209
Albums Rated
3.67
Average Rating
19%
Complete
880 albums remaining
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Taste Profile
1960s
Favorite Decade
Jazz
Favorite Genre
US
Top Origin
Generous
Rater Style
44
5-Star Albums
1
1-Star Albums
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Rating Style
You Love More Than Most
Albums you rated higher than global average
| Album | You | Global | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chelsea Girl | 5 | 2.63 | +2.37 |
| Scott 2 | 5 | 2.64 | +2.36 |
| Nighthawks At The Diner | 5 | 3.01 | +1.99 |
| Vento De Maio | 5 | 3.01 | +1.99 |
| The Modern Lovers | 5 | 3.06 | +1.94 |
| 3 Years, 5 Months And 2 Days In The Life Of... | 5 | 3.15 | +1.85 |
| A Christmas Gift For You From Phil Spector | 5 | 3.28 | +1.72 |
| If I Should Fall From Grace With God | 5 | 3.34 | +1.66 |
| Songs Of Leonard Cohen | 5 | 3.37 | +1.63 |
| Eliminator | 5 | 3.38 | +1.62 |
You Love Less Than Most
Albums you rated lower than global average
| Album | You | Global | Diff |
|---|---|---|---|
| Idlewild | 1 | 2.57 | -1.57 |
| Synchronicity | 2 | 3.42 | -1.42 |
| Pretenders | 2 | 3.35 | -1.35 |
| Eagles | 2 | 3.29 | -1.29 |
| S&M | 2 | 3.26 | -1.26 |
| MTV Unplugged In New York | 3 | 4.21 | -1.21 |
| Porcupine | 2 | 3.08 | -1.08 |
| Hearts And Bones | 2 | 3.03 | -1.03 |
| Deserter's Songs | 2 | 3.02 | -1.02 |
Artist Analysis
Favorite Artists
Artists with 2+ albums
| Artist | Albums | Average |
|---|---|---|
| Radiohead | 3 | 5 |
| Marvin Gaye | 2 | 5 |
| Black Sabbath | 2 | 5 |
| Pink Floyd | 2 | 5 |
| Bob Dylan | 2 | 5 |
| The Velvet Underground | 2 | 5 |
Controversial Artists
Artists you rate inconsistently
| Artist | Albums | Variance |
|---|---|---|
| Metallica | 2 | 1.5 |
5-Star Albums (44)
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Popular Reviews
Elis Regina
5/5
This was a joy start to finish. Perfect blend of serious musicianship to lighthearted easy listening. It works as both background music and intent listening on par with Bill Evans.
Album Cover: (A-)
1 likes
Eagles
2/5
There's something about this era of music that needs to tell you how much they get laid in an incredibly unsexy way.
"I believe we can chug all night" sounds exactly like the favorite song of guy who has cornered me at a sports bar while I'm just trying to watch the 49ers. This is a song for a man who tells me how much tail he got when he was my age, why my generation is missing out on real fun cause I'm too sensitive, and why I don't know what real music is because of autotune and *computers*. Yes this man is a pastiche of stereotypes, but I have met him and he loves The Eagles.
The songs are fine. I was tapping my foot, but nothing was special. Its a 3 star if I set aside my emotional baggage, but checking bags is expensive these days, so I'm carrying it right along with me.
I like the outro of Take The Devil. It sounds like a lot like Black Sabbath. However, If I want to hear something that sounds like Black Sabbath, I would listen to Black Sabbath, not the last 20 seconds of an Eagles song.
I also like the banjo on Earlybird, but again if I want that I'll just go listen to Earl Scruggs.
Clearly I am in some type of mood and am only finding the negatives in this, but whatever. I'm steering into the skid.
Sorry Joe Walsh (I do like your guitar playing).
Album cover: (B+) It sets a nice mood
1 likes
Jean-Michel Jarre
4/5
In middle school I watched a lot of British stand up comedy DVDs. One of them was a Bill Bailey special with a lot of musical bits. In one of them he sampled himself saying "Jean Michelle Jare is a fraud. I never knew who that was until this album came up.
So thank you 1001 Album Club, for answering a question I've had for many years.
I listened to this in the shower, and it was excellent shower music.
I'm giving it 4 stars for shower excellence. In most other contexts it would probably be a 3, but that was a really peaceful and bubbly sounding shower.
I still don't know why he's a fraud though.
Album cover: (A-) Cheesy but very rad.
1 likes
The Modern Lovers
5/5
I have some memorable moments with the Modern Lovers, the highlights of which I will list below.
- Jonathan Richman is a friend of a friend (Ted, who Stijn knows), and I have met him a couple times. He is a strange fellow, and generally delightful. He answered my question about some lyrics.
- When I moved to New York, Roadrunner came on just as I was crossing the Manhattan bridge into the city came on the radio. It was a great soundtrack for what felt like the beginning of a new chapter.
- Later that year when I was sad and living in New York, I listened to Hospital way too much, and it was very good wallowing music.
- I love hearing these songs as a connection to the Boston music scene of yesteryear. Apparently the Velvet Underground were huge in the Boston underground scene, and Jonathan Richman was there connection in town. I would kill to have been at those shows.
Basically I love this album, and Jonathan Richman's solo work. Hospital is my favorite song on the album. Its a wild blend of mournful and humorous, which is a very rare balance to strike.
Album cover: (A)
1 likes
Metallica
5/5
This is the last truly great Metallica album. They got really weird and creative here (this has most of my favorite Metallica solos). If they'd actually let Newstead's bass be mixed in properly, it'd be a true 10/10, but because of that it will always be a 9/10.
I had many a 16 year old night lying stoned in my bed, listening to this on my iPod.
Songs of note:
- Eye of the Beholder: This is the only song on the album I ever learned to play. Something about the disonance in the main riff always stood out to me. This has my favorite solo on the album. It was shorter, more melodic and less shreddy than usual. For how progged out this album is, it feels much succinctly more tasteful (even though it is a 6.5 minute song). At the end of the solo, Kirk hits this big harmonic with the whammy bar and I remember being stoned and feeling like that moment sucked all the air out of my chest.
- One: The undeniable classic of the album. Perfect mix of pretty, soft melodic, and crushing riffage. This has to be the best solo on the album (though Eye is my favorite).
- To Live is to Die: The third in the early instrumental trio. I always listen to this as connected to Kall of Ktulu and Orion. Its a very pretty and sad song, but I was never sure what to make of the disjointed intro/outro. I read once that it was a tribute to Cliff Burton being cut short, and I've just taken it that way.
- Dyers Eve: One of the best thrash songs they ever wrote. Fast and heavy as it gets. This is probably my sneaky favorite on the album. Perfect closer too.
Album Cover: (A) So on the nose that it works.
1 likes
1-Star Albums (1)
All Ratings
Elvis Presley
3/5
Fun but I didn't love it. Any time I recognized a song, I liked the other artist's version more and I wished I was listening to that instead. I like Elvis's goofiness and energy, and Scotty Moore's guitar especially.
I enjoyed having it on, but probably won't be going back any time soon.
A+ for album cover.
6/10
Beatles
4/5
This was my first time back on Abbey Road since being a stoned teenager that just got a record player. My short and sweet review - a few all time greats, with mostly pretty good ones in between.
Come Together and She's So Heavy are 10/10. I'd forgotten about Something and really liked it, my highlight of the album was remembering this song. Carry That Weight was also very good.
Everything else was good but didn't stand out.
7/10
If it was an EP with just those four songs, 9/10
A+ album cover
Wu-Tang Clan
5/5
We all know this album, so instead of a review here are some thoughts I had on this listen:
• It sounds better at night than during the day.
• My favorite verse on the album is ODB's in Chessboxin.
• It's longer than I realized.
• Going back to an earlier album on the list, Can Be All So Simple made me think of Portishead. The samples reminded me a bit of both Mysterons and Roads from Dummy. Also something about this song always stuck out to me, and still does. It feels different from the rest of the album for some reason.
• Fun fact I learned 5 minutes ago. They sampled the theme song to Underdog - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pa1fH0SvGPg
10/10
Dire Straits
4/5
I ebbed and flowed on liking this one throughout the album. I was very into the first few tracks, then kinda checked out for the middle, then got back into it for the end.
In general I liked the songs with more energy, not so much the slower more ambient ones.
Walk of Life was a delight. I was stuck in traffic when it came on and was bouncing all around my seat.
Also this is such an incredibly 80s sounding album. What a time capsule.
7/10 and I will probably revisit a few more times.
C- album cover
Herbie Hancock
5/5
I guess I'd say I struggled with this one, or at least found it challenging? Its definitely out of my wheelhouse.
I've been aware of it, and its place in the music canon forever but never fully listened. I mainly just knew it as the album with Watermelon Man on it.
Having now listened properly, I'd say its incredible but not quite my cup of tea.
5 stars cause I can't give it anything less, but not giving it an x/10 rating because I don't have my feelings on it sorted yet.
A+ album cover
Tears For Fears
5/5
This was my favorite album so far (having joined at Elvis). I hadn't really thought of Tears for Fears as an "album" band, more a singles band, so I enjoyed hearing them in album form.
This album had so many songs I already knew and loved, and I was surprised that so many of them were on one album.
The sounds are all so incredibly 80's, but in a way that feels still pretty timeless when a lot of its contemporaries can sound kinda dated. It also got surprisingly heavy at times. Great balance of big bangers, and slower softer songs. The production is perfect for their style too. The whole album sounds lush and huge and begs to be played from the biggest speakers possible.
Their songwriting is also incredible. Every song on there works just as well as a top 40 commercial hit as it does an underground classic.
Shout is one of the best songs ever recorded.
10/10 and a delight the whole time.
B to B+ album cover
Electric Light Orchestra
5/5
Fun. Thats what this album was. Plain fun.
I ended up listening to this three times on Friday, so thats about as much of an endorsement as I can give.
The album was poppy and light, but super progressive without feeling too showy or excessive. I could also hear a lot of their contemporaries influence in there. It felt like a big mish mash of queen, late era Beatles, and Elton John, but still its own distinct thing.
My favorite song was Jungle. I listened to it twice before I realized its just one riff the whole time. Its a good riff.
10/10
A- album cover
Bob Marley & The Wailers
3/5
I listened to this a lot in high school, and is probably the album that I've known best so far.
I'd say I felt pretty whelmed by it this time. I love Concrete Jungle, that was my favorite in high school and is still the standout for me. The guitar tone on that is excellent. Stir It Up and Catch That Train are classics and fun to sing along to. No More Trouble has a cool, dark sound that I dig.
Kinky Reggae was not great, and the album loses 10 points for the line "She had brown sugar all over her booga-wooga".
I'd pull songs for a playlist, but wouldn't listen to the whole album again.
A album cover because apparently it was hinged and the zippo actually opens, which is neat.
6.5/10
Simply Red
2/5
I was not a fan of this one. The first disco-y track I was ok, and I thought I maybe we were cruising to 3 stars but then it quickly went down hill.
This particular take on 80s swing and soul revival was not for me at all. The cover of Heaven sucked all that I liked out of the song.
I stopped listening about halfway through when I realized it was an hour and 16 minutes long.
Its not offensively bad, but very bland and very much not my thing.
4/10 & 2 stars
Worst album cover yet. Full on F grade.
50 Cent
4/5
I used to listen to this and The Massacre while playing Neopets.
It still holds up and is a great time capsule of that era in music and culture.
I feel like it should be shorter, and some tracks could be trimmed. A leaner version would be 5 stars.
8/10
A+ album cover. What a classic.
Cat Stevens
3/5
This one defined a 3 star for me. It was nice to have on, but didn't grip me.
Nice music that was pleasant to listen to. Nothing more, nothing less.
B+ album cover (apparently Cat Stevens drew it himself, which moves it from a B to B+ for me)
Beastie Boys
5/5
I liked this a lot more than I expected.
I've never really spent any time with the Beastie Boys and only really knew Sabotage from Guitar Hero 3.
