Wow! I loved this one. I had listened to it before in the car with Mary, so that probably helped. But I just adored the songwriting and the feel of this one. It just kept on trucking along!
Albums with a heavy amount of drum machine are never going to be 100% my jam, but I like this one a lot even if I'm not at the full on "love it" that a lot of other people are.
This one is really funny to me because the vocals are in such a disparate world from the guitars. I dug it but didn't really love it until the last 2 tracks. I thought adding violin was really cool for the penultimate track and finally felt like the sound gelled in the most satisfying way for the final track.
Never to the beastie boys before and I didn't realize they were such slammin' guitarists, drummers, and bassists. Sabotage is the obvious stand out but I also really enjoyed Sabrosa. I'm not sure stuff like the flute loop in Sure Shot really worked for me - it was just a lot. But the keyboard samples and live keyboards were all really fun. Never gonna be my easiest listen but I understand this album and the beastie boys a lot more than before.
Really loved this one. I wouldn't say any of the songs are particularly hooky, but the instrumentals are all great and the vocal takes are AWESOME. So smooth. And getting in and out in under 35 minutes doesn't hurt either. Listened to this one 4 times today!
I don't think I've ever found a rap or hip-hop album that I've loved from first listen, but this was one. The second track opens with a sextuple internal rhyme and I was HOOKED. I didn't notice or love all the production, but I didn't also notice it standing out in a bad way. It's a huge boon for my listening that the mix is so lyric forward. I could make everything out which is good cuz the lyrics are all full meal here and you wanna hear em!
Love this one. Found this note on wikipedia: "Jethro was originally scheduled to play the organ, but after his organ broke, King instructed Jethro to play the piano.[12] When Jethro said he did not know how to play the piano, King replied "Well, just sit there and pretend — that's what you do most of the time anyway!"" Really loved his piano playing - it's kinda impossible to imagine this album without the kinetic nature of an acoustic piano. I tend not to be over the moon for live albums, but the energy of this one makes a really strong case for them. It fits the blues style perfectly - and the 35 minute runtime really leaves you wanting more!
My first A+ in my rating scale. Not quite as good as night at the opera, but this is the first queen album where they feel like queen. The versatility on the album is great, featuring multiple vocalists and a song by each band member. Killer queen is obviously special but there's so many tracks that I love here.
The pantheon of Beatles albums is truly remarkable, but I think out of all of them this is my favorite. The standout is Eleanor Rigby with its audacious octet arrangement (and the Beatles first recorded song without guitar) but here there and everywhere and For No One are stunning ballads. They may get lost in the Beatles catalog but for any other songwriter they would be a crowning achievement. The uptempo are great too: Taxman, And Your Bird Can Sing, Good Day Sunshine. Oh and by the way they were also revolutionizing how the recording studio could function. Great album!
Songwriting tends to be the most interesting thing to me in music so extended jams/soundscapes/jazz sessions tend to be a little tricky for me. It's not that I don't think I could learn to love or appreciate most of this album with more listens but two wasnt quite enough. I preferred the first 2 sides to the last and it is my first exposure to KRAUTROCK!
Wow! I wasn't previously familiar with Bobby Womack but I just loved this album top top to bottom. There were a decent amount of earworms, some really interesting backing tracks/effects, and great vocal takes. If you think you're lonely now is the standout imo I'm really bummed the first 3 tracks aren't on Spotify cuz I want these all showing up on my shuffle list.
What an album! It's truly astonishing that this album came out in 1970. Paranoid and Iron Man are obviously great, but War Pigs is also spectacular. I love the drum solo in Rat Salad. The final track is awesome and the brief tonal departure for planet caravan is perfect.
This is my first Blondie album and I really enjoyed it. I'm probably right below loving it, but I really liked the songwriting, really liked the guitar work and generally liked the production. I wasn't always a huge fan of the synthesizers, but some of the more subtle effects were really cool.
I really liked the front half of this album. The back half I got a little bit of album fatigue and found the songs to get a little less tuneful and immediately arresting. I'll be interested to see if the rest of the alarm grows on me on my 4th-6th listens. That opening track is funny because I've heard that synth riff in so many different medias that its kinda difficult to hear it as a part of a real song. I like the rest of the track though!
