Highway is a classic hard rock track. I've done covers of it with a couple of my earlier bands. Tracks are a bit hit or miss for me personally. Album comes across as a collection of individual tracks instead of building a cohesive whole. That's not necessarily bad, but makes for an up and down listening experience when not skipping some of the weaker tracks. For better or worse, Bon Scott's vocals are unique and instantly identifiable even if they aren't always as easily understood. Walk All Over You is a highlight, probably the best track. Shit Down In Flames comes a close second. Girls Got Rhythm and Touch Too Much are definite low points. Overall, it's a fun album.
I've never understood the appeal of Lou Reed's campy lyrics. Transformer has never struck me as being the seminal albums many people bill it as. The songwriting is basic, lyrics are amateurish, the recording quality is mediocre, and there was much better music being produced at the time. How this ever made it to release is beyond me.
Probably my favorite of Artic Monkeys' discog. Their later stuff sounds like they're trying to hard to be weird in an intellectual way. They catchy hooks and bouncy musical energy of this album is what made people dig AM to begin with. The "volume wars" era mixing and mastering is apparent on this album and it's not particularly well done beyond that. The songs themselves get my foot tapping and my ears engaged. It's just a fun listen, but nothing mind-blowing.
Classic 70s disco sound. The songwriting is fairly basic, but the lyrics and vocals performance stand out as being catchy and approachable. Very much a product of the time and I don't know that I see this as an all-time classic sort of album. Still a fun listen though.
One of my favs from the 90s. I personally think this is some of the best material Grohl has put out. Hot take: Better than Nirvana. Catchy, well-crafted hooks. Songwriting is straightforward, but classic in it's structure. This is one of the seminal albums that heralded the change from grunge to alternative as the dominant genre in rock.
Not as polished as later releases, but a solid first effort. Lyrically distinct and strong. Songwriting is a bit homogenous and poppy compared to the signature style most identified with the band. We Walk was a standout and West Of The Fields is a great closing track for the album. The sound of the last track is the strongest foreshadowing of what R.E.M. would eventually become, IMO.
The mixing/mastering needs some work (channel tracking is noticeably off on more than one track). This is one of those mid to late 90s albums that began to shape indie rock into the genre we know today. The string background accompaniment on Novocaine for the Soul adds so much depth and nuance to the track. I prefer this album to Eels' more contemporary albums (particularly the last two). Your Lucky Day in Hell does remind me of the cult classic and highly underrated movie it appears in, Dead Man On Campus. All of that said, to me this one is just so-so.
An era-defining album. When I think of British rock in the 80s bands like The Smiths and Joy Division are the first to come to mind and this is the album that I think of as peak The Smiths. That kind of haunting vocal presentation, springy basslines, jangly guitar, and buckets of reverb for atmosphere became the signature of this album, this band, and this era. Catchy and quirky hooks. Songwriting is simple and straightforward. The Queen is Dead, Bigmouth Strikes Again, and The Boy With the Thorn in his side are the standouts for me. Solid album all around and you can hear the sounds that are still influencing bands and albums to this day.
Listened to in the Yanyin Mahinas through the Fiio BTR3 first time around.
Bowie was never the strongest singer and even production tricks can't hide his voice getting weaker with age. It's cool to hear him going back to a more classic Bowie sound post-hiatus. That said, this album was average at best and for a legend like Bowie, I was expecting much better.
Funny how this doesn't particularly sound like the later Blur albums I remember. The lyrics are a bit over the top kitchy, but they also have a certain catchy, singable appeal to them. Production quality could be better, but the volume wars were in full swing and compression was popular. It has a bit of an 80s holdover feel combined with some flashes of the sounds that would later become synonymous with 90s alternative. Not my favorite, but a fun album nonetheless.
Fantastic album. I love AF and this is one of their best. Catchy hooks, decent production, and tons of potential. It's not perfect, but it's always a fun liste. Also one of the more influential indie albums of its time.
One of the greatest punk albums of all time. Production is terrible and the musicianship is spotty at best, but that suits the genre. Political commentary and satire are top notch.
Cooke has some of the most memorable lyrics/songs in the history of modern music. This would've been an amazing concert to attend. That said, even the best remastered released of the album leave A LOT to be desired from a sound quality perspective. Still a pretty fun listen.
One of the most influential American punk/hardcore albums of all time! Still as good today as it was in 1983. Enough said.
Maybe I'm not the best judge of rap/hip-hop, but I don't hear anything special about this. At least it has a message and isn't the mumbling crap that all these lames come out with nowadays. However, it's got nothing on Tupac, Biggie, Nas, Eminem, and a million other guys that can throw together some truly crazy rhyme schemes.
Sonic Youth have never been my jam. This, being one of their earlier albums, features pretty terrible production and I've always found their songwriting to be pretty amateurish. I've never understood why they get the acclaim they do because even during their peak, there were much better bands creating significantly better music in very much the same vein.
Quirky album, but a fun listen for sure. The wide array of employed sounds including what sounds like various synth and early sampling methods make this a unique album for the time.
Listening on Hifiman Edition XS, Schiit Magnius, SMSL SU-8, and Wiim streamer.
One of my favorite female vocalists of all-time and this is one of her best albums. I could listen to it all day long. Classic!
Joni is a classic. Period. I could listen to this album on repeat for hours and be totally content. The emotion and quiet power she injects into a song through her vocals performance is up there with the best female rock vocalists like Janic Joplin, Mama Cass, etc
