I’m conflicted. on one hand objectively Bob Dylan is a bad singer. The guitar is out of tune and the harmonica is obnoxious. The lyrics are drunken nonsense. on the other hand, there’s not this obsession with perfection that is so present among music of the modern age that it’s actually almost refreshing to hear a recording that is as imperfect and sort of fireside personal as highway 61. You can also hear a lot of Rolling Stones/British invasion influence.
Songs are groovy, instrumentation is good and musicians are all talented and then message is cool, but the songs are waaayyy too long. 13 minutes a song is crazy and there’s no developmental reason for it, the songs just kind of loop with solos. It makes sense in a live setting and the live song has that energy but it doesn’t translate well to recordings in my opinion. It doesn’t feel like it’s expressing any sort of pain or anger with the message, more like trying to convey the message in a fun, digestible way. It’s like here’s some groovy afrobeat and also the Nigerian government sucks. Also crazy that they allegedly killed his mom over it.
Very dancy, electronic music. It feels like a full dance club set with transitions and everything which is cool. And to think that everything is sampled from another song, it’s cool to see how it all fits together. Since I left you is my favorite track, though they’re all super cool. A nice use of music concrete, and a good way to kick off the 21st century. That being said, it’s not 5 stars it doesn’t really speak to me in that way. A lot of the samples can get repetitive and annoying and the development of every song is just though layering, with the songs mainly separated by tempo and drum pattern. Production is top notch too. It seems like it was a pretty big deal in electronic music.
This album is proof that different doesn’t always mean good. The looping thing got old to me halfway through the first song, it’s one of the things what drives me nuts about modern music. I’m sure it was a big deal at the time and had all these cool innovations, but it just didn’t do it for me. The one thing that was cool is hearing a song that weird al parodied (once in a lifetime). It’s 2 stars because it did have some cool parts. I liked the second half better there were some more interesting sections and more variety in each loop. I can see the Fela kuti influence, except his music had good instrumental soloists. This just has incoherent ramblings. Like fela kuli and Pink Floyd combined. I can see how people would like it, but not me.
Started off strong with message in a bottle, which is a perfect manifestation of the police’s style and music. But stings voice is really terrible. It sounds like he’s trying to force out a poop every time he opens his mouth. It’s middle of the road for me. The instrumentation is great, the bass playing especially is good, but message in a bottle wasn’t enough momentum to redeem the rest of the album. Some of the songs sound like parodies of their own musical style.
This album is great. There was not a single song on this album that I didn’t like. The sound is so soulful and groovy, each song has such a good sensitivity to mixing and sound, structure, and poetry. Just incredible. Best album I’ve heard from this list so far 5 stars/S teir for sure
B teir
C teir. I can hear the punk influences, not bad, not anything super special either.
Fun album with great energy. A teir
I really didn’t want to like this because it’s French and gay but I liked it. B teir.
Hated every second of it. F teir
Kind of formulate, but it was a good formula BT.
A whole double album of songs that sound like the guardians of the galaxy soundtrack mixed with some super creative parts. A teir
Super groovy and has some fun instrumental solos, the guitar and sax just rip. Super fun to listen to, super creative. The only think keeping it from s teir is that it’s French and I have no idea what they’re saying. A teir
B teir. The songs were catchy and the production was good, but it is NOT a good album to listen to while you’re driving. I was falling asleep the songs get monotonous and hypnotic with all the repetitions. Could have crashed. Not good.
I loved this album. It was imperfect in such a charming way. The music was light and fun, super enjoyable, instrumentation was great, totally would listen again.
First Bowie album I’ve listened to, I don’t know if this was a great introduction into his work. Definitely more experimental pop, kind of spacey and ethereal, but in terms of the music nothing really caught my ear. C teir.
Didn’t really like it. It was jazz without being jazz, really slow and strange. Not a fan. F teir.
As a guitarist I’m biased, but I spent countless hours soloing over the maggot brain chord progression, I must have listened to it 50 or 60 times I absolutely love that song it’s an s teir song for me. The rest of the album is great too, the last song was a little weird for me, and keeps it from s. A teir
Did not like this one. My second Tim Buckley album and I didn’t like this one for totally different reasons. The media was groovy but the lyrics were gross and he just doesn’t shut up. D teir cause the musicians are great
Flea kuti live! What more could you want. The last Kuti album I said that the music would make more sense in a love setting but I actually liked the other album better. B teir
I have loved this album since I first started playing guitar. My favorite song used to be Alive but this time around it was even flow. But every song is super fun it’s a great blend of classic rock and grunge. S teir for sure
I didn’t like this album the first time I listened to it and I don’t know why. It was SOOO good. There were a couple filler songs but for the most part all the songs were really interesting and enjoyable. Pink Floyd experimented a lot with non-musical sounds in their music and that is present here, but not at the same of the music. It enhances the place that the song takes you it’s great. S teir.