This album is great! I've thought for a little while that the reggae used by the police was a little strange so I'm happy to see them move away from it. I never had listened that closely to the guitar part in every breath you take (which I now have learned was bartok inspired) but I guess it was recorded in one take. You can hear a bit of stutter on it in the intro and first verse which is very cool. I love the 3 on 2 in murder by numbers and the drum track on King of pain is just absolutely killer!
Didn't even know that Brian Wilson had brothers that were in the beach boys. This album was an absolutely dreamy surprise. I wouldn't say that any of the writing struck me as particularly top-notch (through 3 listens). But the orchestration/arrangement/feel for each song is all so different and perfectly walks the line between complexity and instant grokkability. At any given moment in each track it feels like there are 5 or 6 different things you can focus on. I love the layering in Time that happens after the trumpet solo when the keyboard (or perhaps prepared piano??) comes in. Great album!!
So far this album would win my "most improved" award (even though it's really me who improved.) I found my first listen fairly laborious and counting down the tracks, even though I was latching on to some of the self-parody, guitar work and drum work. My second listen I was really able to key into some of the more melodic elements and I didn't even realize I had made it into the bonus tracks. I think it's really cool that they ended this album with essentially a stinger preview of their next album. TAKE THAT MCU.
Growing up in Seattle in the 90s, this album was everywhere, almost a rite of passage. I know most every cadence of it, even Kurts dialogue and banter. Some of it surprised me - I didn't remember anything about a harp tuner, and as a kid I didn't really put together how odd the collection of songs were on this album. What a treat to have an excuse to revisit it as an adult. To pay attention to Kurt Cobain's voice, be surprised that there's a cello in there, and just genuinely appreciate a true masterpiece that we are so lucky exists. Shout out to these liner notes from insecticide. If any of you in any way hate homosexuals, people of different color, or women, please do this one favor for us—leave us the fuck alone! Don't come to our shows and don't buy our records.
This album really went through some changes for me. I found it largely incomprehensible in my first listen. Just a little too much noise, a little too tongue in cheek. Nothing for me to grasp onto. I liked when it became melodic - like in wave of mutilation and here comes your man. But my second time through I started to hear all the crashing and dissonance as a way to offset the melodies, and normally as a counterpoint to something softer going on in the background. I had never listened to the pixies before, but I look forward to revisiting this album and the rest of their discography. I'm going 4 stars here but I could easily see this moving up with more listens.
I had listened to this album before, but this was the first time I really lived with it - and the first time I recognized it as a transition for David Bowie's career. The title track is great, as are all the band tracks. I don't love the songwriting in the back half of the album as much as the front, but it's enough that I'm giving this one 5 stars still.
Not a ton to say here. I only did 1 listen instead of my usual 2+. I'd probably like this quite a bit if I didn't know the stuff I know. A lot of the band tracks are cool and the string work too. But I do know it and nazis suck. 1 star
I really liked the music here. I'm not super familiar with a lot of non-English language music but found all of this very listenable and frequently awesome. Great instrumentals, great vocals, and a lot of emotion that came through on the vocal delivery. The tracks were all a bit fragmented but it seems that this is a compilation album, which means I'm gonna top out for this one at 4 stars. Still, great listen! Can't wait to explore more of her stuff
I've listened to a couple later Kate bush albums and they are a bit too experimental for me to love. This one on the other hand I found really easy to fall in love with. The production is unique, the songs are catchy, and in the back half of the album she goes for some out-there stuff but it feels like she always anchors you with something you can catch on to. Great album!
I've never felt like Zappa really clicked for me but this album kinda did it. I'm not sure the 12 minute track fully earns it's length but other then that I found a lot of this really easy to track especially considering how experimental it is. Those saxophone (I think) licks in the first track are absolutely wild. I also love those synth runs at around 2:15 of the 3rd track that seems to switch between being played live and sequenced. Such a cool effect!
I was hot and cold on this one. The standout tracks (the opening, for no one cover and a couple of others) were stellar. The rest felt like fairly standard country-fare to me (though I'm not an expert!)
Strange one. Electronic music is not my most natural genre, but this one was among the easiest I've listened to. Some of it was that it was short, some of it was that there weren't a million layers, and some was that it felt self-awarely tongue in cheek. I'm probably not coming back to the well on this one a ton, but I'll be relatively happy when it shows up on shuffle.
