Aja
Steely DanI think I thought I used to like them but frankly this album is as musak-ally stale as a 1 wk old loaf of bread. Bored out of my mind. Can’t really find anything redeeming here.
I think I thought I used to like them but frankly this album is as musak-ally stale as a 1 wk old loaf of bread. Bored out of my mind. Can’t really find anything redeeming here.
Such a fabulous and ambient album. It is emotional even in its repetitiveness. I like to put it on in the background and never get tired of it.
I have been down this rabbit hole once in the past going in with an open mind. I’m not going to listen to this album today. Once was enough.
Not my cup of tea. Kind of the worst of 2000 with no memorable melodies, lacking any infectious hooks, grating drum machines, and a feeling of smugness that is not deserved. Compare Madonna for instance with St Vincent who can actually write and perform emotive music.
David Bowie is one of the three most important musicians EVER in my life. I named my dog Bowie for god sakes. I remember the excitement of new music coming from him, a beautiful surprise in early January, only to be crushed that he was dead two days later. How could that possibly be, and yet of course he had given us a masterpiece final gift. I have spent many hours with this album. The musicians are superb, including the amazing drummer Mark Guiliana. All pulled together in NYC in secret to hear demos put together by the then reclusive Bowie and to work with him full force, full of creative energy, and always reinventing to some new place. The man is a fucking genius smarter than all of us put together the way he weaves art, history, metaphysical/ spiritual/ magical/ darkness/ light into one. I grieve. But I love going back to learn what was top of mind inspiring him and driving him throughout the years. It is impossible to separate the quality of the music from the totality of being the art he created while dying of cancer. It certainly colors how I feel about it, but goddammit the music, lyrics, and creativity are as good as anything he ever did. You can learn a lot more about the backstories here: https://bowiesongs.wordpress.com/category/blackstar-2016/
Never had listened to this whole album before. I really liked Warning Sign. Cool chord changes in the chorus. The Good Thing also catchy. But not enough consistency overall. Wish I could rate 2.5. Half the songs are good. But musicianship is there and nobody sounds like Byrne.
Not offensive. Stevie is a talented dude but I don’t ever think I would just put this on and be excited about all the songs. Literally nothing got stuck in my head or make me want to come back for a second helping. That said last song was the best. Very strong.
I liked this album more than I expected. First time listen for me and Willie really interpreted these songs brilliantly. I can see why it was such a hit.
It’s fine as background rock music. Hard for me to say this fits on a best ever list though. 70’s hard rock jamming like a lot of 70’s hard rock jamming out there. Must be a time and place thing for many who seem to love it.
This is a well conceived and catchy album. Cohesive throughout with a number of songs that you likely know but don’t know that well. They own a unique sound and groove.
I think I thought I used to like them but frankly this album is as musak-ally stale as a 1 wk old loaf of bread. Bored out of my mind. Can’t really find anything redeeming here.
This is a thoroughly entertaining listen. Creative and unique for certain. Strong 4.
Ridiculously awful. Each song worse than the last. I now know what a 1 sounds like. Wish I could rate 0 though.
I know people who love this album. I couldn’t really find anything to latch onto though. Not creative enough to hold me. Guess just not my cup of tea.
I like it.
I was surely listening to Duran Duran and Simple Minds and Def Leppard at this time. But also a lot of Beastie Boys and Easy E. Depeche Mode just wasn’t part of my rotation. At first I thought maybe that was a miss, but this album is just boring.
The final song (Come On) is a 5 in my book. The first song (Bitter Sweet Symphony) endures as a time and place thing and gets a 4 from me. Everything else sounds the same, which is to say BORING AS FUCK.
Poor man’s Pet Shop Boys but way less musical talent? Most songs started and I thought they were going to be OK, and then just shallow musically and trite lyrics. I won’t ever dial this one up again but it wasn’t offensive either. Would love to see a more clever approach to telling the world they are horny guys.
So much promise. Each song had something interesting. None were amazing. I kept wishing to hear some old school rap over these beats.
Great expectations. I generally like music like this. It was only average though.
Mix of weird and wonderful. The musical abilities here are off the charts. I’ll take Long Distance Runaround any day over Roundabout.
I had never listened to the whole thing in the past. One of the first albums like that on this list where I was more than pleasantly surprised. Really great as background music and also great if you dig in and really listen.
I found some really interesting and beautiful chord changes at times. I wanted to hear those evolve like free form jazz but they never did. Just a glimpse and back to something more mundane. And the songs were just too damn long. I fast forwarded one a few times and where I landed it sounded exactly like where I had come from. Ironically a John Coltrane song came on on Spotify right after this song ended. The contrast was profound. Keith Jarrett is no master. Still, interesting background story on this one and not saying he can’t play.
I don’t have time to get all my thoughts in here, but suffice it to say, I rate this album very highly. musicianship, concept, and the overall time and place it takes me to as a child of the 70s. Solid five from me.
Felt like I was being gaslighted. No.
Fine pop music for a Pandora playlist with outdoor BBQ seed. Not memorable. Heard all the hits and don't care. A few of the deep cuts were better.
