393
Albums Rated
3.38
Average Rating
36%
Complete
696 albums remaining
Rating Distribution
Rating Timeline
Taste Profile
1970s
Favorite Decade
Funk
Favorite Genre
US
Top Origin
Wordsmith
Rater Style ?
92
5-Star Albums
50
1-Star Albums
Breakdown
By Genre
By Decade
By Origin
Albums
You Love More Than Most
| Album | You | Global | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Movies
Holger Czukay
|
5 | 2.71 | +2.29 |
|
I’m a Lonesome Fugitive
Merle Haggard
|
5 | 2.86 | +2.14 |
|
D.O.A. the Third and Final Report of Throbbing Gristle
Throbbing Gristle
|
4 | 1.88 | +2.12 |
|
Walking Wounded
Everything But The Girl
|
5 | 2.97 | +2.03 |
|
Truth And Soul
Fishbone
|
5 | 2.97 | +2.03 |
|
Fire Of Love
The Gun Club
|
5 | 2.99 | +2.01 |
|
S.F. Sorrow
The Pretty Things
|
5 | 3 | +2 |
|
Safe As Milk
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band
|
5 | 3.01 | +1.99 |
|
Music From The Penguin Cafe
Penguin Cafe Orchestra
|
5 | 3.01 | +1.99 |
|
Groovin'
The Young Rascals
|
5 | 3.03 | +1.97 |
You Love Less Than Most
| Album | You | Global | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
|
The Wall
Pink Floyd
|
1 | 4.14 | -3.14 |
|
Back In Black
AC/DC
|
1 | 3.85 | -2.85 |
|
Vol. 4
Black Sabbath
|
1 | 3.75 | -2.75 |
|
Brothers In Arms
Dire Straits
|
1 | 3.74 | -2.74 |
|
Boston
Boston
|
1 | 3.71 | -2.71 |
|
Van Halen
Van Halen
|
1 | 3.63 | -2.63 |
|
The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
|
1 | 3.62 | -2.62 |
|
Hotel California
Eagles
|
1 | 3.6 | -2.6 |
|
Black Holes and Revelations
Muse
|
1 | 3.59 | -2.59 |
|
The Number Of The Beast
Iron Maiden
|
1 | 3.59 | -2.59 |
Artists
Favorites
| Artist | Albums | Average |
|---|---|---|
| David Bowie | 5 | 4.8 |
| Pixies | 3 | 5 |
| The Kinks | 3 | 4.67 |
| Prince | 3 | 4.67 |
| The Rolling Stones | 3 | 4.67 |
| Johnny Cash | 2 | 5 |
| The Flaming Lips | 2 | 5 |
| Nick Drake | 3 | 4.33 |
| Bob Marley & The Wailers | 3 | 4.33 |
Least Favorites
| Artist | Albums | Average |
|---|---|---|
| Suede | 2 | 1 |
| Yes | 2 | 1.5 |
| Deep Purple | 2 | 1.5 |
| Black Sabbath | 2 | 1.5 |
| ZZ Top | 2 | 1.5 |
Controversial
| Artist | Ratings |
|---|---|
| Pink Floyd | 1, 5 |
| Metallica | 4, 1 |
| Amy Winehouse | 2, 5 |
| Jimi Hendrix | 2, 5 |
| Elvis Costello | 2, 5 |
5-Star Albums (92)
View Album Wall
Popular Reviews
Charles Mingus
3/5
This is heavy music--there's a lot going on here, and I don't think this is a jazz album to drop in the middle of a broader range of styles and say, "Here, this one is one of the best." It may be, but it's for hardcore jazzheads. I think "Mingus Ah Um" or "Mingus Plays Piano" is better for the general listener to get familiar with Mingus. This would be better suited for "1001 Jazz Albums To Hear Before You Die." Great album? Probably. Over my head? Definitely. 3/5, just because our esteemed editors haven't read the room. Including this album is just pretentious or lazy; not sure which.
6 likes
Suede
1/5
Can't get enough of Morrisey's whining? Want something a little faster? Try Suede.
4 likes
Peter Gabriel
5/5
It seems people like to crap on successful albums, but career-defining albums like "So" are successful for a reason. This album delivered a sound that exemplifies and also set the standard for pop-dance albums in the mid-1980's, a period where the industry was consolidating under multinational corporate names. Big money made big sounds like never before. (Later, the resistance to this and the increasing affordability of digital recording led to the rise of the indies, but that's a story for another day.) Peter Gabriel and a band of incredibly talented musicians (most who kept their skills sharp as studio musicians) produced this very big-sounding album. Tony Levin's bass and Chapman Stick in particular, set a standard for pop-dance music at the time. Also of interesting note--1986 was a year where CDs were really on the rise, but people were buying their music on legacy media too (cassette and LP), and this was mastered with an ear for all of these. The dense production sounded great on our portable player/headphone sets, as much as it did on our big home systems.
2 likes
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
4/5
Sometimes I love having non-English sung music playing while I work. NFAK can sometimes hit a groove for me while I grind on my work.
2 likes
Bob Dylan
1/5
Nope. I can't bear an entire album of all-acoustic Dylan. Blonde on Blonde and the Basement Tapes are hard enough, but just him with his guitar and a harmonica going on and on like some lunatic busker? I just can't.
2 likes
1-Star Albums (50)
All Ratings
Wu-Tang Clan
3/5
Really wasnt in the mood for it. I know Wu-Tang Clan is widely respected, but I liked the Wu-Tang vs. Beatles mashup more. Hip Hop lacks melody in general, and I'm too much attached to melodies and riffs.
Metallica
4/5
Really consistent. Metallica lives up to its name, no fluff here. Not my favorite genre, but I respect their commitment to the sound.
Adele
4/5
I can understand how this album became so popular. She has a great voice, and it's presented really well throughout the album. Her richly textured voice has a good crack/yodel in it, and it sounds natural and she doesn't overuse it. Reminds me of Amy Winehouse and Joss Whedon. Her cover of The Cure's \"Lovesong\" is plaintive and authentic. As with many artists, I enjoy Adele when I hear her, but I don't feel the need to seek out her stuff, as it is so easy to hear in the zeitgeist. Least favorite track: \"Rumour Has It\" for its repetitive chorus. \"Rolling in the Deep\" is a banger.
Elvis Presley
1/5
Early rock 'n' roll is tediously repetitive. Elvis appropriated country and blues (to put it politely) and I find his posturing and peculiar, affected pronunciation and singing style more annoying than the monotonous music. He sounds like a parody of himself.
Beach House
4/5
Super-chill, easy background music. No standout tracks, but no clinkers either. The album plays like a continuous song.
T. Rex
5/5
Oh hell yes. Every song could be a single and the entire album rocks as a whole. Masterpiece!
Paul McCartney and Wings
4/5
Having heard most of these songs on the radio for as long as I can remember, it's hard to dislike this album, but just the same, once I heard it all straight through (for the first time in my life!) at 55, I must say that I can hear further evidence that 1971-1972 was a peak period for pop music, and by 1973 the tarnish was beginning to show. Pop got a little too overdone, and I hear moments of this in Macca's compositions (see also "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road" by Elton John). I think it's great that pop outgrew its 3-minute 3-chord adolescence (and my favorite records in my collection will reflect it), but these over-orchestrated and over-produced records in the early 1970s drip with syrup and it doesn't age well. Served better warm than 50 years cold.
Violent Femmes
4/5
I remember when this album emerged into the zeitgeist of my high school around 1984. We felt so naughty singing along to "Add It Up" and "Blister In The Sun" out of our parents' earshot. I always have appreciated the raw angst of the album, but Gordon Gano's voice was too much to endure for an entire album. Now so many years later, I don't find it as abrasive as I once did, and I hear some Gun Club hellbilly noise and junky looseness and even some Jonathan Richman outsider individuality that eluded me the first time around. (TBH, part of my resistance to them was their popularity with peers.) Refreshing to rehear the Femmes' debut anew. I suppose they were the prophets of punk and underground my young ears actually needed. The Femmes will unlikely be my new old favorite band, but now I can appreciate them more than I have for the last 35 years.
Elton John
2/5
Another example of 1973 showing that pop-rock had experienced a peak in 1971-2, and now things were too overdone, over-produced, and overly serious. This album drips with strings, orchestral introductions and accompaniments. Arpeggios as though this were a soundtrack to some space opera.
Elton John is undeniably a very talented songwriter, but this is too much. When his rocker side comes out (Benny and the Jets, Saturday Night's Alright), he's fun and his product fits on one side of a 45. The 11 minute intro (Funeral For a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding) whacks the listener over the head to Sit Down And Listen To Something Serious. Elton John is an entertainer, and he forgets this at several points on this album and instead asks the consumer to listen to drippy sentimentality (Track 1, Candle In The Wind, title track, etc) or shitty noodling (All The Girls Love Alice).
Jurassic 5
4/5
Yes, I take Keith Richard's rather dim view of much hip-hop. Get off my lawn. With that in mind, this is the hip-hop style I like: midtempo beats, chorus vocals, and most of all, jazzy hooks and samples. No shortage of melody in these tracks.
Elvis Presley
3/5
This record's (over)production and Elvis' stylistic evolution in the 10 years or so since the debut has softened all the stuff that annoys me about Elvis. Which is not to say I love this record, but at least I can listen to it without wanting to claw my ears off. I love "Suspicious Minds" and always have, and it's in spite of his performance. His cover of Jerry Butler's "Only The Strong Survive" adds nothing and in fact is a lesser version (Butler has a far better voice).
As I know "Dusty [Springfield] In Memphis" better than this record, I can't help but compare them--same sound, same year of release. The wide open soundstage, the richer orchestration, and the backing vocals is the reason artists came to Memphis and not LA, NY, or Nashville to record, just as other artists went a bit further south to Muscle Shoals to get its signature sound.
All in all, this is Elvis handled well while he Elvises his way through other peoples' songs.
Roxy Music
5/5
This is a no-rules recording, and the band throws everything into it, and somehow it all works. Listeners who only know the later version of the band and Bryan Ferry's torch-singer persona will be absolutely shocked by what a rollicking ride this album provides.
Louis Prima
4/5
I felt l like I should be wearing a lampshade and spilling a martini all over the rug when I heard this.
Depeche Mode
3/5
Solid product, but Depeche Mode has never really been my favorite band. I don't hate it, but nothing really stands out, either, other than the sometimes over-dramatic tone in Dave Gahan's voice and the over-the-top \"Pimpf\".
Steely Dan
5/5
Are you kidding?? One of the greatest musical recordings ever. Still, not my favorite Steely Dan album, it's undeniably an incredible recording (from a technical standpoint) with some top-rate musicians. "Home At Last" is probably my favorite track from the album, if I had to pick one.
Kraftwerk
4/5
I love Kraftwerk, but I like them for their role in music more than I do for individual songs (although many of them are very good). To think that this album is 50 years old and sounds so "ordinary" to modern ears (a complaint I have read here) shows just how groundbreaking and influential this album has been (and the entire body of work by Kraftwerk). They've influenced art rock, electronic music, EDM, and hip-hop and probably many other genres. Many imitators, but this is the source. Kraftwerk has always been ahead of their time, and this earlier work stands as a testament to that. Standouts of this album are the title track (an ambitious 22:47, an entire side of an LP when it was released), and "Mitternacht."
TV On The Radio
3/5
In my limited exposure to TV On The Radio, I have always liked Adebimpe's voice in its higher registers, but when he sings a little lower, he sounds like that guy from The National, who gets on my nerves in the first 2 bars. Interesting that both bands are on 4AD. Anyway, for the most part I like TVOTR, but nothing really stands out about this album: just indie rock from the first decade of the 21st Century. I can tell they're trying for something new and still accessible, but nothing really sticks.
Frank Sinatra
4/5
If you're going to own one Sinatra Album, you probably would be satisfied with this one--all the songs he's famous for, with that swingin' Big Band sound. He's never really been one of my favorite artists, mostly because he was old and the subject of parodies and jokes by the time I came around.
The Prodigy
3/5
I wasn't much a fan of this album when it was released--generally not a great fan of the Big Beat sound (Chemical Brothers et al). A little goes a long way. On the other hand, Prodigy isn't going to take a left turn halfway through the album and throw a slow song in. If you need a good workout album, this would probably suit your needs.
R.E.M.
4/5
Gen-X alt-rock/alt-country rage. I bought this album in my freshman year of college, and it reflected my youthful angst about Reaganomics, neo-McCarthyism, and other forms of inhuman division. Scott Litt brought REM into a larger audience with this album, particularly "The One I Love" and "The End of The World," both good songs played. to. death. This was, in my opinion, a great work and also the beginning of the end for REM. Litt's production made a lot of hits for them, but they lost their way with Green and particularly their 1990's releases Out of Time and Automatic For The People. For for a short shining moment, this was REM bringing themselves to a larger audience, on their terms. A great, angry album.
Funkadelic
4/5
It's hard to dislike Funkadelic--they are a genre defining band, and beyond that, they're just great fun to listen to. One Nation Under A Groove sounds a little more disco than their earlier albums, and I prefer the more pyschedelic side of the band. Of course, this album does include the incredible "Promentalshitbackwashpsychosis", "Who Says A Funk Band Can't Rock?!" and the title track--all are sick bangers. If you like this album, look back in their catalog as well as more recent stuff and see what you like. There's a rich body of work to discover.
M.I.A.
4/5
I've only known "Paper Planes" before listening to this album. The rest of the album is consistent with the eclectic samples and sounds from that hit, so M.I.A. has delivered a very consistent album. I particularly like the Eastern tones of some of the riffs in each song--it sounds like a 21st Century soundtrack to a Sri Lankan open market. Besides "Paper Planes" I really like "20 Dollar" (and the Pixies' "Where Is My Mind" reference).
Joy Division
4/5
As canonical this album is for any contemporary record collector, in all, it kind of disappointed me. It's not bad, but it didn't knock my socks off, either. I think "Closer" is a better Joy Division album.
Yes
2/5
I can't stand Jon Anderson's voice. The music is overwrought.
Bob Dylan
4/5
Bittersweet and melancholy, this is a great album for a rainy day. I'm not a heavy Dylan devotee, but I've grown to better appreciate his work. This and Blonde On Blonde are good albums to own if you have any appreciation for Dylan at all.
Kate Bush
5/5
I'm familiar with a lot of Kate Bush's work; I was a big fan of her throughout her catalog up to and including Hounds Of Love and for whatever reason, she fell off my radar. This album rivals HOL and The Dreaming for what she's known for best: excellent songwriting, top-tier musicianship and arrangements, and state-of-the-art production quality. Fabulous album. Mick Karn's bass on Deeper Understanding is a real standout treat.
