236
Albums Rated
3.89
Average Rating
22%
Complete
853 albums remaining
Rating Distribution
Rating Timeline
Taste Profile
1950s
Favorite Decade
Funk
Favorite Genre
other
Top Origin
Cheerleader
Rater Style ?
68
5-Star Albums
7
1-Star Albums
Breakdown
By Genre
By Decade
By Origin
Albums
You Love More Than Most
| Album | You | Global | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Bummed
Happy Mondays
|
5 | 2.64 | +2.36 |
|
Yeezus
Kanye West
|
5 | 2.78 | +2.22 |
|
Rip It Up
Orange Juice
|
5 | 2.9 | +2.1 |
|
Ambient 1/Music For Airports
Brian Eno
|
5 | 3.07 | +1.93 |
|
Heartattack And Vine
Tom Waits
|
5 | 3.07 | +1.93 |
|
In Our Heads
Hot Chip
|
5 | 3.11 | +1.89 |
|
Rattus Norvegicus
The Stranglers
|
5 | 3.15 | +1.85 |
|
Rain Dogs
Tom Waits
|
5 | 3.2 | +1.8 |
|
Songs Of Love And Hate
Leonard Cohen
|
5 | 3.21 | +1.79 |
|
Shaft
Isaac Hayes
|
5 | 3.24 | +1.76 |
You Love Less Than Most
| Album | You | Global | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Illinois
Sufjan Stevens
|
1 | 3.5 | -2.5 |
|
Hybrid Theory
Linkin Park
|
1 | 3.39 | -2.39 |
|
Larks' Tongues In Aspic
King Crimson
|
1 | 3 | -2 |
|
Spiderland
Slint
|
1 | 2.98 | -1.98 |
|
Siamese Dream
The Smashing Pumpkins
|
2 | 3.83 | -1.83 |
|
Odessa
Bee Gees
|
1 | 2.72 | -1.72 |
|
21
Adele
|
2 | 3.69 | -1.69 |
|
Follow The Leader
Korn
|
1 | 2.66 | -1.66 |
|
Definitely Maybe
Oasis
|
2 | 3.52 | -1.52 |
|
The Suburbs
Arcade Fire
|
2 | 3.5 | -1.5 |
Artists
Favorites
| Artist | Albums | Average |
|---|---|---|
| The White Stripes | 3 | 5 |
| Led Zeppelin | 3 | 5 |
| Beatles | 3 | 4.67 |
| Stevie Wonder | 3 | 4.67 |
| Michael Jackson | 2 | 5 |
| Tom Waits | 2 | 5 |
| Leonard Cohen | 3 | 4.33 |
| Neil Young | 3 | 4.33 |
Controversial
| Artist | Ratings |
|---|---|
| Kanye West | 2, 5 |
5-Star Albums (68)
View Album Wall
Popular Reviews
Tom Waits
5/5
Can't believe this is 80's production. Compliments to how authentic Waits is to his craft that he is not swayed by any passing aesthetic trend. He knows exactly who he is and he stays 100% true. Who is he you might ask? A man swooned by the romantic notions of the American down & outers, the ones 86'd from railroad bars, heartbroken outcasts, and generally an older aesthetic of beautiful souls that America has left behind.
This beatnik noir is a chapter of his exploration of misunderstood rogues, lamenting their abandoned search for a 3rd or 4th second chance with one foot in the grave. All of this is set to his raspy poetry, well crafted prose laid out against percussive clangs, rootsy angular fretwork, and old barroom pianos-- tuning be damned. Every musician in lockstep like men possessed, each understanding the assignment.
Because who, among musicians and artists, don't understand his sentiments? His songs of the marginalized population left out in the rain speak to anyone seeking for validation in a bygone last ditch effort, even if the writing is written clearly on the wall of the bathroom stall. While the bouncer waits on the other side to reintroduce you to the gutter, accept this last bit of sympathy in the form of a raised glass by Waits, for whatever it is worth.
3 likes
Happy Mondays
5/5
This band is in my top 3 all-time favorite musical entities. If you find this to be utter garbage, allow me to explain.
Happy Monday's represent the messy halfway point between the punk movement and full on-90's rave culture. Combining elements of post-punk, psychedelia, and the disco roots of electronic music, they belligerently caterwauled their way to the top of the zeitgeist. They represent the decadence of complete disconnection, which they fed into and nurtured through heavy cocktail of ecstasy, heroin, alcohol, and really whatever else they could get their hands on.
I can't help but be charmed by them however, I mean what other band gives the most indulgent member of their friend group a couple of un-microphoned maracas and makes him an official band member? All because he's fun to be around and dances like a complete psycho? Happy Monday's, thats who. We're all on a nosedive, these blokes represent a subsection of the population who realize it, and are laughing with their pants off, all the way down.
Their keyboard player couldn't play keyboards, their singer couldn't sing, their maraca player didn't do shit except get himself and everyone around him out of their minds on harder and harder drugs. The thing is, is that people that are really high like a good groove, and the Monday's were savvy enough to land on one thunderously good groove after the next. You add onto that the lyrical nihilism of Shaun William Ryder and you have the ingredients for what the Monday's did best: anthems for the alienated. It didn't matter that he couldn't sing, in fact, it was better that he couldn't. He gave a voice the those that were pushed to the breaking point by polite society and just wanted to yell.
"Bummed" does not reach the caliber of their cultural high water mark, which goes to "Pills, Thrills, & Bellyaches", but it'll do you one better- it's got "Wrote For Luck" on it, one of their best and most quintessential songs. Reading Ryder's autobiography, he's revealed it's one of his proudest moments as a songwriter. For all the uneducated, across the tracks, utterly shitfaced buffoonery this man is known for, he's actually quite clever. And as history has shown us again and again, turn your nose up high enough and the underestimated ones find their way to the top.
1 likes
Kanye West
2/5
I always thought this guy was weird and outside of a handy recapping of all the kinds of lights that there are, I sure got no use for him now.
There's some good beats here and there, such as the Afromerica on Power, Mike Oldfield on Dark Fantasy, which really showcase his strengths as a producer. He's got strengths on the microphone as well, but this dude is clearly not a genius. This kind of hip hop album is aspirational that serves to hype people up but Kanye is not a smart, calculated, thoughtful person, so the accomplishments don't feel earned.
Look, if Kanye got on the mic and acknowledged that he was a menace, and nothing more, like he does on the track Monster, this would land hard. Instead he goes off about how he's a complicated Godly man, full of misunderstood purity and none of his identities hold water anymore. Fast forward to now, this guy is still contradicting himself.
Bottom line is that when I heard this the first time in 2010 I heard a talented man with a cringey god-complex. 15 years later tell me I'm wrong. This album works best when there are extended instrumental sections that remind you of the artist within, the problem is that Kanye never shuts the fuck up for long enough for those moments to last.
1 likes
American Music Club
2/5
There are some nice songs here but the cardinal sin for me in music and art, whether you're minimalist or maximalist, is not to be boring.
Some nice moments here, where they succeed in really, really chilling out but ultimately they'd succeed more artistically if they were more memorable. At times they veer so closely to sounding like others like Elliott Smith or even Morrissey, but if that's all I can recall about the composition, then that's a serious issue.
1 likes
1-Star Albums (7)
All Ratings
Stan Getz
5/5
This sun-soaked album, along with many others in the OG Bossa Nova movement are among the greatest of all time, but Getz & Gilberto are the godfathers. Add into the mix Gilberto's wife on occasional vocal duties, with all of her detached sensuality, and you've got an album that spawned an entire genre. Bossa Nova literally means "new style", and it's one that captivated the hearts of romantics around the world with sax solos that sound like drizzled suntan oil on a well-satisfied afternoon lover. 5 stars.
Beatles
4/5
Seems to be trendy to call the Beatles overrated lately and I'm so tired of hearing it. Call it "boomer music", call it "dated", but while you're at it, call it "music that informed everything that happened in pop thereafter and this album is when they were really hitting their stride.
In particular, Lennon was coming into his own, taking about 2/3 of this album's vocal & writing duties, with Paul taking on more as he got comfortable. This is the first Beatles album that they wrote every song on it, which is a feat in and of itself when it comes to 60's pop groups.
Apply that metric to pop stars today who can't have less than a dozen songwriters and producers and there's a reason to call something "mid".
Thin Lizzy
4/5
One of the few singer-bassists in music, Phil Lynott rips in the smoothest of fashions. Feel good 70’s rock at its finest and I never get tired of even their most over-played of arena-radio-saturated anthems.
That first track Jailbreak always confused me though..
If there was to be a jailbreak.. somewhere in the town.. won’t it likely occur in the town jail..?
Aerosmith
3/5
This may not be a perfect album, suffering from a few tonal inconsistencies, but it stands forever as an artifact of scuzzy 70's rock idealism. The tonal inconsistencies could be perhaps a metaphor for the resulting career Aerosmith & frontman Steven Tyler had in the decades to follow, with many hills and valleys artistically and otherwise, but that all said, when you talk about Aerosmith in the 1975, you put some respect on the name.
It's through the context of this entire album that you hear the true brilliance of overplayed classic rock radio staples "Walk This Way" and "Sweet Emotion" for the sonically-creative juggernauts that they are. While the Stonesy blues-rock of "Big Ten Inch Record" and orchestral Beatles-spawned ballad of "You See Me Crying" don't quite land as thunderously as their influences, they are satisfying in their earnest approach, only amplifying tracks like the title track and "Round And Round". This is because as always when it comes to Aerosmith, they are at their best when they are being themselves to the maximum.
Steely Dan
4/5
The mighty Dan of Steel's initial demographic seems to have been future Dentists and fathers who were too smart for their own good. But damn could they groove-- which is why their demographic is so small.
The intellectual prog rockers weren't concerned with groove and the funk/ soul crowd wasn't concerned with intellectual lyricism that was chalk full of clever references, inside jokes, and subtle snark.
Fagen/ Becker were 2 guys who unapologetically pushed their technical proficiency in the studio while capturing some real smooth grooves that, listening to this album, one just can't turn their back on.
This Dan album only has 2 tracks that are overplayed (Rikki & Major Dude) and revisiting, really lets me sink my teeth into lesser known tracks like Barrytown, the tone on East St. Louis, and the visual imagery in the lyrics of With A Gun.
Take East St. Louis Toodle-do for example, this should come off hokey as hell, but I just can't skip this track. Until the final second when you hear the gong strike (??) you're pulled into their bizarre nerd-universe where Duke Ellington covers live organically alongside the fusion of future dentists grooving to the obsessive music perfection of 2 men that have definitely read more books than any of us.
Minutemen
4/5
Mike Watt's philosophy on bass playing and even to some extent, living, has always been a significant influence on me but I had oddly only heard Minutemen in passing. His 1995 solo album "Ballhog or Tug Boat?" was the one that landed on me early on by happenstance.
Catching up to, in his words, "the best album I ever played on", this is a long over-due introduction to Watt's earlier days. The album title and cover photo is appropo for the heavy-touring Minutemen, who made this double album into perhaps some of the best music for a long drive ever.
Pondering this album's place in hardcore history, I'm hearing a broadening in scope. There is everything from "Corona's" country shuffle, pleasing oddball lunacy such as "You Need The Glory" to countless angular no-wave jams. Nothing lingers on your speaker set for long, however, as the average length of a track seems to be under the 2 minute mark.
To say nothing of the drums and guitar, I'm especially loving the relationship between the vocals and basslines, barking and swerving around each other. I'm looking forward to a lot of future roadtrips to this one.
John Martyn
4/5
This album as earnest as it is exploratory. LOTS of effects and space echo going on. Part rootsy good ol boy sincerity, part late 70's jazz fusion sprawl-out, part post-Dead hippie vibes, this album sits real nicely in some warm comfort areas while breaking new ground for the era it was released in.
Not very familiar with Martyn so this was a welcome introduction.
Parliament
5/5
George Clinton is one of greatest artists on the planet, and still prolific to this day. He took what James Brown was doing and literally took it into outer space. When Brown's bassist Bootsie taught Clinton about Brown's musical principle of "The One" (in a 4/4, everything happens on the 1), Clinton was never the same.
This album is pure joy, imagination, and enthusiasm for life and alternate funky realities, and represents one of the best George Clinton lineups in the Clinton Administration. Gary Shider on guitar, Bernie "The Wizard of Woo" Worrell on keys, and Bootsie Collins on bass.
Clinton's strength was always in his ability to assemble and channel talent to express his imagination, which hit it's larger than life pinnacle in this album.
This is one of DOZENS of albums in his catalogue, and by no means the best, but it's easily the most immediately palatable. For more on the social philosophies and bonkers sense of humor by this great man, dig into more albums by Funkadelic, Parliament, P-Funk all-stars, and Clinton solo. It's a funky, fun, sometimes dark universe that always makes me feel like I'm on top of the world.
George Harrison
4/5
Harrison got a lot of unique perspective and he really pours it all out on this one. Third solo album but first post-Beatles, so it really feels like a rebirth-- although many of the songs were written pre-Beatles departure.
He had so many disillusionments with the band, however, that this album feels like an escape into his own inner-world. I wouldn't have it any other way, had some of these songs been Beatles songs, we wouldn't have as rich a garden to disappear into with this album.
Harrison's reconnection with the sense of the divine on My Sweet Lord, McCartney burn of Wah-Wah, the gutting nuanced examination of heartbreak & humanity of Isn't It A Pity.. I could go on. The latter track guts me in the most beautiful way, and for an extra-curricular journey, check out Nina Simone's cover of this song which has you feel every fiber of the lyric's emotions.
Another gem on this album is Run of the Mill, a look at the dissolution of male friendship that lead to the end of the Beatles, a topic hardly explored in songwriting. Despite all this bittersweet reflection, this album feels like a long, overdue exhale. It feels like the best kind of closure, one with plenty of promise of a beautiful future to come.
Bobby Womack
4/5
We can all agree that Bobby Womack was a menace, but nonetheless quite talented. Despite his difficult upbringing and audacious to downright savage behavior, this album grooves real hard. Some great love songs, great reflective songs about death of his brother, and of course, songs about how complicated relationships can be-- something he knew a lot about.
Sonically, this 1981 album is deeply set in the boogie era, which sees this R&B crooner, blues rock belter, jazz-funk OG sound somewhat overproduced but nonetheless bigger than ever.
Traffic
2/5
Finally, 1001 Album Generator challenges me with an album that I'm not that into. I think I've finally discovered what it is I vehemently dislike about Prog Rock.
If you're going to make folk, rock, or blues, make it as clever as you want but don't forget about the general listener. This is why Pink Floyd are usually more effective, and why early psych-era Traffic or even yuppie-horseshit era Steve Winwood never irritates me-- it's straightforward, catchy, and it grooves. Blues-rock and folk gets in it's own way when it tries to get too cerebral, let's not forget we gotta feel certain genres in the heart first.
I didn't hate this album, but I'm not super psyched to revisit it ever either. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go crank Steve Winwood's 1986 yuppie classic "Higher Love".
I wonder if anyone ever brought him that higher love he kept requesting in that song..
John Prine
4/5
Prine wrote some very unique country songs, performed complete with great fingerpicking. Among these songs, some very biting songs about the Vietnam war's effects on veteran's and on America in general-- ripe subject matter for it's 1971 release date. Some other good songs about empathy for the elderly, real principles of Christianity, to the power of imagination ("Illegal Smile" - supposedly not about weed, I swear I looked it up!)
One can hear why he is country-western royalty and has legends like Dylan, Cash, & Kristofferson singing his praises.
Not only that but unlike many country legends, all songs on this album were written by Prine, a real showcase into his strength as a storyteller, even if his vocals on this album had yet to fully mature, it's clear he's giving his all nonetheless.
Real nice album, thoroughly enjoyable performance from Prine and band.
Jimi Hendrix
5/5
After a stint in the military and messing around being a backup guitarist in R&B bands, Hendrix used this debut album to really let his freak flag fly as not only one of the best guitarists of all time, a psychedelic pioneer, but also as one of the best songwriters in the game-- a detail oft overlooked by his prowess as a guitarist.
This album is inspired and energetic, and showcases a large amount of range-- a suitable platform for his skill as a virtuosic impressionistic guitar player. Like Degas or Monet choice of color or liberal application of paint, it's the feel of the work, pooling with feedback, extra fret slides, and hearty note bends, as a whole that tells the story. Like impressionism, Hendrix is precise at his core, but cannot ignore the vibrance of all the other color, vibrance, and movement that bleeds onto the canvas.
Buena Vista Social Club
5/5
How badass is this album? Can't believe I've never seen this documentary but it's on my short list now. I can say, however, that having been to Cuba-- there are OG musicians everywhere and it's so inspiring that someone organized them as an ensemble to harness their potential on this record. It stands as this document that continues to captivate by shining a spotlight on Cuba's creative scene for the rest of the world to experience.
Soft Machine
1/5
An album I have not previously listened to. This holds up to my prior feelings about prog being too inaccessible and unfocused.
Track one is a cacophony that felt like a pretentious attempt to showcase how differently-thinking they are.
