfax, and Be Sweet.
Air
3/5
I love Air! Moon Safari is one of my favorite electronic space lounge records from 1998. They sound groovy and chill and vintage. The Virgin Suicides is lovely in its way but it is very clearly a score for a movie, so it’s hard to invest deeply here. Not bad, just there.
Fairport Convention
4/5
This album is a pure hippy delight. I can actually smell the BO and incense wafting off of these songs. I love this vibe to be honest. It’s all summer and camping and living as harmonious and as one with the natural world as possible. The voices are gentle and pleasant, and the jams are sometimes soft, sometimes rowdy, and full of damn good hooks.
Beth Orton
3/5
I feel like Beth Orton is always a half inch away from pulling off some truly great songs but something always feels off to me, and I think it’s her voice. It’s a very distinctive droll delivery that pulls these songs down just a notch. But that’s just me. Don’t get me wrong…she’s a really good songwriter. Objectively there is nothing wrong with any of this. I’m just not a fan of her voice.
Solange
3/5
So boring. Not a single exciting sound happened in its entirety. I’m not sure why this is considered one of the best albums of the 2010’s. Probably because Solange is Beyoncé’s sister. That doesn’t equate to quality music.
Fever Ray
3/5
If you have a dark soul, or you’re just in a melancholic mood, this album is for you! Fever Ray, also one half of The Knife, is an artist who is willing to push the limits of what music can be. They are mostly successful. I find this album with its goth leanings goes down really well in autumn months.
The Smashing Pumpkins
5/5
Mellon Collie and the Infinite Sadness is the most listened to album of my life. What makes this album as a whole a top tier, all time great is NOT that every song is a perfect piece of art, because they are definitely not, but that it is an utterly unique, immersive world (and high water mark of 90’s culture) meant to get your broken teenage heart completely lost and saved in. There are so many emotions being thrown around that it can be mind-boggling, and the intent is to feel absolutely everything to the fullest, as teenagers do…the glorious, the hopeful, the rage, the mundane, the ugly, the redemption. Just dive in anywhere: “Thirty-Three” showcases a perfect earnest heartfelt awkwardness; Discover the epic emotional journeys of “Thru The Eyes Of Ruby” and “Porcelina of the Vast Oceans”; Head over to mid and late album heartbreakers “Galapagos” and “By Starlight” to weep your sensitive heart out; Feel eternal youth in rock star anthem “Muzzle”. Go back to the near beginning of each disc and wallow in the gnarly, bitter anger of neo-metal “Zero” and “Bodies”; Somewhere in the middle is the dreamy, psychedelic art piece named “Cupid De Locke” and the sentimental and earnestly romantic “In The Arms if Sleep”. Do you really want to feel your fucking explosive (implosive?) anger and hatred towards a person who totally screwed you over? Then “X.Y.U.” will finish off their heart and soul, and yours while it’s at it. All of this only scratches the surface. After decades of listening, it never really gets old. This world is too large, open, and wonderful to get over quickly.
As I mentioned earlier, there is some shit on this album. If I could saw off the ridiculously annoying electro-clash song “Love” and the muddy, go-nowhere metal of “Tales of a Scorched Earth”, I would in a heartbeat. The latter follows the perfect pop gem “1979”, which makes its presence even more unforgivable. Neither half-baked song has ever been worthy of anything to me. Near the end of this entire journey, “Lily (My One and Only)” ends up seeming like an unnecessary oddity for oddity’s sake. Following the definitive 90’s rage baiter, and still perfect statement on entrapment, “Bullet With Butterfly Wings”, comes the overly moody and plodding “To Forgive”; And finally, I don’t consider “Where Boys Fear to Tread” and “Farewell and Goodnight” to be garbage, but just a couple of mediocre wastes of time…but that’s just me.
Billy Corgan went all in here and succeeded beyond his wildest dreams. The bad songs mentioned here don’t bring this down, they just add to the color and shape of it all…a messy, imperfect body of work that is perfect because it is messy and imperfect. I gush over Siamese Dream because there are no mistakes there. It’s a God-like album to aspire to. This album is just as perfect because it is life, as it goes. I listen to this album in full 30 years on and weep for my youth, lost to time, forever enshrined in this music.
Siouxsie And The Banshees
4/5
Tim Buckley
2/5
I think it’s safe to say at this point that I’m not a Tim Buckley fan. Musically, this is sparse and it drags most of the time but still not horrible. His voice exists in a really annoying space of being overdramatic and seemingly pretentious. Please no more Tim Buckley albums!
Ian Dury
3/5
Terence Trent D'Arby
4/5
Enjoyable! I know the hits Wishing Well and Sign Your Name. I never would have sought this album out but having heard it, I’d definitely come back to it. It has that wonderful 1987 production sheen to it.
Public Enemy
5/5
Public Enemy was nailing it hard in the late 80’s and early 90’s hip hop scene. Their albums hold way the hell up and will be relevant as long as racism exists. Bring The Noise, Don’t Believe the Hype, She Watch Channel Zero?! and Show ‘Em Whatcha Got are clear highlights. Cool note: Security In The Free World provides the beat for Justify My Love by Madonna.
The Jam
4/5
Seeing The Jam shuffle up on this list makes me think of the line “kick out the style, bring back the jam” in the Tears for Fears song “Sowing The Seeds of Love”. That absolutely references The Jam becoming The Style Council and changing up their sound from crunchy jam to 80’s euro style. Being a Tears for Fears fan is how I’m approaching this and I’ve concluded that it is just as good as them but tighter. You can hear their influence on them all over this. Poppy, fairly easy going, very Bri’ish. I’ll definitely be digging deeper.
Os Mutantes
4/5
Tropicalia meets Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band. I’ve had this album in my life for almost 20 years. It’s a very unique ride! “A Minha Menina” is a close to perfect song. If feels like an evening of samba and drinks on a beach.
Anita Baker
4/5
Smooth as whipped butter. And SO mid 80’s. My 12 year old self hated this music. My 50 year old self begs to differ. I have no doubt that many a baby has been made to this music. Anita’s voice exists in its own universe much like Sade and Hope Sandoval of Mazzy Star. When you find a voice that resonates with your soul, it’s sometimes hard to accept that they are the only person who sounds like that.
The Specials
3/5
Death In Vegas
3/5
This album is so of its late 90’s time. At first I thought it was a side project from members of Primal Scream. Ultimately these tracks are good but they feel unfinished. They sound like basic demos with a solid backbone.
Ride
5/5
This album feels like an echo from a far simpler time. It begs the listener to dig deep and really listen to the space being created within each song. These compositions stretch out and open up like the Nevada desert. Shoe gaze will take you on a hazy psychedelic trip with or without drugs and the result can be life changing.
The B-52's
4/5
When I hear the term “art rock” my mind always baselines to this album. It’s weird, kitschy, and definitely pushes the boundaries of what rock music can be. There was definitely something truly special going on in Athens, GA in the late 70’s early 80’s because it birthed the B-52’s and my all time favorite band, R.E.M. Both bands have an off kilter weirdness and both have written some of the best songs of the 80’s.
Ali Farka Touré
4/5
These African desert blues make chill background music. I’m familiar with Ali Farka Toure as I’ve had one of his albums for 20ish years. I don’t feel the need to come back to this style of music everyday, but occasionally it comes in to cleanse my musical palette and make me interested again in the variety of music that exists in the world.
Roxy Music
4/5
Thom Yorke covered Bitter Sweet for the Velvet Goldmine movie, so I’m well aware of that song and I love its campiness. In fact, campy is the name of this entire albums game. Each song feels like it’s being delivered with a smile and a wink. This may end up being one of the better albums from 1974. It’s definitely the first Roxy Music album that I enjoyed.