All of the aesthetic of 80s rock with none of the charm. F teir.
Eh it was okay. Didn’t enjoy the fart sounds in the first song. The rest of the songs didn’t have fart sounds but they had other problems. F teir.
Pretty good, b teir
I already know this one. A teir.
This album was so fun. Just super groovy all the way through. Really enjoyable. S teir
The instrumentation of this albums is great, even the poetry is really thoughtful but man, his voice is just so boring and I don’t like the style of speak singing that he does that it makes the songs kind of bland and forgettable. I kind of figured that it had some kind of story before I read the description but sometimes these concept albums make a lot of sacrifices for the sake of the story, and I think the melody/lyrics kind of make focus on telling the story and not on expressing it musically. C teir
I have gone on the record saying that the Beatles are one of the most overrated bands to ever exist but after learning about some of their history and relisting to a lot of their music they really were one of the greatest band of all time they did was super new and innovative for the time they advanced a lot of, recording technology and studio experimentation and not to mention worldwide success is hard to deny. They have had and continued to have such an important impact on modern music and for those reasons I give this album a teir. I was going to get an S teir, However, upon the second listen some of the songs got repetitive and annoying.
Listened to all 2 hours. Forgot all of it except my sweet Lord. B teir.
This might as well be a Bon jovi greatest hits album. So many classic songs, no filler tracks everything is super clean and interesting. Guitar solos are epic, production is top notch, this album is S teir for SURE
Really good really fun. He has such a charming energy it’s great. A teir
The early punk bands rebelled against everything, even making good and interesting music. It’s easy when you listen to a band like the sex pistols and you can hear how that eventually became blink-182 but it’s hard to believe that when you listen to this it just sounds like another GarageBand.
Nice and surfry, vibey. Fun to listen to. B teir
This album was great all the way through. Finally an album with cultural significance that is also an incredible work of musical achievement, adapting these songs to a jazz/r and b style just brought them so much character. That being said, the style was very specific and I honestly would have liked to see more variety in the interpretations so for that it’s A teir
Kinda goofy and annoying. D teir.
A teir. Most of the songs were awesome, and I will probably listen to it again. Production is great, and the first and last songs are really nice bookends to the whole album. Butchers tale was a cool change of pace. The whole album was super fun to listen to.
S teir. Just an awesome album all around. Nothing to say that hasn’t already been said but the way he uses music to cope with his childhood trauma and is STILL able to make it awesome and connect with an audience is an amazing thing. The artistry is unparalleled and he was truly a master of his music. They just don’t make them like they used to.
That was the same song for 1 hour and no one can tell me otherwise. Fun mid 60s jam album but man get a different riff. D teir.
Super good album really enjoyed it. A teir. Rhymes are super retro, feels like 90s hip hop which is a great vibe. Beats are great and that Kanye feature is out of nowhere and super fun to hear. Very early 00s.
Super good album. A teir
Liked it. It was fun to listen to. Lots of heart and character. More than just a blues album because of where it comes from. Wish I knew what they were saying. My only gripe is that the guitar solos are kind of basic, nothing revolutionary. It’s also very repetitive. It is really cool to hear a style that emerged out of slave/black culture in the United States through the lense of African culture. Very unique. B teir.
Alright. It’s a fun bluesey jam album. It’s nothing remarkable, but it’s not insufferable. Easy listening but it’s not gonna change anyone’s life. C teir.
Creepy and horrifying. Seems demonic. That said, very creative. Gotta respect the artistry. C teir.
There’s some cool classical influence and religious language in here which I think is really cool. The music creates a good context for the poetry, and artistry which is the obvious focus. It is a little weird and crazy at times, but I feel like all of these late 60s singer songewriters had a little bit of that (some more than others). But I understand it more than the other ones. Poetically, it works more than it does musically. The album seems like he wrote the music and poetry separately. And I think this because every line sounds like a response to the chord changes instead of something that was written as a whole song. His voice isn’t my favorite, it’s super nasally. He’s like a more classically influenced bob dylan in terms of sound. He’s less singing and more speaking at a pitch. Diamonds in the mine sounds like he thought it was gonna be a big hit. The song is my favorite and least favorite. It sounds so evil.
The album works to create a mood and a context for the poetry, there is really nothing to focus on but the words. However, I tend to think that usually poetry is better communicated in music with a catchy melody. Like I don’t think I would ever be able to memorize a song from this album. That being said, I’ll take this over any modern pop album any day. B teir.