It was a way more refined and complicated album than I thought it would be. Way more instrumental driven, and definitely deserving of its reputation.
Album cover: A
8/10
Tito Puente
4/5
I listened on my phone speaker while working, so it wasn't a close listen. I was definitely moving my hips more than usual and had fun the whole time.
It's not a style I'm well versed in, but it was pretty undeniably a good time.
Album Cover: B
Paul Simon
2/5
I liked Sam's idea of adding the context of when you listened, so here is that.
Environment: In the car on the way back from a shoot in Marin.
Mood: Slightly better than neutral.
My dad was a big Paul Simon fan, including his less known stuff so I grew up around this sound but didn't know this album.
I love his voice and storytelling in his lyrics, but I just didn't really like most of the songs. There was some very cool guitar stuff happening, and I was intrigued by the production.
Allergies was cool. Care are Cars was much less cool. My end verdict is a swing and a miss by ol' Paul, but a very interesting swing.
Album cover: B-
Radiohead
5/5
Environment: Cleaning up the house
Mood: True Neutral
This is a life long foundational album for me. Tough to be impartial cause I've loved it since I was in 4th grade.
Its still one of my favorites.
I could do without Fitter Happier in my life, but I can always skip it. Let Down is the only other track I don't really like, but everything else is between a 8/10 and 10/10.
My favorite remains Climbing Up The Walls.
Album Cover: A-
Violent Femmes
4/5
Setting: Once on Friday night while driving to Sig Ep Charlie's house warming party (which was fine and very grown up). Once this morning while getting ready for work.
Mood: Both neutrual.
So I loved this album. I knew Blister in the Sun and Gone Daddy Gone already, and was happy to find I liked the rest of the album almost as much as those two.
I'm generally a fan of this album's quirky artsy Gen X vibe (reminds me of Pee Wee's Playhouse), and this is a fine example of that artistic style.
It made me reconsider how I've been rating things though. I love the album, but I like Sam said about OK Computer, I dont know if it matches up to an unquestionable 5 star like Otis Blue. I think I've handed out too many 5 stars, and want to start saving those for when I think something is truly, truly exceptional.
If I were re-doing it Id re-rate the following from 5 to 4 stars:
Head Hunters, Songs From The Big Chair, Out Of The Blue, Ill Communication
Album Cover: A-
The Police
2/5
Setting: in 20 minute chunks driving between shoots
Mood: Busy
That didn't do much for me. There were a lot of moments/parts that I thought were interesting, but there weren't any songs that grabbed me. Overall it just fell pretty flat, and you could hear Sting's ego bleeding through every now and then.
Mother was my standout track because it went for something more interesting. I liked it at first, and circled back to it again and did not like it a second time.
Album Cover: C+ (It was a B- when I looked at it small, but it lost a grade when I looked more closely at all the individual photos. Sting shirtless with all the bones is just plain silly, and why's that man very intentionally not looking at that clock?)
Sepultura
3/5
Setting: At home, painting for a community college painting class.
Mood: Cloudy day caffeine crash
I saw Sepultura in high school and they were insane. I'd been into metal for about 2 years, and it was the first time I'd seen a non Western take on metal, which was pretty eye/ear opening.
The most memorable part was the drummer, who was doing jungle/tribal beats like on Altered State.
I liked this album but didn't love it. In the years since seeing them live, I still rarely listen to their recordings and I feel the same about this one. I appreciate it and would listen again, but its not my favorite.
Album cover: B+
The Divine Comedy
2/5
I really hated this album, but in a way that also makes me like it.
I'd give it 1 star for how much I enjoyed listening to it, and 3 stars for being strange, interesting, and being someone's extremely well executed personal vision.
Even though I at no point liked any of the songs, the world is better for this album existing, which is why it gets 2 stars.
My main complaints:
- I dont like showtunes, schmalzy dinner theater cabaret, or art school circus music, and this album combined all of that.
- I didn't like the songwriting. All his melodies bothered me. Any time he started doing something I liked, it ended up resolving in a way I didn't like leaving me just kinda dissapointed.
- At times this album made me angry.
Album cover: B+
Joy Division
3/5
I liked this the more the longer it went on. I didn't like the more industrial songs.
My favorites were Twenty Four Hours and The Eternal (which was quite beautiful.
I only listened on my phone speakers while shooting a house, so not much of an in depth review or listen.
Album Cover: A-
Nick Drake
4/5
Setting: Walking several miles home from the mechanic
Mood: Tired but upbeat
I really like this. Pink Moons been on the list of album I know I should listen to for ages, and it lived up to it.
I didnt listen closely to the lyrics, but the overall mournful sound was right up my alley.
Album cover: A+
Common
4/5
CHIC
3/5
This album really highlighted how much I can't dance. The musicianship was top notch and it was one of the most fun albums yet, but I don't think I'd throw it on unless I was DJing for a specific mood.
Album Cover: B+
Scissor Sisters
4/5
I really liked this. It was a good follow up to Chic yesterday. I think I ranked this 4 stars and Chic 3 stars because of setting and track length.
They both have similar poppy, dance energy, but Chic's songs were 8 minutes long and meant for a real dance floor. Scissor Sisters had shorter more radio oriented songs which was more my speed.
I will definitely be listening to this again. Only track I didn't like was their take on Comfortably Numb.
Album Cover: A-
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
4/5
My dad is a huge Nick Cave fan, so he was a fixture of my childhood (he took me to see Nick Cave when I was like 5). All that is to say I always have a soft spot for him.
This isn't my favorite of his albums, but I still very much enjoyed it. This one just barely crosses over from 3 to 4 stars, but I'll definitely keep listening to it.
Album Cover: B
A Tribe Called Quest
4/5
Run-D.M.C.
3/5
Busy day quick review. Similar to your guy's takes on Africa Bambata before I joined. It's cool seeing the roots of Hip Hop, but I don't think I'd listen again.
Kate Bush
3/5
Well that was a wild ride. Maybe the most insane album yet. I really enjoyed it, but its a bit much for regular listening (save for the 2 tracks listed below). 4 stars for being interesting, 3 stars for enjoyment.
Standout tracks:
- Pull Out the Pin
- Leave it Open
- When she screams GET OUT OF MY HOUSE in Get Out of My House
Album Cover: A-
Metallica
2/5
I say this currently on vacation in Florida and wearing a Metallica tank top.
I like that this happened, but I don't think any song they did was improved by being at the symphony.
Call of Ktulu is the song I thought would best lend itself to more orchestration, but it was still less good than the album version.
Granted I didn't listen to all 2 hours, but I think I got the gist.
This is also an era well after I think Metallica released anything good.
Album cover: C-
Nina Simone
4/5
I listened to this on a plane from Florida.
It was very good and I am tired.
Ryan Adams
3/5
Well that was fine
Album cover: B+. Not very original (Aaron Carter did it better) but points for being that cheesy and sincere about it.
Buck Owens
4/5
As rootin' tootin' a good time as a man can have
Standouts:
- I’ve Got a Tiger By the Tail
- Streets of Laredo (especially the part with the super deep voice chimes in)
Album cover: A (bonus points for proudly looking like a human salami in an ornate decorative casing)
Marvin Gaye
5/5
Marvin is a beautiful man
Album cover: A-
Sarah Vaughan
4/5
I really liked the time capsule/vignette side of this. The guy's intro, and the moments where she talked to the audience gave it a great sense of time and place. Generally that style of super clean, annunciated jazz singing isnt really my cup of tea, but I can appreciate it.
Album cover: A
Cream
3/5
This was one of the first records that teenage stoner Kit pulled from the dollar bin at Amoeba. Then and now, it's definitely meant to be played loud though giant speakers. Some of it aged pretty well, but it's definitely not as mind blowing as it was back then. The highs are quite high, and the rest is quite fine.
Sunshine of Your Love and Tales of Brave Ulysses are the standouts. Also Sunshine is the only song I ever got 100% on Guitar Hero 3.
Blue Condition is kind of a dud, and very Englishman attempts the blues.
I liked when they said "skellington" in the last song
Album Cover: A
Jungle Brothers
3/5
Songhoy Blues
3/5
Dolly Parton
4/5
I'd never actually listened to a whole Dolly album, and this one was a pleasure.
Album cover: B
OutKast
4/5
Many many classics but too long
Album cover: A
Cheap Trick
4/5
I ended up listening to this in a way that felt more academic than musical or experiential. I was driving and was thinking along the lines of "This is a good song. This is a song I would like" not "I like this song and am enjoying it right now"
I felt very flat and wasn't enjoying or not enjoying the music. It was more like I was simply acknowledging it and filing it away as something that is well done, and fits my taste profile. I wasn't actually experiencing the feelings that I thought future me might experience on a later listen.
This all sounds more dissasociative than it actually was. I've found I end up listening to a lot of albums on this list in the same way, but am just now putting the thought to writing.
Good songs. Rippin guitar.
Album cover: C+
John Cale
3/5
I listened to the song Paris 1919 constantly in 2020, and one day I will do a very over the top karaoke of it. I love that song to death, but hand listened to the rest of the album.
I enjoyed the rest, but the only other song that stuck out was The Endless Plain of Fortune.
Album cover: B+
Devendra Banhart
3/5
Dire Straits
4/5
My first reaction to this was more positive than Brothers in Arms. I really like Mark Knopfler as a guitarist, and this album felt more guitar forward and less 80s. I still need to revisit Brothers in Arms, but at first pass I gravitated more to the classic guitar rock sound of this one.
Sultans of Swing is A+
Album cover: B+
Christina Aguilera
3/5
I liked this more than I thought I would. I thought it was going to be much more straight 2000s pop, and was not expecting a really solid R&B album. I have a new respect for Chritina Aguilera.
Album cover: B- . Looks like a corny local dad's rockabilly band's cover.
Taylor Swift
3/5
I felt more pressure on this than previous albums. I really haven't listened to any Taylor Swift, but as she's gotten ever bigger I've been meaning to but putting off getting to know her music. This ended up being my first real listen to anything of hers.
Overall I felt it was fine. I didn't like the standard party anthem opening of Welcome to New York. I really liked Blank Space, the chorus is exactly my kind of catchy. During Blank Space, I was thinking "damn ok I'm in. If the rest of the album does this, then I totally get it" The rest of the album never really hit that mark again for me though.
Out of the Woods was another standout, but not quite as much. I could take or leave the whole middle section.
This Love was a good break from the driving, glitzy pop it had been up till then. I Know Places was my second favorite - I liked the darker, more melancholy sound, and the piano reminded me of Linkin Park. Clean was a good song to close on, and another that I genuinely enjoyed.
I liked it more than I thought I would, and less than I wanted to. I would listen to it again, but wouldn't seek it out, save for a few songs. I'm glad to have finally given Taylor some real attention though, and will listen to more.
Also it sounds VERY much of 2014
Album cover: A-. Very much matches the visual with how the album sounds.
Iggy Pop
4/5
This is exactly my kinda album. It makes you wanna dance like a weird background character in Twin Peaks.
I loved this. It falls short of a 5 star masterpiece, but I seriously thought about it.
Album cover: B+ It's nothing special visually, but extra points cause I like photos of Iggy looking like a goober. It definitely matches the title.
Tina Turner
4/5
My review condensed: Hell yeah Tina. Get it.
So Spotify only had the 30th anniversary version with extra tracks. I looked up the original release, and only listened to the songs that were on there. They also changed the track order for the 30th anniversary, so I reordered them as well. So my review is based on recreating the original release.
This sound isn't usually my thing, but Tina just went so all out on every song that I ended up loving it. She goes 200% at every moment. Especially on "I cant stand the rain".
I also like that she put a real solid rock song on there (Steel Claw). This album went all over the place, tried a lot of different things, and made them all work while still sounding totally cohesive.
Album cover: B+. Saucy.
Jefferson Airplane
4/5
Jefferson Airplane was a big high school band for me. Somebody to Love, White Rabbit, and Go to Her were some of my favorites songs then, and always stuck around. The rest of the album had kinda faded away into memory.