Also what's with prog musicians and their organs? Turn it down in the mix, good lord. Really not appreciating the vocal contributions on track 3 either, I find them mumbly and a bit off key. Beyond the vocals, the lyrics were meandering and I couldn't grasp much of anything that he was trying to express. I'd probably get more meaning from the song without words altogether.
Track 2, on the other hand, was actually pretty excellent. It worked as more of a jazz track, but it never lost a sense of groove and forward motion.
The first fourth of track 4 is dope and I could listen to a whole album of that kind of thing. Backwards guitars and bubbling effects really putting one in the zone. Of course they decide to make the next part of the track a jumpy jazz number, which works well unto itself but why they don't just make it another song when it clearly has nothing to do with the first aspect.... Then they go back to ambient and then back to jazz then back to ambient again.. Just make them separate songs, God I have so many questions for these people.
I'm glad I'm ruminating on this because I like a lot of difficult, avant garde music. I even like what many describe as boring or downright obnoxious music. What is it that I hate so deeply about these skilled and seemingly very informed musicians in the overall cannon of prog? Altogether, there's some cool moments in this album, and clearly a lot of talent. Ultimately, however, I find genres most grating when they have no restraint. Just because you have a lot of talent, and are brimming with ideas, doesn't mean you have to execute every single one of them to it's maximum degree.
Supertramp
3/5
This form of prog rock has the ability to hook me in at times, with their attention to groove and accessibility. I grew up on some of these tracks on classic rock radio and Supertramp has earned their place in classic rotations by making some tracks that have depth but are eternally relatable while being genuinely funny.
Their sense of humor is not undercut by their songs ability to genuinely hook you in with heart and sonic diversity. At times they groove, rock, and then pull you in with earnest heart.
This album isn't my jam, but I can't ignore its charms.
George Michael
5/5
I spent a lot of time with this among many 80's albums and there is nothing aesthetically quite like the pop tone of George Michael. He deftly switches between styles as easily as 80's Queen or Prince, but creating this elevated, refined, grown up departure from his identity in WHAM!
These acoustic to electronic genre hopping provides a bedrock for his particular brand of sexuality-- and no I'm not talking about his queerness. I'm talking about his brand of sex positivity. The thirsty themes on the album are impossible to ignore-- I mean looking at the album cover, the sexuality so visceral you can practically smell the combination of male pheromones, leather, and armpit. Despite not being able to be out as gay for his career, however, he became an advocate for openness to everyone else, suggesting a positive frankness about what can be a difficult and shameful topic.
Terms are come to, however, with his closeted lifestyle and you hear it across the album as the genres flip. From the synth-driven minimalist belter-ballad "One More Try" to the heavily-lyrically-coded "Father Figure", using the Jewish 'Ahava Rabbah’ scale on the lead synth line (also used in traditional Jewish song "Hava Nagila".) It's not hard to see that he couldn't help but hint to his true identity, but did so in the most diverse & musically-informed way possible.
Ultimately whether you're into him or not, this album is impossible to ignore, which made him a superstar. It's the enduring musical brilliance and complicated sensual depth, however, that make this album last forever.
Radiohead
4/5
These here drowsy fellas with their droopy caterwaulin make some pretty impressive music that, incidentally, I never choose to hear on my own volition. It's not that I don't enjoy sad music, I certainly do enjoy sad songs, it's just that their brand is like drowning in a vat full of NyQuil. I mean, is that literally a drawing of a character crying on the album cover? Good God man cheer up!
But that all said, I do enjoy them at times and they have some very brilliant, soulful moments. And they are nothing if not one of a kind.
Miles Davis
5/5
This album is already one of my all time favorite albums and captures several masters of the genre coming together while at the top of their game. Miles tied them all together but in my opinion and gave framework for each track, but the real glue in my opinion was pianist Bill Evans. The classically-trained-turned-swinging-jazzman plays an almost maternal role, weaving around these seasoned musicians with his own gravitational pull, meeting their needs either with notes chosen, silence, or rhythmic comping.
The best part of this album is that you can be the biggest jazz nerd in the world and find endless layers to this album, or you can put it on quietly and eat dinner and it slaps either way.
From the first bassline of this album -- one of my favorite basslines ever-- to the sublime bliss of "Flamenco Sketches", this album is perfect.
Miriam Makeba
4/5
What a voice! Lush African arrangements and backing voices lift this one til it's closing minutes. You got some great covers and folkloric themes throughout so it's never a dull moment.
Part of what I love about music is the ability it has to take you to other regions and times and teach you about different human experiences through that transportational element. This album is definitely up there in that capability.
Sister Sledge
4/5
GREAT album by the Chic Organization that's been sampled, DJ'ed, used & abused, and STILL lights you up from the inside out. From the well (over-)worn grooves of "We Are Family" to the underrated "Thinking of You", this album goes the distance.
This album was released in January of 1979-- 7 months before the infamous "Disco Demolition Night" in Chicago that roughly marked the end of disco. I can only imagine what it was like to be alive in that period of time in between.
The Cramps
4/5
The Cramps don't play by anyone's rules. They create their own reality. It's a reality where surf rock , rockabilly, punk rock, and goth sensibilities are perfectly harmonious neighbors and it's a reality I'll gladly often revisit.
There's nothing less goth than surf rock, and look how they pull off sonically referencing Link Wray's "Rumble" in "I Was A Teenage Werewolf".. it's as if there was something dark and brooding about the prior genre that only they noticed.
Miles Davis
4/5
For Miles Davis and cool jazz genre in general, these tracks are especially economical in length. I attribute this to the format they were released originally but what each of them do, is really elevate the impact of the "small combo" approach of Davis' ensembles in this era. Really appreciating that it doesn't sound like more than a handful of players per track, allowing each instrument some freedom to stand out in it's own right. This post-WW2 genre will always strike a chord with me, and Miles was the best to do it. It's the best of big band and bebop without the brash aesthetic blasts associated with either, leaving pure, clean, cool improvisation-- allowing the listener to examine each musician's approach unassaulted by punctuated blasts of 25 simultaneous horn players.
Rage Against The Machine
5/5
I sure hope things got better for this ornery fella yelling and hollering about his machine, but all the anger may have been worth it because this album is an enduring classic. There's so many styles and sonic references in this album, from r&b, to funk, to stoner rock, to hip hop. Textural guitarist Tom Morello alone is shifting from jazz to heavy metal.
Hot Chip
5/5
Certain albums I already have in my record collection, and this one is WELL WORN. Hot Chip are a collection of gearheads with encyclopedic knowledge of music and channel it into this blend of live house music with pop structures. Beyond that, for a band that came out of the "indie-sleaze" era, these well-written songs have an amazing balance of equal parts heart and humor.
This one takes me back and I'll always keep circling back to Hot Chip, and this is one of their finest and most cohesive of their catalogue.
Stevie Wonder
5/5
This album is insanely good and a microcosm for Stevie's talent in general. When considering stepping away from fame and America after thoroughly proving himself, he signs another contract and comes through with this double album of banger after banger. Not only that, the songs are poignant, thoughtful, and get me thinking deeply everytime I hear them.
I could write more but... 5/5.
The Psychedelic Furs
4/5
Great album, reminder to myself to relisten as I’m not super familiar with their catalogue. Loved it though, can’t wait to spin it again. Reminded me of some late 80’s Manchester style cuts.
Moby
4/5
IDC what anyone says, in the pantheon of electronic music, Moby is tasteful as hell. He's informed by house music, trip hop, ambient, krautrock, and on this album, infuses a lot of Library of Congress era blues samples. In these compositions I'd argue that he honors the integrity of the sample and gives them new life beautifully.
Bill Evans Trio
5/5
Bill shines but the real standout of this live performance is bassist Scott LaFaro, who sounds like he's trying to out-rhythm-section his drummer. There are sections where they are just cooking together while Bill comps or lays back, content to let his chosen accompanists take the spotlight.
It says a lot when a leader chooses a team that they can learn from, and Bill Evans is always collaborating with the very best. This record is a perfect showcase of that.
Frank Ocean
4/5
This one takes me back. Super essential album that served as a powerful examination of the relationship between wealth and desparation. As an added bonus, it is infinitely listenable considering it's vocal hooks, production, and overall focus on groove that spans from electronica influences to callbacks to Stevie Wonder.
I'm no where near as obsessed as some of the fanatics out there (please explain, someone...?) but this is a killer album.
Meat Loaf
2/5
Well you can't say Loaf didn't bring the energy, but it sounds like some horny reject kidnapped the E-Street Band and made them make a musical theater album for some reason.
I'll probably never listen to this album on purpose again. RIP to Loaf tho. Gotta appreciate the passion. Seemed like a fun guy and that personality counts for a lot and clearly resonated with enough people.
Shoutout to Jim Steinman who wrote the whole damn album.
Deerhunter
3/5
Cool spacey indie rock that I slept on in 2010, glad I'm catching up with it now. Love their liberal usage of reverb, spring echo, and delay. Some very Animal Collective-production moments here which I'm not mad at.
Gonna work this into the rotation more.
Wu-Tang Clan
5/5
Again & again!
It’s a miracle one album by Wu even exists in the first place let alone this and it’s follow ups. These guys did not have long life expectancies, some of them were even violent street rivals against each other.
This document is testament to what is possible when people put aside their differences and work together for a common goal. In this case the common goal was to make it in the rap game and get out of the slums of Staten Island. This album is the most pure form of that dream, rugged and raw, and refusing to compromise on the tonality.
Their personalities shine on this album, I corrupted by the spotlight, as a showcase of how much amazing talent there is that never sees the light of day because when they recorded it, they frankly had no idea how big it was going to be.
How could anyone? Their follow ups & solo albums were inconsistent in quality (more good than bad) but this is the crest of the wave. As much as I love this album I must recommend the double album follow up to this one however, as I consider it one of the most interesting follow up albums out there, and frankly very underrated.
Dr. Dre
5/5
This album (and it’s spiritual sequel, Snoop’s Doggystyle) are pure gold lyrically and production-wise. Shamelessly pulling samples and interpolations from P-Funk, Dre creates a reality of finding his own path despite the bleak surroundings of his Compton upbringings.
The Monkees
3/5
A little Kinks, a whole lot of Beatles, this album is a nice document of what happens when a band fights for autonomy from their label. They began as a product, and took control of their creative path. What they did with it? It wasn't the most original thing ever, but blew a lot of expectations out of the water and has a lot of great moments.
3 stars for their irrepressible human spirits.
Femi Kuti
4/5
Apple doesn't fall far from the tree.
Nice utilization of 90's tech and song progressions taking where his father left off to it's natural progression, without compromising artistic merit. Working this one into the rotation more often. Great collection of work!
Magazine
4/5
A waltz on Track 7, ballsy but dare I say they pulled it off. It stands as a microcosm for this whole album of dynamic, inventive post-punk edge.
I had never heard of this band before and post-punk is one of my all-time favorite genres! That's what I'm coming here for, glad this album of the day was able to fill in the cracks for me. Looking forward to listening to their whole catalogue!
Sex Pistols
3/5
I'm more of a Stooges man but por que no los dos? This album, despite it's loaded history and holes to poke at it's "punk authenticity" is still a pretty fun ride. They owe the album's success to the very "unpunk" OG bassist Glen Matlock who loved a diverse array of music, including the Beatles. The other secret ingredient was guitarist Steve Jones, who played bass on most of this album after Matlock quit, as low-end replacement Sid Vicious could barely play the instrument he was hired to play.
If you want authenticity, look to the Stooges, look to the Clash, but some people involved in this album clearly understood the assignment and made sure this created a crater that made ripple effects for decades to come. Compliments to the chef on that note, at least.
The White Stripes
5/5
Tonally raw and minimalistic, these songs and the duo's personality really shine through in this stark collection. White hit his stride on this album and it stands as a manifesto of putting in the work on songwriting and guitar-playing. Meg is the perfect drummer for this whose simplicity and personality elevates White perfectly.
I can't imagine this album coming from anyone else, and that's why this is such a unique output.
Cat Stevens
4/5
This may be a 5/5 but I have to spend more time with the songs I don't know. This album is like sinking into a warm bean bag chair. Whereas when I was much younger I'd write Stevens off as "effective songwriter but often cheesy", now this album is landing just right.
One can criticize all they want, but it IS a wild world, dammit. And it IS rather difficult to get by just upon a smile.
The man has a point.
The Verve
3/5
This album is pretty cool. Loving the big reverbed out swirling guitar sound that builds a lot of atmosphere. Lots of tension and release between rowdiness and focus audible on this collection. I like it. I'll have to revist.
3/5
Good time. Lot of good classic rock hooks with knods to prog that don't feel too weighted in pretentiousness.
Jack White
3/5
Really solid showcase of White's core competancies; innovative and impactful guitar playing, songwriting, and now adding a broader spectrum of production & styles. The loss to that is that it's less cohesive than some of his more singular approaches.
Creedence Clearwater Revival
3/5
Really well made and well written music, but for hicks. This is an unprecedented moment as, vastly familiar as I am with them, it is the first time I can remember listening to CCR intentionally.
"Who'll Stop The Rain" rips.
Some classics in this bunch that'll always land during a cinema scene needle drop. CCR really cornered the market on 2/3 of the quintessential "Vietnam war movie scene" cuts:
"Fortunate Son" (off another album)
"Run Through The Jungle"
They'll never top Hendrix's "All Along The Watchtower" cover however.
I sincerely look forward to never hearing the song "Ooby Dooby" again in my life.
"Looking Out My Back Door" sounds like a Muppet jug band. It's mildly comforting but altogether unnecessary. Such is the 11 minute long "Uh Hoiiiyde It Through the Grapevine" cover which is an original and competent take but I'll never be reaching for Fogerty's vocals when Marvin Gaye's version exists.
This is good music, I'd never dream to slap it out of anyone's ears. I won't be aching to hear it again however, when I inevitably hear it come on classic rock radio playing on some Uber dashboard in a southern state.
Coldcut
4/5
Fun and innovative for the era, this collection is an intense kitchen-sink approach to capturing a huge range of electronic music capabilities of the time. Great samples, vocalists, and even song structure. This calls to mind "Paul's Boutique" in it's approach to sampling everything on planet earth, but in a tasteful way.
Not an everyday listen, but complements to the chef.
Solomon Burke
3/5
Really solid r&b that occasionally subverts your expectation and although I don't know this album well, seems to hold a large place in history. Excited to know more about it. Didn't blow me away but really enjoyed it, will need to listen more.
Red Snapper
4/5
This album rips. Never knew anything about this album before but clear that this ensemble plays with a lot of groove and impact while integrating traditional methods and technology. I'll be digging into their catalogue and given their unrelenting experimentation with instruments and genre, no doubt I'll be enjoying every bit of it.
Brian Eno
5/5
This album is functionally good for a lot of things, but let me ask, have you ever listened to this in an actual airport? Crank this thing up on headphones, get to the airport early for your flight, dad-style, and move slowly through the airport. Stand on the moving sidewalks, speak to no one, take everything in around you while you let this 4 track collection rip.
What results is a very calming, cinematic experience. The title is not just Eno being cheeky, this is extremely well designed music for the headspace you’re in just before travel, in the purgatory of society where nobody is exactly living their ideal life. For better or worse, we’re waiting at the gates of a complete reset of our circumstances, and Eno is there to give us some simultaneous reflection and peace of mind about that.
The concept came to him in an actual airport, anxious before his own travel, which was not exactly eased by the top 40 coming out of the universal speakers. It was a new, beautifully designed airport, however, and why shouldn’t every sensory experience about it be as meticulously designed?
This is, in part, why I feel ambient music today seems to be having another moment. It’s music architecturally designed for the optimum headspace for a variety of states. It’s a functional tool in your toolbox for being present in oneself, for reflection on the impact of the past, all in the service of an optimal future. Maybe more calm, reflection, and stillness is what the world needs more of in recent years, whereever it is we’re headed.
Haircut 100
4/5
Not familiar except the single, but loving this through and through! Every song reminds me of Orange Juice's "Rip It Up" in the best ways. Add to that a little Japanese 1980's city pop and Chic influenced rhythm guitar. What's more, you have some jazz piano peppered in here and there, some moments of slap bass, latin rhythms, tasteful horn blasts, and so many more unpredictable moments that only add to this collection.
These are the kinds of things other bands of the era would shy away from, being too detached to make the attempt. But this album remains more approachable than baroque, it's range of sounds always sounds like Haircut at the core and only adds to the fun.
No further notes, time to try to find this on vinyl & get more familiar.
Queen
4/5
This 1 starts out predictably spazzy as fuck but not for nothing, it continues as an engaging, diverse, and fun album through and through. So much creative ferocity on this album and a nice example of a formerly proggy band using their musical intelligence to create smart rock that actually lands with a wide-reaching audience.
David Bowie
4/5
Lyrically brilliant, detailed, and narratively driven, this album is one to read along while you listen. Hook-wise, you have less than many Bowie outings but standouts remain including the title track, Jean Genie, Cracked Actor, & Stones cover Let's Spend the Night Together. Many of the other songs such as Drive-In Saturday rely on more of a baroque approach to melody.