Love
3/5
Lovely psychedelic rock from the heart of the 60’s. I do Love this particular genre and it’s clear that they inspired some big bands moving forward. For example, this album feels like the inspiration in structure for Pink Floyd’s Meddle. Side one contains easy, short and to the point songs, while side two is one loooong track that challenges rock music at that point. Not much to say about the quality other than it is good, if not necessarily always great. Orange Skies is a delight. Revelation (the long track) starts off on fire and with good intentions but just goes on for WAAAAYYY too long, middling in the middle. The Doors did this on some of their songs as well. I’m sure if I had a VW van and no job, this track/album would be my entire identity.
Deep Purple
4/5
Space Truckin’ and Highway Star rock! This album is worth high marks for those songs, and add in Smoke On The Water for more universal rock star punch. Solid album. Deep Purple feels like a cross between Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin and Steely Dan…heavy metal testosterone with the general looseness of jazz rock.
Klaxons
3/5
This album of mediocre mid to late ‘00’s alt rock started off strong with the first two songs, but then moved into a ubiquitous alt rock snooze fest and never recovered. It’s not bad, just boring. I’m not a huge fan of rock music from this decade because it almost always feels so ran through.
Talking Heads
5/5
Remain In Light is so far ahead of the game that it STILL sounds like the future of music. There is not a single bad song on here. This album is inspired by the (poly)rhythmic music of Fela Kuti and other African musicians. The only song that feels out of place is The Overload, which ends the album with gloom.
Kraftwerk
4/5
Kraftwerk make music from the twilight zone. It sounds futuristic and vintage all at once. The 1970’s idea of the future was campy and still progressive. This sound helped birth the entire 80’s. They are influential enough that “Spacelab” sounds as if the main synth line is used to sing the Veggie Tales theme song, while they use the highly inventive synth elements of Donna Summer’s “I Feel Love” in it. This album is not perfect songwise, they have better albums, but for artistry, it’s a hard win, along with nearly their entire catalog.
Tito Puente
3/5
Fun!
Everything But The Girl
5/5
I listened to this album a month or two ago as an aside to this project, not suspecting that it would show up here. I’ve had it in regular rotation and it’s definitely one of my favorite discoveries of the year. I love the chill mid-90’s beats beneath Tracey Thorn’s disaffected voice. This record perfectly captures the zeitgeist of the time period in sound and vibes. More of this please!!
The Kinks
3/5
Goldfrapp
4/5
This album felt like a throwback to sunny pop from the 60’s and 70’s. I enjoyed this record immensely.
Pet Shop Boys
4/5
This album is moody and sad as it was released in the heart of the AIDS epidemic. I’d imagine at this point they’d lost far too many friends and lovers to that horrid disease. It has an autumnal chill, full of nostalgia and longing for the past when youthful dreams felt so strong and a seemingly long life is still ahead of them. They also balance that sentiment out with singing about finding and maintaining love in this new era for gay men. This album is an important document to younger generations of LGBT people to never forget what happened to this generation and to never take for granted the great life they may have simply because they are allowed to live each day without the fear of death haunting them. I’d say this is the Pet Shop Boys best record.
Yes
3/5
This album is fine for what it is but the further I go on with this project, the more I realize that I simply DO NOT like prog. Songs meander and drift along forever while never really offering a decent hook. Yes and Genesis, two titans of prog in the 70’s, both made accessible pop albums in the 80’s that I thoroughly adore. Let’s be honest, Phil Collins is not going to be remembered for a long time to come because he was a baller prog drummer in the 70’s, he’s going to be remembered for the fact that he wrote pop banger after pop banger after pop banger in the 80’s, with Genesis and solo. Yes will be remembered for their prog to be sure, but the first song on anybody’s mind will be Owner Of A Lonely Heart, a true 80’s pop masterpiece.
Joan Baez
4/5
This works so well because it sounds as if Joan is set up in the corner of your living room singing directly to you. This album is so chill, I had absolutely no desire to be distracted by life. Joan’s character shows up quite a bit in the Bob Dylan biopic, A Complete Unknown, as they were lovers and both played and largely shaped what the Newport Folk Festival in Rhode Island is. Bob can be a huge dick, so the story plays out accordingly.
Giant Sand
3/5
Musically, I like this. It’s dusty, sparse rock with a big dash of alt-country. I didn’t expect that and I am satisfied by it. The lead singers voice though is just too detached to make this even remotely great. He just sounds so incredibly bored by all of it. In fact, the longer this trudges on, the more insufferable he becomes. There are some truly lovely songs on here but the album is too long. Not justified considering how lazy and uninvested he sounds.
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band
4/5
This album is FAR better than Trout Mask Replica. I understand this was his first album and he hadn’t “found his sound” yet. If critics want to lie to themselves and dress up the turd that is Trout Mask, go for it I guess. There are actual songs throughout this album…many of them are good. Is it perfect? No, but at least I can enjoy it. This record reminds me Gris-Gris by Dr. John…another cool discovery on this project. They both have a swampy New Orleans psychedelic vibe that I’m finding I truly love.
The Verve
3/5
I’ve always felt that this album was/is completely overblown. It lived in literally every car CD book case I ever perused. It’s lovely here and there, and Bittersweet Symphony is iconic, but the rest of it feels as if it’s trying to be the most important Britpop album you’re ever going to hear in your life, all while keeping a steady slow to mid tempo range and sounding totally generic throughout. Some of these songs go on for too long for no reason and in the end, they all sound the same. The nail in this coffin comes at the end when Come On, a song that sounds exactly like everything that came before it, except for that he screams an insincere and apathetic “fuck you”, trudges on for almost 7 minutes only to have to wait another 6 minutes for the hidden track, which sucks. I always hated that trick on CD, but in the digital age, there’s no reason in this world to wait through minutes of silence for a hidden track. Nirvana did it on Nevermind, but at least that song is violently great and worth waiting for. Here it’s just sparkly guitar noise and the sound of a crying baby seal. Irritating and pointless.
The Magnetic Fields
4/5
This is a LOT to take in, and I know this album has a hugely positive reputation. For some strange reason, I’ve never listened to it, so I’m going to put this one into the “needs more time” category of my musical life and rate it a 4 for now based on its rep. That may or may not change once I’ve given it a proper due.
Astrud Gilberto
3/5
Simply Red
5/5
Holding Back the Years is one of the best songs of the 80’s. It sits in that urban sweet spot vibe along with George Michael’s album Faith, and Stings first two solo albums. They have a sense of jazz but don’t quite go all the way there. This album grooves overall. There’s just something really special about it…the emotion, the vibe, the earnestness. This album is a real gem!
Eels
3/5
Dinosaur Jr.
2/5
OVERHYPED! I’ve seen this album show up in so many indie blogs stating it to be a the ultimate revelation of 80’s underground rock, alongside Sonic Youth, Husker Du and The Pixies. For me, I feel nothing. It’s sloppy, overdriven noise. The songs are nothing special. I think the kicker for me is when they cover The Cure’s Just Like Heaven. That is a perfect song, and yet they manage to make it sound completely unremarkable.
White Denim
3/5
White boy rock that sounds like they’re a molecule away from being Phish. There’s nothing wrong with this other than maybe it’s a little bland. I do enjoy the jamminess of River to Consider, and the hippie vibes of Is And Is And Is.
The Kinks
4/5
This is a very pleasant listen. Fun, trippy, light. It’s masterful whimsy. They seem to be all over the place. It is definitely of its time, as it feels like the wild, Wild West of what a song can be.
Simon & Garfunkel
4/5
This is a gorgeous album. America will forever take my mind right to the scene in Almost Famous where the sister leaves home. The Bangles version of Hazy Shade of Winter is better, but it is a damn well written song here. Mrs. Robinson is a timeless classic. Some of the other songs sound so delicate that they may break. There’s a comfortable cinematic calmness throughout this record that now feels lost to time.
