What an awesome sound! I'd never heard of Hot Chip before this and I had no idea what to expect, but this was marvelous. Such rich sounds and great music, great hooks, great beats, great performances. Just wonderful all around. I liked it so much I'm going to listen to it again. Five stars, easily.
Still sounds fresh. Moody, edgy, nice mood-setter.
Stevie's voice was much more subdued than I'm used to. First tracks were slower, more folksy, less funky, but still fun and well-harmonized as always. Later tracks got funky like I was expecting -- very nice. Overall a very good album. 5 stars.
Typical ZZ Top sound, driving bass, filthy growly guitars. Very nice.
Very Kinks sounding. Happy, unoffensive, nice melodies and grooves. This may have been ground-breaking in 1968 but it seems verging on boring now. It's good background music for cruising through a happy day, and the chord progressions and melodic elements are nice enough, just nothing mind-blowing.
Not really my style -- a little whiny, but cool melodies and nice sparse arrangements.
Side 1: Very cool soundscapes with good solid rhythm and lead parts. Super chill with good ambience. Side 2: Rocking sound with lots of Krautrock feel. Very fun, but still serious music. ;)
Classic Dylan. Rambling lyrics, lots of harmonica, lush organ and guitar tones, wonderful melodies and just a nice listen. Do You Mr. Jones was a wonderful unexpected tune.
Allman Brothers! I'd never noticed before how prominent the harmonica was in the Allman Brothers sound! They were really spot on in this performance, and the acoustics and sound quality in the venue were really great. Two drummers really messed with me for a minute. There's just so much going on here -- in a good way. The entire show really boogies. Truly one of a kind and so much awesome energy. Five stars.
Smooth and soulful, definitely a nice listen. There are some really cool grooves in here. If I was more into R&B or Soul I would give this five stars, but four stars.
At first I didn't think I was going to like this one very much, since it didn't seem like a genre I was really into -- very dub. But as the music progressed, I couldn't _not_ be impressed by the melodies and the performances -- especially the female vocalist, but also the male vocalist on Rough Out Here. The bass lines are super punchy and tight, the orchestration and drum grooves are just awesome, and everything is just perfectly done, even if not all of it was my normal arena. I see why this album is on this list! Four stars.
Wonderful simple guitar melodies with almost spoken word from Cohen. Famous Blue Raincoat is quite nice. Some of the tunes are really just poetry over music -- which is interesting, but I think it takes away from the musicality of it all. Joan of Arc was also quite nice. Overall a good listen, but not really my cup of tea. Three stars.
It's so crazy that a) so many of these songs are super ingrained in the zeitgeist, b) this was their very first album, and c) this was released in 1967. This is magic in a bottle and the sounds are just so incredibly cool and catchy. Even the non-hits on this album were so smooth and nice to listen to. Five stars easily.
So Irish. Lots of fun to listen, so bouncy and emotional (whether that's happy, angry or sad, depending on the song).
Wild stuff, really psychedelic -- some spoken word stuff. Cool rock grooves too, almost surf rock in some places. Heavy riffs, nice chugging, almost pre-metal, primordial sounding. I have no idea what decade this music is even from (okay, I just looked -- 1973 is definitely earlier than I would've guessed). Time We Left The World Today is super hypnotic and crazy sounding. I really like the grooves but the heaviness and repetitiveness of the music can be a little much. Three stars.
The screaming is just not my thing. I can appreciate the instrumentation though, although I find the ubiquitous double kick to be excessive (as I always do). When the singer actually sings (eg. Dead Memories, Vendetta, Snuff, Child of Burning Time, Vermilion Pt. 2, Till We Die, and to some degree Gehenna and Wherein Lies Continue), I really like the sound and everything is great! I had to take a break halfway through because the screaming is just too much. I almost didn't make it through the whole album because it was just so awful to listen to the screaming songs. I would give it 1 star, but the "actual singing" songs were really good. I won't be listening to this album (as a whole) ever again, but the songs I liked were really good and I would listen again. Two stars.
Bluesy, smoky, smooth. In The Mood with Bonnie Raitt is quite nice. The rest of the album is mostly just chill, old blues man grooves. Overall nice, but not really a style I'm super into without something special. Three stars.
Excellent flow, grooves, swagger. Cools bass lines, tons of character in the beats, singing from Lauryn Hill is so good, and flows from Wyclef and Pras are very smooth and natural sounding. Very nice listen. Three stars
Turns out that I know and like about 90% of the songs on this album, haha. And the songs I hadn't heard before we wonderful. Bono's voice and the band's sound are just perfect U2, definitely the sweet spot for me. Five stars.
Starts off with an awesome sound; bopping, sharp guitar rock with a nice tone, smooth, cutting vocals, nice happy riffs. Some twangy steel guitar was an unexpected delight. I'd heard the Mrs. Robinson cover many times before but never knew it was by the Lemonheads -- great tune. Overall very cool vibe, really enjoyed listening. Four stars.
Delightfully wacky. Such good grooves with such unconventional sounds. Loose playing of unconventional instruments, playful singing, he almost sounds drunk at least half the time, but the lyrics are so poetic and just sound so cool. Feels almost like haunted carnival music, slightly unsettling but super intriguing, but then at other times it's emotional and gentle (albeit weirdly so). Other times the tone is like smooth but smoky, like eavesdropping on a Southern barbecue hoedown or something. Four stars.