Mudhoney
4/5
Fun and loud. Best Seattle grunge. All the others were too serious.
Incubus
1/5
I didn't listen to this shit when it came out, and I'm not listening to this shit now. Metal sucks.
Queen
2/5
Queen playing prog is not the Queen most people think of. I found this pretty boring and dated.
Creedence Clearwater Revival
4/5
It's a rocker, with a lot of recognizable songs. Hard to criticize it, but I definitely need to be in the mood for any classic rock--I heard far too much of it when I was growing up.
Pentangle
2/5
If you like to choose between varieties of tea and you smoke weed, you'll love this album. I could only make it through about half and had to switch over to something more modern-sounding.
Lana Del Rey
2/5
Lana Del Rey is definitely refining her sound with Chemtrails Over The Country Club, and her voice has never been prettier to hear. But this album sort of goes on and on with the wistful and blank-verse lyrics, California ennui, and sparse arrangements. (Pro tip to Lana: "business conference" doesn't make a good lyric [White Dress]). Nothing really stood out for me, and after half of the album, I felt like I got what there was to take from it. Nice to see some collaborations on this album with Weyes Blood and Nikki Lane.
The Kinks
4/5
Quirky, upbeat, and altogether Kinks. While the Stones were playing blues and The Beatles were entering their psychedelic phase, The Kinks were making oddball pop songs (and later inventing the fuzzed out sound that Hendrix and Black Sabbath adopted). The Kinks are underappreciated, IMO, and this album shows their unique approach to songwriting. Recommended.
Pink Floyd
1/5
Disco-era depression. Terrible melodramatic schlock.
Soundgarden
4/5
This album holds up! Every song rocks, and there's a variety in tempos. I must acknowledge how good the entire band sounds, but Chris Cornell is really the star of the record. I particularly like "Fell on Black Days" and of course, "Black Hole Sun".
Crosby, Stills & Nash
4/5
Enough harmonies to give The Beach Boys a little competition and one of the legendary supergroups from the 1960s. As an album, it plays a little unevenly--the tone of the opening track (Suite Judy Blue eyes, an ode to Judy Collins) and the second track, Marrekesh Express, give this a easy hippie vibe, but not all songs keep that vibe going. CSN packed a lot of moods into this album, and the flow from song to song isn't always smooth. Undeniably ambitious and living up to the supergroup reputation, this album can be admired for a lot of different reasons.
Merle Haggard
5/5
Honestly, I loved it. I've grown to appreciate some of these old-guard country artists as I get a little older. The music may be a little simple, the lyrical themes are direct, but I love these artists, albums, and songs for their clarity (sonic as well as thematic). Merle Haggard has a great voice, particularly in his younger years, and he delivers sincerely throughout this album. The final song, "Mixed Up Mess of A Heart" sounds like it was lifted right off a Buck Owens record. (This should be only a small surprise, as Buck Owens' wife Bonnie--later Haggard's wife--sings harmony on this record.) If you have any appreciation for that old-school AM Country sound, this album will satisfy.
Van Halen
1/5
Ugh.
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
3/5
The thing about Tom Petty is that he started in a pretty good spot. It's hard to hate on him or his music. He didn't have to 'evolve as an artist' or grow into his audience. He just kept cranking out pretty much the same album over and over for 30-some years and died as a pretty well-regarded entertainer. This is a pretty good album from early in his career, and you're not going to shock your ears if you play his last album right after this one.
Kanye West
3/5
It's hard to listen to Kanye without having an opinion about the hype--to just hear his recordings and judge them on their own merits, without his reality-distortion field around them. Is this the work of a genius? I won't weigh in on Kanye. But this is a pretty good hip-hop album with some well-selected samples that make this album stand out in the auditory landscape. I particularly liked "Jesus Walks." Overall, the album is too long. I felt like I got the message about halfway through.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
3/5
Difficult start. Standouts are the duets with PJ Harvey and Kylie Minogue (\"Henry Lee\" and \"Where the Wild Roses Grow\" respectively) and \"Lovely Creature\" in the first half.
Deep Purple
2/5
Interesting as a relic of early heavy metal, but otherwise nothing to get too excited about. Basic schlocky blues-based rock. I guess the musicians were pretty good, but the album as a whole? Meh.
Black Sabbath
1/5
The Strokes
4/5
The Band
5/5
Absolutely brilliant. Immensely talented musicians playing a pastiche of Americana--deeply familiar and new at the same time. I never tire of this album.
Derek & The Dominos
2/5
I don't like Eric Clapton. I heard way too much dad rock growing up, and I'm pretty sick of it. However, I can't deny that Delaney and Bonnie were a great group, and I can't hate this album, but I have to draw the line at these wanky long jams that the classic rock years are known for. Nine-and-a-half minutes of "Key To The Highway"?! Three or four minutes makes the point. Get over yourselves.
SZA
2/5
Adam & The Ants
3/5
Getting really sick of these endless "remasters" that throw in so many alternate takes and fluff that didn't make the original cut. Adam Ant was always good cheeky fun, but a little goes a long way. Love the thundering drum sound, but not for 90 minutes straight. The original was good, but more is not better.
Beck
4/5
Radiohead
2/5
Eric Clapton
1/5
The Jam
4/5
The Byrds
3/5
Very hippie-60s album, with some psychedelic attempts at bent notes in the voice and a sitar-like guitar sound. Ambitious, but didn't age well. My Back Pages, Why, So You Want To Be A Rock 'n' Roll Star are probably the best tracks.
Dusty Springfield
5/5
Gorgeous album showcasing Dusty's great voice and an album I've owned for years. While this has the distinctive "Memphis sound", her gorgeous voice doesn't get lost in the production. As with "Elvis In Memphis" (released the same year), the soundstage is fantastic and the songs are strong. My favorite tracks here are Just A Little Lovin', Breakfast In Bed, and of course the blockbuster Son of a Preacher Man. Really, not a single clinker on the whole album. The mono release lacks a track, Willie & Laura Mae Jones, also worth seeking out. Reggie Young's guitar on Don't Forget About Me is a great example of the awesome musicianship on this entire record.
Joan Armatrading
5/5
I've only been familiar with a few things by Joan Armatrading, but this album makes me want to actively seek out more of her work. The mid 1970s were the heyday of singer-songwriters, but her work, notably on this album, stands out for its varied tempos and themes. I hear some Springsteen storytelling and some British singer-songwriter, a la Richard Thompson, on this, but moreso uniquely Joan Armatrading. Definitely worth a close listen.
Bruce Springsteen
4/5
Brian Eno
5/5
This is a groundbreaking album, but its flow is not as predictable as you might expect. Eno starts you with Sky Saw, with a riff intro and a jazzy bassline, but by track 2 (Over Fire Island), he's already leading the listener into a new wilderness of ambient, unstructured tracks. Once in a while you hear something more like a song (I'll Come Running and Golden Hours), but you get lost in some beautiful jungle of sounds and a dream-like atmosphere along the path of the album. What's most remarkable about this album is how this is only the beginning of Eno's genre-defining and category-defying role as a musician throughout his career. Absolutely essential listening for adventurous ears.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
2/5
I really don't get the whole tortured vampire schtick of Nick Cave. Not my thing. Kurt Weil meets Anne Rice.
George Harrison
3/5
I was so excited to get a vinyl reissue as a birthday gift a few years ago. What wasn't there to be excited about? Well, once I unwrapped it and queued it up and started admiring the box and booklet, I realized that George's Eastern philosophy missed on this one. So much excess, so much ego, so much...everything. Pare this back to 60 minutes or less and it might have been a clear message of the monastic Beatle's real and individual voice. Instead, it's just "all too much."
Fats Domino
1/5
After about, oh, I don't know, 59 seconds, I feel like I've heard everything Fats Domino has ever recorded. Why would I endure an entire album?
The Doors
2/5
Erykah Badu
4/5
Jeff Beck
1/5
I know I know, Jeff Beck is a guitar god, but for fuck's sake stop feeding me dad-rock blues. IT'S BORING.
Queen
4/5
What a knockout. This is Queen hitting their stride. Pretty much only The Prophet's Song recalls their earlier proggy work as found on Queen II and their debut. The rest of the work absolutely wrecks what their peers in prog, Very Serious Musicians, were doing (I'm looking at you, King Crimson and ELP, to name just two). Queen leapt onto the stage disguised as jesters (Bohemian Rhapsody, an absolute runaway hit when it was released) and revealed themselves to be kings with this album. This album sounds best when it's played LOUD.
The Cars
5/5
All bangers, great flow. In 1978, when The Cars broke into the scene, the Loop, the top hard-rock AOR station in Chicago, promoted this band and album heavily. Guitars, yes, but synths?! It sounded so futuristic to me, and quite uncharacteristic for a station that held Zeppelin and the Stones up as gods. It's undeniably good New Wave music, bridging a lot of stuff on the scene in 1978--post-disco, post-punk, power pop, AOR and Top 40. There's something for any fan of rock music here. Excellent mix and production all around.
Thundercat
4/5
Yacht rock spun in a blender with modern soul, hip-hop, and jazz. Thundercat is immensely talented but too stoned to take himself too seriously. Obviously polarizing, based on the scores other listeners have given it. Much like Steely Dan. IYKYK.
Booker T. & The MG's
3/5
Considering this album came out in 1962--when the Motown label was only 3 years old and albums were nothing more than collections of singles--Booker T & co. made a good set of singles to put on the hi-fi and dance around the living room. Is this on par with What's Going On? No, of course not. But considering the evolution that R&B and pop music went through in 8-10 years and the expectations listeners put on an album, this is a collection of some early R&B better than most from 1962. Besides Booker T.'s relentlessly soulful organ, guitarist Steve Cropper--as described by Keith Richards--is "Perfect, man." I love Cropper for all that he doesn't do. He's never there to show off, just to support the groove.
Prince
5/5
Undeniably great funk/soul/pop/rock album. A milestone, but better than that, it's just great music that has something for everyone.
Boston
1/5
God damn it. STOP FEEDING ME DAD ROCK.
Small Faces
2/5
The music was good psychedelia, but man, that narrator was annoying.
Jungle Brothers
4/5
Like De La Soul, Digable Planets, and even Digital Underground, the Jungle Brothers delivered some funky, jazzy beats with insightful and fun lyrics. This is a good example of the late 1980's alternative hip-hop. Recommended.
B.B. King
4/5
BB King is absolutely a major figure in the Blues, but in a way, he stands so high in the genre, he's apart from it. This is a solid performance with an enthusiastic crowd. I have been lucky enough to see BB King twice before he died, and I don't consider myself a big fan of the Blues. BB King, however, is a consummate entertainer, a brilliant guitarist, and an empassioned vocalist. The band is right there along side him, right in the pocket. Great live album, and I don't like live albums.
Radiohead
4/5
I'm not a big fan of the first 2 albums, I like some of their other stuff, but overall don't understand the hype they get. Amnesiac appealed to me when it was released because it's the most triphop of all their albums, and I was in a big triphop mode in 2001.
Stan Getz
5/5
Short and sweet. Easy listening for eating, socializing, and putting the moves on the SO. Good gateway into Brazilian-tinged jazz.
Shuggie Otis
4/5
I'm pretty new to Shuggie Otis, but this album makes me want to explore more of his work. I definitely hear new turns of the soul/R&B phrases here like Sly Stone, Marvin Gaye, and Stevie Wonder were also creating new forms of R&B around the same time. The analog synths on this album are of particular note--probably only Stevie Wonder was doing more with electronics in the R&B field at this time. Great rhythms and basslines, interesting arrangements, all around a great soul album.
Snoop Dogg
4/5
Funky beats and a great flow. A classic.
The Doors
2/5
Van Morrison
3/5
If this were an instrumental album, I'd like it a lot more. Van Morrison has a voice like a cheap door alarm.
3/5
I'm not a big fan of Dylan--I don't like his voice. However, I recognize that he has cast a long shadow across popular music. Hearing him at this turning point, I'm sure glad he picked up an electric guitar, because just imagine how insufferable the rest of the 60s and most of the 1970s would be if he had stayed entirely in the all-acoustic "pure folk" camp. Ugh. Anyway, I definitely prefer the electric stuff on this album, mostly because The Band (aka The Hawks) could play the ever-loving shit out of their instruments and worked so well as a unit. I still can take only so much of his voice. This is a good album if you can get past that.
Björk
3/5
Incredibly ambitions, fairly avant-garde in parts. Listenable, but not my favorite by her.
Beastie Boys
2/5
Nick Drake
4/5
Beautiful, melancholy Britfolk. I have a limited appetite for Britfolk, but this suits me well. I can't decide if this is better played in the morning or as the night's closer, but it's deep, introspective, and definitely worth a listen.
Koffi Olomide
2/5
It's good to see something from outside the US and UK, but this was kinda boring after the first couple of tracks.
Dire Straits
1/5
I remember liking this album back in the day. What was I thinking? So middling throughout.
The Rolling Stones
4/5
I have a fondness for this era of Stones albums--they're nasty, dirty, and finally living up to their reputations. This isn't Beggar's Banquet or Goat's Head Soup or even Sticky Fingers, but still a damn good album. "Midnight Rambler" is probably my favorite, but there's really not a bad song on the set.
John Coltrane
5/5
A monumental album, but I don't recommend this one as your entry into jazz. Try "Kind of Blue" or even better, Brubeck's "Time Out." Maybe some Thelonius Monk ("Brilliant Corners") or Charles Mingus ("Mingus Ah Um").
This one is a tough listen for the uninitiated. This is modal jazz, bordering on free jazz, and not background music. It can't be broken down into tracks, it's a single work, and it is a triumph, but if you're expecting "The Girl From Ipanema," you're going to have a hard time.
Linkin Park
1/5
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
4/5
Bluegrass and country are genres I've only recently come to appreciate. It's interesting, then, to consider that this album's credit is first given to the "second wave" of artists, Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, collaborating with the "first wave" of Bluegrass/Country/Americana artists. I loved listening to this, in spite of the banter between songs, which would surely get on my nerves in future listens.
Laibach
2/5
It's not my jam, but it's not awful. Kinda reminds me of Gwar for its campiness, but just a different, electroclash sort of sound.
Harry Nilsson
3/5
I hear a lot of Beatles in this, especially Paul's influence. I find the most popular tracks on this (Coconut Song, Into The Fire, and Without You) the most annoying. He really started out well with the first two track though.
