469
Albums Rated
3.87
Average Rating
43%
Complete
620 albums remaining
Rating Distribution
Rating Timeline
Taste Profile
2010s
Favorite Decade
Hard-rock
Favorite Genre
other
Top Origin
Enthusiast
Rater Style ?
167
5-Star Albums
10
1-Star Albums
Breakdown
By Genre
By Decade
By Origin
Albums
You Love More Than Most
| Album | You | Global | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
| Idlewild | 5 | 2.57 | +2.43 |
| Darkdancer | 5 | 2.59 | +2.41 |
| Rising Above Bedlam | 5 | 2.61 | +2.39 |
| Venus Luxure No. 1 Baby | 5 | 2.66 | +2.34 |
| Take Me Apart | 5 | 2.75 | +2.25 |
| Beyond Skin | 5 | 2.77 | +2.23 |
| Oedipus Schmoedipus | 5 | 2.79 | +2.21 |
| Vulnicura | 5 | 2.79 | +2.21 |
| LP1 | 5 | 2.8 | +2.2 |
| Guitar Town | 5 | 2.81 | +2.19 |
You Love Less Than Most
| Album | You | Global | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ramones | 1 | 3.58 | -2.58 |
| Unknown Pleasures | 1 | 3.47 | -2.47 |
| In Utero | 2 | 3.83 | -1.83 |
| Live At The Harlem Square Club | 2 | 3.76 | -1.76 |
| Alien Lanes | 1 | 2.75 | -1.75 |
| Atomizer | 1 | 2.72 | -1.72 |
| Cut | 1 | 2.71 | -1.71 |
| Duck Rock | 1 | 2.65 | -1.65 |
| The Velvet Underground & Nico | 2 | 3.62 | -1.62 |
| Enter The Wu-Tang (36 Chambers) | 2 | 3.61 | -1.61 |
Artists
Favorites
| Artist | Albums | Average |
|---|---|---|
| David Bowie | 7 | 4.43 |
| Beatles | 5 | 4.6 |
| Radiohead | 3 | 5 |
| Black Sabbath | 3 | 5 |
| Queen | 3 | 5 |
| Simon & Garfunkel | 3 | 4.67 |
| Joni Mitchell | 3 | 4.67 |
| U2 | 2 | 5 |
| Van Halen | 2 | 5 |
| Willie Nelson | 2 | 5 |
| AC/DC | 2 | 5 |
| Peter Gabriel | 2 | 5 |
| Michael Jackson | 2 | 5 |
| Stevie Wonder | 4 | 4.25 |
| Led Zeppelin | 3 | 4.33 |
Controversial
| Artist | Ratings |
|---|---|
| Pet Shop Boys | 2, 5 |
| Nirvana | 2, 5 |
5-Star Albums (167)
View Album Wall
Popular Reviews
Hot Chip
5/5
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.
5 likes
Grant Lee Buffalo
3/5
This kinda sounded like "What if Mazzy Star had a male lead singer?" in places. I enjoyed the cool, mellow listen, but probably wouldn't listen to again. Three stars.
4 likes
Iron Maiden
5/5
I'd never really listened to any Iron Maiden before listening to this album today, and honestly, I thought that I would find them annoying and noisy (like early Metallica), but I was pleasantly surprised by this album. I really enjoyed practically every track and found myself humming along and really digging all of the melodic, harmonic and rhythmic elements. I thought this would be a slog, but I really loved it. Five stars.
4 likes
Girls Against Boys
5/5
I had never heard of Girls Against Boys before, but this was a really great sound and I enjoyed the hell out of it. The genre was pretty close to right up my alley and I really dug it. Lots of melodic crunchy guitars, cool aloof vocals and just a loud, funky sound that I loved. I listened to it twice -- five stars.
3 likes
Maxwell
5/5
I had never heard of Maxwell and I'd never heard any of these songs before now, but this was absolutely awesome. The grooves were so deliciously funky and groovy, the vocals were absolutely amazing, and the production quality was stellar. All of the instrumentation (bass, drums, sax, guitar, keys) were top notch and I was just grooving to it the entire time. This was easily one of the best collections of new (to me) music I've heard in a long time and it totally blew me away. The album was plenty long, but I listened to it twice because I just loved it that much. Five stars easily.
2 likes
1-Star Albums (10)
All Ratings
Sarah Vaughan
3/5
Radiohead
5/5
Garbage
4/5
Still sounds fresh. Moody, edgy, nice mood-setter.
Stevie Wonder
5/5
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.
ZZ Top
5/5
Typical ZZ Top sound, driving bass, filthy growly guitars. Very nice.
The Kinks
3/5
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.
Elliott Smith
4/5
Not really my style -- a little whiny, but cool melodies and nice sparse arrangements.
Neu!
4/5
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. ;)
Bob Dylan
4/5
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.
The Allman Brothers Band
5/5
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.
Marvin Gaye
4/5
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.
Mj Cole
4/5
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.
Leonard Cohen
3/5
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.
The Doors
5/5
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.
The Pogues
4/5
So Irish. Lots of fun to listen, so bouncy and emotional (whether that's happy, angry or sad, depending on the song).
Hawkwind
3/5
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.
Slipknot
2/5
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.
John Lee Hooker
3/5
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.
Fugees
3/5
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
5/5
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.
The Lemonheads
4/5
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.
Tom Waits
4/5
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.
2/5
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
3/5
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.
The Beach Boys
5/5
Absolutely wonderful, as always. I know most of these songs already and I love them. Great listen.
The Darkness
5/5
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.
Suzanne Vega
5/5
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.
CHIC
3/5
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.
Prince
3/5
Slightly funky, cool grooves, great vocals and great sound, but sounds very dated to my ear. Three stars.
Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young
5/5
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.
Tears For Fears
5/5
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.
Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers
4/5
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.
Black Sabbath
5/5
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.
Derek & The Dominos
4/5
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.
The Notorious B.I.G.
3/5
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.
Echo And The Bunnymen
2/5
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.
Magazine
3/5
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.
The Cars
5/5
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.
Jimi Hendrix
4/5
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.
Nick Drake
4/5
Cool, dark, smooth, and really mellow. I liked everything here. Four stars.
G. Love & Special Sauce
2/5
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.
Pet Shop Boys
2/5
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.
Bee Gees
4/5
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.
The Smashing Pumpkins
5/5
Very cool. So good. Five stars.
Deep Purple
5/5
Excellent primordial heavy metal/hard rock, akin to Black Sabbath's first album. Killer riffs and great musicianship, will listen again. Five stars.
Baaba Maal
3/5
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.
The Charlatans
3/5
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.
Kraftwerk
5/5
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.
The Doors
4/5
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.
5/5
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.
Sonic Youth
4/5
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.
Little Richard
2/5
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.
Eminem
5/5
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.
Queen
5/5
Already one of my favorite albums of all time. Does not disappoint -- no skips. Five stars easily.
Earth, Wind & Fire
4/5
So funky, jazzy, just wonderful. I know most of these tunes, but even the ones I didn't know were good. Four stars.
Malcolm McLaren
1/5
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.
Big Brother & The Holding Company
3/5
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.
The Young Gods
4/5
What a cool sound. Reminds me of a French Tom Waits. Very weird, but awesome music. Four stars.
5/5
Awesome Bowie goodness. So good I listened to it twice. Five stars.
Sister Sledge
4/5
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.
Richard Thompson
4/5
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.
Wu-Tang Clan
2/5
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.
Nina Simone
3/5
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.
Talking Heads
3/5
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.
Marvin Gaye
3/5
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.
Tricky
3/5
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.
Hot Chip
5/5
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.
Donald Fagen
5/5
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.
Kendrick Lamar
2/5
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.
Sex Pistols
2/5
Nice recording quality and decent performances, musically speaking, but sounded kinda like one long song, without much inflection or complexity or interest. Two stars.
Hugh Masekela
4/5
Very cool, jazzy and fresh, with a spicy world flavor. Four stars.
The Streets
3/5
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.
The Byrds
3/5
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.
Simon & Garfunkel
4/5
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.
Pixies
3/5
Cool sound, punky, edgy, and kinda pre-grungy. I liked it, but probably wouldn't listen to it again. Three stars.
Echo And The Bunnymen
4/5
Nice mix of like John Mellancamp, Talking Heads and early U2. I like it. Four stars.
The White Stripes
4/5
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.
Peter Frampton
5/5
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.
Foo Fighters
5/5
So so good. Even the songs I didn't recognize were excellent. So perfectly heavy, loud, melodic, pleasant. Five stars easily.
Elvis Presley
4/5
Wonderful. Everything was so cool and bluesy and Elvis-y. Excellent album, four stars.
Everything But The Girl
5/5
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.
Dinosaur Jr.
3/5
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.
GZA
3/5
Very cool flow and great beats. Well produced and great rapping. Rap's not my genre, but I enjoyed it. Three stars.
The Rolling Stones
3/5
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.
Cream
4/5
Charming, chuggy and awesome, very Cream. Everything was good, but it was over too quickly. Four stars.
Charles Mingus
4/5
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.
Big Black
1/5
Kinda interesting, but mostly just noise. One of the worst albums I've heard on here. One star.
The United States Of America
4/5
What a ride. Very Grace Slick/Jefferson Airplane sounding. I liked it a lot. Four stars.
Pixies
4/5
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.
Alanis Morissette
5/5
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.
Emmylou Harris
5/5
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.
Sly & The Family Stone
4/5
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.
Isaac Hayes
3/5
Cool, funky, soulful. A little short, but overall very nice. Three stars.
Beastie Boys
4/5
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
5/5
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.
The Last Shadow Puppets
3/5
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.
Sonic Youth
3/5
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.
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
3/5
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.
Supertramp
5/5
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.
The Velvet Underground
4/5
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.
Marvin Gaye
2/5
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.
Anthrax
2/5
Felt very Master of Puppets. Not really my genre, but I can appreciate the genre-building they were doing. Two stars.
The Verve
4/5
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.
Van Halen
5/5
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.
John Coltrane
4/5
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.
Steve Earle
5/5
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.
The Beach Boys
3/5
This was interesting. I liked it, but also kinda weird. Three stars.
Jane Weaver
5/5
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.
The Velvet Underground
2/5
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.
The Avalanches
2/5
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.
Funkadelic
4/5
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.
The Byrds
4/5
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.
The Cure
4/5
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.
Lorde
4/5
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.
Booker T. & The MG's
3/5
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.
Spiritualized
4/5
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.
Bob Dylan
4/5
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.
Simon & Garfunkel
5/5
Excellent. Great melodies, great harmonies, great lyrics, great rhythms, excellent recording and feel. Classic in so many ways and just awesome. Five stars.
Parliament
5/5
Funky and delicious. Solid grooves, great basslines, great melodies, awesome production quality. Five stars.
The Temptations
4/5
What a cool, funky sound. So uniquely Temptations in their sound and just a great listen. Four stars.
The Smashing Pumpkins
4/5
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.
Wilco
3/5
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.
Jurassic 5
5/5
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.
Blondie
4/5
Great Blondie sound with the cool avant-garde musicality I expect. Wonderful album, if a little short. Four stars.
Miles Davis
4/5
Very cool, very jazzy, very fun to listen to. Four stars.
Paul Simon
4/5
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.
Emmylou Harris
3/5
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.
The Jesus And Mary Chain
3/5
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.
The Rolling Stones
4/5
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.
Herbie Hancock
4/5
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.
Solange
3/5
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.
Ian Dury
2/5
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.
Soft Cell
4/5
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.
David Bowie
4/5
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.
Nirvana
2/5
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.
Dolly Parton
5/5
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.
Julian Cope
4/5
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.
Metallica
4/5
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.
OutKast
4/5
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.