Just a truly sublime album. Ive always slightly preferred the two albums flanking this: Queen and Sheer Heart Attack since the latter is when they really became QUEEN and the former has all the energy and hunger to prove themselves of a debut album. It was nice to take the time with this album this time and fully recognize just how strong the back half is in its fairytale psuedo-concept album. Also, this quote: The band included the comment "and nobody played synthesiser... again" on the album sleeve, a purist principle of May's, as some listeners had mistaken their elaborate multi-tracking and effects, produced by guitar and vocals, as synthesisers.
I really liked this album my first time through. On the second I noticed from the wiki that Jack Antonoff was listed as the producer on this one (as well as co-songwriter!) which made a ton of sense. I'm gonna go 4 stars mostly because it's so new and I'm curious if it's going to stand the test of time or not.
I liked it ok on my first listen but didn't love it. On my second and third though, I really started to dig it. It's possible after 10 listens or so this could get up to 5 stars but as it is it's sitting at 4. It's a pretty dense record but I found myself more able to enjoy it when I was able to look at the various instruments and personnel on each track.
Ultimately I'm just ok on this one. I found the general sound to be intriguing, as well as some of the soundscapes/arrangements. But the songwriting was all just a little too same-y for me to really dig.
This is such a dense album - I feel like I could listen to it 100 times and still find new stuff and some of it would only become apparent if I started looking at the wikipedia/liner notes. I had listened to it several times 5 or so years ago and found it somewhat impenetrable, but now it opened up quite a bit more and I was able to really enjoy it. I'm giving it 4 stars, but it's more about me needing to grow into the album than the album.
Well, today I learned that everclear sample from this album for their album Songs from an america movie part 1! I really enjoyed the front half of this album. I had fun looking up a lot of the little samples and found the rap verses and energy to be sizzling! Both times I listened I got some album fatigue and wasn't quite able to stay invested all the way through. I'm sure it I was able to keep the sample list up that would have helped a lot, though - as maybe repeat listens would have.
I didn't know this album as well as I know born to run or the wild the innocent and the e street shuffle, but I was really glad it ended up coming on a Friday cuz I ended up listening to it all weekend and every song made it into my favorites list. Just a spectacular sun from stay to finish. Immaculate energy, great songwriting, great drums, great piano. I also learned that the e streets pianist is the same piano player used by Jim Steinman on Bat out of hell and total eclipse of the heart
I don't love this one quite as much as In the Wee Small Hours but there's no competing with the combination of Frank & Nelson Riddle. Old devil Moon, getting to be a habit with me, love is here to stay and anything goes are the standouts to me. They just don't write em like they used to!
My god, I had never listened to this one but this is my favorite album so far that I HADNT listened to before. I know the albums that flank this one, Innervissions and Songs in the Key of Life. One really cool thing about this one is that the wikipedia has an easy to read full personnel list for each song. Did I know what a T.O.N.T.O. synth was? HELL NO! Did I read an article and still not really understand what it is? HELL YES. They won't go when I go is a new all time track for me. It just hits me overwhelmingly in the solar plexus!
This was a very cool album. I wasn't really digging it on my first listen. I sorta just had to prep my ears for the vocal style and low-fi nature. But, due to the short album length I was able to listen to it 3 times and by the 3rd time I was really digging it. Also they were ahead of the times with hating ol Rudes.
Im unsure if I knew the name Manic Street Preachers or not. I think I remember hearing them talked about on the radio as a kid but I had no idea what to expect for their sound. It turns out the album veers between this punk and pop punk world in a way that I really appreciate. This was exactly my musical language I loved this album from top to bottom. However in my 2 listens no one song really stood out to me so I'm gonna have to go 4 stars. I am going to keep listening to this one so I hope it moves to 5 to me!
I've listened to this one before and it never really grabbed me so I wasn't really looking forward to this time through the album. However, I think I've just lived with this one long though that I've started to become used to the cadences of the album. It's never going to be one of my favorites but it has finally hit the point where the curves are familiar enough that I can enjoy the soundscape and get lost in it
Wow, I've never really listened to steely Dan before. I'm not sure I'd like any of their other albums as much as this one because it looks like this one has a much higher focus on compact, quick songs and less extended solos/jazz sessions/prog Rock. That being said I found these all tuneful and sonically interesting. I was happy to listen to this one 3 times and had almost half the album make my favorites list!
