I wish I could experience the level of exuberance these songs express even one day in my life. To feel so alive, so cocky, vamping and strutting along, karate kicking the air in my animal print spandex, mugging for the camera. Alas, these emotions are apparently beyond my scope, so the effect of witnessing such a display, as someone who can't really relate, is like hearing a jubilant trumpet blasting its cheerful herald right into my face. This album is like aural cocaine. I'm trying not to be a hater, but to me this is the embodiment of Dad Rock, of the white American Boomer male. I can't shake the memories of my father listening to Van Halen when I was a kid; this was one of "his" bands. And I was happy to leave these bands to him in favor of my own bands, many of which he probably thought of as aural heroin. Much like my dad himself, I find this album full of energy and talent, fun, happy and arrogant, often veering into the obnoxious and exhausting. I'm too young to really view this in the context of its own time, although God knows I remember watching the videos for "Jump" and "Hot for Teacher" dozens of times on MTV as a kid (I can still hear David Lee Roth's voice: "Awww man, I think the clock is slowwww..."). No one can deny that Eddie was an amazing guitarist, and the obvious theskill of the band, especially musically, is the main redeeming factor for me. Although I find the artistry lacking in sensitivity and nuance, and the overall vibe a bit cheesy and try-hard, I have to question my own Gen x ethos and ask myself if trying hard is such a bad thing. Van Halen definitely tried hard to entertain us and push themselves to go bigger, faster, and louder...maybe even all the way to 11.

Perfect for wallowing in the impotent melancholy of the digital age.

The lyrics are the main focus here, the musings, narrations, and confessions of a sensitive and intellectual poet. The music seems merely an extension of the poetry. Many memorable turns of phrase, notable religious imagery (Jesus, Joseph, angels, nuns). Simple production, intimate coffee house vibes. A few waltzy numbers; most tracks have a downtempo feel. These songs call for a quiet and contemplative mood. Favorite track: “So Long, Marianne.” I liked the female vocal paired with his low, gravely voice.

I'm always going to be happy to see David Bowie on this list. This is early 1970's Bowie, and it feels like a Bowie not fully formed, still exploring and finding his way, with the best of his work ahead of him. I see shades of what's to come, with Bowie exploring themes found in his other work (youth and pop culture, art, politics, philosophy) with the sense of individuality and surrealism/absurdity that became his hallmarks. Many of the songs here feature piano, but a couple of the later tracks show glimpses of glam rock and punk. The songs vary a lot in subject matter and feel, so I don't find it to be a very cohesive album, and there are a few tracks that, while not horrible by any means, I would probably seldom reach for as a Bowie fan, just because there are so many others that I love more. Obviously “Changes” and “Life on Mars?” are classics. I'm glad for the opportunity to hear him in his earlier career even if I consider it before his peak. 3.5 Lyric of note, from “Quicksand”: "I'm not a prophet or a stone age man Just a mortal with potential of a superman, I'm living on I'm tethered to the logic of homo sapien Can't take my eyes from the great salvation of bullshit faith If I don't explain what you ought to know You can tell me all about it on the next bardo I'm sinking in the quicksand of my thought I ain't got the power anymore Don't believe in yourself Don't deceive with believe Knowledge comes with death's release”

Testosterone is a hell of a drug. This is a bad boy manifesto: sweaty, shirtless, wild, inebriated, dangerous. Sex, drugs, and rock and roll. “Don't you try, don't you try to tell me what to do.” The music matches the brash, dirty, explosive energy of the braggadocios lyrics. The production is unrefined, uncontained, and immediate. Prowling, howling, growling. Raw and powerful. I never listened much to The Stooges, but it's immediately clear that many other artists did; their influence is obvious and wide. Some LOL’s: The title “Your Pretty Face is Going to Hell” …It just makes me laugh. In the official lyrics listed for “Penetration”: “[gibberish]” Was that a burp opening the titular “Raw Power”? Kind of sums up the vibe.

Perfect for wallowing in the impotent melancholy of the digital age.

I wish I could experience the level of exuberance these songs express even one day in my life. To feel so alive, so cocky, vamping and strutting along, karate kicking the air in my animal print spandex, mugging for the camera. Alas, these emotions are apparently beyond my scope, so the effect of witnessing such a display, as someone who can't really relate, is like hearing a jubilant trumpet blasting its cheerful herald right into my face. This album is like aural cocaine. I'm trying not to be a hater, but to me this is the embodiment of Dad Rock, of the white American Boomer male. I can't shake the memories of my father listening to Van Halen when I was a kid; this was one of "his" bands. And I was happy to leave these bands to him in favor of my own bands, many of which he probably thought of as aural heroin. Much like my dad himself, I find this album full of energy and talent, fun, happy and arrogant, often veering into the obnoxious and exhausting. I'm too young to really view this in the context of its own time, although God knows I remember watching the videos for "Jump" and "Hot for Teacher" dozens of times on MTV as a kid (I can still hear David Lee Roth's voice: "Awww man, I think the clock is slowwww..."). No one can deny that Eddie was an amazing guitarist, and the obvious theskill of the band, especially musically, is the main redeeming factor for me. Although I find the artistry lacking in sensitivity and nuance, and the overall vibe a bit cheesy and try-hard, I have to question my own Gen x ethos and ask myself if trying hard is such a bad thing. Van Halen definitely tried hard to entertain us and push themselves to go bigger, faster, and louder...maybe even all the way to 11.

The lyrics are the main focus here, the musings, narrations, and confessions of a sensitive and intellectual poet. The music seems merely an extension of the poetry. Many memorable turns of phrase, notable religious imagery (Jesus, Joseph, angels, nuns). Simple production, intimate coffee house vibes. A few waltzy numbers; most tracks have a downtempo feel. These songs call for a quiet and contemplative mood. Favorite track: “So Long, Marianne.” I liked the female vocal paired with his low, gravely voice.

I'm always going to be happy to see David Bowie on this list. This is early 1970's Bowie, and it feels like a Bowie not fully formed, still exploring and finding his way, with the best of his work ahead of him. I see shades of what's to come, with Bowie exploring themes found in his other work (youth and pop culture, art, politics, philosophy) with the sense of individuality and surrealism/absurdity that became his hallmarks. Many of the songs here feature piano, but a couple of the later tracks show glimpses of glam rock and punk. The songs vary a lot in subject matter and feel, so I don't find it to be a very cohesive album, and there are a few tracks that, while not horrible by any means, I would probably seldom reach for as a Bowie fan, just because there are so many others that I love more. Obviously “Changes” and “Life on Mars?” are classics. I'm glad for the opportunity to hear him in his earlier career even if I consider it before his peak. 3.5 Lyric of note, from “Quicksand”: "I'm not a prophet or a stone age man Just a mortal with potential of a superman, I'm living on I'm tethered to the logic of homo sapien Can't take my eyes from the great salvation of bullshit faith If I don't explain what you ought to know You can tell me all about it on the next bardo I'm sinking in the quicksand of my thought I ain't got the power anymore Don't believe in yourself Don't deceive with believe Knowledge comes with death's release”

Testosterone is a hell of a drug. This is a bad boy manifesto: sweaty, shirtless, wild, inebriated, dangerous. Sex, drugs, and rock and roll. “Don't you try, don't you try to tell me what to do.” The music matches the brash, dirty, explosive energy of the braggadocios lyrics. The production is unrefined, uncontained, and immediate. Prowling, howling, growling. Raw and powerful. I never listened much to The Stooges, but it's immediately clear that many other artists did; their influence is obvious and wide. Some LOL’s: The title “Your Pretty Face is Going to Hell” …It just makes me laugh. In the official lyrics listed for “Penetration”: “[gibberish]” Was that a burp opening the titular “Raw Power”? Kind of sums up the vibe.

A post-punk mental health crisis. I went into this completely ignorant, never having so much as even heard of this band. Tracks range from driving, disco-y to more atmospheric and experimental. Trying to discern which musical constellation it resides in, I got a little Talking Heads, shades of Blondie... Maybe the Smiths? Yes, definitely. There's a flourishy bit in "Brave Boys Keep Their Promises" that reminds me of a similar part in "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now." "Strange House In The Snow" is a straight-up Kate Bush song, full stop, which I was amazed to discover. Interestingly, this album came out 4 and 6 years, respectively, before those other two. How influential was this album to other artists in its time and place? I don't know the answer, but I'm guessing this album was seminal in influencing a lot of post-punk and new wave, because a lot of the trademark elements are here, the layered shimmering guitars, the sampling and heavy use of synthesizers. I discerned many intriguing musical elements the further I got into it, but for me, the lyrics often came across as unsophisticated and repetitive, sometimes seemingly ad-libbed in that “Jim Morrison wandering around the stage on acid” sort of way, although it's clear they were earnestly trying to express a sea of emotion. Spotify has this album as including some bonus tracks, and I went ahead and listened to those as well, even though I guess it was just the original album alone that lead to it being included on this list.

You already know what it is. Inspired. Transcendent. Universal. Iconic. I only regret that unlike hearing some other albums on this list, I cannot listen to this for the first time. To have that experience again. This album begs for a great set of headphones and a beanbag chair, and I tried to get as close to that as I could for this listen through. I've heard the songs so many times before, but like an old friend, you can still find new layers and things to ponder with every encounter. Everything about this album flows so confidently, deliberate and fully articulated, and everything strikes me as "as it should be", not a hair out of place, never too much or too little. Every aspect from vocals, lyrics, instrumentation and production. Hell, even the album cover is pure perfection on the graphic design front. I don't know a lot about the inspiration or story behind these tracks, and I don't think I want to know; I like to let this work speak for itself and take me on a journey through its story. I'll pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.

Frank Ocean, son of Billy Ocean (probably), is a new listen for me. This album takes familiar R&B, soul, and hip hop vernacular and dissects and reassembles it into an experimental and diffuse collage. Mary J. Blige's "Real Love" is stripped down, slowed down, and stretched out like Dali's melting clocks, in "Super Rich Kids" for example. Some interesting moments are here in the abstract soundscapes, but I couldn't really immerse myself in the material and connect emotionally. Maybe that's a "me" problem; I think I've aged out of the target demographic. I leave it to the children.

Classic Morrissey, a detached, crooning baritone delivering clever, ironic lyrics like a sigh that's at turns bored, wry, wistful, and smirking. Classic Johnny Marr, taking a three-minute pop song to layered, mesmerizing, emotional, cinematic heights. All in all, a classic Smiths album, if you like that sort of thing. I do. Very British Moments: "The death of a disco dancer? Well I'd rather not get involved I never talk to my neighbour I'd rather not get involved" "And so I drank one It became four And when I fell on the floor I drank more"

This project is yielding so many rewards, and today I was rewarded with learning about Sparks. Upon seeing the cover, I was skeptical, but as I listened and followed along with the lyrics, I had the biggest smile on my face. I've always been drawn to camp, and it was immediately clear that this band is bonkers and wouldn't be out of place amid John Waters, Robert Crumb, Pee-Wee Herman, and Rocky Horror Picture Show. This album is like if Queen and They Might Be Giants had a baby. Bold, glam rock multi-part song structures, witty lyrics and a kitschy attitude. I had to get some help from Wikipedia to even realize it was a man singing, as I tried to process what I was hearing. I'm trying to imagine how this was received when it first came out 50 years ago. I am thoroughly intrigued and look forward to checking out their other work.