Lots of Stones references throughout from the blues rock of Jean Genie to a lyrical Jagger name-drop to an actual Stones cover. Ultimately this is a fantastic album that I know solidified his fanbase but is one I revisit less than other Bowie albums.
Every time I come back to it I get entrenched in the lore a little bit more, and find new things to appreciate, such as the avant-garde pianist Mike Garson whose really makes the album come alive for me during his standout moments.
Looking forward to spinning this one more and more.
Rush
4/5
Rush gets made fun of a lot but this album rips. Their strength as a power-trio made up of 3 virtuosic musicians allow them to hone in on a certain idea and maximize it's sonic potential. The result is straight-ahead bangers that are still packed with intelligent ideas, but reduced to their most potent elements. Nicely done, you weird Canadian boundary-pushers.
The White Stripes
5/5
As opposed to his solo "Blunderbuss" album, this effort by Jack White captures his range in a pleasingly cohesive way. Despite switching methods between his signature heavy guitar to marimbas, piano, acoustic guitar, and more, Jack & Meg cracked open the snow globe to their whole universe of sonic capabilities and influences here.
Memorable hooks, poignant songwriting throughout, Meg on point, larger range of production but with excellent sounding analog recording style. 5/5
Richard Thompson
3/5
Don't know anything about Richard and Linda previously, but reading that they had parted ways around 1982. Before they did, they captured a lot of folky magic on this album, among apparently others. I like the balance of edge and grit with equal parts romance and empathy heard here.
Some rock, psych, trad Irish, & Greenwich influences going on here. Worth exploring more of.
Duran Duran
4/5
This album comes in like a ton of bricks. Whether you're into the 80's new wave pop scene or not, these boys bring on this release. The bassist in particular is coming in hot with some real chops and great tone, cutting through the soaring synthesizers. Banger after banger, this one is a classic.
Bob Dylan
5/5
Just look at that cover with Dylan sitting there looking super cross but with his silky party shirt on, ready for hijinks. That's the vibe of this album for me, a lot of fun but on Dylan's terms through and through. Folkies want him to keep doing acoustic? Nope it's rockin time says Dylan. Want the musicians to tune their instruments? If Dylan can't tune his own voice to be in key then no can do. Want some tracks about having a good time? Nope, best he can do is some rollicking organ & some fun hooks here and there.
Starting out with one of the best "told ya so" tracks ever, "Like A Rolling Stone" is brilliant opening track as, even if I'm not in the mood for Dylan, I am 5 seconds after I drop the needle on that song.
The Go-Betweens
3/5
Very earnest, sincere, but laid back to listen to. I'd have to give this more listens to really peel back the layers, but I altogether enjoyed this without it knocking my socks off. Definitely a place for this again at some point.
Fairport Convention
4/5
Very big range in folk seen here. Some cool hippie jam moments like "A Sailor's Life". Some sea shanty sounds, some Celtic trad like "Percy's Song", and some Joni Mitchell/ Laurel Canyon vibes for good measure. This isn't entirely my bag but I'm appreciating it quite a bit. If I came about a bonfire in the late 60's and these folks were singing their folky folk songs, I'd stay and hang out. Seems like a good scene.
Music is quality, feelings are earnest but not heavy handed. Good times.
T. Rex
5/5
Majestic departure from his early Tolkien freak folk days, this album is already one of my all time favorites. His one of a kind larger than life personality is dripping throughout the whole album and album has no skips. Some total bangers on here, as well as some slower joints such as the reflective “Cosmic Dancer”.
Follow it up with “The Slider” & turn it up for track 1. Bolan forever.
Fugees
4/5
The Score sees the Fugee's hit their stride while making their collective's unexpected final statement in one swoop before going their 3 separate ways. The result is a collection that is equally lyrical as well as hook-driven. Plenty of these tracks will live on as instantly effective needle drops forever while scores of the the bars wait with more layers of depth for new listeners to discover.
The collision of 3 independent and strong personality types working together in a project has long been a compelling formula, from the rock power trio, to a small jazz combo, to 3-MC equation of hip hop. Run DMC, De La, Tribe, Beasties, TLC, Cypress, Def Squad, and so many more prove how formidable a sound can be formed with this kind of lyrical triangulation. Also impressive when a trio can stick together through stylistic changes, creative disagreements, and personality clashes, and it's understandable that longevity wasn't meant to be.
This album remains a shooting star forever flaring brightly in the CV of Pras, Wyclef, & Hill.
Garbage
3/5
This album is a first for me and while I'm familiar with the singles, it was a refreshing listen. I never realized how much electronic and trip hop was a part of their sound. Kudos to them to reaching past what was expected of a rock band and I think they do it quite tastefully.
Thematically the angst rings authentically and there are some concepts explored that you don't hear all the time, so that's nice. Good listen.
Steve Earle
3/5
Pretty earnest stuff going on here that I could see growing on me. Earle has always been on my radar but never really dug in my spurs to what he's all about. The "80's Springsteen" comparison is not without merit, although he's clearly got his own thing going on, and certainly more western.
Can't help but to think about how these songs would sound more stripped back. "Little Rock and Roller" is a great song for instance, but the 80's production complete with digital keys, chimes, and swelling synth strings are a bit distracting. At the heart of this collection, however, is clearly a legend with a lot worth saying, however. I'm looking forward to the next time this ol' tumbleweed comes a-blowin' my particular direction.
Weather Report
4/5
I'm not mad for jazz fusion but I'm usually never mad about a Weather Report album being on. It's really tasteful in it's balance of musicianship and hooks, never leaving the audience behind for their own ego. Tonally, they choose some great synth patches, guitar sounds, and Jaco's trademark fretless bass.
The fact that this is a Jaco Pastorious WR album alone is huge as it means I'm listening to one of the best bassists of all time, if not THE best. What an animal that boy. Listen to him flex on track 3, putting some real muscle behind his tone and laying into it with the section on the lower notes. Furthermore any lesser bassist would solo non-stop but he minds the space in the song, playing simple or not at all when necessary.
You can always count on Weather Report to bring interesting sounds from their "world jazz funk" universe to the table. From the live cut of "Rumba Mama" to a cover of "Birdland", they make it all fit together somehow under their banner.
Destiny's Child
2/5
The absolute highlight of this album is 4 tracks in when Beyonce interpolates weirdo italo hit "Tarzan Boy" by one-hit-wonder Baltimora, a track that totally rips but sadly that album won't appear on this 1001 list.
I did not enjoy these tracks when they came out, but was never able to place exactly why. Now, looking through the lense of nostalgia, I have to say while I'm enjoying the fun and a few of the production details of the tracks moreso than I did back then, this album still could have been quite a bit better. In short, all the sentiments feel cherry-picked for sales rather than coming from somewhere deep down. The least disingenuous-feeling moment is the end where they have an outro song where they take turns complimenting each other for 4 minutes.
It sold great and helped in launching a massive career for Beyonce so it obviously resonated (partially because it was marketed to death) but for every empowering moment of independence or self-actualization, there's a ton of petty, trite, disempowering moments. Product of the era, I suppose, but even back then, I remember recognizing how thunderous an effective track "Independent Women, Pt. 1" is and what a loss it is to water it down by the constant shout out to the mediocre movie it was attached to (Charlie's Angels). What could have been a legit feminist anthem feels like it was only made to be a prop in a movie trailer, which is disappointing.
With all the producers and songwriters on this there ought to be more personality here, but I'm walking away not feeling like I know anything about these women as people except that "they are the best, they look great, they'll get the man.." ect. Compare that to the era's TLC who have 3 distinct inner world's they attempt to explore throughout every album.
Who is Kelly Rowland and Michelle whatshername..? I know zero about them and all I know about Beyonce in that era is that she was "furiously independent". Not when it came to writing a song by herself-- her father and manager even worked to be sure credit was taken away from the actual songwriters in Beyonce's interview responses.
All in all there's some cool production choices here, the singing is fantastic, and one can't help but want to root for them in the era this came out, but overall this is lacking in cohesion and concept. I want more out of these 3.
Now, as a courtesy to anyone reading, if you, like me, are in need of a palette-cleanser, might I recommend a 1985 smash hit entitled "Tarzan Boy" by the almighty Baltimora. We can imagine that in a more perfect world, somewhere out there, Beyonce is still singing along.
Ray Charles
4/5
Great through and through. Subjectively, Ray sounds at his best on the second half of the album where we are treated to more intimate string-backed arrangements rather than the sudden bombastic blasts of big band brass. While recognizing their merit, I find those swing big bands personally a bit jarring and overwhelming but that said, if anyone can pull it off, it's Ray Charles. He has a way of grounding his environment where anything off-putting in one's world or even on his own record, fades out of view.
When an artist is this talented and has this much presence, the smaller the ensemble the better, in my opinion. This one resonates through and through, however, just providing a tonal shift as the evening winds down and as universal an appeal as Ray holds, something for everyone.
Jorge Ben Jor
5/5
Now this is why I'm into this 1001 game. I was familiar with a couple tracks off this but never gave the full album a full spin and now that I have I'm hooked! The first track is on some comp I have and always stood out. Taj Mahal I knew because Rod Stewart stole the vocal melody for "Do You Think I'm Sexy".
5/5 on first spin, can't wait to listen again.
John Martyn
4/5
Excellent fusion of spacey production and folk/blues, this guy is popping up for the second time and I'm even more impressed than the first album. Firmly planted in traditional "blues/ rock" songwriting with the soulful vocals to accompany, he's truly ahead of his time in the use of avant-garde delay, reverb, and a whole array of unexpected effects. All that said, he knows when to strip it all back and make it just about the song when it's right. Excellent balance and there is an earnest but vulnerable strength in his songwriting.
The Stooges
5/5
Raw, psychedelic, and in your face, this is one hell of a debut album. Unlike Raw Power, this has a more balanced-mix for a Stooges album. I got the deluxe Third Man Records pressing and that sounds fantastic, at least. Even further, it's got more of a range in aesthetics as they were still figuring themselves out to some extent. As a result, we get the sprawling 10+ minute drone-note-driven "We Will Fall" which I quite enjoy.
This is a great proto-punk showcase of their talent for crafting super hook-driven grit capturing all the angst & alienation to disenfranchisement & desparation you can ask for in a record that you can party to.
The Who
4/5
This album stands as a great showcase for each member of the Who-- each a master of their craft in their own right. Tonally, every facet of their personality is on display from their whimsy in Happy Jack, Substitute, Magic Bus to their ferocity in Young Man Blues and My Generation.
The Smiths
3/5
Say what you will about Morrissey but the dude can write lyrics and sing. They're not always my cup of tea but hard not to appreciate the band's technique and talents. Sometimes they really strike gold on track and have made some stonecold classics such as "How Soon Is Now?", "This Charming Man", and this album's own "Barbarism Begins at Home".
I'm appreciating hearing each track on this album but I'll perhaps never be a hardcore fan of Morrissey's wallowing. Credit where it's due though, especially to Johnny Marr & the rest of the band for crafting some great compositions.
Michael Jackson
5/5
Even the worst song on this album (you know the one) is still highly entertaining. One could only imagine if that song was dropped in favor of the song that was supposed to be on this album, Japanese band YMO's "Behind The Mask".
Either track they went with, this album is deeply weird, through and through. Obviously he didn't write it but it's permeated with MJ's odd sense of humor. From Vincent Price's "grizzly ghouls from every tomb" monologue to the random "YEE HAW!" exclamation during the pinnacle of the firey "Wanna Be Startin Somethin" to Macca & Michael's spoken word exchange on the hokey, antiquated, but hilarious "The Girl is Mine", this album is a classic because it's dripping with personality.
Don't get me wrong, Quincy and company brought it hard here but there were plenty of raucous boogie-funk albums in 1982 but only one had "the funk of 40,000 years!!!!" on it.
Add in the drama of "Billy Jean", the confrontational "Beat It", euphoric "Human Nature", and dancefloor-ready "P.Y.T." and it's no wonder this is one of the best selling albums of all time.
No amount of the spoken word bridge on "The Girl Is Mine" could get in this album's way.
Orbital
4/5
Some hard hitting techno to ambient trance, this is a super tasteful collection of the electronic scene done well. Really nice tones and movement in the song structures that get you right in the zone. Tracks like "Science Fiction" have a way of feeling floaty and meditative without going full on "Pure Moods" on you.
"Kein Trink Wasser", for instance, has that big Chicago house piano energy at first but goes into an unusual chamber direction that you can bop to without even dropping a drum beat. Look for more range on the sprawling final 2 tracks featuring the jungle "Are We Here?" complete with the paper-slap snare over the top of a metallic snare and just about a thousand other drum sounds in between. This stuff is thinking way out of the box and that's why Orbital are legends.
Blue Cheer
3/5
I LOVE a great power trio and Blue Cheer is a great example of why. An aesthetic idea stripped to its core with no room for any one member to phone it in. These 3 are up to the task and I've enjoyed them in the past, but I can't help but think I'd probably enjoy them more if I was actually living in the past... as in 1968 when this dropped. Seriously it would blow my mind.
They really paved the way for stoner rock, metal, and general hard rock to follow. While they had exceptional energy and applied talent, so did era bands such as Black Sabbath, Cream, Steppenwolf, and dare I add Budgie to that list.. all projects with more interesting compositions and songwriting.
Hats off to these boys though.. they were true innovators and for when you want that early stoner rock sound that has one speed: "GO", you could do worse.
Dion
4/5
Had to look into who Dion is to confirm he is the same "Runaround Sue" / "I'm the Wanderer" guy from the doo wop era. Like a handful of other doo wop artists such as Ricky Nelson, he kept on trucking through the 70's trying to find his own stylistic way in the changing environments.
There are a few knods to his doo wop past throughout such as the first drum beat, straight out of track 1. There's a comforting 70's rock feel to this, which is surprising considering Phil Spector produced it. Where he usually sounds larger than life, in this case he allows Dion's flickering introspection to light the way.
These tracks are real reflective, like a man who never expected to live long enough to count the chips he's got left. Despite all that, it never lands as completely dour, there's a hopeful acceptance that feels balanced and easy to embrace.
Bonus- Spotify has this grouped with a followup "Streetheart" which is total 70's AOR yacht rock stuff, although it's different vibe, is also totally awesome.
Frank Zappa
4/5
Lot of edge and grit on this album that exists on nearly entirely instrumentals. What could be "too noodly" or "too jammy" works thanks to the left-field approach to the playing. Very psychedelic, hard hitting, and like all great Zappa often is, overall fun in a dark way.
Crosby, Stills & Nash
3/5
This is mellow, pleasant, tasteful music that I don't go wild for.. but never want to switch the channel. The harmonies alone are like waves of euphoria washing over you. Glad I got this out of the record shelf again to better get to know more than just the hits.
If you ever want to hear Japan's answer to CSN, check out "Garo".
Pink Floyd
3/5
For a 1967 album that saw an integral member lose his mind, never to recover, this sonic tapestry is appropriately psychedelic. They have some great sound collages, experimental effect treatments, and left field approaches to songwriting throughout. Ultimately, this "super-British-quirk" approach to psychedelia isn't my favorite form of the genre but there are some great and memorable moments.
Marty Robbins
5/5
I couldn't ask for a single aspect of this album to be changed. Not to mention the album cover! This is prime pre-mustache Marty at his peak-- with 2 cuts of the great El Paso for good measure. That track has long been an obsession and the rest of this album does not disappoint. Not only are the arrangements and production smooth as a gallopin' mare, but each track is narratively cinematic in a way that just takes you there.
Marty Robbins forever. Anyone shortin this good ol' gunslinger a star is as wild as the west Texas wind.
Björk
4/5
Really glad for the push to deep dive into a whole Bjork album experience and it did not disappoint. It's clearly got some 90's house production influence but has no issue transcending the genre, firmly remaining true to finding her own voice.
And what a voice it is! Whether she's singing over stripped back compositions or lush multi-track arrangements, her vocals take precedence. Nobody sounds quite like her while she works the recording booth like a stage, furiously telling the next story needing to be told.
The Smashing Pumpkins
2/5
I cannot abide by Billy Corgan's constant solipsistic, combative and narcissistic attitude. I also, like many, subjectively do not like his voice.
That said, his voice objectively works with his compositions, which are very good and the musical performances on this album are clearly great. Never having listened to an entire Pumpkins album before straight through, this was daunting, but I was carried through by the caliber of the executions, thankfully.
Straight til the last track, Luna, where a repeated "I'm in love with you", every emotion falls flat except anger. Corgan simply doesn't convey anything other than rage in a believable fashion. It's as if he's doing his best to capture what others feel. Fortunately there's plenty of rage to go around, and the quality of the music is so on point, that for many it does not matter.
Jethro Tull
2/5
I don't love this album but it's got moments. I'll give to them that they have some cool edgey riffs on occasion and really go for it, but to that same end they can come off a bit too baroque for what they're selling, in my opinion.
I don't mind the flute but it doesn't exactly fit in every arrangement. When you combine the hard rock, Renn Faire balads, literary lyricism, and flute.. things get a bit convoluted very quickly. If you're in this niche... that's cool... but how does this happen.....?