On re-listening, this album rips. There's definitely some songs i'm pretty "eh" on, but on the whole it's still great.
White Rabbit is a 10/10 masterpiece song.
Album cover: A. It looks exactly how the music sounds. Also the photo was taken in a house less than a mile from my dad's place.
The White Stripes
3/5
That was fine. Definitely had some weirder tracks than I expected.
Album cover: B- Very corny
Beyoncé
4/5
I confess I'd never listened yo Beyonce before this, and you know what? She's really good.
Pretty much every song (ok I only listened to disc 1) had me going. I get it now.
Album cover: A-. Simple and gets the job done.
Ali Farka Touré
3/5
I think my parents had this CD when I was young. It sounds pretty familiar.
Overall pretty cool. I've been listening to a lot of Ry Cooder this year, so was excited to see him on here. I'd never heard of Ali Farka Toure before though.
It wasn't my thing, but I did definitely enjoy having it on. My favorite was Amandrai. I liked how they blended more classic American blues with the West African music.
Album cover: C. It looks like a compilation sold at the Starbucks checkout in 2003.
Bruce Springsteen
3/5
Bruce has never really been my guy. I saw him live in 2011 or so, and the show blew me away, but that never translated to being a listener.
In that vein, this didn't move me. I like Adam Raised a Cain quite a bit, but the rest was very 3 stars for me. He also does some bellowing/caterwalling throughout this album where he feels like he's losing control of his voice. I enjoy it cause it sounds goofy, but it makes it harder to take this really pretty serious album seriously.
Album cover: A-. Bonus points for Bruce being really hot here. Also I read its wikipedia, and he wanted this one to be a return to the grunge after Born to Run being such a shiny album. Comparing this cover versus the Born to Run cover, he nailed that aesthetic goal.
Fleetwood Mac
4/5
When I saw this come up I just assumed I'd be giving it 5 stars, so I was a little surprised that I ended up at 4.
It's an incredible album, and maybe I'm too stingy with my fives - but it broke down to about half the songs being all time greats, and about half being very good.
All Time Greats: Dreams, Never Going Back, Go Your Own Way, The Chain, Oh Daddy, Gold Dust Woman.
Very and/or PrettyGood: Second Hand News, Don't Stop, Songbird, You Make Loving Fun, I Don't Want To Know.
That makes for a Greats to Goods ratio of 0.54. With 5 out of 11 songs being more "eh", it falls short of the vaunted 5 stars, even with 6 world-beaters.
Album Cover: A (What a gangly man)
The Coral
4/5
This was a very pleasant surprise.
From the first few seconds I though "yeah this is gonna be good" and it stayed just as good the whole time.
The standout was Dreaming of You, which sounds like motown cover and I love it.
I'd give this an 8 or 9 out of 10. It's close to a 5 star, but I don't even know what my criteria for a 5 star are anymore. Is that only for 10/10s? Is a 10/10 even attainable?
Album cover: A. I like looking at it.
The Good, The Bad & The Queen
3/5
Back to back Albarns.
This was pretty cool. I remember my mom listening to this when it came out.
Overall pretty neat but it didn't grab me like The Coral did. I'll give it another listen eventually though, as I was stuck in traffic while listening and was on full brain auto pilot.
Album cover: C+. The background image is cool, but the typography is pretty lackluster.
Leonard Cohen
5/5
This is a more emotional rating than most.
Leonard Cohens been one of my biggest guys for a long time, and this album just as big. I've had many moments with this album, and I can't seperate those from my rating.
If I had never heard him before now, I'd probably go 4 stars, but its a full 5 for me.
Suzanne, Master Song, Stranger Song, So Long Marianne and One Of Us Can't Be Wrong are my favorites (and I love them dearly)
Album cover: B+. He looks kinda goofy. Reminds me of the Lust for Life album cover but serious. Also the inner sleeve of the vinyl has a really cool catholic painting of a lady on fire. If it was that I would give it an A.
Jurassic 5
5/5
You know what, I loved this.
I'd never heard of them before, but I was totally jamming along with every track. This is my favorite hip hop album we've had so far (setting aside 36 Chambers)
Album cover: B-
The Police
3/5
I give this and "eh" of the highest order.
Album cover: B+. Fun and cheesy.
Echo And The Bunnymen
3/5
The Afghan Whigs
4/5
This was pretty cool. Another pleasant surprise I'd never heard of.
I really like their style of angular, post punk instrumentation and playing. It's pretty similar to how I play guitar.
I wasnt wild about the vocals most of the time, but the guitar/overall feeling won out. It's more of a 3.7, but I rounded up.
Album cover: B+/A-. Super 90s
Public Image Ltd.
2/5
I wasnt really feeling this. I've listened to later PIL, and liked that a lot. This one just never clicked for me. Especially Religion I.
Album cover: A. Great photo of Johnny Rotten looking goofy, and very memorable design.
Muddy Waters
5/5
If this had been recorded in a barn, it would've burned right on down.
Album cover: B. That is a photo of Muddy Waters, and they use to words to tell you that it is indeed him. Very informative.
Miles Davis
4/5
Röyksopp
3/5
That was nice. That sound/genre isn't really my bag, but I enjoyed having it on.
Album cover: B-. I like the typography, and I could see this being a great cover, but the execution fell flat. I don't like the offset white border.
Arrested Development
5/5
I'm brain dead and dont want to think hard enough to write anything thoughtful.
This was very good.
Album cover: B+. Good colors.
Iron Maiden
4/5
I was surprised this didn't end up a 5 for me.
Since high school, I've always rocked Number of the Beast, Run to the Hills, and Hallowed Be Thy Name. The rest I kinda forgot about. On relistening, I see why I forgot the rest.
Invaders I think is the weakest track. The Prisoner is solid, but doesn't live up to those other 3. 22 Acacia Avenue has a sick solo section/second half, but the lyrics really turn me off. Children of the Damned rips, and I'll be keeping that in rotation. Gangland is solid but not my favorite (it does have an excellent solo section)
Number of the Beast, Run to the Hills, and Hallowed Be Thy Name are some of the best rock songs I've ever heard, Children of the Damned just trails them. The rest are ok but not incredible in the same way.
Also at least half the songs have a Big Rock Ending which is rad.
Album cover: A+++ Hell yeah. Demons and lighting and just all round hell yeah
The Pogues
5/5
The Pogues have been on my list to deep dive for quite a while.
Fairytale of New York is in my top 5 Christmas songs, so I was excited when this came up.
I loved it. I've also been on an Irish music kick that started when Shane McGowan died a few months ago, so thay definitely influenced things.
Album cover: A-
Stan Getz
3/5
AC/DC
4/5
This rips.
Beating Around the Bush is about as good a distillation of pure rock as you can find.
Album cover: B
Kendrick Lamar
4/5
Emerson, Lake & Palmer
3/5
I did not enjoy this album, but I appreciate it.
At the best of times I don't like jam bands, or the jammy end of prog. This was as jammy as it gets. The 20 minute opener was not my thing, but it had its moments.
I enjoyed the goofier second half more. Overall I found them charmingly nerdy in a very British way. They seem like they actually go train spotting and enjoy it.
Album cover: Now THAT is a cover. A+++++++++++
This one made me realize I sort albums into two different rating scales.
There's the dark side of the moon spectrum, and the number of the beast spectrum.
The dark side are great works of art that perfectly fit their respective album. The beast side are just pure rad and goofy and make me say hell yeah. This is at the top of the beast spectrum.
I write this in my car having just taken photos of the crowning of SF's new poet laureate. The mayor was there.
King Crimson
5/5
This has been on my list of classics to check out for ages. I ended up loving it.
I have many thoughts on it, but not the capacity to verbalize them right now.
Album cover: A+
Neil Young
4/5
I've long had a soft spot for Neil Young, really ever since he released his weird triangle tube shaped MP3 player in the mid 2000's. He's a weird guy and I like him.
This was a really nice album I listened to it while sending of photos on Saturday morning, and it was great balance of peaceful and rockin.
Album cover: A-. Its a cool design.
Pet Shop Boys
3/5
I finally figured out how to keep up with albums better. Most of my available listening time is while shooting. I dont like wearing headphones while working on my feet, and my phone speakers suck too much to do the albums justice.
I got a small but mighty bluetooth speaker that carribiners onto my belt loop, which works waaaay better.
This is the first album I listened to in this fashion. It was good working music, but it left me unmoved. The last song had a very cool funky vocal sample thing.
Album cover: B+.
Elvis Costello & The Attractions
3/5
This was kinda snoozy. I like me some Elvis, but not really this one. Very middle of the road.
Album cover: B. Points for effort, but not my style.
Super Furry Animals
3/5
Stu - This is our second Welsh album. John Cale /Paris 1919 was the first.
This was pretty cool. Didnt love it, but definitely enjoyed it.
The version on Spotify is a deluxe edition from 2016, with like 30 extra songs. Tine Turner/Private Dancer was the same situation.
For both of those, I looked up the track listing of the original release, and only listened to that.
The original listing is a pretty solid, tight rock album. Like 40 minutes long. I would definitely not like 2 hours of this.
Album cover: C/C-. I do not like it.
Beatles
3/5
This was a much more sweet album than I expected. All the lyrics are just wanting a nice girl to spend a nice wholesome day with. I totally get how this would cut right to the heart of a 13 year old girl in 1964.
This is on the edge of a 3 and 4 star, but probably leans to 3. I enjoyed a lot of the songs, but didnt love them (except Hard Days Night and Cant Buy Me Love)
Album cover: A-
Radiohead
5/5
This is another album that I have a hard time being objective on.
Pyramid Song, You and Whose Army, I Might Be Wrong, Knives Out, Morning Bell/Amnesiac, and Life In a Glasshouse are some of my all time favorite songs (which granted is a very large list). Those ones really take me somewhere else when the setting is right.
Hunting Bears, Packed Like Sardines, Dollars and Cents, and Like Spinning Plates are cool and I do enjoy them, but not to the same level.
Pulk/Pull I actively dislike.
5 stars because I love those previously mentioned songs so much, even though I don't see it as a perfect album.
Album cover: A. I like the little guy.
System Of A Down
4/5
While this certainly rips, it does nor rip as hard as their later stuff.
I do like how much more raw and aggressive this album is. I bet it would have been life changing in a basement.
That said I like the polish of their layer albums. I think it lends itself better to their super theatrical style, especially the more melodic parts.
Album cover: C
Jamiroquai
3/5
This was pretty rad, but I think fundamentally I'm not a funk guy and it didn't strike a chord with me.
I was definitely impressed and new it was good, but just wasn't feeling it.
Album cover: D. Worst rating yet. It doesn't fit the sound of the music at all and it's not a compelling design.
Madonna
4/5
My only prior experience with Madonna is Weird Al's Like a Surgeon. It was fun and also rocked here and there.
Album cover: B+. Sexy.
LCD Soundsystem
3/5
That was fine? I listened on Friday and am writing this on Monday. I remember it being solid but don't remember anything standing out.
Album cover: B. Sure.
Pretenders
2/5
To begin, all my life I'd been combining the Pretenders with the Procailmers, so I thought this was the "I would walk 500 miles" band. Turns out they are not, and are much more rock than I expected.
Now I am surprising myself with this review, especially since this Era and style of music is so foundational for me. But I'm hungry and the house I'm shooting is hot and stuffy.
I like the instrumentals on most of these songs. There were many moments that very much rocked, but something about the singer just annoys me. I don't think she's a bad singer, I just get the feeling that I wouldn't like her in person.
Whatever personality is coming through in her singing is just bothering me today and as such I give it 2 grumpy stars.
Album cover:
B-
The two guys on the right look fun. I dig what they're putting down. The lady looks like Debbie Harry. The guy on the left looks like he wasn't ready for the picture to be taken. Also he's the only one that doesn't pull off his outfit.