Depeche Mode
5/5
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.
Ray Price
3/5
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.
Yeah Yeah Yeahs
4/5
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.
Buena Vista Social Club
5/5
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.
David Bowie
4/5
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.
Stan Getz
5/5
This was so wonderful. Super hummable and very groovy. I liked it so much I listened to it twice. Five stars.
Stevie Wonder
3/5
Stevie Wonder is always great. This album was quite long and while the high spots were particularly bright, there were some lulls. Three stars.
Bob Marley & The Wailers
4/5
This was great, and too short. I listened to it twice. Four stars.
Public Enemy
3/5
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.
Joy Division
1/5
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.
Fleet Foxes
3/5
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 Furry Animals
4/5
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.
Talking Heads
3/5
This was a great album, but a little out there -- as Talking Heads albums are. Three stars.
The Disposable Heroes Of Hiphoprisy
3/5
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.
Sly & The Family Stone
5/5
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
4/5
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.
Incredible Bongo Band
4/5
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.
De La Soul
3/5
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.
The Zutons
5/5
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.
Ramones
1/5
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.
Funkadelic
4/5
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.
R.E.M.
5/5
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.
Beach House
3/5
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.
The Replacements
3/5
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.
Led Zeppelin
3/5
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.
Joni Mitchell
5/5
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.
5/5
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.
Scissor Sisters
2/5
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.
Todd Rundgren
3/5
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.
Janelle Monáe
5/5
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.
Pearl Jam
5/5
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.
Joan Armatrading
5/5
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.
Billy Bragg
3/5
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.
Willie Nelson
5/5
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.
Joni Mitchell
5/5
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.
Muddy Waters
3/5
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.
Super Furry Animals
3/5
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.
Lenny Kravitz
4/5
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.
Tom Waits
4/5
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.
T. Rex
3/5
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.
Guns N' Roses
3/5
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.
Burning Spear
2/5
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.
Solomon Burke
5/5
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.
The KLF
4/5
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.
Elvis Costello
2/5
Air
3/5
This was great background music, but nothing special. Three stars.
T. Rex
2/5
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.
The Everly Brothers
4/5
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.
Talk Talk
5/5
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.
David Bowie
5/5
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.
Duke Ellington
2/5
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.
Stevie Wonder
5/5
Can't go wrong with classic Stevie. This was so good I listened to it twice. Five stars.
Queen
5/5
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.
Gang Starr
4/5
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.
Linkin Park
5/5
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.
Oasis
4/5
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.
XTC
3/5
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.
The Byrds
4/5
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.
Beatles
5/5
Possibly the best album ever recorded. Five stars, easily.
Jefferson Airplane
3/5
This was great. I was humming along the entire time whether I knew the songs or not. Very 60's and very Jeffereson Airplane. The production quality also made it sound very "of the time", as it wasn't the best I've ever heard. Three stars.
B.B. King
3/5
This was fun. Three stars.
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
3/5
Very Elvis Costello and very hummable, but kinda all the same note. Three stars.
King Crimson
5/5
This was great. I hadn't heard of King Crimson before, but I like ELP and this was wonderful. I would've listened to it twice but I ran out of time in the day. Five stars.
Big Star
3/5
This was a little scatterbrained, but okay I guess. I found myself humming along on some tracks, but others were just like meh. Three stars.
Sufjan Stevens
4/5
I had heard of this album before, but had never heard the music. This was great, but got a little whiny after a bit. Four stars.
Janis Joplin
5/5
I knew most of these songs, but really enjoyed listening to them again. Joplin was a real talent that we lost too early, but her music is great. Five stars.
AC/DC
5/5
This was so good I listened to it twice. Five stars.
Leonard Cohen
5/5
Leonard Cohen is so cool in a way that almost no one else is. He really reminds me a lot of Anthony Bourdain and his no-nonsense, yet sensitive attitude seems to really match Bourdain too. I love his voice and his poetry is really excellent. The musicians and singers he employs on this album (and others) are truly top-notch, but sometimes his performances are a little more well-tuned to poetry than music (see the keyboard solo at the end of Tower of Song). Still, I loved this album and listened to it twice. Five stars.
Aerosmith
3/5
This was a good album, plenty of great tracks, but also some stinkers. Solid three stars.
Alice In Chains
4/5
Peter Gabriel
5/5
I own this album on vinyl and it's one of my favorites. Such an amazing experience, in terms of the music, production and just the overall soundscape of the thing. Easily 5 stars!
Small Faces
4/5
This was fun, but a little one-note for me and I was a little tired of the vibe by the end. Four stars.
Paul McCartney and Wings
5/5
This was wonderful, as always. Five stars.
Stereolab
5/5
I'd never heard of Stereolab before, but I loved this so much I listened to it twice. Very hypnotic and cool with great production quality, writing and musicianship. Five stars.
Santana
5/5
This was awesome, I listened to it twice. Five stars.
Black Sabbath
5/5
This was awesome. I knew War Pigs, Iron Man and Paranoid, but the rest of the tracks were new to me. Such an awesome proto-metal sound, even all these years later. Totally hummable and grooving. I listened to it twice -- five stars easily.
Megadeth
4/5
Not really my genre, but this was pretty alright. Four stars.
Kate Bush
5/5
This was wonderful. So much cool music and great singing and writing from Kate Bush. So good I listened to it twice. Five stars.
Rahul Dev Burman
2/5
This was... interesting. There were some bright spots, and I really wanted to like it, but most of this just sounded very dated and odd. Two stars.
Pixies
4/5
This was fun, but a little one-note. Four stars.
Neil Young
4/5
This was great Neil Young music. Four stars.
The Band
4/5
The Band is always a welcome sound in my ears. Four stars.
Various Artists
4/5
One of the all-time great Christmas albums. Every track is stellar and classic, but not exactly an all-purpose anytime-listening album. Four stars.
Beck
5/5
Beck is always gonna be great, but this was really something, and not what I expected from Beck at all. His dark brooding vocals really reminded me of Eddie Vedder in some places, and I really liked it. Very sparse instrumentation, and just all around nice to listen to. Five stars.
Jimi Hendrix
3/5
The hits (All Along The Watchtower & Voodoo Chile (Slight Return) were great, but the rest was kinda just Jimi-flavored filler. Not really my cup of tea. Three stars.
Frank Sinatra
5/5
This was wonderful. No notes, five stars.
John Grant
5/5
I had no idea who John Grant was before this, but this album was really great. I don't normally focus on lyrics when I listen to music, but there were songs here that really caught my ear in terms of the lyrical moods not matching the musical mood and I found that very interesting and enjoyable. Additionally, the music was really well performed and produced and the end result was very nice. I listened to it twice and am now a fan of John Grant. Five stars.
Metallica
4/5
Not really my genre, but not terrible either. I know most of these songs and have heard them many times, and they're mostly great for what they are. Four stars.
Prince
4/5
This was pretty alright. Not as funky as I would've liked from Prince, but still very good. Four stars.
The Damned
3/5
At first I was really not liking this, but as the album progressed, it grew on me a bit. Still not really my sound -- a little too shouty and punky, without a whole ton of musical oomph, but there were a few tracks that I enjoyed listening to and hummed along. Three stars.
The Stooges
4/5
This was really cool. I hadn't heard any of these songs before, and a lot of them reminded me of The Kinks or The Animals, and actually Iggy Pop, which makes sense. I probably wouldn't listen to it again anytime soon though, because it was a little dry musically, but the production quality was really great for the time. Four stars.
David Bowie
5/5
As always, this was great. I had heard a few of the songs before, and Aladdin Sane is just -- I don't know. I can't love it because it's just so atonal in the middle bit with all the random keyboard fiddling. But otherwise it's a perfectly Bowie collection of well written, sung, recorded and produced music. Five stars.
Ray Charles
5/5
This was great, so classic. I loved it and listened to it twice. Ray Charles is such a great performer and it was captured flawlessly on this album. Five stars, easily.
David Bowie
5/5
Awesome Bowie sound, as usual. I was only bummed because it was so short, so I listened to it twice. Five stars.
The Who
4/5
I really appreciate the impact on music that this album had, but it's not something I necessarily need to listen to over and over. It was enjoyable, and I liked it. Four stars.
Ash
3/5
I had heard of Ash before, but had only heard one or maybe two of their songs. I like their sound and this album started off good, with a cool sound and groove that I really enjoyed. By about the middle of the album, I was less impressed and by the end I was just sick of the sound. It started sounding very muddy and poorly recorded. Three stars.
The Teardrop Explodes
4/5
They sound very Talking Heads/Depeche Mode to me. I enjoyed it and would listen again, but it was kinda just background music and didn't blow my mind. Four stars
Violent Femmes
3/5
The Violent Femmes have a very specific sound that cannot be confused with anyone else. Before listening to this album, I had only ever heard Blister in the Sun, but every track on this record had the same exact, unmistakable sound. I do enjoy the singer's voice at times, and the sparse instrumental arrangements and inventive melodies are fun and enjoyable most of the times. But there were a few tracks that just sounded like they were all drunk or high and goofing around amelodically for a minute. Overall I would say I enjoyed the album, but it wasn't stellar. Three stars.
Soundgarden
5/5
I own this album on vinyl, although I've only listened to it once so far. I listened to it today twice and absolutely loved every second of it. Five stars easily.
Brian Eno
3/5
This was quite a listen. Not my favorite, but a really cool experience, and sounds like it was recorded last year. Very good background music for the most part, and the talent and inspiration on display was really amazing. However, because it's not something I would really ever listen to again, I'm giving it three stars.
Suicide
1/5
I didn't enjoy this. Mostly noise and screaming, with a little bit of music sprinkled in. One star.
Amy Winehouse
5/5
This was great. Just a classic sound and excellent singing, writing and producing. Not really my favorite genre, but I really dug it. Five stars.
Pink Floyd
5/5
I won this album on vinyl and it's one of my favorites. Such a great variety of awesome sounds from Pink and the boys. I listened to it twice. Five stars easily.
Iron Maiden
5/5
I'd never really listened to any Iron Maiden before listening to this album today, and honestly, I thought that I would find them annoying and noisy (like early Metallica), but I was pleasantly surprised by this album. I really enjoyed practically every track and found myself humming along and really digging all of the melodic, harmonic and rhythmic elements. I thought this would be a slog, but I really loved it. Five stars.
Van Halen
5/5
I own this album on vinyl and it's one of my favorites. Just so, so good, with all of the delicious musical goodness that defines Van Halen. My only complaint is that it's too short, so I listened to it twice today. Five stars, easily.
Morrissey
4/5
At first I wasn't too sure about Morrissey. I had heard of him, and heard a little bit of his music, both solo and with The Smiths, and I didn't think I was really into it. But after listening to this album and really giving it a chance, I've decided that I am a fan after all. The way the lyrics often don't match the tone of the music is really interesting and the production values and musicianship on display is really nice. Four stars.
Peter Gabriel
5/5
This was great. So varied and interesting, with awesome writing, production value and musicianship. I was genuinely impressed by some of the orchestral and odd instrumentation on a bunch of these tracks. Each one could be a completely different musical act -- other than the fact that Peter Gabriel's super-distinct voice is present in them all, of course. I listened to it twice -- five stars, easily.
The Verve
5/5
This was great late-90's brit-pop/alternative sound that I grew up on. Loved it. Hadn't heard anything on here outside of Bittersweet Symphony, but I love their sound and it's very Oasis for me, which I also love. I listed to it twice -- five stars.
4/5
I own this on vinyl but haven't listened to it too many times. As a collection of music all released at the same time, it's extremely good, but for a Beatles album, it's just so-so. There are some excellent songs (With A Little Help From My Friends, Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds, When I'm Sixty Four, A Day in the Life), but the rest aren't my favorite. That said, it's so good, I would happily listen to it weekly. Four stars, just because it isn't anywhere near what I know the Beatles can do (and I know it will be rated higher by most Beatles fans).