This was a very cool album! I wasn't familiar with any of these songs but the instrumentation was so cool. I really enjoyed the song with the meter changes (I think it was in 7) Only managed one listen cuz I'm behind, but I look forward to getting a second one in!
Wow, what a wild album. This is just a year after rubber soul, the same year as revolver and the year before sgt peppers. It simultaneously feels of a kin with those albums but also like it had to be made a couple years later. It's so daring and inventive. The fusion with jazz, including the use of flute and harpsichord (!) is very cool. The kind of album that can only be made in a couple year period.
Every so often you come across an album where you just can't believe it wasn't on your radar before. Rock operas/concept albums always fit that bill for me - I love albums to have a narrative focus. This one is inventive while also being tuneful. It creates a soundscape that alternates between grooving and being ethereally expansive. Great album!
This was an album that was sort of teetering between 2 and 3 stars for me on my first listen. It just sounded like a 70 minute soundscape to me without very much noticeable variation. On my second listen it started to open up a bit more and I was able to hear some discernible songs. From perusing the wiki I think I need to listen to some OLDER cure so that I can understand a little better where this album is coming from (and perhaps where it's going?)
I don't love the first side of this one too much, but once we hit Starfish and Coffee I'm head over heels for the rest of the album. Drum machines tend not to be my thing, but the layering that goes on in the final 75% of this one really work for me, especially in the epic side 4!!
I hadn't ever thought of tainted love as a real song by a real band from a real album. There was some stuff I enjoyed off of this one, but mostly it just seemed like some electronic filler. I did like the reeds on tracks 1&3 and it was interesting to hear tainted love in context. Not sure I'll be listening to this one in full again, but I will be tickled when it comes up on shuffle!
This album was fun! It's weird how something can be so prototypically 80s and also have no synthesizers. It was probably a little overly long but I did really enjoy my listens.
I've never listened to Alice in chains before but now I think I have been missing out? This hits exactly that juncture between memories and going HARD. There were two songs that I recognized from growing up and listening to the radio in the late 90s: Rooster and Would? I wasn't expecting to end the album with such a banger, but there it was!
In college I read watchmen and wanted to understand the references so I checked this album out. I hadn't even "understood" Bob Dylan until then but I quickly fell in love with this entire album. It's sort of a crossover album for Bob Dylan, bridging the gap from his folk roots into the world of rock. Like a rolling stone, tombstone blues, ballad of a thin man and desolation row are the standouts!
I listened to this one twice, but I think it's one I needed more than twice and also to look along with the Wikipedia and "who sampled" to fully get it. There was some piano work that I was sure wasn't going to be sampled but I couldn't find any keys work on the personnel. Also just some classic tracks/references!
I liked this album. My second time through I liked it even more than the first time. I like the lofi sound, I think the guitar tracks are really interesting. I maybe could use a hair more variation in the tracks, but coming in at 35 minutes its kind of OK as is. I'm going 4 stars for now but could easily see it jumping up to 5
Boy oh boy did I love this album. I had no idea anything like this existed. The time signatures are wild, the tempo changes are wild. Having access to multiple lead singers really helps break up the album. The only song I favorited my first time through was Stillness is the move, but the second time I added Cannibal Resource, Temecula Sunrise, Remade Horizon and Two Doves.
I listened to this album 3 times and I wasn't really sure what I was supposed to find special about it. I didn't dislike it, but there also wasn't anything about it that bowled me over, unfortunately.
I had listened to this album before and previously been at a 4 on it, but it was great to listen to it again cuz I'm bumping it up to a 5. I don't think every song is a 5 out of 5 for me, but the opening of the album, closing of the album, and of course hallelujah, are just absolutely perfect. Such an awful loss, but I am glad we at least have this album
This is another album that I sorta just know the ins and outs of most of the songs, but this was my first listen(s) where I clued into the various solos/improvs and piano parts. I loved it from top to bottom, I know it's kinda boring as one of the most ubiquitous jazz albums but I still love it
Wow, what an album. I was familiar with the opening track from the strong songs podcast, but I still wasnt quite sure what to expect from this one. The voice is fantastic, the feel is fantastic, all the quirky time signatures are fantastic. Loved it top to bottom!