The Beach Boys
4/5
It’s very fitting that a Beach Boys album comes up just a day after legend Brian Wilson passed away. Not only a Beach Boys album, but one of their better ones. I bought this in a thrift shop almost 25 years ago and I never really gave it the attention it was due. Much of this album bypasses the beach and sun for darker topics and melancholy vibes, yet the sunny melodies survive. Student Demonstration Time is timely in today’s world environment and is also very clearly inspired by Revolution by The Beatles. Surf’s Up moves from sunny to meditative to eclectic creating a satisfying song that makes you feel like you’ve been given an unexpected super sized meal.
Steely Dan
3/5
When the third or fourth album by certain bands, like Steely Dan, show up on this list, I feel like we’re way into overkill land. I don’t mind Steely Dan, and as I’ve pointed out before, their albums are impeccable in the production department, but song wise they mostly don’t always do it for me. That being said, Countdown to Ecstasy feels like an accessible enough album. As always, the breezy jazzy vibe is the backbone, so the vibes are nice. I just don’t like their songwriting.
Faith No More
3/5
Epic lives up to its name. I consider this to be above average 80’s metal, but I’m also not really a huge metal fan. I imagine it would grow on me. 3.5 stars.
Beastie Boys
3/5
The Beastie Boys make music for skinny pubescent white boys who like skateboarding, weed, and being extreme. They are far cooler than your average white rapper(s). Sabotage was brilliant in 1994, and it remains brilliant today (that video too). Get It Together travels right into A Tribe Called Quest land, and again…brilliant! Sure Shot is great. I enjoy their incorporation of jazz, house and funk in spots, and their sound overall is aggressively New York. At the end of the day though, the Beasties are too all over the place for this to be a focused masterpiece. When they abandon the vibes and go for hard rap or punk, as on Alright Hear This, Heart Attack Man and Tough Guy, I tune out.
Gang Of Four
3/5
There’s nothing wrong with this album but I feel like every band from 1979 sounds close to the same: Punkish snarl, claustrophobic drums, funky bass, confrontational noodling guitar that lacks feeling. Gang of Four sounds exactly like the band Television. At least The B-52’s sounded like they were trying to be different that year, even though some of these same elements appear on their first album.
Saint Etienne
4/5
The older I get, the less I vibe with the chaotic energy of rock music. I just want to chill now. Downtempo house is where my soul thrives at this moment in time. I love the deep bass grooves that I can feel shaking my bones, the chill vocal delivery, the images in my head of the colorful nighttime, the stoned blissfulness of it all. While this album is not perfect as the spoken word parts aren’t necessary, some of the songs are: Only Love Can Break Your Heart, Spring, Stoned To Say The Least, Nothing Can Stop Us, London Belongs To Me, and Kiss and Make Up.
The Fall
4/5
I was skeptical when I saw a The Fall show up this morning because I assumed they’re punk, and most punk is so banal to me. Well they are punkish, but this album is more based in sass and groove. Far better than I could’ve hoped for. I really dig this!
Green Day
4/5
Dookie is colllege 1994. It was everywhere. I was in love with the Smashing Pumpkins so I didn’t care. I’ve since given it my attention and I like it even if it is simpler and a little samey throughout. Longview has always been my favorite. Welcome To Paradise doesn’t hold up for me. When I Come Around sounds like frat parties. This is a good, not great, album. I have far more love for Green Day’s follow up album, Insomniac, which is a 5.
Elvis Presley
3/5
Meh. Elvis is overrated.
Gotan Project
4/5
What a delightful surprise! Gotan Project is chill in a late 90’s alternative/electronica way, even though it was released in 2001. I smell jazz, and downtempo, and rock grooves. Some of these songs could casually show up on Somafm’s Groove Salad radio station and I would say “Nice!”. Not once did it get annoying.
Morrissey
4/5
As much as I want to dislike Morrissey as a person, I can’t take anything away from his art, which is mostly pretty great. I can easily separate artist from art. This album is quite enjoyable. Great hooks, great production, and solid singing.
Massive Attack
4/5
Protection houses my favorite Massive Attack song, Spying Glass. A perfect example of how great Trip Hop could and should be. Sleek, sensual vibes with mystery and a heavy bass groove. Chef’s kiss! Overall, this is a good album and it is a perfect distillation of the Trip Hop sound, but it is not as groundbreaking as their first, Blue Lines, or as perfect as their next and high dark masterpiece, Mezzanine. I’d say it’s their transition record and that is just fine by me.
The Yardbirds
3/5
Mariah Carey
3/5
Oh Mariah! While you’re technically a brilliant vocalist, with a big ass range, I just don’t FEEL you like I do Whitney or even far less proficient singers. Your voice flutters all over the place and yet it never lands anywhere. I’d say that could go along with the theme of your album title but you do this on all of your albums. There’s ZERO restraint with you. I get it, girl, you can SING! Then why do I feel nothing when I’m done listening to your records? A good (random) comparison is to Papa Don’t Preach. Nobody is going to accuse Madonna of being the best singer of all time, but when she sings that song, I feel every ounce of the desperation she’s feeling with that single “PLEEAASSSE!” when begging her father to help her and to not abandon her in her choice. Plus, that song and her voice are hyper focused on the topic at hand. That’s what I’m looking for with any singer, not vocal gymnastics just because you can. I won’t even go into comparison between you and Whitney’s “I Will Always Love You” because you don’t even come close to winning that battle in any universe.
Marianne Faithfull
3/5
10cc
3/5
10cc sound like the exact middle ground between Queen and Supertramp on this album. That’s definitely not a bad thing, it just feels like they don’t have their own sound. This album, all in all, is quite enjoyable if slightly forgettable.
Fugees
5/5
The Score is a blast from the past. I needed a well known and beloved album to cleanse my brain from always putting too much thought into something new to me. First off, Lauryn Hill is fire. That voice is as smooth as silk and it flows to kill. The beats here are hot. Mostly though, these tracks are simply really really really good and catchy. I still quote this album (“NO STRESSSSS!!”, “Captured your bounty like Elliot Ness, YES!!!”, “and after all my logic and theory, I add a motherfucker so you ignorant nigga’s hear me”, “hey chang wang”). This is without doubt one of the best rap records from the 1990’s because it has a more universal appeal compared to straight gangsta rap. It incorporates elements of soul, reggae and R&B, and it’s hard, but not glock you hard. It’s also the first record that I heard straight up references to 80’s music and culture. Yes, this album put me in a great mood today.
The Sonics
3/5
Joanna Newsom
5/5
Ys may sound like child’s play rubbish on first listen but it is actually a masterpiece of the highest caliber. Joanna Newsom is one of the most original voices from the 00’s. Squeaky, random, yet not, intelligent poetry, and with the contribution of Van Dyke Parks, orchestration that takes her harp based songs to an ethereal universe full of intrigue, magic and wonder. I’ve lived so deeply inside this album that at some point it might have healed my cold dead heart. These songs are parables and stories full of love for her sister (Emily), betrayal, manipulation and suicide (Monkey & Bear) and complex emotions (Sawdust and Diamonds) that only an adult with life experience can understand.
Bee Gees
4/5
Most of what I know of The Bee Gees is disco based, so this is a lovely and chilled surprise. It’s gorgeous in many spots but I’m not a huge fan of the falsetto when it pops up, and it gets a little weepy here and there. Otherwise, this is great coffee on a Sunday morning music.
Merle Haggard
3/5
Modern Country music is pure SHIT. Yes, that is intentionally all caps to drive the point home. I’ve got nothing good to say about it, and when I’m forced to listen to it, I’d literally rather be eating paint just for fun. It is by far the WORST genre of music that exists, and it can’t disappear soon enough. But CLASSIC 1960’s Country is pure gold. Simple, heartfelt, universal to EVERYONE (compared to today’s mostly white male hetero-normative evangelical nationalistic bullshit). Merle peppers his songs about love, heartaches, yearning and loss with heart. He sounds like most Country stars from that time but there is such a great feeling of calm and security in them. While there are songs on here that drag, I can still appreciate their vibe.