Massive Attack
3/5
This is not really my genre, but I hummed along the whole time and generally had a pretty decent time. The melodies were nice and the production quality was excellent. Three stars.
The Rolling Stones
3/5
I had never heard any of the Stones songs on this album -- I had heard most of them by other artists, just not the Stones versions here. It was a fun little rock and roll romp, but not really something I would listen to more than once. It's a little too dry and caustic sounding for my tastes, but I can appreciate that it was a cool new sound that people really dug back when it was released. I'll take a '64 Beatles album over this any day. Three stars.
Grant Lee Buffalo
3/5
This kinda sounded like "What if Mazzy Star had a male lead singer?" in places. I enjoyed the cool, mellow listen, but probably wouldn't listen to again. Three stars.
Beatles
5/5
I own this on vinyl and love it. There are some tracks that are meh (eg. Revolution 9), but the vast majority of this album is absolutely perfect and I love it so much. Five stars, easily.
Talking Heads
5/5
This was great, as have been all of the Talking Heads music I've ever heard. David Byrne is really just an amazing songwriting and musical talent, and his voice is just so unmistakably him, but his backing band is also great and this album really shows off how versatile they really all are as musicians. I listened to this twice -- five stars.
Coldplay
5/5
Every single song on this album was absolutely perfect. Coldplay has such a great sound, I don't even know how to describe it. Absolutely perfectly written, performed, recorded, produced and mixed. Just top notch, I listened to it twice. Five stars, easily.
Love
3/5
This was good. I thought that the melodies and chords were kinda all over the place, but overall I did like it. A little too pop and not psychedelic enough, I think, but still good. Three stars.
CHVRCHES
5/5
This was awesome. I had never heard of Chvches before, but I couldn't stop listening to this album after hearing the first track. So amazingly perfectly composed, performed, and recorded. So, so fucking good. Like candy for my ears, I listened to it twice and will probably be listening to it even more. Five stars, easily.
Jethro Tull
4/5
Before today, I'd only heard Aqualung and Locomotive Breath, but the rest the album was almost as good. I really liked it, but was a little long. Four stars.
Elton John
4/5
I own this album on vinyl, and it's my strongly-held opinion that Elton John is just awesome. This album is no exception. I do think that Madman Across the Water is more consistently good and a better album overall, but I still enjoyed listening to this. Four stars.
808 State
3/5
This was interesting, and at first, I thought it was pretty good. But by the end of the album, it was just so repetitive and droning that I was kinda sick of it. Three stars.
Kings of Leon
3/5
This was alright. I really like Kings of Leon's hit songs, but I didn't recognize any of the tracks on this album -- although the voice and sound of KOL was very present. A couple of tracks were quite catchy and enjoyable to listen to (Day Old Blues, for example), but I found the lead singer's voice to be a little grating after a few songs in a row. Three stars.
Cheap Trick
4/5
I don't normally love live albums, but this one is so legendary, I guess it kinda gets a pass. Funnily enough, when discussing my dislike for live albums, the version of I Want You To Want Me on this album is my number one offender. So many people quote this as one of the best live tracks ever, and it is very good, but one day years ago, I thought about the fact that the audience sings along to the song, so I reasoned that it had to exist before this recording was made. So I searched for the studio album that was released before this concert, and found Cheap Trick's album, In Color, which features the studio recording of this track (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xWDGv0L1HfI), and bought it on CD (this was before the days when YouTube had everything available to listen for free) from Amazon. I absolutely loved the quieter, more subdued sound of the studio track, and I will die on the hill that the studio version is vastly superior to the Live at Budokan version. Okay, putting away the soapbox. I did listen to this twice, so I give it four stars.
The Cure
3/5
This was interesting, but honestly it didn't really keep my attention. I was humming along to the basslines and chord changes, and I know it was good, but I just couldn't get into it. The Cure's music sometimes clicks for me and sometimes doesn't, and this was just a "doesn't" I guess. Three stars.
Franz Ferdinand
4/5
This was not really 100% my style, but I still liked it quite a bit. Four stars.
The Slits
1/5
I don't know, this was just... slightly melodic noise? It had some punkiness to it that I sometimes liked, and that 80's German edge that was kinda cool, but musically I just found it very thin and was glad when it was over. Sorry, one star.
Bon Jovi
5/5
My sister had this album on cassette tape when I was a kid and we listened to it quite a number of times. I know all of the song pretty well, and love them all. Definitely peak Bon Jovi in my opinion. I listened to it twice and could have gone more, five stars easily.
Waylon Jennings
4/5
Not really my genre, but I just love his voice and it was an enjoyable listen anyway. Four stars.
The Dave Brubeck Quartet
5/5
I own this record on vinyl and I have listened to it a few times and absolutely love it. Such good grooves, awesome musicianship all around, and the funky time signatures make my brain happy. Five stars, easily.
David Bowie
3/5
David Bowie is always a pleasure, but this album was just kinda meh for me. Don't get me wrong -- it's well above most of albums from most other artists, but for a Bowie album, it's a little weak. Some of the tracks were absolutely awesome (eg. Heroes, Beauty and the Beast, Sons of the Silent Age), but others just felt like a lot of noise and could have used some serious editing before release. The balance between the awesome tracks and the cruft yields three stars in my book.
Missy Elliott
5/5
This was not really my genre, but I absolutely loved every track. So good. Five stars.
Fatboy Slim
5/5
This was awesome. I knew a few of these already, and they were (of course) wonderful, but the rest were great too. I listened to this twice -- five stars.
Sam Cooke
2/5
Okay. So I like Sam Cooke a lot, but I absolutely hate live albums. As such, this wasn't super enjoyable for me. I don't like to hear crowd noise, ad libs and mistakes, sorry, I just don't. The music was good, but I would have vastly preferred as studio album with the same tracks. Two stars -- would have been one star, but I like Sam Cooke.
The Smiths
4/5
I always get a kick out of Morrissey's lyrics and musicality in his singing, and this was no exception. Great album, although the mood kinda sits in your soul and isn't my favorite. Four stars.
The Killers
5/5
I had only really heard a couple songs from the Killers before this, but I really dug this. Actually, one of their big hits, Mr. Brightside, was probably my least favorite track from this album, as it was just a bunch of shouting and no real melodic/harmonic fun. The rest of the tracks were really good, brooding, melodic rock and I really enjoyed them and hummed along the entire time. I listened to it twice -- five stars.
Mylo
5/5
I had never heard of Mylo before now, but this album was just immensely awesome. So many catchy grooves and melodies that really grabbed my ear and just made me happy. Perfectly recorded/produced and just so, so good. I listened to it twice. Five stars, hands down.
Elvis Presley
3/5
I like Elvis, but I prefer some of his later stuff, honestly -- even though it can be a little more cheesy and indulgent. This album was simple and very "fundamentals of early rock and roll", which is good, but can be a little grating after a while. That said, I think this shows Elvis's raw talent very well, and his versatile singing voice and musicianship is easy to see. Three stars.
Jimi Hendrix
5/5
I am not a huge Hendrix fan -- there's something about the raw, basic sound of most of his recordings that reminds me of my high school rock band and sounds very unsophisticated overall to me. Don't get me wrong -- Jimi's guitar playing is absolutely awesome every single time, and Mitch Mitchell and Noel Redding are amazing performers as well, but the overall sound quality often just brings everything down. That said, there are Jimi Hendrix (Experience) songs I love, and this album has every one of them. This was a great listen -- so good, I listened twice in a row -- and I loved it. Five stars.
Bruce Springsteen
3/5
I'm not a huge Springsteen fan, and this album was pretty much what I expected from him. For what he was going for, this is perfectly good, but it's just not really what I love to hear, with a couple noteworthy exceptions. I do like I'm On Fire (especially after hearing Sara Bareilles's live cover of it), and Cover Me, and Dancing in the Dark is alright. I didn't love it, but I didn't hate it -- three stars.
The Stone Roses
4/5
I'd never heard of The Stone Roses before today, but I really enjoyed this album. Every song was super hummable and grooving nicely. Good vocals, good production, good melodies, good songwriting. Four stars.
Nirvana
5/5
I have listened to this album many times over the years, and I have all of the tracks in regular rotation in my daily playlist. It's quite good and still sounds great even after all these years and hundreds of listens. I normally detest live recordings, but Kurt's voice is just so perfect here and the candid coffeehouse feel of this is just so warm and snuggly. The music is great, and I love the acoustic (processed and electrified though it may be) is heavenly. Five stars, easily.
Screaming Trees
5/5
I had heard of Screaming Trees before, but I don't think I know any of their songs. I really loved the sound of this album and was grooving along the entire time. The psychedelic sound mixed with grunge was great, with lots of variation from track to track, but just a really well-written and well-recorded sound throughout. I listened to it twice, five stars.
Penguin Cafe Orchestra
2/5
This was... interesting. I guess it's like a mix of like a chamber orchestra and a rock band, and the music was kind of okay, but not really mind-blowing for me. Some of it seemed a bit atonal and droning, and other tracks were nice background music that I could hum along to. I was ready for it to be over before it finished. Two stars.
The Stooges
4/5
This was great. Very David Bowie meets Talking Heads meets Red Hot Chili Peppers. Four stars.
Bob Marley & The Wailers
2/5
This was alright. It felt a bit one-note, and I didn't love the No Woman, No Cry version -- was way too fast and sounded so cheesy with the cheap synth beat. Took me almost two full days to get through it. Two stars.
Dolly Parton
3/5
This was interesting. I love Linda Ronstadt and Dolly Parton, and what I've heard of Emmylou Harris I've also really liked, so I thought this would be a great listen. But I was a little disappointed in the... fullness(?) of the recordings. Most of them were quite sparse, with just the vocals (which were all absolutely perfect, by the way) and maybe a guitar or a piano, but not much else. I really think that this album could have shined a lot more with some more instrumentation, but even as it was, it was clearly a show of amazing talent. Just not as good as I was hoping, and I probably won't listen again. This probably would've been four stars for anyone else, but because I know what I'm missing with these three amazing musicians, I'm giving it three stars.
Primal Scream
5/5
This was great. I had never heard of Primal Scream before today, and I was bracing for something really brutal and obnoxious, but from the very first instant of the very first track, I was happily greeted with some great-sounding acoustic guitar strumming in a trippy, stilted rhythm that made my ear and brain happy. It just kept rolling from there, and I loved every track. Lots of trip-hop sounding stuff, some sample-heavy stuff, some melodic and psychedelic stuff, just overall great. Sometimes reminded me of Lou Reed in places, sometimes some of the stuff on the Romeo + Juliet soundtrack. I listened twice -- five stars.
The Stooges
2/5
This was raw and ragged, and think I kind of hated it. It started off alright, but by the end I was just sick of it. The basslines were righteously pumping and groovy, but the guitar and drums were so... I don't know, I don't have a better word than "raw". Iggy Pop's vocals were just awe-inspiring, and very Jim Morrison. The longer tracks were just mostly rough-edged rage and drug-addled noise. It mostly just made me sad listening to a bunch of poor souls being tortured by the drugs they were addicted to. Two stars.
Nas
4/5
Hiphop is really not my genre, but I've heard other stuff by Nas and I usually like it, so I was expecting this to be good. It was good, but maybe not as good as I was expecting. I did enjoy listening to it, and I did listen twice, so I can't complain. Four stars.
The Prodigy
2/5
I don't love the dance/electronic genre that this album falls under, so it's not a big surprise that I didn't love this album. I get that it was pretty groundbreaking for its time and probably really enjoyable for listeners that love this style of sonic adventure, but for me, it was kind of a slog and I didn't love it. Two stars.