Carpenters
4/5
Being into a range of genres and eras allows you a certain privilege to transcend the tribal trappings of musical culture. I like 70's punk and hard rock, for instance, but back then you were either A PUNK or NOT PUNK. Whether it's punk, funk, or 90's hip hop or whatever the case, the only metric I tend to apply when hearing music is whether the emotion that's being conveyed is authentically taking me there.
I guess what I'm saying is that while they used to be considered soft rock radio commercial schmaltz, when they sing songs about vulnerability, the Carpenters take me there HARD. Like anyone else in the industry, they navigated addiction, disordered eating, heartbreak, divorce, and at the end, Karen tragically dying at age 32.
As if she saw the big picture early, all life's bittersweet joy & sorrow feels
channeled into Karen's voice, wise beyond her years. Buttressed by brother Richard's soaring arrangements, the siblings convey compositions as smooth as the summer sun shining on your shoulders.
I'll go so far as to say there's even some redeemable work on their worst album, 1977's bonkers epic "Passage". If you want to hear Karen Carpenter cover a song by rock band Klaatu pleading with aliens from outer space to give humanity a chance, then check out "Calling Occupants of Interplanetary Craft (The Recognized Anthem of World Contact Day)" because it is a wild ride.
Aretha Franklin
4/5
Great album, through and through. A few gems I'm not as familiar with alongside iconic bangers such as Chain of Fools, People Get Ready, Natural Woman, ect. Lots of raw, gritty emotion and early touches of funk throughout. Love that it's not overly-polished. This one sounds fantastic on wax!
Prince
5/5
This is hands down my favorite Prince album and believe me I've done my homework. 2nd favorite is his unreleased Black album but I'm an outlier on that one.
What I love most about this one is how sprawling and stylistically diverse this is. He's constantly tinkering with methods of sonic presentation to achieve new aesthetics, reversing snares, dialing in new synth patches, ect.
Songwriting-wise, you really feel like you get a broader spectrum of his mind, from the world troubles of Times to childhood classmates of Starfish to religon of the Cross, to romantic love/lust, from stormy to serene.
Favorite deep cut is the walloping stomp of Strange Relationship, in all of it's lyrical complexity of exploring a place in a dynamic no one wants to be in but just can't let go of.
Dusty Springfield
4/5
I was always familiar, but I found myself getting really endeared to Dusty S. over the course of this album. So many iconic songs that she covered and many of which became the iconic version. Easy to see why, through her very full voice and approachable overall feeling, she felt like an old friend immediately.
Songhoy Blues
4/5
Really amazing story behind this and amazing sound. Really into this and will be listening again, and watching that documentary. Believe that!
Tom Waits
5/5
Every song is so high impact! I've slowly approached a huge Tom Waits deep dive and this just got me closer. Everything I hear from him is so caliber and brimming with authentic emotion that just takes you there.
5/5 on first listen.
Keith Jarrett
5/5
Considering this was performed on a broken piano, with a busted back in a brace, on an empty stomach, at 11pm is incredible. Jarrett wasn't even planning on playing the show but the recording engineers were set up so he just said 'fuck it, call it a rehearsal tape'.
The resulting is a beautiful capturing of the skilled pianist not thinking, but listening and reacting, completely in the moment. He's using the broken piano for what it is, stomping the broken foot pedals percussively, embracing the dulled keys when they suit the mood of what he's playing.
And he plays with such energy and dynamics as well, offering plenty of uptempo alongside the slower modes. You can hear the mics pick up him vocally emoting throughout the recordings, which is touching and delightful. It seems, aside from your average rollicking barroom ragtime, solo piano is often associated with pure sophistication and prestige. Jazz pianist Keith Jarrett doesn't forget one truth, however, and that's that playing piano is super fun. Given the constraints of the unmaintained equipment he was forced to break on, it seems he enjoyed approaching it in a whole new way.
Hole
3/5
This album is pretty good, hadn't heard it since the 90's. Some very inspired themes at play so doesn't feel uninspired or anything. I'm still a bit ambivalent but recognize the quality, perhaps I'm not the demographic. Will be listening again however, will be good to amp up my familiarity.
Leonard Cohen
4/5
Characteristically excellent and iconic work from Cohen. Just noticed how "Mama's and the Papa's" sounding the backup vocals are for "So Long, Marianne".
Everything I want from Cohen is here, dark and romantic, poetic and soul-stirring. He strikes me as a man that is far too aware of the psychology of human behavior and the fleeting beauty of living in the present moment for his own good.
Clearly we are the benefactors of his past reflections, however. These songs are beautiful and give meaning and drama to our own reflections.
Stevie Wonder
4/5
I hear a lot of critical pushback about the "sappy love songs" on this album but to quote Paul McCartney "Some people want to fill the world with silly love songs... And what's wrong with that?" These are some of the greatest ones ever put to wax, show some gratitude or make peace with whomever broke you.
Jane's Addiction
4/5
Great album full of original psychedelic aesthetics and bangers that didn't have much competition. In fact their only competition sonically was early Chili peppers and still they were quite different. This one is one I'm familiar with but have to revisit more, great times.
The Smiths
3/5
This is fine. Nice hearing them expand their sound a little, adding a bit more life to Moz's infamous moaning. Interesting hearing them at the end of their career with a lament about the state of the music industry.
The Prodigy
4/5
Perfectly aggro drum & bass meets techno. High energy and chaotic as it should be. Techno should have a punk-music-outlaw-edge to it and this does not disappoint.
CHIC
4/5
This one really captures Chic's energy, kicking it off with a live one. Chic is are legends of the dance floor, bringing jazz guitar chords and bass gymnastics into the disco space, and all of this is on display in this collection.
Chic is kind of like Van Halen in one way, almost every track is pure fire.. but you don't want to hear them pull out a ballad. If Chic were more comparable to say, AC/DC, we wouldn't have tracks like the 7+ minute "At Last I Am Free" which really panders to the R&B dial but in a wholly ineffective way.
It's fortunate that the rest of it more than makes up for that. Nile & Bernard forever.
Harry Nilsson
5/5
I have heard this album hundreds of times now, and have determined that Nilsson is an underrated legend. With the deft genre-flipping you could compare this album to a Ween album, or the Beatles White album. He switches personalities from song to song and pulls each style off with full embodiment, while style sounding true to himself. Harry is truly a man in touch with his own multitudes, it is just sad that those multitudes seem to have had difficulty finding validation.
You can hear that underlying sadness and isolation on Driving Along, among many others. This man hit "fuck it" long before he chose to don a bathrobe for his blurry album cover.
Also gotta shout out the bassist on Jump Into The Fire with down-tuning his E string.... twice... during the drum breaks of the song to downstep into oblivion.. only to crank it back into tune just right to step back into the main riff. One of the greatest rock songs without those moments and then you add that to the mix..
Every song goes to 10 whether it's trying to rock or tug heartstrings or get a bit goofy..
Underrated.. this whole album..
5/5
Taylor Swift
3/5
2 songs in, first reaction is that this is less obnoxious than I anticipated. Production and tone is more low key than your average "Shake It Off" or "Look What You Made Me Do", ect., which is a relief. I'm certainly not finding it very relatable, but that's to be expected. She's coming across very self-involved but then her target is high school girls where every negative emotion feels like the sky is falling.
It's weird that she tries to come across so relatable. I think that's what feels so off to people like myself. Singing about dirt roads, boating licenses, and Olive Gardens, I'm just not buying it. It's like when she drops a swear word in the middle of one of these tender ballads, it just doesn't come across as authentically edgey.
Ultimately this isn't too offensive, like I find her big stadium-choruses on her more recognizable radio hits. This is a welcome subtle production with plenty of stark minimalism, it's just not super memorable. I just don't think that she's as deep as she thinks she is. Is this a good album? To many, it seemingly lands in that territory. As for me, however, to reference track 5, it took a bit of effort to be able to "tolerate it".
The Mothers Of Invention
4/5
It's like they heard garage rock and doo wop of the time and made their own demented, LSD-soaked version of it back as an anti-establishment flag wave. Not only anti-societal norms, but this album feels like a statement to the rest of their contemporaries in the music business that "I'm smarter and trippier than you-- and I'm not high". Zappa didn't appreciate the excessive drug and psychedlics usage around him in the 1960's but he had no issue outpacing them with his own natural abstract nature. Part of the enjoyment of this album feels attached to enjoying that sense of snark or righteousness and the other, more universal part, is the massive amount of talent for making songs that work on multiple levels.
Queen Latifah
3/5
"All Hail the Queen" Latifah-- in her early new jack swing/ Native Tongues era packed with as many themes of empowerment as old school funk samples. Everyone from the Meters to Sly Stone gets pulled up here, making for a pretty robust sonic potluck of soul.
Nice deviation with a reggae track "The Pros" which breaks up the NJS/ House sound a little but could use more range in general. Can't be mad at this album though, it's a lot of fun.
Electric Light Orchestra
5/5
Damn I just listened to this album like 3 days ago but like a thrilling rollercoaster, LET'S RIDE IT AGAIN!
This madness is so wildly baroque, but NEVER at the expense of the groove, so as far as I'm concerned, Lynn can get as wacky as he wants with the ideas and production details.
Anyone complaining about this album being "self-indulgent" is wrong, Jeff Lynn has indulged me on this album experience, time and time again. If you want a stripped back rock album then by all means, AC/DC & Aerosmith are in the "A" section, head right on over, you'll have a fine time. This album has a goddamn rainbow light up space station on the album cover for fucks sake. Yes, they have many strings, "Orchestra" is in the NAME OF THE BAND. What did you expect?
In the tradition of Queen, Pet Sounds-era Beach Boys, Pink Floyd, ect., these are insane arrangements applied to excellent songwriting. Strip these songs back to vocals and acoustic guitar and they're still excellent songs. Isn't finding the ceiling of music production applied to great songs what we want on occasion?
There's a time and place for Nirvana albums and this ain't it. This encapsulates every disco-stadium rock-coked out-Star Wars-roller skate-short shorts-level excess of 1977 in one album descending on the "great blue ship" of Earth in a massive glowing UFO emblazoned with a script-written logo that says ELO.
When it comes down to it, we have to judge art on it's own merits. This means I often ask myself, what is this music "attempting to accomplish", and is it effective in this pursuit? I drop the needle on this album and it's straight up BLAST OFF TIME, while feeling all the emotions of Lynn's heartbreaks, elations, & jungle soirees, complete with talking lions. Buy the ticket, take the ride, but do so with an open mind and don't expect to come back down to Earth anytime soon.
Oasis
2/5
Okay let's get this over with. I don't like Oasis, I don't like their shit(e) attitude, their pissy quarrels, their egos while they blatantly rip off other artists.
There's some okay moments altogether and they are clearly talented. I wish that they would stop their bitching at each other and at Blur and just start making solid music from their own imagination.
If you want to sample and such, that's a different game. Damon knew that when he fired up Gorillaz. It's different than being in a rock band. All well and good to pull a thing or 2 here and there in a clever way, but Oasis just sounds too stoned and lazy about it, pulling Beatles riffs and titles among other artists nonstop.
Can't respect that.
The Undertones
4/5
Like the Knack meets the Buzzcocks.. really good time and only song I was familiar with was "Teenage Kicks" so really glad I'm hearing the rest of this concise album. Nice to hear them tackle some other topics such as on Jimmy Jimmy as well as some other sonic palettes like the flanged out "True Confessions"
Richard Hawley
4/5
Songwriting-wise there's a lot of Rod McKuen-vibes mixed with Scott Walker-esque vocals. He ranges in sound from classic 60's pop to indie to Brill Building to country and even an ambient at the end for good measure.
This feels so iconic I couldn't place the era initially. Really impressed by this one and will be digging into it more!
Butthole Surfers
4/5
One of my only complaints is that it's too short. This album is heavy as hell while maintaining it's acid-soaked, psychedelic, abstract approach throughout. Real tasteful fuzzed out bass riffs infused with megaphone vocals, backwards effects, slowed down tracks, and enough lo-fi studio trickery to keep you guessing.
The Dave Brubeck Quartet
4/5
This one is so iconic while being underrated at the same time. Take 5 & Blue Rondo get all the flowers while the rest of this set really soars in it's own right, but soaring under the radar of popular recognizability.
This album really hits the spot for me, jazz-wise, with it's spatial awareness. There is a ton of room to breathe between these 4, allowing each player to explore and be heard. Not only is that accomplished, but the tone of the instrument is really allowed to be heard. Every clack of the strings in the upright bass is heard reverberating through the instrument's body. Every wire on the snare brush, when employed, is present across the microphones, dragging across the surface of the drum.
Really takes you there, allows you to feel the music. It's no wonder, when hooks like Take 5's are applied, why this is such an enduring classic.
Talking Heads
5/5
This wasn't my first entry point into Talking Heads, and I imagine most people are introduced to them through material from the "big-suit" era grandiosity when many of their ideas were fully cooked. For that reason it's nice to go back to this album when it was just 3 art school kids writing quirky songs in a NY cheap loft apartment. This captures them in the era when their ideas were so new that everyone preferred they changed course, being misunderstood at every turn. They took that feeling of disconnect and made a career out of it. 77 is the toe in that pure water, before anyone was latching on a bandwagon, the only people who believed in what they were doing were themselves and a select few. Not even the album's producer got what they were trying to do, which you can hear the effect of. It wasn't til the follow-up, More Songs About Buildings and Food, that they'd find a cohort in Eno being behind the boards, resulting in a far more exciting sound.
That uncomfortable disconnect you hear in this album is one that Byrne & co were all too familiar with, however. Where other bands would slip through the cracks of that disconnection, awkward art kid ensemble 1977 Talking Heads had lived in that crack their whole life, and built their own little universe inside.
Orange Juice
5/5
More art school kids! I still remember the first time I heard "Rip It Up" and it absolutely blew me away, like it was made just for me. I can't describe how much I love this album. In this album you got world disco, new romanticism, post-punk, new wave, funk, dub, and more. It's all channeled through funky effects, wah pedals, and danceable beats. At the vox you have Edwin Collins, who would later be on the "Empire Records" soundtrack with banger solo track "Never Met a Girl Like You Before" and has maintained an excellent, if not underrated, track record his whole career in songwriting and production alike. He's gone through some surprising turns and shown remarkable fortitude, making him well worth the deep dive.
That said, this album has all the tight grooves and snark you'd want of this scene. Unlike, say the Smiths, Orange Juice never stops being fun, even when heavy. They take themselves seriously enough to get you off your ass while giving you enough to ponder without being pretentious.
Sufjan Stevens
1/5
Well isn't this album just so precious. What a sensitive and thoughtful exploration of.. the emotions of... the midwest.. I guess?
This concept album is pretentious and boring as hell, emotions presented like a breadstick under a faucet, so soft & fragile they're completely unappealing as they wash away. I was always skeptical about this guy and now I know why my intuition was right. Glad I stayed away from this sad sack of shit.
The pretention is laid on pretty thick, like he thinks he's being sooooo clever at every twist and turn of this album. For instance, if he wants to write a chapter of a book for every title of a song just be a novelist, then, god it's insufferable. Sonically as well, like in the "Man of Metropolis Who blah blah whatever..." where he bait & switches with a blistering fuzz pedal intro set to volume 10, just to cut it for the entire rest of the song. As if he's subverting expectations by using a "rock guitar" ironically. Not saying you can't be a brainy little art school fucker in music, but at least give some real substance here. The only time he lands is when he stays in a straightforward lane, such as the twang of "Jacksonville" or the refined groove of "They Are Night Zombies!!.... blah blah". Even then, however, this guy does not pull off "down home" or "funky" authentically whatsoever.
There's nothing wrong with pondering or being sad, but what the hell are you going to do with it?
Cyndi Lauper
4/5
Kind of shocked going back through this how much I love it. There's very little fluff on the collection, just banger after banger after banger. This is fantastic 80's synth pop and the songwriting choices transcend the genre.
Great covers, great unique vocals, great time.
Led Zeppelin
5/5
III? That's what I'm talking about!
Such an underrated album full of songs that deepen their lore. This album is about everything from dogs, darkly comedic folkloric tales, Lord of the Rings shit, friendship, and dripping with the influence of their 18th century cottage environment.
LZ needed a break from blistering electric bangers, and if they were to stay around for the longhaul, they needed to showcase more depth.
Not without their aptitude for electricity, however, they came away with some all-time bangers such as Immigrant Song, Tangerine, & Celebration Day. Honestly if the heavy rock fans only got Immigrant Song out of this album, and the rest was exclusively acoustic medieval folk with mandolins & lutes, could they still even complain? That song is insane, one of the highest-impact heavy rock songs ever made.
Franz Ferdinand
4/5
I'm always hear a lot of "they rip off Gang of Four, Wire, Talking Heads, Television.." ect but I hear them do their own thing. In my ears, they sound like they've been influenced by this scene but securely find their own place in it. These guys have gone on to do a lot, including an excellent collab album with Sparks. I'm glad to dedicate a whole album listening session to a group I only cherry picked songs from back in the day.
Really enjoying their angular sense of melody and thinking a deeper dive into their catalogue is on the horizon!