The Lemonheads
3/5
So while listening to this, I kept thinking king it sounded like a less inspired version of The Replacements. Lo and behold, when it finished, Spotify put on a Replacements song, and it was much better.
I enjoyed it, but it was kinda nothing. It felt like it could have been the band that the characters best friend plays in in a 90s teen movie.
Yes
4/5
I don't think im really a prog guy, and I could easily see myself not liking this.
That said it was a fun album that I ended up really digging it.
Roundabout is a blast.
Album cover:
A
Good solid fantasy need style
The Libertines
4/5
This was a rock solid rock album. I really only knew of the Libertines as the band that Amy Winehouse's bad influence boyfriend was in. From that I kinda didnt expect to like them, but this was a great example of the bit-pop energy.
Album cover: (B) Not a great visual, but it really does capture that Skins-esque feeling of all the illicit fun I associate with that era.
B.B. King
4/5
Dusty Springfield
5/5
Billy Ray was a preachers son, and Dusty's as good as they get.
It's saying something when you're a white woman from England, and your version of a soul song is arguably the definitive version over Aretha Franklin's.
Anyway I've loved Dusty since childhood, as this was a big Castagne family album (specifically for my Uncle Pete). I've not listened to it for a long time, but I loved every bit (except for breakfast in bed, cause I thought that was kind of a corny line).
Album cover: (B+)
John Lennon
4/5
I listened to this as background music while doing assorted busy work. Wasnt a close llisten but I definitely enjoyed its presence.
I liked when he said he doesn't believe in beetles/Beatles. Also cinnamon. Takes a bold man to deny cinnamon.
Album Cover: (A-) A very nice peaceful photo.
Beck
4/5
That was a much more mellow and atmospheric album than I expected. I mainly knew Beck from Guero and Mellow Gold which are more uptempo and rocky. This was a really nice album with some very pretty moments. It did all blend together, but in a way that felt cohesive more than indistinct.
Album cover: (B+)
Hookworms
3/5
This put me much in mind of Tame Impala, and I was never that big on Tame Impala.
It was fine, but I'm just not a fan of that flavor of psychedelic revival.
No real standout tracks, and none that I strongly disliked.
5/10
Album cover: (B-) It's a cool graphic, but it really looks like a graphic design student project. It feels a bit overly "designy". Also the trippy orb again reminds me of that Tame Impala album cover.
Gorillaz
4/5
Van Halen
5/5
To preface, I have many years of loving Van Halen going into this. Long ago I was a stoned teenager learning guitar, and as such Eddie has been an idol ever since those early days.
Van Halen is one of my go to "good time/good mood" bands, and 1984 hits that spot every time. We've been having a heat wave in the Bay, and my car's AC can't keep up. I was driving to work with all the windows down, the sunroof open, and Panama playing loud crossing the Bay Bridge and it was some of the most California I've ever felt.
The guitar work on this album is incredible - I could go on about that forever but then this review would be too long. I never liked Jump, its definitely the weakest on the album. Every other song is a 4 or 5 star track though.
Album cover: (A) I am not a fan of babies visually, and it loses points for having a baby. It gets those points back for giving the baby cigarettes. Overall I don't love looking at it, but its an arresting and iconic cover and it fits.
Laura Nyro
2/5
This was disappointing.
Laura's version of "Met Him on a Sunday" is on my list of true 10/10 songs.
I'd listened to some of her other songs, but never really found anything that hooked me. After a full album, it was all pretty underwhelming.
There weren't any songs that grabbed me, and her voice didn't hit in the same way that it does on the one song I love.
Overall an underwhelming let down.
Album cover: (C)
The Modern Lovers
5/5
I have some memorable moments with the Modern Lovers, the highlights of which I will list below.
- Jonathan Richman is a friend of a friend (Ted, who Stijn knows), and I have met him a couple times. He is a strange fellow, and generally delightful. He answered my question about some lyrics.
- When I moved to New York, Roadrunner came on just as I was crossing the Manhattan bridge into the city came on the radio. It was a great soundtrack for what felt like the beginning of a new chapter.
- Later that year when I was sad and living in New York, I listened to Hospital way too much, and it was very good wallowing music.
- I love hearing these songs as a connection to the Boston music scene of yesteryear. Apparently the Velvet Underground were huge in the Boston underground scene, and Jonathan Richman was there connection in town. I would kill to have been at those shows.
Basically I love this album, and Jonathan Richman's solo work. Hospital is my favorite song on the album. Its a wild blend of mournful and humorous, which is a very rare balance to strike.
Album cover: (A)
Suede
3/5
Pretty neutral feelings on this one. It reminded me the Echo and the Bunny men album at times.
Album cover: (C+)
Neil Young & Crazy Horse
3/5
I was less into this than Harvest.
I like Neil Youngs voice and his sense of melody. He writes some stuff that feels quite timeless. Sometimes it feels like you've known songs of his forever, even if it's your first time hearing it.
This album had less of that sense than Harvest. Also I tend to like it more when he leans into the rockier side of things, and this album was more singer songwriter, which didnt do it for me as much.
Powderfoot was probably my favorite.
Album cover: (B) Seems kind of a Mish mash of styles that work, but not super well.
Lorde
4/5
Prior to this, my only exposure to Lorde was Rulers, and her secretly being Randy Marsh from South Park.
I can now pleasantly report that I enjoyed this album.
I have a gut reaction to dismiss modern pop, which definitely comes from a place of pretention and is a habit I'm working on breaking. I felt that instinct kick in on the first song, but told myself "Come on Kit, don't be like that now." With that the clouds parted, the sun shone through, and it was revealed to me that this is indeed a good album.
It also took me back to when we did 1989, and I would like to demote that from 3 to 2 stars.
Album cover: (B+)
The Smiths
4/5
This is a heavy nostalgia album. I first first into The Smiths the summer before our senior year of college. I listened There Is a Light That Never Goes Out and Bigmouth Strikes Again endlessly in the final year of Calumet.
Those songs sound like summer and early fall on Mission Hill. They're running through Olmstead park to Jamaica Pond in crazy humidity, and sitting out with everyone on the deck at 55.
I didn't listen to the whole album at the time, just a few songs, so the album itself isnt as nostalgic so I feel clearer eyed about the other songs.
Frankly Mr Shankly, There is a Light, Bigmouth, and Some Girls are top tier (There is a Light and Big Mouth are S Tier). The rest are very good. but don't hit those heights.
Album Cover: (A) Its a classic
The Cure
4/5
My dad is a massive Cure fan, so I have never known an un-Cured world. Disintegration wasn't his album, but Lullaby was played a lot when I was a kid. We were also a big comic book house, so I was always confused by the line "Spiderman is having me for dinner tonight." Spiderman is the good guy, so why is he eating Robert Smith? This made no sense to young Kit and troubled him greatly.
My other early memory is the South Park episode where Mothra-Robert-Smith fights Mecha-Barbra-Streisand, and Kyle says that Disintegration is the best album ever. Is it? Read this review and find out.
To preface, I like this album a lot and will be taking it song by song.
- Plainsong: Very corny intro. Feels like a disney-fied Twin Peaks song.
- Pictures of You: Similarly this one is heavier on the corn. I like it more but wouldnt choose to listen.
- Closedown: The emerging theme here is that I don't like it when they use a major key. The Cure are a minor band, and anything major so far feels wrong.
- Lovesong: I love Lovesong. The first minor song and I'm hooked. Its just as over the top and cheesy as the first three, but it works for me.
- Last Dance: I love the heavy phaser/flanger guitar on that runs throughout this song. Good tune.
- Lullaby: As mentioned, this is the song I knew earliest. This ones weird. Robert Smith sounds like he's talking right in your ear. Love it.
- Fascination Street: When I revisited this album as an adult, this and Prayers for Rain were the two that stood out to me. I truly love the instrumentals on this. The jams sound huge and dark and enveloping. The vocals match perfectly. A+++
- Prayers for Rain: See notes on Fascination Street.
- The Same Deep Water As You: Less driving than the last two, but a really nice sound to let wash over you.
- Disintegration: Good riffs. I like all the extra harmonies and weird background stuff they do around the vocals.
- Homesick: Instrumentally I love this one. The vocals are a little silly, especially when he starts going "doo'd doo doo'd doo doo"
- Untitled: I find the accordian intro very inviting. It sounds like what would play at the end of a zelda game when you can finally go home again. The rest of the song is solid.
Having gone song by song, I like this album less than I did in my head. I guess I just listen to the songs I like and skip the ones I don't, wiping them from my conception of this album. Its still great, but not 5 stars.
Album cover: (C). The Cure's artwork has never done it for me, except for the one with a fridge and a lamp on a pink background. That one rocks.
The Beach Boys
3/5
Definitely a like not love of an album. By default I like pretty much anything the Beach Boys do. Tight harmonies and surfing always does it for me.
I wasn't super moved by any of the songs, but I enjoyed every one of them.
My favorite was Do You Wanna Dance, which I knew as a Ramones song (didn't know it was a cover, but that totally makes sense). That one sounded a lot like Phil Spector song and I wondered if he had produced the album (he did not).
Album cover: (C) Brown, brown, and browner.
Count Basie & His Orchestra
5/5
Is there anything finer than when a trombone goes "Bwwwwaaaaaaaa"?
Album cover: A+
Ray Charles
4/5
I'm at something of a split on this album style-wise.
I loved the gospel-y numbers like You are my Sunshine most of all.
Then the more schmaltzy sentimental ones like Teardrops in my Heart.
The more up-tempo, swinging big band songs like Bye Bye Love aren't my thing.
On balance this was a really nice album, even if a chunk of it isn't my style.
Album cover: (C) Pretty boilerplate for the time period.
MC Solaar
3/5
Happy Mondays
2/5
This felt like like a more one note, less interesting version of The Cure circa Head on the Door. Didn't do much for me.
Album cover: (C+) I do not like it, but it I can't accuse it of being boring.
Alice Cooper
3/5
Black Sabbath
5/5
Black Sabbath is a foundational band for me. Iron Man was one of the very first things I learned on guitar in 8th grade.
Even though its been almost 20 years, I'd still never listened to Vol 4. It's been a to do list album forever, but never executed on.
In short, it rips. It does everything I love in a Sabbath Album. Ozzy sounds great, Tony is running the infinite riff factory at full production, Bill is shuffling out jazzy yet heavy beats, and Geezer is thumping and noodling all over the place.
I loved the background organ on The Straightener. That part marked a bit of a departure from Sabbath albums past. I am also always a sucker for Tony Iommi's melodic soloing jam sections (e.g War Pigs).
My fun fact for this album. Charles Bradley does an amazing cover of Changes. There's a live youtube video of him describing how he heard the song after his mother died, and how hard it hit him in that moment. He then goes on to give one of the most emotional performances I've heard anyone give. I like the Sabbath version, but I'll always see that as Charles Bradley's song now.
Snowblind is also one of my favorite Sabbath Riffs.
Album cover: (A) Very impactful graphics.
Marvin Gaye
5/5
This is another big album in the Castagne family lore. Its one thats always been around in my life, but that I haven't sought out independently.
Marvin did not disappoint. It has a very light, floating sound, and it all flows together as an album extremely well.
My favorite songs:
- Whats Going On
- Mercy Mercy Me
- Inner City Blues
I do have to deduct points for Save The Children. I love a song where they stop singing and talk real slow and soft to you, but I also now know tha tI do not love a song where they holler "SAVE THE BABIES" at you over and over. I could not take that song seriously.
Album cover: (A-) Marvin is a beautiful man and he really should come in from the rain. He'll catch a cold.
Muddy Waters
4/5
I'm a little less into the higher energy, more chicago-y blues sound (e.g I Want to Be Loved #2) which is more the flavor of this album.
I like the vibe of I Can't Be Satisfied and Mannish Boy more.
I'm really between a 4 and a 5 star for this one, but I think I'm at like 4.45 and am going to round down.
Album cover: (A) What a pleasure it is to look at that photo.