The Specials
2/5
This was ... alright, I guess. The livelihood of the music and spunk in the performance was laudable, but I found the execution and musical interest kinda lacking. I had trouble staying engaged with it and wouldn't listen to this again. Two stars.
Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark
3/5
This was good. A little tonal and abstract in places, but I still enjoyed it alright. Probably won't listen again. Three stars.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
5/5
This was great. I hadn't heard of Nick Cave before, but this was absolutely great. His voice is very reminiscent of David Bowie and the grooves on this album were just really smooth and nice to listen to. Well written, well performed, well recorded, just so good. I listened to it twice, five stars.
Michael Jackson
5/5
I own this album on vinyl and absolutely love every track. One of the best albums ever. I listened to this twice, five stars easily.
The Flaming Lips
4/5
This was a good atmospheric album that I enjoyed. Not enough to say it was great, but still pretty good. Four stars.
The Who
3/5
I typically despise live albums, but I will admit that this one was better than average. I'm not a huge Who fan, but I do like pretty much all of their bigger hits -- a lot of which were on this album. I skipped most of the intros and talking between songs, but I still found this album to be too long for my tastes. Overall, I was glad that I listened to it, but I don't expect that I'll listen again. Three stars.
The Who
5/5
I had just finished listening to The Who - Live at Leeds before this, and I kinda hated it (being a live album, which I almost always hate). But this was so good. I had heard a few of the tunes before (Maryanne with the Shaky Hand, Tattoo, I Can See For Miles), but for the most part this was a new album for me. I found the "parody of commercial music" bit a little tired after a minute, but the actual music alongside that kitsch won me over. This was a great album -- I listened to it twice. Five stars.
Barry Adamson
5/5
This was so good. Every track was different from every other track in genre/style/sound, but they were all so amazingly good and unexpectedly bizarrely awesome to listen to. I have no idea who Barry Adamson is or what role he played in making this album (instrumentalist? vocalist? arranger? producer?) but I don't really care because it as just good music that I loved to listen to so much that I listened all the way through twice, and I kinda want to go again. Five stars easily.
Black Sabbath
5/5
This was really great. Nicely hooky and melodic, but with that typical Sabbath edge that's just perfect. I was really surprised by Laguna Sunrise, which reminded me of something I'd hear from The Beatles. Surprisingly good. Five stars.
Led Zeppelin
5/5
I own this album on vinyl but have only listened to it a couple time so far. I love all of the tracks and would listen to them again in a heartbeat. Five stars.
Moby
5/5
This was great. Melodic, funky in places, super groovy and just an awesome listen. Even had some awesome smooth atmospheric stuff in the b-sides on YT Music. Five stars.
Boards of Canada
5/5
This was great. Super chill vibes, great sense of humor and musicality. I listened to it twice -- five stars.
Soft Machine
1/5
I don't get it. This was awful to listen to and just went on and on. Non-musical and atonal in places, noisy, discordant, poorly recorded, just really bad. I would give it zero stars if I could -- one star.
Bob Marley & The Wailers
3/5
Reggae is not really my genre, and this was just kinda okay. I enjoyed the listen, but it all seemed pretty one-note to me. Probably won't listen again -- three stars.
Jeff Buckley
5/5
This was great. Every song was different from the last and they were all such a rich, deep well of musicality and emotion and sounds. I listened to it twice. Five stars.
Megadeth
2/5
This was not really my genre, but it was alright. I didn't love it and the sound got very tiring after about halfway through. I wanted to like it more than I did. Two stars.
Gary Numan
5/5
This was wonderful. I had only heard Cars before, but the rest of the album was excellent and a lot of fun to listen to. It all had the unmistakable Gary Numan sound, but each song had a distinct sonic fingerprint so I never got tired of it. Five stars.
Dexys Midnight Runners
5/5
This was awesome. I had only really heard one Dexy's Midnight Runners song before (Come On Eileen), which isn't even on this album, but I loved the sound of every track anyway. Their sound -- both instrumental and vocal -- is so unique, and I just love the freshness and vigor they have. Really punky, but also just well-rounded and clearly gifted musicians (unlike a lot of popular punk bands). I listened to this twice -- five stars.
Jack White
5/5
This was an excellent listen and I loved everything about it. Jack White doesn't seem to have a single "sound", but he does it all -- odd time signatures, 4/4, even a 3/4 tune or two. His instrumentation was varied and the performances (vocal and instrumental) were all perfect. It was recorded impeccably and the writing shows depth and sophistication while also being super down-to-earth and easy to listen to. I was humming along the entire time and I listened to it twice in its entirety because I loved it so much. Five stars.
Green Day
4/5
This was pretty good. I listened to it twice because I enjoyed it so much, but by the end the modern Green Day flavor was a little old. Four stars.
Buffalo Springfield
4/5
This was good, but didn't blow me away. Four stars.This was good, but didn't blow me away. Four stars.
Kendrick Lamar
3/5
So first off, rap is definitely not really my genre. But I did like a lot of this. Some of the rhymes and flow were pretty good, and the music was excellent. A lot of this album felt like talking and was quite boring when I'm looking to listen to music. Overall I appreciated the talent that went into making this album, but I'm probably never listening to it again. Three stars.
The B-52's
5/5
This was wonderful. I love the B-52s sound and this was a delightfully pure petri dish of it. The vocals were crisp and bright and just so good and quirky and the instrumentation sounded fresh and great while not sounding too polished -- which I think is a strength of the B-52s sound. I listened to it twice -- five stars.
The Rolling Stones
2/5
This was okay, but I didn't love it. I know it's legendary Stones album, but I'm just not a very big fan of the Stones to begin with. I'm sorry to say it, but it seemed really long and I just really didn't enjoy much of it. Two stars.
ZZ Top
4/5
This was a enjoyable listen, and I knew many of these songs quite well before today. The ones I didn't already know were full of the same wonderful ZZ Top flavor and I hummed along and enjoyed the music. Four stars.
The Rolling Stones
5/5
This was an awesome album and I really enjoyed listening to it. I had only heard Brown Sugar and Wild Horses before (although I was familiar with You Gotta Move, just not by the Stones). I listened to Exile On Main Street a couple days ago, and I really didn't connect with it at all and found the listening experience to be a little unpleasant and was glad when it was over. This album was almost the complete opposite. Every tune was enjoyable and I wanted it to keep going. Five stars.
Cornershop
4/5
I'd never heard of Cornershop before, but this was great. It was a nice, light, poppy sound with cool-sounding lyrics and great production value. My only complaint was that it was too short, but I listened to it twice to help make up for it. Four stars.
Maxwell
5/5
I had never heard of Maxwell and I'd never heard any of these songs before now, but this was absolutely awesome. The grooves were so deliciously funky and groovy, the vocals were absolutely amazing, and the production quality was stellar. All of the instrumentation (bass, drums, sax, guitar, keys) were top notch and I was just grooving to it the entire time. This was easily one of the best collections of new (to me) music I've heard in a long time and it totally blew me away. The album was plenty long, but I listened to it twice because I just loved it that much. Five stars easily.
Miles Davis
3/5
This was alright. It was a nice little background vibe of neat musical sounds, but nothing that blew my socks off. Three stars.
The Go-Go's
4/5
I didn't expect to like this as much as I did. I of course knew We Got the Beat and Our Lips Are Sealed going in, and I expected that the rest of this album would be more of the same flavor, but not as good (and hence not singles), but I was pleasantly surprised by the variety of flavor and unexpectedly funky chord progressions and even some odd time in at least one song. The production quality was also excellent. I was bopping along the entire time and ended up listening twice because I enjoyed it so much. I don't love Belinda Carlisle's vocal flavor (although she is a great talent technically) after about 3 or 4 songs, so I'm giving it four stars.
Willie Nelson
5/5
As always, I loved this Willie Nelson album. The only previously track I had heard was Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain, but the rest of the album was equally inspired and I really enjoyed listening -- so much that I played it all the way through twice. Just great vocals, great playing and great lyrics -- just great all around. Production quality was excellent and the performances were just perfect. Five stars.
Country Joe & The Fish
5/5
On the first listen, I thought this was just kinda alright, but on the second listen I think I appreciated it a lot more. It had a flavor VERY reminiscent of early Doors with some Animals, Cream and Jefferson Airplane thrown in there too. It was obviously super psychedelic and crunchy with a bunch of catchy hooks and cool melodies. The production quality was typical of 60's psychedelic rock, which is to say that it was a little fuzzy and not super crisp and clear, but I didn't mind it at all. Listened to it twice and really dug it. Five stars.
Taylor Swift
5/5
This was excellent. Great writing, awesome performances (both vocals and instrumentation), excellent production quality and just a great listen all the way through. I am not a huge Taylor Swift fan, but I love music that sounds good to me, and this is 100% that. I loved it so much I listened to it twice. Five stars.
The Clash
4/5
Let me start by saying that I am not a huge Clash fan. I enjoy their biggest hits (Rock the Casbah, Should I Stay Or Should I Go, Train in Vain), but I'm not crazy about their typical sound in general. So I started this album not really excited about it, but by the end I was pretty impressed with their range as a band. The lead singer has a very distinct voice -- which I really don't like -- but if I ignore that, I think that these songs were actually quite listenable and even enjoyable. I guess I just wish they had a lead singer that didn't sound like a moron on heroin or something, haha. The writing, instrumentation and production were all top-notch and I really enjoyed listening to the music (minus the vocals). Four stars.
Beatles
4/5
While I don't like early Beatles as much as their middle- to late-period stuff, I still enjoyed the hell outta this. Four stars.
Tim Buckley
4/5
I had only heard of Tim Buckley as being Jeff Buckley's dad, and I do like Jeff, so I was eager to hear Tim. I really enjoyed this album. Tim's voice was so pure and bright and while definitely distinct from Jeff's, I could really hear the family resemblance and enjoy them both for the vocal qualities they share. The music on this record was really nice and the writing shows a lot of talent, but some of the performances were a bit sloppy in places (especially the drums, where the groove sometimes completely missed the beat of the rest of the playing). The sound was very psychedelic folk for me and while I did enjoy listening, it was a little rambly and disjointed to be a perfect album. It was still quite good and I liked it -- four stars.
The Pretty Things
4/5
I had never heard of S.F. Sorrow before. This was definitely an interesting listen. Extremely psychedelic, very cool and raw-sounding and a really unique sound. There were elements of Jefferson Airplane, The Kinks, and even a little Beatles sound I though in places. It's really all over the place sonically, but I kinda liked it on the first listen. I had to listen to it a second time to really solidify my opinion, and I think it was improved on the second listen. Overall a cool, revolutionary sound, and I did enjoy it, but I probably won't listen again. Four stars.
Randy Newman
5/5
This was so wonderful -- I just love everything about Randy Newman. Out of the 10 tracks (11 if you count the bonus demo of Marie, which I don't), I had only heard one (Rednecks) before. But every song on this record has something awesome to give, and I really loved it. The one song written by Huey Long was just alright, but Newman's performance really made it shine, so I didn't mind it. Just great melodies, really clever and creative harmonies and masterful piano writing and playing from Newman. I listened to it twice and considered going a third time, but will probably wait and re-listen tonight. Five stars.
Fleetwood Mac
5/5
I own this album on vinyl and I've probably listened to it 20 times, and it's still one of my favorite. Every single track is wonderful and most are just amazing. One of the best albums of music every published IMO. Five stars, easily.
Run-D.M.C.
3/5
Not really my genre, but I dug this. The raw, honest-to-god acoustic drums on a few of these tracks were really unexpected and nice to hear. Run DMC is a respected pioneer in the rap/hiphop community for a reason -- this was good, but yeah, I didn't love it personally. That said, three stars.