Fleetwood Mac
5/5
This album is the album Rumors by Fleetwood Mac. There is nothing I can write that is new about this album and I have heard it 50,000 times. Upon this 50,001st time, it was just as killer as each other time I've heard it.
What I did notice in this listening session, is the handwritteen name on the cover, reminding me that all these years I've been listening to my Mother's copy from when she was a teenager.
It got me reflecting on why I love vinyl, when it's often such an imperfect medium. No matter how fancy your cartridge is, your needle takes a tiny amount of fidelity from the grooves with each listen. At vinyl's best, people can argue it's technical merits in what you can hear versus digital or other listening mediums, and I may agree with many of them. For me, however, whether I'm listening to a secondhand record or one that's been passed around over the years, what I'm not hearing represents all the experiences other people have had while listening to that particular record.
In this case, all those experiences led me to being on this earth in the first place. There's a lot I could say about the music on this album, but if this is the headspace it can put me in, than all I need to say is 5 out of 5.
Gil Scott-Heron
5/5
Like "What's Going On", this album is as enjoyable to listen to as it is poignant, and as reliable a relisten as any GSH album. Loving this one as much as I ever did.
Queen
4/5
Everyone can throw back their heads and have a good laugh if they want! Sticks and stones, I say, but I, for one, think it's very nice that drummer Roger Taylor was "in love with his car" as it shows that he was a smart & savvy consumer. Not prone to buyer's remorse, I'd imagine that he visited & test drove many makes & models at several automotive vendors before making his final decision. It makes me pleased that he was so tickled with his final choice. Good for him!
Not only did it result in a pleasing & effective source of transportation for the young man, it also become a source of creative inspiration. You can hear the passion and fervor in which he describes his prized vehicle and one can't help but wonder, what's all this other nonsense on this album when an "I <3 Car" concept album could be afoot? I get the feeling he was only just starting to rev up his engines (of imagination).
Taylor is still alive, so it's plausible that we could still hear this album happen, and I cross my fingers that the ol' boy wises up & goes solo! If the rest of Queen tried that "Bisimillah never let him go" talk, I'd hate to see them try to catch him in his deftly-handling dream machine, with all it's pistols a-pumpin'!
Vroom Vroom!
Amy Winehouse
5/5
Rarely does such a swingin' & soulful album of pure vulnerability & self-awareness exists. It is challenging at times to understand the inner mind of someone in such a tumultuous roller coaster of a life, struggling with decision-making that from the outside, seems so erratic.
But here it is perfectly on display, fully produced by a soulful Mark Ronson with the Dap-Kings. He's captured this romantic & explosive creative spirit who won't hesitate to choose oblivion if her standards of independence & authenticity aren't met.
A beautiful & tragic document that you can dance to, and still hits every time.
Also there is Ghostface Killah coming in at the last minute and a half, which is aesthetically kind of weird considering there isn't any other rap on the album. It nonetheless works however, because it is Ghostface and just kind of makes me want a whole secret Amy & Ghostface side project to drop one day.
Dire Straits
3/5
Even my goth friend has a copy of this one. Can't deny the songwriting & guitar playing.
Also I feel like "Money For Nothing" should be appreciated for the scathing diss track towards the blue collar bullies they clearly wanted to be embraced by, sarcastically taking their power back as artists and musicians.
I think what's interesting in revisiting this album is how, while their work is strong overall, their deeper cuts are completely overshadowed by their singles. The sheer catchiness and boldness of absolutely SICK riffs like Money For Nothing leave the other noteworthy tracks fighting for impact. They're literally howling like wolves over the top of that track, it's like they threw everything they had at that, Walk of Life, & So Far Away.
A bit unbalanced, but great work overall. Next time I listen I'll just skip the first 3 tracks for a different dimension on the Dire ones.
Soft Cell
4/5
Excellent stuff, like a lost Depeche Mode album. And who cares if Tainted Love is a cover, damn did they ever update it with a new direction! Legends.
Loving all the deep cuts on this one. Sex Dwarf? Really? Alright let's go. I can definitely party to this. Sex Dwarf, forever.
Love the combo of synthwave and a subtle sense of humor, this is a very entertaining listen that you can certainly dance to. On top of this all is this irrepressible influence of Motown which feels like it should absolutely NOT work, considering the amount of neon-soaked synth tones, but due to the duo behind this, the chemistry just works.
Pulp
4/5
Everyone keeps telling me about how great Pulp is and all I've been familiar with is their legacy. Now that they are back touring for a few shows the talk is at a fever pitch. So this is the second time I've given this album a spin in a months and it's slowly growing on me. The Bowie influence is great and not too heavy handed or anything, the songwriting is fun, layered, and a bit cheeky, and best of all it's a good time.
I can't be mad at these guys and looking forward to hearing more! Will be listening again, it is always strange when an artist like this has escaped me for so long when they've made such an impact for so many people.
Arctic Monkeys
4/5
Always been curious about these guys and just slept on them.. assumed they were a bit weak or postering but I have to say, this listen is a pretty fine time. While I'm not in the need of new entries of early-2000's tight pants indie rock sass in my world at this point in my life, I don't hate this at all. And as I always say, not hating something is the first step towards liking it.
Some catchy bops in here, ample angles in the basslines, great instrument tones, ect. You can tell these boys earned their reputation with some effort and passion and it's nice to hear some stuff I always been skipping over.
Pere Ubu
4/5
This is the kind of spazzy art-punk stuff I can get behind. Lots of frantic tension throughout, echoing the dystopian claustrophobia of the album cover's project living quarters. They really effectively infuse their paranoia and sense of societal vertigo into their approach, whether through slide guitar-playing, buzzy background effects, mumbly & chanty vocals that you have to second-guess if you heard in the first place... the list goes on.
Altogether really good grooves here combining art-punk, funk, and early ideas of hardcore. These guys aren't caving to anyone else's ideas of who they should be and I love that. They took the lemons of their anxiety and made gems like "Drinking Wine Spodyody" and "(Pa) Ubu Dance Party" (epic 2 track run on side 2).
Genre-wise they touch on post-punk way ahead of their time, ambient experimental, krautrock, and hardcore ahead of it's time as well. This may not be everyone's cup of tea but these guys are on one. The first exposure I had to them was on "URGH! A Music War" doing the track "Birdies", which was a memorable trip. I'm happy to hear how much more facets there are to their catalogue.
4/5
Gotta admit, not actually super familiar with XTC beyond the occasional "Making Plans for Nigel" from time to time. To that end, I feel like I'm working backwards a bit, not having deep dove into any of their OG albums.
There's something very compelling about what a musician does after their glory days dry up, however, and I've always been very interested in that. What do you do artistically after the kids stop lining up and your aesthetics no longer symbolize the cutting edge? Do you dye your hair, stock up on botox and try to stay young forever? Or do you continue your artist journey, unbothered, while you cater to your smaller, but more unshakable fanbase that remains loyal to you and where your journey leads to?
It's really commendable that they chose the latter approach, honing in on a robustly produced sound that really uplifts where their songwriting has landed. They are certainly doing anything but trying to fit in on anything edgey, but in that appeal their sound as elderstatesmen is perfectly mature for who they are. Beyond that, they are very unique and individualistic. The track "Greenman" for instance, really landing in it's own territory. Just look at them go with that flute! If your band doesn't rhyme with "Deathrow Skull", using a flute that much throughout the album is real ballsy.... and then arguably even then could be overload for some, but I'll be damned if XTC didn't pull it off.
Nice work, gents!
Christine and the Queens
3/5
Kind of fun they did a French and English version. This would come off heavy handed if this album weren't a really fun, well produced, electro-pop effort. I think some of the criticism that it's a bit "self-involved" fall flat to me, as that works when it's thoughtful and well-written.
Furthermore this is some catchy stuff! If this were just "wallowing in self-pity" I'd be done with it pretty quick, but in this event I'm looking forward to repeat listens.
Air
5/5
What do you get when you put 2 French dudes together, one an architect, one a mathematician, with access to a lot of studio gear and 70's synthesizers? This album was extremely influential on myself and a huge range of creatives, no matter the kind of artist. It caused creatives of all kinds to think differently about their craft and I suspect it has something to do with Air's approach to making compositions. In Air's Nicolas Godin's words:
"What is important in architecture are not the walls and forms, but the space between two walls: that is what creates the architecture, the emptiness between the walls. It’s the same thing between two notes. A note on its own is nothing. Two notes together make a chord. That creates a space, a color. It’s the same principle as in architecture; it’s the emptiness between things that defines the thing in question. We often tend to see architecture as a structure, but what is beautiful is the emptiness between things. Architecture cuts up empty space and time, just like music."
This album, like this quote, left impressions upon me at a pivotal point in my learning that forever changed my thinking on creating.
Also all the songs & hooks land hard. You can tell they don't care the genre necessarily, they just want the track to strike a vibe. This leads the album to sound so cinematic, taking you on a journey with unexpected twists and turns. From the bouncy, hunky dory horn hook of "Ce matin-lá" to the bumping synth banger that is "Sexy Boy", these tracks all sound like they could be different bands, by on-paper descriptions. Nonetheless, the sounds all feel like the same 2 dudes, pushing air around in the space between my walls, causing me to think about what I'm working on just a little bit differently.
Donald Fagen
4/5
I'll take the Dan of Steel any way you can package it and Becker-free Fagen is still offering up a lot of those Danny details. You can clearly hear some departure from 70's Dan in this one, firmly planted in some 1982 aesthetics, allowing Donald to be as smooth as he wants to be. Turns out, he'd like to be real, real smooth, as this album is as sleek and pristine sounding as can be.
Still, there's an authenticity in that, just like there is in "raw" sounding music. Like Kraftwerk in the Krautrock genre, for instance, the Dan has made an art form out of the "aesthetic of perfection". Also like Kraftwerk, there's plenty of personality to keep the music from sounding too sterile to enjoy.
B.B. King
4/5
He sure does have the blues, I hope things turn around for him!
CHVRCHES
3/5
There sure is some chipper, spazzy stuff going on here that's a bit too frantic for my liking, but taking it at face value, this collection is pretty effective for what it's trying to do. I'm more interested in the tracks that accomplish a more refined palette such as "Science/Visions" with it's melody defined by driving rhythms.
It kind of feels like they can't decide between their darker aesthetics and their bubbly pre-teen hooks, which, to be fair, are both cool and all but feel often at odds.
It reminds me of M83 and other bands of the era and approach. By using edgey language and visual imagery, big choruses contrasted by spacious synthwork, they are able to take small emotions to epic proportions. Very well made but not sure I'll be needing it anytime soon.
Beatles
5/5
This will always be my favorite Beatles album for subjective reasons, followed closely by the White Album. Revolver, Abbey Road, Peppers, are all great, don't get me wrong, but I feel like I can argue the merits of this one based on the story of their creative journey it tells.
Where White Album finds them find the ceiling of how high they can fly their freak flag, and Let It Be & Abbey show how they learned to use their abstract side in a refined, tasteful manner, Rubber Soul shows them just begin to find the pulley to begin raising that flag.
Recorded the very year half the band discovered LSD, you can listen to them go from the love song rich era previous to starting to consider deeper layers of life's rich tapestry, exploring different sounds, writing very impressionistically, and also George debuts his sitar-era.
I love that they are starting to really find and revel in their individuality, and all the awkwardness that the band finds through their attempts to express their new found individualities in the face of a band dynamic. They are beginning to mature, losing innocence, but struggling against the angst of so many newly-found disconnects.
I've had the chance to deep dive into this album at an early age, it being passed down to me from my mom. I heard it over and over on CD, being one of her first CD purchases I played it frequently in the house. I think it informed my love of "transitionary-era-albums" for a lifetime to come.
Something about a band in the face of great changes, either internal or in the face of the aesthetic era they're in, really says a lot about who they are as people and artists. The sometimes-angsty psychedelic explorations on this album, all about desire, frustration, insecurity, & confusion, says it all about these 4. This album, to me, officially ends their "goofball era" saying "some of us are really, really high, everyone knows who we are, and all of us are freaked the fuck out. Maybe love is all you need, but today I'm not sure I know what it really means yet."
AC/DC
5/5
OK. You want to call them simple-minded? Say that their song-writing is for childish simpletons with caveman-level intellect? Fine but you're only lying to yourself.
This music is not for primates, it exists to get you fuckin' hyped on a PRIMAL level. As someone who listens to much more than rock including ambient music, folk music, classical, ect.. I must say there is a place for everything. If a banger from AC/DC played loudly has no effect on you, either that particular AC/DC song is just overplayed (fair), or there's something dead inside of you.
When you need to rely on your animal instincts to work a little harder, perform a little better in a sport, or just party really, really hard, wipe the pretentious intellectual sneer of protest off your face and reintroduce yourself to some AC/DC.
I could talk about the actual complexities to their music and the sheer skill & musicality it take to play the way they do but I don't have time for that right now. What I will say, is that if you think this music is so cheap, you pick up a guitar and write some high-octane riffs that make people lose their shit in 1 seconds flat, see how easy it is.
Every track here is a complete banger, no skips. To say nothing of the fact that this is the FIRST album with a new lead singer after their wildly memorable and charismatic lead signer died is just crazy. No band survives the death of their lead singer, except AC/DC because they give zero fucks about anything. So crack open a Coors or a Fosters for that matter, pour out a little something for Bon Scott, and try to have a good time for fucks sake.
Frank Black
4/5
Always been cautiously curious about the Pixies so this is an interesting introduction to a solo Pixies effort by Mr. Frank Black.
Interesting how his voice ranges from high and almost-Neil Young sounding to low and punky, the latter of which at some points has an Iggy Pop/ Lou Reed drawl to it, never a bad thing. This album grew on me the longer it played.
While firmly alternative, this album has some nice groove to it, including the capacity to be enjoyed as a sick straight-ahead rock album. Despite the ample range, there is no shortage of edge throughout. Plenty of genre-play, from mathy to punk to even a reggae standout. That right there, could be analyzed in and of itself. How a non-Jamaican musician tackles a reggae song says a lot about who they are as an artist and I think Mr. Black pulled it off here.
I actually feel like I'm listening to a very well-schooled academic on rock music, which is exciting. He knows his shit and you can hear it throughout. There are tons of sonic references to rock and punk history in clever ways that stay true to himself. I'd definitely listen to this again. Looking forward to checking out more Pixies with less skepticism in the future.
Public Enemy
4/5
Big boom bap banger beats with some stellar samples going on. Unlike some of the recordings from that era of hip hop, this stuff still slaps hard. Much of the political messaging unfortunately still holds up, which doesn't hurt it in it not sounding dated.
Steely Dan
5/5
IDK guys, Steely Dan may or may not be your bag but you gotta acknowledge that this album is damn effective, if not, totally slaps. I get that they are too smooth for rockers, too rock for jazz fans, not abstract enough for prog fans, and too clean for funk fans, but that's the point. The Dan of Steel are clever purveyors of multiple influences for nerdy armchair musicologists who get off on dialing life in "just so". They got a pristine sound and execution that grooves while reminding a listener of so many musical references while dropping lyrical gems of multi-layered sarcasm that rewards thrilled nerds the more they nerd out on it.
Musically though, no matter what school you run with, you gotta hand it to these guys. The hooks are catchy as hell, while doing musically impressive gymnastics on their instruments-- something prog never pulls off.
George Michael
4/5
This is some smooth stuff here, Cowboys & Angels straight up sounds like a Bond Title Sequence song. I'm hearing some maturing to his sound since 87's Faith which is nice. To be honest, I'm a bit starved for non-Faith album George Michael to begin with. This asserts that a deeper dive into the man's catalogue could be really rewarding. Dude has a lot of honesty and thoughtfulness to his songwriting that I find refreshing.
He went on such a long independent journey, finding himself again and again, only to have to make peace with who he's been all along. I feel lucky to listen along for the journey, from the rollicking Wham! days to a man of a certain age, pondering what it is to be alive on this planet to begin with. It's the beginning steps of this rabbit hole that you can hear him go down, and thanks to Michael, it goes down real smooth.
Count Basie & His Orchestra
3/5
While recognizing it's merits & skill required, I talk a lot of shit about big band music. It's just not appealing to me in terms of jazz as I favor smaller combos and find the ever-punctuating bombastic blast of horns to be an overwhelming wall of sound that undercuts the individual talents and improvisational interplay that I usually gravitate towards. This one is wildly appealing though, dialing back a lot of those sensibilities and highlighting a more spacious approach. Being familiar with some of Basie's other works, this one had slipped under the radar and I'd gladly revisit it.
Ballsy album cover for the era as well, damn bro, respect for the bold statements all around.
Black Sabbath
5/5
The album that launched the band catalogue that launched an entire genre, safe to say this one does not disappoint. Super heavy but retaining many blues-rock influences, this is a perfect album from start to finish as it clearly illustrates how unique these 4 men were in their field. Iommi lost fingers and melted bottle caps onto his fingers, detuning his strings to accomodate for his lessened ability to push them down. This resulted in an even lower tonality to his playing. Not one to hang in the back, Butler's basslines are prominent and carry a ton of the melody, further relying on low end. Bill Ward's interweaving drums are impossible to ignore while least forgettable of all are Ozzy's vocals. Name another vocalist like him, especially one that pulls it. off so well. Then you have the lyrics about Wizardry and Witches and such... really you got lyricism rallying against dark forces alongside heavy sounds. It surprises me how many people associate Sabbath with Satanism when really they were acknowledging a belief in a Judeo Christian God while denouncing evil and Satan figures.. seems pretty clear to me.