Judas Priest
4/5
I haven’t spent too much time with Judas Priest up to this point. Loved their punchy rock/metal. It holds way up 45 years on.
Caetano Veloso
4/5
Tropicalia always brings the vibes. Caetano has a lovely sun-kissed voice. Psychedelic bossanova is such a wonderful genre that makes me feel like I’m traveling through a 1960’s Brazilian/Spanish film on a moped.
Björk
3/5
I love what Bjork is going for on Vespertine…sparse, icy yet warm emotion, but I find that I almost never come back to this album. There is just not enough pull to make it long term worthy. Hidden Place is a lovely opener and has a hook, Unison ends the album on a whimsical note, Cocoon is sparse and sublime, and I’ve always loved the mystery of Aurora and An Echo, A Stain, but otherwise the songs get lost in their atmosphere, which is why so many people seem to adore this album. She’s done better overall.
The Smiths
4/5
Johnny Marr’s guitars shimmer and shine as always, and there’s Morrissey up front and center wishing he wasn’t there, but would be deeply depressed if he wasn’t because he gets validation from wallowing in his own self hatred. Enigmatic to say the least. Personalities aside, The Smiths are truly a great band. The songs oscillate around a deep, sometimes irritating despair that is healed through joyous instrumentation. They kind of invented the aesthetic.
The Bees
3/5
I hear hints of The Carpenters, The Bee Gees, definitely an Os Mutantes cover, and a general 70’s soft rock aesthetic with a large serving of late 90’s/early 00’s DIY indie. Not perfect, but nice and chill and worth giving more attention to.
Television
2/5
I’ve put my work in with this album, and I simply don’t like it. It exists, and that’s all. It epitomizes critical hyperbole elevating an album to darling status and telling you that this is “cool” when the product is merely ok. The moral of any story in art and music is that if you like/dislike something, don’t ever let a critic tell you otherwise because the ONLY opinion that matters is yours.
Animal Collective
5/5
Merriweather Post Pavilion is the best psychedelic record of the 21st century. This album takes you on a blissed out journey inside and outside the mind with or without drugs. It’s all so very immersive. Had this been made in the 1960’s, Animal Collective would be spoken of with the same breathlessness as The Beatles. They did what any truly great band does…took their influences and modernized the hell out of them making it sound new. This is also Animal Collective’s most consistent record. Others have moments of artistic brilliance but never as often as on here. Mostly though, the songs are just great. Highest highlights are My Girls, Bluish, Summertime Clothes, Lion In A Coma, and In The Flowers.
Joni Mitchell
3/5
The Hissing of Summer Lawns is the point in Joni’s career where she thoroughly embraced jazz structures in her songs. They tend to ramble and never feel like they make too much of a point, but Joni’s appeal is her chill delivery, and her fierce experimentation…as heard on the wildly rhythmic The Jungle Line. Overall, for me she embodies Sunday morning chill ambience and art house music done fairly well, if a little boring on this particular album. She’s also at the top of the list of artists who are “an acquired taste”. Once it seeps into your soul though, you’ll find yourself defending her to the death.
Richard Hawley
4/5
This album feels so woozy and quiet, and yet so cinematic. I really dig the chill. I’m reminded of 1950’s crooners. Richard being the guitarist for Pulp greatly increases the intrigue. I think this may grow on me quite a lot.
Scritti Politti
3/5
This album feels like DeBarge and Prince had a mid 80’s baby, but it’s all done by British white guys. The breathy, higher register vocals also remind me of Color Me Badd. This shines when those 80’s synths kick it up to 10. The ballads kind of drudge along. Perfect Way is a great song! 3.5 stars.
Eagles
3/5
The Velvet Underground
3/5
I respect The Velvet Underground for creating a genre of music that I love… psychedelic, washed out indie, but they themselves are boring. Maybe it’s Nico who sounds liked a bored little rich girl on here, though Sunday Morning is a great song. Add Lou Reeds disaffected tone and it all just sounds like they’d rather be anywhere else. Their “cool” factor comes from apathy and romanticizing hardcore drug use among the rich and full of shit. It’s just not my scene.
Pet Shop Boys
3/5
Another Pet Shop Boys album when realistically there should only be one or two total on this list. Very is more upbeat gay club music than their previous record, Behaviour, which is a welcome change, but as always, their songs are just mid. Occasionally they drop a timeless classic, but they don’t on this album. Nothing wrong here, but nothing mind blowing either.
Black Sabbath
4/5
Arrested Development
4/5
R.E.M.
3/5
R.E.M. is my favorite band of all time. Truly, they embody everything that I stand for, but I am NOT one of those insufferable R.E.M. fans who thinks they peaked with their first 5 albums, and everything from Green onward is shit. Nope. R.E.M. ascended persistently and confidently through 1998’s Up (and even 2001’s Reveal on good days) in my opinion, and were simply a great band out of the gate. That being said, I rarely listen to Murmur. It feels so underwhelming for all of the hype heaped upon it. I think R.E.M.’s debut 1982 EP Chronic Town is brilliant, so it’s not a case of the warm-up blues. I just don’t think Murmur is anywhere close to being their best album. It’s murky drudge at times, and when it shines, it’s not as brilliantly as later songs and records. Still, this is MY band, so I can’t call this total shit. That title goes to their entirely worthless 2004 album Around The Sun. I’m going with 3 1/2 stars here. So much better to come after this, but at the end of the day, Murmur is a valiant but mediocre full debut album.
Meat Loaf
5/5
Bat is an all time classic album for me. It gave me some cool core memories from the days of driving around in my old school Toyota Prius with the tape deck chugging out the perfection of You Took The Words Right Out Of My Mouth, Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad, and Paradise by the Dashboard Light.
Miles Davis
4/5
The Black Crowes
3/5
I very much enjoy the Black Crowes This album always left me wanting more though. It definitely feels like a warm-up. Some of the songs just feel half baked. She Talks to Angels is definitely excellent. Their second album, The Southern Harmony and Musical Companion is an absolute rock masterpiece of the 90’s.
The Flaming Lips
5/5
First class album all of the way through. I consider this album to be The Flaming Lips’ OK Computer or their Dark Side of the Moon. Wayne was dealing with the death of his father on this record and would further dig deeper into that feeling of gorgeous existentialism on Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots after the death of a dear friend from Japan. The lush sound on this record is a direct result of their experiments from their previous album Zaireeka, which was four discs designed to be played at once on multiple CD players. Before that they were a somewhat strange and at times goofy garage rock band. This album is a giant leap forward in their sound and vision, and on first few listens it may seem awkward, but Wayne’s heartfelt sentimentality makes it a powerhouse grower and one of the best albums from the 90’s.
Donald Fagen
3/5
Donald Fagan solo still sounds exactly like Steely Dan. The songs are cool and relaxed in a jazz lounge way, and the production sounds so very of its early 80’s time. All in all it’s good, but unless you’re a Steely Dan Stan, there’s nothing extraordinary here.
Jeru The Damaja
3/5
Jeru is new to me. Sonically, I enjoyed this record for being gangsta-ish rap with undertones of New York jazz rap (ala Guru or A Tribe Called Quest). So very 1994. Lyrically, he so uncreatively dips his toes into misogyny and homophobia. It was and still is so completely unnecessary to getting a point across. That brings this score down a couple points. So overall not great all the way through but cherry picking a few tracks for a larger playlist does just the trick.
Big Star
1/5
Not on my music streaming platform.