Nick Drake
4/5
Nick Drake has a very interesting sound. I'd never heard of him until another of his albums came up in this list, and I really do enjoy the sound of his voice and his writing style, but it's a bit too mellow sometimes. Great for a rainy day inside probably, but quite sedate. I noticed on this record that his vocal tone sounds remarkably similar to Nina Simone, which I guess is just an interesting note rather than anything about the quality of the record. Four stars.
Girls Against Boys
5/5
I had never heard of Girls Against Boys before, but this was a really great sound and I enjoyed the hell out of it. The genre was pretty close to right up my alley and I really dug it. Lots of melodic crunchy guitars, cool aloof vocals and just a loud, funky sound that I loved. I listened to it twice -- five stars.
Captain Beefheart & His Magic Band
1/5
Well. That was something. I had never heard of Captain Beefheart before this, and after hearing the utter garbage that was the first track, I looked him up. I still can't square the fact that he was (and likely still is) a fucked up hack who abused his bandmates and was an asshole to everyone around him, and also one of the most respected and influential musicians of his time. Not to mention that this "music" sounds like utter trash from a pompous idiot. I don't get it, and I don't want to. I hated almost every minute of it. I get how artists like Tom Waits and Beck were heavily influenced by Captain Beefheart, because their music definitely has shades of this garbage, but they are actually good musicians and there music is actually interesting musically to listen to. I hated this so much, and I can't believe I actually listened to it all -- it felt like an eternity. If I could give it zero stars, I would -- one star.
The Zombies
4/5
I love the Zombies. The only song I'd heard before on this album was Time of the Season, and it was actually the song that stuck out for me the most in this list for some reason. Maybe because I know (and love) it so well, I don't know. But yeah, I've never heard a Zombies song I didn't like, and this was no exception. Wonderful melodies, great harmony choices -- a couple of the songs sounded very much like other songs to me (98.6 by Keith and another song I can't recall now, but something of the same era), and I had several moments when I was reminded strongly of the Beatles and Freddie Mercury through this album. Anyway, I really liked it. Four stars.
The Police
3/5
I love The Police, and Message in a Bottle and Walking on the Moon are two of my favorite Police songs, but the rest of this album was just kinda okay. I listened to it twice to make sure, and yeah, I give it three stars.
David Crosby
4/5
Well, so I love Crosby, Stills, Nash (and sometimes Young), and this entire album was _very_ reminiscent of that sound, for good reason obviously. I didn't recognize any of the songs on this album, but I did enjoy them. It was a good collection of music, with a sound that I really enjoyed listening to. It wasn't anything mind-blowing, but I get why it would be included in this collection of albums. Four stars.
Pere Ubu
2/5
Yeah, I don't know. There were some bright spots, but this was mostly noise for me. I heard a little Brian Eno in there and maybe some punk or something, but honestly it didn't really pique my ears at all, just sounded like some vaguely musical noise. Two stars.
Dusty Springfield
5/5
I love Dusty Springfield's voice, and this album was so, so good, mainly for that reason. The songwriting was just absolutely spot on and the performances were just perfect. I especially loved the wistful minor key and delightfully melancholy classical acoustic of Windmills of Your Mind. I listened to it twice -- five stars.
R.E.M.
4/5
Good, classic REM. I don't think I'd heard any of these songs before, but they were super distinctly REM's sound, which I like a lot. Four stars.
Cyndi Lauper
4/5
I'm not a huge fan of Cyndi Lauper, but this was a really good listen. The music was well-written, well-performed, and well-recorded. All around a surprisingly fun time and I was genuinely sad when it ended. Four stars.
Common
4/5
This is definitely not my genre, but I really enjoyed listening to this album. All of the tracks were pleasantly musical and the recording was very clean and well-done. I like Common's style and I really enjoyed the last song (apparently) recorded by Common's dad, haha. Four stars.
Dizzee Rascal
2/5
So to start off, this was definitely not my favorite genre. I felt like I was going insane most of the time I was listening to this "music". The instrumentation/programming was actually quite unique and engaging most of the time, but the lyrics and rapping felt like something from a 13-year-old urban English boy. I'm sure I just "don't get it", but this was painful to listen to for the most part. At least I enjoyed the non-verbal parts of it. Two stars.
Brian Wilson
5/5
This blew me away. I've always known that Brian Wilson was a musical genius, and Pet Sounds is one of my favorite albums, but I'd never heard BWPS until today. Coincidentally, Brian Wilson died yesterday, so this was an interesting surprise that I rolled this album today. Everything here was delightfully quirky and unexpected, with lots of cool rhythms, harmonies and melodies and great performances, recording and mixing. I listened to the whole thing twice and may go for a third time. Five stars.
Leonard Cohen
4/5
I really like Leonard Cohen, and this album was no exception. I love what he does with the harmony in his songs -- lots of unexpected chord changes and lots of spooky, cool-sounding atmospheres and stories told with music. I wish he was a more talented vocalist, but he is a brilliant poet, so that helps to make up for it. I listened to it twice. Four stars.
Led Zeppelin
5/5
I own this album on vinyl and have heard it a few times. It still blows my mind that Led Zeppelin came out of the gate with this album. Good Times Bad Times is so amazingly good, especially for the very first track anyone heard from a brand new band, and the rest of the album is no slouch either. This is an excellent album with no skips. Five stars.
Finley Quaye
3/5
I'd never heard of Finley Quaye before today, and this was an interesting listen, but I couldn't quite pin down whether I liked it or not. Sometimes it was lie a standard reggae sound with nothing super unique or interesting and at other times it was very groovy and not quite like anything else I'd heard before. I'm kinda torn between 2 stars and 4 stars, so I'm saying 3.
Hole
5/5
This was so good, I listened to it three times. I remember when this album came out and I loved it then and I still love it now. It's so perfectly recorded and Love's performances were all stellar. The perfectly distorted screams and perfectly sweet soft parts were wonderful. All of the instrumentation was great and I just really loved listening to this and never wanted it to end. Easily 5 stars.
Spiritualized
5/5
I had never heard of Spiritualized before today, but I really loved this album. It had so many cool different grooves to it and I really loved them all. It was perfectly performed and recorded and it demonstrates some really inventive writing and musical ideas. The big sound of the horns and bass really made my ears happy. I ended up listening to the whole album three times. Five stars, easily.
Radiohead
5/5
I had heard this album and loved it before, and this was no different. Wonderful varied album with great sounds, awesome melodies, stellar performances, and impeccable recording quality. I listened to it twice back to back -- five stars.
Queen
5/5
I am a huuuuuuuge Queen fan, and this is definitely in my top 3 Queen albums (behind only News of the World and Queen), so I was waiting for this one to come up. So many good songs on this album, and just an amazing sophomore album from a band that IMO was so much better in their early days than in their later ones -- more prog and less arena, more rock and less pop. Just amazing performances all around, combined with superb writing and awesome arrangement and attention to detail all around. I listened to it twice today, and I've probably listened to it 100 times before that. I remember buying this album in high school (late 90s) and falling asleep listening to it the first time. I had the most vivid dreams about Ogre Battle and I still daydream about it when I hear the song today. Anyway, easily five stars all day long and twice on Sunday.
Eurythmics
4/5
This was great, but I found it a little less engaging than I was hoping. I still listened to it twice, but I was a little disappointed. Four stars.
The Cure
2/5
I've never quite understood The Cure, and this album really exemplifies the ways in which they confuse me. I listened to it, and while there were moments when I was humming along and enjoying the pleasant groove, most of the time I was just kinda unaffected by the whole thing. It was alright, I guess, but I just can't figure out how I'm supposed to react to this music. I see a lot of people saying the The Cure albums are their all-time favorites, and this one is on this list, so _someone_ must really love it, but I just can't figure out why anyone would be so interested in what I hear as perfectly mediocre sounds. The last track, Airlock: The Soundtrack, was just 13 minutes of infuriatingly distressing noises, and I absolutely hated it. It took all of my willpower not to just close the tab in rage. Two stars.
Les Rythmes Digitales
5/5
This was not really my genre, but I loved it. The melodies and beats were fresh and cool sounding and it was really well produced and recorded. I listened to it twice. Five stars.
Arcade Fire
4/5
I had heard of Arcade Fire before, but I had absolutely no idea what their sound was. This was a breath of fresh air that I was not expecting. I'm not even totally sure what "their sound" is, but I found it very rich and melodic, with a driving, pumping force and rhythm to it that made my ears happy. Four stars.
Jorge Ben Jor
4/5
I really dug this. Very cool sounds (I love a good guiro) and fun grooves and just a happy, cool-sounding record. I had no idea what he was singing the entire time, but I didn't care because it was just so much fun to listen without understanding. I listened to it twice -- four stars.
Ghostface Killah
5/5
So this is definitely not a genre that I listen to often or know well, but I really loved it. This was a pretty long album, with 27 tracks average 3-4 minutes each, but I listened to it twice and each time it was over I was sad and felt like it went by too quickly. The production quality is really top notch and although I know next to nothing about Ghostface Killah, I really have a lot of respect for him for how musical and groovy this record was. Five stars.
David Holmes
4/5
This was fun, and overall I dug it quite a bit. There were some tracks (eg. Freaknik) that were a little long-winded in the spoken-word/sketch bits, but the music was infectious and vibrant and I enjoyed listening. Four stars.
Goldfrapp
5/5
I had never heard of Goldfrapp before today, and from the very first musical phrase of the very first track of this album I was spellbound. The lead singer's voice is so pure and clear, and the way shield wields it was truly something to behold. I've heard professional instrumentalists without the level of control and pitch that she shows on this album. The rest of the instrumentation was also tight and professional, and the writing and production were also excellent. I really enjoyed this album and listened to it all the way through twice. Five stars.
Yes
5/5
I am a big Yes fan, and I knew most of these tracks very well before listening to this album today, but I was amazed by 1) how much I loved the songs I hadn't heard before, and 2) the fact that all of these amazing songs were released on the same album. I listened to this twice and it was awesome, five stars.
Public Enemy
2/5
Okay, so to start off, this is definitely not my genre. I thought some of the tracks were alright, but some of them were just rhythmic noise. Flavor Flav can be alright sometimes and other times his voice can get really grating. I had heard a couple of these tracks before (eg. 911 is a Joke), but most of them were new to me. The bits with Ice Cube were pretty good, and some of the beats were pretty nice and interesting to listen to. Overall I didn't love it. Two stars.
Tom Waits
4/5
Man, I just don't know how to feel about Tom Waits. I can't tell if he's being sincere or parodying something (or himself?) most of the time. There are times when the music is actually really beautiful and melodic and Tom's vocals are just this drunken, raspy, caricature of a singer and then there are the "songs" that just sound like rhythmic noises made expertly by a mad men (or several of them at once) in a sewer somewhere. I had trouble getting through this album because of some of the songs that just didn't connect with me, but I want to like it. I'm really struggling to pick between 3 and 4 stars, but I'm gonna say 4 because it kinda won me over by the end.
My Bloody Valentine
2/5
I'm not sure I get what this was. Some of the songs were like kinda shoe-gazey, and some were just like rhythmic noise (seems to be a trend in my albums here lately...), some with a male lead singer, some a female. Some very electronic and fast-paced, some more drowsy and organic-sounding. There were brief moments when the music was enjoyable, but most of the time I was just left going "wtf even is this?". Two stars.
The Human League
5/5
This was so good. Well-written, well-recorded, well-polished, just perfect all arounnd. Don't You Want Me is of course their big radio hit off this album, but every track was as striking and completely different from the next in many ways. Obviously their general style and sound carried through the whole album, but I was constantly surprised by each track that came along and I loved it. I listened to it twice and considered a third time. Five stars.