Kind of like Motley Crüe's "Shout at the Devil".. it's not "Shout WITH the Devil" they're shouting AT the dude.
Led Zeppelin
5/5
Hands down best Zep album ever, IMO. Completely unhinged with perfectly raw production. This album often sounds like 4 guys in a great sounding room just letting it rip.
I gotta defend side 3 & 4 on this one as well, there's more range there and they really explore different aspects of their versatility. Anyone that complains about a lack of "hard rocking songs" needs to A.) remember that Zep has always been about more than that and B.) the Wonton Song.
I mean, holy shit, "The Wonton Song", talk about a groove that goes for the throat. Somehow it fits into the second half of the album flow, which contains some breezy psychedelia that really goes the distance. If someone says this is filler material I'd argue that, like much of Zep 3, this is exactly the kind world-building material that music fans are looking for. These tracks tell us so much more about the creative inner worlds that we love about the Led Zeppelin that bring us not only earth-shaking bangers but thoughtful layers of genre bending corners of rock.
Very grateful for this essential entry in the cannon of Zeppelin and one of my all time desert island albums by Zep or perhaps anyone.
Bon Jovi
2/5
Yikes kicking it off with that oddly toned organ solo is ROUGH which makes me feel more comfortable when the butt-rock kicks in. After the initial opening rock song about rocking, subsequentially rolling is established, we got the 2 midwestern 1:15 AM dive bar classic jock jams that I am now, thanks to this list, listening to on purpose for the first time ever. Don't get me wrong, these songs earned that shit because they're VERY well written songs-- written by songwriter Desmond Child, the guy they called in on quite a few rock bands in the hair metal era when they needed something to say beyond "rocking is appealing to me, and also you should consider rocking as well".
I'm glad to hear songs by Bon Jovi that are NOT the 3 singles, as I've never heard them, but I'm still not sure I'm interested in hearing them again.
It's not that I hate hair metal, but something about Bon Jovi always felt unnecessary. Why do we need a "blue-collar New Jersey" branded hair metal guy? I'm not sure what I'm missing here but whereas 80's Ozzy, Crüe, GNR, even Def Leppard can still get me fired up on the right song, Bon Jovi just sounds like he's selling me something pre-packaged and I guess I need a better story here.
When you look at the "flawed but passionate rocking rebel" archtype of the 80's hair metal era, JBJ plays the role, but just comes off like a guy that didn't struggle with much his whole life. I guess I could rewatch his origin story but from what I know, he didn't struggle with addiction, didn't party super hard, married his high school sweetheart, and acheived huge success early in life, and for the most part, kept it. Mind you, I'm not trying to glorify addiction or controversy, but part of what was so appealing about these personas was that their passions burned so brightly that they had difficult times managing a reasonable balance, hence the often larger than life identities. Their addictions, their physical appetites, their grandiosities all stemmed from feeling misunderstood and undervalued, so they created these gigantic personas to compensate. Bon Jovi just doesn't fit in, it's just what was popular at the time so he shook up the hairspray and slid into the leather pants.
The Style Council
3/5
At first this is a nice palette cleanser after the Bon Jovi I was made to listen to.
Really digging the more straightforward tracks like Paris Match and My Ever Changing Moods that focus on the vocal performances and overall tone of the song.
These guys really run the spectrum here though. Many of these feel like experimentations and overall this album feels like the council hasn't found an agreement on their style of choice.
Dropping Bombs On The Whitehouse for instance, firmly plants itself within the jazz genre without really adding anything to the genre. It's nice and good jazz, and I suppose that is sometimes enough, but when a lot of jazz musicians can innovate 1000 times better, what is the point?
Then you got everything from a piano improvisation to a rap song? Now I have to know more about who these guys are.. This is borderline irresponsible experimentation and I'm a little impressed by their sheer abandon.
I'm coming down hard on these gents, but I feel like they have a lot to offer and are missing an opportunity by sounding like they're just passing through styles rather than by helping to define them.
Slint
1/5
This album is boring and obnoxious. These guys have some good moments and interesting musical ideas that build but ultimately fizzle into nothing. Would like to hear them use their novel rhythmic ideas to create something with more impact, but instead they seem to just revel in their depression and mumble about their sense of listlessness.
I'm all for sad music but your band can't be both sad AND boring otherwise what are we doing here but comparing notes on our bullshit lives?
Stevie Wonder
5/5
This is Innervisions by Stevie Wonder. Nearly every song is a complete banger. There are a couple of slower more pensive songs and they actually really highlight his skills as a songwriter such as Visions and All In Love Is Fair.
That's an interesting thing, when an artist is so proficient and overwhlemingly good at crafting hooks and playing instruments that their skills as a songwriter is barely even acknowledged. This is absolutely a case of that, as Stevie could be spoken of more in terms of his songwriting.
He's just so damn funky tho.
Simon & Garfunkel
3/5
If you like Belle & Sebastian but at times, find them a bit too hardcore, I might recommend this album by Simon & Garfunkel.
Just give me enough time to leave before you put it on.
Ms. Dynamite
4/5
Great singer, decent rapping, fantastic early 2000's beat production. Loving the heart applied to the rangev on these tracks and it's a shame she didn't do more than 1 album after this one. Really fun record though, glad to experience this one.
Everything from US boom bap, west coast, east coast, reggae, R&B songstress, even got some hardhitting UK grime garage soding beats going on. Maybe that was why this didn't work? Is it too unfocused? Not sure that'd be an issue if it had the right label backing. I can't imagine this lady having trouble if she was pushed in front of the right audiences.
Mike Oldfield
4/5
Self indulgent as it is, this marathon of prog by 19 year old wunderkind Mike Oldfield is actually pretty fun to throw on. While I often find prog to be long, meandering, and unentertaining, this kid is jumping from instrument to instrument, playing incessantly sick riffs in this unceasing composition. This is prog at it's ideal, in my opinion.
While this is not in my top albums list or anything, I'm not mad at all taking this for another spin. So many epic and vibey moments that just feels like a fun celebration of a collision of both studio nerdery and instrumental mastery.
At one point he's even calling out the instruments as he's introducing them, by name.. "grand piano".. "mandolin"... ect.
Let the boy cook, I say! While he's not writing songs in the traditional sense, and never repeated the height of effectiveness with subsequent Tubular Bells 2 or any of his other work, the kiddo gave us one hell of a youthful flex here.
His career really had a tricky time finding his footing after this one, but he did go on to land some other tracks of real value. For my ultimate favorite, check out the track "Foreign Affair". Nothing at all like this album, but then again, is there anything quite like this album?
Leonard Cohen
4/5
While some of the tracks on this album suffer from the cheap, thin digital sounds on this 1988 production, some of them are actually quirky enough to land in an interesting space unto themselves. What really gets this album across the finish line is Cohen's dependable & formidable songwriting and vocals. This album succeeds best when his booming vocals are rising to the top of a minimal mix. It's that voice, like a hollowed out volcano, that oozes out an inevitable lava flow of ominous realities throughout this album, in the most poetic phrasings you could ask for.
There are many timeless songs on this collection, one just can't help but wonder what they'd sound like with instruments not made out of cheap circuitry. The arrangements are sound, but I'd love to hear a reworking that swaps the Casio sound for an old, rich sounding piano, a rhodes, or even an organ.
I'm a big fan of synthy music in the 80's but this feels particularly flat. Fortunately these songs are safe in Cohen's organic & oakey timbre.
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
4/5
Kicking off with the iconic, always satisfying Cinnamon Girl, this album meddles in some middling tempos and extended jams but ultimately never lets you down, if some rootsy classic rock puts you in the a comfort zone. It may not blow the lid off my day, genre-wise, but this is classic Neil Young. If I need to reach for a predictably dependable experience, without his more experimental or Harvest-era dour-tracks, this one does the trick.
Dusty Springfield
3/5
Really nice smooth experience that shows some additional range, having only been familiar with her much earlier work. She got a great voice brimming with authenticity and soul, with just enough twang to really bring those country-soul musicians backing her to life. Nice mix of country, gospel, soul vibes packaged in a pop-ready production.
There's some 60's era cheese are here to be sure, but it's overall landing in a space one can embrace. This is well written music, sang with heart, and good music for the soul.
Dirty Projectors
2/5
I didn't like this 15 years ago and I don't like it now.
Just when they get you in a groove they uproot everything with the most garish sonics or rhythm change they could possibly imagine. I get that they want to be \"indie art rock\" or \"avant garde\" but split the diff, folks. It's frustrating because when they toe that line, the project often works. These moments are often short-lived, however. It usually helps when the interesting thing that you're presenting an audience with is listenable.
This is why people find this album pretentious.
Tom Waits
5/5
Can't believe this is 80's production. Compliments to how authentic Waits is to his craft that he is not swayed by any passing aesthetic trend. He knows exactly who he is and he stays 100% true. Who is he you might ask? A man swooned by the romantic notions of the American down & outers, the ones 86'd from railroad bars, heartbroken outcasts, and generally an older aesthetic of beautiful souls that America has left behind.
This beatnik noir is a chapter of his exploration of misunderstood rogues, lamenting their abandoned search for a 3rd or 4th second chance with one foot in the grave. All of this is set to his raspy poetry, well crafted prose laid out against percussive clangs, rootsy angular fretwork, and old barroom pianos-- tuning be damned. Every musician in lockstep like men possessed, each understanding the assignment.
Because who, among musicians and artists, don't understand his sentiments? His songs of the marginalized population left out in the rain speak to anyone seeking for validation in a bygone last ditch effort, even if the writing is written clearly on the wall of the bathroom stall. While the bouncer waits on the other side to reintroduce you to the gutter, accept this last bit of sympathy in the form of a raised glass by Waits, for whatever it is worth.
Dinosaur Jr.
4/5
This album is heavy, fun, yet full of edge. Loving what's happening here and the guitar-work is on point as expected.
The vocals have a bit of a pre-grunge slacker-core thing going on and it honestly just takes me back to listening to Meat Puppets, early Flaming Lips, and other bands of the era.
Don't know much about the Dinosaur Jr. but I think they're a real nice time. Wish I would have heard this album earlier in my life, it's style of rock is right up my alley.
Neil Young
4/5
Not much to say except really solid album full of Neil Young, total comfort music. This is really solid classic rock with some nice tones being explored. Looking forward to revisit more.
Sly & The Family Stone
5/5
This album blew my mind the first time I ever put it on and it still yet never disappoints. Sly burned brightly to capture all of his inner joy, turmoil, and optimism in the face of a world that did not share the brilliant colors of his spirit. This record captures his ensemble riding high with messages of equality, tenacity, and soaring raw funk played with fervor.
The Clash
5/5
One of the definitive albums stating that punk can sound like more than punk, and that the songs can have more dynamic structures and instrumental interplay. One of the greatest albums of all time.
Super Furry Animals
4/5
I liked this whole damn thing. Fun timeless psychedelic big rock elements like Flaming Lips have captured in the past and plenty of personality. Never really listened to these guys before but I'll be revisiting this one! Real fun experience with plenty of chops and unexpected songwriting.
The Electric Prunes
4/5
This was a cool vibe, never heard it all the way through before. Some weird stuff happening on that Toonerville Trolley though, tell ya what.
Michael Jackson
5/5
Personel is off the charts on this album. Critiquing the songwriting is usually disco's silver bullet but in this case, songwriters credited range from Paul McCartney to Stevie Wonder to Carole Bayer Sager and Quincy's secret weapon, Rod Termperton.
These songs, while firmly a product of the disco era, suprass the limitations of the genre.
Elvis Presley
4/5
Great "I'm Still Here" moment-level reintroduction to Elvis by way of expertly arranged country-soul. Loving this.
The Pharcyde
4/5
Really solid beats & bars in the vein of Tribe, Digable, & De La.
Isaac Hayes
5/5
Brilliant soundtrack designed and arranged like an infinitely listenable funk album. From those opening iconic hats and wah pedal to the end. This soundtrack is as fun as it is life-affirming.
I'd put this right up there in a class with Curtis Mayfield's soundtrack for "Superfly" and Marvin Gaye's soundtrack for "Trouble Man", which rival this for soundtracks that stand up as perhaps more relevant than the movies themselves. Not to say the movies don't rip, because they absolutely do, but Superfly's soundtrack actually alters your perception of the characters, for instance.
I digress. Parts of this remind me of Sly Stone, parts of the first Funkadelic album ("Mommy, What's a Funkadelic?") in their raw & gritty approach, like being a fly on the wall in a funk band's practice space at 3 in the morning. Then you got smooth tracks like "Bumpy's Blues" with an air of classy sophistication to them.
This soundtrack is like a movie in and of itself. It really transports you to cinematic scenes in your mind. Might not be for everyone, but as for me, I can dig it.
Black Sabbath
4/5
Some real departures from their past work here, focusing on straight metal-oriented bangers, some acoustic work, and then the unexpected but unforgettable synth-charged ballad "Changes".
You can really hear Iommi's presence in the production booth on this one, stretching his wings stylistically. While the heavy rock songs are often not quite as memorable, the explorations are warranted and interesting. There's plenty of takeaways such as the 1-2 punch of Supernaut and Snowblind to satisfy. No regrets on this listen, Sabbath forever.
The Pogues
4/5
Love the Pogues and this one is full of iconic tracks from them. I haven't listened to them enough as an album listening experience. It surprised me how varied the tracks are in the album dynamic, showcasing a whole spectrum. It helps tell a more holistic narrative about the personalities in the band over the bands that followed in their wake (looking at you Flogging Molly & Dropkick Murphies) that feel more like reductionist caricature artists of the Irish experience.
Blur
3/5
Blur is a rock band that has a bassist and they were not afraid to use him. Really nice to hear this groove-based rock album. I'm not too up to speed on them but love Gorillaz and always wanted to get more background on Blur and pre-ape-era Albarn stuff. Seems like there's some equal effort to music, production, and songwriting as there's a lot of craft applied and on top of it all, so original and unique.
Silly that they had this beef/ comparisons with Oasis as the 2 bands could not be more different. Oasis is not even in the same category, in my opinion.
Elvis Presley
4/5
Solid sub-30 minute block of OG early Elvis here, nice times. Lot of shakin and vibrato and great stripped back band.
Joni Mitchell
4/5
You really start to hear Joni stepping out in this one such as with the percussion & is that synth..? on The Jungle Line, bordering an allusion to some electronic music heard today. The instrumentation really fills up with groovy, breezy spots of jazzy, yachty flourishes.
Along with her individualistic approach to instrumental arrangements come her trademark songwriting depth. Each song an impressionistic narrative vignette into her perspective on characters navigating the world, fleeting love, and inevitable loss.
Again I love the yachty feel to a lot of this. So many warm Rhodes keys, sudden saxophone solos, and crisp plucky bass tones. Joni forever!
Barry Adamson
4/5
Alright I'm not coming into this one knowing any more than jack shit on this release. I read he scored an actual David Lynch film after this imaginary film soundtrack though and I can certainly hear why. This is weird, ethereal, jazzy, dark, even downright spooky at many points. Just in time for Halloween.
I read he has worked with the band Magazine & Nick Cave.. which checks out. There's loads of talent heard here and it's all a bit left of center and a bit dark.
Judging on its own merits, this is a pretty successful endeavor, although I'm not sure who the demographic is for it. Kind of makes you wish this guy put this effort into making the movie happen as well because.... at every turn you feel there's more to the story. He clearly had a storyline in his head and beautifully illustrated it with sound, but my man I need more information!
Bee Gees
1/5
This album is such derivative, self-indulgent garbage and it lasts over an excruciating hour long while feeling like forever. I cannot believe I actually let this play through, actively making me more and more angry with each ill-advised track direction. This may be the worst example of a concept album I've ever heard. It's like they heard bands like the Beatles, the Band, and others and thought, let me just water that down for you and completely convolute it.
And then you have symphonic schlock and "The British Opera", "International Anthem", ect like what did they think people would like about any of this....?
Amy Winehouse
4/5
Frank is right, as Winehouse is really shooting from the hip with her brutal transparency throughout this album. You can hurtle the slings and arrows calling it problematic but if you know her story, you know that was her entire brand. Her filterless, irrepressible cursively-sung honesty is on full display and set to a more stripped back neo-soul sound than her Ronson days.
The lyrics, sometimes empowering, sometimes self-degrading, reflect what she wants and what is that exactly? It's messy, it's complicated, and isn't that perfectly human?
The Rolling Stones
4/5
This one is a bit tonally inconsistent but rounds out that flaw with a lot of quality. What I wouldn't give for a whole album that fits with the kickoff track of Sympathy for the Devil with it's latin & African percussion-heavy rhythm approach and sideways song structure. Nonetheless the rootsy drawl of the rest of the album, exception being rock-banger Street Fighting Man, is quality in and of itself.