I've never sat and listened to this album before, but I am slightly familiar with them. I had the kids with me all day yesterday, driving far out to a garden center and back. If I'd been alone it would have been the perfect time to listen to this album, but I wasn't sure if it was going to be suitable for young ears, so I had to wait until later in the evening to start listening. I listen to it while at the gym, but even still, I didn't get a chance to finish it. So many interstitials! I was feeling like I was running behind and as fun as they are, I was getting annoyed with those interludes that reminded me of boys clowning around in school. Get on with it! Suffice to say, being in a rush is no way to really listen to or evaluate an album. I probably could have listened to it even with the kids present, because references to baseheads and gardening tools wouldn't have meant much to them. Except when I was peeling out of the gym parking lot in my minivan blasting sounds of an orgy, well I guess I made the right call after all. I LOVE all of the sampling and mixing, and the energy and fun. It transported me to another world, late 80's New York. I expected to see Spike Lee pop out from around the corner, with, I don't know, Rosie Perez wearing giant gold door-knocker earrings and bike shorts. Even though I was pretty young at the time, I feel like late 80s/early 90s was such a special and exciting time for music and hip hop. Listening to this makes me feel young, remembering hearing stuff like this from my childhood, but also old, realizing that mainstream music isn't often like this anymore. I'd be happy to hear some of this come on at a party, and I'm interested to hear more of their catalog.

I had no idea what to expect with this and the album cover wasn't any help either. "Chicken Shack" made me think blues... Okay, I was kinda right. Blues meets jazz, maybe a little gospel-tinged organ thrown in. It was...jazz? I don't really know much about jazz and therefore can't really discuss it or deconstruct it. Some jazz I really love, though, despite my relative ignorance of the genre. This was pretty good but not among my personal jazz faves.

Daydreaming under cold, grey skies. This album owes a lot to later Beatles and other acts of that milieu. Lush production, good use of sampling on the absolutely inescapable single, “Bittersweet Symphony.” Acoustic guitar strumming at the center, embellished with textures of soul, psychedelia, trip hop, and even old-school country & western at moments. Heavily layered yet somehow subdued. All sharp edges have been smoothed. Very consistent feel throughout the album, but by the end, I was craving a change of pace. Surprised this is in the top 20 top-selling albums of all time in UK – illustrates some of the deep differences in taste between the UK and the US. Perhaps this entry also helps to reveal the alleged bias this list has toward British acts and Britpop. I didn't find this album bad, but for whatever reason, I personally found it hard to truly connect to.

Did anyone else ever hear the rumor that Morrissey had castrated himself? I don't know how widespread this little urban legend was, which I heard as a teenager, but I think it must have been someone mistakenly–or purposely–embellishing Morrissey's self-professed voluntary celibacy. I was only reminded of this because he used the word “castration” in the jumping anti-monarchy first track. I think it's funny that someone who constantly asserted to generally not really be attracted to others could thoroughly imbue a song with such convincing tortured longing, particularly of the adolescent romantic variety. He's practically the poster boy for it! This is well illustrated in, “There Is a Light That Never Goes Out.” Then again, in the following track come the lines, “From the ice-age to the dole-age, There is but one concern, I have just discovered, Some girls are bigger than others” Huh?? Hmm. Oh! But the longing soon returns, “send me your pillow, the one that you dream on, and I'll send you mine…” Anyway, enough about Morrissey. Let's talk about Johnny Marr and this music. I just love it! It's pop-y rock, yet without any hint of plasticity, emotionally expressive and creative without becoming self-indulgent, varied enough to not become stale, but never losing its sense of self. Top tune: “Bigmouth Strikes Again,” especially that energetic breakaway 2/3 into the song. But really I enjoyed them all.

I was excited to see this album today. Of course I know about the legendary Miriam Makeba but never sat down to listen to an album front to back. The tracks were mostly traditional songs; I was somewhat familiar with a few, but with most I was not. Since presumably she didn't write these songs, I won't evaluate the songs themselves as works of art, only her vocal performance of them, and the production. I find no fault with either. I feel this album’s aim was to simply showcase the voice of a gifted singer. The instrumentation and production simply had to give her a platform and not get in her way, let her do her thing and shine. Compared to some of the other albums on this list using a lot of ambitious songwriting and sonic experimentation, this is was a simpler goal to achieve (though no less worthwhile) and I think they did achieve it. The instrumentation was so spare, sometimes non-existent, and the recording was so simple and clear, giving Miriam nowhere to hide, not that she needed to, showing easy virtuosity with her beautiful, dynamic voice. I can't remember the last time I listened to an a cappella recording, and I found it to be an interesting and rewarding experience, just experiencing the excellency of a lovely human voice singing a traditional song. I often like to ponder musical family trees, and how various musical influences get passed down through time. I thought it was neat to hear so many shades of American music in some of these songs, like some of the melodies sounded so bluesy, or some of the arrangements evoked doo-wop style, stuff like the Four Seasons. American music clearly owes so much to African music. Miriam is one of those generational and cultural icons, like Edith Piaf, who both represent and transcend their time and place. My kids enjoyed listening to this with me and I could see having this type of music on as a pleasant backdrop for daily life.

Beyond her Rolling Stones days (“As Tears Go By”) and that time she did a song with Metallica, I never paid a lot of attention to Marianne Faithfull. I'm guessing she's a lot more culturally relevant in the UK. I kind of fell down a rabbit hole reading about her today. For this album, gone is the 17-year-old rock and roll muse, and here she is, older, battle-worn, the previous decade and a half of tumult coming through her low, cracking voice. A lot of the songs reminded me of Stevie Nicks with a slight punk edge. The album was overall quite moody in that way. There was a song written by Shel Silverstein?! And I wasn't at all prepared for that last track.

This is somewhere between three and four stars for me. I enjoyed this, with Immigrant Song being the obvious standout; that song never fails to get me hyped up. I listened to it while going hard on the Stairmaster, and I was glad it was under two-and-a-half minutes in length. The rest of the songs, while not "low energy" were not as hard hitting. A lot of blues. I quite enjoyed "Since I've Been Loving You" which is longer and unfolds and builds slowly into a blusey crescendo, and "Bron-Y-Aur Stomp," bringing a galloping, twangy energy setting it apart from the rest of the tracks. This music doesn't seem like 1970 to me somehow. It doesn't feel newer, nor older than that either. And it doesn't feel British. It's like they mined the best in American blues and country/bluegrass, put those influences in a blender, and came up with something familiar but still it's own separate thing and still of them.

If you were to ask me my favorite music, somehow Smashing Pumpkins would not be at the top of my mind. I've never seen them in concert. And yet when I saw this album here today, I knew it would be an instant five stars for me. This is one of the first albums I owned; my mom gave it to me as a gift for my 12th birthday, and she thought it was funny when I began opening it and I cheered when only the smallest bit of paper was torn off. I could sufficiently see a tiny bit of that iconic cover peeking through. I've got so many core memories associated with this album, which I'll keep for myself, and which inevitably happens when you listen to something so heavily in your youth. But I'm confident in saying that this album deserves five stars for reasons that have nothing to do with my nostalgia, and are based purely on the merits of the album itself. Somehow this album retains a sense of rawness despite the laborious high level of production. It rocks hard but can be gentle, beautiful, and sweet. Sometimes it's thick and sludgy and other times it's effervescent and shimmery. So much is packed in, and it's so layered, but it feels like all the parts are there for a reason, and the album is cohesive and there are no extraneous songs here. For me, this is truly an album I can listen to from beginning to end. This is peak Smashing Pumpkins. Faves: Today, Soma, Mayonaise.

This was a fun, easy listen. I was familiar of course with the title track since forever, but I enjoyed listening to mo'. At times I wondered if the organ would be better with a sustain pedal, more soulful, but then I think it would lose its jittery staccato melisma that gives it so much of its character. This album is mostly covers, and while their original, Green Onions, is probably my fave, I enjoyed hearing the band's signature sound applied to various songs of that era.

The songs here I like, such as "Gigantic" and "Where Is My Mind?", I really love and play often. Most of the others here I would never typically reach for specifically, although I wouldn't mind at all having the album on. This band is like a lot of others in this project where it's hard to appreciate the impact it had for its time because so many other bands are influenced by them; we live in a world of Pixies derivatives. You hear this and are reminded of so many other bands that sounds similar to this. But I think a lot of these particular elements coming together in this particular way, the Pixies were seminal.

Pros: 1) The sampling, beats, and mixing is off the chain--kaleidescopic! 2) They "got more rhymes than Jamaica got mango." (Speaking of Jamaica, it's easy to see how much West Indian influence there is in early Hip Hop via this album.) 3) They are moving away from their bratty immature frat boy image that was so prevalent on Licensed to Ill. Cons: 1) The flow and delivery is, shall we say, of its time, reflecting the rap style of that era. But I feel like they kind of held on to that over the years and it's part of their signature. 2) Their voices can be a bit shrill and grating (okay, not Yauch). But it is what it is; they are young, Jewish Brooklynites. This also kind of became their signature. 3) They haven't quite moved away *enough* from their immature vibe. A lot of "cutie with a booty" "ya wife" "ya girl," etc. This is before they had Kathleen Hanna and Free Tibet come into their lives and it shows. But the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, and I feel like this album is that first step to where they would eventually go. All the awesome sampling and everything that's good about this album (all done pre-digitally!) overrides any flaws. 3.5

Mellow, muted, Burt Bacharach melodies combine with glitchy trip hop beats, laser zorps and robot farts. Soft, yearning, sad boi. Cinematic and orchestral, retro-futuristic. Could be the score to a film…a Wes Anderson film where the robots are evil-natured but also wear hand-knitted hats made from the fleece of alpacas gently raised on a lunar pasture. I am surprised this came out in 2002. My mind can't seem to work it into my memories of that timeline; I would have guessed closer to 2008. 3.5

This sounded like you'd expect, the logical next step coming off of the Beatles' last work. I liked the instrumental songs, just the Idea of having some rock instrumentals interspersed there. Paul's lyrics as often as not seem kind of "filler" not having much to really say, like they really are secondary to the music. Of course there are a few silly love songs, his specialty. I love how much he loved Linda, fitting that the opener was one about her. I was surprised to read about what was happening when this was created. John had already unofficially left, so Paul used that time to make this. I think this was Paul realizing he didn't want to stop making music and him trying to figure out how to move forward on his own.