Beatles
4/5
There’s a lot to love on The White Album…Dear Prudence, Glass Onion, Ob-La-Di-Ob-La-Da, Happiness Is A Warm Gun, I’m So Tired, Blackbird, Martha My Dear, Piggies, Why Don’t We Do It In The Road? And that’s just the first disc, which is definitely better than the second (if only because Revolution 1 is the very weak album version compared to the rockin’ and FAR superior radio version, and Revolution 9 is one of the biggest wastes of time on an album ever, inspiring other bands to dump their most callous recordings on their albums in the name of “art”). Even in the lesser songs, you can at least hear the Beatles trying their best to reach a musical nirvana.
I look at this album as I do any great double album…a vast garden of fruit to pick from. Some food is more beloved than others but at the end of the day, they all give some kind of proper nutrition and contribute to the whole.
Talk Talk
3/5
Sinead O'Connor
5/5
When it comes to putting your money where your mouth is, Sinead was the queen. She was a true warrior for justice where it was, and is still needed. Using her star power at the time to boldly look the devil in the eye and confront it without fear by ripping up a picture of the pope on television is still the most badass statement of my lifetime. She deserved so so much more than what she received. This statement is cliche, but in her case it holds firmly true: the world owes her a huge apology. She was right about all of it.
This album feels of its time with the very very late 80’s production throughout. The hip hop beat on I Am Stretched On Your Grave, combined with light traditional Irish instrumentation gives it a powerful feeling of timelessness. Her voice is like a siren wailing from the rocks on the Irish Sea. It feels vulnerable, as on You Cause As Much Sorrow and Three Babies, and immortal, as also on You Cause As Much Sorrow and Three Babies. Nothing Compares 2 U is without a doubt the best song on here, but that was a lightning in a bottle song thanks to Prince’s genius songwriting, but Sinead took the song to its rightful place of incredible emotional immortality. All in all this is a truly great album by a very misunderstood woman. Repeated listens reward immensely.
The Jam
3/5
The Jam are back and here we have more English punk pop. I imagine this could be a favorite like so many albums on this list had I found it/them 30 years ago, but this project has a way of making most music seem banal since it pushes multiple albums by bands who sound the same. I’m not in a power pop zone these days. That’s certainly not The Jam’s fault. So… Good album, nothing extraordinary.
Lenny Kravitz
3/5
Lenny is a vibe for sure. It’s not always the vibe you crave, as on one of my most hated songs of all time, Fly Away. I could write an entire essay on how shitty that song is, but that’s a different album. He loves to make his voice sound like he’s trapped in a box and he’s growling out, as on Let Love Rule. Otherwise the vibe is relaxed, bluesy and modern cool, as on My Precious Love and Fear. I enjoy Lenny far more when he just chills. This is a cool enough debut album, but not necessarily my complete vibe.
Suede
4/5
That album cover is genius. Is it two boys kissing? Two girls? A boy and a girl? Complete androgyny. It sums up their dramatic glam sound so perfectly. Suede sounds like Pulp with a different lead singer. They seem very inspired by David Bowie. Do I love this? Not immediately, but I could see it growing on me.
David Ackles
3/5
I had high hopes for this album based on the description as it is compared to Elton John, but it just kind of plodded along and didn’t do much of anything for me. Oh well. It’s very vaudeville in spots and stream of consciousness elsewhere. Oh, California! Is fun..
Dinosaur Jr.
3/5
Dinosaur Jr. has the apathetic noise thing pretty much perfected. This album sounds similar to Daydream Nation by Sonic Youth. I might have liked this more in the 90’s, but I’m mostly over this style of music now.
The White Stripes
3/5
Ray Price
4/5
While Country is not my favorite genre, this classic is an old school breezy vibe that I dig. It’s definitely not an everyday mood, but when it hits, it hits hard.
Big Black
5/5
I’m old so punk/hardcore doesn’t torch my soul, but then that keyboard hook in Passing Complexion came on and intrigue set in. Then Kerosene rolled through and I felt an element of industrial Goth. Ok. I like it. The production is exceptional. Fists of Love pounded by and I’m realizing that this music is intentionally riding a very intense wave of urgency…something that seems to be lacking in modern music, or at least in music that is being crammed down the collective throat. Finally, I realized that this is Steve Albini’s band…producer of many 90’s alt rock titans (Nirvana, The Breeders, PJ Harvey, Slint, Bush) and of course the man behind the brilliant production on The Pixies’ ‘Surfer Rosa’. It ALL makes sense now. Steve truly was a genius music producer. This music feels of its moment and highly important even 40 years on.
Kings of Leon
2/5
There is so much religious righteousness in the lead singers voice that even Jesus would quickly hit the skip button. That lazy mumbling he does at the beginning of Revelry is the epitome of everything that I despise about vocalists of that time. It just sounds like an attempt to cover up the fact that his voice simply sucks. Sonically and songwriting-wise, these songs are fine, even good. I don’t fault the rest of the band here at all. I could’ve potentially come back to this had the singers voice been anything less than overwrought and unbearable. Even still, I just “can’t even” with Christian themed music and its intentions. It gives off the eternal “If you’d just accept Jesus into your life…” vibes. Piss off!
Sly & The Family Stone
3/5
I’m surprised by how much this feels like background music. I expected to be punched in the gut with wild experimentation and timeless anthems but that didn’t really happen. The funk is strong and the vibe is truly great. I loved Just Like A Baby and Family Affair. Good album but I won’t come back to it.
Dwight Yoakam
2/5
Country is mostly a hard pass for me. At least this isn’t as mind numbingly awful as more modern country.
Magazine
4/5
This gave me Television vibes. I think it’s interesting and I enjoyed it greatly, but on first listen it sounded like every other band from that time period. After discovering how influential Magazine were on Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead, Johnny Marr of The Smiths, Simple Minds and Jarvis Cocker of Pulp, I gave it another spin to listen deeply from those bands’ perspective, which helped me to appreciate this album far more.
Scott Walker
3/5
Musically this was interesting. I know Scott Walker is generally known for some wild musical exploration but this must be before that. Lyrically it is dark. I’m looking for a little more sunshine in my life these days so this doesn’t hit where I’d like it to.
Beach House
4/5
Being a huge Beach House fan didn’t come to me through Teen Dream. The album that turned me into a freak was their follow up, Bloom, in 2012. I can state definitely that Bloom is my favorite album of the 2010’s. Teen Dream is lovely, and certainly the album where Beach House found their epic sound, but as a full package it lacks the otherworldly perfection of later albums. Some songs are pretty but the melody might be muddy or it just lacks that something extra special compared to later work. This is also their trendy record, the album in which the Pitchforks and other hipster blogs of the world tell you it is their best, and those pretentious internet juggernauts are the only true definitive sources of letting you in on what is “cool” and what is not, right??
Dream(y) is the perfect adjective and noun to apply to Beach House. Their music floats and oscillates through your ear drums forcing your soul to shake and rise. It may not happen on first listen, but it will eventually. They don’t have a bad album, just those that might be less great than others. If you were to put their entire discography on shuffle though, albums wouldn’t matter. You’d be mesmerized by the dreaminess and otherworldliness of each piece. For that, they are the Mazzy Star of the 21st century.
The Young Rascals
3/5
A couple of interesting notes to this generally very boring album… I had no idea that “You Better Run” was a cover when Pat Benatar hit with it in the 80’s. I would’ve sworn it was her song. Next, “Groovin’” is by far the best song on here. The lazy Sunday afternoon stroll through the neighborhood vibe sounds amazing. Lastly, the last few songs pick up in quality a bit, so that was a welcome experience. I don’t think there’s much here to come back to, though I think it was probably well received when it was released.
SAULT
5/5
Holy shit, this is good! This is precisely the thrill I expect to receive from this project. Here is an album I’ve never heard of, it feels like it’s trying to push music into a thrilling new experience, I had no idea what to expect, and it gives insight into the black experience which I’d like to understand fully. Gloriously, I hear no autotune. These are actual songs sung by people with actual talent compared to the populist whitewashed music crammed down our collective throats through social media. SAULT will likely sit alongside Sons of Kemet, another set of thrilling English musicians, as a band that I find to be extremely important in this modern musical world.