Had they kept those 2 outliers and built an album around them, doing the same with the rest of the tracks in its own collection for more consistency, we'd have a more coherent album experience.
But who tf cares it's the Stones. To love them is to embrace that their process was often chaotic, they had a hard time being objective, and had frequently combative, opposing dispositions. Trust the process and let em cook.
Beatles
5/5
This album has doom metal on it before doom metal was a thing, and then it follows it up with "Here Comes the Sun".. and it works. Considering all the varied and heavy material on this album, even Octopus's Garden & Maxwell's Silver Hammer are welcome contributions, providing some fun goofball energy when needed.
The last 7 or so tracks barely clock in over a couple of minutes each, becoming a bit of a medley. What could easily have been material for a whole additional album of music if more fleshed out is instead flexed like they just can't contain their own prolific creativities. Their forthcoming solo careers provided plenty of ample space to explore these fertile grounds but they never had the guardrails of each other to check/balance themselves after this high water mark.
Arcade Fire
2/5
Wasted Hours is right.. this one feels hours long..
It's not that they don't have anything valid to say, or don't sound sonically interesting at times... it's just that this shit is boring, bloated, and pretentious.
The xx
3/5
Alright here we go. And the 2009's Barista's Choice Album of the Year goes to.... The XX!
From 2009 to 2015 I couldn't get an almond milk dirty chai without hearing this stuff. SUPER disaffected, well-made, minimalistic hipster music that will offend NOBODY.
I liked this when it came out too, but by 2010 I was over it hard, it was wildly overplayed. The appeal of feeling "cool" without the burden of having an "actual edge" is so appealing that this album seemed to do gangbusters and I had enough quickly.
I still never mind hearing this out in the wild but honestly this is the only time since 2009 that I've listened to this on purpose. When it comes to music like this I can count on encountering it enough times without needing to seek it out for myself. There's nothing in this album I need to return to, but I'll be damned if it's not tastefully done.
These minimalistic arrangements allow the tone of each instrument to really get a moment. All the amp tones, snare sounds, breathy vox, it all gets its time in the moonlight. This plays like more of a vibey mood-setting record than anything. Songwriting-wise, this works in a vague "I'm feeling disconnected but not sure why" kind of narrative throughout. The strength in this is in its minimalism. We've all heard music about feeling a bit ambiguously alienated that tries too hard. Gigantic anthemic overtones blow out the drama to 11 and it feels like much too much. I get it you had a disagreement with your partner or your dad doesn't get you but calm down..
Well that's where XX come in clutch, got feelings to sort out and figure out what to do with? Want to feel deep but don't know why? They'll get you there.. real calmly. Let's land this plane nice & easy. It's a funny thing, out of all the cafes I heard this playing in, I never remembered hearing it in a bar.. best not to mix too many downers I suppose..
Pixies
4/5
Glad to spend time with this front to back, first timer here. That said, not much time needed as this was a punch-packing breezy 33 minute spinaround. Not sure I heard a skip in this one, as each track comes in hard with some edge and impact from the all-too-familiar Bone Machine & Where Is My Mind to quirky narratives like Tony's Theme & River Euphrates.
I quite liked this one. It rocked to a satisfyingly ample degree while doing its own weird thing. I gotta give Frankie B & the Pixies more spins. Great stuff.
Meat Puppets
3/5
I love what happens when punk becomes post-modern. I fell hard for their first album and never really dove into the rest of their work so this was a great spin. I took the opportunity to revisit the first MP album and what surprises me is how much twang they throw around throughout the 2 albums. While the vocals are all over the place on the second album, they work within the confines of the universe that MP create.
This album isn't as cohesive as their first album but it's got some really memorable songs (ask Kurt Cobain) and it's nice to hear them try new stuff. Psyched to dive into their subsequent material!
Carole King
5/5
This album is a real powerhouse showcase of King's songwriting, having written nearly all of this album with most notable exception being a couple partial contributions by Gerry Goffin. Instrumentally King lands in real universal territory by taking her nuanced yet extremely relatable songs into very groove-based piano-driven territory. Are these songs cliché or overplayed now? Yes, but I'd argue that their place is earned, this is pure FM radio gold.
Radiohead
4/5
I liked this one more than Amnesiac. Less wallowing and more beats and focus on memorable songwriting. Still one of the most interesting prohibitively depressing artists out there that I barely listen to.
Siouxsie And The Banshees
3/5
Great early goth with great range of aesthetic approaches.
Morrissey
3/5
Reasonably satisfying album by Moz doing what he does best: wallowing in an elegance rarely achieved by one experiencing so much self-pity. It's no Smiths but his taste in instrumentation isn't lacking and this has some good grooves to it. He might be an insufferable prick, but at least it kinda sounds like he knows it.
Props for the percussion going buckwild in the last 20 seconds or so, ending in a big reverbed out bang.
Van Morrison
4/5
A rootin and a tootin bluesy good time, this album is, fortunately peppered with so many feel-good Van Morrison moments as well. Tracks like "Listen to the Lion" to name one, really hits in that crunchy grassroots blues roock comfort-music range that Van Morrison kills it at so much.
Bob Marley & The Wailers
5/5
Mi quite irie with this selection on the platform, and even further in the cannon of Marley albums, this one always lands. Great mix of tracks from good ones that have been used and abused over the years to deeper cuts. Those "Legend" tracks that are on every college jukebox really sound better in the album experience. I'm glad I have this one on vinyl, praise be to Jah.
Eric Clapton
4/5
That salt water view Clapton had recording this album must have worked because after the inital barn burner of "Motherless Children" Eric cools it right down. This album is full of low to mid tempo cuts that kind of slap like Get Ready. In fact this album has deep cuts that really stand out in their lower tempos and attention to groove, such as I Can't Hold Out on Side 2. Please Be With Me has a "Mac on Twang" quality that works really well as a soft-radio gem standing next to the hippie community-garden that is "Let It Grow". "Steady Rolling Man" has some nice laid back blues-funk to it as well.
Ultimately, while we all heard enough of "I Shot the Sheriff", this album works best in it's mid-tempo groove based mindspace Clapton was at, so can we blame him for a 1-off reggae song? I say no, while it's overplayed, it's still a solid cover that landed when it came out for a reason. Call him a popularizer of reggae for white audiences if you want but if it got Marley a broader audience, who cares. Let's watch the tide come in and appreciate some of the undervalued tracks on this collection.
The Stranglers
5/5
This album rips and I absolutely loved it.
Joni Mitchell
5/5
Love this album
The White Stripes
5/5
Damn near perfect album, taking big swings with very catchy, simplified riffs and playing them with real fervor. Over the years I've noticed a lot of knowledgeable musicians are afraid of hooks that are too approachable, in that maybe they aren't clever enough or something.. Not Jack White who understands that it's what you do with it, to say nothing of completely committing to the bit.
Kings of Leon
2/5
I neither enjoyed, nor found this album essential by any means. I felt nothing beyond mild annoyance during some of the moments. There are a lot of pieces in the right place, but ultimately the intended emotions just don't ring as resonantly as they could.
Leonard Cohen
5/5
Does this guy know how to party or what?!
That is if the party is a self-reflective journey into an abyss of alienation brought on by a lifetime of fleeting connections and bitter resentments spurned by star-crossed love.
I guess this is yet another party I'm the last to leave.
Various Artists
3/5
Whomever is playing drums for the Ronettes on Frosty is really going to town. Come to think of it listening to the drums alone on this whole album it's hard to believe it's a Christmas album. The whole band really brings it to the table. This is a Christmas Album that has some refreshing approaches overall. There's some deep cuts in here too to cut the banality of Xmas playlists such as "The Bells of St. Mary" & "Marshmallow World" which is nice.
Weird choice for this 1001 list but alright.. whatever.
John Grant
4/5
Deeply personal album covering some pretty nuanced emotions. There are a lot of songs about love & loss, angst and excitement, but anytime an artist lands some of the lesser-explored "in-between-emotions" my ears perk up a bit more.
This is going to land harder for those that fall into Grant's more specific demographic of "gay Gen X man raised in the midwest" but he covers enough ground where anyone alienated enough can find a way in. Having been a former record store clerk his music knowledge is clearly dialed in enough to make this record sound fantastic and informed.
I'm already a fan of Rufus Wainwright, for instance, and although Grant has his own aesthetics, I found an easy lay of the land pretty quickly, songwriting-wise.
Real good album. Will revisit more here and there, including his work with Hercules & Love Affair for more disco stuff.
Johnny Cash
5/5
When seeking authenticity in music, this title says it all. Not only was Cash an artist who brimmed with authenticity, but this album was a high water mark for him. A novel idea he'd been knocking around for over 10 years and finally sober enough to pull it off, this lives on as a document of rebel-country's anti-authoritarian stance as Cash relates and connects with his thrilled audience of inmates.
The music is pulled off well but this is as raw as you'd expect it to be, with all the shit talking, jeering, and sneering banter you'd want. It didn't matter what these inmates did, their sentence length, or the overall functionality of their moral compasses, it had been a long time since someone came into their walls and treated them with the dignity that any human deserves. Not every inmate deserves their freedom, but music doesn't discriminate. This album captures that shared understanding between Cash & his audience, a circumstance that elevates this live album so highly beyond the great caliber performances and content of the songwriting alone.
Neil Young
4/5
Haven't heard this one by the prolific Neil Young. I dig it. Walk On starts with a really nice breezy riffy hook to it that instantly got me feeling this collection of songs.
Supergrass
4/5
Yammerin' swingin' jammin' good time. No shortage of an authentic edge and healthy spontaneity. Equal angst and fun, grit and hooks. I'll revisit this one.
Happy Mondays
5/5
This band is in my top 3 all-time favorite musical entities. If you find this to be utter garbage, allow me to explain.
Happy Monday's represent the messy halfway point between the punk movement and full on-90's rave culture. Combining elements of post-punk, psychedelia, and the disco roots of electronic music, they belligerently caterwauled their way to the top of the zeitgeist. They represent the decadence of complete disconnection, which they fed into and nurtured through heavy cocktail of ecstasy, heroin, alcohol, and really whatever else they could get their hands on.
I can't help but be charmed by them however, I mean what other band gives the most indulgent member of their friend group a couple of un-microphoned maracas and makes him an official band member? All because he's fun to be around and dances like a complete psycho? Happy Monday's, thats who. We're all on a nosedive, these blokes represent a subsection of the population who realize it, and are laughing with their pants off, all the way down.
Their keyboard player couldn't play keyboards, their singer couldn't sing, their maraca player didn't do shit except get himself and everyone around him out of their minds on harder and harder drugs. The thing is, is that people that are really high like a good groove, and the Monday's were savvy enough to land on one thunderously good groove after the next. You add onto that the lyrical nihilism of Shaun William Ryder and you have the ingredients for what the Monday's did best: anthems for the alienated. It didn't matter that he couldn't sing, in fact, it was better that he couldn't. He gave a voice the those that were pushed to the breaking point by polite society and just wanted to yell.
"Bummed" does not reach the caliber of their cultural high water mark, which goes to "Pills, Thrills, & Bellyaches", but it'll do you one better- it's got "Wrote For Luck" on it, one of their best and most quintessential songs. Reading Ryder's autobiography, he's revealed it's one of his proudest moments as a songwriter. For all the uneducated, across the tracks, utterly shitfaced buffoonery this man is known for, he's actually quite clever. And as history has shown us again and again, turn your nose up high enough and the underestimated ones find their way to the top.
Neil Young
5/5
Most guys my age I know first got into this album when they found their dad's old record collection in the basement storage in late high school or college. Like the actual song "Old Man", it's one of those male generational bridging albums that connects with young men who feel like old souls and actual old men alike.
My only criticism is that what could simply remain a folksy southern rock album however gets elevated at points by the occasional orchestral elements, which always felt a bit grandiose for this collection with their barn-jam photoshoots.
It's got those creative decisions that can be a bit much, but at the end of the day, what's the use in arguing with the old man about it.
Elton John
4/5
What on earth is this man thinking? Saturday is most certainly, NOT, alright for fighting.
Try talkin it out next time & take it easy Elton. Namaste, bud.
David Bowie
5/5
One of my favorite era's of Bowie is the Berlin trilogy, and this album that directly precedes that era tees it up marvelously. Clocking at just under 40 minutes, it shows Bowie ready to explore the groove-based avant garde with no fluff. Aside from Golden Years you have some of his finest work and you'll never hear it overplayed, except for in my living room.
Come on over, there's tea on the stove & lagers in the fridge.
Elastica
3/5
While this album rocks to an ample degree, it feels a bit too polished for my liking. If I am to rock, let me feel like I'm living a little dangerously.
I was familiar with that "Connection" song at track 3, which, to be fair, is a fantastic riff. There's some good nuts and bolts here but I'm not altogether memorable. There's some quality here but maybe it's landing better with other demographics.
Led Zeppelin
5/5
Wow I needed this today. If I'm going to narrow down my taste in music it's not about genre, it's about high impact music. This is about as high impact as it gets in the rock genre with cinematic hooks played with a whole lot of groove.
I gotta stop reading the reviews on this site because why are you even here listening to 1001 albums throughout time if you're going to write off older bands as "boomer music", especially when there's a successful band of teenagers ripping them off even today (I see you Greta Van Fleet).
And yes they lifted melodies, interpolated, ect. from others but if we're all going to recognize the brilliance of Daft Punk are we really mad about Zeppelin? They took the good shit, turned it up to 11, and applied their own edge and sensibilities to it.
And what a ride they take you on. From blues rock to early metal to acoustic guitar set to tabla percussion, you can't tell me these guys lacked originality.
Zeppelin will remain, forever one of my all time best repeat listening experiences.
Jurassic 5
5/5
This one took me back to 2002 for sure. Scored a copy of this and had it bumping in my car nonstop. You don't need to know a thing about hip hop culture to be let into their world through very accessible funk grooves with creative instrumentation, lush but approachable production techniques, and world class bars from their deep roster of MC's. Jurassic 5 isn't exactly Wu Tang-level crowded but I'm pretty sure there's more than 5 of these dudes, DJ withstanding.
While this is immediately something the party-people-in-the-place-to-be can get down to, it also has layers of understanding you can peel back. There's plenty of commentary on race, religion, love, and friendship on this to go around without any glorification of violence or petty squabbles. J5 is a little community of MC's all about rising above little things and cutting right to what's important-- great rhymes, great music, and great people.
Korn
1/5
oh dear god it's over an hour long.. alright here goes.
Immediate thoughts are that there are some good simple but thrashy grooves and riffs on this. There are some heavy hooks and breakdowns that are accompanied by weird little turntablist sounds and samples, which is cool. That little warble in track one added an otherworldly element which is cool.
This poor guy with the microphone is a bit much, however. You can be angry, but if you don't want me to think you're a weak little bitch about it, you can't be wallowing 100% of the time.
It seems to be a recent movement to revisit nu-metal at this stage, now that many of those bands are now considered "legacy acts" on touring circuits. Nu-metal, like pop-punk & emo, is now past their prime and that legacy is being examined. It seems that in the face of angst and disconnection in our current day and age, many listeners recognized an enduring fondness for this genre. Where once an anger at father & mother and a community alienation gave rise to the blunt thrash of this music, now we have alienation across a divisive social & digital landscape.
I understand the calling to reach for old comfort music, especially with some sonic innovation. Korn was better than many in the genre at combining hip hop beats, funk pedals, metal shredding, and psychedelic production techniques.
While ultimately not as cringe-inducing as the Limp Bizkits & Stainds of the era, being hardly the worst is no passing grade. Korn was hard to take this seriously then, and it's harder to take it seriously now. Next time I'll prefer to reach for some System of A Down, Slipknot, or Tool (does Tool count?) should my inner angst reach that point.
Got a ways to go on this album, wish me luck while I let it play out.
Pavement
3/5
This is fine. There is a demographic for this kind of rock and I was friends with that demographic, but never a part of it. It never bothers me to hear when I'm passing through but it's never feels as clever as they think they are.
Bob Dylan
4/5
Dylan is going through a bit of a victory lap right now due to his biopic depiction but he's always held a kind of legendary status. He's been glommed onto by so many fanatics as a kind of "prophet for the working class", as if the working class couldn't cut through the political clutter on their own without the punctuation of an occasional harmonica solo. I'm not about to plunge an iconoclastic spear into the side of this legendary figurehead, however, I know better. I'd only to muse that, to mythologize Dylan is an overzealous exercise that strips him of his humanity.
It's often been said about the first movie "I'm Not There" that it was the only movie that could ever be made about it's subject matter. As if Dylan's true inner self is so elusive that an attempt at a nuanced depiction would be sacrilege.
Seek and ye shall find all ye zealots. You could read between the lines in interviews, listen to his material in the 80's, or just listen to Blonde On Blonde and find his inner self and humanity is on full display.
And does that not serve to enrich the material on a deeper level? He's a brilliant writer, weird not-for-everyone vocalist, and an uncompromising creative who lays it all in front of us. His alienation, his fumbled romantic misconnections, social critiques, and eye rolls at materialism are all laid bare.