Blondie
4/5
Another album that teen Kit was keen on, but never dove into.
Hanging on the Telephone, One Way or Another, and Heart of Glass are the songs that stayed with me through the years, and I'd largely forgotten the rest.
I listened to Telephone while walking home from BART and it was a A+++ walking headphones song. Its as good a power pop song as has ever been recorded. Its fun and catchy, and it r o c k s.
I liked the rest of the album, but they never hit the same heights as those 3 songs did for me.
Also as Sam and Stijn may remember, I once went as Debbie Harry for Halloween (probably my best costume, except for when I went as a fridge in 4th grade). I spent a long time learning the lyrics to Heart of Glass for that Halloween, even though she definitely sings above my range.
Blondie rules, but I didn't love the whole album enough for a 5 star.
Album Cover: (A-) Fun and goofy concept executed well. Also Debbie is the archetype for all rock babes, and any cover with her on it gets a bump.
Jean-Michel Jarre
4/5
In middle school I watched a lot of British stand up comedy DVDs. One of them was a Bill Bailey special with a lot of musical bits. In one of them he sampled himself saying "Jean Michelle Jare is a fraud. I never knew who that was until this album came up.
So thank you 1001 Album Club, for answering a question I've had for many years.
I listened to this in the shower, and it was excellent shower music.
I'm giving it 4 stars for shower excellence. In most other contexts it would probably be a 3, but that was a really peaceful and bubbly sounding shower.
I still don't know why he's a fraud though.
Album cover: (A-) Cheesy but very rad.
George Harrison
3/5
Pretty solid, but nothing special.
My Sweet Lord was a banger, but I wasn't a huge fan of the Hari Krishna section. Definitely makes it an interesting artifact of its time though.
I could see any one of these songs playing over then ending scenes and credits of a slowly paced, quirky 70's comedy and working very well.
Album cover: (B+) He looks like a wizard.
Pink Floyd
5/5
Through both my own personal experience, and general cultural osmosis, this has become my archetypal "Album". If someone asked me to give an example of the album as an art form, it would be this.
I first heard it when I was too young to remember.
In early grade school, most of it went over my head, but Money was one of my favorite songs.
Later grade school/middle school, me and my friend Keenan would listen to this in his bedroom and play with all the different visualizers on Windows XP Media Player.
Then came high school and weed. This is a journey known to and recognized by many, and I suspect by most in this group. This was the time where Dark Side was most important and at the forefront of my life.
As a teen that made being a stoner his identity, I placed outsized importance on the stoner canon of music. While my love for Pink Floyd at the time was somewhat performative/image driven, I grew to truly love this album deeply. Certain moments on it have always been able to take me to another place in a way little else can.
I have a friend who is a deep classical musician (and very catholic). She once described writing classical music as the pursuit of creating true beauty. That notion of true beauty in music stuck with me, and I think well describes certain rare moments where music creates a feeling of my essence rising out of my body. It’s rare, but sometimes when the moment and song are right, it happens and it’s genuinely euphoric.
Dark Side of The Moon has at least 3 moments like that.
I can’t for sure say its the best album ever, but it will always define the concept of an album to me.
Album cover: Come on. This album cover is one of one. It is the definitive album cover. It transcends letter grades, but if I had to give it a letter grade, those letters would spell out “This is a very good album cover”
The White Stripes
4/5
As I said to Stijn earlier, this is a rock solid meat and potatoes type of rock album.
Its a simple meal, perfectly executed by chefs that could make you something way fancier, but know that you don't need anything fancy right now.
They do a good job of drawing on a range of early rock influences and styles. You can tell they're real students of the medium.
A plain old good time of an album.
Also, though it's one of the worst victims of "overplayed at stadiums syndrome", Seven Nation Army is truly an all time great riff.
Album cover: (A) Thats a really nice photo.
The KLF
2/5
Seems this album isnt on Spotify, so I listened to a playlist someone made to recreate the album as best they could. There is therefore a big ol' asterisk on my review.
That said, this is not my thing.
I liked the darker, heavier parts. I was picturing myself in a sweaty British 90's rave and that was fun. The vocal samples almost always killed my immersion in those moments.
This is not my genre. I've certainly enjoyed this style before, but its rare. This album was not one of those times.
Album cover: (B) It definitely captures a mood.
David Bowie
3/5
Sound and Vision was a catchy classic. I enjoyed the more ambient parts, but wasn't wowed overall.
Album cover: (B) Good arresting image and colors.
Wire
4/5
21 songs in 36 minutes. Hell yeah.
This was super solid throughout. I enjoyed every song, and enjoyed blitzing though the whole thing.
I especially like Reuters.
Album Cover: (A+) Arresting and ominous graphic, with arresting and ominous text.
Tom Waits
5/5
Tom Waits is one of my guys, if not my definitive guy.
That said, I've not listened to too much of his pre-Frank's Wild Years albums.
This was a delight start to finish. I would have loved to be in that audience. I would start smoking just so I could be at a little cabaret table with a tiny lamp in the middle, smoking unfiltered Lucky Strikes.
Album Cover: (A)
Spiritualized
4/5
Green Day
4/5
The song American Idiot was one of the first songs I bought on iTunes (I think the very first was Goodies by Ciara). I listened to it non-stop but never bought the album, so I actually don't know any of the other songs besides Boulevard/Holiday and Wake Me Up When September Ends.
I had the compilation CD International Superhits, so all the Green Day nostalgia I have is wrapped up in those songs, not American Idiot.
In middle school I went on a very purist/pretentious streak and got deeply into 70s/80s punk (Clash, Ramones, Dead Kennedys etc...). At that time Green Day were huge, and the face of punk/alternative being big in the mainstream. I viewed them as sellout and I wrongly shunned them (sorry Billy Joe).
Later in life I realized that they do in fact rule, and started appreciating them as an adult.
The end result however, is that I didn't listen to them in those formative years that everyone else did.
They were there at the beginning of those times but were absent for the bulk of them, so I have definite nostalgia for them, but it’s not the deepest.
From that perspective, American Idiot is quite good but not an all timer for me.
The song American Idiot doesn’t do it for me anymore.
Boulevard/Holiday are all time greats and will 100% be on my next trip to a Karaoke bar.
The rest I alternated between enjoying or thinking “Hey that’s pretty good”.
Without the nostalgia bias, this definitely rocks, but it’s not 5 stars.
Album cover: (C+) Not trying to be mean here, but it’s not a great graphic. Also a little on the nose.
Beck
4/5
I was not in the mood for this today, but I could tell I would like it if I were in a different, Beckier mood.
Album cover: (B+) I like the mop dog, but not the font.
Ozomatli
3/5
Cool but not my cup of tea.
Album cover: (B) Very 2004.
Echo And The Bunnymen
2/5
We're onto our second Bunnymen album, and I don't think I like them.
Before the album journey, I love The Killing Moon and thought their catalog would all be classics at that level. So far I havent latched onto anything besides that song.
Album cover: (B-) I like the snowy rover, but not really the photo or design.
Pet Shop Boys
3/5
I listened to this while doing menial, life organizing computer tasks.
It did an excellent job of filling the silence.
How Can You Expect To Be Taken Seriously was the only standout track, but I enjoyed having everything else wash over me too.
Album cover: (B)
David Bowie
3/5
I've meant to listen to this for ages. I remember it coming out shortly before Bowie died, and it feeling more important because of that.
I'm mixed on his spooky ghost voice, but I think I fall on the side of liking it. Its definitely better if I picture him in the studio doing spooky ghost movements while singing.
I think this falls into the realm of albums I don't really get, but that still intrigue me. Maybe its more because of the mythos behind it though.
Album cover: (B+)
Pixies
5/5
I first heard anything from this album when I did School of Rock in high school. I was in the part of the program that played shows at random youth oriented events as promo for the school. I played Monkey Gone to Heaven at a 10am concert at the SF zoo. We were the openers for a Wiggles type headliner at 11am.
I have very fond memories of practicing the song in my bedroom, and especially thinking about the underwater guy who controls the sea. He sounded like a cool guy.
Its been a while since I listened to Doolittle all the way though, and boy does it still rock. I love the Pixies' sense of humor, and how they blend it with their sound.
My favorite moment on the record is just the way Frank says "Hey, I've been trying to meet you". It feels very in conversation with David Byrne.
My surprise hit of the album is Silver. I'd never clocked it before, and I love its alt western style.
Album cover: (B) That poor dead monkey. At least he's in a better place now.
Everything But The Girl
1/5
Idlewild has earned the distinct dishonor on my first one star review.
As mentioned to Stijn yesterday, it sounds like elevator music without the fun of being in an elevator.
While elevator/waiting room music is bland, I appreciate it because that's what its purpose is. Digestible music that will offend no one, and cover up the sound of the old lady across from you coughing.
This is just as bland, but they were clearly trying to make good and meaningful music. You can hear them thinking "Yeah that sounds good. These lyrics are deep. I'm really telling the tale of my fellow impoverished Scotsmen." But it doesn't sound good. It sounds like beige.
I listened to the second half of this sitting in traffic, and it made me much more aware that my time and life are finite. It sounds not like waiting, but like time is wasting.
When I don't listen to an album for this group, it's usually because I weigh the opportunity cost of listening. I could listen to this unknown album on my drive home, or I could listen to a familiar playlist or podcast I know will bring me joy.
This album took me 5 attempts to finish, because each time I would think "Life is passing me by. I could be listening to Doolittle again."
The lone bright spot was the sax on I Always Was Your Girl. I thought in that moment "If they do this more, we have ourselves a second star". But then they shelved the sax for the rest of the album.
Booooooooo.
Album cover: (C+) I like the photo well enough. That has some nostalia energy. The text and graphic design are pretty amateurish looking.
Yes
3/5
This is somewhere between a 3 and a 4. I like how earnestly nerdy it is, and there are many moments I was vibing with. On the whole I don't think I'd revisit this though.
Album cover: (C-) Come on lads. I know you've got better in you.
Solange
4/5
That was really cool. I'm mostly uninitiated into the Destiny's Child Extended Universe, so this was pretty new and I dig it.
Album Cover (A-) Reminds me of Kehinde Wiley
Jimi Hendrix
4/5
I was a guitar playing stoner teenager. Jimi Hendrix was legally required to be my hero (and he was/is).
He's still one of my favorite and most revered musicians, but that's not to say I love everything he put out unquestioningly.
Electric Ladyland has some of my favorite moments in all of music, and it has plenty that I skip over too.
All Along The Watchtower is in serious consideration for best song ever recorded. It might be my default answer for that question.
I will break the rest into tiers:
S+: All Along the Watchtower
S: Voodoo Chile, Voodoo Child (Slight Return), the first 2 minutes of 1983 (A Merman I Should Turn to Be)
A: Burning of the Midnight Lamp, House Burning Down, Crosstown Traffic
B: Pretty much everything else
C:
D: Little Miss Strange. This song blows. This one sounds like all the lame 60's pop rock acts that made up the landscape Jimi shattered by being much cooler. Maybe he put it on here as a reminder of what music would be like without it? We can only hope so.
Album Cover:(A-)
Frank Ocean
3/5
I'd listened to this early in college cause it had such incredible buzz. I remember the time around its release feeling like a real moment. I got a few songs in, decided I didn't get it/it wasn't for me and never revisited it, or Frank Ocean.
Upon revisit, I still feel its not for me.
Smoothness is not a quality I usually like in music, and this is one smoooth album. I by no means fault its smoothness, but it doesn't resonate.
Now on to my hottest take. I don't think I like Frank Oceans singing. I can't pin it down, but it's just not my thing. Maybe it sounds too perfect? Too smooth?
My top tracks were Bad Religion and Pink Matter.
I don't know, I don't want to be a hater here. I know this is a hugely beloved and acclaimed album. I tried to like it, but in the end it felt like exactly that. It felt like I was trying to like it, not that I did like it.
Album cover: (B+) It sure is orange.