De La Soul
3/5
This record is a pioneer in hip hop and I truly respect it, and yet I can’t rate it high because it simply does nothing for me. The tracks are interesting and yet not. It sounds like it was all made up in the spot.
Digital Underground
4/5
The Humpty Dance holds a big place in my personal year 1990 playlist. That bass and groove is THICK. I dare you to sit still while it bumps and funks. The overall funk on this record is strong and good. Some songs go on for too long but that’s forgivable, particularly if you let the groove consume you in the way only a hip hop jam from this time period can. I learned through this offering today that 2Pac was a part of the Digital Underground just after this record. How cool is that?!
Sister Sledge
4/5
Disco, soul, funk and Nile Rodgers all wrapped up in one sultry glitter ball of a cocaine party. If music is a time machine, then I’ve just been transported right into the center of a life-sized champagne glass on the dance floor of Studio 54. There’s such a deliciously rich texture to this album. The album cover sums it up nicely… I feel deep red velvet carpet, dark wood paneled walls, white silk sheets covering a large round bed, and the flicker of rich jewels in the light. Pure 1970’s opulence.
Circle Jerks
2/5
Lol This album reminds me of the battle of the bands scene in Scott Pilgrim vs. the World when the band they’re competing against introduces the song with a four count on the drumsticks, screams SOOO SAAADDD!! then says thank you because the song was literally only 3 second long. I give this album a higher score simply for being so ridiculously short, and at 16 minutes total, it was still a test in patience to get through it. If I had to suffer through a longer album of straight up thrash punk, I’d be having a much less sunshine filled day.
Adele
3/5
I don’t like Adele. She feels overdramatic and overhyped. Rolling in The Deep is fine enough though.
The Icarus Line
2/5
This sounds like every single rock album made between 2000 and 2005. Absolutely nothing special going on here and it does not deserve to be on this list.
Tom Waits
4/5
If you’ve ever need a refreshing palettte cleanser from the stale music in your life, Tom Waits, starting with Swordfishtrombones, is it. You will always get the unexpected and weird, but sometimes you also get the sincere and surprisingly timeless. Listening to Tom is like getting lost in the funhouse at a carnival.
Parliament
3/5
I had this album in rotation 20+ years ago and I most remember it for being the alol out funk fest thst it is. I love the vibe but never fell head over heels for the album overall. I definitely feel the same way now. Great 70’s funk party vibe that holds its own in any decade. 3.5 stars
Serge Gainsbourg
1/5
My god, that was extraordinarily BORING. His right-in-your-ear style of speak singing only greatly pissed me off. It’s annoying in the way that when you’re trying to sleep, you get some asshole coming in close to you thinking they’re the most important person in the world trying to wake you up for their own selfish purposes, but manipulatively disguises it as being a sexy come-on. Only in the final song did the instrumentation get even remotely interesting. I expected way more from this considering that I’ve seen his name being glowed over throughout the years. Thank god it was under 30 minutes. Very very hard pass.
Soft Cell
5/5
From the first notes I recognized that Soft Cell had inspired 2000’s electro-art band The Knife, whom I love, along with early 90’s alt rock band, James, whom I also adore. That was just in the first song. I can also hear Nine Inch Nails and other Industrial, and even Goth inspiration. This album is super solid throughout. The drum machine drips neon coolness and is still ahead of its time, particularly on Sex Dwarf. This record is full of dramatic singing, experimental musicianship, and of course their HUGE hit, Tainted Love, and the songs are mostly bangers. Youth is probably the weakest song, but it’s still good. I’d say I’m now a fan of this album.
Heaven 17
4/5
I’m feeling spoiled…two days in a row, two hot albums from 1981 that are knocking my socks off (the other being Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret by Soft Cell). The vibe here is impeccable. It’s a cross between Kraftwerk and oddly enough, Wham!. The songs are funky, highly danceable and socially aware, particularly “(We Don’t Need This) Fascist Groove Thang” as a shake your thang meditation on the evil that was/is Reaganism, which extends its ugliest head into Trumpism today. I also really dig the cover art. I learned that they were mocking the burgeoning yuppie scene, which I’m here for. They are clearly ahead of the game on all counts, musically and on calling out political and social bullshit. Another big win for my ears!
Primal Scream
3/5
I always assumed that this album was strictly bluesy alt-rock based on my awareness of Movin’ On Up. I’m pleasantly surprised to find that it revels more in psychedelica and acid house. The album starts off conventionally enough and expands outward. What brings this down for me is the lead singers voice. It warbles out of tune and makes everything feel so unsure of itself. The songs end up sounding good, but never great. They are just a slight turn of the dial away from being epic. 3.5 stars. So far I feel like everything I’ve heard from Primal Scream falls into that 3.5 star realm.
Arcade Fire
3/5
Funeral is a good album but it never really spoke too deeply to me. This was exciting for 2004, but now it sounds earnest and overwrought. 3.5 stars.
Siouxsie And The Banshees
3/5
This album has a lot of spunk. It’s just not my vibe. I’ve got zero complaints to what they are presenting. Their art is pushing the boundaries of the time, but it’s just not hitting for me. I definitely respect it though.
Sugar
3/5
Sugar is the purest distillation of 90’s alternative rock. The whole thing is revved up in overdrive. There are some truly fine power pop moments on this album including Changes, If I Can’t Change Your Mind, Fortune Teller and Man On The Moon. This music is an itch that pops up occasionally to be scratched but it’s definitely no rash.
Van Morrison
2/5
Yaaawwwwnn! That was one heck of a nap this album put me into. This feels like one of those albums that take years and many dozens of listens to “get” and once you do, you’re a life long die hard fan. I have several of those already but I’m old now and I don’t care to invest that much time into a record that, aside from interesting instrumentation here and there, goes nowhere.
3/5
Blur is never dull. Their songs feel like a grab bag of prizes at the carnival. Occasionally they drop a truely timeless banger, like Girls & Boys or Song 2, but mostly they feel like an oddities band to me. I don’t dislike them, I just don’t ever feel compelled to listen to them. Same goes for this record. I’ll say 3.5 here.
Les Rythmes Digitales
4/5
I enjoyed this. Club music can be wildly inventive and forward looking but this also falls into predictable and expected for its time territory. It sort of feels like AI made it. Again, still very digestible, and it didn’t rub me in any wrong way. It will grow on me with time. I just discovered that this is Stuart Price and it makes more sense now. He made Hung Up and Confessions on a Dance Floor with Madonna, an album that is also good, at times great, but not revolutionary.
Lauryn Hill
3/5
This album exists in my life solely because I am a huge fan of The Score by The Fugees. What I hear is a good album but it is nowhere near best of the 90’s as some people say.
Finley Quaye
3/5
This record is a cool reggae/rock vibe. Not something I’d come back to but glad to know it exists.
Billie Holiday
3/5
From the first note…lovely melancholy. I’m not a huge fan of Billie’s voice, especially here where at times you can hear her dry lips open and the air can be heard annoyingly entering her nose. Some people might call that “honest” or “real”, but to me it’s like nails on a chalkboard. She sounds weary and used up. She certainly lived a rough life, so truly it’s pure truth in music. Her voice aside, the instrumentation is unbelievably beautiful. Epic, vast, and yet as warm as a comfy blanket on a cold winter day.
Talking Heads
4/5
This is a great album. Late 70’s Art funk at its best. I’ve always loved the song Mind and it’s little descending guitar lick, and the way David Byrne sings Electric Guitaaaar with such a sinister delivery is so giddylicious to me. This album is a warm up in greatness to Remain In Light, which dropped the following year. This is a band nearing the peak of their power.