Cool, boppy punk sound, very Ramones- and Blackhearts-reminiscent, which is cool. But the music is very one-note -- almost no difference between songs. Two stars.
The Band has a sound like no other musical act. So smooth, so twangy, so folksy and just all-around enjoyable to listen to. Some of the songs were a little one-note, and I didn't hear anything (besides The Weight) that I thought was amazing. All good, solid songs, with cool vibes and grooves, but not mind-blowing. Maybe worth a second listen to see if I missed something? Three stars.
Absolutely wonderful, as always. I know most of these songs already and I love them. Great listen.
I know this album well, and it never fails to disappoint. The soaring vocals, edgy riffs and brilliant sense of humor make this an absolute blast to listen to. I wouldn't change a thing about it -- it's about the perfect album for me. Five stars.
Way cooler than I even expected. The only Suzanne Vega songs I'd heard before were Tom's Diner and Luka, but this music was much more driving and acoustically folksy than I expected. Great bass sound on a lot of these tracks, awesome vocals throughout, of course, and some great acoustic guitar riffs. The lyrics are very expressive, imaginative and evocative. Such great storytelling in The Queen and the Soldier and Knight Moves. Such a pure and beautiful voice and lots of minor keys that sound really cool when she sings. Great recording quality and crisp sounding instruments, lovely ambience. All of the songs were so good I listened to the album twice. Five stars easily.
Cool, disco smoothness. Very cool ambience and vibe but not really my genre. Appreciate the musical genius of it and the cool basslines though. Three stars.
Slightly funky, cool grooves, great vocals and great sound, but sounds very dated to my ear. Three stars.
I know most of these songs well. All so good, even the ones I hadn't heard before. Hard to believe that so many hits were on one album. So folksy, rocking, just great to listen to. Five stars.
I own this album on vinyl and it's just absolutely flawless. The sound is so crisp and clean, and every instrument sounds like it was composed and performed in heaven. Such good grooves, smooth melodies and clean harmonies. The bass sound is super cool, the synths are perfectly balanced and natural sounding, the drums and cymbals are just perfect. Vocals of course are enlightened and flawless. I only wish it was longer. Five stars easily.
So fucking cool. Tom Petty's twangy, rocky sound is perfect here. Every song has a different vibe from the others, but they're all so perfectly Tom Petty. His voice really shines and some of the grooves are just super cool and clean. Production quality is also quite good, as well as just absolutely stellar performances on all instruments (and vocals, of course). This album is very good, but the sound can be a tad grating after a while. Four stars.
So heavy, so riffy, so cool. It's amazing that Black Sabbath started a whole genre of music with this one album. I've heard this album before, but the only track I was familiar was The Wizard, which was head and shoulders above the others IMO. They're all great, and the uniqueness and novelty of the sound Black Sabbath created can't be overstated. Five stars.
Bluesy, smoky, twangy, and just really cool. Very Allman-esque and just so good. The good songs (Bell-Bottom Blues, Layla) are just amazingly good, and even the forgettable songs were great to listen to. Four stars.
Biggie isn't really my sound, and the violence and anger don't resonate with me much. But there were some positive songs in there, and the flows, hooks and beats were quite good. Biggie was clearly a very talented rapper and I respect the hell out of him for that. Great storytelling too. Three stars.
What a cool 80's pop sound. The whole album was well put together and well recorded and these guys clearly have a lot of talent, but the sound is very dated today and basically the whole album sounded like one long song -- that's how similar the sound was from track to track. Overall good, but not something I'd listen to over and over. Two stars.
This was an interesting listen. They have a very distinct sound, but I found them oddly similar to the Echo And The Bunnymen album from yesterday. Not really my cup of tea, but a neat vibe. Three stars.
This album sounds so 80's (despite being released in '78), but also so fresh and good. The sound is just so cool and synth-vibey, I just love every songs. Even the songs I'd never heard before were great and had a great sound to them. Five stars.
What a cool album. I've never been impressed with the recording quality of Hendrix albums, and this one is no different, but the music inside is just really great. I find the Hendrix sound to be a little grating sometimes, but some aspects of this (eg. the glockenspiel on Little Wing) we just really outstanding in how they created a sound that I wanted to hear more of. Very listenable and fun, even though I'm still not the biggest fan of Jimi's sound. Four stars.
Cool, dark, smooth, and really mellow. I liked everything here. Four stars.
Very funky, cool and sparse. The grooves are very nice. The double bass is really good. Don't like the style of the vocalist -- sounds really fake and immature, like a little white boy trying to sound cool by putting on a really stupid "urban" way of speaking. Four stars for the music, one star for the vocals, two stars overall.
Musically kind of interesting, but the whiny vocals get pretty grating after a couple songs. Very polished sounding, but in an almost clinical way, despite having lots of spectrum coverage, sonically. Go West's chords almost perfectly matched Canon in D, which was interesting for a minute, but then became pretty monotonous (no pun intended) and boring. Overall not really my cup of tea. Two stars.
Great harmonies, good vibes, excellent musicianship and writing. If not for the lead singer's voice (which can be whiny and the vibrato a little too harsh sometimes), this would be five stars, but I give it four stars.
Very cool. So good. Five stars.
Excellent primordial heavy metal/hard rock, akin to Black Sabbath's first album. Killer riffs and great musicianship, will listen again. Five stars.