Traffic
3/5
I got really into the instrumental parts of this.
The vocals were fairly here nor there. I probably would have liked this as an instrumental album more, or with a different singer. He wasn't bad, just bland?
Also I don't think I'm a flute guy. I like me a flute from time to time, but I think most times I hear a flute I'd prefer a different instrument.
Album cover: (B) It looks like a linocut print that would be sold at a farmers market or craft fair in 2012. I think it would work better if they made the JOHN BARLEYCORN MUST DIE bigger for the contrast with the pastoral imagery.
Various Artists
5/5
For as crazy and largely evil as he was, I love Phil Spector.
I wish I'd listened to this closer to Christmas, cause hot damn its good. The Ronnettes version of Frosty was already a favorite, and this whole album was just as good.
I love Christmas music and I love the Phil Spector sound/catalog, so this combo was a delight from start to finish.
Album cover: (A) This is so very of its time and I love it. More album covers should be the artists standing in people sized boxes.
Emmylou Harris
3/5
I came really close to really liking Pieces of the Sky, but it just didn't land.
Front to back it's super tight, textbook country album. It had a lot of moments I liked, but as a whole it kinda washed over me.
I think her voice was too clean and pure for me. It's a great voice for this style, but I want more whiskey and cigarettes in my country singers.
Album cover: (B+) Thats about as 1970's as its possible to look (i.e brown)
Harry Nilsson
3/5
That was fine. Also fun, but mostly fine.
It was mostly your standard 60's/70's singer songwriter vibe. A good time but nothing special.
Then he goes and throws the coconut at you. That really comes out of left field. I kinda wish it was more fun coconut type songs.
On reflection though, a whole album of limes and coconuts would get old quick.
Album cover: (B+) Its really not much of a visual, but it just pairs so well with the name. Nilsson Schmilsson is a delight of a name, and him being a bum in a bathrobe with that stupid of a name very much endears him to me. I like to think we would be friends.
The Doors
4/5
In high school I went on a mission to get to know the classics. I Pirate Bay'd as much as I could of all the rock bands that I understood to be the most important/foundational.
Among this was a Doors best of album, which I really enjoyed as a teen. Over the years, the sheen has faded a bit from the doors, but I definitely still like them. I think Jim Morrisson's (or Bruce Morrisson as the DJ on the Bar Harbor classic rock station called him on our Acadia trip) lyrics are what I've pulled away from most.
He's a great singer, but not the great poet he aspired to be/I'm sure thought he was.
This album definitely rocks. My standouts are Love Her Madly and Riders on the Storms, and the part where he says "Mojo Rising".
L'america sucked. They should have cut that one.
Album cover: (B+/A-)
Screaming Trees
3/5
I listened to a song by their singer's solo band a lot during the year Dennis lived with us. This felt very similar but didn't hit the same.
In general I liked the sound of this band/album, but the songs never quite got there for me.
Good recipe, medium execution?
Solid but nothing special.
Album cover (B) Its arresting.
Nico
5/5
Nico is for sure an aquired taste. High school Kit was a huge Velvet Underground fan, but I skipped all the Nico songs for years.
I'm not sure why or when I started to appreciate Nico's singing, but it came eventually I've come to love the imperfection in it.
She's a good contrast to Emmylou Harris. Emmylou's voice was so clean and perfect, and it left me a little cold. I like all the warble and weirdness in Nico's singing.
I love how many Velvet Underground people worked on this with her. It feels like her own album seperate from VU, but with their influence still very clear throughout.
Also going back to my earlier flute hate, the flutes on Winter Song are way too much. Far be it from me to question John Cale, but dial back the flutes my guy.
These Days is an all time great song. 10/10 on the Mt Olympus of good tunes.
Album Cover: (A) Nico was a 6ft tall model who hung out with some of the coolest artists of all time. Of course its gonna look cool.
Haircut 100
3/5
Definitely a fun groovy album. I could see really having a nostalgic spot for it if I was around at the time.
Puts me in mind of the Talking Heads meets Echo and the Bunnymen.
Fun, but didn't stand out.
Album cover: (B-)
Lou Reed
5/5
Walk on the Wild Side was a real fixture of my early childhood. My dad was a big Lou Reed fan (though oddly not a big Velvet Underground guy - I should ask him why that is), and consequently I was a Lou Reedy kid.
I didn't actually listen to Transformer front to back until a couple years ago, and I was very into it.
Its got a great blend of driving rock tunes (Viscious, Hangin Round), weird artsy songs (Andy's Chest, Goodnight Ladies) and stone cold classics (Perfect Day, Walk on the Wild Side).
It's not a perfect album, but I'm pretty much always in the mood to listen to it. Its best moments are as good as anything else out there, and I just love Lou Reed's lyrics and his whole oeuvre.
Album Cover: (A) Its weird. It looks kinda rough/unpolished but it just works. The red and green outline on the guitar just does it for me.
N.W.A.
4/5
Story time: Straight Outta Compton was is inextricably linked to my first car crash. Like all white 16 year olds, I had just gotten into NWA. I was driving up 15th St in my mom's slate blue Hyundai Santa Fe, listening to Straight Outta Compton too loudly and not paying enough attention. At the intersection of 15th and Church a car going the opposite way was turning left, and stopped in the middle of the intersection for an unexpected pedestrian before completing the turn. I was too busy singing along to notice and hit the guy's fender. Everyone was fine, but the cars were a bit dented. The guy was very cool about it, probably cause he saw I was a dumb 16 year old with the unmistakably wide eyes of "Ohhhhh my mom's gonna be so mad". She was indeed mad and said "You were probably listening to music too loud and not paying attention weren't you". How did she know?
Anyway, the album. I felt mixed on it. The more albums we listen to, the more I realize Hip Hop is just not my genre. I still have a lot of Hip Hop I love, but there's less of it than other genres that I would choose to put on myself.
I went in and out of really vibing with it, and then losing steam.
Also I knew the first 2 songs the best, and expected the rest of the album to have that same energy. There were a lot more 80's Sugar Hill/Run DMC sounding beats and songs on there than I expected. I think of this album as being farther removed from that era than it is I guess.
My surprise favorite was Express Yourself.
And not to be too Tipper Gore about things, but man it was hard to listen any time they mentioned a woman. They get real gross and a lot of their lyrics have aged about as poorly as its possible to age. Not that what they were saying was at all ok at the time.
In conclusion, I enjoyed it but its not a favorite.
Album Cover: (A+) HARD. Also the parental advisory sticker makes it so much cooler. A prime example for how much that idea backfired and made anything it touched instantly more appealing.
Steely Dan
5/5
It's not summertime, but boy the listening is e a s y.
I mainly knew of Steely Dan as the meme of a dad band, and you know what dads? You're onto something.
I didn't realize how many songs I knew on this album, or that they were even Dan tunes (are we allowed to just call them Dan?).
Every song was kinda perfect in a very non-showy way. They all sounded like when someone is so good at something that it looks effortless. The whole time I was thinking "huh, thats a good song" in a way that washed over me, but in a pleasant way - not a boring same-y way.
I hereby get it.
Album cover: (A) Great colors and an overall excellent image
Soundgarden
3/5
I remember Ian Sicurella quoting Black Hole Sun in 6th grade math class, and it seeming like some fascinating exotic thing. I eventually found out it was a song, and have been listening to it since.
I didn't think any of the other songs really matched Black Hole Sun, but it was overall a solid and mostly interesting album.
Album cover: (A) It really grabs your attention
Jeff Buckley
4/5
I enjoyed this much more than expected. Mojo Pin was a fantastic opener, and went a lot harder than I expected.
Based solely on knowing his version of Hallelujah, and the type of people that talked about him in the Berklee scene, I expected a soft sounding pretty boy that I wouldn't feel much of anything about.
But Grace really did it for me. The instrumentation was much more loose and jammy than expected, and that Jeff can really sing.
My surprise favorite was Lilac Wine.
Album cover: (A-) It looks like a still from Blue Velvet.
The Byrds
3/5
That was pleasant but not especially memorable. The vocals were very soothing, and I liked the guitar work.
Album cover: (B) Fun poses, but it looks like the used the grainiest, smallest photo they could find and enlarged it well past want looked good.
Peter Tosh
3/5
And just like that I am 16 again.
Listening to this drives home how much weed is not at all a part of my life, and how much it used to be.
It also made me miss pre-legalization/pre-vape weed culture. Weed was fun as the domain of tie dye beardy guys in headshots that smelled like Nah Champa. Corporatization and vape shop neon Rick and Morty killed weed dead.
Anyway, I really liked Burial. That chorus is very nostalgically catchy.
Igziabhier was a big high school song for me, and I still have a soft spot for it.
When Your Well Runs Dry also stood out.
The rest were solid.
Album cover (W) (for weed)
Joni Mitchell
3/5
I've never been a Joni guy. I lived with a Joni superfan, and despite the exposure I just never got her.
I liked this more than I thought, but it leaves me feeling pretty flat.
I wasnt a huge fan of the fretless bass sound on the album.
My favorite track was Hejira. I liked the darker palette.
Album cover (B-) No strong feelings
Bob Dylan
5/5
I think I just generally like Bob Dylan.
I came to him later in life, and have still just done a few scattershot albums. But every one so far has just done it for me.
Album cover: (A-) They look cool and they are in a cool room.
The Rolling Stones
4/5
One of my great musical memories is tied up in Let it Bleed.
At probably 19, I was driving from SF up to the Sierras. In summer, the stretch leading from the Valley into the Sierra Foothills is all rolling hills covered in dry golden grass. Gimme Shelter came on shuffle, and that song with the windows down on that road was as perfect a match of music and moment as I've ever had.
I like the rest of the album, but it never reaches the heights of Gimme Shelter again. Thats one of my all time great songs.
It'd be a straight 4, but it gets demoted to 3.75 (still rounded up to 4) for Mick Jagger's choice to write, sing, and widely publish the lines:
"Yeah, we all need someone we can cream on. Yeah, and if you want you can cream on me)"
Go to jail Mick, because that line is a crime.
Album Cover: (B+) Its iconic, but I dont get the cake.
The Fall
3/5
I've liked what I've heard of The Fall before, but its thats been more Mark E Smith doing weird spoken word singing.
I didn't like the more chaotic sound of this record as much. I liked it, but definitely didn't love it.
Album Cover: (B-)
Kraftwerk
4/5
I definitely had a preconcieved notion of Kraftwerk as dark, confusing, artsy music that I would have to work to enjoy.
Not so!
Europe Endless was light and fun and catchy. I end up swaying along whenever I listen to it. The album definitely went in that darker, artsier direction a few times, but never to a place of being difficult.
I really enjoyed this and am surprised to find that I quite like Kraftwerk.
Album Cover: (A+) Good, clean design.
The Kinks
4/5
I've been finally getting into The Kinks since Come Dancing was in the music round at trivia night last year.
I really liked this album. They have a real sense of place to their music. Their sound, lyrics, mannerisms, humor etc... all just feel so very 1960's England.
I'm used to artists and songs feeling very New York, and these ones feel very distinctly London. I like that about them. Their songwriting feels very grounded in a place, time, and sensibility - all of which makes for an interesting listen.
Harry Rag was my favorite. If I were a Viking, that'd be a good drinking song.
Album cover: (B)
Deep Purple
3/5
This was much proggier than I expected. They really like their jams.
There were many many moments I liked on Machine Head, but not really any songs I liked.
Listening to this stuck in traffic, I really understood why the punks wanted to strip away all the self indulgence of this type of rock.
I appreciate this as a major influence on later music that I love, and Ritchie Blackmore's playing always wows me, but this is just not my vibe.
Album cover: (C+) Now that's just silly.
Pink Floyd
5/5
This is one of the most significant albums in my early musical development.
My earliest concrete memory of viscerally feeling music, and of synesthesia was with Welcome to the Machine.
In 6th grade, my mom took me to a play about Syd Barret and a guy trying to keep his Western rock records safe from the Soviet secret police (to actually explain is is beyond the scope of this review).