"Everybody's born knowing all the Beatles lyrics instinctively. They're passed into the fetus subconsciously along with all the amniotic stuff. In fact, they should be called 'The Fetals.'" --Sliding Doors My dad was a mega Beatles guy and so this music was woven throughout my childhood. The Beatles have somehow just always been there, as if part of the natural world. The eras I know and like the best are their earlier and mid periods. This album exemplifies their early sound when they first broke into the US, spreading Beatlemania in their wake. I feel like there's nothing that I could possibly say that hasn't already been said about this band. It's cliché to laud the Beatles, it's popular among many to say they are overrated, but I can't help but to praise this album; for the genre, it is full of absolute bangers! Lennon/McCartney were songwriting masters who were able to absorb the great American rock and roll and R&B of the 50's, incorporate other influences, and somehow distill it into 60's pop-rock perfection. These early songs are melodic as hell, like most--if not all--Beatles tunes, but this album also gives sort of a nod to Latin jazz (or something) instrumentation on many songs, subtly incorporating things like hand drums and claves. It gives this album a cool, sophisticated, yet highly danceable, straightforward, unpretentious rock vibe that I love. I know these songs well but enjoyed listening to them again today, together with my kids, singing along joyfully while dancing around the house. This is a timeless classic; those screaming girls were right.

I listened to this while cooking and it made a pleasant enough background. Nothing jumped out and grabbed me, rather it was a textured, layered haze that shuffled and chugged along. I heard hints of Bob Dylan, Rod Stewart, and Bruce Springsteen at various moments. I could imagine this growing on me with subsequent listens. I wouldn't mind listening to more from them.

Blues icon that influenced all the 60's rock guitar gods. I never really choose to listen to blues much, but I don't mind it and I have had some fun nights out at blues bars in the past. The blues is kind of like my grandpa: rooted in the South, often repetitive, and sometimes old-fashioned and hard to relate to. Yet I, like the music I love, literally wouldn't be here without it/him. Since the blues is such an influential genre, historically, and since B.B. King is one of the most accomplished and renowned bluesmen, I agree that it was indeed worthwhile to listen to this album before I die, to hear him sing and play "Lucille" to appreciative fans in Chicago. Many of the standard blues topics are represented here: despair, loneliness, abandonment, domestic turbulence, loathing, violence. Clearly there was a shortage of mental health resources in the Mississippi Delta. Actually, maybe for some, writing and singing and listening to the blues *was* the therapy. "How Blue Can You Get?" - I recognize this one from it being sampled in that Primitive Radio Gods song from the 90s. The band sounded good and the recording was clear. I got a kick out of hearing the audience on this one. Their enthusiasm and participation reminded me of the audiences at the Apollo theater in Harlem. That and Mr. King's banter between and during songs brought out the live atmosphere and made me feel like I was part of the crowd. 3.5

I liked the retro vibe and arrangement of the instrumentation.

80's inspired electro-funk/r&b...often en français! I imagine this is huge in France. Musically, it fits in with a lot of radio-friendly r&b pop I have heard in the last ten years or so. Admittedly that is not my go-to genre, but I feel this kept my interest a little more than the average act of that type. There was more than a little taken from the MJ playbook here, but there was enough newer mixed in with the retro. Impressive indeed if everything done to create the album was done by just one person. 3.5

Sigh. We're really doing this? Fine. Sonically, I could enjoy this. I quite like the music, and I don't even mind the spoken word and whispering. Trés French, mellow, cool. But, and I hate to be that person to get hung up on this, am I really going to just listen to some old pervy Frenchman rhapsodize about fucking a teenager? Some of these lyrics? I just can't. "Aimable petite conne" "si delicieuse enfant" 🤢 Way to live up to national stereotypes, Serge! When I was younger, a teenager, I read Nabakov’s “Lolita,” and the subject matter didn't phase me too much. Maybe it's just where I am in life right now, or where we are in society, that I see more ways that the world is fucked up, and my tolerance for this sort of thing is lower. Maybe it's because I'm female and was also a 14-year-old girl having to deal with lecherous old men that I find it hard to care about the story's narrator and instead wonder what things were like from Melody's point of view. I was never into slasher films either, and I guess this is similar to that. Maybe those films are good in a technical aspect and feature great acting, but at the end of the day I just don't want to see a bunch of gore and watch the worst of humanity depicted for my entertainment. Sometimes I can appreciate art that explorers darker social and psychological themes, but I guess this album veered too close to glorifying predatory behavior for my comfort. Anyway, if I challenge myself to set all of THAT aside (and this subject matter does challenge me, clearly), I guess I enjoyed the other aspects of this album as they were done well. I can appreciate the clever wordplay on, for example, “Ah, Melody,” and the lyrics in general are poetic and evocative. I like the idea of a shorter focused album which tells a story through the songs. This would have probably been a four from me, but I think I have to deduct a star for the creepy subject matter.

Thin Lizzy, let's gooo! I put on my "Jailbreak" T-shirt for the occasion today, my go-to St. Paddy's Day attire. I have an inexplicable soft spot for this band, considering I'm largely indifferent to many of their contemporaries in this "straightforward hard classic rock" genre. I think their music is solid; I like the twin-guitar sound they pioneered. But probably a lot of the appeal for me is down to Phil Lynott's charisma (RIP). I find his backstory fascinating and he brings a tough yet sensitive persona to the songs--some heart to the typical rock posturing. On this live album, as he talks to the crowd, I get to hear his Oirish accent, which never fails to charm me. Despite being fans of theirs, I never sat to listen to this album before today. I thought they sounded good live! Part of me wonders if this live album was a way to circumvent the list's own rule about not including compilation albums. With a live album you get songs from many studio records. I had been wondering if Thin Lizzy was going to make an appearance on this list at all, and I would guess that this will be the only work included from them, so maybe including the live album to represent them is a way of showcasing their work from a greater span of their career. I guess this list simply doesn't have room to include more than one Thin Lizzy studio album when we have to feature NINE things by Neil Young! Compared to the studio albums, which I'm more used to listening to, I have to say that it seems to me that some of the levels and clarity weren't as good, making it hard to showcase some of the features of the music as well as I'm used to hearing, especially with the guitars. Certain things weren't hitting as hard as I was used to. I guess it's more challenging than I would know, trying to convey studio music in a live setting while recording it well. But all in all, I don't think this effort was bad, and I like that they tried to bottle the lightening. Even though this offering covered a lot of their material, there are several songs of theirs I really like that were absent, such as "Bad Reputation" or "Wild One," so since it's the weekend and I have more time, I may go ahead and revisit their other albums, especially from the "Fighting" album onward. ("Fighting" as an album title always makes me laugh. Once again, way to live up to national stereotypes, guys!) 4.something stars

Funky soul jams with some Latin spice. I can dig it! Faves: "City, Country, City" and "Beetles In The Bog."

When I first started listening to this, I thought this band was (at least partly) Black American. Clearly I missed the album cover. I just thought some of the songs really had a "Sanford and Son theme song" vibe that was hitting a lot of the features of Black 70's music. I was like, "Ok, what we have here is some perfectly serviceable funk/soul." That was my thought listening to it with no context, because I had never heard of anything by Traffic...or so I thought. Turns out I was familiar with one song, "Feeling Alright," although I could have sworn it was a different band's song. And turns out they're British, which I guess does actually explain the Black American sound lol. Anyway, as the album played on, the songs began reflecting many more genres and styles. I noticed all the unusual instrumentation and was intrigued. I said to myself, I said, "This is a band with a lot of ideas they want to get out." A lot of styles, a lot of instruments, a lot of songs. After listening, I read that it was Steve Winwood's band. Neat! I do recognize his voice now that I know that. I enjoyed the woodwinds here--I love a breathy jazz flute--and Winwood on the organ/keyboard; that really helped set it apart from other songs in this milieu. Also, "Medicated Goo" was cool because I could imagine Jack Black singing it with that cadence. Overall, my appreciation of this album grew the more of it I heard. 3.5

The album started off kinda dragging for me, quite contemplative and melancholy. They were working out their troubles, but I couldn't stay engaged. Unfortunately I found the music a bit boring and repetitive at times, and the vocals were not that interesting either. Every line seemed to end with a word containing extra syllables added, like smile became smah-ha-hile, girl became guh-huh-hurl. But I was craving something more lively and melodic, less droning music and meandering melisma. “The Bottle” brought some energy, finally, with its bouncy bass line and funky flute. a dolla-nine, get a bottle o’ wine! a dolla-nine, get a bottle o’ wine! a dolla-nine, get a bottle o’ wine! a dolla-nine, get a bottle o’ wine! Then we were back to another soporific number after it ended. The only other one that grabbed me is “H2O Gate Blues”, which I quite enjoyed. The more things change…

This sounded like what I'd expect a Paul Simon album to sound like. It wasn't my favorite album by him (I really only knew "Julio" before today, and nothing else took my breath away), but it's perfectly fine. It shows his interest in folk, and also with world music with the Jamaican and Brazilian elements. 3.5

The Dude abides, man! Of course, I've heard CCR's songs about a million times on Classic Rock radio, including several songs from this album. John Fogerty's voice is unmistakable and is for me heart of the band's sound. But in listening to the tracks here I was unfamiliar with, I was surprised to hear so much 50's Rockabilly and Little Richard-style stuff. I always think of CCR as kinda straight forward, middle of the road rock, but not in a bad way. It seemed to be the perfect accompaniment as I drove around today in the summer heat with the windows down. I especially enjoyed "Ramble Tamble."

Accessable Radiohead that I wouldn't be surprised to hear sung along to by a crowd in a pub. On its face, 90's alternative rock, but with some traces of Brit Pop as well as seeds of the experimentation that the band would further explore in their later work. I wore this album out in high school. I can't believe it's almost thirty years old. It still sounds good to me and I had fun revisiting it.

I never listened to this album straight through before, so this was interesting. Overall I found it to be a tad somber and pensive in tone, sometimes a bit sparse but creative with the instrumentation, not your standard rock sound. The songs I enjoyed the most were the ones I was already familiar with, the singles, but I appreciated the full listen-through nonetheless. R E.M. always struck me as a rather thoughtful, literary band, which I appreciate representing Georgia, as a change of pace from most of the other popular music from here. I do think I enjoy songs of theirs from some of their other albums more, though. 3.5

Chill and pleasant enough... Kinda bland though for the genre. Why this one? Was something particularly groundbreaking about it for its time? I'm sure there are better examples of this type of music that didn't get included on this list...

Proto-punk, lotsa distortion and explosive attitude, ahead of its time, clearly influential.