The Smashing Pumpkins
4/5
I've never listened to this entire album straight through, and while there are no big suprises, there are also no needle-scratching disappointments, either. This is a solid album, even if Billy Corgan insisted on singing on all of them.
Suede
1/5
Can't get enough of Morrisey's whining? Want something a little faster? Try Suede.
Robert Wyatt
3/5
Difficult listening from an artist who maybe is less concerned with the audience's feelings than his expression, who was experiencing a real crisis in his life. Mad respect for this output, but it's not a "fun" record. It does take concentration and patience.
Bob Marley & The Wailers
4/5
The Young Gods
1/5
No.
Johnny Cash
5/5
Johnny Cash is regarded as some great master now that he's dead. He sure had an interesting life and a rocky career, but he missed at least as often as he hit ("Everybody Loves a Nut"?!--drugs are bad, m'kay?). On the other hand, these prison albums are great. This one, featuring other performers, is a bigger, broader show than Fulsom. Both are great albums, capturing great performances.
Duran Duran
5/5
I want to hate this album. I hated Duran Duran from 1983 until whatever year it was that they covered "Ball of Confusion," and then only begrudgingly gave them cred because "Ball of Confusion" would be a banger even if Judy Collins and Gordon Lightfoot had turned it into a slow duet. What I'm saying is that the cool kids at my high school didn't like Duran Duran, only the posers and jocks and cheerleaders liked them. But now that I'm older and wiser and know it's all about the funk, punk, I have to give credit. This is an excellent pop album. John Taylor obviously worships at the altar of Bernard Edwards (Chic), and if you don't believe me, go look up the isolated bass track from "Rio" on YouTube. So tease up whatever hair you have left and dance around the room singing into your hairbrush and have fun with this album.
Patti Smith
5/5
Is this the same sort of 5-star album like "Thriller"? Absolutely not. This is more a cultural change put to tape. I don't put this on so I can dance around the room ("Thriller") or rock out ("Marquee Moon"), but instead to peer into a moment in time when music somehow changed--I listen to it to seek that one thing where it all pivots. I haven't found it yet in this album, but I know it's here. Punk was born in this album, but maybe it just sounds like so much 1970s singer-songwriter stuff that came out around 1975 to some people (maybe even worse). But Patti Smith's authenticity and earnestness as a poet combines with New York musical grit on this debut. This is an OG punk and her band shoving off from shore and trying anything, as long as it's real.
Gillian Welch
5/5
Much better than I expected it to be. I like this nitty-gritty American music, but I also can take only so much most of the time. Besides the excellent musicianship (and sparse arrangement), what really grabbed me was the sincerity of the lyrics and Welch's delivery. I listened to this one twice, back-to-back, and I'll return to it.
De La Soul
5/5
Fun, funny, bangin', psychedelic, all around great. Absolutely essential listening.
Willie Nelson
4/5
Better than I remember, but still not a huge fan of his voice. Booker T lends a lot of soul to this.
Aphex Twin
3/5
A good ambient electronic album, but essential? Not sure how some kid twiddling around with synths in his bedroom can be a pioneer of electronic music if he didn't release it right away. It's good, and I'd listen to it again, but I don't see how this particular album is a great example of pioneering ambient music. How about Cluster? They were making and releasing ambient electronic music 15-20 years earlier than this.
Tim Buckley
2/5
Tim Buckley sounds like a sex tourist just back from a Mississippi bordello on this album. I sure hope this album got him laid, because I can't see anyone else gettin' it on to this skin-crawling performance. 1972 was a much better year for music than this album attests (Ziggy Stardust, Exile On Main St, Transformer, Talking Book, Music of My Mind, Big Star's #1 Record, Harvest, and so many more). Skip it.
Wild Beasts
2/5
If Jonsi (Sigur Ros) sat in for vocalist Dave Bayley on a Glass Animals album, it would sound like this: better than Sigur Ros, but ruined by that damned falsetto. I struggle to understand what's so exceptional about this album besides its utter banality.
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
3/5
Great album for jumping around in a frenzy, partying and raising hell with your friends, working out, or even cleaning the house. Not a great album for dinner music, working at your desk, or being stuck in traffic.
Joe Ely
4/5
Fun country/rock, opens with some Texas swing styling. I don't know enough about country to say that this is absolutely better than other albums by artists of similar status and era, but I will say it's a damn sight better than the "country" crap that seems to be prevalent right now.
Tears For Fears
5/5
Two massive hits, and you think you've heard all that you need from this album. You'd be missing out on Roland Orzabal's genius as a composer. As with "The Hurting," Orzabal seems equally comfortable creating a memorable pop song as much as an orchestral mood piece. A pinnacle of 1980s pop music.
Fatboy Slim
1/5
Sometimes, I miss drugs. Other times, I'm reminded of how annoying people on drugs really are.
Joni Mitchell
4/5
It's taken me a long time to get my head around Joni Mitchell. I'm only now in my 50s beginning to "get" her. Court and Spark is a great example of her high standards for everything that goes into her recordings. Highlights are "Help Me", "Raised On Robbery", and "Free Man in Paris".
Charles Mingus
3/5
This is heavy music--there's a lot going on here, and I don't think this is a jazz album to drop in the middle of a broader range of styles and say, "Here, this one is one of the best." It may be, but it's for hardcore jazzheads. I think "Mingus Ah Um" or "Mingus Plays Piano" is better for the general listener to get familiar with Mingus. This would be better suited for "1001 Jazz Albums To Hear Before You Die." Great album? Probably. Over my head? Definitely. 3/5, just because our esteemed editors haven't read the room. Including this album is just pretentious or lazy; not sure which.
New York Dolls
5/5
New York Dolls (and their producer The Runt) delivered proto-punk in the early 1970s rivaled only by The Stooges. Raunchier than the Stones, looser than the Ramones, and louder than just about everyone. Absolutely required listening for any fan of garage, punk, or post-punk.
Little Simz
3/5
Hip-hop isn't really my thing, but this had a nice groove. I'd listen again.
Emerson, Lake & Palmer
1/5
Boooooorrrrrrring.
The Who
2/5
As classic rock goes, this is a pretty good album. However, I'm pretty tired of all the music on it, and I can't say I can think of any later generation of musician who cites Pete Townshend, The Who, or this album in particular as an inspiration. It's...okay. Instead of dying before they got old, maybe The Who just slid into insignificance.
Amy Winehouse
2/5
Amy Winehouse was a fine singer, and sure could reach listeners of different generations and tastes.
This isn't her greatest work, and it sure isn't essential listening. Her voice is a lot better on Back To Black.
Sly & The Family Stone
4/5
Fantastic soul/psychedelic/funk, made by the Prince of the 1960s and his amazing band. Not quite a perfect album--track 2 isn't that interesting from a 21st century perspective--but damn close. If this album grabbed you in any way, check out Sly and the Family Stone's performances at Woodstock and in the Questlove film, "Summer of Soul."
Billy Bragg
2/5
Remember that guy you bought weed from a few times in college? He was a political science major, or philosophy or some shit, and when you bought your bag from him, he'd expect you to break off the first nug and smoke it with him, and once he'd had a couple long draws off the pipe and pass it to you, he'd start in on some shit he saw as a great indignity visited upon The People and he'd go on and on and you'd take a hit off the pipe and buckle up to be preached at for what seemed like hours and you'd nod politely and add a point here or there, but he wasn't listening to anyone but himself and you'd slowly become aware that music had been playing all along and it's another whining twat who also never seemed to shut up. That's Billy Bragg.
Fleetwood Mac
3/5
I kind of want to describe this as Fleetwood Mac's White Album, but that analogy doesn't quite fit. The two albums are similar in their sprawl and their individual songs that sound like bunch of solo songs played by a group. Lindsey Buckingham's hand is pretty heavy on this, but that's a good thing. His immaculate production ear really helps the sluggish and boring tracks ("Beautiful Child" is one such song). Overall, this album would have been better if it'd been shorter.
5/5
He told me
Let the children lose it
Let the children use it
Let all the children boogie
I miss you, Starman.
Stevie Wonder
4/5
Stevie Wonder's output could do no wrong in the first half of the 1970s. His incredible run from Talking Book, Music of My Mind, Innervisions, Fulfillingness' First Finale, and Songs In The Key Of Life is so stratospherically great as a subset of an artist's work, I struggle to think of many other 3-4 album runs of any artist that was comparably strong. The Bowie Trilogy comes to mind; Beatles from Rubber Soul to Abbey Road, maybe (obviously a lot of flaws in that period). Paul Simon famously thanked Stevie Wonder at the Grammys in 1976 for NOT releasing an album so that he might win. To call Stevie Wonder a musical genius is not hyperbole. No brags, just facts.
So when I get to pick out my favorites among these spectacular albums, it seems ridiculous to say I love this one the least of this group of Stevie Wonder's output. Comparatively, it's a little slow in spots. I guess I prefer Stevie Wonder up front and making my heart beat a little faster.
It's really something that an (amateur) critic like myself can make any disparaging remarks at all. Stevie's a genius, and this is a great album. It's just not his GREATEST album.
Japan
4/5
I'm not very familiar with Japan, but as a fan of a lot of New Wave and post-punk music, I quite like them. This may have been a pivotal album in their catalog, but I think the subsequent album, Gentlemen Take Polaroids (1980) is a measure better. What I like about this late 70s-early 80s era of Japan is that they are bringing the compositional experimentation of prog forward with the cutting edge of synths and electronic drums. As another review said, some of this is utterly forgettable, but the parts that really click /really/ click. This is an excellent example of the moment--synth pop before the cocaine frenzy that folded into the genre in just a few short years.
The Velvet Underground
5/5
When the party is almost completely wound down and you're knitted to the sofa, all the wine is gone and the last joint is going around and it's what? two in the morning? and you're all just enjoying the end of the night spent with friends very quietly, this is the album to put on to close out the night. Absolutely perfect.
Cyndi Lauper
5/5
I found a copy of this album on vinyl at a Salvation Army about a month ago, and it was in pretty good condition, so I bought it. What the hell, for $3, right? Now, I was in high school when this album burst onto the scene, and I thought I knew it because of all the hits that erupted from it, but upon listening to it end-to-end, I gained a much greater respect for it and for Cyndi Lauper. Here delivery at times reminds me of David Johansen (New York Dolls, Buster Poindexter), but a few octaves higher. At other times, her Betty Boop inflection was on-point and intentional. What really struck me is how strong an album, as a single artistic work, this is. It's not High Art, but it's a damn good product and example of 80's synth-pop. I'm surprised I didn't have a taped copy for my Walkman back in the day.
Public Enemy
4/5
Caveat: I'm reviewing this as a listener who's been familiar with this album for a long time, but I don't consider myself a big fan of hip-hop. PE announced a sea change to hip-hop with their first three albums: "Yo Bum Rush The Show", "Fear of A Black Planet", and this album. They absolutely dominated in the day, bringing social awareness and politics to hip-hop. Respect, even if I don't consider myself a fan.
Franz Ferdinand
3/5
Dizzee Rascal
1/5
Echo And The Bunnymen
4/5
I love me some First Wave post-punk, and E&TB are definitely of that sound, but I don't see what's so particularly monumental about this album. It's darn good, but did it launch a dozen copycat bands? Introduce a new sound to an instrument that everyone scurried to copy? No. But it's a pretty typical slice of early 80's indie pop. Not bad.
The Streets
1/5
Someone had to do it--a rap opera. That doesn't mean I'm going to listen to it.
Neil Young
4/5
The Americana/country rock music that emerged in the early 1970s sounded equally new and old (Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, The Band, the Laurel Canyon artists, etc), and Neil Young fit right in. I get it, his voice can be a deal breaker, but if you like Neil at all, this is probably right in your wheelhouse. I happen to like the music enough to get past his voice. This is probably the best example of Neil Young from this era.
Nick Drake
4/5
If you like Nick Drake and his low-key delivery, you'll love this album. It's all so low-key that it's hard to parse out the individual songs without giving it a lot of earnest concentration. All this sounds like criticism, but I don't mean it that way. Nick Drake is like still water--it runs deep for those who want to make the deep dive into his lyrics (as the arrangements are bare-bones simple).
Simply Red
1/5
Good, consistent product. If you know any Simply Red and you're inclined to listen to more, you'll love this record. I, for one, cannot forgive them for the abuse they unleashed on Talking Heads' "Heaven". For that and Mick Hucknall's MTV-primed pouting and posing, they get my lifelong derision.
The Incredible String Band
1/5
If you're going to listen to stoned idiots bang on instruments like toddlers, put some punk on. At least they're done sooner.
Pixies
5/5
Another great album by Pixies.
Another great album to listen at maximum volume.
Another great album to remember the first time I heard it. A few days later I played "Rock Music" for my roommate who was in a band and loved hard rock and heavy metal, and his face absolutely melted. His respect for my twee indie tastes grew three sizes that day.
Another memory of getting this on a vinyl repress after my divorce and absolutely rattling the plaster off the walls with it.
And to think this is commonly regarded as only the third best Pixies album.
Santana
4/5
Carlos Santana is so widely regarded as a guitar god, but then so it Clapton and he sucks, so I've always thought of Santana as overhyped. You see him in music documentaries and he's always, and I mean ALWAYS dropping names, jazz names like John Coltrane, and I think, man, you never played with him, stop that. Then you run across something he did with Alice Coltrane, but then he shows up at those big wanky all-star shows a little too much and I think he's really trading hard on his rep. But you know what? That cat can PLAY.
Bob Dylan
1/5
Nope. I can't bear an entire album of all-acoustic Dylan. Blonde on Blonde and the Basement Tapes are hard enough, but just him with his guitar and a harmonica going on and on like some lunatic busker? I just can't.
The Verve
1/5
There were a few moments in the whole 90s Britpop thing that made it across the pond and even fewer of those songs that I actually like, but overall I consider The Verve, Pulp, Oasis, and all those other sentient haircuts to be churning out the same dreck that was emblematic of the Volume Wars of the 1990s. As though anyone really gives a shit what a white guy in 200-quid sunglasses has to complain about. Shut up already.
The Fall
4/5
The Fall, a little past its prime, but still a pretty good listen. Essential? Hmm...probably not, but knowing a little of The Fall isn't going to do anyone interested in post-punk any harm. Bend Sinister might be a better choice.