OutKast
5/5
Outkast is wonderful. I had only heard a couple songs on this album before today, but I loved just about every one. There were a lot more guest artists than I expected, but overall it was great. Great beats, great rhymes, great stories, very cool album with great re-listenability. I listened to it twice -- five stars.
Dr. Dre
5/5
I'd heard a couple of these songs before, but the majority of this was new to me. Rap is not really my genre at all, but Dr. Dre isn't considered rap royalty for nothing. This album was great. The music was surprisingly crisp and well-written, the comedy sketches were genuinely funny and the rapping of course was incredibly on-point and enjoyable. I listened to it twice -- five stars.
Butthole Surfers
1/5
I really wanted to like this album, but it was mostly noise. I don't get it. I liked their radio hit "Pepper", but this was just all... garbage. One star.
John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers
4/5
This was good. Lots of twelve-bar blues, and everything was smooth, well-recorded, inventive in terms of rhythms and some new takes on familiar songs. I liked the injection of the Drive My Car riff in one of the tracks (I forget which), and the Ray Charles cover was solid, in a very distinct, bluesy way. It was good, and I listened to it almost a full two times through. Four stars.
Kelela
5/5
This was great! I'd never heard of Kelela (I just had to scroll up to remember her name, haha) before today, but I absolutely loved this album. Every track sounded different from the previous and they were all so melodic and funky and cool and I just loved her voice and the production quality is just absolutely perfect. Well-written, well-performed, well-recorded, just spot on. I have no idea what genre this even is (soul or r&b maybe?), but I loved it, and listened to it twice. Five stars.
Beastie Boys
4/5
My sister had this album when I was a kid, so I've heard it a bunch of times and always enjoyed it. Some of these songs (Girls, Brass Monkey, Fight For Your Right) are in my normal music rotation, but the rest were mostly fresh for me, although somewhat familiar from listens many years ago. All of them were good, no skips. I enjoyed all of the sampling -- multiple Zeppelin samples, one from Lowrider (or maybe that was an interpolation?), but yeah, good stuff. Flow was typical Beastie style -- no longer cutting edge, but still fun and raucous and I enjoyed listening and did so twice in a row. Four stars.
Radiohead
5/5
Amazing album from Radiohead, as always. I don't think the guys in Radiohead are 100% human because the stuff they put out just doesn't sound like something that came out of a human imagination. It's so odd and wonderful and just makes me happy to listen to in a way that almost no other music does. Five stars.
Johnny Cash
5/5
Man. I had heard a couple of these songs before (Hurt, Personal Jesus) although it was a long time ago, but the rest of them were mostly new to me. Man, I really loved every second of this album. Johnny's grizzled voice was just so perfect in these tunes. I especially liked Bridge Over Troubled Water and Desperado, and I think that that was in no small part due to the contributions of Fiona Apple and Don Henley (whom I despise as a businessman and person, but I loved as a musician), which added two distinct but equally nice contrast to Cash's tone. Give My Love To Rose felt especially poignant. I listened to this all the way through twice and could have gone back for more. I will be listening to this again in the future. Five stars, easily.
Fiona Apple
5/5
My high school girlfriend had this album and she and I both loved it. I have almost all of these songs in my current music collection, so I've heard those many, many times and they are so, so incredibly good. The writing, the performance, the recording, the production -- everything is immaculate. Every single song is one of my favorite songs. Fiona Apple is so, so good, I have a hard time putting it into words. It blows my mind that this was her first album. She came out of the gate so hard and just knocked it out of the park. If I could give six stars, I would. Five stars.
Orange Juice
3/5
This was interesting and kinda cool, but both singer's voices kinda got on my nerves. I get why people would like this album, but their vibe is just not for me. Three stars.
CHIC
3/5
This disco/soul thing is not really my genre, but I did enjoy this at a certain level. It was nicely funky (especially the basslines), but the hooks and the repetitiveness of the lyrics and phrases did get a little out of hand a few times. I listened to it twice just to make sure I wasn't missing anything, but I came away from the second listen in about the same place as the first. It was good, but not amazing. I probably won't listen again. Three stars.
Green Day
5/5
I owned this album on tape when I was in high school and on CD when I was in college and have all of these songs on my everyday playlist, so I've heard them many, many times and absolutely love them all. This is just about the perfect album in terms of composition, performance, recording, and mixing and I cannot recommend it enough to anyone who likes good, melodic, hard-hitting rock music. IMO this was Green Day at their peak and one of my favorite albums of all time. I listened to it twice today, and I couldn't love it any more than I do. Five stars, easily.
Lauryn Hill
4/5
This is not really my genre, but I did appreciate Lauryn's very high level of talent. Overall, I felt like it was a good album of music, just not something that I can really get into because it's not a sound that I find particularly interesting. Lauryn's singing was really quite good, so I'm giving it four stars just for that.
Wilco
3/5
This was an interesting listen and I did enjoy it, but I guess the Americana genre really isn't my favorite. I did find that a lot of songs reminded me strongly of Cracker (of which I've heard (and liked) a lot), to the point where I even looked up whether Wilco and Cracker shared any members over the years (they didn't), so that was cool. All told, it was a lot of music that kinda had the same "feel" to it, and after a while I kinda got tired of it. Three stars.
The Gun Club
2/5
Yeah, I don't know about this one. It sounded very much like The Cramps (of Psychotic Reaction fame), which I don't really love. It was kinda all over the place and the music wasn't really what I'm looking for. I think I just don't like this genre, whatever it is. Two stars.
Red Hot Chili Peppers
5/5
Man, I really love the Chili Peppers, and this album was probably at the height of their music in my opinion. The B/S/S/M period had a little harder edge which I maybe preferred a little, but this album is also just really good with no skips. Five stars, easily.
Beatles
5/5
I own this album on vinyl and it's one of my favorite Beatles albums. Every song is perfectly written, performed and recorded, no skips. Five stars, easily.
Aretha Franklin
4/5
I totally respect Aretha Franklin as an absolutely amazing singer and pioneer in soul music, and I do love some of her songs, but the soul sound sometimes grates on my ears after a while. I thought this album was pretty good, but I was done by the end (or maybe slightly before the end, if I'm being honest). For these reasons, I'm giving it four stars.
Joni Mitchell
4/5
I like Joni Mitchell, and the songs here were good, but I don't know, it just didn't grab me as well as Court & Spark or Blue or Clouds. Four stars.
The Saints
3/5
I'm sure that this was a seminal album in the punk movement or something, but this is just not my genre. It was alright -- three stars.
Bruce Springsteen
3/5
I don't normally love Springsteen, but this album was a different side of him than I'd ever heard before. It was much quieter, much more solemn and simple. Mostly just Bruce, a guitar and a harmonica, and I really kinda liked it. Three stars,
Arcade Fire
4/5
I had heard of Arcade Fire before today, but I don't think I had ever really heard any of their music. I didn't really expect to like it, honestly -- probably because I thought I knew what kind of music it was going to be (although I can't tell you clearly what type of music that was now) and I somehow didn't think I would like it. The first track on this album didn't wow me, but as the album went on, I was pleasantly surprised with the variety and quality of the music. I really found myself liking it and I even listened to it again when the album was done. Four stars.
Ministry
3/5
This was... interesting. I had never heard of Ministry before today, and the first few seconds of the first track didn't really fill me with hope that I would enjoy the "music" on this album. But I gave it a chance, and by the end of that first track, I was coming around. A lot of the songs had a very Rob Zombie-ish vibe to them, and I really dug the cool rhythmic grooves and surprisingly melodic hooks underneath the heavy metal covers. Still not really my genre, and I probably won't listen again, but easily worth three stars.
Simon & Garfunkel
5/5
This was wonderful. Every track was enjoyable, no skips. Simon & Garf really knew what they were doing and it shows. Five stars.
A Tribe Called Quest
5/5
This is not really my genre, but I absolutely loved this. Very cool, very slick and just a fun listen. I was surprised to see that it's from 1991 because it sounds like something from the late 90s -- I assume because Quest was just ahead of their time. The musicianship on the backing tracks was really on point and the rapping was just very good (in my mostly-uninformed opinion). I listened to it twice -- five stars.
Stevie Wonder
4/5
I love a good Stevie Wonder album, and this one was pretty good. There were obvious bright points like Superstition and You Are the Sunshine of My Life", but the rest of the album seemed to kind of pale in comparison. The songs were all good, and on any other album by any _regular_ artist, they would have been great. But this was a shortish album and I thought it was just kinda okay for Stevie. I still listened to it twice all the way through and was happy to do so, so it gets four stars.
UB40
3/5
This was an interesting listen. Reggae is not really my genre, but I really dug the basslines and cool grooves the band pulled together. A lot of the tracks sounded alike, but there were some that I really dug. I listened to it twice because it was pretty alright, but I probably wouldn't listen to it again. Almost four stars, but I give it three.
Tina Turner
4/5
This was actually much better than I expected. I'm not a huge Tina Turner fan, mainly because the sound of her voice kinda grates on me a bit, but the music on this album won me over in spite of that. Just about every song had a wonderful driving energy and smooth sound that really impressed me and made me happy. I still don't love Tina's voice, but I still enjoyed myself. Four stars.
Dusty Springfield
4/5
Dusty Springfield is wonderful. Her voice is so nice and her arrangements of these tunes were all great. I will admit that that 60's pop sound does get on my nerves a little after about an hour (this seemed like a long album!), but it's still good on the whole. Four stars.
Muddy Waters
3/5
Muddy Waters is wonderful and I love his style and his voice and he's an amazing talent when performing. However, I've grown really tired of blues albums that are just variations on 12-bar blues. I get that that's like the core of blues music, but it just gets very repetitive when listening to an album. This was good enough for me to enjoy it, but I would have enjoyed it a lot more with some more harmonic variation. Three stars.
Roxy Music
4/5
This was a blast. There were moments that it reminded me strongly of The Talking Heads, Rusted Root and Traffic, all of which I like at least a bit. The musicianship was top notch and the writing was super inventive and unique. I was humming along the entire time and enjoyed being surprised by the left turns in the music. Some of the songs had a little of an underbaked quality to them, almost like their songwriter was a little under-experienced, but I still enjoyed the album and listened to it twice. Four stars.
The Byrds
3/5
I like the Byrds generally, but this wasn't the peak of their music for me. This album was _very_ Byrdsy to me, and it was just a little too psychedelic in a sort of annoying way IMO. Their version of Hey Joe sounded rushed and weak kinda(?) and I didn't really love any of the other songs either. Overall I loved their harmonies, as always, and they are clearly very gifted musicians, but this wasn't the right album for me. Three stars.
AC/DC
5/5
This is such a great album. It's so perfectly written, performed, recorded and mixed and it's a joy to listen to. Really puts me in a kick-ass mood and I love it. Everything is so punchy and tight and it's just got a great groove. Almost every song is a bona fide out-of-the-ballpark hit and the ones that aren't should be, because they're easily nearly as good as the rest. I listened to it twice and bought it on vinyl just now because I love it so much. Five stars.
Bruce Springsteen
5/5
This was wonderful. I listened to it twice. Five stars.
U2
5/5
This was great. Every song was enjoyable. Five stars.
The Divine Comedy
3/5
I had never heard of The Divine Comedy before, and I was pleasantly surprised by some of the cool melodies and nice harmonies here. I especially enjoyed finding out that they were the original performer of Songs of Love, a song I had previously thought was a Ben Folds original (and really love). Some of the songs were a little forgettable, but the ones that were good were pretty good -- three stars for the bright spots.