I only knew a few songs by the Kinks before this, so this was a rather delightful discovery–quite different to what I was familiar with. Only \"Victoria\" sounds somehow familiar...Have I heard it before in an ad or something? Sonically this is a very full, rich recording. A late-’60s post Sgt. Pepper sound with elements of blues and psychedelia. Creative and varied instrumentation. Between “Victoria” and “Yes Sir, No Sir,” it's immediately clear that this is a British album through and through, musically lyrically, thematically. The theme of “Yes Sir, No Sir” perfectly portrays the timid, sniveling, “know your place, don't question, mustn't grumble” attitude of the military, the attitude of a culture with a strong hierarchical class and social system. Oh, the noble longsuffering! The impotent smallness of an individual lifetime. “Hanging on in quiet desperation is the English way.” These can be rather bleak themes to explore, but the tone of the album is not morose. Indeed, there is an element of absurdity infused throughout. I've seen this before, this combination of cheeky irreverence and lyrical sketches of ordinary British people used to expose the foibles of the larger culture. It totally reminds me of Blur! I would be willing to put good money on this album being highly influential to Blur; they seem to have followed its blueprint exactly. Funny to discover this connection since I listened to a lot of Blur but had no idea this album existed. I guess there never is anything new under the sun. Other themes here involve Britain during the two world wars and the post-war period, trying to make a successful life in often empty, bland modern society while still yearning for the good old days of the past, even being tempted away by promises of future glories in far away lands. “Some Mother's Son” is a great anti-war song that, like one of my other favorite anti-war songs, “Army Dreamers” by Kate Bush, uses the perspective of the mother-son relationship to illustrate the stupidity of dying in war. I remember looking at my own first newborn baby and realizing that every asshole on Earth was some mom's baby at some point. To be a mother's son is to be the highest version of yourself, the most beautiful, innocent, eternal. And yet there they are in their hundreds, fallen in some field, bleeding out, rubbish. What a silly waste. A few other notable songs: The song “Brainwashed” rocked. More than an ode to the actual country, “Australia” is a celebration of persuasive advertising and hype, climbing to ecstatic heights and jamming out by the end. I like the Beach Boys-esque vocals during the part about how they'll have surfing like they do in the U.S.A. Shangri-La paints a vivid picture of suburban monotony set to peppy, danceable music. All in all, this is a well-thought out, well executed album that is tight and cohesive yet varied and interesting. It inspires further dives into The Kinks’s catalog. 4.5

How funny that I have never given this a listen-through until today. This was released when I was 12, and as I had a lot of male friends at the time, I remember this being popular among my seventh -grade friend group. Of course there were a lot of singles that I heard all the time, but even those I hadn't heard in quite a while, so this was part nostalgia, part discovery for me today. All in all, not bad. Tight, energetic power-punk. Fifteen songs, 38 minutes, lol. I was bopping along when before I knew it I'd arrived at the closing song... As soon as the Adam Sandler-like ditty hit my ears, I was flooded with a wave of remembering boys singing this. Oh to be young, when masturbation apparently still *hadn't* lost its fun! 3.5

I've got a 3-year-old who's really got a set of lungs on him. From the moment I open my eyes each day to the moment he closes his at night, I'm likely to hear him screaming about one thing or another. These days, I live for those fleeting moments in the evening after everyone is in bed and the house is finally quiet. Maybe I can decompress with a nice cocktail and even have a conversation with my husband. Ahh...peace at last. So the last thing I'm looking for these days is a bunch of harsh screaming, and yet that's what this album gave me, in spades! With lyrics like: Shut up!! Shut up!! 🤬😠💢 SHUT!! UP!! 💢😠🤬 ... I felt like I had really been put through the wringer after this listen-through. This is another band from my youth that sort of passed me by, other than their singles that were everywhere. Maybe if I had been a few years younger when this came out I would have gotten into it at the time. At this point it's hard for me to really relate to the themes much, but I can imagine this album providing some much needed catharsis for some. Musically it is very slickly produced, with a ton of elements packed in. It's almost so perfectly crafted that it loses the human element a bit somehow despite all of the emotion it's trying to convey; it feels very "digital" in every sense--calling to mind that cold, empty, futuristic Y2K vibe. It's explosive but not in a wild, unbridled way--it feels very controlled, which adds to the tension. The tracks are heavily layered and there are a lot of interesting electronic and hip hop textures, but the density of it all paired with anger and melancholy just feels like an onslaught at times. I need a little room to breaaaathe. A song like "In The End" shows how beautiful Chester's voice can be, delivering a solid melody with a bit more space, and it is these moments I find myself favoring. These guys are clearly talented. I like the dual-frontman format, and similar to Nick Hexum/S.A. Martinez, Chester and Mike compliment each other by contrasting melody to rap, higher pitch to lower pitch. Despite any misgivings, I think it is a hell of a debut album; they sound like seasoned pros, fully developed in style and delivery, and I can see why this album made a big impact. 3.5

I don't really know how to take this. When I started listening to it, a huge grin broke out across my face. It's so over the top, it's amusing to me. It almost seems comical, fun somehow. Is that what Megadeth were going for? Do they have a good sense of humor? I honestly don't know. This type of music obviously shreds and shows off the skillz, but I think I'd have to be in a hyper, manic state to reach for it. "Lucretia" is a standout to me; I liked the groove.

Prog-rock Genesis, Peter Gabriel Genesis! Interesting to see what Genesis (and Peter Gabriel) were getting up to before I knew them. Worlds apart from the versions of them I'm familiar with. This album was interesting, but none of it really particularly grabbed me.

Wow! I'm just blown away by this. This is the first time I've ever listened to any Kanye album - - I can't even say there's a particular reason why, and I feel silly admitting it. Of course I've caught the stray single here and there, but I never sat down and really gave ol' Kanye a chance. I'm 20 years late to this and I missed out! This doesn't really seem dated to me. Okay maybe what's popular these days has a different sound, so in that sense it may. But it doesn't feel inaccessible, shrouded by the mists of time. It still sounds very fresh and interesting and innovative to me. I think every aspect of this album was on point. I felt thoroughly entertained and mentally stimulated. The lyrics especially are so good, incisive, dripping with wit and cleverness. This is one of the few, if not the only so far, albums where I was completely unfamiliar with everything on it and gave it five stars, an easy five stars. A hidden gem, if only hidden to me. I will definitely revisit this album and check out his other stuff. PS. Seeing Kanye at the top of his game like this makes me sad in light of his ongoing mental health struggles. He's clearly very gifted.

Straight away the cover makes me laugh, just like with Megadeth (maybe Tenacious D just primed me to see the funny side of metal, especially in light of my lack of direct experience in engaging with the genre to counteract that). It's so cartoonish and reminds me of the “satanic panic” from the '80s. Imagine actually clutching your pearls at this and taking it seriously in any way, hahaha. Musically, it was also over the top, especially the vocals, which captured the soaring operatic grandiosity they seemed to be going for. Yet there was somehow a warmth there, some emotional chord progressions that seemed to me missing from some other metal I've heard before. It somehow struck me as bridging the gap between straight up classic rock and metal. It seemed accessible in that way. I didn't get the impression that when they were writing the songs they were just trying to throw in as many notes as possible and play as fast as possible, and throw every trick they had at it, although to be fair, it was still plenty busy. The songs seemed more dynamic than that, even in their epicness, and I actually found myself enjoying it a bit! Hallowed Be Thy Name was one that stood out to me. There was a part in it where it kind of dropped into a groove for a second, which I enjoyed (it made me imagine a metal-disco fusion genre…yes, please!). I'm learning that I'm quite partial to those moments in songs. I don't want to hear about ancient battles and Satan, I just want to dance!

I knew nothing of the Jungle Brothers except their name, but this was a delightful listen. It takes me back to an era I was really too young to ever experience, but I can appreciate it now. Lyrically the album centers a lot around black power, black history...even black women. The messages are empowering and uplifting. I remember afrocentrism having such a moment in hip hop at that time. Do American rappers ever still rap about Africa these days? I loved all the sampling, really well done and from such very sources. It kind of seemed to blend hip hop into jazz and even dance music. Well written lyrics, even though the delivery has that old school cadence to it that places it firmly in the late 80s/early 90s (I don't mind it). Good energy and vibes overall.

When I was a younger teen, I read a Jim Morrison biography and pored over a giant tome of his poetry, lying in my bedroom, cocooned by the glow of my black light and lava lamp. Jim was a fascinating figure to me at that time in my life, and listening to this album reignited that fascination today. The Doors sound so different than most other bands from their era; the combination of elements they brought together made such a unique style. At their most iconic, it's like a mystical experience with the trance-inducing music pulling you under its spell, with Jim as your high priest guiding you with his brooding voice and evocative lyrics, building and swelling in passion until it seems like Jim is going to completely come unhinged. You drank the Kool-Aid and this charismatic prophet helped you glimpse the mysteries of the universe…before obliteration. This is music in service of poetry in service of philosophy in service of spirituality. It's clear that the Doors had lofty ambitions with their music/art, if you are willing to take the ride (ride the snake!).

Pretty good Latin fusion. I first heard these guys via my oldest kid on PBS Kids; they'd done a series of songs and videos that got played between the shows. Cool to hear them when they aren't singing about math or the five senses. 3.5

I pointed out the dearth of female artists on this list so far, averaging only about 1/25. Then, as if in response, the list gave me a female artist this week! But because God has a sense of humor, it was Taylor Swift. Be careful what you wish for. I guess I'll just go ahead and get this out of my system now, for this, the first Taylor Swift album I'm encountering on this list. Because apparently there will be others. The thing about Taylor Swift as a cultural phenomenon is that she is absolutely inescapable, and her ubiquity only grew even stronger these last two years (2023-2024). Everything I know about her I know against my will. Her marketing team must be just about the best on earth, to be able to forge a legion of such parasocial followers on the back of such basic pop music. Some people lose their damn minds over Taylor Swift. I detect a social pressure to like her music, like I'm always being nudged toward it somehow. I never felt like anyone was wrong for liking her, but I somehow feel “wrong” for not being a fan. My sister, who is younger and more firmly in the millennial cohort, has a harder time. We've talked a few times about this, and we joke about it, but it's hard for her to forge female friendships without Taylor Swift being brought up at some point in the early stages, by the other gal, as a potential bonding point. And woe betide any young woman or girl, like my sister, who is less than enthusiastic about Taylor Swift. She may be viewed suspiciously or even hostilely by her peers. She may be seen as a “Pick Me,” her dedication to feminism may be called into question, she may be seen as suffering from internalized misogyny! All because she is less than enamored of some middle-of-the-road pop music seemingly designed in a Nashville lab to be as appealing as possible to as many people as possible. So Taylor Swift the cultural phenomenon sort of exhausts me, and her fans baffle me with their extreme passion over something so (imo) bland. This was the baggage I carried into this review. But since I had never sat down and listened to one of her albums, I was actually quite eager to see what it would be like. I've heard a lot of her singles, just by being out and about in the world, and they always seemed to just exist in the background, not something I could muster up love or hate for. But I feel like I genuinely came into this album listen with an open and curious mind. However, it was soon clear that I was vindicated in my initial feelings about her music. And as I continued throughout the album, my disappointment and exasperation grew. I was so hoping to be surprised and delighted by something, but it was pretty much all in the vein of the things I had already heard. Insipid. Flat. Monotone. Childish. Tweaked to perfection but lacking a soul. Undeserving of the hype. Oh, well. I love a great pop song, but there are other pop artists who can do what she is trying to do much better. The fact that there are multiple Taylor Swift albums on this list and not one Whitney Houston album, for example, is a travesty. I'm beginning to understand why Kanye, who can't always control his impulses, intercepted her award.