This one is kinda similar to TPaB where I probably need 10 total listens to fully Get It, and I need to do a listen with the personnel/sampling page up. That being said, I have listened before so I was able to enjoy this one even with just a couple listens. I really like how many live instruments there are on the album, especially when Carlos Santana shows up!
I liked this album! It was a surprisingly easy listen and quite tuneful. I could hear the influences on music to come and I understand from reading the wiki that's largely the use of the melotron. I'll be happy to have many of these come up on shuffle
I can't not give this album 5 stars - a seminal album from my childhood and the album that I know the best of any that we've listened to. I love the dissolve from the title track to champagne supernova. Roll with it, dont look back in anger, hello, cast no shadow, she's electric, and oh yeah, wonderwall. Just love it too pieces.
Really liked this one. Never spent a full album with TMonk - he certainly loves his dissonance, and I guess the title track took 25 takes. At one point the bass player couldn't be heard but it turned out he was just miming it. This one is right on the edge between 4 and 5 stars but I'm gonna go 4.
I thought this album was fine, bit I wasn't over the moon for it. I enjoyed both listens but nothing really stood out to me!
Not my favorite hendrix album, but it's hard to go wrong with Hendrix!
I could listen to this album probably another 20 times but I'm already behind and I gotta move on! Never really listened to Frank Ocean but it was such a diversity of sound. I was bummed I couldn't take the time to go track by track on samples and personnel yet.
I'm pretty certain that I've never listened to this album... but Reasons was already on my favorite list. I'm not sure how or why, but I did recognize that song. This was just a blast all the way through, some good keys works on a few songs, generally slammin' band tracks, and absolutely top-notch vocals.
I liked this album, but didn't love it. Several of the songs started to click in for me on my 3rd listen, but it generally felt like a less fully relaxed version of Kate bush. The harp work, however, was awesome.
First time through I didn't vibe with this one too much. Second time through I enjoyed it a bit more, but still didn't make it out of a 2 star range. It was just a bit too weird for me with not enough to pull me back in.
Oh wow. I've never listened to Linkin Park - I kinda always assumed they were too heavy for me. And they are close, but I loved the musicality of this album. I didn't realize they were a metal/hip-hop/rap fusion band. I was also shocked to learn this was a debut album when I went to the wiki after my first listen. It's such a polished album! Very cool stuff! Unsurprisingly, my favorite track was the one with the piano: In the End.
I had never heard of fIREHOSE but I really dug this album. It didn't outstay it's welcome, coming in at under 32 minutes, but also had a lot of different feels throughout the album. There was some cool drum work and you could hear each of the four instruments doing their full work on the album
Not sure I've ever listened to this album. I've spent some time with OK Comuter, but not this one. I thought the sonic landscapes were very cool, and I'm generally not a landscape person. I think they peppered in JUST enough songwriting to keep me going. Found this from wiki: The guitarist Ed O'Brien had hoped Radiohead's fourth album would comprise short, melodic guitar songs, but Yorke said: "There was no chance of the album sounding like that. I'd completely had it with melody. I just wanted rhythm. All melodies to me were pure embarrassment." I'm looking forward to spending some more time with this one!
First time through this one I didn't like it quite as much as I'll Communication which we did earlier. On my second listen after I learned this was their debut album, I liked it much more. This is one of those classic, laden with hits albums that once you know it you finally get all these references that you've been missing!
Never listened to snoop dogg before but I really liked this one! There's certainly an aspect to this album that's just like... how many doggy style jokes can I make in one album. But I found the tracks to be really varied and mostly just a lot of fun!
Wow, I loved this one! It was sorta weird folk rock that felt like it was made especially for me!
I didn't realize this was an "early concept album" on my first listen, but it made me like it a lot more on my second listen (and partly just that it was a second listen!) Other than Lola I haven't really spent a ton of time with The Kinks, so this was fun to do.
I was just ok on this one. I've listened to later joy division albums that I've really dug, but this one just felt too drone-y to me to LOVE
I had never heard of The Beta Band before but I really enjoyed this album. I wouldn't say that any of the songs particularly stood out to me, but I did enjoy the vibe of the album!
AHHHH my headphones went down so I've got some catchup to do. Love this album and loved it before it came up here. I always forget that Dancing in the Dark comes at the tail end though. Just perfect start to finish.