Bob Marley & The Wailers
4/5
Reggae to a white audience ranges from quasi-blackface idiots saying "ya mon smoke some ganja" to elevating Bob Marley to the status of prophet to rejecting Marley as too mainstream, and then finally to recognizing Marley as a great figurehead in the genre. I'd like to think I have achieved the final status as a white audience member, and so I come to Exodus. Words cannot express how damned sick of "Three Little Birds" and "People Get Ready" I am. However, most of this album is a genius politically aware makeout album--no mean feat. Personally I prefer the melancholy Kaya and the angry boogie of Uprising, but this is pretty great album once you get past the greatest hits found on "Legend."
Metallica
1/5
A stupid idea like this smells like flop sweat and desperation.
Bob Dylan
3/5
Half and half electric and acoustic Dylan. I'm not a fan of acoustic Dylan, but the electric tracks on this album are pretty good.
Rahul Dev Burman
3/5
Not sure I'd listen again, but I sure didn't hate it.
Pere Ubu
4/5
Perhaps it's my Reminiscence Bump (wikipedia.org/wiki/Reminiscence_bump) in play, but the postpunk movement is probably the most interesting to me, because I, a few years younger than the bands in the scene, looked up to them and saw the unrealized potential of the punk movement actually being manifested. Art, literature, social justice and activism appeared in the songs and in the zines. Pere Ubu and bands like them brought art to the rock stage in a way that really resonated with me.
Several other reviewers have praised "Rip It Up and Start Again" by Simon Reynolds, and I bought it right away. If this album resonates with you, perhaps you'll want to read this book, too.
The album kicks off with a fair warning of a tinnitus-inducing alarm to tell us that something very new and different is in play. This isn't your father's rebellious rock--this is a total revolution, so get lost with your 3-chord rock and harmony. Is it "fun?" No, but it's stimulating.
5/5
Another brilliant record by the most British band of the British Invasion. The Stones and The Beatles made their bones reinterpreting American R&B, but The Kinks drew their water from a much different well, and their records, and Arthur emblematically, delight and charm like no Beatles or Stones record.
Led Zeppelin
4/5
I associated Zeppelin with drug-addled burnouts of my highschool days until I was nearly out of college, and "got" Zeppelin in a new way. At that point John Bonham had been dead ten years or more and I was able to sort through the discography at my will. I came to discover I the heavy blues of the first two albums kind of bore me. I prefer III, Houses of The Holy, Physical Graffiti, and Presence. Three comes at you with more interesting and varied rhythms, and the entire band performs so well, and so well together. I particularly like "Out On The Tiles" - "Gallows Pole" - Tangerine." That's a great run.
Michael Jackson
4/5
Y'know, for the best selling album of all time, it's pretty good, but any time a big blockbuster album of the 1980s drags in an artist from another generation for a cameo, the capitalism of the endeavor really shines through and I feel like I've been taken for a ride.
Nick Drake
5/5
The first album of introspection and melancholy from Nick Drake. Possibly his best one, but seriously, you can't go wrong with any of them. Good album for nursing a heartbreak. I especially love "River Man" and "Saturday Sun."
Curtis Mayfield
5/5
My general distaste for soundtracks is displaced by my love for good Chicago soul, and there's little better than Curtis Mayfield and this soundtrack for Super Fly. Short and sweet and oh so funky.
Deep Purple
1/5
The Pogues
2/5
Marianne Faithfull
4/5
Marianne Faithful has many admirers and imitators, but she's as OG as Patti Smith. This album, which she herself calls her masterpiece, howls with the same passion as Smith's "Horses" or--to avoid limiting this to women in rock--any other great album of loss and redemption.
Living Colour
4/5
It definitely has that late-80's (early days of CDs) hard-rock sound. Still a better album than anything recorded by Ratt or Motley Crue in the same timeframe. I saw Living Color at the first Lollapalooza and loved their energy. I think too many people made a big deal that they were a hard-rock band of black musicians. These guys just rock. It's not my preferred style, but I'll give them credit where due.
Supertramp
3/5
Solomon Burke
5/5
Any fan of early soul and vocal R&B (Percy Sledge, Otis Redding, The Impressions, Wilson Pickett, Etta James, etc.) probably already knows Solomon Burke's music, and if you don't, you should. Ten times more interesting than Fats Domino and 100 times more authentic than Elvis just on the sheer range and expression of his voice.
Oh, please. These are supposed to be 1,001 albums I need to hear before I die. What is this shit?
Rage Against The Machine
4/5
If all rap-metal was this sincerely angry and on-point, I wouldn't hate Red Hot Chili Peppers so much.
The Beach Boys
5/5
A milestone in production with a genius of the 3-minute composition. While the rest of the Beach Boys were touring, Brian Wilson took some ideas to the Wrecking Crew and began a process like nothing undertaken before, building layer upon layer of sound. When the rest of the Boys returned, they laid down their inimitable harmonies and Pet Sounds was created--a landmark in pop music.
Favorite tracks: Wouldn't It Be Nice, Caroline No, Sloop John B, God Only Knows.
Fela Kuti
5/5
Hard funk with some hard truth.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
2/5
Radiohead
4/5
While Radiohead's peers (Oasis, Pulp, etc) were as much part of celebrity gossip as they were in music talk, Radiohead put their effort solely into the music. That work is really paying off by Kid A. They laid down a whole soundscape of alienation and existential dread.
Badly Drawn Boy
1/5
Really? Out of ALL the music released in the last century, this makes the list of essential listening? WTF is so special about this? It's just another boring, emo, 21st century navelgazing record. It's fine for what it is, but for God's sake, I expect this list to challenge me, not bore me to sleep.
This site should be called 1,001 records you may or may not find interesting.
CHVRCHES
3/5
Iiiiiittttt'ssssss ffffffiiiiiinnnnnne. Essential? Hmph.
Leonard Cohen
3/5
I find Leonard Cohen much more interesting in theory than in practice. He was a much more interesting writer than musician.
Elton John
4/5
I know it's a controversial opinion, but I really disliked "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road." "Madman Across The Water" is a measure better, because it precedes "GYBR", but it lays the foundation of the saccharine strings and extended arrangements that went off the rails on the later album. I really do like Bernie Taupin's lyrics, Elton John lays 'em down well, and I love his piano. But those strings, man. They weigh it all down so much.
Ella Fitzgerald
4/5
Unfair to 1) throw this among a bunch of rock albums and call it essential without mentioning the rest of her Great American Songbook entries and 2) select the longest chapter in her Great American Songbook as the representative one. Ella Fitzgerald and Norman Granz put a much larger and more ambitious package together, and in this case there should be a "selections from the Great American Songbook," a sort of greatest hits from these albums that should be considered. Gershwin is easy to listen to, but five disks of it is a long slog. Boil this whole body of work down to maybe 2-2.5 hours of music would be a far fairer assignment. All that said, Ella Fitzgerald was a fantastic singer, but she's not my favorite. She hits notes a little too perfectly; she lacked the soul of Sarah Vaughan or the swagger of Lena Horne, not to mention a whole world of soul singers who followed after her. I just get kinda bored of so much Ella.
Sister Sledge
4/5
Disco haters who think the bass gods are Lemmy K and Geddy Lee need to sit down and listen to Bernard Edwards--on second thought, get up and dance to Bernard and Nile lay down the groove. Sister Sledge brings it in their vocals, and this album is a sophisticated, groovy party. Slick funk.
The Flaming Lips
5/5
In my opinion, this is the best Flaming Lips album. Yoshimi et al that followed The Soft Bulletin were extensions of this album. The Soft Bulletin is deeply rooted in the Beatles most psychedelic--most apparent on "Suddenly Everything Has Changed" and "The Gash" but this album is no mere imitation of The Beatles. Like any good psychedelic album, there's an overarching theme: the band and its maturation, the harrowing experience of almost losing a member to a spider bite, and the emergence from the experience improved and strengthened. Now strong enough to fight alongside Yoshimi against the Pink Robots.
Simon & Garfunkel
5/5
I read once on the internet that everyone has a favorite Simon And Garfunkel song and if you really listen to it, it'll break your heart. I'm not sure that's entirely true, but so many of the songs on this album sound sweet for their harmony or tempo or melody, and if you listen carefully you'll hear lonliness, alienation, fear of loss, and so many other emotions that can break your heart. End-to-end, it's a great album, but I found the crowd noise in "Bye Bye Love" jarring and distracting, so I have to take a half-star off for that. Rounding up, it's still a five-star album.
2/5
Johnny Cash
5/5
If you're gonna own one Johnny Cash album, this is the one.
Dusty Springfield
4/5
If you love Dusty, this is probably where it all started for you. She delivers her blue-eyed soul by the shovelful on this short album. I still prefer Dusty in Memphis on the whole, but this is damn good Dusty.
Emmylou Harris
4/5
I had known that Emmylou Harris was very highly regarded in the Americana/country realm when I was younger, but having little interest in that branch of music, I didn't know any of her stuff. I came to Emmylou Harris with her collaboration with Daniel Lanois in 1995 with Wrecking Ball, and her shimmering and expressive voice enraptured me. I've been a fan ever since. Now that I know her earlier stuff (back to the mid-1970's), I consider Wrecking Ball the sea change in her sound, and Red Dirt Girl is more of the same. However, this is notable as an album of her own compositions. Lovely songs, beautiful production, and an adventure for the mind, heart, and ears. Only giving it 4 because I think that Wrecking Ball really was the monumental sonic shift in her catalog.
U2
4/5
I like the album in spite of it being by U2. To me it's and Eno/Lanois album; they're playing U2 and the studio, so I like it.
Tom Waits
3/5
Small observation: I've known many more women who like Tom Waits than men. I don't know what to take from that, but it's an observation I've made. I like Tom Waits' old stuff (Heart Attack And Vine, Nighthawks At the Diner, etc.), but this Beefheart-esque stuff is hard to bear. Not my cup of tea, but I think I get it anyway.
Beatles
5/5
A lovable mess of an album, it's a slice of history--John's new fascination with Yoko and her artsy approach, the growing tensions between John and Paul, George trying to get his songs heard, really only Ringo kept his cool, and IMO delivered some of his best drumming of all their albums. There's a lot to criticize this album for, but I love it anyway.
Of special note, the 2018 Stereo mix is a goddamned horror to the ears. Stick to the mono mixes.
Led Zeppelin
2/5
The first three Led Zeppelin albums are just Yardbirds albums with a different band--British boys playing American blues music. Zeppelin only hints at their ultimate trajectory with Ramble On, here. They really get interesting with IV and Houses Of The Holy. I don't hate this album, but it's not their best, not by a long shot. It's an unpopular opinion, but it's mine.
The Beach Boys
3/5
What, precisely, am I supposed to see as essential about this album? Corny, commercial music, presented as a smattering of singles without a coherent feel of an album...what am I missing? If Pet Sounds made it onto this list, that's all the Beach Boys you need for this project.
Nirvana
4/5
Kings of Leon
1/5
So original! They play bar-band blues-rock! It's so retro, it's new! Not like The Black Crowes and a million other bands haven't done it. Now it's an homage, a pastiche, another fucking boring dad-rock album.
Radiohead
4/5
This is the fourth Radiohead album I've gotten so far. That seems a little excessive. Nevertheless, this is a good example of their work. Impeccable performances and songwriting about lonliness and alienation. But they all are, so I'm not sure why we're getting so much Radiohead. Pick a favorite or two and let's spend more time exploring other music than late 20th/early 21st century indie rock.
Sufjan Stevens
1/5
So. boring.
The Kinks
5/5
I've said it before, I'll say it again: The Kinks are the most British band of the British Invasion. The Who, The Beatles, and The Rolling Stones all drew their inspiration from American rhythm and blues, where the Kinks wrote clever pop songs from a more distinctly English perspective. You can almost hear the tea kettle whistle in the background as they play. This is an utterly charming album, and I wouldn't change a thing about it.
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
4/5
Sometimes I love having non-English sung music playing while I work. NFAK can sometimes hit a groove for me while I grind on my work.
The Dictators
1/5
Kiss for the functionally unemployable. I bet it was a lot more funny to make a punk version of a Sonny and Cher song in 1975 than it seems today 50 years ago, but I'll bet these knuckleheads didn't think anyone would listen to their stuff this far into the future. Let that be a lesson to all of us. Not every beer-addled hilarious idea should be recorded.
Kanye West
2/5
He's really not the genius he says he is.
Lou Reed
5/5
Known widely as a glam-rock and protopunk masterpiece, I love this album, but I recognize that many who are hearing it now for the first time may not love it as much. On the strength of "Walk On The Wild Side" and its doubled bass lines alone, this is a worthwhile listen, but you get the pop hooks of "Vicious" and surrealism of "Andy's Chest" (Andy being Andy Warhol). Throw in a little cabaret with the line, "Yeah, we're coming out, out of our closets"--for 1972, this is about as "gay anthem" as you can ever hope to find--even the title give a nod to the trans community. Subversive and catchy and varied and still short enough not to lose the plot.
Ravi Shankar
3/5
At last, something outside western rock. Still western-rock adjacent, and a gateway into Asian classical music. Worthwhile, but not one of my favorites.
Jerry Lee Lewis
1/5
I've never liked most first-wave rock 'n' roll because it's monotonous. I've never liked Jerry Lee Lewis because he's a racist, incestuous pedophile. I've never liked live albums, as a rule, because they sound like shit. In all, I won't bother with this one.
The Police
5/5
I do in fact love this album, and own several copies (did you know that there were at least 36 different versions of the cover?). The Police were at the height of their fame when they released this album, sold out their world tour, and then broke up. The album included radio-ready singles, deep cuts, and even a "Revolution #9"-like song, "Mother" that sounds like something Robert Fripp would have composed (of course, Andy Summers and Fripp had recorded "I Advance Masked" and "Bewitched" together, too). There's enough meat on this record for many, many listens.
Led Zeppelin
5/5
The three-album run of Houses of The Holy, Physical Graffiti, and Presence are Led Zeppelin's best. This may be the pinnacle of the three, given the consistent quality through both LPs. If you like Zeppelin at all, this is probably in your wheelhouse.
Mariah Carey
1/5
No.
Manu Chao
3/5
Hüsker Dü
3/5
Cocteau Twins
5/5
I'm a big fan of Cocteau Twins and shoegaze/dream pop in general. This album, IMO, is Cocteau Twins at their best. Atmospheric and interplanetary. Gorgeous layering, with a broad soundstage. Elizabeth Fraser's lyrics, for lack of a better word, tell you of life somewhere else. A beautiful, harmonic, and soothing escape from the mundane.