I liked it. Fun listen even if silly bravado at times. I like these beats from the late 80s / early 90s
I was borderline going to go with a 4 here just because my standards for Radiohead are astronomically high. But that's bullshit because it's all relative. I gave Ice-T a 4 yesterday which by definition means Radiohead is a 5. Here's the thing. You may be a "musician" - some of us are. But you can't play Pyramid Song. Yet I've seen these guys do it live and they are brilliant. Thom is up there with Prince as a multi instrumentalist. Radiohead's talent is epic.
First few songs were 4's and 5's. Others were 1's and 2's. Where does that leave us? Avg 2.4. Around down to 2.
Very solid. Ms Lauryn Hill creates her own vibe and unique sound for sure.
Ella Fitzgerald is fantastic but I just don't really dig this type / age of music - or 3 hours. I guess if I have to listen to 1959 she's as good as any who was doing it then. I was reading reviews and saw this one which I've now cut and pasted. Perfect review. --- With all due respect to the legendary Ella Fitzgerald, I don’t have the time or patience to listen to a three and a half hour box set of Gershwin songs. I’m not gonna sit here and say, “oh my god, this is so amazing. What a landmark record”, just because Ella Fitzgerald is a legend. I hated this record. This type of music bores the ever-loving shit out of me. The truth is, I’ve got about 40 minutes of tolerance for most music that was recorded before 1965. I know, I’m a horrible close minded human being; the poster boy for everything that’s wrong with modern society. I see the value in it, I can appreciate Fitzgerald’s talent…she has an absolutely beautiful voice and the arrangements are wonderful. In short bursts, it’s kind of enjoyable to me. After about 10 songs, though, it becomes torturous. Is it a bad record because of that? No, certainly not. I’m not anywhere near that narcissistic. This just isn’t for me. I wish I could like music like this, I wish I could see what other people see in it. I wish I could put this on, have a cup of coffee and do the Sunday NYT crossword puzzle, without my skeleton attempting to separate from my flesh. I did learn one thing listening to this record, though. The “po-tay-to / po-tah-to” song was written by Gershwin…Saving that in the old memory bank for trivia night. Because I made no attempt to finish this collection, I’m defaulting to site consensus on this. The site ranks it a 3.62, so I’ll give it a 3.
There were mere snippets of enjoyment. And a lot of other things that were not well tied together. Didn't hate it but won't repeat listen either.
Velvet Underground is an easy listen but never stirs me.
Some of the time the music was a 4. Most of the time singing was a 1.
This isn't my style. I see some talent. I liked the very first song a lot. Just background music for me though.
If you love folk / Americana this is a 5. If you don't then give it a 4 because it is the gold standard.
I fancy myself a prog rock fan. I love Genesis and a lot of Yes. This album was stupidly annoying, a clamoring of nonsense that failed to advance my esteem for prog rock and in fact made me more than a little irritated.
As a youth in the 80's I liked that era's PSBs although I'd be hard pressed to put them on any top album list. Today I'm confronted with this ridiculous collection of synth pop drivel. I imagine a future civilization encountering this Top 1001 album list and playing Behaviour. At that point I'd be ashamed of our human race. This is NOT good music, song writing, lyrics, production, or entertainment.
I didn't give it a fair and complete listen but have low hopes that the later songs were a lot different than the earlier ones. Didn't hate it...
Top notch band. Top notch singer.
When this album came up I thought OK here's a band / album I may have just missed out on. Pixies. Yay! They are great and such big influences in the 90's. But then I listen and I realize that ya I've heard all of this and have intentionally left it out of my rotation. I hear some things I like but can't rate this super high. Doesn't press a nostalgia button for me. Can't just rate it because it influenced.
I listened to a few and was not willing to go on. This album is complete trash.
Very first album on this list where I was really pleasantly surprised. Apparently I didn’t know what krautrock was. Glad I do now. I immediately thought of Miles Davis and In a Silent Way, and on further research saw that Miles was a big influencer of these German artists. I also found myself thinking of King Gizzard. Great album. I’ll put this one on in the background again and again.
Solid classic rock. No more, no less.
Just kinda boring
This is a superb album. I’d give it a 5 easy just for Can’t You Hear Me Knockin, Sister Morphine and Moonlight Mile. No filler on this one.
Good to get to know this album. They helped start grunge. But were nowhere as good as some of the others.
Excited to see this one come up. I don’t have to listen because I’ve been listening to it for 40 years. One of the single most influential albums in my life with Prince at the peak of his creative and live performance powers. Name me a better all around musician. You can’t.
Kendrick is like no other and has created a space that he and only he can occupy.
Hated first two songs and gave up.
I have nothing nice to say.
Fine fine but got kinda boring.
The most talented group of musicians putting out the least great music I could ever think of. Way too much filler on this one.
Epically good and sounds so fresh. Charted the way for many I hear so much in here.
Excellent song writing. Bowie is incomparable.
The sounds of my youth. Nobody was as cool as Simon Le Bon, as eclectic as Nick Rhodes, and everybody knew the videos. So what about the music? I think you have to put DD in the pioneer category for blending punk, new wave, post-disco, real musical chops (John Taylor and his base lines) and packaging it up virally before that was a thing. Many hits. New Religion is my hidden gem.
I always want to like Bob Dylan more than I actually do when I listen. I appreciate the songwriting and historical significance, but these usually aren’t tunes that I would just throw on when I’m picking my own music.