I'll write more about this album some day when I'm more familiar with some of the deep cuts on this one. This is clearly a fantastic album and I'm enjoying every bit of it. Looking forward to gaining an even deeper understanding of it but until then, I've got some 80's Dylan to revisit.
Kanye West
2/5
I always thought this guy was weird and outside of a handy recapping of all the kinds of lights that there are, I sure got no use for him now.
There's some good beats here and there, such as the Afromerica on Power, Mike Oldfield on Dark Fantasy, which really showcase his strengths as a producer. He's got strengths on the microphone as well, but this dude is clearly not a genius. This kind of hip hop album is aspirational that serves to hype people up but Kanye is not a smart, calculated, thoughtful person, so the accomplishments don't feel earned.
Look, if Kanye got on the mic and acknowledged that he was a menace, and nothing more, like he does on the track Monster, this would land hard. Instead he goes off about how he's a complicated Godly man, full of misunderstood purity and none of his identities hold water anymore. Fast forward to now, this guy is still contradicting himself.
Bottom line is that when I heard this the first time in 2010 I heard a talented man with a cringey god-complex. 15 years later tell me I'm wrong. This album works best when there are extended instrumental sections that remind you of the artist within, the problem is that Kanye never shuts the fuck up for long enough for those moments to last.
Adele
2/5
Lady you're scarin' us
King Crimson
3/5
This was way better than a lot of the prog rock I've been subjected to on this experience. I would revisit this album sometime, in fact.
Deee-Lite
4/5
Great samples, flourishes of classic disco house, funk house, and deep house with colorful abandon. Further accentuated by the 90's-wave of boisterous sampling efforts by Towa Tei. Some of this is too poppy for me but then again it produced "Groove is in the Heart" and I can't be mad at that. Bravo you goofballs, bravo.
Nina Simone
5/5
Nina Simone consistently shakes the earth with her intentionality, authenticity, and presence. Her life experience and emotional spectrum was so robust and channeled into each song.
It seems I've reached an issue where I'm only repeating this album and unable to move onto the next album in this exercise. Nina Simone's voice and aesthetic principles is a world that is easy to want to stay a while in.
Janelle Monáe
5/5
This is a nearly perfect album shimmering with genre bending energy and so much soul. There's talent all over here and amazingly focused collaborators with the sole exception of "Of Montreal" who rarely lands for me. I'm going to give it 5/5 though as even that can't knock the momentum loose on this album.
If Monae were to pitch the idea for this album to a room of industry insiders, who would say this is a good idea? This is a contemporary pop album that is a mishmash of throwback psychedelic soul featuring a woman who is styled after even further back throwback styles such as Metropolis-esque 1920's deco. It's clear that nobody really knew how to "sell" this album but fortunately Monae is a powerhouse in her own right while inspiring the belief in some other powerful friends.
Good times.
Sonic Youth
4/5
I liked this album very much.
Otis Redding
5/5
Turns out I'm not completely dead inside because this album hits me deep inside.
Turbonegro
2/5
Kind of wasted potential. These guys are clearly good musicians and they sufficiently rock. It all falls flat, however, when the delivery comes off as cheesy and posturing as this is, however. If I'm being offered classic/ punk rock I'd like to feel like these personalities are no stranger to playing chicken to oblivion on a daily basis. I'd better be cut wide open from their apparent edge.
This shit sounds like cosplay, I'm not havin it.
King Crimson
1/5
What is it with this list on the prog theme?! Goddamn enough is enough.
I'm a musician and can appreciate the technical skill but lot of wanking for no reason going on here.
Track 2, give me a fucking break. Don't give me 13+ minutes of wackadoo noodling like the opening track then try to make me feel some kind of emotion with some "woe is me bittersweet love on the rocks" kind of song. Get the fuck outta here. Only thing this song does effectively is the backwards guitar, well played you insufferable dweebs.
Track 3: this band should never sing. I feel nothing for your plight you sad, sorry man.
Track 4: Actually kind of a groove here and there. Good job fellas, you made something momentarily listenable!
5: Taking forever to get going, this one takes plenty of runway to.. I guess make sure we're in the right headspace for the epic jam to follow? It is a pretty good groove and don't mind it once it actually gets up to speed, but King Crimson is just too clever to give it to you all at once I suppose.
6. This one starts strong. It could have been a great edgey, snarly-toothed groove but they just drown the shit out of it with math riffs and atonal violin playing.
Wire
4/5
Very refreshing raw post-punk energy after the last prog album. Something about Wire always elevated their sound and concepts to from run of the mill post-punk to prestige art-punk, but I've never been able to put my finger on it. They certainly aren't afraid to come out of left-field and completely commit to their approach, which doesn't hurt.
Marvin Gaye
5/5
How do you express this much existential dread, frustration, confusion, and powerlessness in the face of an increasingly volatile and bizarre world, when so much love has been stripped away from you? Gaye was still reeling over the death of his closest friend, duet collaborator Tammi Terrell from a brain cancer rumored to be spurred from domestic violence. He'd never actually stop reeling from that lose for the rest of his life and in 1971, this album captures this man staring into the abyss. Known for the more universally-palettable Motown love songs of the 60's, this would forever be a turning point for Gaye.
Sonically the backing band of the Funk Brothers keeps him working through his pain with lush grooves. These groove are frequently punctuated by spacious dropoffs supported by pensive orchestral strings, allowing Gaye to soulfully ponder the deeper questions.
All this to be said, my favorite part of this album is my favorite part of a lot of Motown albums: James Jamerson. Between him on 5 tracks and Funk Brothers bassist Bob Babbitt on 4 others, there is iconic bassline after iconic bassline on this album. I can just focus on the low end of this entire runtime and just swim in it. I read that Jamerson was pulled in from a bar blackout drunk for the title track, which he recorded on the floor, and testament to his talent, still sounds like a million bucks.
With so much tragedy and trauma in these artists' lives, they sure knew how to make the most of it when the tapes are rolling. Fortunately for us, we have records like this to turn to when the world is spinning as fast as the room was for Jamerson on that bass track.
Blondie
4/5
Looking like an angry bride in front of a bunch of goofball groomsmen on the cover, this album has Blondie starting to allow herself to step into the brighter lights of the mainstream. Her band never really felt right neither in the punk nor the new wave circuit but as long as she kept that attitude and pep, it all feels cohesive. This is perhaps why you can hear her make pop songs alongside punk alongside disco and nobody bats an eye.
Rolling Stones, KISS, Rod Stewart, and so many more legacy rock acts got dragged for a crossover but Blondie seemed to gain a pass with Heart of Glass. I think she got away with it not only because she was not a longtime legacy rock act, but because she was always experimental with her genres by nature.
This album is no different, and I find it quite listenable, although the replayability between the standouts and the deep cuts is so vast.
Bauhaus
4/5
An exercise in beautiful simplicity whilst striking the right tone, this album explores space and repetition to paint the right picture. And what a picture it is. Rarely does moving through an expression of gloom and frustration feel this good.
Nick Drake
5/5
Love how this is kept so raw. Just vocals and acoustic guitar but while it plays, you hear the whole orchestra and see the whole spectrum of the human experience. This album is very beautiful and immediately resonates with me. Great rhythmic playing and interesting chord progressions, understated but rich vocal timbre.
Sam Cooke
5/5
Harlem Square Club huh? Now this is what energy in the air sounds like. There's so much chemistry between the audience and the performers, it's a real experience. You really feel like you're there, as it's such a transporting experience.
FKA twigs
4/5
There's something so erotic and sensual about Twigs. For all the contemporary artists that try so hard to capture an erotic chemistry on a recording, she does it so effortlessly. On top of that you have some unique songwriting and she executes well while covering fresh ground. I'm into it.
Louis Prima
4/5
This was a pretty spicy meat-ah-ball-ah.
Paul Simon
3/5
This album is alright. I'm less into Paul Simon's "sensitive poet" deal than I am his endless curiosity for other genres. I don't think he's ever hit the right balance for an album aside for Graceland, however.
Fans of either sides of Simon will find takeaways here but the issue is that it doesn't flow together at all. There's plenty of solid material to read literature and pine over long lost loves to or whatever people do with this stuff. On the other hand, there is Me and Julio Down By the Schoolyard, which is a song about... I don't know and Simon doesn't either.. the mama pajama and the Queen of Corona I guess. There's some vague crime committed and it's a big problem I suppose but it's funky as shit and there's a whistle solo so now it's timeless.
There's also the sturdy reggae track Mother and Child Reunion which was inspired by Jimmy Cliff and recorded with Cliff and company in Jamaica, explaining just how authentically Jamaican this track sounds.
I just wish Simon would do more whole albums of shit like this, I'd love it. Either way this album gets knocked down for the lack of balance more than my subjective irk at it's lack of grooves. I could probably be bothered to get in the mindset for his lower key songs if I weren't wildly distracted by Me and fucking Julio doing God knows what Down By the Schoolyard I mean come on. What a jam.
4/5
Rollicking freaky good time here. Plenty of high octane blues and edge to usher out the hippie generation to a period where the doors are opening to the upper animosities of punk.
Pink Floyd
4/5
This is what listenable prog rock sounds like. Experimental within cohesive concepts and overarching themes. This isn't an all-the-time album for me but there's plenty to love from the inspired reflections in the lyricism, fantastic use of early synthwork, and epic overtones.
Derek & The Dominos
3/5
Real solid blues rock for what it's worth. Nice mix of classics like Nobody Knows You When You're Down and Out and more individualistic takes such as Layla itself. The title of this album really nails it, as Layla itself is such a behemoth of a track that all the others seem to drift from memory as soon as Clapton lets that iconic riff rip. Not that the other songs aren't good, as they are quite solid, but they sure aren't Layla.
I'll say that Bell Bottom Blues is a great standout as well, in its own George Harrison-feeling way. Testament to the personal and creative friendship between the 2 of them that shared more in common than just Pattie Boyd.
The last track Thorn Tree in the Garden feels pretty out of place and unnecessary..
All in all, my core opinion and takeaway from this album is that this album has Layla on it.
Boston
4/5
This album is nowhere near as deep as ELO's "Out of the Blue", and Jeff Lynn's spaceship would likely win in an outer space race against Boston's spaceship, but for a debut album this is no slouch.
For how "commercial-arena" this is sounds, you'd hardly believe this is nearly one guy's sole vision, recorded in a self-made basement studio. All these layers of feel-good, bouncey, surface level reflections make for a very charming experience. This is the soundtrack of teenage 70's summers, endless possibilities, and being really high in a van.
For all the vision, classical training, and ambition nerdy mastermind Tom Scholz had, he needed a Brad and he got one. Brad Delp was the good looking, good timin', frontman with the voice. He even contributed a little bit to the lyrics on a couple tracks. Mostly however, he gave much needed humanity to these ultra-clean sounding multi-layered tracks that soar as high as the spaceship on their album cover.
Oddly enough ELO predates the "airbrushed spaceship" album cover by Boston but not sure if they officially kicked that trend off but it sure would take off, no pun intended. They sure sound influenced by ELO and I'd be willing to bet legendary album designer Paula Scher knew what she was doing when she selected that artwork.
Anyway... RIP Brad Delp.
Television
5/5
This album is just real clean, real mean. Television made some iconic & unique grooves here during a very contentious period in New York, genre-wise. To share space with the punk scene and make a clean album with no distortion and a song that is over ten minutes long is truly a give-no-fucks attitude. I've read that Tom Verlaine was even known as the "Jerry Garcia of punk" in some circles.
This one occupies a real unique space and the riffs and overall guitar playing is so memorable. It's like a space inspired equally by krautrock and punk. Love it.
The Notorious B.I.G.
5/5
All MCing aside just check out the range of production on this, the samples, the tracks flipped. So many iconic grooves and soaring hooks that make these tracks instantly palatable. Then you add in one of the most compelling storytellers in hip hop history and it's classic after classic.
Yes there are a lot of annoying skits, but that was just a thing in 90's hip hop and it's almost unavoidable during this era.
Jacques Brel
2/5
As far as Chansons go, I'm not a huge Brel guy but solid stuff here. Maybe I'll get more into it another day.
Laibach
4/5
This is that kind of campy sort of early industrial that revels in the extreme. The humor exists within the dissonance of how subversive one can assume these artists are as people, in actuality. While the humor is dry, it arrives in heaping helpings.
Skepta
4/5
Oi bruv! I be right straight chuffed bout dis 'ere geezah Skepta's brilliant production and fire bars. Noice surprise innit?!
Seriously though this one grew on me with each new production choice (YES, Queens of the Stone Age first album being sampled absolutely threw me for a loop!) Not to mention the lyrics were extremely well executed. This was about the craft and I appreciated that very much. I feel like this one has layers that could grow on you over time and I'm looking forward to digging back into it. Cheerio!
American Music Club
2/5
There are some nice songs here but the cardinal sin for me in music and art, whether you're minimalist or maximalist, is not to be boring.
Some nice moments here, where they succeed in really, really chilling out but ultimately they'd succeed more artistically if they were more memorable. At times they veer so closely to sounding like others like Elliott Smith or even Morrissey, but if that's all I can recall about the composition, then that's a serious issue.
A Tribe Called Quest
5/5
Great album through and through. Love the lyricism & range of samples. 5/5 every time all day..
Charles Mingus
3/5
Real quality but sometimes a bit unfocused for the benefit of experimentation. Would like to listen to it more.
Adele
2/5
She certainly can belt. This lady is really intense in general. Look, I don't know exactly what happened to her, and I know losing love can be very sad, but the longer I listen I get the creeping feeling that the intensity level is perhaps landing in the "overkill" territory. So while this release is brimming with talent, it all feels a bit unsettling.
This works best when the arrangements fall more into the Dusty Springfield areas of inspriation. No kitchen sink-approach, just a little minimalist soul upholding the craft of the songwriting and some legit vocal range. We get little bits of that here, "I'll Be Waiting" comes to mind as a good example.
Rocket From The Crypt
4/5
I let this one run a couple times in a row. Pleasantly surprised at the rowdy edge this group has and how they've channeled into some gnarly riffs.
Kanye West
5/5
Really hate to be listening to this again because this art is really hard to separate from the artist. A lot of his projects that people and critics have loved have fallen flat for me, but damn does this album slap. It is objectively killer and proof of how complex people's inner worlds are.
It kind of sounds like this "old Kanye's" last fleeting attempt to grapple with the fact that his ego and mental health are both nuclear-powered freight trains going Mach 10 towards each other on the same tracks.
Beats are all abstract yet extremely high impact and the bars are caliber. This album even works almost as Ye's "Villian monologue" in a movie. It's an inflated narcissistic diatribe that is seething and unnerving in it's zealousness. If you're a movie protagonist and this is the villian you're up against, God help you.
Linkin Park
1/5
I'm not listening to this shit.
LCD Soundsystem
5/5
To me, Murphy's LCD is a beautiful collage of influences expanding on a meandering feeling of meaningless and nihilisim found prevalent the indie sleaze era. Especially noticable was this tendency in the Gen Xers navigating this movement such as James Murphy. Armed with the wisdom of being old enough to have accumulated a thousand influences, scars from lost battles, and the understanding this will likely not end all that well, he had one life lesson that he knew for certain: sometimes you have to turn it up, pop the champagne, and say fuck it.
NOTES: Especially well written is this album's encapsulation of the abstract feeling of losing someone we love in "Someone Great".
There are some tendencies I could do without in the Murphy cannon such as the over the top melodrama of "New York, I Love You But You're Bringing Me Down", a song with more potential endings than words in the title, but honestly that's what makes him who he is. He's an indulgent hot mess who, like his track record shows, tries to quit but just can't bring himself to commit to an exit.
I hope he's made peace with being the last one to leave the party because he's accidentally become the life of a lot of them.
4/5
You won't hear me Kinks-shaming anyone here. In my opinion they've always been wildly underrated, the only enemy of their success being their own big-swinging intellect. Often writing up little cinematic dioramas within their songs or whole albums, their concepts can feel intimidating for a casual rock listener, but so rewarding.
Having OD'd on their early albums and Village Green Preservation Society in my day, I've been going through their whole catalogue. This, like so many others, have been amazing to get acquainted with.
Like many works in the Kinks cannon, I need more repeat listens before I comment about this album but that's not going to be hard to want to do.
Soul II Soul
4/5
Some smooth 90's club house cuts in here and I'm here for it. All the stuff I want to hear when I'm immersing in 80's or 90's house.. big percussive piano chords, organ tones, belting divas on the mic, flute solos being ripped, and programmed 4/4 boots and pans on the beat.
This is a chill, good time and includes some classic 90's club house bangers, taking me back to some of my first memories of the genre when it started getting radio play. The singles aside, it also features a robust palette of aesthetics within the aesthetic cannon of that era.
Damn do I love this genre in this era. It's music just made to dance forever to. The vocals usually range from a diva raised on gospel just going beast mode in the booth on a hook to spoken word male vocals ranging from awkward rhyming schemes to outsider rap verses. In other words, 90's house figured out a formula on how to capture a vibe and milked the shit out of it during this period.
Still gets me movin and God bless em for it.