Everything But The Girl
5/5
Easily dismissed as shopping music, but really is very good music in a style that got overdone quickly. EBTG is not so easily dismissed as the acts that fit into similar categories, and that's true for the whole breadth of their career, as their sound evolved and changed. Better than most coffee shop drum 'n' bass and quite a good album. In my opinion, the best one of theirs I've heard.
Jefferson Airplane
3/5
Ambien on vinyl. That might be what you're into, I find this one pretty dull. I can see why it was selected, because Jefferson Airplane were in the right place at the right time, but there's far better psychedelia than this album, even from the same year.
Prince
4/5
The real old heads will hear some strong similarity between this album and Sly And The Family Stone. This is a big album that is really trying to cover a lot of ground, and at times it seems to lose coherency. If you want a shorter album from Prince's catalog, go with Lovesexy or The Black Album, both from approximately the same era. This one is more satisfying altogether, but it's a big heapin' helpin' of Prince's irascible genius.
David Holmes
2/5
Ho-hum breakbeat music. It's fine for what it is, a moment in time. Absolutely not essential listening.
Spiritualized
2/5
Pick one track off this album. Any track. You'll get the idea. If you like it, indulge yourself, and if you don't, it's OK to move on.
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band
5/5
If a bunch of stoned white kids are going to play Chicago Blues, thank the Lard that it's this group. This is what the Yardbirds, Cream, and the rest of those Brits aspired to but were too insecure and pretentious about their skills to do right. Lean into the Howlin' Wolf and Willie Dixon, but get WEIRD about it. Roll a fat joint in the crease of the album jacket and puff-puff-pass, as the Good Lard intended.
The Style Council
3/5
Interesting for the purposes of this list for its embrace of jazz in an era where pop music was reaching for something new in the post-punk era. Paul Weller, a fitful pioneer in early post-punk, clung to the 60's mods in his sound, with a strong Beatles and Who influence. It came really as no surprise that he'd go for easy jazz as an influence with The Style Council. In all, it's not a great record, but it's a worthwhile experiment. The rap interlude halfway through aged like milk, but leave it to Weller to experiment.
James Brown
5/5
I'm at odds with this. Being one of the greatest live albums ever should make it 5 stars. It is James Brown and His Famous Flames, after all, and lordy what a performance from everyone! The crowd noise is awful though, which keeps reminding me that this is a live album, and I don't like live albums. I'll be magnanimous and just lay it down: five stars. James Brown was one of the greatest entertainers of all time. No crowd noise or limited sonic range can detract from the incredible performance.
Thelonious Monk
5/5
This is probably the most accessible jazz album of the jazz albums I've gotten in this list. Most of the jazz that I've gotten so far has been pretty hardcore stuff. Monk is the quintessential bop/post-bop musician, and so his music contains oddball time signatures, small combo sound, but stays close to a melodic theme, before free jazz emerged. Nevertheless, he's pretty far out there, just not Rahsaan Roland Kirk / Ornette Colman / Sun Ra levels of "out there".
I find Monk a lot of fun to listen to--he truly plays the piano, as in playing, experimenting, exploring. Brilliant Corners swings (like most Monk), and the melodic themes stick with me for days after I listen. I think Monk is a great door into jazz for pop/rock/hip hop fans.
Rod Stewart
2/5
If you like getting drunk in bars that have jukeboxes and a lot of old men hanging around, you can't miss with choosing any song from this album. It mixes well with spilled beer, peanut shells, and inconsequential arguments.
Neil Young
4/5
Production is inconsistent and the string arrangements are too much for this acoustic album. The songs are generally solid, in spite of the wanton misogyny of "A Man Needs A Maid". It has its flaws, but I can't help but still love this album.
Creedence Clearwater Revival
3/5
John Fogerty is one of the hardest-working and most painfully exploited stars of the 1960s. What Fantasy Records did to him is nothing short of criminal. Nevertheless, before he realized what a mess he had gotten himself into, he and the band poured themselves into recording and performing live for an intense and brief period, and honestly, as a result, I have a hard time distinguishing one record from the next. They had a sound, they refined it, and they played the mother-loving bejesus out of it. So 5 stars for the work ethic, but 1 star for country-rock-blues.
Lupe Fiasco
4/5
Kanye without the self-aggrandizement. Instead of talking about his genius, Lupe Fiasco delivers it and lets you judge for yourself. If that early 2000s super-dense production style is your thing, this is the real deal.
The Gun Club
5/5
"Fire of Love" is a raw version of The Gun Club, but they eventually came under the wing of Chris Stein (Blondie) and made "Miami" a major-label debut and then later, "Mother Juno" with Robin Guthrie of Cocteau Twins. Jeffrey Lee Pierce & Co had quite a trajectory, and "Fire of Love" is where it all started--naked and screaming.
The Stranglers
4/5
Little Richard
3/5
He was wild, he was brash, he was almost as weird as Screamin' Jay Hawkins. He frightened the white folks. For all that, he is memorable, but please don't make me listen to an entire album.
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
4/5
Fishbone
5/5
Banger! Something for everyone who wants to move to the music.
Creedence Clearwater Revival
3/5
Really, if you've heard one CCR album, you've heard 'em all. As I said for my review for Cosmo's Factory, 5 stars for the work ethic, but 1 star for country-rock-blues.
1/5
People who were kids at the turn of the millennium who liked Rush but didn't want to be accused of just listening to what their dads liked would like Muse.
Ugh.
King Crimson
4/5
A milestone in rock albums, a standard among prog-rock albums. Honestly, not a bad album. Do I love it? No, not really, but I appreciate it for what it is and what the musicians are doing. It's worth a few listens, anyway.
David Bowie
5/5
It's impossible to speak of this album without the coincidence of Bowie's death in the same week. I think this is a testament to the strength of his messages in it, and shouldn't that be the point? I am a devoted fan of Bowie's work, but I know the man himself was not perfect. This is a deeply moving testament of an artist who realizes how short his life is, and he says as much as he can as clearly as he can to us, the audience who are lucky enough to have shared time on this planet with him, but also to future listeners, who will, no doubt, have a different understanding of him and his art. I miss you, Starman.
Steely Dan
4/5
Steely Dan gettin' their feet under them. I think this album starts out very strong, then kind of tapers off with "Pearl Of The Quarter" and "King Of The World", the weakest 2 songs on the album. "Boddhisatva" and "Show Biz Kids" make this worth the purchase price, and there are plenty of other great shredders. Of note are the guitarists--Denny Dias, Skunk Baxter, and Rick Derringer--absolutely ripping guitar solos on this album, if you listen closely.
Bad Brains
4/5
A little too much metal mixed in with the punk for my tastes, but Bad Brains was a great punk band.
Cream
3/5
Eric Clapton is the most overrated guitar player on the planet. However, Jack Bruce is a great bassist and an interesting singer, although his almost-falsetto can get on my nerves sometimes. Ginger Baker is an amazing drummer and was an interesting man--the film "Beware of Mr. Baker" from 2012 was an interesting film. So despite Clapton's involvement, I'll still give this a 3.
Bill Evans Trio
5/5
An analysis of Bill Evan's music by a musicologist might reveal all sorts of esoterica, but when you just sit back and listen, it's all just as sublime as a summer breeze through a window caressing two lovers.
Fleetwood Mac
5/5
Banger from front to back.
Also, Christine McVie is the George Harrison of Fleetwood Mac. If I had to pick a favorite song on this album (because they're all so good), it'd be "Songbird."
Pavement
5/5
As another rater noted, "Every time I listen to Pavement I think 'wow, I should listen to more Pavement.'”
The Chemical Brothers
2/5
Absolutely of its time, great workout music, but not something I'd go back to just to have on.
A Tribe Called Quest
5/5
Head-bobbing, light hearted, groove-infused. Hard to believe this isn't even their best album (but it's damn good).
The Offspring
4/5
If you're going to listen to pop punk, make it The Offspring.
Buck Owens
4/5
I'm really glad to hear some Bakersfield sound on this list. Buck Owens wrote good honky tonk music with a heavy Texas Swing influence, and I enjoy it subjectively. I understand it might not be everyone's preference. What I find particularly interesting is the sound of the records--very strong in the midranges and treble. The piercing sound of the mixes sounded good and clear on AM radios of the day and penetrated crowd noise in bars and juke joints. He played his Telecaster with heavy picks and mixed the pedal steel far forward in the mix. More than just a reaction to the Nashville sound, this was a very conscious decision of an artist manipulating the technology of his instruments and the medium to reach his audience.
Amy Winehouse
5/5
Great neo-soul. Really strong songs throughout the album. Great production, too.
Massive Attack
4/5
Triphop blew me away when it emerged, and Massive Attack was its architects. Total urbane atmosphere, cool and sophisticated. Not quite as good as Mezzanine, this is still a wholly worthwhile record, particularly for its role as the debut of the entire subgenre.
Stevie Wonder
5/5
If this were the only album an artist made, it would still be legendary. But this was Stevie Wonder's eighteenth album, and the fifth of a string of 5 considered his strongest albums. And he was just twenty six years old.
Take the phenomenal range of music he made for this album, the dense arrangements, the cutting edge technology he employed to produce the sounds, and the sheer volume of music that was released. He paid homage to his elders, he reminisced about his youth, he proclaimed his love for a woman and his love for all mankind. And he held a torch up to human cruelty. And that's just Side One!
Favorite tracks: Contusion, Sir Duke, Ordinary Pain, and As. As can move me to tears, even after all these hundreds of listens.
Ten stars. No notes.
David Bowie
5/5
Some of the most interesting albums on this list are made in some crucible of personal pain or interpersonal tension. Bowie was in a bad place in his head with his addiction to cocaine when this album was made, and the nihilism of that state of mind allowed him to push hard against the 3:30 pop song format. We get something very different than his prior releases. It's a standout record on all fronts, and mercifully he saved himself from the abyss of addiction.
On "Stay", the guitars of Earl Slick and Carlos Alomar sound like two wild cats stalking one another in the jungle of a disco rhythm; "Station To Station" tells of two persons whose lines intersect, perhaps fleetingly, as though they were passengers on a train between two stations or transmissions between two radio towers; "TVC15" and "Golden Years" sound like light, radio-ready pop songs, but carry a dark tale inside. Bowie's passionate cover of "Wild Is The Wind", made famous by Nina Simone, pays great homage to her performance while being distinct from hers.
This album truly is the precursor to his famous Berlin Trilogy--the outsider holding up a mirror to us so that we can see how beautifully strange we are.
Sonic Youth
4/5
Sister, EVOL, and Daydream Nation are my favorite Sonic Youth albums. I never got deep into their stuff, but these three really slap.
Björk
5/5
As fantastic as this album is, it really is just a tiny foreshadowing of Bjork as a solo artist. She has that distinct voice and range, and Debut features it well. Her arc as a solo artist just kept going further and further into new territory, and this is her first step outside a group, doing her own thing. Brilliant Debut, brilliant career.
Arcade Fire
1/5
Can someone please explain to me what's so good about this grating music?
Talking Heads
4/5
One of the first albums I ever bought. Most bands suffer a sophomore slump, because a band's first album has material they've been crafting for years before recording, but they typically have very little time to come up with more material for the second album. Not so here. More quirky songs (indeed about buildings and food) with more elaborate production than Talking Heads 77 had.
I'm a big fan of "The Big Country" (telling of David Byrne's fascination with American culture, which continues through his entire career), "Warning Sign" which foreshadows "Fear of Music" and "Found A Job." My only dislike is their cover of Al Green's "Take Me To The River," and only because radio stations played it to death. It's Talking Heads' "Stairway to Heaven."
The Stone Roses
3/5
I hear the Byrds' jangle, the Beatles' harmonies, and other 60s influences, with a great bass line and wah-pedal guitar ripped from the 80s in most of the tracks. On paper, this should be fire to me, but Ian whats-his-face's vocals are pretty dull, and after a while, the whole album just drags on.
Astor Piazzolla
2/5
I'm certainly not averse to listening to music outside my comfort zone, and I know Astor Piazzolla is renown as a master of his craft. But I don't like it. Just as a good meal has a blend of contrasting elements, I think a good arrangement should have contrasting elements to balance one another. These three primary instruments (bandoneon, vibes, and piano) all lack a good attack--the piano is mixed so far back it's hardly audible, and the vibes and the bandoneon lilt over the audience almost as though they were played from a separate room. Instead of a masterwork of tango nuevo, this recording sounds like the buzzing of a fly at the window.
The Zombies
5/5
A perfect sunny hit of psychedelic pop. Lots and lots of Beatles influence, but of course the Beatles were exploring psych at the same time--there's something unique about the Zombies' take on pop-psych. Not as weird and silly as Traffic's first couple of albums, but more chamber-pop than either band. Sweet, beautifully crafted songs with gorgeous arrangements and harmonies. A must-have for aficionados of pop music.
Kendrick Lamar
2/5
Paul Simon
4/5
It really was a huge release when it came out, and it reinvigorated Paul Simon's career. In general, I think it holds up. At the time, CDs were pretty new, so it was used quite a lot to demonstrate audio systems. It is recorded well. Ladysmith Black Mambazo sounded so good on those rack systems, especially "Homeless".
Iron Maiden
1/5
No.
Stephen Stills
3/5
While I don't necessarily disagree with the rave reviews, how is this essential listening? How did this album influence other artists? To make a pastiche--or a collage, or whatever you want to call this--of American music, this is not in any way unique. Good album? Sure. Essential? Another album whose essence is under question.
Jimi Hendrix
2/5
I know, he's a genius. I even like some of his songs, like "Up From The Skies" for example. But I don't enjoy listening to Jimi Hendrix.
Buffalo Springfield
3/5
The Isley Brothers
5/5
Solid funk, on par with the best of Funkadelic or the JBs. Has a sort of northern sound to it, with an emphasis on short pop song formats and harmonies reminiscent of the Chicago or Motown sounds. Ernie Isley is a guitar god, and the guitar line in "That Lady" shreds as hard as a Hendrix line. Rudy's voice is smooth as his velvet cape. Great album from end to end.
Buddy Holly & The Crickets
4/5
It may seem like a musical artifact to modern ears, but you wouldn't have modern pop/rock sensibilities without Buddy Holly and the enormous influence Buddy Holly and his Crickets had on The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, and so many other acts that have had an influence on any vocal popular music.
It would have been quite interesting to see his evolution as an artist had he lived to die of old age instead of a plane crash. Something tells me he would have turned into a studio/equipment nerd like Les Paul.
Queens of the Stone Age
3/5
I really thought I'd like this more than I did. It really just sounded like reheated Black Sabbath.