Never had heard of these norsefolk but I really liked it. I could have probably used just a little more hookiness to get me to 5 stars but I loved the sound and the energy!
Wow this album was AWESOME. I loved the sound, loved the energy and really keyed into a lot of the different organ solos.
I wasnt in love with this nick drake album the first time through, but the second time (and after learning it was a debut) album it really opened up for me. Unsurprisingly, the tracks with piano were the ones I liked the best :)
I had only previously known bittersweet symphony. I didn't think the rest of the album sounded like that song but I did love it. Classic 90s!
This is harder than I would have historically listened to, but I still found it to be pretty melodic and I enjoyed how tight the band was. My favorite track was This Love, though I also enjoyed Rise and Hollow.
Wow! I loved this one. I had listened to it before in the car with Mary, so that probably helped. But I just adored the songwriting and the feel of this one. It just kept on trucking along!
WOW. I probably would need 10+ listens to even approach appreciating this correctly, but even with my 2 I was pretty in love. The instrumentation is great and the piano work is also great!
Wow! I really want to listen to this one in the context of REM's discography but I loved this one. It's a little front heavy with all the singles on the A-side but on my second listen I was really enjoying the non singles as well. It's a really great mix of acoustic and electric sounds!
This album is absolutely fantastic. I knew Mr blue sky, but hearing it in context made it even better. A lot of genuine bops and interesting sounds getting made. On my second listen I followed along with the wiki which had a bit of track by track info.
Id never listened to Aimee Mann but I really loved this one. I'm not sure what I was expecting but it wasn't quite this! Really great songwriting, some interesting piano work and really good vocals!
I liked this one fine on my first listen, but I actually really loved it on my second! A lot of bops, and very cool instrumentation that feels very live and fun. Added several tracks to my liked list! Also some cool, weird, piano work.
Great album! The amount of musicians is staggering. I was surprised to see on the wiki that Amy winehouse didn't like it and didn't like the production saying "everyone was idiots" but she didn't elaborate. Great songwriting, tons of unique sounds, great singing!
Sadly, the jigsaw puzzle for sampled music is just not that interesting to me. Maybe with a spreadsheet id appreciate this but I think I have to be a 2
Wow. I kinda always knew I'd love CHVRCHES but I REALLY loved this. And a debut album too? Just an awesome sound. Synthy but not so synthy it was annoying. Great vocals, too!
I've listened to this one before. I like it more the more I listen to it but it doesn't have any like BANGERS, just songs that I like and some songs that I like quite a bit. The sound is nice, but a little same-y.
This was good! On my first listen I only really liked the singles, but on the second I started to like the whole thing
Adore this album. Every single song is great. The piano and vocal work is spectacular. 5/5
Sadly I wasn't over the moon for this one. I think I needed to listen to some earlier PH Harvey to understand what a departure this was for her. I found most of the songwriting too esoteric. My favorite track was the last one on the album!
This album is great. I thought I hadn't heard it but I knew basically every song, and I even recognized a decent amount of the samples! Great rapping, great musicality, great jams all around
I was at 2.5 stars on this on my first listen but I jumped up to about a 3.75 on my second. It certainly gets emotional bonus points for being his final album but I ended up digging a lot of the songwriting by the end of my second listen.
Never listened to this one before. Was peripherally aware of Garbage because they are right in my radio phase but couldn't name any of their songs. Really loved this album! A lot of the singles were great but just your kinda classic grungy 90s rock.
I mean, just a full album of classic bangers. I'm sure for a lot of people this one is overplayed and they are sick of it, but I discovered it late enough in life that it still hits for me.
Never had heard of these but I really liked this one. The rapping was easy to listen to and the production felt big while also having a lot of space. A good combo!
Can't believe I didn't know this artist existed. This is 100% up my alley, sorta navigating into novelty/musical theatre. Excellent songwriting, great lyrics, fun instrumentation. Loved it!
Just OK on this one. A pleasant enough listen but the songwriting and tone all felt pretty same-y to me.
A truly great album! Some individually bops of songs, but also a throughline that makes it cohesive and even greater than the sum of its parts. Inventive, but easy to listen to.
simply one of the greatest albums of all time. Feels like it should get old before the end but it does not. Banger after banger!!!
I really liked this one but felt like it lost steam ab it by the end.
A perfect album!