Periodically they would kill the lights and play a piece of a song very loudly. When they played the giant synth line of Welcome to the Machine, I remember feeling like something was filling up inside my chest, and in the dark of the theater I was half seeing these thick green bands of light (kind of like a waveform visualization).
I listened to Wish You Were here non-stop after that.
Shine on You Crazy Diamond is one of my most perfect pieces of music (except for the guitar fill at 9:19, that always seemed like it didn't fit).
Welcome to the Machine has a special place for me because of that moment in the theater.
Wish You Were Here is one of the first songs I learned on guitar. I like it less now that I did then, but I'm always happy to hear it.
Have a Cigar is cool, but not as transcendent as Diamond or Machine.
Also Jesus Gilmour's slide playing on Diamond pts 6-9 is as good as any guitar I've heard (that is what is on while writing this sentence, hence the call out).
Album Cover: (A+) They actually set that guy on fire. That's real.
Aerosmith
3/5
I guess I just know too much now, but Aerosmith just makes me feel a bit sleazy.
Walk This Way is probably the best song on the album, but the lyrics feel real creepy now.
There's some real solid rock on this album, especially the guitar was pretty fun. Round and Round was the standout to me, but again they gotta sing about underage girls.
Album cover: (C) I don't like the name Toys in the Attic or the toy motif visually. With all the underage girl stuff, I just don't trust it.
Rufus Wainwright
2/5
That was kinda nothing.
Very much a Starbucks compilation CD circa 2006 vibe.
Album cover: (A) It kinda rocks. Its so cheesy and over the top, but it works. It looks like something Dennis Reynolds would come up with.
Supertramp
4/5
Man everything about this was super solid. Beyond the normal use of solid to mean good. Like it felt sturdy. The bass thumped, and the grooves kept moving forward.
I really liked this. It wasn't quite my flavor, but if the mood hit right, this could be a 5 star.
Album Cover: (A) Space jail. Hell yeah.
R.E.M.
4/5
This juuuuust makes it to 4 stars.
There were a few songs that I didn't care for, but I like the overall sound enough to generally enjoy the album.
I like their guitar sound a lot, and Michael Stipe's voice and delivery are nice and distinct.
Orange Crush rocks.
Album cover: (B) This looks like it would be a 90's intellectual hip hop album.
Mercury Rev
2/5
Eh that kinda did nothing for me.
It felt like theater kid music, and not in a way I enjoyed.
Album cover: (C-) The photo is fine for invoking a mood, but it's not the mood of this album. The text design is fine I guess? I don't like the colors though.
The Kinks
3/5
I'm generally in The Kinks corner, but that album kinda dragged for me.
I agree with Magilla's assessment of the first and second half.
I wasn't really into anything till around Rainy Day in June. I liked it more after that, but didn't connect with much.
Sunny Afternoon is a true classic, and it makes the album. I just wish more songs lived up to it.
Album Cover (A-) The 60s you say?
Baaba Maal
3/5
I was definitely groovin along to this while stuck in traffic (as is so often then way).
My highlight is the group/choral vocals on Yela.
Album cover: (B)
Jethro Tull
3/5
As an album to listen to, not my deal. I'm not a huge fan of the flute, so a band who's known for being the flute band isn't floating my boat.
I do however really enjoy that this was as popular as it was. I like a world in which people sell out arenas to see a prog band song about a shifty hobo.
I liked the riffier songs like Locomotive Breath and Hymn 43. The more acoustic, progged out ones kinda washed over me.
I didn't like all the religion/god subject matter. I like religious music, but not albums where people wrestle with their faith (looking at you Nick Cave).
Album Cover: (A) Hell yeah. That's one shifty looking hobo. Again, I am amazed that this was so mainstream for how weird it is.
Santana
5/5
I listened to this while changing bike tires in the garage. I pictured myself being a cool 60's mechanic covered in grease, wearing a jumpsuit and smoking hand roll cigarettes.
It was a good image and a good album.
Album cover: (A-) There's a lot going on there.
Belle & Sebastian
3/5
100% an album with music on it.
Album cover: (C-) A little on the nose.
Richard Thompson
4/5
I often wonder how much my thoughts on an album are based on my mood.
There's plenty of times I'm feeling grumpy or tired and I miss an album pretty quickly.
This feels like an album that in a different mood, I'd have little patience for and slap with a one sentence/3 star review.
But I'm kinda digging it right now.
I Want to See the Bright Lights Tonight is a song I always forget about, but always sing along to when it comes on 107.7 The Bone.
Knowing it was the artists who wrote that definitely meant I was starting with a more open mind.
I like the Celtic folk sound. They sound like a cross between Steeleye Span and Fleetwood Mac. Bonus points for singing about "dancing with me peg leg". Love some good pirate lingo.
Album cover: (A+) Wow. What a simple idea perfectly executed. The colors are super rich, and it has a great sleazy, ominous but intriguing feeling.
Bob Dylan
5/5
This is the album that got me into Bob Dylan. Every song on it feels some kind of timeless to me.
My favorite part is always Rainy Day Woman #12 & 36. I love me a parade style brass band. That song makes me want to go struttin down the street with a staff, taking real long steps.
Album cover: (C) Why'd they go with such a blurry shot? I'd get it if it were a more evocative, moody photo, but its just a blurry shot of Bob?
Nas
4/5
Metallica
5/5
This is the last truly great Metallica album. They got really weird and creative here (this has most of my favorite Metallica solos). If they'd actually let Newstead's bass be mixed in properly, it'd be a true 10/10, but because of that it will always be a 9/10.
I had many a 16 year old night lying stoned in my bed, listening to this on my iPod.
Songs of note:
- Eye of the Beholder: This is the only song on the album I ever learned to play. Something about the disonance in the main riff always stood out to me. This has my favorite solo on the album. It was shorter, more melodic and less shreddy than usual. For how progged out this album is, it feels much succinctly more tasteful (even though it is a 6.5 minute song). At the end of the solo, Kirk hits this big harmonic with the whammy bar and I remember being stoned and feeling like that moment sucked all the air out of my chest.
- One: The undeniable classic of the album. Perfect mix of pretty, soft melodic, and crushing riffage. This has to be the best solo on the album (though Eye is my favorite).
- To Live is to Die: The third in the early instrumental trio. I always listen to this as connected to Kall of Ktulu and Orion. Its a very pretty and sad song, but I was never sure what to make of the disjointed intro/outro. I read once that it was a tribute to Cliff Burton being cut short, and I've just taken it that way.
- Dyers Eve: One of the best thrash songs they ever wrote. Fast and heavy as it gets. This is probably my sneaky favorite on the album. Perfect closer too.
Album Cover: (A) So on the nose that it works.
John Martyn
3/5
Overall not super interesting, but it definitely had its moments.
I liked how on Dealer he sounded like he lost his voice. I also like how he kept saying "Let me in" cause I just pictured it being Eric Andre shaking that fence.
Certain Surprise was a fun spin on elevator music. It was kinda boring, but there was a surprise trombone and sometimes sounded drunk.
Small hours had some fun absence.
Album cover: (B+) I would paint that on my van.
Sisters Of Mercy
4/5
Guys, I think they might be Goth.
Album cover: (A) See above.
Big Black
4/5
Id call this an album I appreciate more than enjoy? I was already an Albino fan going I to this, so I was more primed to like it than if I'd gone in cold. Had I gone in cold would I still like it? Who's to say.
Every song is something I would hear a snippet of on college radio, and stick around out of curiosity.
I love how insane everything sounds. Everything sounds like it's made of metal and it's all coming from a big shiny machine planet. The bass tone especially hits hard for me.
The more melodic songs are definitely my favorites. Kerosene is in regular rotation on my gym adjacent playlists. Fists of Love was a close second.
I could do without their whole edgelord thing, but overall Big Black is tough, but fun when I'm in the right mood.
Album cover: (A) I'm a big fan of big, bold colors. I liked Roy Lichtenstein as a kid, and this reminds me of him. Very cool and I would wear this shirt.
Radiohead
5/5
This is one of my earliest favorite albums.
My 3rd grade teacher Jesse was (and still is) a cool guy. He was a huge Radiohead fan, and singled out me and my friend Keenan as music kids who he could hook on Radiohead at an early age.
In early 2003, he gave us both a pre-release bootleg of Hail to the Thief, which had wrong track names for almost every song. I listened to it nonstop, and its consistently been one of my favorite albums ever since.
Later in college, this was a big album for me, Pete and Dylan at 55 Calumet.
In 2018, the three of us met up in London, and we found that a local arthouse theater was having a lights out/pitch black playthrough of Hail to the Thief. It was a great experience, and felt tailor made for us that the album we all agreed on the most between the three of us happened to be playing in London at the time we were all there.
All that said, it is not perfect. I don't like Backdrifts or The Gloaming. I skip those songs 99% of the time, with the 1% being to rtemind myself why I skip them.
There There is one of the most beautiful songs ever written. Its been one of the few songs thats survived every 10/10 playlist revision I've made.
Sail to The Moon, Go to Sleep, and I Will are similarly beautiful.
Myxamatosis was one of my earliest heavy rock memories.
A Wolf at the Door is the first curse word I remember in a song.
I love this album. I get why its not for everyone, but I'd say give it a second chance.
Album cover: (A+) Look at it! Its cool!
The Velvet Underground
5/5
It's taken a long time to crystalize, but the Velvet Underground has a strong case for my favorite band.
It took me a long time to fully appreciate this album. I liked an increasing number of individual songs over the years, but never the full album.
I liked Sunday Morning as a kid.
Venus in Furs was a big song for me as a teenager (and is my favorite on the album).
It took my until a couple years ago to come round to the Nico songs. It took over 15 years, but I finally got there.
Its a strange album, and one that takes time. But it's as important as it is for a reason.
Every era of Kit has liked pieces of this album, and now 30 year old Kit finally loves it in its entirety. No more do I offer my love in bits and pieces like a bitter parent. I accept you for who you are.
Also going back to my Hail to the Thief review, Venus in Furs is one of the other songs to always feature in my 10/10 playlists.
Album cover: (A+++) Come on. Its the banana. This is probably the only other album cover that sits in the same level of importance as Dark Side of the Moon.
Bad Company
3/5
That is undeniably a rock album from the year of our lord 1974.
Entirely fine, with every song feeling right at home on 107.7 the Bone.
I have a soft spot for the song Bad Company, off the album Bad Company, by the band Bad Company. That one does actually play regularly on 107.7 the Bone.
This one's a real 2.5/5, but I'll give it 3 for having a song named after the album thats named after the band.
Album cover: (C) Low effort biker aesthetic.
Slint
4/5
Jeff, Joey, and Joanne were big Slint folk in the Track Shack days. They put me into Spiderland back then, and I've always dug it since.
It was never fully my album, but I definitely come back to it with some regularity.
I have soft spot for that kind of spooky monotone talk singing over soft, nostalgic sounding drone instrumentals. This album probably got me started on that kick.
This was well timed so soon after Big Black too. In my head they sit together in that early experimental, dark rock realm. This is less aggressively metallic, but they also have similar sound palettes to me.
Good Morning Captain was the song that got me into Slint, and remains my favorite.
Album cover: (A-) Love a good soggy cover
Rufus Wainwright
2/5
Rufus is just not my guy. He's not bad, but he really doesn't seem special or stand out at all.
So far that's two Rufus albums, which seems excessive. I have consulted the list and know that there is not a single Danzig album on here. Two Rufus' and no Danzigs? Explain yourself.
Album cover: (B+) It looks like someone who's into magic the gathering decided to start making candles. I can dig it.
Amy Winehouse
3/5
I've been a big Back to Black fan since it came out, but I never really delved into Frank.
I liked it but didn't love it. It had plenty of moments, but I didn't connect to the jazzier sound like I did the darker, bigger sound of Back to Black.
Fuck Me Pumps is fantastic though. She really took that lady down a peg.