Drive-By Truckers
2/5
The only thing keeping this album from being nothing more than an album you’d buy from the local band of beer-gutted hometown guys in their mid 40’s playing on a Friday night at the sports bar where you’re drunk as hell and going nowhere in life is the historical take on George Wallace. That was interesting to a point. Musically, there’s not much excitement going on. I totally respect what they’re going for…a double album about Alabama. With that much space to work with, you’d think a few more of the songs would stand out. “Moved” was moody and ok, and as mentioned, “The Three Great Alabama Icons” was unique. This album mostly ends up feeling like a colossal waste of time and gives me no more or less respect for the State (or Lynyrd Skynyrd and Molly Hatchet, whom are mentioned definitely more than once) than I already felt.
Bill Callahan
3/5
The power in any Bill Callahan outing lies in his deep voice. It’s a soothing instrument. I discovered Bill through his backup vocals to Joanna Newsom on her 2006 album, Ys, which is in my top 3 of that decade. Voice alone is enough to pull a person in. His songwriting is an acquired taste. There are moments of pure loveliness, like on Rococo Zephyr. Some songs just go nowhere.
My Bloody Valentine
4/5
Pre-Loveless MBV is slightly more awake and coherent but still furiously pushing that highly influential art rock button. I often wonder if Bilinda Butchers voice is so hidden and hazy because she simply can’t sing very well. If that’s the case, then they accidentally stumbled upon a crazy cool genre of music because of it. It’s reminiscent of Michael Stipe’s unsure mumble in Murmur. Kevin Shields’ voice is way more confident, as is his super forward thinking production. The amazing melodies in these songs don’t stand out on first listen since there is so much haze to this music. Though I’m not obsessed with MBV, I totally get why people are. They were the inspiration for my favorite bands to eventually rip off.
Fun note: this is the first album I’ve come across that is not on Apple Music, but I already have it and know it, so it was a nice revisit from an old school, already downloaded to the laptop listening experience.
The Boo Radleys
3/5
Meh. Sounds like every general alt rock band from the early to mid 90’s. Very apathetic and unremarkable.
Dagmar Krause
3/5
Too bad this isn’t available on streaming services. I trotted over to YouTube and there it sits as a rather cumbersome listen if you have to suffer ads. I enjoyed its overt German-ness. It sounds like a pre-WWII cabaret. Some of the songs are super short, so as a new listener it is easily digestible but the project is, of course, entirely too long. Based on vibes alone, I feel like I’d come back to some of this if it were more readily available.
Sleater-Kinney
4/5
I went through an obsessive Sleater Kinney phase 10 years ago. I love their image, and Carrie Brownstein (guitarist/singer) was doing Portlandia which I was also obsessed with. Her humor is irreverent, silly, and yet highly intelligent. Those hit all of the sweet spots of my soul. This is a good album of high energy, tense rockers, with Turn It On being my fave SK song and Little Babies is up there too. Their music takes me right back to trips to the PacNW: Portland, Seattle, Olympia, Tacoma. Once there I of course had to seek out the road that they are named after, which is easy enough to find as it’s just off of the I-5 near Olympia. I don’t consider this to be their best record. It’s great in its own way, but they really hit their peak with 2002’s One Beat, and especially with 2005’s The Woods…an album that could rival most anything by Led Zeppelin.
Hookworms
3/5
This was fun. It’s combines elements of electronic dance music and modern pop rock bands. I truly enjoyed that the songs morphed into each other. I also like that the songs stretch out and breathe. It still sounds too general to be an album that I’d go head over heels for, but in time, it might surprise me. 3.5. 😄
Curtis Mayfield
4/5
I feel like a 5 year old watching television in 1979. This funky inner city vibe was the soundtrack to almost every tv show at that time, even the kids shows. I already know Pusherman from some random compilation. This is a solid soundtrack. The vibe, as great as it is, is not an everyday thing for me. I wouldn’t turn it off if it randomly came on any time though.
A Tribe Called Quest
5/5
Easy 5. One of my favorite albums. Highly influential in Rap and Hip Hop, Tribe has aged like the finest wine. The beats are slick and the rapping is always on point. There is always that element of jazz lurking throughout. This is a Summer album for me. I see the Sun beaming down on a hot but not overwhelming June evening, people outside just vibing in the streets. Windows down, driving nowhere in particular, sweat glistening on my skin. When I close my eyes, it’s all right there in that bass and life is perfect.
Jean-Michel Jarre
3/5
Had Stranger Things taken place in the 70’s, this might be its soundtrack. This album is definitely a precursor to the synth drenched 80’s. As a whole listening experience, I enjoyed it. I like ambient a lot but it doesn’t hold the emotional power of more flushed out traditional song compositions. Hearing this as a forbearing of things to come, I love it. 3.5
Stevie Wonder
5/5
Stevie is a genius. Texturally, tonally, everything here is the most perfect cream to a cat. All of his 70’s albums fill that description. Picking a “best” is just a matter of personal choice. Mine is Fulfillingness’ First Finale, but then I think about Talking Book and Songs In The Key Of Life and I’m never totally sure.
The Roots
3/5
This started off chaotic for me. Then it all ended up sounding mostly the same. The Seed 2.0 is great. Actually all of the songs with the features were good.
Bauhaus
4/5
I love this. Goth is definitely the very interesting dark side of synth pop. I’ve slept on 1981 being a great year in music, and this project has pried my eyes wide open. Between Soft Cell, The Cure, Heaven 17, and now Bauhaus, my perception of what pop music was at that time has been shattered. The radio hits at that time are Campbell’s Soup slop compared to these homemade, high quality delicious meals.
4/5
Yes is a good band. I’m not a huge prog fan, but I enjoyed this record quite a bit. It felt like a real journey rather than an excuse to randomly change things up every minute or two in the name of prog. Even their 80’s pop hits have been nicely cooked (umm…Owner Of A Lonely Heart). For a pointless yet apt comparison, I enjoy their peers Genesis FAR more as an 80’s pop band than I do for their 70’s prog (AND Peter Gabriel and Phil Collins’ 80’s solo for that matter). All outstanding songwriters when they are focused and concise.
Super Furry Animals
3/5
Pleasantly surprised! On first listen, SFA sound like a cross between Blur and Spacehog. I definitely hear David Bowies influence on this mid-90’s alt rock as well. Nothing groundbreaking going on here though.
Dr. Octagon
4/5
This went down better, lyrically, when I found out that this is Kool Keith and one of his alter egos. Sonically I freaking love it! There is some hardcore creativity going on here. Smooth in parts, hard when it needs to be. A dash of dark and mysterious trip hop vibes. Coming in close to having Halloween vibes. This is not just rap for rap sake. Like many albums from the 90’s, an hour plus is too long. I get it, the CD format allowed for more. That doesn’t mean that every album SHOULD be that long.
Wire
2/5
Two things I know going into Pink Flag: R.E.M. covered “Strange” on their 1987 album Document, so I already know where we’re headed, and second, “Mannequin” is a song that I thought was great, but listening now in full, is only great because of the spooky off tune background vocals. This album does not do it for me. I’m sure it sounded great in 1977, but every rock band since The Strokes sounds mildly like this so it feels washed out and used up.
Christina Aguilera
3/5
Stripped sounds so of its time that it hurts. I never question Christina’s ability to sing, but I do question why everything has to be over sung, Mariah Carey style. The vocal gymnastics approach is detrimental to what they’re doing. Give me Whitney ANY day. She makes you feel every note naturally…never forced. Fighter is a good song. Beautiful is a shit song. Others are good, some are too much. The empowerment theme is not the problem here. It’s not a bad album at all if 20 to 30 minutes of it were trimmed away and she wasn’t trying so hard to outplay every other singer in the world.
Jacques Brel
3/5
It’s very French and Live. I have no opinion on this. It is what it is. It exists completely in a musical purgatory. Not special, not horrible.