Grateful Dead
5/5
This was great. I've known and listened to (and liked) the Dead's hits for decades, but I don't think I'd heard a full album until today, and now I'm wishing that I had. The music was so essentially Grateful Dead and every aspect of it -- writing, performance, recording, mixing, overall vibe, etc. -- was spot on and just really enjoyable to listen. No skips, perfect album -- five stars.
5/5
This was awesome. I had heard a little Muse before, but couldn't tell you a single song title or hum any melodies or anything. This album was so much fun and the music was just 100% right up my alley. I loved this so much, I am an instant Muse fan. Five stars, easily.
The Isley Brothers
4/5
This was great -- super funky, very Al Green-esque and lots of great feel. The covers (Summer Breeze, Listen to the Music) were great, and the originals were wonderful too. The flavor can get a little old after a while, but I still listened to it twice and thought it was great. Four stars.
Pretenders
3/5
I like The Pretenders a lot, but I didn't really gel with this album. It was fine, and better than average, but there were only a couple tracks (Brass in Pocket and Lovers of Today) that I really enjoyed thoroughly. The rest of the tracks just kinda faded into the background and all I remember is Chrissie Hynde's awesome vocals and nothing else, really. Three stars.
k.d. lang
5/5
This was awesome. I had really only heard like 3 kd lang songs before today (Constant Craving being one of them), and I really liked them all, but I had no idea what to expect from this album. I really, really enjoyed it. It was nicely melodic and hummable, and kd's voice is very distinct and nice to listen to, to my ears at least. It was a nice listen the whole way through, and it seemed too short, so I listened to it again, and again a third time. Five stars.
Gram Parsons
3/5
This seemed really well-done, and if I were into this style of music (Country Western? idk what it's called exactly), I think this would be a great album. I enjoyed listening to it, especially the cover of Love Hurts, but the sound got kinda corny and annoying after a bit. Three stars.
Anita Baker
5/5
This was wonderful. I'm not a huge fan of this genre (what is it? r&b?), but Anita is just a great singer and all of these songs were just so perfectly performed and put together that I couldn't help loving this album. The songs I knew (Sweet Love and Caught Up in the Rapture) were great nostalgia from my childhood when I would hear them playing on the radio or wherever, and all the rest of the tracks were almost equal in quality IMO and just a lot of fun to listen and hum along. Lots of musical surprises in here, and I have no notes. Five stars.
Pavement
2/5
This was alright, but I didn't love it. I heard a lot of Meat Puppets in their sound, and I started reading a little bit about their history on Wikipedia as I was listening, and after reading how much praise they're received over the years for their music (not to mention being included on this list), I was really expecting more than I got from this album. Like I said, it was alright, but maybe just not for me. Two stars.
Steely Dan
5/5
I haven't heard a Steely Dan record I didn't like, and this was no exception. I knew a few of these songs well, and the ones I didn't were just another garment cut from the sale wonderful cloth of Steely Dan. Great melodies, awesome harmonies, impeccable playing and writing, and just perfectly recorded and mixed. I have nothing negative to say about this album and I listened to it twice. Five stars.
Sisters Of Mercy
5/5
I've never heard of Sisters of Mercy, but I thought this was great. It reminded me of The Cure, but... I don't know, somehow better? I've never really understood The Cure's music (see my other reviews of their albums here), but I thought this was like, their same sound/vibe, but without the confusion parts that bother me. It was pleasantly dark and vibey and just a fun listen overall. The whole album definitely had a cohesive sound that I really dug but without getting boring or repetitive or grating. Five stars.
The Only Ones
4/5
This was a very interesting listen. At first, like in the first few seconds of the first track, I found the lead vocals to be super annoying and contrived and I wasn't thinking I was going to enjoy the album. But as it went on, I found that the music -- and even the singer -- won me over. About halfway through, I had to check on wikipedia if The Only Ones shared any members with The Clash because some of these tracks sounded _very_ Clash-like. Overall I really enjoyed this and listened to it twice, but the tone and timbre of the vocals were the slightest bit annoying. Four stars.
Abdullah Ibrahim
5/5
This was a super chill listen. The melodies were pleasantly eclectic and just kinda all over the place and I loved it. Some of the basslines were really sublime and really had me groovin. My only complaint is that it's too short, but listened to it twice and still wanted more. Five stars.
Van Morrison
3/5
This was alright. I don't love live albums, and this was no real exception. I generally like Van Morrison, but I can usually only take a couple songs of his in a row before I start to get really tired of his voice. I didn't find that I was super annoyed by him on this album, but I didn't really love it either, and once it was over, I was kinda done with it. Musically it was good, but I definitely prefer the studio versions of all of the songs that I had heard before. Three stars.
Morrissey
5/5
This was great. I love Morrissey because his musical style is so clever and surprising, but his vocal delivery is so dry and serious-sounding, but then you listen to the actual lyrics and it's so dry and satirical (see "You're The One For Me, Fatty", "Seasick, Yet Docked", and "We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful". Every song is interesting musically -- say, if you don't understand English, but the lyrics add a whole level of awesomeness that I can't get enough of. I listened to it twice and could have gone again if I had more time. Five stars.
Creedence Clearwater Revival
3/5
I generally like CCR, and this album had a couple hits that I knew well and a bunch of tracks that I didn't. I enjoyed the hits and liked the "new" tracks. CCR's sound can grate on me a bit over time, but this album didn't outstay its welcome. I liked it, but probably wouldn't listen to it again in its entirety. Three stars.
Sebadoh
3/5
This was an interesting listen. The first few tracks were just like semi-organized noise and I didn't like them. Then as the album went on, it seemed like the music got better and better, technically speaking. Almost like the musical equivalent of Flowers for Algernon. In the end I didn't hate it, but I definitely didn't love it. It had some redeeming features and it had some junk that I don't ever want to listen to again. Three stars.
Bill Evans Trio
3/5
This was a good background jazz listen, but nothing mind-blowing IMO. Three stars.
The War On Drugs
3/5
This was alright. There were points where I could hear a strong Paul Simon or Bob Dylan influence and I really enjoyed the sound, but overall I was just kinda unimpressed with the music. It was good, but not great. Three stars.
Elvis Costello
3/5
I like Elvis Costello, and this album was good and I enjoyed listening to it, but it eventually gets to the point where every song kinda sounds the same and it's like a single hour-long song. So by the end of the album, I was definitely ready to listen to something else. Good, but kinda needs to be in smaller doses, IMO. Three stars.
FKA twigs
5/5
This was so incredibly good. I had never heard of FKA twigs before today, and I loved this so much I ended up listening to it all the way through 3 times. Every track sounded distinct from the others but with a unifying groove or sound that made them seems like parts of a cohesive whole. The music was really cool and interesting sounding and I loved her voice and the instrumentation and the harmonies and the beats, and really just everything. I became an instant and huge fan today. Five stars.
James Taylor
5/5
Man, this was just so good. Everything about this -- the writing, the performances (vocal and instrumental), the producing, recording, mixing, just all perfect in every way. I had only heard maybe two of these songs before, but James Taylor constantly surprises me with how awesome he is at this. I listened to it twice. Five stars easily.
Happy Mondays
4/5
I had no idea what this was before today, and at first I wasn't sure whether I liked it or not, but by the end of the album I was completely won over and I listened to it again. Cool melodies, crunchy, edgy guitar riffs and just overall cool and nice sounding music. Four stars.
Hookworms
5/5
This was great. I had no idea what to expect from this, but I loved it and listened to the whole thing twice. Five stars.
Lambchop
3/5
This was interesting, and cool, but not my favorite. Three stars.
4/5
Alright, so I am very far from being a Limp Bizkit fan, but I actually really enjoyed this. I now see/remember why they were a pretty big thing back in the day. Their sound is still fresh and they really had something interesting with their blend of styles. One listen was enough though, haha. Four stars.
Nitin Sawhney
5/5
This was so cool. I had never heard of Nitin Sawhney before today, but I absolutely loved this album. Nearly every track sounded different from the others and they were just chock full of cool interesting sounds, rhythms, techniques and instruments. I really enjoyed it and listened to it twice. Five stars.
Robert Wyatt
3/5
This was weird, but I kinda liked it. Three stars.
The Velvet Underground
2/5
I wanted to like this but it was just... noisy. I can see how there is some musical merit here, and I'm sure it was revolutionary for its time, but yeah, I just really didn't enjoy listening to it. Some of the songs were alright, but most of it was just me wondering how much longer I was going to have to listen to some guy droning on about something I couldn't really hear or understand while listening to a band jamming on some really boring chords in a really low-fi sounding way. Two stars.
Metallica
3/5
This was good, song-wise. I like almost all of these songs and some of them are my favorite Metallica songs. And I love a string orchestra accompaniment, especially for a sound as hard-edged as Metallica's is. But man, I just can't get behind the live aspect. I really don't like live albums as a rule. The tempo on some of those songs is just all over the place, sometimes too slow, sometimes way to fast. It just sounds sloppy and takes me out of the music. Overall still a great collection of tracks, but I probably won't ever listen to most of these tracks again. Three stars.
The Yardbirds
5/5
I really liked this album. I guess it should be no surprise that I liked the Yardbirds, considering that I like the music pretty much all of the members made after leaving the band. This was really cool and fun to listen to and had lots of neat grooves (especially snappy and interesting bass and guitar riffs) and every song sounded unique and fresh. There were a lot of tracks (like 20-25) on the YT playlist and I listened to them all twice and still would have listened to them again. Five stars.
Justice
5/5
Wow, this was easily the coolest album of music I've heard in a long time, possibly this year. Everything was so crunchy and cool and melodic and just in your face with a great, fresh sound and just really good grooves and I just loved it. I had never heard of Justice before, and I have no idea what genre this music even is, but I was really impressed by the sound of this album. The Kesha track was kinda meh -- only because I can't stand the way she sings -- but I still listened to the whole thing twice and considered going a third time. Five stars, easily.
Skepta
4/5
This definitely was not a genre I typically listen to, but I really found myself enjoying the grooves and the rapping on this. The talking tracks were too long and not interesting in the slightest, so I could've done without them, but I really enjoyed the beats, the rapping, the production quality and the sound of the record. I listened to it twice. Four stars.
Creedence Clearwater Revival
5/5
Man, this was so good. I too often forget how great of a songwriter, arranger, singer, and performer John Fogerty is/was. Almost every track was a hit and the ones that weren't could easily have been. I listened to it twice and loved it the whole time. Five stars.
The Louvin Brothers
4/5
I did enjoy this, and hummed along the entire time, but their sound definitely has a lot of... flavor. Sometimes too much. I couldn't take more than one listen, but I did enjoy their harmonies and the universality of these tunes. I especially enjoyed "Where Did You Go Last Night", since I only previously knew it from the Nirvana Unplugged performance. It was like hearing a bluegrass cover of it, haha. Four stars.
Deep Purple
4/5
I really like Deep Purple, and this album was pretty good musically, but I really loathe live albums. I love to watch/listen to live music in real life, but when I want to sit down in my house and listen to good music, I want it to be perfectly polished and curated, not recorded in an imperfect setting with screaming crowds, rushed time and cracking voices. Don't get me wrong, the Deep Purple crew absolutely smashed these performances, and I did enjoy listening to the album, but I would've enjoyed it so much more if it had been a studio recording. Four stars.
Brian Eno
2/5
Hmmm... This was... something. It was recorded and produced flawlessly, but it wasn't exactly what I'd call compelling music. It was certainly melodic and had powerful harmonies and soundscapes and the synth sounds were very clean, but arrangement-wise it was very spartan, slow, and kind of plodding. It was like an elephant -- broad, slow, deliberate, and majestic, but not very fun to have around. I know Eno can make compelling music, but this was just not it. I get that it's called "Music for Airports" and that it was supposed to be avant garde and all that, but at the end of the day, I just didn't love listening to it, despite the context in which it was written and recorded. Two stars.