Upbeat power pop with tinges of new wave, punk, post-punk, bubble gum, and surf. A trailblazing all-girl group that was probably the template for all those fictional '80s girl bands of my youth - - Barbie and the Rockers, Jem and the Holograms, etc. Never veering too far into the sex, drugs, and rock and roll realm like, say, The Runaways, the vibe is mostly sunny and outgoing. Reminds me a bit of Blondie, although I much prefer Blondie. At times the sound somehow felt a little thin.

Sneering lyrics railing against war, classism, capitalism, environmental destruction. Sticking it to the Man and squares everywhere with random acts of postal theft. This is the link between Buddy Holly and System of a Down. But this didn't measure up to either of those, for me. Jello Biafra's messy and frantic vocals are backed up by simple yet energetic, crunchy instrumentals. I know Jello has plenty to say, but I couldn't help but feel like he was the weak link in the overall sound. I know sounding pleasing isn't exactly the point of this, but there were plenty of songs that I enjoyed the riffs but couldn't get into the vocals. If I must choose highlights, it might be Holiday in Cambodia and that psychobilly cover of Viva Las Vegas.

What the what? Sir Terrance Trent of D’arby? On this list? What next, Fine Young Cannibals? I'm pretty surprised to see this blast from the past here, but I only really know “Wishing Well,” so maybe there's some other cool stuff that I've been sleeping on. Okay, first two songs definitely sound like late '80s R&B, nothing too surprising. Then here comes “Wishing Well,” with its heavy drums and that doot-doot-deet, doodoot-deet, doot-doot deedoot-deet. What an earworm! It goes harder than it has any business to…but the lyrics are perplexing. The rest of the album yielded more R&B typical of the era–with lots of love songs; (the artist formerly known as) TTD is a romantic! I was reminded of a handful of other R&B artists of that time, so I'm not sure that anything was particularly groundbreaking here, but by the end of the album I had been won over. The last two songs especially seemed to showcase his vocals. He can sang! I wouldn't mind hearing this play in a grocery store.

This album felt very loose and carefree, with a sort of party atmosphere throughout the whole thing, which was pretty cool. It sounds like Mick and the band got together with 20 of their closest friends, boozed it up, and had the time of their lives recording a southern rock album. I love that for them, but I just couldn't really get into it. I've never been a big Stones fan, and this album didn't add any new layers to help me change my feeling about them. I've spent a lot of time and several conversations trying to figure out why I just can't get into the Stones, and I still don't think I have an answer I can articulate. I can see why others might like them, but most of their stuff just isn't for me, and I guess that's all I can say about that. I do think it's kind of strange that this is considered one of their most critically acclaimed albums, but I only recognized the single “Tumbling Dice.” if this album is their best, I would have thought I would have heard more from it over the years.

I really enjoyed this and thought the orchestra complimented the band well. It elevated the music to even more epic heights. It was fun to hear the enthusiastic audience and everyone sounded great live. I could see myself revisiting this.

The vocals remind me of the diabolic guy in the Enigma song "Sadeness" in vibe and subject matter (from what I could tell with my basic French)... But maybe mixed with a hint of James Hatfield in the phrasing at times? Maybe I'm biased because we just got Metallica, but I swear I heard him say something like "Crierrrrr les chiennnns-hyeah!" So yeah, this is francophone Metallica mixed with the diabolic guy from Enigma, mixed with some industrial music? And I don't know, theatrical circus music? And traditional European elements? Quite different, that's for sure. I don't foresee me listening to this much if ever again, but I imagine it could have made us flash in Europe at the time it came out. 3.5

This exceeded my very low expectations. Yes, my expectations were low, sorry to say. Because there were dozens and dozens of "Lil" rappers for a while there, and that was not my favorite era of rap, as a rule. But yeah, my low expectations allowed me to be pleasantly surprised. I didn't mind this. As the British say, I rated it! What did I rate it, exactly? Somewhere between a 3 and a 4, I reckon. Lyrically and flow wise, it was decent. The subject matter is coming from the perspective of a young woman figuring out who she is and navigating interpersonal relationships, so it stands out from a lot of other rap in that way. The production was good and the album didn't drag. I would check out more from her.

Well, even though I'm Southern, I guess, and even though I grew up listening to a lot of music courtesy of my musician father, I never really listened to Southern Rock, and I don't have a very strong Southern identity, at least compared to some other Southerners I have seen, so I'm probably not the target audience for this. I didn't mind it too much, though. The music was pretty straightforward "bar rock," but the lyrical concept was kind of intriguing, all of these Southern Gothic vignettes intertwined with...Lynyrd Skynyrd lore?! Speaking of Skynyrd, I was never much into them, so it might have helped me enjoy this album if I was. However, after listening to this entire album and paying attention to the lyrics, I feel like I learned a lot about the band, whether I was curious to know or not. But I thought it was interesting how the overarching theme used Skynyrd as a device to contemplate, even wrestle with Southern identity. Can you like Skynyrd, can you be Southern, without being a racist asshole? I get the feeling that the band needs the answer to be yes, and they (like many younger Southerners) are trying to forge a way forward in the shadow of all of these horrific historical events while holding on to the good things about being Southern, letting the rest stay in the past.

I guess I'm more familiar with the "My Girl" era of this band, but this was a pretty good mix of funk, soul, and R&B that exemplified the direction that music was heading in the early '70s. I never knew "Papa Was a Rolling Stone" was almost 12 minutes long. That was probably the standout for me here. The intro reminded me of French duo Air.

This is exactly the kind of thing I had in mind when I began this project, checking out more from a band I already enjoyed a few songs from. So I enjoyed this listen. Punk music that's a little more chill, and you can dance to it. A lot of the songs had a real rhythmic quality to them that went beyond the drums. This album hit that sweet spot between raw and polished--not as raw as some punk, but still raw enough to be kind of punkish. I was vaguely aware that they had a lot of reggae & ska influence like a lot of other British bands from that time, so that was cool to hear, and also the rockabilly elements.

So I was pretty much unfamiliar with this album, having gained only a small awareness of it just about an hour before seeing it as our album of the day on this list, but I really enjoyed listening to it! I was familiar with the song Roadhouse Blues, but unlike a lot of albums where the song I already know is the one I end up liking the best, a lot of songs here really grabbed me more than that one ever has. There was a lot of blues on this album in addition to that song, but there was so much else going on, it's like the band was following whatever creative whim they had to see where it took them. I feel like compared to their debut, this album shows that they had really expanded their sound. But it wasn't a mess or a mishmash. There was a consistent thread throughout, and though there were lots of forays in many directions, and at times more energy, everything worked really well. I keep coming back to Peace Frog. I love the energy of it and it makes me want to go-go dance like Goldie Hawn. But then that droning, moody, Jim vocal is there in parts, too. Blue Sunday, Ship of Fools and Indian Summer also stood out to me. The focus is always on Jim when it comes to the Doors--the man, the myth, the legend--but I don't think the rest of the guys in the band get enough credit for their creativity and virtuosity.

This was…kinda rough. I wish I could see whatever quality landed this on the list in the first place. As it is, I think the author of the book figured out a brilliant way to subject the world to his peculiar music taste. Or maybe he's just having a laugh. Look, I can overlook a lot of non-traditional, quirky vocal performances. Billy Corgan, Geddy Lee, Kate Bush, Björk. What are often viewed as flaws, I can see as adding unique qualities. But I can't get past this guy's vocals. I remember years ago seeing by chance a video on YouTube of this band performing. It was one of the most painful musical performances I've ever seen. The singer was struggling, bombing, dying out there. I could barely watch it. I thought it was a one-off bad night. But that memory came flooding back listening to this album. I think the band is perfectly cromulent, and this would probably be a three from me if not for the singer. Apparently there are two more albums on the list from this band. Sigh.

Country served with a side of Western. Country isn't my favorite genre or my way of life, but I've always got time for a bit of Willie Nelson and his ilk. There is something about him and those older country singers that I can surprisingly stand compared to the stadium country or pop country that was prevalent in my youth. Sometimes they sing about lurid things from the Old West days, but with such calm stoicism, like of course you needed to shoot that yellow-haired lady; she was trying to steal the horse your dead wife rode. It is what it is. For me, this is entertaining in its unrelatability. The music is straight forward, with clean, sometimes sparse instrumentation, with structures, melodies and storytelling steeped in old folk traditions. They're just singing it straight, so that you really get to know all of the qualities of their voices, their phrasings, their idiolects. There's no place for anything to hide, just them staring you right in the face. After years of hearing these unique voices here and there, you get to know them well, and they become warm and familiar, like old friends, like grandparently figures dispensing advice and tales from eras gone by. Willie is our outlaw country granddad, and I enjoyed my visit with him.

We're bouncing... We're bouncing! This was the perfect album for me to revisit today as I was cruisin' in the ATL. When this came out, it was clear Andre 3000 and Big Boi were indeed some of the coolest muthafunkers on the planet. They brought a creativity and southern flair that really stood out against the rest. If they say that a compruter can do your job better than you can damn do, or if he got hiiiis but you ain't get yourrrrs....Whatever you're going through, even today, almost 25 years later, this will help you take your mind off things and entertain ya. Humble Mumble slaps even more than I remembered, and Tisha's mama made me get all emotional in the YDFM parking lot. Lots of classic gems here from ATL's hometown heroes.

Turtleneck era Paul Simon.. and Garfunkel too! This music is as soft and warm as the morning sun beaming through lace curtains, gentle as a butterfly landing on your shoulder, fuzzy as the fur on the bridge of a kitten's nose. Everything is mellow and sunny and clear. The poetic sensitivity is evident in lyrics and music. This is pretty music, pretty voices, harmonies, guitar. I'm feelin' so groovy, I'm feeling like the mayor of Drugachusetts. Then, what's this? Has the album already ended and another band begun to play on Spotify? Oh, it's Bob Dylan? Wait a minute, he just sang about Dylan...Dylan Thomas...? Let me check my phone to see what's going on. Oh, it's still Simon and Garfunkel! Too funny. Okay, the last track with the news about Vietnam sung against (a quite beautiful) Silent Night is a little heavy-handed for me. But Scarborough Fair, Homeward Bound, and Feelin' Groovy are all still crazy good after all these years.

I've heard of the band name Quicksilver Messenger Service before, and for some reason I always thought it was a 90s indie band. Maybe I was thinking of the Quicksilver clothing brand from the 90s LOL. In any case, I feel like this kind of music could fit in with some of the indie noise rock Sonic Youth type distortion-heavy stuff I heard on college radio in the 90’s. Sprawling, freeform soundscapes, abstract psychedelic jazz, with a little riffing on Bo Diddly as well. It was an interesting listen. But I'm left wondering one thing: WHY you love.