Charming sound, very unconventional, and sometimes a bit sloppy, but full of raw talent. Very cool grooves and great mesh between the instruments, lots of them with cool sounds rarely heard in Western music, but still with a Western feel to the structure of the songs. Definitely a neat world music feel and fun to listen to, but not really my thing. A solid three stars.
Initially this seemed like boilerplate 90's pop rock like Cracker/Rembrandts/Fastball, but after getting deeper into the album, I'm finding this a nice listen. Area 51 stands out as a different style to the rest of the record (more electronic/techno), but still a good listen. Lots of cool grooves that I didn't expect from the same band as the other songs. They seem really versatile and I like them, but I probably wouldn't listen to this album twice. Three stars.
So cool, so synthy, really just unbelievable that this came out in 1978 because it still sounds so modern. Some songs are a little silly sounding (eg. Neon Lights), but most of it is just really great. Very listenable and melds into the background while also giving the listener a really cool feeling. Recorded so well. Five stars.
So bluesy, so cool, so Doors. The style does get a little old after a while, but it takes a long time. Very good. Four stars.
Excellent record, very Kinks but also very modern and complex sounding, almost like a mid-period Beatles sound. I really liked it and will listen again (already listened to it twice). Five stars.
I'd never listened to any Sonic Youth music before now and I wasn't sure what to expect, but this was actually very good and enjoyable. Hints of Garbage, The Smashing Pumpkins and someone else (Weezer? Not sure), with a cool pop/grungy sound that was very cool. The one song Nic Fit was absoltuely awful (bad enough that I almost couldn't sit through its 1 minute runtime), but I guess that's bound to happen on even good albums from time to time. Four stars.
I appreciate Little Richard's virtuosic piano playing and his amazing voice, but these songs were pretty much just all 12-bar blues with minor variations in arranging and phrasing over the top. It was fun to listen to, but felt like just a bunch of rehashes of the same song. Two stars.
Rap is not usually my genre, but this is just really, really good stuff. The rhymes and flow are so incredibly creative and tight, and the character work by Eninem is just awesome. The production quality was just flawless and everything was just amazing. I will listen to this again, right now. Five stars.
Already one of my favorite albums of all time. Does not disappoint -- no skips. Five stars easily.
So funky, jazzy, just wonderful. I know most of these tunes, but even the ones I didn't know were good. Four stars.
What a weird collection of tracks. With the exception of the weird radio DH call excerpts (which sounded terrible and weren't funny or interesting at all), it seemed like each one was completely different from all the rest. Which is kind of interesting, except that each one was either severely jarring and annoying to listen to or very amateurish and crappily recorded, or both. The only tracks that were somewhat decent were Obatala and Double Dutch, but I doubt I would ever listen to either of those again either. One star.
Bluesy and spicy, with lots of Janis Joplin sauce. The sound gets old pretty fast, but I can definitely appreciate the music for what it is, and Janis's singing is quite masterful. Three stars.
What a cool sound. Reminds me of a French Tom Waits. Very weird, but awesome music. Four stars.
Awesome Bowie goodness. So good I listened to it twice. Five stars.
Some real high points here, especially the bass, and especially that in the funkiest tracks. Some really cool grooves and nice vibes. Some overly disco-ey sounding tracks, but overall very nice and well written and performed songs. Four stars.
What a cool folksy sound these two have. I'd never heard of them before, and I wasn't expecting much from the first song, but they got better and better as the album went on. I especially liked the minor key songs, reminded me of Traffic and maybe Jim Croce. Nice sound, four stars.
Not really my genre, but I guess it was alright. The rhymes and beats were solid, but I didn't really enjoy any of the songs very much. Two stars.
Cool and jazzy, with a distinct sound. Nobody sounds like Nina Simone but Nina Simone. Definitely had an aged sound to it, but still very listenable and well recorded. The timbre of Nina's voice takes some getting used to, and can become grating (to me, at least) after a while, but she's great in smaller doses. Three stars.
Such a cool sound, unmistakably Talking Heads (and David Byrne), and I love it. Can be a little one-note, so I couldn't listen to it for more than an album or so without getting a little tired of it, but the quality of the music and recording is just spectacular. Three stars.
Soulful, funky, masterfully played. Wonderful basslines and string parts, and great vocal arrangements and performances. That said, the album was a little one-note, and it wasn't very long, but I still was kind of relieved when it was over and I could get some more variety. Three stars.
What a cool sound. Kinda like edgy hip-hop meets acid beats/house music or something? I like it, and it all sounded really good and well-composed and -recorded. I'd never even heard of Tricky before, but I recognized him from The Fifth Element. Not really my genre, but I definitely appreciate it for what it is. Three stars.
What an awesome sound! I'd never heard of Hot Chip before this and I had no idea what to expect, but this was marvelous. Such rich sounds and great music, great hooks, great beats, great performances. Just wonderful all around. I liked it so much I'm going to listen to it again. Five stars, easily.
I love Steely Dan, so it's not surprise that I loved this. Only I.G.Y. was familiar to me, but the entire album stank of that wonderful Steely Dan aroma. Excellent album, listened to it twice and would again. Five stars.
Not really my genre of music. The rapping was fine, and some of the songs had some catchy grooves and were recorded well, but most of it just sounded like a mush of verbal diarrhea. Two stars.