Dr. John
2/5
This was alright. I don't love Dr. John's voice and most of the music was just kind of repetitive mantra-like chanting with (admittedly pretty good) backup singers. It wasn't awful or anything, but I don't know, I just didn't hear anything great and by the end I was done with the flavor. Two stars.
Simply Red
5/5
This was way better than I expected. I only knew the one hit song on this album before listening, but all of the other tracks were very good, and varied in their sound, and I just really enjoyed the whole time. I listened to it twice and still loved it. Five stars.
Aretha Franklin
5/5
This was great, as I expect from Aretha Franklin. I listened to it later in the day, but really enjoyed it and hummed along the whole time. Five stars.
Yes
4/5
This was an awesome album. I generally love yes, but I had only really heard two of the tracks on this album before (Roundabout and Long Distance Runaround), and I do think that they were bright spots of the record for me, but the other tracks were also great. Some of the classical excerpts were a little on the boring side, but I still enjoyed them overall. Four stars.
Aerosmith
5/5
This was so good. I'd heard it before a few times and knew it was a good album, but every track was just so varied and great-sounding. The classic hits (Walk This Way and Sweet Emotion) were obviously great -- and I know them well, but the other tracks were almost as good and I really loved listening to them. In fact, I loved it so much I listened to it 3 times all the way through and almost went for a 4th. Five stars, easily.
Daft Punk
3/5
This was alright. I think Around the World is one of the best songs of its genre and it makes me happy every time I listen to it. But the rest of this album (including many lengthy remixes of Around the World) was just kind of a slog. I listened to the whole thing, but I didn't love it. Three stars.
Neneh Cherry
2/5
This wasn't really my thing. I'm sure it was revolutionary for its time and the feminism in its lyrics and themes was cool, but I just really didn't enjoy listening to it much and it was a slog to get through. Two stars.
Jazmine Sullivan
3/5
Yeah, this had its moments, but it's just not a genre of music that I super enjoy listening to. I found myself humming along to most of the tracks and there were a few that I did enjoy, but for the most part I was just kinda bored. I really don't get the spoken word tracks on rap/hiphop albums... Who enjoys listening to someone talk about how shitty of a person they are or act poorly in some skit about some boring story of shitty people? I don't know, that was just not very interesting to me. But the music was well-produced and well-performed. I wasn't wowed by any of it, but it was passable as "good". Three stars.
M.I.A.
4/5
This was not at all one of my typical listening genres -- other than the fact that I've had Sunshowers in my regular rotation since it came out -- but I really enjoyed this. MIA's sound is so unique and really her own flavor. I don't think there's anyone else out there that makes music that sounds quite like hers. I listened to it twice. Four stars.
Michael Kiwanuka
5/5
I had no idea what this was before I hit play, but I absolutely loved it. Kiwanuka's voice and vibe were just awesome. Soulful, funky, emotional, melodic, and just pleasantly musical, I really liked listening to this and hummed along to the changes throughout. I listened to it twice all the way through and was still digging it -- I almost went a third time. Five stars.
Dexys Midnight Runners
4/5
This was great, but by the end I was kinda ready to be done. Four stars.
Sheryl Crow
5/5
This was awesome. I have always loved Sheryl Crow's music, but I had never listened to most of this album before. It blows my mind that her first album was so varied and deep, musically speaking. There are so many different sounds and vibe on this record and I really enjoyed listening to every song, including the ones I knew well and the ones I had never heard before. I had no idea that she could do all of these styles so perfectly so long ago/early in her life. I didn't realize that I could love Sheryl Crow more than I already did, but listening to this album corrected that. I listened to it twice, five stars.
Robert Wyatt
2/5
This was ... I guess interesting. I couldn't really get into it. A lot of the time I was listening it kinda just faded into the background and then all of a sudden I would hear a weird cello or vocal performance that made me go "whaaa?". It was certainly very ambitious instrumentally, but I'm not sure if it really gelled into anything I could understand. By the time it was over I was done with it and didn't really enjoy it very much. I've heard worse, but I wouldn't call this a good album, let alone a great one, but I probably just didn't get it or something. :shrug: Two stars.
Ute Lemper
4/5
This was really interesting. I had never heard of Ute Lemper before, nor has I really heard any of these songs before, as far as I know. I got the impression from the album cover that most (all?) of them were covers of songs by other popular artists, but I definitely didn't hear any of those artists' sound in this -- the sound of this record was very distinct, even if I can't say for sure much about whose sound it is. Ute's voice sometimes reminded me strongly of Barbra Streisand and sometimes of Bjork, and I really enjoyed the vibe of the record. Each track seemed to be its own thing, but there was something very tangible that held them together in a cohesive unit, mostly due to the strong vocal timbre that Ute possesses and displays on this album. I listened to the whole thing twice, more because I wanted to really soak it in to know what it was I had listened to than because I loved it. I thought it was very interesting, but I doubt I would ever listen again. Four stars.
The Soft Boys
4/5
This was a cool sound that I really liked at first, but the lead singer's voice kinda got on my nerves after a while and their sound was kinda chaotic for long listening. The lead singer's voice actually really reminded me of the dude from Midnight Oil (Beds Are Burning), and I had to look it up to make sure that it wasn't the same guy. Anyway, I really liked most of these songs, but it's one of those things that I can only take in certain size doses. Four stars.
Jah Wobble's Invaders Of The Heart
5/5
This was great. Such a wide variety of vibes and sounds -- I couldn't actually tell that most of the tracks were from the same artist as any of the other tracks. There were a few that had the same vocal tenor (reminded me a lot of Midnight Oil's lead singer), but yeah, just a lot of varied sounds here. And I really liked most of them. It was a little scattered in terms of theme and feel, so I'm hesitating a little here, but I just can't give it four stars because I listened to it twice and loved it. Five stars.
Mercury Rev
2/5
Yeah, I don't know. It started off okay, but then I kinda got lost and it was all over the place. What genre of music was this? I'm not sure. I didn't really enjoy listening to it, but it had some ambitious soundscapes and some hummable tunes. Two stars.
Guided By Voices
1/5
I hated this. It was just repetitive, barely melodic noise most of the time. I kept waiting for a good track but they just kept getting worse and worse as the album went on. This sounds like an album a friend of mine recorded on a laptop microphone in 2003 and he had never had a day of musical training in his life. I did not enjoy this in the slightest. It was mercifully short but I still couldn't wait for it to be over.
WHY IS THIS ALBUM IN THIS LIST? Is the author just checking to see if anyone's actually listening to these???
One star.
Michael Jackson
5/5
I mean, come on. It's Thriller. I own this on vinyl and have heard all of these songs several times, most of them thousands of times. Every track is great to listen to, has great feel and vibe and just makes me happy. Most of these tracks were hits, many were sampled and interpolated by several songs that came after them, and all of there are expertly crafted, arranged, performed and recorded. I listened to it twice all the way through today and loved every minute of it. This is a candidate for the best album of all time, easily five stars.
Ryan Adams
3/5
This was alright. It started off strong and ended strong, but the middle was just kinda meh. I'd never really heard of Ryan Adams before, so I really didn't know what to expect. I thought it was kinda country at first, but then there was a healthy dab of bluesiness to his voice and sound that I kinda liked. But in the end, the whininess of his voice kinda got to me and I didn't love it. Instrumentally and production-wise it was pretty good, but the writing and arranging was just kinda okay. I probably wouldn't listen again. Three stars.
The Undertones
3/5
This was pretty alright. I listened to it twice, and enjoyed it, but it was a little one-note. Three stars.
Mariah Carey
4/5
This was wonderful -- I especially love My All, as it's been a favorite of mine from Mariah for at least 20 years. Excellent vocals, great grooves, awesome writing and amazing performances. Four stars.
3/5
This had some great high spots (Are We Not Men, for one) but also some kinda disappointing lows (Satisfaction, for one). I like Devo a lot, but this was maybe a little too edgy for me to love. It was good, but it wasn't great, IMO. Three stars.
Rufus Wainwright
4/5
This was pretty good. I had heard of Rufus Wainwright before today, and had heard some of his stuff, but I really couldn't name a song by him or describe his style, so I didn't really know what to expect from this. I liked it, and hummed along to the harmonies the whole time. He's clearly a very talented musician and there were a few places where his sound _really_ reminded me of Muse, which is a very good thing. I enjoyed listening to this but wasn't blown away and I don't know if I'd listen to it again any time soon. Four stars.
Jamiroquai
5/5
I have this album on digital and have listened to all of the songs on random for years and I love them all. The funkiness and tight grooves are absolutely amazing and I love them all. Five stars, easily.
Gang Of Four
3/5
This was alright. It was kind of edgy, but kind of annoying, I guess? I don't know, it was good, just not really something I'd listen to a lot. Three stars.
Ramblin' Jack Elliott
3/5
This was alright, but I didn't love it. I get that Jack Elliot was like an important influence in folk and country music, but I just didn't really enjoy listening to most of this album. I would give it a 2 star, but I want to recognize its importance, so I'm giving it 3 stars.
Tortoise
2/5
This was alright. For a normal album of music I would give it about 3.5 stars, but for a 1001 best albums of all time, I'd say maybe 2. It was kinda neat, and I listened twice to make sure I didn't miss anything mind-blowing and it was short enough, but I didn't really enjoy it much. 2 stars.
Sonic Youth
2/5
I didn't really like this. It had some okay moments, but most of it was just like annoying noise. There were several moments when I was reaching for the skip button, forgetting that I was listening to a supposedly-great album and wanted to treat it like some crap that was accidentally playing. Two stars, and I think that's being generous.
Gil Scott-Heron
3/5
This was an interesting listen. Lots of cool grooves and melodies, but mostly not blowing my mind. The one stand-out track for me was H2O Gate, which was really stellar, in terms of writing, performance (so good) and just overall groove. Three stars overall.
Björk
5/5
This was great. I love Bjork's sound and the way she sings and writes is really unlike anyone else I've ever heard (and possible anyone who's ever lived, haha). The sound of this music is so lush and well-recorded and her vocals and lyrics are just so amazingly bold and melodic and great. There was one segment of multipart vocals (performed amazingly by Bjork) in Lionsong that absolutely blew my mind in terms of their musicality, creativity and coolness. I had never heard a single one of these songs before and I listened to the whole album twice because I loved it so much. Five stars.
The Auteurs
5/5
This was great. I may be overstating it, but I consistently got a Beatles feel from these tracks -- to the point where I wondered if The Auteurs were what the Beatles would have sounded like if they were born 30 years later. I loved almost every track and listened to it 3 times without tiring. Five stars.
Mike Oldfield
5/5
This was awesome. I had only heard the first part of the Tubular Bells theme before, but the rest of the music was so inventive and cool and enjoyable to listen to -- way more than I expected. Five stars.
Giant Sand
3/5
This was an interesting ride. Very hummable, and kinda groovy, but a little bit like listening to the random musical dribbling of someone with a lot of inspiration and motivation but not much actual experience of know-how. I liked it well enough, but I probably wouldn't listen to it again. Three stars.
Pet Shop Boys
5/5
This was wonderful, as everything I've heard so far from Pet Shop Boys has been. I listened to it twice, five stars.
Bonnie "Prince" Billy
3/5
This was alright, and I didn't love it. It had some cool melodies and interesting slow, mellow grooves, but a lot of the performances were just kinda amateurish. For example, I heard a few places where the piano chords were kinda off-beat. The writing was interesting and I was humming along to at least a few of the songs, so the harmonic journey was interesting, but I didn't love the album as a whole and I probably wouldn't listen again. Three stars.