The Flaming Lips
5/5
Fantastic album, flows really well from beginning to end. Still sounds fresh. Probably as good as "The Soft Machine."
Nirvana
5/5
Without being some sentimental "greatest hits" or covers album, Nirvana Unplugged achieved what so few such performances can: revealing the melody that's almost completely obscured by the fuzzed-out originals. The cover of Bowie's "The Man Who Sold The World" and the Raincoat's "Jesus Doesn't Want Me For A Sunflower" are particularly good.
The Cure
5/5
A big long sprawling album such as this has many opportunities to drag or become self-indulgent, or worse, just filled with mediocre pap. Disintegration is as good as Faith, Seventeen Seconds, or Pornography. In some ways, it's better because of it's length and Robert Smith's growth as a songwriter.
Neil Young
4/5
Heartbreaking album. At first it sounds like Neil being sloppy, but when you read the album inserts and the stories, you realize it's a miracle that Neil and the boys could pull it together enough to go on. Early pressings of this album have outer sleeves that are made of a softer, pulpier paper. They're easy to tear and wear out and get damaged, not unlike one's tender and wounded soul after two friends destroy themselves.
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
4/5
I will never not love "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes."
Pantera
1/5
Sepultura
1/5
The Coral
1/5
What the actual nonsensical stupid fuck is this?
Marvin Gaye
5/5
The Motown Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Denser in sound than any Motown album that came before, Marvin Gaye seized creative control of his music with both hands and created an enduring message of tenderness in a cruel world. It's over 50 years old and still stands as one of the greatest albums ever recorded.
Elliott Smith
4/5
Elliott Smith sure could craft some sweet and tender songs. His come with a lyrical message that portends much darker moods than the twinkling pianos and chiming guitars might have you think.
The Libertines
2/5
If The Clash were just himbo party bois, you'd get The Libertines. This is far from essential listening.
The Undertones
4/5
A good example of what we called "new wave" music back in the day, but what can also be called power pop or pop punk. There were countless bands working this arrangement on both sides of the pond--The Knack, Cheap Trick, Buzzcocks, etc. and many other similar acts that came out of the UK's pub rock scene (Nick Lowe, Rockpile, and Elvis Costello most notably). If you're looking for ponderously deep music, you're in the wrong bar, pal. Get a drink, get close to the stage and start jumping around.
Justice
4/5
Maybe there's something about this album that distinguishes it from Daft Punk, but I'll be damned to know what it is. More samples? When I think of French electronic dance music, my mind goes immediately to Daft Punk, not Justice. What is so essential about this album above Random Access Memories? Heck if I know. It's a good album, I suppose.
Prince
5/5
Are you kidding? Peak Prince, IMO.
Beatles
4/5
Stories about the creation of this album and the tension among the persons in the studio are legendary. Even the nicest Beatle (Ringo), had had his fill of the others and their girlfriends hanging around like human shields. I like to think that Ringo insisted on recording "Octopus' Garden" just a big ol' middle finger to the rest of them, because that song is awful. But the underappreciated and truly fifth Beatle here was Billy Preston, who made a silk purse of Side Two out of the sow's ears of half-finished compositions.
Brian Eno
4/5
A long long time ago, this was the first Eno I really dove into, and to be honest, it's never been my favorite. It was good enough to charm me to keep exploring his catalog, though.
Later, I learned just how busy he was in his collaborations with Cluster, Bowie, and David Byrne/Talking Heads in this era.
What this album brings is a huge range of ideas that he surely was carrying around with him at this time, from the Roxy/punk sound of "Kings Lead Hat" to his ambient explorations such as "Spider And I". It might make for some uneven transitions from track to track, but on the whole, I recommend this if you're at all intrigued by Eno.
David Bowie
4/5
I won't hide it, I'm a rabid Bowie fan, but it's taken me a long time to get this one to leap off the shelf and onto my turntable. In younger days, I didn't like the piano; later, I reconciled with it (after more exposure to free jazz). Still, this album just doesn't have the juice to outrank Ziggy Stardust or Hunky Dory. Alas, it foretells the dizzy misdirections in Diamond Dogs. Bowie's arc is going in the wrong direction here, and maybe that is what doesn't sit completely right with me about this album.
On the other hand, this has "Cracked Actor" and "The Prettiest Star" and those are among my favorite Bowie songs. Extra props for the iconic cover and makeup.
Arctic Monkeys
4/5
Like Spoon, but with energy and raw emotion.
Steely Dan
3/5
Not their best, but definitely good.
Parliament
5/5
The only way to make George Clinton and Parliament any funkier is to add Maceo Parker and Fred Wesley, and that's what you get on Mothership Connection. This album is like a galaxy of good times and great musicianship.
Mott The Hoople
3/5
If you've already listened to "Electric Warrior", "The Slider", and "Ziggy Stardust" and you still haven't scratched the glam rock itch, put "All The Young Dudes" on. After those, THEN you can play this one.
Elvis Costello
2/5
Definitely a middle-of-the-pack album for Elvis Costello. Not his best.
Paul Revere & The Raiders
1/5
A pastiche of Beatles, Stones, and Beach Boys. Every song sounds like a desperate attempt at making a hit. Utter commercial rubbish, just 60's white kids who learned a few blues progressions. They're not artists, they're laborers. This might as well have been an Archies album.
David Bowie
5/5
A restless suburban teenager in the 1980s, I was already sick of classic rock radio and my ears longed for something groundbreaking. I was too young to experience punk firsthand, and instead saw it and its progeny, the "new wave" through magazine articles and whatever other media I could find. If punk was a revolution, why did it still sound so much like Chuck Berry? Over time, I appreciated the one-man revolution that was Chuck Berry, but that's a story for another day.
I got to high school in 1982 and met some cool kids and I taped their record collections and fell headlong into the New Wave. Everyone worshipped Bowie, so I got a schooling on him (and Eno, and Fripp and and and). "Heroes" and "Low" had what my ears were seeking--a willingness to break out of standard pop song structures and do something different without dressing in formal wear and using classical instruments. I was smitten.
Really, the most experimental music here reflects Eno's imagination more than Bowie's, but Bowie willingly embraced it and presented it and expanded it. This album will always be a keystone in my musical tastes.
Keith Jarrett
4/5
Beautiful music, and not just sleepy piano music. It held my interest for all 4 tracks. Then I found out that it was 100% improvised and recorded live--this is what makes it so memorable. I've never heard this album before and I don't recall anything I've ever heard by Keith Jarrett before (although I may have been exposed to his music). But this album goes on my wantlist and I'll keep an eye out for anything else he made.
Mudhoney
4/5
Lighthearted fuzzed out fun. Not my cup of tea, but good for what it is.
The Stooges
4/5
If you love raw punk, I'll bet you already own this. It's a seminal record for that raw garage protopunk sound. That doesn't mean I loved every minute of it.
Garbage
4/5
If you love raw punk, I'll bet you already own this. It's a seminal record for that raw garage protopunk sound. That doesn't mean I loved every minute of it, but it's clearly has a great influence on so many artists that followed.
Buena Vista Social Club
5/5
Absolutely glorious rhythmic fun. I never get tired of this album, and it was so much fun to rediscover it. The bonus tracks were another nice treat. I've heard that the reason Cuban jazz musicians were so good was the strict Soviet classical training they received in technique and music theory combined with the Afro-Carribean influence elevated their jazz to rhythms into unheard territories. That cowbell meter holds it all together, and the clave--that mysterious space between the beats is where the magic really happens.
ZZ Top
1/5
Good product, crappy music, lame lyrics. ZZ Top went from being outlaws to pop product with this album, and while it made them a bunch of money, it's only notable for being a prime example of that 80's pop rock sound. See also "Pump" by Aerosmith, anything by Motley Crue, Poison, etc. Absolute schlock rock.
The Roots
3/5
I like the neo-soul and jazz elements, and I have a lot of respect for the musicianship, but as a whole album, I really didn't get into it.
Suede
1/5
That was fucking awful.
Daft Punk
3/5
I wanted to like this album, and it wasn't all bad, but each track is pretty much an earworm--a single musical phrase that just repeats and repeats until you go insane, and not in a good way.
ZZ Top
2/5
For 1973, this was an exemplary Texas blues-rock album. Sort of Outlaw Country Rock, and ZZ Top was a new act (not all that new, two of them performed as The Zombies back in the 1960s, mere cogs in the exploitative music industry). This album is fine for what it is--blues based party rock. Don't think too much about it, have another beer, just have fun. Interesting and essential? Sure, if this can be the last blues-rock album on the list, but I doubt it will be.
Peter Gabriel
5/5
It seems people like to crap on successful albums, but career-defining albums like "So" are successful for a reason. This album delivered a sound that exemplifies and also set the standard for pop-dance albums in the mid-1980's, a period where the industry was consolidating under multinational corporate names. Big money made big sounds like never before. (Later, the resistance to this and the increasing affordability of digital recording led to the rise of the indies, but that's a story for another day.) Peter Gabriel and a band of incredibly talented musicians (most who kept their skills sharp as studio musicians) produced this very big-sounding album. Tony Levin's bass and Chapman Stick in particular, set a standard for pop-dance music at the time. Also of interesting note--1986 was a year where CDs were really on the rise, but people were buying their music on legacy media too (cassette and LP), and this was mastered with an ear for all of these. The dense production sounded great on our portable player/headphone sets, as much as it did on our big home systems.
4/5
LA had a punk scene that included a lot of acts that drew inspiration from 50s rock and early country acts. Some drew a straighter line than others, but this scene gave us The Gun Club, The Stray Cats, Charlie Sexton, The Long Ryders, and X. There was the rockabilly sound that The Stray Cats really popularized and the hellbilly controlled chaos of The Gun Club. Many more drew their "look" from Elvis, Eddie Cochrane, et al. X was right in the middle of that, and you can hear the train-engine chugging in their rhythms. Wild Gift to me sounds like an extension of their debut, "Los Angeles," but I love both these albums. This is a snapshot of a moment, when American punk drew from Americana--punk as a return to form for rock and roll that had lost its way into wanky solos and stadium rock. The whole album, all 40 minutes of it, is a short, sharp shock.
Astrud Gilberto
2/5
I generally really dislike songs with children singing in them. Here we have two such songs, "Banda (A Parade)" and "You Didn't Have to Be So Nice."
"Banda" particularly blew the mood because it's a circus march, totally unlike the mellow groove that Samba is known for.
This is not her best.
Manic Street Preachers
4/5
Better than most Britpop, probably less vapid lyrics, although I listened only once and didn't scrutinize the lyrics. I kinda liked it.
Lauryn Hill
4/5
Ran a little long, but all in all it wasn't bad.
The Rolling Stones
5/5
I love it. It's long, there are some n-words (said by a white man no less), but this is iconic. The Stones at their dirtiest and grimiest (and therefore their best).
Van Morrison
2/5
If there were an instrumental version of this album, I'd probably make it all the way to the end. Unfortunately, Van Morrison is vocalizing on it, and his voice is like a cheap door alarm. I just can't.
2/5
This list is making me discover the depths of my hate for Britpop in general and now Oasis in particular. The Gallagher boys seem to think that winning the volume wars was equivalent to producing superior music. They were quite wrong.
Norah Jones
2/5
On the one hand, this has a very broad appeal. No one is going to claw at their ears and say they can't comprehend the music. On the other hand, it's so bland, it might as well be plain oatmeal. Norah Jones sounds like she's falling asleep at her piano (a la Natalie Merchant)--she's even boring herself.
If you want to hear a sexier, better version of "I've Got To See You Again," check out Jesse Harris and the Ferdinandos' version (he wrote it and played acoustic guitar on the Norah Jones version here).
The xx
4/5
I remember really digging this album when it came out. I can't say I love it as much now, but it's still pretty good. Kind of a makeout album, not meant to be scrutinized, just played for the mood.
The Clash
5/5
Absolutely a "desert island" record--The Clash are one of the all-time greatest rock bands, in large part because of this album. A tour de force of styles and genres and angry politics, every song is a keeper and the sum total works as well as each individual song.
Wilco
3/5
A lot of people complain it's long, and it's also their first exposure to Wilco. I think this is definitely an essential album for someone who wants to get into Wilco, but is it essential for the rest of us?
It's pretty early in the arc of Wilco's body of work to call this their "Exile On Main Street". It's a long album, with a variety of sounds and moods, just like Exile, but I don't think it rises to that level. Maybe more Wilco's "Rubber Soul."
What makes this interesting is that Tweedy is stepping away from his Neil Young And Crazy Horse comfort zone and playing more with song structures, tonal qualities beyond a fuzzed out Les Paul, and leaning more towards an outre pop music. This is thanks to the arrival of Jay Bennett, and I don't think he gets nearly enough credit. More of his pop sensibilities will be evident on Summerteeth, which I consider a more filled-out album.
Essential? Well, essential for a Wilco afficionado. A worthwhile hour for others.
The Smiths
4/5
Let's get this first point out of the way: Morrisey is an insufferable prick. He's been the major obstacle to my enjoyment of most of The Smith's work. Listening to an entire album of The Smiths seemed to be too much to ask, but I soldiered on.
Damn it, I liked it. Yes, everything about Morrisey and his lyrics are self-indulgent. This album is good in spite of this--and dare I say it, /because/ of this.
This is the soundtrack to a pity party. Put this on when one is nursing a broken heart. Play this when you're so wounded by the world not appreciating you. Cry bitter tears into your diary while this plays. Then hum the songs to yourself as you pick yourself up, brush yourself off, and gather your pride to try again another day.
Dagmar Krause
2/5
Wow, this seems like a pet album. No idea what makes this so essential to put on this list.
Dagmar Krause reminds me of Kate Bush in an art collective, singing songs by a composer who can't be mentioned without Kurt Weill's name as a reference point. Why is this on this list? Dagmar Krause maybe--MAYBE--deserves to be a list of artists to be familiar with, but I'd argue only as a member of Slapp Happy or Henry Cow, and then only because of synergies made with her bandmates (Fred Frith, Peter Blegvad, Chris Cutler).
It's not a bad album, per se, but it's so niche, I can only scratch my head as to why it's on this list. 1 star for being on the list, plus two or three for the quality of the music, averaging to 2 stars.
Foo Fighters
3/5
Sounds just like Nirvana minus Kurt Cobain. Cool, if that's your thing.
AC/DC
1/5
AC/DC exists for the same reason the Super Bowl and Las Vegas exist--they answer the question of how to be the most extravagant, over the top form of entertainment without being niche? How to enchant the lizard brain? It's absolute rubbish schlock-rock, but it's the MOST rubbish shlock-rock, and they've made a whole career of it.