Nice recording quality and decent performances, musically speaking, but sounded kinda like one long song, without much inflection or complexity or interest. Two stars.
Very cool, jazzy and fresh, with a spicy world flavor. Four stars.
Very interesting sound, which at first I didn't like, but which grew on me as I listened. The singer's vocal stylings are very unpolished, but it comes off as charming -- kind of like an English Eminem, but with less focus of technical rapping prowess and more on gritty, endearing, self-deprecation and emotion. Overall a good listen, but I will probably not listen again. Three stars.
This was a great throwback sound -- very Byrds. Almost had a Kinks sound to it too. I didn't really recognize any of the songs but the sound was instantly recognizable. I really liked the more psychedelic but the whole this was a solid listen and very flavorful. Three stars.
Very cool, mellow music with a great energy. The Old People's Voices track was weird and off-putting, but otherwise a nice listen. Mrs. Robinson of course was great, and I forgot that S&G did Hazy Shade of Winter, which is a great song. Four stars.
Cool sound, punky, edgy, and kinda pre-grungy. I liked it, but probably wouldn't listen to it again. Three stars.
Nice mix of like John Mellancamp, Talking Heads and early U2. I like it. Four stars.
Cool sound, most songs sound kinda the same. Stompy, splashy drums without any real carrying rhythm, but awesome guitar tone and cool bluesy arpeggios. Vocals range from slick and badass to whiny and weird. Overall a solid listen with a bunch of relistenable tunes, but definitely some skips in there. Four stars.
I have this album on MP3 and vinyl and just listened to it last week, but listened to it again today anyway! Wonderful, wonderful listen and it's just so good. The musicianship on display here is absolutely amazing, and I can't get enough of it. Five stars, easily.
So so good. Even the songs I didn't recognize were excellent. So perfectly heavy, loud, melodic, pleasant. Five stars easily.
Wonderful. Everything was so cool and bluesy and Elvis-y. Excellent album, four stars.
Cool sound. Much more mellow than I expected. Kinda shades of Suzanne Vega. Very cool and melodic with a great hi-fidelity sound. Very nice melodies and harmonies. Would listen again with zero hesitation, five stars.
Interesting music. Some of it was quite good, reminded me of Pearl Jam (or at least Eddie Vedder), but some was just noise or very sophomoric. Three stars.
Very cool flow and great beats. Well produced and great rapping. Rap's not my genre, but I enjoyed it. Three stars.
Very Stones. Jagger's voice gets a little whiny and annoying sometimes but the melodies are nice enough and I listened to it as background music and enjoyed it. 3 stars.
Charming, chuggy and awesome, very Cream. Everything was good, but it was over too quickly. Four stars.
Very cool, so jazzy and bouncy. Was kind of cacophonous in places, but I didn't mind too much because it was just bopping and jiving and was fun. It was a short album, but I don't know if so much musical information for too long would be tolerable anyway. Three stars.
Kinda interesting, but mostly just noise. One of the worst albums I've heard on here. One star.
What a ride. Very Grace Slick/Jefferson Airplane sounding. I liked it a lot. Four stars.
What an awesome sound. The only track I'd heard before was Where Is My Mind, but the rest of the songs were great too. Such a cool guitar sound. I really dug this. Four stars.
I've listened to this album many times (I owned it on CD when it came out in 1995) and almost every song is absolutely wonderful. Alanis and Glen did a great job with this album and it's still great. Five stars easily.
Wow, what an amazing work of art! I was vaguely familiar with Emmylou Harris as that folksy country singer with the amazing high glass-like smooth voice, but I hadn't really heard much of her music before this. Every track was amazing to listen to, but I especially loved For No One -- one of the best covers I've ever heard of it. Emmylou's voice is like Dolly Parton crossed with Joni Mitchell for me, just really great! So good I had to listen to it twice. Five stars easily.
Funky, chunky, and brilliant. Super cool and great music. The Sly Stone sound can taste a little burnt after a while in my ears, but still awesome in moderate doses. Four stars.
Cool, funky, soulful. A little short, but overall very nice. Three stars.
Wow, this was not what I was expecting at all from the Beastie Boys. This was so much more musical and harmonious than anything I've heard from them. Before listening to this album, Sabotage was the most "musical" song I've ever heard from them, and that's probably the _least_ musical track on this album. So much cool and deep stuff in here, from a musical perspective. Some songs didn't even have any rapping! I didn't realize that they even did that. Overall, it was very good, and will probably relisten at some point, but it didn't blow my skirts up enough to relisten immediately. Four solid stars.
Rush is always awesome, so it's no surprise that I loved this. I'd heard 2112 many times before, but the other tracks were a first listen for me, and I didn't realize that 2112 was the overture for the rest and had a lot of the other melodies baked in. Wonderful listen, it was actually in my head when I fell asleep the night after listening, and it was great. Five stars.
I didn't like the first two tracks much, but Wondrous Place was pretty great. The last track was alright. Overall a very short album with one noteworthy song. Two stars. Edit: I listened to it again (since it's so short), and it's definitely grown on me. The first song and the last song were better than I remembered. This is a good album with one skip (#2). Three stars.
Very cool early grunge sound. Very fun and enjoyable to listen to for a bit, but can grate on the ears after too long. Three stars.
Some interesting tunes in here -- especially Cinnamon Girl (which I have heard many times and know well) and Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere -- which really reminded me of late Beatles stuff. The rest was mostly unnoteworthy in my opinion. I had heard of Down By The River and was expecting something pretty amazing, but found it only mediocre. Overall 3 stars.