The Louvin Brothers
2/5
Here’s another album and genre that I feel absolutely nothing towards. All of the songs sound the same and music has progressed so far since then. I wouldn’t put this on for personal enjoyment, ever.
Can
4/5
The rhythm section on Halleluhwah…I could get lost inside of that on a lengthy loop. This album is the rock equivalent of jazz…long form, experimental song structures, and a fearlessness with their songwriting. The drumming on parts of this album feels inspired by Art Blakey, a jazz musician that I’ve fallen deeply in love with this past year. The energy is kinetic. It stirs something forgotten, ancient and passionate in my soul. Elsewhere, Can reminds me of their peers, Neu!, as on the 17 1/2 minute trippy ambient track, Aumgm. This could be described as prog but it’s more sinister psych rock and parts jam band than that. It is long, but it is justified. This album feels like a strange gift you didn’t know you needed until you received it.
The Shamen
4/5
What a treat! A snapshot of electronic music right at the very early days of the 1990’s. There’s a bounciness and a general fun vibe to this. The genre hadn’t been drowned in heroin chic and dank basement darkness yet. It reminds me of Underworld in their lighter moments. I think a couple of these songs will sit nicely in my 1990 year playlist. I love finds like this.
OutKast
4/5
I bought this album on vinyl in Las Vegas when it came out because it was trendy. I liked Speakerboxxx more than The Love Below at that time but I think I feel the opposite now. Andre is trying to be Prince and his freak flag is flying high, but it holds up, whereas Big Boi is just being himself with solid hip hop that is good but never mind blowing. It offers a pretty great glimpse into what energy and style each of them bring to OutKast. This is one of the rare double albums that can and absolutely should be listened to as separate albums, much like Guns ‘N’ Roses’ Use Your Illusion 1 and 2. Ultimately the entire package is just ok. Each part of this is too long to sit through just to move on to another hour plus of it, despite good songs popping up often enough. Vinyl really is the best way to consume this. There’s enough good stuff packed on one side of each record and just enough of a dose of OutKast at a time to stay interested before it becomes too much. 3.5 stars
Lucinda Williams
4/5
Lucinda sounds like a Country version of Sheryl Crow, though I’d venture to guess that Sheryl was probably ripping Lucinda off, particularly on her Country-ish tunes. These songs are super catchy. I’m already aware that critics love the hell out of this album as it shows up in best-of-its-year lists. I feel like this will become a beloved album if I give it more time.
The Offspring
1/5
What a giant slog it was to get through this album. I love Gotta Get Away, but I fucking hate Self Esteem and Keep Em Separated. They’re in my list of most hated songs of all time. This album sums up the sound of every dumbass thirteen year old boy thinking they’re the shit, when in reality, they ain’t shit. What bothers me about this record is how whiny and awful the lead singers voice is, how annoying the hooks are, and how pre/early teen immature this music is. Granted, there is an audience for that, but I'm not it. Big pass here, except for Gotta Get Away.
Common
3/5
I had high hopes, based on the cover alone, that this was going to be a smooth bass-y modern lounge thang, similar to John Legend, but it’s not. I love the idea of what this could’ve been. Common as a rapper is definitely of his time. His voice sounds irritated and doesn’t emote anything except urgency and confrontation, even in the more chill tracks…much like Kanye. The music slides into that old school R&B and Soul sound, which I love…like Kanye. Go! is nice. Testify is a good song. Chi-City is great…I love that this album is generally about Chicago. I guess if he wasn’t seemingly trying to rap like Kanye, I’d enjoy this more. I’ll still take Common over Kanye any and every day of the week though.
Beastie Boys
3/5
This first album by The Beastie Boys reminds me of the first album by Ween (GodWeenSatan): basic, immature and dumb as hell and yet they both oops!, happen to be great! For the Beasties it’s hitting the surprising goof nail in the burgeoning genre of rap. I personally don’t like them overall. They don’t speak to me. Fight For Your Right is another all time hated song for me. Girls is ridiculously misogynistic…such a WTF! moment. Their Zeppelin sample was cool, but if I want that I’ll go listen to Zep. No Sleep Til Brooklyn, Brass Monkey and Slow and Low are pretty great. The Mr. Ed sample in Time To Get Ill had me chuckling and reminded me of watching endless reruns of that show as a kid. 3.5 stars, because this album is NOT good and yet great at the same time.
Ali Farka Touré
3/5
I had this album back in 2007 in an effort to expand my world music knowledge and appreciation. It doesn’t substantially upheave my life but I have always enjoyed its chill African blues vibe.
The Blue Nile
5/5
Suddenly, here’s another album and band from the 80’s that I’ve never heard of that makes me feel good about what music was, is, and can be again. It checks off everything on my list of what makes an album good. It echoes strongly of Peter Gabriel. It almost feels like it could be a lost solo album from him. I also hear David Bowie, Talking Heads and Talk Talk. It has the cool 80’s synth sound going on. The lead singers voice is not grating at all. The song structures and instrumentation are interesting and artistic. 4.5 stars. This is definitely going to be saved into my catalog.
Edit: After giving this a few more listens, I’m pushing this up to a 5. This is a great record!
Slade
3/5
I’m so sick of these expanded editions on music streaming. I AM NOT INTERESTED in listening to leftovers, live tracks, and fucking interviews with the band for an album I don’t know…particularly in this project which contains 70 to 80% hubris. Apple Music normally offers the original form of the album but sometimes not, as on this record. I’m venting over nothing really. For fans, the expansion is amazing but even I don’t tolerate this from my most adored bands. Who needs 5 extra hours of music??? At that point the artist is just being narcissistic. I guess I’m venting because this album is not special. It’s chunky 70’s rock, done by a million bands almost exactly the same way. It’s straight white men dishing out what they always do, and it’s repetitive and SO FUCKING BORING. I went through the phase in my life of liking this brand of music and I’m moving beyond it now. If this music shows up in a cool movie soundtrack, I’d be nostalgic for this time period that I wasn’t alive in, but not much else.
The Go-Betweens
3/5
This album sits right on the cusp of the alternative revolution, in the college rock days. I dig the effortless acoustic nature of it. It reminds me of the Cowboy Junkies and R.E.M. in their more acoustic moments. I’m not quite sure it’s special enough to come back to often but if I found a vinyl or CD copy of it in a used bin, I wouldn’t pass it up.
Björk
4/5
Bjork is always a fascinating listen. She can be infuriating with her pronunciations but that’s her just being her. It’s what makes her utterly unique. This is her breakup album following her divorce, so it drips obtuse heartbreak and hurt. The instrumentation on this record is gorgeous, at times sad. The songs are sublime. All of her post 90’s albums have a sense that she’s just wandering in space making up words and melodies on the spot. Vulnicura is more successful in this feeling than others, feeling more structured and easier to digest. I’d say this is her best record of the 21st century, though I have a soft spot for her 2017 album Utopia.
4/5
This is a great album but Wonderwall is BY FAR the most overrated song of the 90’s. So overrated and overplayed that I don’t even include it in my general 90’s hits playlist. It’s just a really dumb song. The rest of the album is well written and is varied enough to stay interesting over the years. Oasis are not the best band of all time that they think they are. Their first two albums are pretty great but beyond that they have their heads so far up their asses they can see daylight coming into their mouths.
The Verve
3/5
Right away, I like this more than Urban Hymns. These songs seem slightly more sure of themselves, and yet I’m discovering that my issue with The Verve is that they completely lack dynamics. Every song seems to ride a go nowhere wave in the middle of the ocean, dissipating before it reaches shore. Nothing stands out. If consumed as ambient or background music, and you never let yourself get thoroughly invested in the music, it’ll be great. Their albums are perfect for mindlessly shopping for cargo pants or khaki capris at The Gap or Old Navy. It’s not bad! I enjoy the vibe on certain days when I want to just sip tea and stare out the window into the foggy, monotonous mist. 3.5 stars.