Other favorites: What is it about Men, Amy Amy Amy
Album cover: (B) 2003 you say?
Nirvana
3/5
I listened to this a fair few times as part of the classics canon. I remember it very fondly, but also only remember a few songs.
Man Who Sold the World and Where Did You Sleep Last Night are both great, even if I still prefer the originals. More than I enjoy the album itself, I appreciate it as a music discovery source. Kurt had really interesting taste, and his covering artists turned me onto, or made me revisit people I really enjoy.
I don't think any of the Nirvana songs are improved by being unplugged though. One day I will watch the actual recorded set, and I imagine that will give it an extra star.
Album cover: (B)
Elis Regina
5/5
This was a joy start to finish. Perfect blend of serious musicianship to lighthearted easy listening. It works as both background music and intent listening on par with Bill Evans.
Album Cover: (A-)
Cyndi Lauper
4/5
Well I must be a girl, cause that was fun and I want it.
Album cover: (A) f u n
Bauhaus
3/5
I've liked Bauhaus since we lived in Hemenway. I've never done a whole album though, just bits and pieces.
I dig the spooky goth sound, but there seems to be a limit. I really liked The Passion of Lovers, and the more melodic songs. I would have liked a few more of those.
They start to lose me when its all clanging noises and he's wailing stuff like "Ooooooooh I'm covered in bats. Beware the Bats" or whatever it is.
Anyway, Bauhause remains a band to pluck specific songs from.
Album cover: (C-) It reminds me of early internet edgelord videos. Happy Tree Friends and the like.
Curtis Mayfield
5/5
Halfway through the first song, I was ready for this to be maybe the best album we've covered. It didn't quite get there, but its still a masterpiece.
I should watch Superfly.
And now storytime:
In high school I posted a Facebook status (as was the style at the time) which said "Curtis Mayfield sounds like a more feminine Nina Simone" and my Uncle Pete replied "We need to talk".
Album Cover: (A+)
Eagles
2/5
There's something about this era of music that needs to tell you how much they get laid in an incredibly unsexy way.
"I believe we can chug all night" sounds exactly like the favorite song of guy who has cornered me at a sports bar while I'm just trying to watch the 49ers. This is a song for a man who tells me how much tail he got when he was my age, why my generation is missing out on real fun cause I'm too sensitive, and why I don't know what real music is because of autotune and *computers*. Yes this man is a pastiche of stereotypes, but I have met him and he loves The Eagles.
The songs are fine. I was tapping my foot, but nothing was special. Its a 3 star if I set aside my emotional baggage, but checking bags is expensive these days, so I'm carrying it right along with me.
I like the outro of Take The Devil. It sounds like a lot like Black Sabbath. However, If I want to hear something that sounds like Black Sabbath, I would listen to Black Sabbath, not the last 20 seconds of an Eagles song.
I also like the banjo on Earlybird, but again if I want that I'll just go listen to Earl Scruggs.
Clearly I am in some type of mood and am only finding the negatives in this, but whatever. I'm steering into the skid.
Sorry Joe Walsh (I do like your guitar playing).
Album cover: (B+) It sets a nice mood
Public Enemy
4/5
From a young age, Flava Flav was always the silly clock guy. When I eventually started listening to Public Enemy, I was surprised with how serious the music was.
Anyway, this album rocks. I don't really need an hour of it, but hey better value for their fans.
Album cover: (A+) I'm sure this kept Tipper Gore awake at night.
ZZ Top
5/5
Long ago on VH1 Classic, I watched Tony Iommi from Black Sabbath describe ZZ Top as "Good ol' Texas Boogie"
There's something special about hearing those words in a thick Birmingham accent, and it has always stuck with me.
But how right he was.
ZZ Top is always a good time, and its pretty impressive how well they made the jump from 60's blues rock to 80's synth rock stars.
This album is commercial and poppy as hell, but it is undoubtedly some good ol Texas boogie. This album's gotta be one of the best examples of a band clearly aiming for the masses, while staying true to their roots.
Also Billy Gibbons is and has long been one of my guitar idols (and remember when he played Angela's dad on Bones?)
Album cover: (A+) A better match of sound a visuals is hard to find.
Dirty Projectors
2/5
Eh
Pere Ubu
4/5
I bet these guys were wild live. Their singer is huge and it would have been very fun to see that voice come out of that body.
I listened to the song Modern Dance a lot a couple years ago, but never dug deeper. I liked going back to the whole album.
I wouldn't re-listen to every song, but I always enjoy that brand of weirdo Gen X punk adjacent music.
Album cover: (B)
Alanis Morissette
3/5
David Bowie
3/5
I think this is the album Bowie said he did too much cocaine to remember recording.
Anyway, I'm not a big fan of spooky ghost Bowie, but I like many other forms of Bowie. This had both, and I liked it but didn't love it.
Golden Years and TVC 15 are top notch. The rest had things I liked, but those are the standouts.
I think my mom also had the 45 of TVC 15 in the 80s.
Album cover: (B)
Simon & Garfunkel
5/5
Alright, that won me over. I listened to the first few songs piecemeal and enjoyed it, but found it a little hokey.
I started listening to the rest at my desk at 6am and by the time The Boxer rolled around I was fully in.
I'm probably being influenced by this already having a 5 star, but I'll go with the flow.
Album cover: (B) Truly I salute Paul Simon's commitment to being one of America's smallest men. Never be taller Paul.
The Teardrop Explodes
3/5
I put this on while Laura was shredding cabbage. She said "Oh I don't like this"
That said its grown on me a little.
It's pretty samey, definitely an album with a sound that it does not deviate from.
Also they repeat lyrics a lot.
Napalm Death
2/5
Joey Luna spent a lot of time introducing me to the world of Grindcore. I have my moments with it, but they're definitely occasional.
I do have to give them major points for 28 songs in 33 minutes.
Album cover: (A) Metal indeed.
The Velvet Underground
5/5
Candy Says and Pale Blue Eyes have been some of the most important songs in my life since I was a teenager. The blend of calm and melancholy have been a source of much comfort in many different times, and also a source of enhanced wallowing when I could not wallow to proper depths unaided.
I have heard What Goes On described as "a big swingin dick of a song", and crass as it may be, I cannot disagree.
The Murder Mystery is probably the only song I'm not as in to, but hey, who am I to tell the Velvet Underground what to do.
After Hours is such a great contrast to the rest of the album. I really wish she hadn't gone off the Right-Wing deep end.
Album cover: (B) Its good but its no banana.
Mudhoney
3/5
a-ha
3/5
Obviously this starts about as strong as an album can start.
By track 2 I saw this cruising to an easy 4 stars. It then started diving into the depths of 80's sameyness.
By "The Sun Shines on TV " I was back in it. Thats my second favorite on the album.
The rest I can take or leave. I like their up tempo, energetic songs. The slower ones dont feel up to much.
Album cover: (B-)
The Offspring
4/5
Well that was a plain good time.
I never listened to them when I was 12, but if I had, I imagine it would have gone well.
The dudes voice is very close to being annoying, but it works.
Album cover: (A-) It kinda sucks but also rules. This would look very at home in a zine.
Neil Young
4/5
To preface this, I like Neil Young.
With that out of the way, envision a scene for me.
A child sings in a movie. He has a beautiful voice. Slowly time passes around him while he sings. He is now an old child - not an adult, but an old child, and still he sings.
That is how Neil Young sounds on the first few songs of this album. A child with an angel's voice now saddled with wrinkles. Though his bones now creak, his child's spirit remains unbroken.
Also Southern Man is the song that made Skynyrd write Sweet Home Alabama in response. I'd always heard that story, but never the song. It rips.
Album cover: (B-)
Scott Walker
5/5
I got turned onto Scott Walker In high school during a conversation about music that had genuinely scared us.
Jake Kobrin Brought up Scott Walker's "The Drift". I listened to it at night really stoned and it freaked me the hell out. I wonder how it would land now?
Now onto the album at hand. Hell yeah. Its a perfect example of that 60's post-modern/post-ironic sensibility. He's doing the schmaltzy crooner thing with a sincere love for the sound, and a full awareness of how silly it is.
Returning to Scott Walker for the first time in 15 years, this rules.
Album cover: (A-)
Jimi Hendrix
4/5
Once again I am made to question how I feel about my heroes.
I basically have the same feelings about Axis as I did Electric Ladyland. A few songs are some of my favorites ever recorded, and most are pretty good.
Little Wing is one of my few true 10 out of 10 songs. Castles Made of Sand, If 6 was 9 and One Rainy Wish and Bold As Love are all S tier.
She's So Fine should have been sung by Jimmy. Why'd someone else sing that?
Album Cover: (A+) Look at all them snakes.
Hüsker Dü
3/5
Billy Bragg
3/5
I really liked Walt Whitmas Niece and Way Over Yonder in the Minor Key.
I got into it whenever Billy Bragg was singing, cause his cockney knees up style is instantly fun.
When the others took over singing it was a lot less interesting.
Air
5/5
Man this was a refreshing delight. Really cool and distinct sound and every track was fun. This feels like a 70's film score, but made in 1998.
Album cover: (A) I love that it says "French Band"
Iron Maiden
5/5
I've been wanting to start a band recently, and thinking about what type of band would be fun to be a part of.
Early Maiden must have been a blast to play in.
Maiden is such a tight and polished band, so I like hearing their early, more raw music. The songs are still very complicated, and their tight as all get out, but the sound is very different. Their guitar tone sounds more normal. On Number of the Beast, sometimes the guitars are so perfected that they sound almost like another instrument. On Transylvania, it just sounds like some boys with humbuckers and loud Marshalls.
Anyway all the songs rule and so does this album.
Album cover: (A+) Eddie
Buzzcocks
3/5
Black Sabbath
5/5
I mean it's the first Sabbath album. It's the best.
Instead of a review, I will write my assorted Ozzy/Sabbath stories.
- I watched a VH1 documentary which told the story of Bill Ward writing the lyrics to Black Sabbath about a sleep paralysis type episode where he was visited by a "figure in black". I listened to the song alone in my room that night and I was very scared indeed.
- I saw Ozzy at the San Jose Sharks arena when I was probably 14 (Gus G was the guitar player then). My mom bought me two tickets but I was a lonely teen and had no one to go with, so I had two seats to myself. Ozzy had a giant hose that shot foam all over the crowd and security guards. He really seemed to be having a blast up there.
- I saw Sabbath play the Shoreline Amphitheater (full lineup minus Bill Ward) around 2012. At the start of their set, my mom texted me that our dog Jack was very sick and that she was taking him to the doggy ER. I spent the first half of the show super stoned and wondering if my dog was going to die. Eventually she texted me that Jack had eaten and edible wrapper and had "all the signs of marijuana toxicity". He was fine, and the Sabbath show was A+.
Most impressively, they really sounded like Black Sabbath. When I saw Metallica l, everything from their guitar sound to Hetfield's voice sounded totally different from the records I knew. They rocked, but I didn't feel like I was seeing Metallica. Black Sabbath sounded exactly like Black Sabbath.
- In college I spent a while getting Toni into heavy music. This was the album that finally made it click for her.
Ozzy dying feels a lot like the Queen dying. He was just always around, being a strange and comforting presence in my life.
Now he's gone, and an important piece of my culture dies with him.
Album cover: A (Scary Mona Lisa)
Bill Callahan
3/5
I like Bill as a lyricist, and I love his work with Smog. His solo stuff is hit or miss for me. Sometimes it's beautiful and relaxing, sometimes it's long and boring. This went between the two.
Ramones
5/5
The music of 12 year old Kit's soul.
Album cover: (A+) Hard.
Scott Walker
4/5
Ok I really like Scott Walkers vibe. Seventh Seal absolutely ruled.
MGMT
4/5
I did not realize that Time to Pretend, Electric Feel and Kids were all on one album. This album is a really impressive moment in time type album. Those were three of the most ever present songs of that time. Overall this was excellent.