One day, when my daughter was probably 5 years old, she declared the Pet Shop Boys her favorite musical performers. Cue a single tear shed by me. She's quite a lady-ist, always expressing a strong inclination toward anything feminine, and she said, "I'm really surprised that the Pet Shop Boys is my favorite band because I usually like girl singers!" Now I have certainly been a fan of Pet Shop Boys since I was a little kid in the '80s. Their music caught me in its web and, I never outgrew it. But I never explored it as much as when my daughter began liking them. When she and I were out alone together she would always request listening to it in the car, and through her I explored a lot more from them than I'd ever heard before. I think what she found appealing was its danceability paired with its emotionality. But whereas some of their earlier stuff is emotional songs with a hint of danciness, this is dance music first and foremost, but emotional dance music, for those times when you might need to shed a tear it two on the dancefloor. This album really embraces the whole '90s club vibe, but they bring their own twist to it. I love these guys. Neil's unique boyish, expressive, yet wry voice is used effectively. And I love Chris's production; they complement each other well. I'm glad they have stayed together for decades, and I hope there are other albums from them on this list. P.S. Last year, ahead of me seeing the Cure live, I was playing some music from them, and my daughter proclaimed that the Pet Shop Boys' number one position in her heart had been usurped by the Cure! Cue another single tear shed by me. Faves are Liberation and Go West.

When you are in need of conjuring up Chrissie Hynde levels of confidence and badassery, cast this simple spell: gaze into a mirror, and use the following: ✅ Arms ✅ Legs ✅ Style ✅ Sidestep ✅ Fingers ✅ Imagination At the very least, you will feel special, so special. This was a fun listen, and exactly the sort of thing I had in mind when beginning this project, diving deeper into a band I was somewhat familiar with. Probably my new fave here is "Mystery Achievement."

I never listened to the Black keys before but a few songs in and I'm like, yeah, I've heard this before. In like, a whole bunch of commercials? I'll have to look it up to be sure, but it seems like some of this has been licensed a lot. Anyway, it grew on me. I love how they took elements of old soul, blues, r&b and 60s rock, and put a new spin on it. Their sound is consistent and unique to them. Now I'll be able to recognize who it is when I hear their stuff. And I wouldn't mind listening to more from them.

This one really took me by surprise. Believe it or not, I, Miss Where-Are-The-Female-Artists-On-This-List, have never actively listened to Joni Mitchell. I've gleaned bits of knowledge of her over the years, understanding that she was an important and influential artist. I had brushed up against a handful of her songs, namely Big Yellow Taxi, and through that, I thought I had an idea about who she was as an artist. But listening to this made me realize that there's a lot more to her than I was expecting. There's one song on here, "Down to You" that pretty well exemplifies what I was expecting to hear. More of a stripped down "girl and piano" or "girl and guitar" kind of sound. Maybe there was more of that in her early career, more folk influence and coffeehouse vibes, and that's what I had come to associate her with. I just didn't know there were other sides to her. Apparently this album was a step in a new direction for her, and I really like it! Some of the production sounded so delightfully 70s to me, and there were lots of unexpected interesting musical things happening on many of the tracks. I'm still thinking about some of the songs a day later, which is a sign that I will probably return to this album for subsequent listens. Also, she released music into the 2000s, so there is a lot of material for me to explore, should I make the time. She has a clear, beautiful voice, and she was able to do lots of more challenging runs, even getting into some jazz phrasing, seemingly without effort. As interesting as the music was on this album, I always gathered that one of the main strengths of Joni Mitchell was her lyrics. She paved the way for scores of other female singer-songwriters to bring their perspectives to the music industry, and that is evident here with lyrics that are vividly personal and introspective, exploring emotions and human relationships. This album is at least a four for me, but I could imagine it being a five if I had more time to get acquainted with it.

A great album from a great time period, both musically and personally for me. Highly danceable psychedelia that is energetic and rich in layers and textures. Sometimes reminding me a little bit of Flaming Lips mixed with some French EDM. The song Electric Feel alone is worth the price of admission and I never tire of it. Fat bass, airy vocals, weird little flute, sensual, lush, soaring, funky. That song along with Kids and 4th Dimensional Transition is probably my favorite span of the album, but every track yields treasure. 4.5 rars

I knew nothing at all about this artist. The album cover is pretty funny. Listening to it I thought, "This has a real Yacht Rock feel," and then as if on cue, the next song that played featured two Yacht Rock titans. Some of the songs didn't seem quite developed enough to be songs but rather more loose sketches of ideas. Some of the vocals and melodies somehow reminded me of commercial jingles. Dude has a nice voice, though. I didn't sit and follow along with the lyrics, but I would catch snippets of them and chuckle and say, "Wait, what?" It's like he just took his chaotic inner voice and let it run amok on the tracks. A lot of it reminded me of something Issa Rae's character on insecure would say, that combination of awkward, smart, funny, struggling, frustrated, and flippant. A lot of it was delivered in contemporary language that will probably sound dated soon, so I don't know if this will ever rise to the level of an enduring classic, but maybe there's some universality in its specificity? Musically, toward the end of the album, it was all starting to seem a little repetitive and I therefore wasn't able to maintain as much attention to it.

Everything I've ever seen of Stevie Wonder, his music and appearances, seem infused with a certain I-don't-know-what, like even if he's singing about something negative, he has this irrepressible spirit and energy that just shines through, this creativity and impishness. So I was really listening forward (hat tip to JB) to hearing this album. There is a good amount of variety on here, genre-wise, but everything is a consistent high quality in all aspects, and Stevie just makes it look easy. Top tracks: Too High, Living For The Citayyy, Higher Ground, Golden Lady.

Listening to this is a big undertaking for me. It's hard for me to muster up the length of time and amount of attention it requires to give it a fair evaluation. I had to break up listening into several sessions. I guess the main lasting impact of this album is that it was a double album built around a single narrative, using contemporary hard rock music to tell a story--all innovative and ambitious for its era. On that basis, it's kind of hard for me to evaluate it, because I don't know if I was able to really get the intricacies of the "plot" by just listening to the music. I can get the main points, of course. Because the album is so long, I would be inclined to say that The Who could have trimmed some fat here and tightened up the offerings. But since all of the songs are telling part of the story, I guess they might all be needed. If you set aside the whole rock opera aspect, and just listen to it as any other collection of songs, there are clearly songs that are more listenable than others. But I don't guess you can really look at this album that way. The sound quality is great, and The Who display all the elements that they are loved for, so all in all, it is still a solid entry on this list.

Well this was sort of challenging. I know I'm supposed to appreciate this, but did I really enjoy it? There were some songs that I enjoyed more than others, like Free Money. When I followed along to the lyrics, I could appreciate the poetry of them. She's an evocative writer. The band was good. Her energy and spirit was punk, kind of wild and feverish, even if the music didn't have a lot in the way of established punk conventions. I suppose in 1975, punk conventions hadn't been well established yet. I didn't enjoy a lot of her singing, although there were times where I didn't mind it. I've heard other songs from her's that I also didn't mind the singing, so I feel like when she pulls back a bit on the vamping and just sings it straight, it's better for me. All in all, I'm glad I made the time to listen to it, because I know this was groundbreaking for its time, and highly influential, so now I have it as a reference point.

Aww man, I love Buddy Holly. So going into this I'm already leaning towards giving it a 5, barring anything egregious. A while back I fell into an internet rabbit hole reading about his biography. Since he and his bandmates all look like door-to-door globe salesmen, it's sometimes hard for me to remember how young he was. He was so prolific and contributed a lot despite his short time here. Even though that plane crash happened long before I was born, after reading about him I truly felt a sense of sadness that he had died so soon. I love his whole deal: his nerdy glasses, his shy smile and unassuming vibe, his hiccupy singing style, the way he helped to bridge country music and R&B. He helped solidify rock and roll vernacular, a true OG. And with 12 songs clocking in at a little over 25 minutes long, this is music that doesn't make a lot of demands of me. It's easy to enjoy. And I guess where I am in my life now, that's a factor. There are songs I favor over others when it comes to his music, but his music is fairly consistent enough to where I baseline pretty much like everything he does, and this album solidly supports that.

I was pretty excited to listen to this. Everything I've heard from Santana until this point has been cool, so I was eager to hear more from them. I really liked it! I could hear a lot of different ingredients in this musical mélange; I was surprised to hear so much jazz. Maybe unsurprising if you know much about Santana (I don't). I always thought it was kind of unusual for a rock band to be named after someone other than the singer. Indeed, a lot of these songs don't have any singing at all, but listening, I realized that Carlos's guitar does the singing, rising above those undeniably compelling Latin rhythms and drifting and curling like incense, all working together to send you into a trance. I can fit this music into my life, and yet it doesn't just fade into the background. It's interesting and engaging. I definitely want to hear more! 4.5

Can't go wrong with Otis. Such a singular dynamic voice that expresses so many shades of emotion, going from sweet soulful gentleness to full-chested growl effortlessly. This was a nice collection of songs that showed off his voice well. Band sounded really tight, too. It's kind of funny to have so many cover songs on an album, but this seems like it was really common to do back in the '60s; I see it a lot with other artists of that era.

I'm getting a lot of Zeppelin, but with the famed Leonard Cohen cover and what sounds to be a medieval hymn, there seems to be an intriguing mix of influences here. These songs are personal, romantic, and emotional. Jeff Buckley has an interesting voice, a lot of falsetto, a lot of almost operatic intensity. Some of the songs are a little meandering, but he's wearing his heart on his sleeve, and song structure takes a back seat to expression. I particularly liked "So Real." 4

As soon as I saw the cover, in my head I began hearing the machine gun snare followed by the keening, dissonant strains of the opening song--a classic intro that sets the mood perfectly for the subject of the song. (Side note, in looking up my following recommendation I discovered that John Lennon did a song also by the name of Sunday Bloody Sunday, worth a listen. But my recommendation is: if you haven't yet heard Richard Cheese's version of U2's Sunday Bloody Sunday, and you are in the mood to laugh while feeling like a bad person, check it out). This is a younger, more energetic U2, reminiscent of the Clash in that danceable punky sound, but with prettier singing. I already knew and liked several songs from the album and enjoyed hearing the others.

I'm not a connoisseur by any means, but anytime an African jazz or afrobeat song has filtered its way to me, there's like a 90% chance I really enjoy it. And I enjoyed this album. I'm always going on about how I wish more pop music had horns, and again this album made me have that thought. The songs were quite long, but I was vibing to the instrumentals. The singing, well, I didn't understand much of what was said, so I can't really comment on the lyrical comment. I would have been happy with just all instrumental. Also, after this album ended, Spotify began playing similar music from other artists, and I have to say that I liked some of them even better. So is Fela the best in this genre? Was he the first? Or was he the most important because of his political activism? Either way, glad to have listened to this today and been reminded about this cool genre.

I listened to this on a long drive. Not sure if that was the best way to experience this album, but I felt like all the layered fuzziness and buried or echo-y vocals blended into the background noise and had a trance-inducing effect. There was an homage to late 50s/early 60s music running through the album, which I enjoyed.