Man, I love Supertramp. I knew Bloody Well Right and Dreamer already, but the other tracks are new to me, and I love them all. Five stars for awesome Supertramp goodness.
Some tracks reminded me of the Beatles, some of the Kinks, some of Lou Reed (oh, I just looked -- Lou Reed was in the band, haha). Really cool, mellow stuff -- I like it a lot. Four stars.
It was fine, but I was just not in the mood and only got about halfway before I gave up. Not my style, but the musicianship was great. Two stars.
Felt very Master of Puppets. Not really my genre, but I can appreciate the genre-building they were doing. Two stars.
This was so good. Very alternative 90s, very Verve. The lead singer has some early U2 Bono sound quality to him that I really liked, and the sonic timbre was very nice. Four stars.
I have this album on vinyl and I've listened to it many times. So good. Easily one of the best debut albums of all time and one of my favorite albums ever. Every track is perfect and has so much awesome feel and VH flavor. Five stars easily.
This was a very cool, jazzy album to put on in the background while I worked. The musicianship was clearly top notch and it was very listenable and groovy. Four stars.
What a delightfully twangy and old-fashioned sound, while still being perfectly crisply and sharply recorded. I hear shades of Hank Williams, Roy Orbison, Chet Atkins, and 80's/90's country artists like Randy Travis, Vince Gill, and Alan Jackson. Production quality is excellent, musicianship is top notch (that pedal steel guitar is wonderful!) and overall just a great album. Five stars.
This was interesting. I liked it, but also kinda weird. Three stars.
What a cool retro 80's sound. I loved this. Every track was a great listen, with great production quality and really cool sounding synths and beats. The singing was moody and atmospheric and the vibe was totally rad. One track sounded almost exactly like The Weeknd's Blinding Lights -- so much so that I wouldn't be surprised to hear that Weaver sued Mr. Weeknd for infringement. Five stars.
This was hard to listen to. A little too psychedelic and not musical enough for my tastes. There were some tracks that were okay, but most of it was either too droney or just noise that I couldn't enjoy in any sense. Two stars.
This was alright. Very Fatboy Slim in terms of sound and ambience. I was done about a quarter of the way through the album and had to spread it over two days to even get halfway through it. I eventually gave up and skipped the second half of the album. Two stars.
Perfect funk album. Great grooves, nice feel, just funky and fun. The lyrics and vocals can get a little tiresome, but the album was short enough that I didn't mind much, and the groove made up for it. Four stars.
Great Byrds stuff. Super twangy most of the way through, but the musicianship and melody/harmony was excellent and it really shows that these dudes know what they're doing. Nice stories, great feel, great moods set. Four stars.
I've never known how to take The Cure. I've always liked songs like Lovesong and Friday I'm In Love, but I never know if they're supposed to be pop or like new wave, serious or campy. I liked the songs on this album, but they really left me more confused about what The Cure is. But the music was still enjoyable. Four stars.
Great production quality, great vocals, good instrumentation. At the end of the day, this is pop music, but it's good pop music. Enjoyable to listen to. Four stars.
The music here was smooth, funky and delicious. The lack of vocals was conspicuous and could be a little jarring on well-known songs that have an integral vocal melody. The organ is a decent approximation of vocals, but it ended up coming off as corny or muzaky in some cases. The Green Onions tracks were excellent and perfectly balanced. Three stars.
This was a cool ambience album to just leave on in the background and groove. Excellent quality, but very low-key and unobtrusive. Four stars.
This was a fun, meandering journey through Dylan's mind. His voice was delightfully crusty and his musicianship is impeccable as always. Very bluesy, slightly spicy, very delicious. I found myself humming along to most of the songs, especially the 12-bar blues tracks, most especially the 16-minute-long closing track Highlands. Four stars.
Excellent. Great melodies, great harmonies, great lyrics, great rhythms, excellent recording and feel. Classic in so many ways and just awesome. Five stars.
Funky and delicious. Solid grooves, great basslines, great melodies, awesome production quality. Five stars.
What a cool, funky sound. So uniquely Temptations in their sound and just a great listen. Four stars.
This was great. So much Pumpkins flavor, really enjoyed it. A lot of variety in the style and feel of the tracks, but then again, there are 28 of them, so it would be incredibly boring if they were all the same. Long album, but worth it. Four stars.
What a fun listen! Very mellow acoustic pop for the most part, kinda reminded me of Blind Melon and Jack Johnson in some parts. Easy listen and nice background music. Three stars.
This was so cool. The rhymes were excellent and the flow was absolutely amazing. I've never heard of Jurassic 5 before, but I am now a huge fan. So well done. Five stars.
Great Blondie sound with the cool avant-garde musicality I expect. Wonderful album, if a little short. Four stars.
Very cool, very jazzy, very fun to listen to. Four stars.
Man, I just never get tired of Paul Simon's sound. His voice is just so pure and perfect, and this album was a lot of acoustic and melodic pieces, without too much dynamic range. I loved it, but it was a little long and I had trouble keeping all of my attention on it the whole way through. Four stars.
This was a great album, way more modern sound than I was expecting from Emmylou Harris. Her voice is very distinctive and lovely to listen to. The music was lively and fun in places, but somber and serious in others. Good listen, three stars.