Bonnie "Prince" Billy
4/5
Haunting music for loneliness and isolation. Very moving. Reminds me of the best work of Jason Molina (Magnoia Electric Co., etc.).
The Go-Go's
5/5
Too easily dismissed as throwaway pop music, this is a great achievement for the five women from LA's punk scene--the first #1 album of music entirely composed and performed by women. What's amazing to me (who heard it on the radio as a kid when it was first released) is that it took so long to achieve this. It's a great album, not a bad track; but let's hear it for Jane Weidlin, Belinda Carlisle, Charlotte Caffey, Gina Schock, and Kathy Valentine.
The Beach Boys
4/5
"Student Demonstration Time" was just downright embarrassing. Drags the whole album down. The rest of it shines with Brian Wilson's arrangements and gorgeous harmonies. 1971 was a hell of a year, man, even the Beach Boys struggled to focus on the positive.
Fela Kuti
4/5
A relentless polyrhythmic festival of pan-African identity anger and rebellion. Fela was the bandleader, and no fool himself, but Tony Allen is/was a genius, and I don't use the term loosely.
5/5
I'm a fan of PJ Harvey, generally, but I have such an emotional attachment to this album, it's difficult to rate it objectively. To me this is a soundtrack to an ill-fated love affair, and my associations are more to a single person. It drips with nostalgic ache when I listen to it.
Slayer
1/5
*eyeroll*
Scott Walker
3/5
I started this album and his voice sounded so familiar to me, but I couldn't place it. Finally I got to "The Old Man's Back Again" and looked the track up on allmusic. It appeared on the chill DJ set "Late Night Tales" by Air. I liked that song in that mix (the whole set is great). A whole album of Scott Walker though? That's one of those "you had to be there" sort of things. I'm sure this is foundational to a lot of Brits, but I'm hitting it 50+ years later and from the other side of the pond, and it's fine, but doesn't seem so essential to me. But check out Late Night Tales series. Lots of good, chill music.
Aimee Mann
3/5
Not her best, but Aimee Mann is as clever and sardonic as you can get. The Jon Brion sound on this does have a bit of a dated feel, but you can't deny they know how to arrange a pop song, with a heavy Beatleseque tone without being slavish about it. If you dig this, check out Sam Phillips (wife of T-Bone Burnett) from the same era--clever lyrics and singalong harmonies.
CHIC
3/5
Bernard Edwards is a major bass god, and Nile Rodgers is great at writing the riffs that ride over that rhythm. Chic lived up to their name, with urbane, sophisticated disco funk that continues to inspire musicians and is a foundation of hip hop sampling. None of that really speaks to this *album* though. This is a laboratory of sound and style and rhythm. This is a library of vamps and riffs. The album drags on like a long night at Studio 54. It's fun while it lasts, and you remember bits and pieces, but it's not meant for close concentration.
The Rolling Stones
5/5
Not only is this as gritty as Beggar's Banquet or Let It Bleed, it's probably their most experimental album. The expansiveness of "Moonlight Mile" and the extended solo of "Can't You Hear Me Knocking" goes beyond what the Stones are better known for--quick classic rock songs with a good hook. Really this is peak Stones (along with Exile On Main St.).
George Michael
4/5
A big hit in its time, and a great example of state of the art production. But man, that guy was horny.
White Denim
4/5
I've heard a little White Denim before, but it's been a while. This album was a lot of fun--I'd compare it to an Unknown Mortal Orchestra record--jammy, but not too noodly or long-winded. I'll definitely dig into the rest of their library and look for their records in the bins.
David Gray
1/5
In 2000, Dave Matthews released this album by David Gray.
In 2004, a tour bus belonging to the Dave Matthews Band released an estimated 800 pounds (360 kg) of human waste from the bus's blackwater tank through the Kinzie Street Bridge in Chicago onto an open-top passenger sightseeing boat sailing in the Chicago River below. The incident became popularly known as the Dave Matthews Band incident or Poopgate.
I can only conclude that Dave Matthews is a scatological menace.
Nine Inch Nails
3/5
I was there for Trent Reznor's initial fame. I saw NIN at the first Lollapalooza (when it was a 1-stage tour). I know this music, but it's never really clicked with me. I give it all sorts of credit for exemplifying the industrial electronic sound that had been developing from the late 80s (Ministry, Revolting Cocks, Front Line Assembly, Skinny Puppy, etc.) to the 90's (like Rob Zombie et al). Reznor made it a household sound and thus inspired lots of people to develop that genre further. But as much as I loved RevCo, Skinny Puppy, and Foetus, NIN never really did it for me. I was kinda over it all by the time NIN came along.
Blur
2/5
Damon Albarn is much more interesting when he's not flying under the name Blur.
Slipknot
1/5
I'm not listening to this garbage.
Hugh Masekela
4/5
Hugh Masekela is an international treasure. If this whet your appetite, there is a trove of other albums of his to delve into. Masekela's style has always honored American jazz and soul musicians, while remaining strongly individual. His final album was "Rejoice!" with Tony Allen (Fela Kuti's drummer and musical director). It's different from this, but also very very good. This album got a little long for me, but that says more about me than the music here.
Ryan Adams
4/5
I had heard a few songs by Whiskeytown, but didn't know that Ryan Adams was in that band. I'd heard his name in the zeitgeist, and in general old-man fashion, just assumed he was all hat and no cattle and expected to find this album lacking in some way. But you know what? This is good music.
Jimi Hendrix
5/5
Jimi Hendrix has cast perhaps the longest shadow across (rock) music, and perhaps only Chuck Berry's shadow is longer.
Are You Experienced is without a doubt more influential and important than Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, and Jimi Hendrix has affected and influenced musical composition as much as The Beatles.
That said, I don't really like listening to much Hendrix but in small doses. I've found Are You Experienced to be his most listenable album, but I will not deny his influence.
R.E.M.
2/5
Hot take: Scott Litt ruined REM. He's responsible for the musical abortion that was Out of Time and as another reviewer said, "Shiny Happy People being possibly the worst song ever written," my expectations were very low for Automatic For The People. Scott Litt exceeded my expectations. This album isn't annoying as Out of Time but it's 10x more boring.
I cut my teeth on Murmur, Reckoning, Fables of The Reconstruction. I was in college when Life's Rich Pageant and Document and Green came out. I saw them live for the Green show. That's when I saw the cracks, but Green wasn't so bad. Document was the last really good REM album.
Normally I try to listen to hit albums with the attitude that there must be something about the album that made it so popular, but this is as middle of the road as you can get. So disappointing.
Echo And The Bunnymen
3/5
Like early U2 if they had been cooler. Pretty good example of what the edgy kids were listening to in 1983. I thought Ian McCullough sounded a lot like Bono from the same time period (pre-Unforgettable Fire).
The Beau Brummels
2/5
Many have noted the similarities to Bob Dylan, but I also hear similarities to Donovan and Scott Walker--in other words, this is a generic psych-folk album from the late 1960s, and there's nothing about The Beau Brummels' performance here that is distinctly Beau Brummels, nevermind that it doesn't sound like it inspired anything significant that followed from other artists who would probably cite Dylan or Donovan or even Scott Walker as their inspiration.
What's so essential about this album? I mean, it's fine if you want to pretend you're wearing tea shades in Golden Gate Park, stoned out of your mind, but seriously, pick a better soundtrack than this if you're going to do that.
Eagles
1/5
I, too, hate the fucking Eagles. And I cannot hear an Eagles song and be reminded of the boomer boss I had who loved the Eagles. Fuck you, Pete, you runty little prick.
Janis Joplin
4/5
I think at this point in time, you need to seek out Janis Joplin--she's not really in the zeitgeist any more, except when someone brings up the 27 club. No one, man or woman, had a more American voice than Janis. This is probably the best showcase of that voice, and her band is on point.
Led Zeppelin
4/5
When this ripper of an album is only like the 4th best one out of their catalog, and it's this good, just wait until you hear Houses of The Holy, Physical Graffiti, and (unpopular opinion ahead) Presence. This is Led Zeppelin approaching their most incendiary. They keep their blues roots, but are branching out into new sounds, rhythms, and progressions. Not to be missed.
Pere Ubu
4/5
More postpunk weirdness from Dave Thomas and Pere Ubu. I love it--these songs hang on by their fingernails to your expectations of what constitutes a pop song. They meet our basic requirements of a beat, some idea of A-B-C format, more or less conventional instruments and arrangements, but challenge the ears at every turn in terms of melody and harmony. In those terms, Dub Housing is not a big stretch from The Modern Dance (their debut), so I wonder, as much as I love this album, why are both on the list?
Ash
2/5
Meh. Very mid 1990's alternarock.
The Fall
3/5
There are albums that demand your undivided attention (Portishead 3, The Band brown album, many others), and many more that want to demand your attention and just wind up annoying (the vast majority of popular music, to be honest). Alas, Live at The Witch Trials is just a postpunk Bob Dylan album (or a Mountain Goats album, or to be honest, a rap album, with certain exceptions)--too much effort put into the lyrics compared to the musical output. If you're not paying attention to the lyrics--I mean staring at your speaker and hanging on every word--this album will only serve to frustrate you.
Mark E Smith was perhaps a better author than musician.
The Temptations
4/5
I love Motown singles, but there are a lot of Motown albums that are pretty uneven--they sound more like just a bunch of singles without a coherence. The Temptations were subject to Berry Gordy's relentless push for singles so much that they resisted releasing "Papa Was A Rolling Stone", fearing it wasn't a good single. This album is best with the funkiest tracks, "Rolling Stone" being only one. The opener, "Funky Stuff Sho' Nuff Turns Me On" is so funky, I hear Sly Stone's influence, "Run Charlie Run" is funky social consciousness, and the closer, "Do Your Thing" leaves you remembering that The Temps can keep the temp high.
The slow tracks are the curiosities here. "Love Woke Me Up This Morning" is probably the weakest song on the album, and as another reviewer noted, it should have been given to the Jackson 5 instead. "I Ain't Got Nothin'" has a backup vocal ripped right from The Flamingo's "I Only Have Eyes For You," and "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" is a worthwhile cover of the beautiful Roberta Flack song.
In all, a very good slice of funk and bedroom soul all around.
Ramones
5/5
Absolutely iconic. No student of popular music can deny this album's role in the evolution of rock.
I always like to think of the Ramones as a very disaffected, surly, east-coast version of The Beach Boys.
Bebel Gilberto
3/5
I don't have any objection to this album, nor do I have any attachment to this album. Could have been a Swing Out Sister album and my attitude would have been the same--it's nice. I like that Samba is not some anachronism of the 1950s, and Bebel Gilberto has brought it into the 21st century with her production and arrangement here, but I don't at all consider this an essential album.
Black Sabbath
2/5
Iconic. The album that launched a genre. Ozzy in a nascent state as the Prince of Darkness. Et cetera.
I still can't break my association of this album with being 12-13 years old and just not getting what was so great about this, when my friends extolled how "awesome" it is. The person who invented the piano was not the greatest pianist, so it goes with heavy metal (but don't mistake me for a fan of the genre).
I guess with time I have an appreciation of the themes of the album; call me a dilettante when I'll nod my head politely when the most popular tracks come on, but I wouldn't spend a penny on Ozzy to put his music in my own collection.
Madonna
1/5
Sorry, I just can't. I've never been a big fan of Madonna, and this is clearly Madonna past her peak. Just no.
Pulp
2/5
The volume of dad rock on this list is only outdone by the amount of 90's Britpop.
Frank Ocean
2/5
It's somewhat better than a lot of contemporary R&B I've heard (e.g., Ocean doesn't lean onto autotune with his full weight), but the interstitials of voicemails or whatever they are deteriorate the overall vibe of something that in the end is pretty mid.
John Prine
4/5
John Prine was an American treasure and a great songwriter. I get how someone might not love a whole album of folk music, but this isn't "Johnny Cracked Corn". These are American stories, what John Prine was best at telling. Particularly amused by "Illegal Smile" and moved by "Sam Stone".
David Ackles
1/5
I used to think, "what could be worse the an Neil Diamond song?" innocently forgetting that perhaps there might be a cut-rate Neil Diamond wannabe somewhere with fresh ink on a record contract.
Sabu
3/5
This list's jazz (or non-contemporary) selections seem largely unconsidered to me. I started my listening journey with a Louis Prima record, then over time some Mingus, a really long Ella Fitzgerald boxed set, Thelonius Monk, Keith Jarrett at Koln, some Brazilian samba records, and maybe one or two other 'old' records that aren't rock, pop, or hip-hop, so far.
As much as I love a little so-called world music and enjoy this album, what is it about Sabu that landed this here instead of, say, Tito Puente to rep the Afro-Cuban sound? It's an easier line to draw from Puente to Santana.
Where's Coltrane? Miles? Herbie Hancock?
These editors clearly are dilettantes with jazz. This album is a fun palette cleanser from the stream of late 20th century rock and pop, but it's another example of a record leaving me with the question, "why is this on the list?" Get rid of the Korn, Slipknot, and Linkin Park and fill in the jazz section.
Yes
1/5
*yawn*
Count Basie & His Orchestra
5/5
Very representational of Big Band jazz: maestro-level musicianship, swingin' charts and arrangements, basically the 20th century version of a symphony, and Count Basie and Duke Ellington were the sine qua non acts to see and hear. After the war, these big bands really dwindled--it got too expensive to tour, and audience tastes changed to small-combo jazz acts like trios, quartets, etc. and rock 'n' roll was on the horizon.
The Youngbloods
5/5
I really enjoyed this album. It's like a jazzier version of The Byrds' "Sweetheart of The Rodeo". An excellent addition to a library of Wayfaring Strangers-- altogether American music.
John Martyn
4/5
My first exposure to John Martyn was in the mid-1990s when I saw him at a festival called Guiness Fleadh. I was killing time waiting for Richard Thompson to take the stage and got a seat for Martyn's show. Martyn's music mesmerized me. When I heard him cover Portishead's "Glory Box," I was blown away--good covers are a difficult proposition. Now to read in the Wikipedia review of this album that it was an influence on trip hop and that he spent time in Jamaica before its recording...I'm excited by the experimental nature of it. Reminds me a bit of Kevin Ayers, too.