I tried to listen to this yesterday with fresh ears, which is difficult (impossible?) considering the influence of this album and the amount of times I've already heard it. I won't try to do a definitive write-up, because scores of people much more informed than I have already done it. I carried out the listening of this album on my factory-issued minivan speakers, and I felt like the levels of everything were really off somehow. My dad, being an enormous Beatles disciple, had all of their albums, so while growing up I would spend a lot of time listening to them with headphones. I know this album makes extensive use of stereo mixing, where you'd often hear John in one ear and Paul and the other, or whatever, and things would fade back and forth or be isolated on one side or the other, and I really lost all of that in the minivan, which changes the listening experience completely. But also my perception of entire melodies seemed to change listening to it without headphones because I guess I was only getting some parts of the harmony while others were subdued, and the overall effect wasn't matching up with my memory of how the song should sound, so it was a little disconcerting. I guess this album continued some of the aspects present on Revolver, the moving away from songs about romantic love, the influence of psychedelia and Indian music, Edwardian vaudeville and brass band. All of that deepened and became more firmly presented on this album. A lot of the songs have an air of sunny, childlike simplicity with their major chords and sing-song choruses, but on closer listen, the lyrics have meaning beyond fluff and rainbows. Like in "Getting Better," which so exemplifies that McCartney/Lennon duality: the bouncy optimism of "it's getting better all the time" undercut with Lennon's wry "can't get no worse" preventing it from going full-on saccharine, the verse from Lennon explaining how he used to be an asshole to his woman but he's trying to change "Man, I was mean, but I'm changing my scene..." Probably the song that stands out the most on this album, not blending in with the others, maybe standing out the most from their entire body of work, is "Within You, Without You," so somber and earnest and, well, Indian, in the midst of the vaudeville and circus vibes permeating the rest of the album. It's a really beautifully-written song that encapsulates the 60’s when the West was trying to search beyond pervasive shallow marketing and constricting conformity to find hope and meaning in ancient exotic spiritual philosophies. Another thing that this listen made me consider is the secret mini-track of noise and gibberish at the end of the album. Is this the first instance of such a thing? It's got to be one of the first, or one of the first on such a high selling album. Maybe this could be considered an early form of the concept album, but I don't think all songs adhere closely to the Sergeant Pepper aspect that begins and ends the album. If there is a common thread among all songs, maybe it could be "nostalgia." There seems to be a lot of looking back and reflecting on this album, remembering childhood (expressed musically in the Edwardian, brass band, vaudevillian elements), or contemplating crossing over from youth to adulthood and how best to live out that second half of life. It's an easy five stars for me, because of the influence this album has had on the music industry, and that the songs are all enduring classics in their own right.

This is like the album equivalent of a Baz Luhrmann film, kaleidoscopic, full of mashed up references, a gazillion textures crammed into every frame... Something was in the air in Australia at the time, it seems. I was not at all familiar with this artist, but I read about their creation process, which sounds ambitious and extensive. What they made here seems well done. However, it didn't really grab me, and I found it hard to truly get into it. It didn't have a lot in the way of hooks or emotional depth. It would be good background music, I guess. That's not necessarily a bad thing. But I feel like when it comes to electronic music, I can think of many more albums I would prefer to hear than this.

Raw, stripped down, intense, brooding, fragile...with the beguiling danger of a female grasshopper. 3.5

Even though I kind of hate the cover, I liked this more than I was expecting to for not knowing much about them other than that song from the Singles soundtrack. I kept finding myself doing that raised-eyebrow cocked-head nod as if to say, "Not bad, not bad at all." I grew up on grunge in the early days of me forming my own independent musical taste, and I embraced the scene with the ardent fervor of a cult convert. I mostly embraced it from a distance since I was too young (and apparently too female) to really go to concerts or be exposed to more underground figures. But it all was so integral to my nascent self-identity at the time. And like a cult that builds in intensity before its leader self-destructs in some horrible, dramatic way, the Seattle music scene itself seemed to explode in ubiquity before exploding in a shotgun blast that fragmented it, never to feel quite the same again. The spell was broken, and it was honestly kind of emotionally painful for me to really engage with that music with the same intensity I had before. I was twelve in April '94, a baby. I thought of all of this as I listened to this album. How much music from that era have I never heard? Screaming Trees was a Washington band through and through, right in the middle of the grunge phenomenon, and yet I'm mostly ignorant of them. Yet I think that early exposure to music of that era sort of primed me to find this music comfortable and accessible. Yet there was enough interesting stuff, like the Indian elements, to keep it from sounding horribly stale to me. It seemed to have an air of maturity. Or maybe it's just that I'm more mature now.

This is my first listen-through of any Elvis Costello album, although I'm a bit familiar with him from hearing some singles over the years. I like the cover art. With the title it makes me think of Colonel Hathi from The Jungle Book. This music is kind of hard for me to categorize neatly in one specific genre; I detect so many influences but they are all well-blended like a stew that's been simmering all day. It's really its own distinct thing, especially Elvis Costello's voice, unmistakable. I was trying to think of how to characterize it. I detect shades of Buddy Holly's phrasing, but there is something in the timbre that reminds me of Woody Allen's voice, or at least people's impressions of Woody Allen (without the Brooklyn accent of course). After an entire album it really starts to sound repetitive to me, but it's definitely distinctive. And what the voice is singing is kind of reminiscent of Woody Allen, too, in its nerdy, intellectual, yet vaguely disdainful critique of relationships and society at large. I can see why he is known for being a lyrics guy; the writing is clever, wordy, and has a lot to say. His band sounded good, but I feel like some of the songs could've been mixed better. A three feels too low for this and a four feels too high. I've been rounding down, so I guess I'll stick with three.

This was my first time listening to any Kendrick Lamar (to my knowledge). Honestly, I mildly dreaded listening to this album--I didn't think I would enjoy it and wasn't in the mood to take it on. I finally listened to it while working out/driving/sitting in my car. It was kind of a roller coaster of reactions. I know I'm far from the target demographic, and sure enough, there were plenty of moments early in the album where I was like, "Nah, not into this, not for me." I noticed that several songs I found the chorus annoying. So I started with thinking to give 3 stars, then dipped down to 2.5 for a while, then I started finding little things to appreciate, and I rose to 3.5. The last several songs of the album, I was able to sit and focus more while listening, and I found that it was slowly growing on me. I enjoyed the guests, I feel like overall he's a good lyricist with a good delivery (except for some of the choruses which sounded juvenile and repetitive at times), and the production was good. Some of the beats/production stood out as being pretty different from what I've heard before elsewhere, which I appreciated. The lyrical subject matter was kind of grim, but sometimes touching. Mathematically, I don't know whether to give this a three or four. I guess I'll go with three-point-something and round down, curmudgeon that I am.

I'm mostly only familiar with the "Can't Buy a Thrill" album from them. There have been a few times over the years I have enjoyed a song on the radio and wondered who it was only for it to end up being Steely Dan, so even though I'm mostly unfamiliar with them, I have liked what I've heard, and this album continued that.

I'd never heard of this guy until this listen. I was shocked to hear that he is English, and it turns out, a pretty big deal in the UK. I really want to look up an interview so that I can hear his speaking voice. He definitely did his homework for this album, which has shades of blues, country, Southern rock, funk, folk. A very American sound. None of those genres are what I usually listen to, but I can appreciate them, and this album was a solid offering. Definitely got me tapping my toe. Top track: 5th Season

Ah, the first of what I understand will be a copious amount of Neil Young albums on this list. I've never sat down to listen to stuff by him, so luckily for me this was from earlier in his career, so I can start near the beginning. I only knew Cinnamon Girl, which I sometimes sing as Homer Simpson while making cinnamon toast: "I wanna eat some cinnamon toast, I could be happy, something something, with my cinnamon toast." I enjoyed listening to this, but I feel like I don't have a lot of insights other than it was a pleasant listen. It put me in a cozy and mellow mood. I'm glad he decided to put his stuff back on Spotify so I could access it easily. 3.5

I was pretty excited to see this on here. I like a lot of those old club/house singles from this era, and I do consider many of them to be, well, classics. I can never remember which artists go with which songs, so in the filing cabinet of my mind, Soul II Soul exists in a jumble along with Black Box, La Bouche, SNAP!, and the artists who did 1989's Belgium techno anthem "Pump Up The Jam." I knew I would get at least one of those club hits on this album but I couldn't remember which one. I felt a little disappointed after listening, to be honest. Other than the instrumental "African Dance," which was flautistically cool, I didn't really find most of these songs measuring up to "Back To Life," the only song I really knew and liked from the album. Even when Back To Life came on, I was confused at the stripped down vocals-only track that didn't have any drums kick in until the 2:39 second mark of a 3:39 song. I found the remix I was used to later on the album, along with a second remix I'd never heard before. Overall, I'm not sure the album was strong enough to merit inclusion here.

I love David Bowie so. He just has an effect on me that's hard to explain. So seeing this album over the weekend was like a little treat. I was able to set sometime aside to listen to it with attention. I had just heard the song Young Americans about an hour before being assigned this album, but when I sat down to listen through the album, I went ahead and listened to it again, because I love the song. The intro is so boisterous and bouncy and swaggy, with that hot sax, and it always fills me with joy and excitement. I just watched the first episode of SNL, from 1975, the year of this album, and this intro calls to mind 1970s New York–you can just see the steam coming up from the grates in the sidewalk. But the singing begins, and there are some cleverly written lines about our hapless couple–is this what it is to be a young American navigating courtship? Full of enthusiasm and bravado but ultimately naive and desperately clinging to an old fashioned script? Doomed? He kissed her then and there She took his ring, took his babies It took him minutes, took her nowhere Heaven knows she'd have taken anything The backup singers’ voices are rich and vivacious, summoning that R&B world for Bowie to inhabit. Bowie sounds peak Bowie with his distinctive warble, and he's letting it serve the song whether with a series of grunts as if he were doing air karate in the second chorus, or some falsetto in a later verse when he gets meta and sings about “you and your idol singing falsetto.” By the time he gets to the “you ain't a pimp…” bridge, he sounds sweaty, with his sleeves rolled up and his tie loosened, like a middle manager going too hard at happy hour. What sounds like such a bright and optimistic song is imbued with irony and critique, using a typical love story arc to talk about American society in general, full of promise and energy but ultimately disappointing. There's ambitious artistic intention, and it works so well with the music, yet the music stands on its own even without engaging with the message. These “Plastic Soul” musical elements are present throughout the rest of the album on songs that evoke many different moods (there's even a Beatles cover!), and the album ends strong with the funk banger, Fame. All in all, a pretty good offering from 1970s David Bowie.

This album is certainly the Rolling Stones.

This is the first Led Zeppelin *album* I listened to in entirety, when my aunt pulled out her collection of records to find something to entertain us in a town full of nothing to do, and a few years later, via the CD of my best friend at church camp. I listened to it again tonight, and it still hits so hard. There's variety among the songs but the album feels very cohesive. I tried to type out a bunch of adjectives that describe their sound on this album, and it all inadvertently ended up sounding like I was talking about sex.¯\_(ツ)_/¯ So I deleted that, but suffice to say, five stars!

I like a lot of music from the '80s, generally, and I was familiar with three or four songs from this album, but I never thought about going any deeper with Culture Club, because for me, even though they are so quintessentially 80s, their music is not anything that I ever felt too strongly about. Boy George and the whole androgyny thing was such a big component of the visual arts of '80s pop culture, though. Well, now I can say but I've listened to a full album. All in all, I think I'm good with just staying with the singles. Although I was kind of surprised and intrigued to hear a little bossa nova flavor on one song, there were too many sleepy slow jams for my taste. The female backup vocalist was quite powerful and at times rather overshadowed the main vocals. Seemed like kind of a "light" album overall-- nothing too heavy going on.