This was an interesting listen. I didn't love it, but it had some cool sounds and was pleasant enough in the background. Three stars.
This was great. The distance between the best songs (Paint It Black, Lady Jane) and the worst (Stupid Girl) weren't that big, so it was enjoyable all the way through. Lots of great Stones sound and wonderful melodies. Four stars.
The first couple tracks were wonderful, funky, bouncy, and just perfectly crafted. The last track was a little slow and quiet by comparison, but still wonderfully made and nice to listen to. Four stars.
This was a groovy, laidback listen and I liked it. Not really my style, but I hummed along and enjoyed the music. The lyrics, when I noticed them, were a bit... juvenile? Trite? I don't know. They were alright. The progressive topics were fine -- I agree with all of the stuff in the interludes and interviews, but I'm not really sure they enhanced the _music_ of it all. Three stars.
The instrumental portion was fine, even good in places, but man, Ian's accent really gets tired after a little while. It was hard to finish this album. Two stars.
This was actually much better than I expected. I thought Soft Cell was a one-hit wonder and that they wouldn't have much else worth listening to, but with the exception of one or two kinda lame songs (Frustration was kinda meh to me), this album was full of perfectly groovable new wave 80's goodness. Four stars.
This was a great listen, although a bit long. Lots of wonderful Bowie flavor and so varied, as a lot of his music is. Four stars.
I thought I would like this a lot more than I did. The singles were good, but seemed a lot softer and more melodic than most of the other tracks, which seemed obnoxious and loud and discordant. Two stars.
This was wonderful. I love Dolly Parton, although I haven't heard any of her catalog beyond her radio hits, and this album did not disappoint. The melodies and poetry were just about perfect. There is something so simple and beautiful about Dolly's writing and singing, and her band is clearly at the top of their game here. So, so good. My only complaint is that it's too short, so I'm listening to it again. Five stars, easily.
Having never heard of this person before, this was a cool and funky surprise. The music was easy to groove to and had a great sound that was very enjoyable to listen to, even though the drums sounded like a machine most of the time. The basslines were great and the singing was excellent. Four stars.
Not really my genre of Metallica, but it was still very good. Most of these tracks are on my normal playlist, so I know them pretty well. Four stars.
I hadn't heard Speakerboxxx before, but The Love Below has been in my playlist for years and I love them all. The Speakerboxxx tracks were awesome as well. Four stars.
I don't know what it is about Depeche Mode but every frickin song by them sounds so polished, so slick, so frickin cool. I can't get enough of their sound, especially the wild synth sounds (that don't sound dated even after 40+ years now) and the amazing vocals. Five stars easily.
Wonderful voice, great music, excellent recording. The genre is a little old-fashioned, but I didn't care -- it was timeless and I liked it. Three stars.
I had heard of the Yeah Yeah Yeahs before listening to thing, but I had no idea what they sounded like -- I thought maybe they were a punk band for some reason. Their sound is really fresh and polished but with a sharp edge that I really enjoyed. The lead singer has a great voice and the songs were all really driving and powerful and I had a great time listening to the album. So much so that I was a little sad when it ended. Four stars.
Man, I just love this style of music so much. The spicy, Spanish flavor is just so good. Every track was very enjoyable and I didn't want it to end, so I played the album through twice. I'd heard Chan Chan before, but the others were new to me and I loved them. Five stars.
Any David Bowie album is a safe bet for a good item. There were a few tracks here that were excellent, but I'd heard most of them many times before. The interleaving tracks were a little quiet and slow, or just not very noteworthy. Life On Mars is probably my all-time-favorite Bowie track. Four stars.
This was so wonderful. Super hummable and very groovy. I liked it so much I listened to it twice. Five stars.
Stevie Wonder is always great. This album was quite long and while the high spots were particularly bright, there were some lulls. Three stars.
This was great, and too short. I listened to it twice. Four stars.
Very late-80s hiphop. A lot of the tracks reminded me very strongly of NWA's Fuck The Police. I'm sure this was a revolutionary album, and it had some great rhymes and flow, but I don't think I'll ever feel the need to listen to it again. Three stars.
Wow. I've heard of this group and album before and I thought I'd heard good things, but this was just kinda... bad. The signing on Insight but actually super bad and amateurish. Some parts of the melody were painfully flat and just bad, bad, bad. The rest of the album was alright, but nothing really noteworthy, just kinda meh synthpop. One star.
This was a cool little mellow melodic album. I was humming the entire time and it was over before I knew it. Not really my preferred genre, but I appreciated it for what it is. Three stars.
Super cool album, very mellow (mostly) and very hummable. I found myself humming the melodies with the chord progressions in my head in between songs. Not really my genre -- a little too sleepy for me -- but I still really enjoyed the listen. Four stars.
This was a great album, but a little out there -- as Talking Heads albums are. Three stars.
This was not really my genre, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. I really liked the dude's voice and his message was strong but interesting and not annoying. I particularly enjoyed the more musical tracks (eg. Music and Politics) where it showed that there was some actual musical talent being showcased as well as the poignant lyrics and rapping ability. Three stars.
As always, Sly and the Family Stone have brought the funkiest grooves and greatest music to the table. So good. In fact, I think my favorite tracks were actually ones that I'd never heard before. The familiar songs were (and still are) great, but there was so much other stuff that had a sound I'd never heard before from the Family, and I really dug it. A couple times I forgot who I was even listening to and had to remind myself. Very good -- five stars.