Radiohead
5/5
Radiohead has always looked good on paper to me, but when I listen, I think, yeah, they're pretty cool, but I don't understand the rabid fandom. I think I really need to rethink that attitude--Radiohead has produced so much compelling music. Even "Hail To The Thief" seems like it was a reaction to GW Bush and Tony Blair, but really it was of its time without those figures. Modern problems are not about individual people, but the despair we all feel and the reactivity that we're prone to. Combine this album with its two predecessors and you've got a hell of a run.
Radiohead
4/5
2/5
I love Eno. I love Eno/Lanois collaborations. I love that U2 hired them multiple times and that Eno/Lanois made a mountain of money on these albums. But I just can't listen to U2 any more, this album in particular.
PLAYED. TO. DEATH.
Penguin Cafe Orchestra
5/5
This is exactly what this list is meant for--not dragging me through some dad's classic rock collection, one agonizing record at a time, but instead to showcase music that bends and blends genres, may be a little obscure, or otherwise challenge a listener out of a comfort zone. I've know Penguin Cafe Orchestra, but had never heard this album. It's a delight, a soundtrack for the stream of consciousness in my head.
The Young Rascals
5/5
A perfect example of blue-eyed soul. The (Young) Rascals were allegedly the first all-white act signed to Atlantic Records, and they fit well with their contemporaries--these sound like pop songs as performed by soul music musicians--think Motown and Fame Records.
Tough luck for The Young Rascals to release this album within months of Their Majesties' Satanic Service and Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. Hard to get traction in the press, even with an album this good, when those two albums were rocketed into the public consciousness around the same time.
Elis Regina
3/5
Elis Regina is new to me, and while this album is almost 50 years old, I'd probably file it under "contemporary jazz vocal". She has a great musical range in her selection and performance of these songs.
Muddy Waters
5/5
Absolutely prime example of Chicago Blues, by the father of it all.
Pixies
5/5
My love for Pixies began here. I knew 4AD as the label for Cocteau Twins and Dead Can Dance, but Pixies is entirely different from those two bands--and nearly anything else released on that label up to that point. Dave Lovering's drums are like gunshots throughout this album, and Black Francis' weird and funny lyrics, Kim Deal's (Mrs. John Murphy) cool, and Joey Santiago's barely-contained guitar freak-outs all add up to a WILD 33 minute ride. It's a desert island album for me, dog.
Barry Adamson
3/5
Interesting concept--a soundtrack to a movie that hasn't been made. The music? I'm not a huge fan of soundtracks, but this was okay. I guess.
Hookworms
2/5
Death Cab For Cutie/The Postal Service meets Arcade Fire. How much more basic can you get? Nothing *wrong* with the album, but there's certainly nothing unforgettable about it, besides just how mid it is.
The Pretty Things
5/5
Very good psych. Many have mentioned hearing Beatles, Kinks, and of course The Who in this, but I also hear some Donovan, and towards the end, the fuzzed out tone and style that would emerge a few years later as proto-metal. It's a good album through and through. I really enjoyed this one.
Ray Charles
4/5
More like "The Atomic Mr. Basie" from a week ago than I think most would expect from a Ray Charles album. This does indicate his range and clear intention to fuse all the music he was exposed to as he rose to stardom. I got tired of the blaring horn section, but still a good slice of Americana.
Jimmy Smith
4/5
Solid selection to represent the soul-jazz category, but maybe not the most interesting from the genre. Jimmy Smith can lay it down, but the blues progressions fade into the background a little too easily. Maybe a selection of Jimmy Smith and Wes Montgomery together, maybe some Lou Donaldson, or go off the script and look for some Ivan "Boogaloo Joe" Jones for some more interesting soul jazz (it's a rabbit hole of a genre). Jimmy Smith surely had some influence on Ray Manzarek (Doors) by providing the bassline for these tracks. Good music for the background of a conversation.
Ladysmith Black Mambazo
4/5
So soothing and exotic. Like sitting under a palm tree and drinking a cool drink, Ladysmith Black Mambazo overtakes you like a dream in a hammock. But after a while, I got a little tired of it.
Megadeth
1/5
No.
Emmylou Harris
5/5
Emmylou Harris is one of those names more people know than know her music, and that's a damned shame. Hers is categorized as country music, and I suppose that's more or less accurate, but to me her music goes deeper into the American identity than the American South--just like her muse and friend Gram Parson. This is a very good example of her music, and curiously one album of hers that I don't own--yet. Definitely on the hunt for this one.
Judas Priest
1/5
Yeah whatever
Coldplay
2/5
About ten years ago, I was dating a woman who had a friend who was engaged to some super-rich guy who worked in international banking. They had a beautiful condo in the city, and we visited one night for an overnight. We all liked to drink, but Mr. Moneybags could really put it away. I didn't dare try to keep up with him, although they poured some really good liquor that night. After dinner, we retired to the deck, and we were admiring the skyline and the beautiful night, and Moneybags said, "How about some music? Do you like Coldplay?" I was not going to be That Guy so I said sure, figuring he'd start a mix with some Coldplay. Nope. NONSTOP AND NEVER-CEASING COLDPLAY for the rest of the night. He proceeded to dump *so much* booze down his hatch, then he went for a 20 mile run the next morning. Psychotic.
When that one couple got caught cheating at the Coldplay concert, I was looking for him. What a fuckin' weirdo that guy was.
Ride
3/5
Excellent representation of shoegaze--I would have expected My Bloody Valentine's Loveless, but this is IMO as good. However, and this is a point about the genre as a whole--after a while, it fatigues my ears and just sounds very monotonous (I realize that's kind of the point). It's great when it starts though. I liked the drums on this album in particular.
N.E.R.D
2/5
It's fine. Whatever.
Jethro Tull
2/5
Wilco
5/5
Apple Music said this album transformed Wilco into Rust Belt Radiohead, and I'm not even mad.
Tom Waits
2/5
I can't get past the voice.
Songhoy Blues
4/5
So refreshing to my ears, like a new fruit I've never tasted, on a warm summer day.
Dolly Parton
4/5
Bob Marley & The Wailers
5/5
The R&B undercurrent in reggae seems much more apparent in this album. I don't know if it's the chord progressions, the harmonies, but this wears its American R & B roots on its sleeve. I hear Motown, Memphis, and Muscle Shoals in it, and All Day All Night's intro foreshadows trip-hop. Brilliant.
Blondie
5/5
Ranking an album that, judging by other reviews, represents different musical milestones for various listeners makes it pretty hard to find comparable albums. Is this a pure pop album, targeting the heart of the radio listener of 1979; is this a punk band gone big; is this a woman's voice for a new decade; is this something else entirely? By what yardstick do I measure this?
Look, this is a very good and very accessible album. After all these years, I'm still not tired of "Heart of Glass" or "One Way Or Another," and I love their interpretation of "Hanging On The Telephone" (and the Nerves' powerpop original is also great). I love the variety of influences, I love the execution, I love the way this album manages to satisfy so many listeners.
I'd compare it to The Bangles' debut "All Over the Place". It's as deep as you'd like.
Pixies
5/5
Generally regarded as Pixies' peak, I'm troubled to find much argument with this, although I seem to reach for Bossanova more frequently.
Upon listening to this, I noticed for the first time how much Dave Lovering's drums were mixed back on this album compared to its predecessor, Surfer Rosa. On SR, his drums sounded like gunshots, but the production on Doolittle sounds more balanced, more filled in, less brash. It's a difference that I note, not a criticism.
So many of these songs are singalong pop songs, and "Here Comes Your Man" couldn't sound more like a pop single. The video of them mocking their own detour towards a radio-friendlier sound is pretty funny. This isn't just pop music, though. There's plenty of college radio/punk still evident. I love it, almost as much as I love Bossanova.
Marvin Gaye
4/5
I'd heard *of* this album for a long time, but never listened to it. Knowing the story that Marvin made this album to fulfill his contractual obligation, I didn't expect this to be so damn good. Then I remembered we're talking about Marvin Gaye.
Some of y'all have never been divorced, and it shows. Divorce brings out a lot of conflicting emotions, and this album is full of them, thus the double-LP. I can agree that its breadth can make it hard to call it a perfect album.
Standout tracks are "Anger" and "A Funky Space Reincarnation."
Richard Hawley
3/5
I had never heard of Richard Hawley or this album before--this must have made a bigger splash in the UK than here in the US, because I think it made none at all here. I know enough Pulp, but this doesn't sound at all like it. Reminds me of the Nick Lowe albums of late, which I love, but IMO Nick Lowe should be the one getting the Mercury Prizes, not this wanker. It's good dinner music, good makeout music, but not necessarily essential listining.
Elvis Costello
5/5
Absolutely one of the best debut albums there ever was. Not a bad song in the bunch, and served as a great launchpad into Costello's initial period of great pop albums. Perhaps he's been full of himself all along, but with a catalog like his, he has a right to be. Not every album is as good as this one, but that's okay with me.
New Order
4/5
If this one is on the list, I sure hope Power Corruption and Lies is too. This is good, that is better.
Alexander 'Skip' Spence
2/5
Probably would have been a better album if he had had the chance to rerecord these demos.
Neneh Cherry
3/5
So "of the time." Very dated sound (what I call "early CD" with lots of wide dynamic range and bright, often harsh high-ends). Musically pretty good--Nenah Cherry is the daughter of Don Cherry. She's no slouch, but this New Jack-ish sound didn't age well.
Aretha Franklin
5/5
All-time five-star, absolute classic album. The soul of soul. One of the keystones in my collection, and what a treat it is to get this out of the rack and spin it on this occasion. The horn charts, the backup singers, and of course, The Queen of Soul, her voice, and her piano.
Common
4/5
I may not be a big fan of hip-hop, but I'm not going to argue that smart people don't listen to hip-hop and prefer prog instead, mkay? Common is a storyteller, better than most, and his pride of place shows through this album. This is modern Chicago Soul music.
Throbbing Gristle
4/5
This is absolutely unlistenable. It's arhythmic noise. It screeches and howls and murmurs like a demon from a dark corner. It's also an essential step in modern music and a flag planted in the soil of postpunk to show just how unmusical sound could be. It is the cousin of Pere Ubu and Einstürzende Neubauten and Cabaret Voltaire. Did I like it? Not at all. I'll probably never listen to it again. That doesn't mean I don't value its place.
Cat Stevens
4/5
Better than most singer-songwriter folky stuff from the same era.
Holger Czukay
5/5
At its best, this list either asks us to listen to watermark albums or albums that reach out and pioneer new ideas in sound, genre, an skill. Holger Czukay is a musician's musician, the one who experiments with sound to challenge others (in the mainstream) to follow. The length of two of the songs on this forty-minute album show just how fearlessly he reached to experiment and explore. Clearly, this album influenced the much more widely known "My Life in The Bush of Ghosts" by Eno/Byrne. This album is quite accessible for people who can't warm up to Can. "Persian Love" is a song that appeared on some mix I had back in the day, and I never knew the artist, so it's a delight to have discovered it here.
Marty Robbins
3/5
A classic of early 60's country music, but ran a little long. I must admit, though, Mary Robbins could write a catchy tune.
Paul Simon
5/5
Paul Simon without Art Garfunkel is like Paul McCartney without the Beatles--not entirely new, but new enough to the ears that the difference is immediately apparent. That kicks off with the reggae-tinged "Mother And Child Reunion", a number that S&G would never have recorded. The distinctly new sounds continue throughout the record, and Paul Simon is molting out of the skin of his 1960s identity.
Motörhead
3/5
A hundred times better than any ACDC record, and just as predictible.
Traffic
4/5
In spite of the name, this is the 2nd album by Traffic. They got some of their stoner goofiness out in their first, "Mr. Fantasy", but some psychedelic weirdness persists. In my opinion, Traffic delivered peak psychedelic rock on vinyl in , better than The Beatles, The Stones, or The Dead in 1968 (live performances notwithstanding). My favorite track on this album is "Who Knows What Tomorrow Will Bring," which is less psych and more Spencer Davis Group blue-eyed soul. I think Side 2 drags a little, but I still putting this record on regularly.
Kraftwerk
5/5
"Trans Europe Express" is much more Krautrock to me than, say, "Computer World." Songs like "The Looking Glass" and "Showroom Dummies" feel more man-machine, blank, expressionless, even dreadful, a la Kurt Weill. Like a German Expressionist film where you the listener are trapped.
Pink Floyd
5/5
I've heard the Pink Floyd version so much, I don't need to hear it again, so I listened to the Flaming Lips version. I liked it a lot.
The Disposable Heroes Of Hiphoprisy
2/5
Temu Public Enemy.
Finley Quaye
2/5
Meh, it's fine. There's nothing groundbreaking about this besides the fact that it's a pastiche of rock, soul, reggae, etc. It's middle of the road like roadkill--flat and unmoving.
The Lemonheads
3/5
It never was a great album. It was just music for 90's powerpop college radio.
Dr. Octagon
4/5
I kinda love everything that Dan The Automator touches, and this is right there with Handsome Boy Modeling School, Lovage, Deltron 3030, and even Pillowfight. I'm not a major hip-hop fan, but this is hip-hop that I can enjoy from end to end.
Billie Holiday
2/5
Two wildly different takes:
1. "Lady In Satin" is what we get for a Billie Holliday album so that she gets representation in music we should all be familiar with/hear before we die, but since albums were a nascent format in 1958, this is all we get and it's not very representative of her best work because of drugs and a production style that tried to prop her up as much as possible.
2. "Lady In Satin" is a heartbreaking performance of a giant of vocal jazz, herself heartbroken. Each note is a reminder of loss and sorrow.
I'm going with 1. This is far from her best performances, but due to the constraints of the list, this is what we get. Go out and find some early Billie Holliday and see what she was really about.
Willie Nelson
5/5
This is the sort of album that makes an artist a legend. Keep your copy of Stardust, I'd rather listen to this. It sounds like music played on the front porch as the stars come out.
Happy Mondays
2/5
That beat and tempo was *everywhere* back in the day, and it permeates this album, making it all sound like one long drug-soaked song. Kinda boring when you're straight.
Isaac Hayes
4/5
Isaac Hayes isn't like Otis Redding. Otis delivered his soul in 3:30 songs, but Isaac takes his time. Kind of interesting that they both came out of Stax; I think this is a testament to Stax. Isaac was destined for sountrack music--Hot Buttered Soul proves it, and Shaft delivered. My only criticism is that "By The Time I Get To Phoenix" is more vamp than slow burn.
The Electric Prunes
2/5
Cute 60's pop-psych. Nothing to get too knocked out about.
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
2/5
There are far better Elvis Costello albums than this one.
James Taylor
1/5
Do I have to?