Creative, cool use of sampling and production, an enjoyable listen. I could have listened to this around the kids -- I think "jimmy hat" is as blue as it gets here.

There was nothing that I recognized from this edgier collection from the Temptations. Good funk/soul numbers about hard times and troubled relationships. 3.5

I couldn't ask for anything more from this album. Peak Johnny Cash, in fine form, playing to an enthusiastically appreciative crowd. Glad I didn't listen to this around the kids--Johnny knew his audience and brought songs the convicts would relate to. He didn't seem at all intimidated to entertain a crowd of inmates. He was as smooth and charismatic as ever. The songs were simple in structure, but he and the band served the songs capably, effortlessly, naturally, hitting that perfect point between polished and spontaneous. The setting and crowd brought a lot of character to this live recording. The entire prison concert concept fascinated me and made me want to learn more about how this project came to be. I have a vague memory of seeing some video footage from this performance long ago; I'll have to track it down (if I'm not confusing it with something else).

I really enjoyed this new-to-me Bowie, still so creative here in his later years. So many flavors and styles were interwoven throughout, all anchored by that unique voice I've grown to love. Will revisit.

Hmm...I always feel like with Dylan, I have an inability to appreciate him the way I should, in accordance with how influential he was to so many artists I love. But maybe this album got me a little closer. I have a feeling if I listen to this again while concentrating on the lyrics more (I couldn't do that this time), I'd get closer still.

Interesting album. I'm a fan of the band, but I never listened to this before, although I was familiar with the live version of Tusk from their awesome 1997 live concert/album "The Dance," performed with the USC Trojans marching band. This album's original version could not top that! I could definitely hear the three distinctly different styles of Christine, Lindsay, and Stevie, and maybe moreso than on their other albums, this one felt kind of disjointed with the differing styles. Some of Lindsay's songs here struck me as kind of wild and wacky, but I didn't mind it. I'm sure I'll revisit this one. 3.5

I watched "Whiplash," so I know how insane these people are. I'm glad someone out there is doing this kind of thing, but I don't want to have to listen to it. I read another review which said this is music for masochists. I agree, but, well, I'm no masochist. I like to enjoy my music as well as be challenged by it. This is the kind of jazz that makes me feel stupid for not liking it. Like I'm too much of a rube to appreciate it. Well, fuck you, free jazz! If you're so great, then why are you so terrible?! Two stars for technical merit only.

Was this technically good music and singing? No. But did I personally enjoy it? Also no. It's hard to know how to approach music, like this type of punk, that absolutely isn't trying to be "good" in any traditional sense. Maybe they achieved exactly what they wanted to with this album. As I listened, I tried to find something that I could grab a hold of, to appreciate. It was very challenging. I didn't find it very engaging, personally, and it was repetitive, loud, sweary, and the singer sometimes sounded like Sam Kinison. I guess the main point of it is to serve as emotional expression, and I imagine that this sort of thing could be really useful to some people in certain situations, but it just wasn't for me. Now the question of how many stars to give it. I was wavering between one and two, so I'll split the difference and go with one and a half. But I round down, bitch!

Dense, yet sprawling. Claustrophobic. A lot of a lot going on. Heavy. A feeling of sinking. Redemption is still possible.

I've been a long time casual fan of Bossa Nova, and you can't go wrong with Stan Getz and Charlie Bird. There's no smoke and mirrors here, just simple excellent musicianship with interest, fluidity, and warmth. Bossa Nova kind of became the cliche elevator music or hold music in (US) popular culture, but this does make for a really nice background soundtrack for those pleasant and mellow vibes, and I don't think that's a bad thing.

I enjoyed this. I'd heard most of this album before, but not in a long while. I feel like this sonically captures the essence of modern youth culture of London, where South Asians, West Indians, Africans and more all grow up together. It's a well-produced, creative blend of kaleidoscopic global influences, but the rapping delivery reminds me of a yobbish teenager writing lyrics in a notebook and performing it for her mates after school, which helps keeps it feeling more immediate and not overly slick.

I love Q-Tip's voice--it's so distinctive...brainy and chill--as well as his signature flow. It has such a quirky yet calming, hypnotic quality, and so it went with this album. Sort of an updated old school vibe.

I was new to most of the material here, and while I feel like it was less Ska-flavored than I was expecting for a 2 Tone artist, it was still pretty enjoyable. As cliché as it is, the highlight for me was still "Our House." The energy of that intro can't be denied, and even though I've heard it a gazillion times, it's still a banger. This band was far, far bigger in the UK than they became in the us, and it was nice to have an opportunity for me to hear more from them.

This beautiful weirdo. Iceland's own manic pixie dream girl. I was enthralled when this came out; it was so unlike anything else going on at the time. I think my very first Amazon purchase was Gling-Gló, her jazz album with an Icelandic jazz trio; I had worn out Debut and I needed moar! I have a nice memory of going to the Matisse exhibit with my high school art class and listening to this album on my Discman as I walked through the museum, instead of the audio tour headphones they handed out to us. Some of the housey elements do seem of their era, but overall, this album still holds up and remains special to me.

This is my first time listening through this whole album, but I'm familiar with a handful of songs here. If you looked up "Dad Rock" in the dictionary, there'd be a picture of this album, provided the dad in question was an American Boomer. I always thought it was funny that the title track is held up as a song of unwavering patriotism when the lyrics are actually kind of cynical, talking about getting in trouble in his hometown, so having to get shipped to Vietnam to shoot Asians, and not being able to find work when he returned. It's in a category of misunderstood songs, with "Little Pink Houses" and "In the Air Tonight" where people didn't make it past the title. Some of these songs sounded like they were sung through a megaphone--some vocal dynamics might have improved them. Several of the songs I like, and I was already familiar with all of those: Cover Me, which sounds somehow vaguely ska/reggae, Glory Days, a megaphone song, but saved by familiarity, Dancing in the Dark (Courtney Cox!). There's a song I truly love, I'm On Fire, perfectly capturing that moody Roy Orbison plaintive longing. My only quibble is the oxymoronic lyric about the knife that was "edgy and dull." Anyway, most of these songs I could take or leave, but 4 good and 1 great is not too shabby.

I want a Lifesaver real bad. No instruments, but who needs instruments when you have voices like this? Brrrrrrrrrrrt!

A down tempo, emotional PSB album for gazing out a rain-streaked window, perhaps, or for feeling the weight of the changing season's gloom when the accursed sun begins setting at five fucking thirty. Still electronic and clever, but pensive and less dancey.

I'd never heard of this artist before and based on the name, I was guessing it was an older African guy, lol (Père being the French word for father). How wrong I was! Like thinking you're about to drink water, but it's actually flat Sprite. This was pretty unhinged and felt quite experimental. I appreciate that they felt free to explore and take risks, and there were many cool and interesting moments, but the vocals often impeded my enjoyment. I'll give it a 2.5.

Several quintessential Doors songs here, but the ones I'm less familiar with are just as solid, as Jim and the band let the spirit of blues and American myth and ethos inhabit them and transform into something creative and spiritual that flows effortlessly.

Takes me back to highschool with the 90's Brit pop era, which I was a casual fan of much of. Though cheeky and energetic, Supergrass didn't seem to get a huge foothold in the American market (aside from the ever-catchy "Alright") and that's too bad, but I think they helped shape a certain type of sound that exploded a few years later.

It would be fun to write a song like Beck. *hits blunt* *Drum machine and dial-up modem sounds begin* Slipshod ragamuffin tumbleweed Buckshot toilet paper killer bees Defcon one inside mi cabeza Por favor güey, leggo my Eggo *Theremin solo* This irreverent Mad-Libs style of lyrics doesn't bother me from Beck, though it might from someone else. On his early albums, it quickly became established that this was basically his whole deal. Don't look to this album for lyrical insights. But this is still a fun album that pulls from a lot of different sources to end up with something pretty inventive and cool.

I appreciate the vision and creativity of this album and what she was reaching for, creating these soundscapes purely with human voices. Just the audacity of the attempt is refreshing and worth a lot. Having said that, it's often a challenging album, especially compared to some of her previous works. The song structures are so...unstructured or, I don't know, symphonic at times? There was even a moment where a song began and all of these voices started layering in and it reminded me so much of an orchestra warming up before a performance. And I think most listeners are really not used to listening to symphonic music these days, so this is an album that might demand more from the listener. It really requires you to take the time and space to engage with it. I also find a lot of its themes to be rather somber. For these reasons, I don't enjoy it as much as some of her other works, even though I have big respect for it as art.

When I saw "the Byrds" I really didn't expect anything like this, although the title tried to tell me. I'm not super into most country, but this was pretty good for what it is, I guess. 3.5

This album comes to me in a gray suit with the sleeves pushed up and seduces me away to frolic on its yacht in Saint-Tropez while paparazzi snap pics of us from a helicopter. Duran Duran captured all the glamour, energy and biggness of the 80’s right from the intro to the title track, with its syncopated synth, busy, funky bass line, and sultry saxophone overlaid with growling and roaring at the climax. What a rush! I was struck by “New Religion,” how much it reminded me of RHCP–that bass! The album is consistently strong, but the other two classics here are “Hungry Like the Wolf” and “Save a Prayer.” I'll just take this moment to put it out in the universe somewhere how much I love “Save a Prayer.” I just can't get enough of this song; it thrills and mesmerizes me still, though I have heard it loads of times. This is one of those kinds of songs that, as I've learned over the years, is like catnip to me. Moody, minor keys, sort of mysterious, sensual, melodic but with a little dissonance, rhythmic and grounded with that bass. Sometimes I mention songs like these and Joel will say, “Oh yeah, Chino covered that.” So apparently Chino Moreno shares this specific taste. He should cover “Save a Prayer!”

Eclectic, energetic, fun, party music. Strikes a balance between creative and slick.

Jack White is such a student of all the Americana-adjacent genres, like blues, country, gospel, and those elements are here, but the great thing is that the reverence doesn't restrain his creativity. He can travel in these well-trod spaces but still bring out new dimensions. For instance, The Nurse pricked up my ears with that unusual marimba (I'm a lover of retro Exotica like that of Martin Denny and Les Baxter), but then those oddly timed crunches came in and made me feel like I was taking crazy pills. All in all I found this offering varied, engaging, and solid.

I'm here for this '80s Mom-Rock! Yes, it definitely sounds of its time, but what can I say, I love the 80s, cheese and all. And especially with Tina Turner, a great singer and all around performer. Her voice is so warm but world-weary, and she brings so much depth of feeling to these songs about triumph over bad times in love. Glad she went on to have a happy ending IRL. RIP!

This is not my favorite Cure album, but it helps set the stage for what is to come later with this band and others: dark, chilly post-punk attitude set within watercolor washes of moody texture, for when you want to cry but also maybe dance. "A Forest" is the classic stand out here (I could listen to it again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and).