Carole King is amazing, and I love her stuff. I'd heard most of this album before, and most of the tracks that I know well we spot on perfect and enjoyable to listen to. A couple of them (eg. Will You Love Me Tomorrow) were kinda mediocre, with the Will You just being too slow to really get into, but I still appreciate them for what they are, and the gifted songwriter that Carole is. Four stars.
This was a cool listen. I'd heard Apache before of course, but the rest were first listens. The band is clearly very talented and I really enjoyed what they did here, especially the Inna Gadda Da Vida cover. Four stars.
Not really my genre, but I did enjoy this album. Their voices are nice to listen to and their flow was pretty good, although a little stilted (like vintage 80s hiphop in some places), but it was done with a level of camp that I appreciated. The sampling was well-chosen, but sometimes the execution was a little sloppy (like where I could hear the drums of the sampled tune were conspicuously out of sync with the base track and poorly blended in the final product). Overall a good listen, although I don't really want to listen to it again, nor any of their other tracks. Three stars.
Never heard of the Zutons before, but I really like their sound. Very kinda 60s-vintage edgy rock and roll sound but very clean with great grooves, moody chord progressions and voicings, and just an overall fun musical product. The staccato strings at the end of Havana Gang Brawl were a cool touch that I enjoyed, but almost every song was really great. I did enjoy the first half of the album better than the second half because it had much more energy. I did listen to it twice -- five stars.
I get that the Ramones were trailblazers and were the vanguard of the punk sound in that era, but my god their music is so grating to my ears. Might as well be one long song for how similar all of the tracks sound. I barely made it through the album before I shut it down. One star.
This was an interesting album from Funkadelic -- very much more hard rock edged than previous albums I've heard from them and Parliament. Funky but very loud and guitaristic. I enjoyed listening to it. Four stars.
Man, early REM was so good. I had only heard End of the World and The One I Love before (and I know them well), so the others were all new to me, but man, I just love the sound of this album. I listened to it twice. Five stars.
At first I thought that this was gonna be pretty good, because the first song or two had a great sound, was nicely edgy and rocky, but then the rest of the album was kinda just like indie pop, atmospheric, mellow stuff. The production and music was good, but just not really my genre. Three stars.
This one had bright spots and dark spots, with some tunes being really intricate and well-performed and others just sounding like noise (aka punk). I liked the good tracks a fair bit and hated the bad tracks a fair bit. The Beatles did this album much better. ;) Overall three stars.
This was fun, but it peaked early. Immigrant Song and Gallows Pole are always awesome but the rest of the album just felt kinda like a mess. I am a huge Zeppelin fan, but I don't love this album. Three stars.
This was excellent, as I knew it would be. Help Me was a bright spot, but I knew it already, so I might be biased. So incredibly melodic and harmonically surprising. Five stars.
This was wonderful. I had heard of PJ Harvey before, but I had never heard her songs. I hear a lot of Fiona Apple, Chrissie Hynde, and Mazzy Star (Hope Sandoval) in her voice, and her style is very Fiona Apple-esque too. This was so good I listened to it twice. Five stars.
This was interesting. Some of the songs were quite nice (eg. Return to Oz), but others were just bizarre and not very fun to listen to (eg. the crazed EDM cover of Comfortably Numb). I had to push myself to continue listening to it, so I'd have to say that the good songs did not outweigh the bad. Two stars.
This was a truly bizarre listening experience. Sometimes I felt like I was listening to a Tom Waits record, but with a completely opposite voice. Other times I just wanted the noise to end, and it was really hard to keep listening through some of the tracks. My dog even got up and left the room during one particularly punishing song and I really didn't blame him. The good songs were like seriously good, and I really liked them, but the bad ones were so bad, and the rest just kinda mediocre, so overall I didn't come away from the experience with a very positive feeling. Three stars.
This was good, and so varied in style and sound. I just didn't know what to expect next and I loved it. Is there anything Janelle Monae _can't_ do? Five stars.
One of my favorite albums of all time, I own it on vinyl and have listened to it a lot. I have my favorite tracks of course, but even the ones I don't know as well are still amazing. So fucking good, I listened to it twice. Five stars, easily.
This was way better than I initially expected. At the beginning, it sounded kinda like a Nick-Drake-meets-Chrissy-Hynde sound, great guitar-playing, wonderful melodic lines and chord progressions. But then the funky guitar licks came in and I found myself humming along and really enjoying it. I listened to the album twice. Five stars.
This was an interesting listen. It's like someone mashed together country, folk and british punk rock into a single sound, but it's actually impeccably performed. The piano, guitar, mandolin, and BGVs were especially amazing. The melodies and accompaniment were sometimes pretty simplistic and derivative (There is Power in a Union sounded particularly reminiscent of some 60's folk song that I can't quite place), and Bragg's accent was particularly salty and grates on my nerves after a while, but I didn't hate it overall. Wouldn't listen again, but I appreciate it for what it is, three stars.
This was wonderful. Willie's voice is so distinctly soothing and his song choices and vocal melody choices are so perfect on every track. And the instrumentation and performances are top notch. Very, very timeless and a great listen. I listened to it twice. Five stars.
I don't know very many Joni Mitchell songs and I hadn't really listened to anything by her except Big Yellow Taxi and Both Sides before starting on this 1000 Album journey. This is the second album of hers that I've listened to here, and man, I just love everything about her sound. The performances (both instruments and vocals) are just absolutely perfect. Super stark and simple, but over the top in beauty and clarity and inventiveness. There was one track, This Flight Tonight, where Joni's vocals got so loud that they distorted a bit, which was surprising given the high production quality of the rest of the album. However, this kinda worked to give that part a more raw sound, so maybe it was like a happy accident and left in on purpose? Anyway, I loved it and listened to it twice. Five stars.
This was a cool listen, but the smoky, bluesiness of Muddy Waters can get a little one-note after a while. I was done before the album was, but I totally appreciate the mastery of the blues style on display here. Three stars.
Fun. Sometimes sounded kinda David Bowie, other times it was a very indie rock sound, and then sometimes it had a very punky Clash-like sound. All in all I enjoyed it, but it wasn't really the flavor I particularly like and it wasn't all that memorable for me. Three stars.
This was good. Very Lenny Kravitz, but very raw, like him before he was polished, but definitely had his voice (both literally and metaphorically). IT was funky and cool and had a good energy, and I liked it a lot, but probably wouldn't listen again. Four stars.
Well, Tom Waits will always be Tom Waits. Some tracks (eg. Dave the Butcher) are just unlistenably bad, and others (eg. In The Neighborhood) are somehow so bad that they're great, and yet others (eg. Frank's Wild Years, Rainbirds) are just genuinely great works of audio. Then you have the masterpiece's of atmosphere (eg. Swordfishtrombone). It was hit or miss, but mostly hit. Four stars.
This was quite a journey. I wasn't listening closely, unfortunately, so I can't give super concrete responses to most of the tracks, but I did enjoy having it on and I know I was humming along to most if not all of the tracks. I probably won't listen to it again thought -- Marc Bolan's sound is not really nice for me to listen to, but I appreciate it for the importance it has. Three stars.
I own this album on vinyl and I wanted to like this more than I do. I think the substance abuse I know the GNR guys were doing has dampened my enthusiasm for their music over the years, as it kinda just makes me sick to hear most of it. I still love Sweet Child O' Mine, Paradise City and Welcome to the Jungle, because I know them so well, but most of the other tracks are just a reminder of their awful (IMO) lifestyle and just makes me depressed to listen to. I've only listened to my copy once and I may end up selling it because I'm not sure I'll ever want to listen to it again. :(. Three stars.
I appreciated the cool reggae drums and bass, but the songs were very one-note for me and it took a lot to get through them all. Just not the right flavor for me, I guess. Two stars.
This was awesome. I love oldies and this really delivers the soul and great musicianship that I love to hear. Burke has a great voice and great instincts for where to take a melody, and the arrangements were delightful and fun to listen to. I loved it and hummed along to the whole thing. Five stars.
Not really my genre but I loved it anyway. It was so well recorded and produced and its style so timeless, I kept forgetting that it was from the 80'. It sounds like something that could've been made last year. Four stars.
This was great background music, but nothing special. Three stars.
This was kinda fun but it all kinda sounded the same to me and I was kinda tired of the sound after a few songs. Two stars.
Man, the Everly Brothers are so good. Even as other acts from this style and period sound cheesy and whiney, the Everly Brothers will always sound so cool to me. Just perfectly executed emotional great music. Four stars.
I've never heard of Talk Talk before, but man, I really liked this. I kept forgetting that I wasn't listening to like Peter Gabriel or Tears For Fears while listening to this album. It was so well performed and recorded and the musical choices were so fun and unexpected to my ears. There were good hooks and just a great experience. Five stars.
I mean, it's David Bowie -- you really can't go wrong. I hadn't heard any of these songs before and I loved them all. I listened to the whole album twice. Five stars.
This was hard to get through. The audio quality on Youtube Music is quite bad -- it might just be that that's the best quality available, but either way, it was not as enjoyable as it could have been with a good, modern quality audio track. It sounded very thin and tinny and even though the music was pretty decent, I just couldn't really hear it well. Two stars.
Can't go wrong with classic Stevie. This was so good I listened to it twice. Five stars.
I have this album on CD, vinyl and MP3 and I know it very well. It is one of my favorite Queen albums and one of my favorite albums from any artist. Five stars easily.
This is not really my genre, but I appreciated it nonetheless. Flows and rhymes were a little stilted in places but really clever and smooth in others. The beats were consistently good and varied, which kept the album fun to listen to and not repetitive. Four stars.
I am not a huge Linkin Park fan, but this was awesome. The wall of sound they produce is really punchy and sonically powerful, while still being very melodic and music. I couldn't get enough of this album, so I listened to it twice. Five stars.
I don't think I'd ever heard any of the songs on this album, but I know their second album, What's the Story, pretty well. I liked this album a lot and listened to it twice. Four stars.
This was interesting. There were some moments when it honestly felt a little Beatles-y and I was really digging it, but then there were moments when it just felt whiny and kinda boring and predictable. Overall I did enjoy it, but I probably wouldn't listen again. Three stars.
I knew a lot of these songs and both the ones I knew and the others were great. That jangly guitar is so classic to my ears and I love their vocal harmonies. Really groovy 60's vibe to the whole thing and lots of fun to listen to, but only really palatable in small doses for me (i.e. I only listened to the album once through and then was happy to hear something else). Four stars.